HOTELS
THE CAPTAIN STEERING THE SHIP THROUGH THE STORM:
MIKI SCHWARTZ, CEO OF GOLDEN CROWN HOTELS
“From wars to COVID – there hasn’t been a decade without a catastrophe, but we know how to turn around quickly like a private car”, says the CEO of Golden Crown Hotels in an interview about the culinary revolution in Nazareth, the new business hotel in Herzliya, the vision for bringing back tourists, and the winning formula for navigating the Israeli hotel industry precisely during moments of crisis
wisdom is to respond like a private car” Miki, the last six years have demanded extraordinary resilience from hoteliers in Israel. How do you manage a hotel chain in such a reality? “The last six years have truly been particularly challenging; they started back during the COVID-19 period, and it continues with the complex geopolitical situation we are in today. This situation has required, and continues to require, necessary adjustments from us at every moment. Personally, I have been in the tourism industry for many years, so I have been through quite a few crises. Looking back, there wasn’t a decade that didn’t have some catastrophe - from wars to the fall of the Twin Towers. Everything passed and had an impact, but we always knew how to overcome them. The secret is the speed of response. Golden Crown’s tourism systems are agile and know how to react quickly.
There is a huge difference between a U-turn made by a bus and a U-turn made by a private car - we know how to adapt ourselves and get back on the right track very quickly, while appealing to new, global audiences”. This agility was also evident at the outbreak of the recent war, when your hotels immediately mobilized to host evacuees from the North and South? “Absolutely. A hotel chain connected to its country and community must know how to provide a response in moments of truth. The Golden Crown Nazareth Hotel took in many evacuees and served as a warm and calm home for them during a very difficult and complex period for all of us. When we began returning the hotels to routine operations for the general public, we led a clear line of adapting the hospitality to the spirit of the times - both in terms of a reasonable price and
T he hotel and tourism industry in Israel was never meant for the faint of heart. Wars, frequent geopolitical crises, and a global pandemic have turned management in Israel into a mission requiring extreme flexibility, rapid response, and audacity. If there is one person who knows these unfolding crises up close and knows exactly how to spin the wheel in time, it is Miki Schwartz, CEO of the “Golden Crown” hotel chain. Schwartz is a well-known and highly respected figure in the Israeli tourism landscape.
Alongside managing giant chains in the past, such as “Sheraton” and “Hachsharat HaYishuv” - from north to south and with international deployment in the United States and Europe - he also brings a unique academic angle to the field as a lecturer in the Department of Tourism and Hotel Management at Kinneret Academic College. In recent years, he has been leading Golden Crown to exceptional achievements, precisely out of the most complex challenges. “There hasn’t been a decade without a catastrophe, the
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