The 6th Edition of the Young Hoteliers Summit is fast approaching. This year’s event will welcome delegates from 31 hospitality management institutions around the world along with key industry players to the Ecole Hôtelière de Lausanne campus for three days of focus groups, workshops, panels and keynotes, culminating in the YHS Challenge, provided by Dorchester Collection.
Eugenio Pirri (Vice President, People and Organisational Development, Dorchester Collection), shared this insight about the Challenge: “How we operate our hotels and the structures we operate within are no longer valid, therefore we will look for how the industry needs to change in order to adapt to the ‘now and future’ of our workforce and communication structures.” Mr. Pirri will be accompanied by Ana Brant (Director, Global Guest Experience & Innovation, Dorchester Collection) and will give a Keynote address on “Disruptive Organisational Design” on Day 2, March 17th.
Other highlights of the 6th Edition include a Keynote address from Gillian Tans (President, Booking.com) on understanding the evolution of distribution in hospitality and what the future is for young hoteliers. Michael Levie (Chief Operating Officer, citizenM) and Alain Kropf (General Manager, Royal Savoy Lausanne) will cover one of the major themes of this year’s Summit during their joint Keynote on understanding the evolution from Classic to Contemporary Hospitality. This year will also see the addition of a new event: “The Pink Chair – YHS Special Edition”. Set up in the format of a live talk show, Fritz Dickamp (AEHL 2013, YHS MC 2012), will explore the dynamics of hospitality in the sharing economy, in conversation with new players in the market.
Also in the line up this year are two panels of speakers promising to foster active dialogue and stimulated discussion amongst industry leaders. The first will focus on travel distribution in the future and will welcome David Turnbull (COO, SnapShot GmbH), Lorenzo Stoll (Head of Western Switzerland, Swiss International Airlines), Lennert de Jong (Commercial Director, citizenM), Ait Voncke (VP Account Management EMEA, Expedia), Geneviève Materne (Director of Distribution Strategy EMEA, Starwood Hotels & Resorts), and Olivier Jolidon (Director Digital Marketing Europe, FRHI Hotels & Resorts). The second will take on a much more interactive form in the style of a game show on the topic of The New Workforce. Industry representatives Sean Wheeler (Area Director of Human Resources – UK, Dorchester Collection), Michael Levie (Chief Operating Officer, citizenM), Olivier Bracard (CEO, HOSCO), Laura Natal (Associate Director of Staffing for EMEA, Starwood Hotels & Resorts), Matt Smith (Vice President of Talent & Learning, FRHI) and Rachel Begbie (Senior Director of Human Resources, Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts) will team up to answer quiz style questions. The audience will also have the opportunity to participate via the Socrative Application, which will allow for the display of live poll responses.
The results of the Hotel Employer ranking, which is the third pillar of YHS, will be announced during the Summit. The survey gives hospitality students the chance to have their say and rank the most desirable employers in the industry. Hoteliers look to the survey for information on their recruiting and employment methods and it has become recognized as a benchmark of their performance. As partners of the YHS Hotel Employer rankings, Expedia is pleased to offer respondents the chance to win travel vouchers.
The YHS team would like to thank the Challenge Provider Dorchester Collection, as well as Royal Partners Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts, Starwood Hotels & Resort and FRHI Hotels & Resorts. They would also like to thank their new partners: ITB as our official Exclusive Travel Trade Convention Partner and to Hilton Worldwide and Leading Hotels of the World as our Exposure Partners, who will experience the Summit for the first time.
Held annually at the Ecole Hôtelière de Lausanne, the Young Hoteliers Summit is the first hospitality summit bringing together students from hotel schools and industry companies from around the world. As a flagship event of YHS Global, which acts towards improving professional opportunities for young talents in the hospitality industry, the Young Hoteliers Summit is centered on the principles of collaboration towards the industry’s main players, dialogue and exchange of ideas. Our ultimate goal is for our stakeholders to develop actionable proposals, aligning their mutual expectations, capacities and aspirations.
