Dimitris Manikis is keen on looking to the future but said the best future is only possible if the past is remembered and acknowledged.
Speaking with Hotel News Now as part of its “Pandemic Reflections” series, Manikis, president and managing director for Europe, Middle East and Africa at Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, said he is optimistic about the future of the hotel industry but hopes it does not make the mistake of forgetting or ignoring the key learning points emanating from the pandemic.
Manikis said the pandemic was not equal in its effects across the planet.
“I run a region that was hit in different ways. In India, we did not have a health crisis, we had a humanitarian crisis. We were calling people to source oxygen … because they were running out of [it]. I remember in Dubai, they were opening up and had a New Year’s party when Europe was in closure,” he said.
His message is that those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it.
“I have to tell you I feel really sick with myself sometimes when I realize how I became the same person I was, and how there are glimpses of opportunity to bring me back and to realize what is going on, but I am really worried that we are going to totally forget.”
Manikis added leaders now must focus on a sizeable list of updated challenges.
“What we didn’t anticipate, the queues at the airport, the airlines couldn’t cope, we did not anticipate the lack of staff, we did not anticipate the supply challenges, that we couldn’t get the basic supplies. We thought that we were prophets. We thought that we knew,” he said.
“And Turkey — 45,000 to 50,000 people died in an act of nature in two and a half minutes! These are the things we need to role play and to have them as a beacon. Remember,” he added.
Listen below for our full conversation with Dimitris Manikis.