8th "ITB Hospitality Day" talks about young travellers and Generation Y
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| Young travellers love cities. / photo: ruf Reisen, André Bitter |
Berlin (February 8, 2013). This year, the 8th hotel conference of the ITB stands under the motto "Young". Therefore, the first two discussions of "ITB Hospitality Day" on Thursday, March 7 in Hall 7.1b/Auditorium London will be joined by three students. In the first 'Hot Spot' Young Travellers the panelists should endeavour to clarify what expectations this generation has toward travelling and toward hotels. In the second 'Hot Spot ' Generation Y representatives of this age group will formulate what expectations they have toward their employers within the hotel industry. To start here, two students have already drafted their wishlists. Entry to the ITB hotel conference is free to all trade show visitors. As an exclusive media partner of the ITB Hospitality Day, hospitalityInside.com will report within its website on the panels after ITB – for all users.
First, the figures will speak for themselves. From 11:15 (and until 12:15) Greg Richards, Professor of Leisure Studies at the University of Tilburg, Great Britain summarises the results of a current global study on young travellers. They will then be discussed. Under the direction of the Educational Adviser Ruud Reuland, who many also know from his time as the Director of Ecole Hotelière de Lausanne, the 23 year-old student, Hilmar zum Buttel along with David Chapman, Chairman of the Board of the World Youth Student & Educational (WYSE) Travel Confederation as well as Carl Michel, Chairman of the Board of Generator Hostels and Dirk Foeste, Director Sales, Marketing & PR with the youth tour operator, ruf Reisen will all exchange among themselves.
Then, from 12:30, the second part of the "Hot Spot" devotes itself to the hotel everyday life: Then two students, members of Generation Y, discuss with two employers on how they can fuse the different expectations and working images with each other within a company.
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| What do students like? Hilmar zum Buttel from Bad Honnef. |
In large businesses, today traditionalists (born between 1925-1945) meet with Baby Boomers (1946-1961), Generation X (1961-1981), and Generation Y (1981-1997). In international hotel groups like Starwood Hotels & Resorts with "fresh" lifestyle brands and dynamic expansion, nearly 40 percent of the staff members in Europe, Africa and the Middle East (EAME) are between 18 and 33 years old today. Ingrid Eras, Vice President People Development & Staffing EAME, Starwood Hotels & Resorts estimates that already half of the executives will be of that Generation Y in 2020.
Gen Y knows: the working power of this generation will be the first in high demand due to demographic changes.
At the ITB Hospitality Day, Ingrid Eras will be the representative of an international hotel chain and she will discuss this subject with two students. On Thursday, March 7, from 12:30-1:00 p.m., a young colleague will support her: Reto Candrian from the luxury hotel Suvretta House in St. Moritz, Switzerland. His family owns the hotel. He grew up in the hotel and gastronomy industry, but then became an investment expert in England and Asia before returning home and taking on the "leading position" in his early 30s. This way, the young man is responsible for his employees.
Here, the two hospitality students Katharina Jaeger and Adrian Ruch from Lausanne already address to their future employers and provide a "wish list" with their ideas and hopes:
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| Student Katharina Jaeger from Lausanne. |
EDUCATION/VOCATIONAL TRAINING: Many trainee programmes offered to Bachelor graduates today, aim at later employment as Front Office Manager, for example. These programmes often include working in various departments for several months (e.g. F&B, housekeeping). In our case, it is a repetition of our operational internships and offers only very few new perspectives to us. The graduation offered, for example, with internal certifications does not constitute an academic perspective for Bachelor graduates. Therefore, we would like to have an international and broadly recognised degree (e.g. EMBA) as is the case in other industries as well.
CAREER MANAGEMENT: We wish for specific career management. Frequently, professional advancement within a business fails either because of missing trainees or due to lacking career opportunities (management positions are occupied for many years). In a regular job, it would be desirable to be able to determine one's own career together with the employer within the realms of possibility. Motivation and loyalty would be increased this way.
SELF-REALIZATION: In order to become really active in one's job, self-responsibility plays an important role. Therefore, independence/self-responsibility and participation in decisions and innovations are of utmost importance to us.
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| Student Adrian Ruch from Lausanne. |
FAMILY FRIENDLINESS: Because starting a family is a great challenge in the hotel industry (keyword: working hours), we wish for greater support from employers to enable us to manage our private and professional lives. In larger hotels, childcare for the children of guests could be extended to the children of employees.
INDUSTRY-SPECIFIC ISSUES: We are aware of the fact that the typical wage in the hotel industry is below average wage. Therefore, we hope that the hotel industry will capitalise on additional opportunities, which are able to be realised without large costs. These could be, amongst others:
- travel opportunities by means of exchange programmes (e.g. a human resources staff member from Germany could exchange positions with a colleague from Singapore for 3 months);
- using existing off-season offers (e.g. reduced spa offers and the opportunity to take friends and family along); vocational training with recognised certificates;
- department-specific workshops for all interested staff members (e.g. bar workshop or cooking course);
- places to stay (e.g. for staff members working part-time shifts);
- a modern and positive working environment;
- the management defines a small budget for expenses designed to benefit the employees' satisfaction.
You will find the complete program of the ITB Hospitality Day 2012 under this link. / kn
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