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Hoteliers, the next generation: the brothers who took the Atlas chain one step further - voila! Of money

2022-08-12T05:15:03.475Z


Lior and Yaron Adler grew up in their father's hotel business, and with open eyes decided to continue it themselves. How did you survive the corona and how do you function as a boutique chain, in an industry that belongs to the giants?


Hoteliers, the next generation: the brothers who took the Atlas chain one step further

Lior and Yaron Adler grew up in their father's hotel business, and with open eyes decided to continue it themselves.

How did you survive the corona and how do you function as a boutique chain, in an industry that mostly belongs to giant chains?

Talia Levin

11/08/2022

Thursday, August 11, 2022, 12:37 Updated: Friday, August 12, 2022, 08:09

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Lior Viron Lipman.

They have known the industry since they were children (Photo: Yanai Yehiel)

Danny Lipman and Leslie Adler founded the "Atlas" hotel chain in 1987.



A few months before the outbreak of the Corona crisis, I met the two for an article at the "Tal" hotel, one of the chain's flagship hotels, which were in the midst of bold steps in the local urban hotel market, and introduced the concept hotel trend to Tel Aviv.

During the interview I asked them what happens when there is an attack or a war not on us, and how they deal with the cloud over tourism businesses in the Middle East.



But none of us knew that on March 18 all the hotels in Israel would be closed - and a war lasting a month or two would seem like a very small trouble...



Almost three years have passed since then, Leslie Adler, who was long past retirement age, decided during the Corona period that he was retiring, and Lipman's two sons - Lior (37) and Yaron (34), who worked for years in the network in all possible positions, including soap packaging, realized that it was "the " Theirs to inherit the crown and take the baton of management in the new era of hotels: an urban hotel with one forward thinking.



These days, the chain's 16th hotel, Backstage, opened on the ruins of what used to be the Haahl Theater building in Tel Aviv, whose construction in a building with the strictest conservation standards lasted for many years, where we also meet.



As a chain that carved a conceptual hotel banner - for example, the establishment of the "Cinema" hotel in the old building of the Esther Cinema (21 years ago), the "Fabrik" hotel in Nachalat Binyamin, the classic seamstress street of Tel Aviv, the "Market House" in Jaffa, the "Artist" hotel on The purity of art and many more (all of which by the way also host dogs), the new "Backstage" hotel is the new flagship project of Atlas, and it provides an accurate theatrical experience even for those who have not experienced the backstage of its days.



"We really believed in the project from the first moment," they say when I ask how exactly during a recovery period they enter into a grandiose and expensive project "We realized that we had something different and new in our hands, and there would be a hotel like no other in the city and in general. From this point of view, it did not create concerns but patience and a spirit of support that it already It will happen. The project was led by Michael Chai, who was the chain's business development manager, and he has a very large stake in this hotel."

Backstage Hotel.

Strict conservation and conceptual thinking (Photo: Public Relations)

Boys continue

"We grew up into this thing," says Lior when I wonder if the two have been paved for the role of "carrying on boys" since childhood.

"Leslie, Dad's partner has no children, and it was always in the air that if we wanted we would be the next generation of the chain. We knew it was an amazing business that we had the right to enter if we only wanted but there was no pressure. Nevertheless, as children we hung out in hotels, spent There in the summer and from a very young age we found ourselves helping out during holidays and working as waitresses, at the reception and wherever needed."



Yaron: "At the time, the offices were in the basement of the Tal Hotel, and one of the things I loved most as a child was to go to the property and warehouse of the hotel to this day, a man named Hakim, and walk around between his legs."



The token fell to both of them, each in turn, during the big trip after the army, when thoughts of future occupation begin to emerge just before returning to Israel.

"I remember thinking to myself, and I realized: I chose this thing, I know what I'm getting into? All our lives we grew up in this thing when we were kids and we were on summer vacation helping clear the dishes from the tables" says Lior.



"And of course the decision is not, 'OK, we become hoteliers', but start working like any full-fledged employee, for our father it was very important. It was an added value to start slowly, earn your living, and do things correctly and properly."



Is it easier or harder to be the son of an owner?


Lior: "Today, as an adult, you can understand this thing both in the professional learning process and in the interpersonal process with the person you work with. The son of an owner is his own personality, and we both took it to a place of: 'We want to do the best there is, and precisely because ..' if only to prove to ourselves and the world that we are worth it and are able to do this thing.



