Ana is a hospitality leader with over six years of experience at SNÖ Hotels, an experiential hotel group founded seven years ago in Spain. Rooted in its CEO's deep passion for mountain culture, skiing, and nature, the company began with localized projects in the Catalonian Pyrenees and Aragon, and has since expanded its footprints into the beautiful region of Galicia.
In this episode, Ana details how SNÖ Hotels acts as an essential complement to outdoor adventures rather than a standalone product. She discusses managing the seasonal fluctuations of diverse regions, contrasting the specialized packages required for ski beginners in the mountains with the accommodation demands of hikers walking the historic Camino de Santiago. Ana breaks down the evolving realities of post-COVID tourism, navigating regional Airbnb regulations in Spanish tourist hubs like Barcelona, and how boutique hoteliers can use personal service additions like late checkouts or complimentary parking to compete against major OTA channels.
To find out how SNÖ Hotels designs experiential packages and leverages direct bookings to compete with major OTA channels, explore the full RaftLabs episode page here: https://www.raftlabs.com/podcasts/res...
Key moments from the conversation:
"In the ski resorts, if you want to buy it all together, like the ski lifts and the hotel and the ski rental... you have to make a package. And that's tour reparation. But the quote that we can have, we try to keep it our own." (11:19)
"Because one thing that I think is failing in booking.com is that you don't have all the information available from hotel... So if the people go check your website later and they found all the information and they see that maybe they have a little plus, maybe they stay with you." (16:21)
"The major inconvenience in SNÖ Hotels is that the markets that we're playing in are so different. And have so different needs that we are constantly trying to adapt to them." (19:11)
⏳ Chapter Timestamps
0:00 – Guest Introduction: Meet Ana from SNÖ Hotels
0:39 – The Genesis of SNÖ Hotels: Merging Ski Passion with Pyrenees Projects
2:16 – Expanding to Galicia: Tapping into the Trendy Camino de Santiago Route
5:55 – Authentic Self-Discovery vs. 'Fake Luxury' Travel
7:12 – Post-COVID Traveler Shifts & Safety-Seeking Trends Amid Geopolitical Pressures
8:27 – The Digital Divide: Balancing 80-Year-Old Traditionalists vs. AI-Driven Gen Z Guests
9:35 – Changing Tide for Airbnb: How Barcelona Regulations Limit Short-Term City Rentals
11:01 – The Challenge of Direct Website Sales in Specialized Ski and Tour Packages
12:43 – Continuous Team Training: Adapting Staff to Rapid Technology Upgrades
13:29 – The Risk Vector of Single-Apartment Hosts vs. Professional Hoteliers
14:57 – Beating Booking.com: Leveraging Free Parking and Extended Checkout to Drive Direct Bookings
16:51 – Debunking the Price War: Why High Expectations Don't Match Discount Strategies
18:29 – Ana's Magic Wand Wish: Real-Time Dynamic Pricing Insights Across Varied Micro-Markets
20:19 – Post-Adventure Amenities: Spa, Luggage Logistics, and Apres-Ski
21:46 – Continuous Contact: Connecting with Clients via LinkedIn
