Director of MKG Group , of the inenarable blog “Hospitality On” and the improbable “Worldwide Hospitality Awards” (in particular), Georges PANAYOTIS is no longer at the party .
L’Express and Le Figaro of April 18 and 24, 2014 recall that he “won” the Legion of Honor (which he proudly displays as a bar-tobacco owner) not really for eminent merits in the service of the nation. But, more disastrously with Aquinilo Morelle (*) (then adviser to Jospin and now ex-adviser thanked by Holland) in exchange for a… stay at a friendly price in Venice (sic). If he thought he could benefit from the “not seen, not taken”, it was a failure: the press spoke about it.
These articles also indicate that the investigators discovered that Mr. Panayotis was hiding from the French tax authorities 1 million euros in an account in Cyprus , then an opaque tax haven (for Cahuzac, it was “only” 600,000 euros hidden in a Swiss bank) .
Finally, the Figaro speaks of the conviction of Georges Panayotis by the French justice for Abuse of social goods . Having the trial easy, the man was overtaken by justice in his turn. Three months later (legal deadline), he still had not addressed a denial to the newspapers, nor asserted a Right of reply to them …
It is certain that all these offenses fully justify the Legion of Honor.
The Accor group , with which he is extremely close, apparently does not blame him for having had to endure investigations and searches by judges and the Financial Brigade. Tourmag.com had also published an article which recalls that Georges Panayotis, had been indicted by Judge Courroye for abuse of corporate assets and influence peddling. He was suspected of false invoicing for the benefit of the Accor group.
How do these brilliant deontologico-legal affairs of Mr. Panayotis affect the Committee for the Modernization of French Hotels and Tourism, which best informs hoteliers and acts as a whistleblower?
First of all, this situation cited by these newspapers can only strongly relativize the credibility of the character when the latter gives lessons for weeks in “Father morality” and conduct to hoteliers through his editorials and his media interventions. We will provide some examples if he needed to refresh his memory.
Same thing when he promises to deliver a stillborn petition ( which made a nick! ) To the President of the Republic. Just that. Not to mention the clientelists rewards (awards) that he is honored to distribute like the sower to his customers and to those he would like as such, generously supported by sponsors who have no doubts (see below).
An unbridled businessism which furiously affects him also poses the problem of what he declares publicly. When, for example,
he explains in a round table on tourism organized on April 9, 2014 by the august Economic Commission of the National Assembly that the problem of independent French hoteliers lies in a lack of CRM (Customer Relationship Management) and that he immediately got into gear by touting the paid services of one of his survey sites – Olakala , an ordinary online questionnaire system – to solve this problem. The deputies present had little taste for this self-promotion and this “analysis” with a completely commercial and self-serving purpose.
It does not matter that our “expert” is telling untruths about the independent and family hotel industry, the essentials of which he seems to ignore. Everything is good for doing business …Because if only the hoteliers’ problem were to boil down to a lack of CRM, all would be fine and our man would undoubtedly be – let’s pretend to believe it – their savior.
Hanging out with politicians , Georges Panayotis likes it, and it costs him. He himself wanted to be in it. He so reported in 1988 to be a deputy in the 15 th arrondissement of Paris under the label DVD (Miscellaneous Right). The rocket exploded in flight since it only managed to collect… 1% of the vote. How cruel people are.
The Committee is also regularly alerted when the person concerned (in all senses of the word) massively presents activity data known as “French hotels” when it is essentially only that of chains. integrated hotel companies whose results have nothing to do with those of the independents (which are almost 80% of French hotels), which do not identify with it: see our article on the subject .
The unrivaled INSEE (in terms of reliability) and another firm, KPMG (which publishes an annual barometer of integrated chain activity), confirm very well every year that MKG’s figures are incorrect. Unrepresentative made up as representative.
It is as if we were talking about trade by giving only the figures for hypermarkets or even sales of Carambar by generalizing them to all confectionery.
As for the Worldwide Hospitality Awards (do not laugh), the Eiffel Tower is small against the cheek of our guy. So for its 2014 edition (but for each edition, it’s the same thing), our illusionist claims that “ more than 1,000 participants gathered in the Opera Room of the Intercontinental Paris Le Grand” . The year before, it was 800. Great! But how did they manage to accommodate all these small people in the 450 m 2 of this room , which in reality can only accommodate around 300 to 350 people in conference configuration. And again, the scene is missing, which further reduces this capacity .And next year, why not 5,000 people since we are no longer a lie?
As for the lucky recipients of a trophy, we find – oh miracle – the… sponsors of the event, friends or customers (or wanted as such) , depending on the year: Accor, Louvre Hotels, B&B Hotels, IHG, Logis,… Nice credibility. Pleasing costs nothing and can pay off big.
And we will not talk too much about visits to hotels for the attribution of stars , for which the MKG group has obtained accreditation from Cofrac . All money is safe to take. It thus performs these verifications, which are supposed to be independent and impartial, while being a service provider to the groups to which these hotels are affiliated. This is clearly called a conflict of interest , by the way prohibited in the charter of the system. The Legion of Honor is definitely well worn.
