"What we did here is nothing less than a revolution for the Israeli customer"

Roni Aloni, CEO of Leonardo/Fattal hotels in the Mediterranean basin, the man who was the youngest hotel general manager in Israel and has won countless awards as 'Man of the Year' in the hotel industry in Israel and abroad, has long since stopped being excited by all the titles and superlatives.

In a place where people in his area code are preparing for retirement, Aloni is at the peak of his activity. His business and personal intuition is sharp as a razor, his entrepreneurship under and with David Fattal, who is his personal friend and mentor, for the expansion, finding, and construction of the various hotels under the Leonardo and NYX brands, is expanding throughout the Mediterranean basin, and the plans for the future are not a dream, but a reality forming before our eyes.

The interview with Aloni, who usually stays away from the media, was conducted at the new resort, MERAVIA, which is an adults-only concept and caters mainly to couples and guests looking for a vacation that is a paradise. "You don't need to travel 11 hours to Thailand, when the wild landscape here is paradise itself, half an hour from Thessaloniki," Aloni begins, as we both sit in the hotel restaurant, above a cliff overlooking a breathtaking view of the Aegean Sea.

How did it all start?

"I would define it all as our joint journey for me to join David Fattal, a journey of creation, something that slowly develops into content with depth, with foundations to grow and flourish for a distant future. We started in Cyprus, in Paphos, with three hotels that within two years grew from 700 rooms to 1,200. And when the base was solid, David's dream was to develop resorts and vacation hotels, he always looks ahead. Until these years, Fattal developed mainly urban hotels in Europe. We came to the conclusion that the company was mature enough to go out to resorts in the Mediterranean basin as well, and that's how we started to develop."

Why did you set Cyprus as a base?

"First of all, specifically a business opportunity came our way, but in general we did research that Cyprus has a lot of advantages: it is close in terms of flight both to Israel and to Europe. The weather there is very suitable for extending the seasons of the year. It is a sought-after destination, which already had a certain base, and from the initial research we did I saw that there is also a possibility — although there was no hotel maturity yet — to make the additional leap.

When we arrived for the first time in Cyprus, we saw that the changes resulting from strategy are not essential, we can take both the world of profitability and the world of action to completely different places. If, for example, we came to an all-inclusive hotel that had one restaurant, we created five restaurants, and a variety of entertainment activities completely different from what they were before, and a level of services that was not there before."

Contributing to the local economy

"First and foremost, we decided to base ourselves on the locals, to connect strongly to the local community. There is an axiom in our company that for every 100 employees we employ one employee with special needs. And every hotel is committed, before it starts with its profit and loss, first and foremost to support the community. We created very good connections with the community and I expanded it to connections at the state level — which allows you afterwards also to build infrastructural templates for tourism, to increase segmentation, to bring tourists from other places. In Paphos there is a nearby airport, so we immediately increased the amount of flights from very many destinations, we caused the aviation factors to expand."

Investing in employees

"We create an academy for employees, create content for employees, a future for employees. We invest a lot in HR. I created, for example, an employee card that gives them many discounts, even at the supermarket, so it is an honor and pride to work at the company. It connects together: when you also create a product that is exceptional, and also exceptional hotel values, also for the employees the level of service rises, the qualities rise, you can also raise the price, and also you create persistence of the employees over time, with all the difficulties that have been in recent years to recruit employees."

Expansion and Limited Edition

"We started in tourism whose base is popular. Slowly we expanded it, from Cyprus we expanded to Greece, and we have intentions to continue to expand throughout the Mediterranean basin — Montenegro, Croatia, Albania, Malta and more. In parallel to the fact that we expanded the aspect of popular tourism that is developing, we identified that there are two additional sources that are essential: one is quality tourism that is much higher, and so our bang was created for a new arm in the Fattal chain — another market segment, which we designated through the Limited Edition."

Families and couples

"First of all, also for families you can create very high-quality products, and as evidence we opened a hotel two years ago called Cibus, next to Nafplio, which was the first capital of Greece. It is an hour and 40 minutes from Athens, a hotel on the beach, very high quality, which we made for families. Very large rooms, private swimming pools, a selection of restaurants, entertainment, beach.

In parallel, we also created a line that has more and more demand today for couples who want to come without the noise and bustle of children, whether it is parents who have children and want some rest, whether it is couples after the period of children and teenagers, or whether it is couples who are at a completely different point in the way. This is the essence of the Limited Edition."

The passion for the next target

"The demand is very high, and around this we are currently developing a whole strategy. For example, this specific hotel, 'Meravia', which we purchased, we changed its concept and made it from a hotel that was based on bed and breakfast to an ultra-all-inclusive hotel, with an amazing view, wonderful nature, but we also created spaces of swimming pools, restaurants, entertainment, vibe. A completely different vibe in the hotel, which creates an opportunity to provide a solution also for a higher market segment.

We also locate the special locations, where there is a combination of a special view, proximity to the beach, private beach, pools, qualities that can develop the concept and raise the average price and the level of service, and as a result of this also try to raise our profitability over time. What David Fattal and the whole company did here is nothing less than a revolution for the Israeli customer. There is pride and satisfaction, and a good feeling to sit in a hotel like this or like we have in Cyprus and enjoy for a moment. But the mission is endless, and I am already on the next target, the new location, the next opportunity. As long as this passion exists in me — there is no limit to what can be achieved."