According to the recent PWC report, only "One in five CEOs" believes that the global economy will improve over the coming year and 70% are committed to cutting costs. While global businesses continue to struggle, today's CEOs continue to face numerous challenges while trying to make their businesses profitable. Majority of those in charge continue to see lack of the right talent as one of their main problems. The CEOs of day have their agenda packed with battles to be fought and mountains to be conquered: from increasing occupancy rates to targeting new customer segments, from managing the trust of shareholders and maintaining the corporate image to finding the right growth strategy in this promising yet unstable political & economic environment. The list is endless. On the 14th-15th of May 2014, the leading CEOs of the CEE & CIS hospitality industry will join together during the Leaders in Hospitality Summit in Warsaw, Poland in order to tackle the obstacles they face when running their companies and deliberate on new business opportunities. Leaders in Hospitality CEE & CIS Summit will feature a debate between Dr. Andreas Karsten-CEO, Vienna International Hotelmanagment AG, Ivona Meissner-CEO, Best Western Central Europe, Christian Kettlitz-CEO, Mamaison Hotels & Residences and Walter Neumann-CEO, Azimut Hotels that will provide a deep understanding on the view from the pinnacle. "Last year I had attended the Summit-Leaders in Hospitality CEE & CIS in Prague for the first time. I was impressed by the professional organization, high attendance of leading experts from the international hospitality industry but above all the interesting combination of keynote speeches, panel discussions, round tables, socializing and networking convinced me to participate also this year. Such events, in my view of professionalism, offer a wide range of opportunities to gain in depth knowledge, best practice examples and to share my long lasting experiences especially in CEE region with other international colleagues. I always emphasize that the players in the hospitality industry have to act together with our environment becoming more competitive and challenging. CEE is definitely a very attractive market with big growth opportunity and further development potential. In the next few years I see good prospects for international brands, developers, investors and suppliers to bring know-how and build together with the local players a great hospitality environment"said Ivona Meissner-CEO, Best Western Hotels Central Europe. The dialogue between over 200 hospitality thought leaders who have extensive knowledge and understanding of the region, gives a very unique opportunity to the industry to attempt in solving their difficulties the industry faces together. Leaders in Hospitality CEE & CIS Summit will serve as a platform for finding new business opportunities and strategies for business growth. "Leaders in Hospitality CEE & CIS Summit provide excellent opportunities for hoteliers and professionals in hotel development to not only network but also share valuable insight with each other. In times of anticipated development growth within the region compared to the consolidated western European markets, the summit provides a great platform to drive this. Warsaw as the Capital of Poland is a great choice for the event as Poland has been a driver of growth in CEE over the past years and continues to offer great opportunities. I very much look forward to meeting my expert colleagues from the industry, exchanging ideas & business contacts, getting inspired and enjoy networking with the industry peers. "stated Christian Kettlitz-CEO, Mamaison Hotels & Residences. Dr. Andreas Karsten-CEO, Vienna International Hotelmanagment AG who is attending the event for the first time acknowledged, "The Leaders in Hospitality Summit is a unique event focusing on high potential hospitality markets. We as VI Hotels & Resorts highly value the networking and interacting opportunities with experts on CEE & CIS markets during and after the event. Currently we are just opening a 5-star luxury hotel in Shelkovo / Moscow this year, already certified as a Leading Hotel of the World. Further we are managing two more properties in Ekaterinburg and on the Polish market we are active with five hotels. It is part of our strategy to grow in CEE & CIS within the next years. Therefore we believe that especially for the extension and growth of our chain, it is essential to participate in the leading event in the region."