And what about the mystery visits that our handyman sells to chains, where mystery visitors are not paid? Surely goldsmith’s work … as a profit.
Crystal ball and coffee grounds
Our oracle Georges Panayotis is also the specialist in announcements and forecasts of hotel activity for the year – which do not come true. He hopes with his striped crystal ball and his army of trainees monitored by ip camera in every corner, that we can now predict anything in tourism See our article on the subject .
Just for example , he announced in January 2013, without laughing and in a peremptory manner, a good growth for the French hotel industry for the year 2013, with “a RevPAR up from 0.9% to 2.4% “ – salute the nice precision – ( The tourist echo of 31/1/2013). Unfortunately for him, the same one presented a year later ( Le Figaro of 16/1/2014) a RevPar achieved for the year 2013 of… – 0.7%, that is to say an error of predictions of 30% to 70% ! And this repeats itself year after year. No apologies … the international class.
Now, having become cautious, he no longer publishes his prophecies too much. He puts them on sale. And at the price of the keypad. For 960 €, since the beginning of 2016, you will be entitled to hotel forecasts for 2016, but also – icing on the cake – for 2017 ! Admiration ! It’s the same gift, because in 2015 he sold his divinations at the friend rate of € 4,700. When all the major hotel groups, even better equipped than him, are unable to know what occupancy rates will be in their hotels in… a month. The magus Panayotis, the extralucid, the one who sees the future for up to two years, causes dazzling. This man is a saint.
Because, all this and many others of the brilliant interventions of Mr. Panayotis in the hotel sphere contribute to distort the knowledge and the understanding of tourism by the national elected officials (who make the laws), by the professionals (who must apply them). , by bankers (who finance or not) and by journalists (who inform and influence). These drifts are very easy to demonstrate. It is a moral responsibility to publish economic barometers. But, that they are inaccurate and especially not representative does not bother our knight of the Legion of Honor of chewing gum in the slightest.
Not to mention the very complaisant studies that our star sells with a vengeance and which are intended to pass off bladders for lanterns. We pinch our noses. We have a few examples at hand, including his intervention for Alliance 46.2 for a small onion “analysis” (on a subject that has no interest) that will make generations of statisticians laugh.
It doesn’t seem like our man is bothered by the fact that all this continuous cascading disinformation , willful or due to filthy incompetence, can cause serious problems for the profession and thus undermine credibility . Because the important thing is to do business, isn’t it?
Despite these burst moral deviations cited above by the newspapers, Mr. Panayotis did not see fit to return his decoration . Was it unquestionably acquired? If we refer to the newspapers citing the Aquinilo Morelle affair : not really. On the contrary. This affects us in the Committeebecause how better to shake up the values of the Republic if not by trampling on its symbols, of which the Legion of Honor is one?
And what are the “eminent services rendered to the Nation” that the person concerned could have provided to be rewarded, as requested by the Order of the Legion of Honor? Maybe the recipient has a little idea? May he give it to us so that everything is clear to all.
Finally, we will prevent ourselves from sneering (a little) by going to the Facebook page of his site “Hospitality On” where 83% of the clicks of his “fans” suddenly came from… Turkey(observation made in May 2015). For a few euros paid to pharmacies that have a storefront, you can click anything on the Net. A Greek gets along with the Turks, Europe sets in motion.
Anonymous Letters and Financial Brigade
To be completely transparent to our readers , Georges Panayotis has been the subject of several anonymous letters in recent years denouncing his practices and his little illegal quirks, of which we were aware because they were shown to us by the judicial police itself (see below).
The Express (already) of October 11, 2004 had explained that one of them had allowed to start the first case which will end up convicting the man by justice, which took things very seriously, including provoking in particular a search of the headquarters of the Accor group . The Financial Brigade found there – in particular – numerous invoices paid several times to MKG de Panayotis, as well as evidence on “advantages” that he offered to political figures. In return for what? To be of service to whom?
After a more recent anonymous missive – the character definitely has a permanent subscription! – who caused the police to relocate but also a judge (the latter undoubtedly considering that there is no smoke without fire to decide to intervene), our “victim” lodged a complaint against “X” for denunciation slanderous. In the process, he thought he was smart to whisper to the investigators, as they reported to us, that the Committee for the Modernization of French Hotelsthrough its president would be one of the “X-crows ” . Might as well have fun, right?
It is true that it is practical to be able to choose an author for an anonymous letter which by definition… has no signatory. Thus, we learned that while victimizing and self-exonerating Mr. Panayotis tells at will its chosen partners and benevolent journalists that we would be criminals from the shadows … Deuce !
This charming oriented “gift” – which we certainly did not know how to appreciate at its fair value – earned us searches by the Financial Brigade on May 24, 2012 at the headquarters of our association in Paris and at the home of our President, with under seal of our IT equipment (computers, external hard drives, cell phones, etc.). Everything was of course returned to us (but only a week later) when we obviously had nothing to complain about. Case closed, that goes without saying.
