Student-organized summit looks at the future of hospitality
The Future of Hospitality Summit 2016 held at the end of October at Les Roches hotel management school in Switzerland focused on the rapid pace of innovation affecting the hospitality industry, highlighting practical ways of thinking about, and confronting, the unfolding future.
Completely organized by the school's students, the summit brought together a number of leaders whose companies are facing technological change – and successfully learning to thrive in the ever-evolving landscape.
"FHS was an action-packed combination of keynote speeches, workshops, an innovation competition, all related to the hospitality industry and superbly organized by our students," said Sarah Schwab, Director General at Les Roches. "We enjoyed thought-provoking keynotes which included a vibrant debate on how best to 'future-proof' our strategies; how people, relationships and emotion continue to differentiate in the world of the senior executive traveler; and strikingly, how the world of work will be transformed by vast numbers of employees opting for freelancing as their employment model of choice."
This was the second edition of the FHS, which is foreseen as an annual event taking place on the Les Roches campus in Bluche, in the Valais Alps. It was attended by about 300 participants, including executives from companies in the industry based throughout Europe, and a large contingent of student and faculty members eager to hear what they had to say.
"I was especially impressed by the pitching competition sponsored by EP Magazine," Sarah noted. In this competition, six teams presented solutions addressing the thorny challenge of making cities hospitable against a backdrop of security-related anxiety. The winning team will go on to present their idea at the EP Magazine Conference in London next April. "We wish them much success!" said Sarah.
Les Roches Global Hospitality Education
