A 10/10 finish to the Young Hoteliers Summit Challenge provided by Dorchester Collection
Lausanne, March 20th 2015 – The final day of the Young Hoteliers Summit commenced on Wednesday 18th March, by welcoming Fritz Dickamp (AEHL 2013 and YHS MC 2012) to the stage for a live stream with Mr. Steve Salom (General Manager Western Switzerland, UBER) on the topic of "Hospitality in the Sharing Economy". Via facebook, delegates were able to pose questions covering the growth and evolution of Uber and the brand's identity, the impact of the negative and positive publicity they have received, their recent partnerships and who they consider competition – hint: not taxis.
Delegates then broke out into their teams of five to continue working on Dorchester Collection's Challenge to redesign the organisational structure of the company from a hierarchy to a network. The Young Hoteliers Summit was honoured to welcome Mr. Christopher Cowdray, (CEO, Dorchester Collection) on campus to join the panel of esteemed judges Mr. Eugenio Pirri (Vice President of People & Organisational Development, Dorchester Collection), Ms. Ana Brant (Director, Global Guest Experience & Innovation, Dorchester Collection) and Ms. Rakhee Patel (People & Talent Lead, Dorchester Collection) for the Challenge presentations. The 12 teams were selected at random and given 10 minutes to present their concept and convince the panel that their idea was the best way to break down silos, promote communication and collaboration, and empower the most connected individuals. The key interests for Mr. Cowdray and the judges were creativity and innovation whilst still being implementable and realistic. The judges also inquired into the overall group dynamic and adherence to Dorchester Collection's core value.
Mr. Cowdray was inspired and impressed by what he heard and the people he met "It's great to be out of the normal work situation and amongst bright vibrant minds who are the future of our industry. Our industry needs people who are enthusiastic, dynamic and want to make a difference. Congratulations to every single team, you worked hard, put a lot of thought into the subject matter, drew on experiences from the industry and gave an insightful millennia point of view"
The winning group was chosen based on the innovation behind their solution, their perspective of looking inwards to outwards, the way they involved everyone in the solution and its sustainability as they could reposition the people they already have. Congratulations to Team 10/10 made up of Anna Church (Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne), Nirmitee Mehta (Ecole Hoteliere Lavasa), Donal Ennis (Shannon College of Hotel Management), Aaron Laurie (University of Guelph) and Maruan Elana (MODUL University Vienna GmbH) who have been rewarded with the Ultimate Experience and will next meet Dorchester Collection at their corporate office in London, after experiencing two nights each at Dorchester Collection's Milan and Paris properties.
Young Hoteliers Summit would like to thank all the delegates and partners for their participation and invaluable support throughout the Summit and wishes them a safe trip home. We look forward to welcoming back our growing community of schools and valued industry partners to the 7th Edition in 2016.
About YHS: 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.
