Hospitality Innovation Planet (HIP), the trade fair for the hotel and catering industry, has opened its doors in IFEMA and will host more than 200 exhibitors that will be presenting innovations and trends driving the transformation of the sector in the coming years until today, February 21. More than 900 innovative solutions and 200 new business models that are contributing to the profound revolution that is currently experiencing the hotel and gastronomy industries will be present.
HIP started with a high–level opening session, ‘We are Game Changers’, which highlighted the importance of sustainability and corporate social responsibility. Presented and moderated by Eva Ballarn, Hospitality 4.0 Congress Program’s Director, the session hosted Luis Cueto de Sotomayor, General Coordinator of the Mayor of the City of Madrid and President of IFEMA, and the two presidents of HIP, Hugo Rovira (director General of NH Hoteles for Spain, Portugal, USA and Andorra) and Octavio Llamas (Chairman of Autogrill Iberia and Patronal Marcas de Restauracin).
Besides, the session had the intervention of other industry leaders such as Rafael Anson, President of the Royal Academy of Spanish Gastronomy, Kike Sarasola, President and founder of Room Mate Hotels, and Gabriel Garca Alonso, President of the Hotel Business Association Madrid (AEHM).
“We must build and create customer experiences and organize events like HIP that allow us to offer added value to the travellers,” said MrÊSarasola.Ê”This makes them come back for more. If not, they just do not want to repeat. In the sector in which we work, the most important thing is to think about the customer.
“It is the fundamental basis of this business and what we should be more careful about, because we are starting to neglect it. Let’s learn how they work in Asia or South America. In the hotel sector, it is necessary to renew and reinvent ourselves, it is time to dare to do something different and show that Spain has always been innovative.ÊIf we improve the sector, we all win. We have a lot of information; we just have to know how to use it to please the customer. This is how the tourism of the future looks like.”