Besides, it is an experience as a child to get to know all the people and run between their legs, start working with them and at some point take the reins and manage the business with those people, They've been in your life since you can remember, and that's a story in itself."



Yaron: "As a five-year-old boy, I put soaps into cartons, then I worked as a waitress during the holidays and after the army, I got the signal that this is what I wanted to do. We started the first serious work in the network around the same time, it was in 2009 at the Shalom Hotel. Lior was a receptionist at Shalom and I I worked at the reception in the hotel next to Lodi.



From there it was not clear what the road would be, but over time our paths diverged naturally and without planning.

Lior has become very professional in the field, and passed the management reserve course that the network has been running since the nineties, most of our senior managers are graduates of the course, who started in junior positions in the network.

At the end of my studies in Be'er Sheva, I received an offer to become the chain's purchasing manager after 13 years of not having such a position at Atlas.

I had no experience, but I went through six months of training and jumped into the water.

The first baptism of fire".



Later, Yaron advanced within the headquarters and Lior was part of the establishment of the "Market House" hotel in Jaffa, where he established the reception department, managed for a short period the Bezalel Hotel in Jerusalem, and the Fabrik Hotel from its opening until the outbreak of the Corona virus.

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"Backstage" hotel (Photo: Public Relations)

The Israelis are coming

They define the Corona period as a strange and challenging period almost like everyone who works in the industry.

"At this stage of the crisis, we were each in our own fields of activity, but we also found ourselves with the understanding that we have a common crisis to manage beyond our official duties," explains Yaron, "It was a period when many things began to float and happen in the business, changes in an accelerated manner. And we got involved in managing this crisis and trying To find creative ways to cope, to think outside the box, to develop, in fact, after many months into the crisis, we reopened the hotel after the first closure and at this stage we already realized that it was time to move on and dive deeper into company management."



Lior: "I handed over the reins as the manager of Fabric Hotel, and took up my current position as VP of Operations at Atlas.

And this is the division between us between headquarters and field.

My area of ​​responsibility is the hotels and the operation of the hotels, and Yaron's area is the headquarters, the development of the company.



Yaron: "Both Lior and I went beyond our role into the bowels of the organization, whether it was the development of the company in all kinds of places or concept meetings. And here, as members of the younger generation, we began to introduce technologies to introduce a different way of thinking."



Until the corona virus, Tel Aviv was a European tourist city to all intents and purposes, but the businessmen whose flights were stopped opened up a new audience for the urban hoteliers: the discerning Israeli audience looking for a pool and pampering, alongside Air B&B enthusiasts looking for urban experiences.



Yaron: "First they ask if there is a pool, then if there is a spa. We are an urban hotel. We realized that we have to think very creatively. As funny as it is, the corona virus has created fertile ground for changes. There was no choice. The hotel is empty and needs to be filled. It was time to invent the wheel Renew and make moves that we didn't think of doing. Like for example the marketing department that was built from scratch following this crisis, the customer club for example, until the corona virus we didn't even think of advertising beyond the usual advertising for business people. Everything happened only thanks to the fact that we were at a point in time that required us to make big and completely different moves."



Lior: "Before Corona, almost 85% of our guests were tourists in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, or couples who came to experience the city. And what changed not only during Corona but even before that, maybe in the last five or six years, is that more players started to enter this world of boutique hotels, that let you experience the experience on the one hand, but also the city. This is why in most hotels we don't have dinner because we want people to experience the city as well, that's part of the point."



The emphasis is on concept, on an urban experience, is the audience also younger?


Lior: "In these years, in the last ten years, the whole issue of lifestyle has come to the fore all over the world, a lot because of social networks. Openness to the world and experiences in the world. And from this place, you see a lot of young people who would not come to hotels in the past come today. The borders have blurred, you see a bigger crowd Young on the one hand, and also an older crowd that wants to have a young urban experience."



Yaron: "One of the company's great advantages in general is that it has experienced and seasoned managers, seasoned hoteliers, who have been with us for all the years of their careers. On the other hand, it has increasingly formed a young and dynamic generation, albeit less experienced but very much wanting to do new things. Today Undoubtedly, the competition in the field has increased, and we try to be authentic, profitable, not to be the most luxurious and not the cheapest, to be a value for money and to provide an experience."



How much creative freedom did you have, even during the years with Father and Leslie?


