Following our sterling effort at the Boutique Hotel (BoHo) summit 2014 in May, I was invited to lead another team from the Edge Hotel School (EHS) at the Serviced Apartments summit 2014 (SAS) in London.
This was a final opportunity for me to represent the School before graduating and it was a chance to pass the proverbial ‘baton’ to the next generation of EHS undergraduates, who will build on the relationship of the EHS as the official academic partner to the exceptional summits run by Piers Brown and his outstanding team.
The preparation and organisation for our attendance at the SAS began almost immediately after our article on the BoHo summit was released on ehotelier.staging.wpengine.com. We were overwhelmed by the number of students who volunteered and had to narrow it down to five: Bonnie MacNab, Charlotte Jakubecz, Jordan Bush, James O’Connor and Aaron Devine. They represent the different cohorts within EHS, bringing together a diverse range of experience and knowledge.
Our planning and organisation was smooth and problem free thanks largely to the procedures that had been set-up from the BoHo summit. We did, however, take the chance to fine tune the process, incorporating weekly meetings in the run up to the event and increasing the communication levels with Natalie Taylor, the chief operator in the Piers Brown team.
The first day of the summit was high in energy and enthusiasm. We guided the delegates through the tours of The Athenaeum, Metropolitan by COMO and finally Grosvenor House Apartments by Jumeirah.
The tours reflected the serviced apartment spectrum and demonstrated that the product could be very different and yet still fall in the same sector. The guests gathered a lot of information, constantly asking lots of questions of the tour leaders about occupancy, RevPAR and facilities.
The most amazing aspect of this experience has been creating opportunities for fellow students and industry leaders to connect and build relationships that can only serve well for our industry. Many thanks to the event sponsors who supported our stay in the beautiful Montcalm Hotel, which we greatly appreciated.
I will now leave you with some comments from my incredible colleagues.
“I feel very lucky to have been able to participate in such an important event within the serviced apartment sector. I got a lot out of the experience in regards to industry knowledge and also managed to build my confidence during the networking opportunities.” – Charlotte Jakubecz
“It was fascinating to meet people from such different professional backgrounds, which highlighted the vastness of the industry and the opportunities that it holds.” – Jordan Bush
“I gained some fantastic contacts and some great experience.” – James O’Connor
“Great opportunity to expand my knowledge of how the serviced apartment sector works in comparison with the hotel sector and a good way of getting the Edge Hotel School noticed by industry leaders.” – Aaron Devine.
“As a student it was interesting for me to not only gain further knowledge on the sector but also to experience an event of this type from the perspective of both a guest and an organiser.” – Bonnie MacNab.
About the author
Sunny Basra is in his final year studying for the BA (Hons) Hotel Management degree at the EDGE Hotel School.
