"The expectations of travelers are constantly evolving in line with new lifestyles and consumption patterns, and the hotel industry is no exception to the rule," explains Jihane Zerouali. According to her, the hotel industry has changed in the last 5 years. New trends and therefore new concepts have emerged, such as the hotel lifestyle, in order to meet consumers' needs for innovation and personalization by focusing on user-friendliness, on the accessibility of technology, on emotion and on versatility. The Adagio Casablanca city hotel is positioned in this niche and is a hybrid model between leisure and business.

Opened more than a year ago, the brand's first hotel in Morocco and North Africa has been hit hard by the pandemic crisis. "The sector has suffered enormously following the closure of borders and the cancellation of scheduled events. Only small hotels that have been able to reinvent themselves and belong to fairly structured groups have been able to withstand the vagaries of this unprecedented crisis," says Jihane Zerouali.

Today, since the reopening of the borders, things are starting to improve. And the establishment records 80% in terms of filling rate. Type of clientele? "90% are business customers, 70% of whom are foreigners from Europe, the United States and England," says Zerouali, who adds that the objective for the coming period is to conquer other types of customers such as Israelis or residents. The ambitions of the group do not stop there. Other openings are planned in the near future. "We will open in the near future another establishment in Casablanca and a third in Rabat", confides Zerouali who knows well the world of hotels and tourism, a sector in which she has evolved for over 15 years.

She calls on the authorities to work for the organization of more BtoB exhibitions, to support hoteliers so that they can get out of the water through the use of various measures including the revision to the temporary reduction of taxes required for some years. Also, it invites Lydec to review its pricing system imposed on hoteliers. Another key complaint: to provide Casablanca with a convention center that is slow to emerge. "It is unfair especially since there is a strong demand on this component," laments Zerouali.