Hospitality Innovation Summit 2016

From 10-13 October 2016 Hotelschool The Hague hosted the Hospitality Innovation Summit. During this event, students from 11 international hotel schools were invited to work on a case for Schiphol and present it to group of international CEOs. The final day was initiated on October 13 by keynote speaker Peter O'Connor, Professor and Chair Digtal Disruption at ESSEC Business School in France. His speech was entitled "The challenge with hotels and distribution”, and discussed the challenges facing the hotel industry today in this digital age.
After this inspiring presentation, it was time for the five finalists to present their pitch to the CEOs. The hotel management schools who made it to the finals were: Les Roches, National Kaohsiung University of Hospitality and Tourism, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Institut de Tourisme et D'Hotellerie du Quebec and Hotelschool The Hague.
The present CEOs and (Senior) Vice Presidents are:
- Daniel Ruff, President and Managing Director EMEA, Wyndham Hotel Group
- Wolfgang M. Neumann, President & Chief Executive Officer, The Rezidor Hotel Group
- Roeland Vos, President and Chief Executive Officer, Belmond
- Guy Pasley-Tyler, Vice President, Business Strategy & Feasibility, Host Hotels & Resorts
- Peter Norman, Senior Vice President Acquisitions & Development Europe, Africa, Middle East for Hyatt Hotels Corporation
- Ingrid Eras, Senior Vice President Global HR, Belmond
The case in short: At Schiphol Airport, a plot is available, where one last hotel will be build. This hotel should be complementing the existing hotels (such as Hilton, Sheraton and citizenM), and the focus with this hotel should be on innovation and feasibility.
After the pitches and a round in which the students could ask the CEOs all kinds of questions, the winner was announced: Hong Kong Polytechnic University!
The day ended with a networking reception, where all students and industry professionals could get to know each other better.

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