Lior: "When we entered management positions, it was difficult at first to bring change and a different way of thinking. On the one hand, it is amazing the seniority of the people in the company and the very high commitment, but there is nothing to be done in a company that has existed for thirty years. There are things that are sometimes difficult to create change and bring something different, but this is a process built over the years. The ability to express ideas has always been there, it is part of the values ​​in the organization and our family.



So we could always bring ideas to the table, but the openness to this thing is a long process that we see growth and development that continues to happen and the corona also gave us a boost to this thing.

It has created a change in the world, and quick decisions need to be made."



Yaron: "Another one of the things we see around us is, for example, that the new chains come with a plan to build 15 more hotels a year, and it's not us.

I remember one year when we opened two hotels, it was in 2016 - the Bezalel in Jerusalem and Hotel 65, and I thought to myself 'How do competitors open 20 hotels a year?'

You can't do it and look at every little detail like we do here.



And here comes the creative freedom.

When we planned the "Backstage" four years ago, we thought there would be a turntable in every room with the soundtrack of a play, something romantic, then we realized that on a practical level most people don't know how to turn it on, and Lior took on a task together with our musical consultant, a playlist with QR Code .

This is just a small example of the small details that cannot be done when you have to open twenty hotels at the same time."



Lior: We work with a lot of consultants. We know what we are good at and where we need to take people with us. Like the theater world, for example backstage, we realized that we need someone who is deep in the world The theater brings the elements and subtleties. We want someone to tell us what we can't think."

The port of Tel Aviv is closed down, 2020. "Before the corona virus, almost 85% of our guests were tourists in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, or couples who came to experience the city" (Photo: Reuven Castro)

family business

One of the values ​​that the members of the new generation of managers at Atlas adhere to is family.

"It's part of our DNA," says Lior.

"The absolute majority of our managers are not only very old in the organization. They came to the hotel, fell in love with it and decided that they wanted to develop here.



Whenever there is a new position or a managerial position that becomes vacant, we will look inside and think about who is ready, wants to get an opportunity and has the ability. This is good for us , it works strongly because the organization, as much as it has grown, is still in its values ​​a family business. And not only because it is a family business, but because this is the feeling for many people, the business is a second family for them. It is important for us to continue this."



Yaron: "At our core, we are a family business. We don't bring in outside investors and all these years the business was run and grew only from equity. We try to maintain this image that sometimes behind our competitors is a very strong financial back and their ability to pay higher salaries, or take strong assets. We don't always have the ability to conduct ourselves in this way and we still have the need to open hotels, establish places and hire employees, and this is a big challenge that is emerging. There are more hotels that will open soon."



The world is changing, and this also affects the hotel world.

Where are the challenges today?


Lior: "Manpower is at the front. Although there is a feeling of moving forward in this matter, we also hired more foreign workers. We waited two years for occupancy and there was no one to work, and we found ourselves not selling rooms even though there is demand. It was a difficult experience today, I can say no Easy from that point of view, but we managed to stabilize a little more."



Yaron: "There are many challenges, we won the Israeli audience at this time and apart from manpower that is improving it is still challenging, the second thing is the return of what it did to us as humans, the changes that happened in the market, and people's habits. And apply this to a period in which tourism also returned."



Lior: "For example, it is difficult to make a budget today. You are making a budget for a world that is different, you have nothing to rely on, tourism does not behave as it used to, the guests are different and you cannot predict exactly who will come later this year, businessmen or Israelis. And the prices we are able to take are are different and the costs are different, and we created new positions and made structural changes, so how do you make a budget, there is nothing to rely on, there is no history."



What about the crazy prices of vacations in Israel?


Lior: "Maintaining adequate prices is a critical matter. We believe that this greed does not serve us or anyone in the industry. If the prices are very high, people will stop going on vacation in Israel or will not come to Israel on vacation and we will all be hurt by this."



The clichéd but necessary question, how difficult is it to manage a network with your brother?


Yaron: "A big advantage. We try to have the connection outside of work as well and not to bring the conversations about work to Friday dinners. But we are good friends regardless, we have mutual friends, we share an office and I see this as a tremendous strength. In the two years of the Corona it was Particularly significant, we were there for each other in the fights."



Lior: "Father, boss, family and colleagues is complex and requires a process that requires knowing how to communicate, how to deal with emotions, with tensions, with making decisions in times of pressure. But it works."

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  • family business

Source: walla

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