After four intense, insightful days filled with thought-provoking panels and keynotes by highly experienced industry professionals, yet another successful edition of the Young Hoteliers Summit is completed!
This year, around 40 esteemed speakers and our 69 student delegates joined us online from all over the world to discuss, debate, and to answer the common question: How can we Rethink, Re-Sculpt and Rejuvenate the hospitality industry?
To do so, our delegates were given a challenge by IHG: To create a sustainable guest experience. After tremendous hard work and sleepless nights, the “Hotelier Heroes” won the challenge by presenting “The Green on Height Project”, a rooftop garden concept, to a highly impressed jury. They’ve proven that a mindset constantly set on adapting and growing is the key to professional success.
The stellar panel of speakers has educated, challenged and even surprised the listeners. When activating the Rethinking of the audience, Mr. Carlos Moreira, Founder and CEO of WISeKey redefined the ‘Data’ in Data Protection by explaining how “Data is not the Personal Identity itself, but it is the consent for preferences. We need to develop the Hospitality Consent Industry.” When exploring how to Re-Sculpt the view, it was pointed out how the Air Travel Industry has lost 66% of its passengers in the past year. The next day when the aim was to Rejuvenate, Mr. Ted Teng, Former President and DEO at the Leading Hotels of the World, Inc. remarked that we must “Preserve the definition, Promote the value.” Finally, taking a look at Sustainability, transparency is essential as one needs to demonstrate their efforts to the world with data and metrics. Ms. Melati Wijsen, Indonesian Activist and Founder of Bye Bye Plastic Bags and Youthtopia explains “Sustainability is from A to Z, not just CSR. It has to overarch in all the departments of a company, not just the CSR department.”
The much-awaited YHS Employer’s Ranking report collects information from young talent within the hospitality industry. This year, 428 students and alumni of over 93 universities around the world, of 57 different nationalities gave their opinions on how organizations handled COVID-19 and the associated working conditions. The responses indicated that those who were employed at the peak of the pandemic, 72% experienced layoffs, furloughs, or other kinds of difficulties. Moreover, 60% of employees below the age of 30 in the hospitality industry preferred traditional working styles over the remote alternative. Another interesting finding is that since 2020, 5% less students are looking to apply for an entry-level position post-graduation as the proportion of young hoteliers wishing to continue their studies has more than doubled compared to 2017 suggesting companies should incorporate management training programs. For more information visit 2021 Employer’s Ranking report.
The YHS team is thrilled after a seamless and extremely professional execution of this global event and wish to invite the readers again next year!
