Hotel Owner’s Fifth Anniversary

The very first copy of Hotel Owner rolled off the press five years ago this month. Our publisher Mulberry Publications, always exploring sectors that might benefit from a fresh new offering, discovered a hotel industry suffering from a lack of choice in publications – incumbents too reliant on press releases and product roundups, with very little brass-tacks business news and commentary. It was felt that a new media brand with heavyweight analysis and insight, a sharp focus on what it really is to be and succeed as an independent hotelier, and best of all, free distribution to the reader, would be a breath of fresh air.

The hunch was correct, and Hotel Owner met with instant success. From the first issue, dozens of manufacturers and suppliers were willing to take a punt and help the new title find its feet. Figures I have spoken to throughout the hotel and hospitality world have told me that as the new kid on the block, Hotel Owner offered something genuinely valuable: highly relevant editorial that eschewed endless supplier blurbs for insightful critiques of how the market is behaving and what it means for the independent. We have always strived to live up to that pedigree. Even today in our editorial meetings we apply that ultimate litmus test: does this feature or that news item speak meaningfully to the independent hotelier?

Of course, in recent years, we’ve done a lot of modernising. The re-building of our website to be responsive, fast-loading and beautiful, and our Daily Briefing and Weekend Roundup e-newsletters, mean our readers are never out of touch with what’s happening in their industry. Our editorial tone is honest and upfront, and we are – sometimes controversially – not afraid of tackling the big issues. We’re fiercely independent and will never shy away from asking the important questions on behalf of our readers.

I have enjoyed every second of my editorship thus far, and I am determined that Hotel Owner will continue to make a unique contribution to the industry as we head to the future.

Here’s to the next five years.