Of course, the investigation by the police looking for traces of anonymous letter (s) – with a very painful procedure for us – did not yield anything:
– since we have nothing to do with Georges Panayotis’ legal troubles, which only concern him and for which he is probably solely responsible, with or without accomplices, which is the business of justice and not ours;
– since we do not need to write anonymous letters to express ourselves or to denounce crimes that we witness;
– since we have the habit of signing all our letters.
In short, he has a hollow nose, the boss of MKG,… and a sense of tactical strategy. Because by designating us to the judicial police and believing that we were just boring us, he had superbly forgotten that we had a lot to explain to investigators on his practices and documents to give them concerning him. We would no doubt have kept them otherwise. They liked it very much; it must be said that they were very demanding. The man interests them, apparently.
It is only a question here of a simple clarification and not of a settling of scores – Editor’s note: as soon as one carries a criticism with regard to the acts of a person, the latter to exonerate himself replies “that it is about a settlement of accounts ” – .
In the meantime, not a word of apology from our “friend”. Proof that you can wear a red ribbon and totally lack education, dignity and honor.
(*) on the quota of decorations of the State Secretariat for Industry then occupied by Christian Pierret,… former manager of the Accor group. Well…
Article from Le Figaro from April 24, 2014 Article from L’Express from April 18, 2014
Right of reply to Georges Panayotis’ request, addressed to the OVH host:
Our response to this right of reply:
Mr. Panayotis no doubt has something to be angry about when newspapers such as Le Figaroand L’Express remind the public of his deviations and the reasons which made justice interested in him and his practices. The internet makes things last. Bad luck for him.
As far as we are concerned, we have only taken the information given by these important newspapers deemed serious and documented, and which are responsible for what they publish. These news only corresponded to what we already knew. It is therefore not with us that the knight of the Legion of Honor – without honor – must be justified.
We note in passing that if Mr. Panayotis demands from us a right of reply (not very convincing), he strangely did not think it useful to ask the same thing of L’Express and Le Figaro and to have them corrected. ‘possible “editorial errors” that he considers useful to denounce here. No denial appears in such a form on the sites and newspapers concerned, which confirmed to us that no right of reply had been sent to them.
To attack the Committee undoubtedly seems easier to him, but reveals a certain childish levity.
Regarding his condemnation by the courts, we never spoke of tax fraud but of abuse of corporate assets . Moreover, it is not us who are talking about it but the investigative press . At the same time, hiding 1 million euros from the French tax authorities in an account in Cyprus (ex-tax haven), what is it called if not tax evasion, very fashionable today ?
Let us pass quickly on his permanent insistence and on his arrogance – always the same refrain for years – recalling that he works for the greatest, that he has high-ranking relations (we have seen what this has given to the Affair Morelle or searches at Accor), that he is the strongest and that he stands above everything. Even from the law? Always the same aggressive, haughty, condescending style of the wren. As usual. We will end up getting bored.
Let our arrogant know – for the record – that the information included in our article results from what is easily found in the press, requested by MKG via press releases: hotel barometers, forecasts, etc. , on the website of the National Assembly and in the sites controlled by MKG.
In other words, we haven’t invented anything, nothing faked. Everything is verifiable. Also, a useful little reminder when Mr. Panayotis threatens us to take the case to court for defamation: there can be defamation only if the accusation is supported by untruths , which is not the case here. Everything is founded , including our criticisms of what he publishes (see also our analysis on the Alliance 46.2 file ).
Of course, we would immediately rectify anything that appears to be an error, inaccuracy or anomaly in this article , provided that Mr. Panayotis provides us with proof. Our good faith is complete.
The condemnations of Georges Panayotis by the French courts , as well as the suspicions brought against him by the police of the Financial Brigade, do not concern us; they only concern him, his entourage, his clients and… his conscience. Also, trying to exonerate himself and make believe that he would be a victim (another usual refrain for him) seems very indecent . The accused and the condemned by the French courts are not us. Let’s not reverse the roles.
On the other hand, when it takes pleasure in being at the origin of an unjustified search and inevitably without follow-up to the seat of the Committee , it touches us more. Today he continues obsessively by threatening us with a lawsuit. And what else tomorrow?
Finally, of course, we have nothing against the Greek origin (or whatever he wants) of Mr. Panayotis, which is his business. The title of our article was a tribute (the Greeks were the champions of the Olympics, right?). More seriously, it looks like Georges Panayotis wants us to believe that to be called Greek and moreover champion would be an insult. However, wherever he goes, does he not recalls his Greek origins and does not proclaim himself leader (in everything) who is nothing other than a champion?
Read: PANAYOTIS AFFAIR (more)
Note: we are very accommodating because we accepted this right of reply which was sent to our web host, by a letter without an address and to the header of MKG group which as such is not questioned in this article. We could legally have rejected it.