Simon Vincent, Hilton, in conversation with Tom Otley, Editor Business Traveller, 1 of 5

Simon Vincent, Hilton, in conversation with Tom Otley, Editor Business Traveller, 1 of 5.
https://www.businesstraveller.com/features/interview-simon-vincent-executive-vp-and-president-europe-middle-east-and-africa-for-hilton/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/simonvincenthilton/
https://www.hilton.com/en/corporate/executive-bios/

Simon Vincent is Executive Vice President & President Europe, Middle East & Africa for Hilton. Based in London, Vincent is responsible for 545 operating hotels and a further 360 in the development pipeline, across thirteen brands and nearly 70 countries and territories.

Since joining the company in 2007, Vincent has overseen the opening of more than 350 hotels and spearheaded Hilton’s growing presence in the region, with the introduction of new brands such as LXR Hotels & Resorts, Canopy by Hilton and Curio – A Collection by Hilton.

A 32-year veteran of the leisure and travel industry, Vincent was previously CEO of Opodo, the pan-European online travel agency. He has extensive international experience and has also worked in North America and Japan. He spent the early part of his career in International Banking with HSBC.

He sits on Hilton’s global executive committee, represents the company as co-Chair of the UK Tourism Council and a member of the UK Cultural Renewal Taskforce. Vincent is also a non-executive director at iconic London retailer Fortnum & Mason.

Vincent is also Chairman of Trustees for the DM Thomas Foundation for Young People, a Trustee of Jigsaw School, an independent school for children on the autistic spectrum and a Trustee of Amber Trust – a Charity for Music for blind children.

In January 2015 he received an OBE for his services to the hospitality and tourism industries, having been recognized in the New Year Honours List.

Video transcript:
- So my name is Simon Vincent. I'm the Executive Vice President and President for Europe, Middle East and Africa, which is a region encompassing about 75 countries.

- Thank you. Great. So Simon, thank you so much for doing this. The region that you're in charge of is currently having quite an expansion of Hilton Hotels. How many are currently open and how many will be opened in the near future, do you think?

- So, yes. We've had a terrific expansion plan over the course of the last 12 years since I've been involved with the business. We currently have 560 hotels trading across Europe, Middle East, and Africa, and we've got a further 350 plus in our development pipeline, which are either signed or under construction and due to come into the system within the next two to three years. So it's a fairly sizable operation that has expanded quite dramatically.

- Yeah. I was reading an interview. We've met a few times over the years and I think I was reading an interview with you 10 years ago which described you as a 20 year veteran. So I suppose this must make you a 30 year veteran.

- Oh God, yeah. Thank you very much for that one. Thank you for reminding me, but look, it's a terrific business. I've been involved, having started my career in banking and finance. I accidentally transitioned into leisure and hospitality through a bit of time with Thomas Kirk and then running Opodo, the online travel company but landed at Hilton just after Blackstone made the investment into the business and it's been a terrific experience for all of us and for all of our team members. The business has gone from strength to strength. We've expanded our portfolio of brands internationally and we've grown our network effect quite considerably across the globe. So, yeah, it's been a terrific business to be involved in. We obviously IPO'd the business in 2013. We de-merged our real estate and timeshare business in 2017. We've really transformed the business and we're now today, a business that's got leading brands, a leading industry pipeline, an asset light business model and that has really been an important factor in us steering through what's been a very difficult 12, 18 months with the pandemic.

- You mentioned brands and there's been a huge expansion of brands. I don't know if you can remember, how many brands did Hilton have when you joined and how many has it got now?

- I think we probably globally had around about 12. Don't hold me to that, Tom but I think it was around about 12 brands. Certainly outside of the United States though, we were only operating or I should say more accurately, outside of North America we were only operating the Hilton and the Conrad brand. And so a big part of our expansion plans has been to take those 12 brands into the international arena and that 12 brands has now become 17 brands as we've added new segments to our portfolio. So we're pretty focused on building out our network effect. That means having a brand that is relevant to a customer at a price point, at a market positioning, in as many markets as it makes sense for us to be in and that means we've got brands ranging right the way through from........