Young Hoteliers Summit 2018 – Eyes on the Future: Following the momentum of growth

Posted on 19 January 2018

The Young Hoteliers Summit (YHS) was initiated by students of cole htelire de Lausanne in 2010. It has since taken advantage of its position as the most influential student-organised hospitality summit on a global scale, attracting both students and industry professionals. Last year, YHS welcomed more than 300 students from 40 hospitality schools in 19 different countries to the summit to Òtackle the Challenge of Conventionalism in the Hospitality IndustryÓ. During workshops, the attendees discovered new insights as well as unusual point of views on hospitality related topics, and, most of all, were able to learn from one another.

The 9th edition of the Young Hoteliers Summit will take place at Ecole htelire de Lausanne, Switzerland from the 12th until 14th of March 2018. With this year’s umbrella topic ÒEyes on the Future: Following the Momentum of GrowthÓ, the 9th edition aims to explore the trends, possibilities and opportunities in the hospitality industry. Driven by the growth of millennial travellers, both the world’s leading hotel chains and entrepreneurs are discovering and creating new experiences to cater to the needs of millennials. YHS will explore topics ranging from new branding ideas and marketing schemes to the trends for the Internet of Things in Hospitality and the changing landscape of hotel ownership.

During this year’s summit, YHS will again host various panel discussions, keynote speeches and workshops. Keynote speakers this year include top managers such as Tina Haller, Senior Manager of KPMG for the hotel & real estate advisory and Michael Levie, Chief Operations Officer of CitizenM. Steve Hood, Senior Vice President of STR, will also be hosting the annual Certificate in Hotel Industry Analytics (CHIA) workshop all student delegates can undertake. In addition to keynote speeches, panel discussions will revolve around topics such as redefining Luxury in the Age of the Millennial traveller. Millennials are bound to become a significant customer segment in the following years, and traditional luxury needs to be redefined to stay attractive to this new generation of travellers. The panel discussion will help to shed light on this issue and help find a solution for traditional luxury hotels.

After eight successful editions of YHS, the organising committee is confident and excited that the Young Hoteliers Summit 2018 will live up to and exceed the expectations associated with it. We are happy to announce the publication of our annual YHS Rankings survey, which is aimed to bring young hospitality talent opinions and hopes to light and to identify where companies may be lacking regarding employer branding, recruitment, and employment methods. We encourage students and alumni in business schools to participate in the survey.