3rd ITB Hospitality Day: How does research help building efficient hotels?
Berlin (February 22, 2008). Exploding energy costs eat up the profits; the guests` expectations regarding technology and ambience are growing. How can a hotel free itself from this cost and service trap? A talk on the issue at the 3rd "ITB Hospitality DAY" on the ITB Thursday in Berlin is supposed to give answers. Two scientists, one hotelier and one interior designer will be discussing the subject. A hotel technology expert from the US will be the host. The title of the panel promises an exciting discussion related to practice as well: "Hotels under cost pressure - How do industry and research help build efficient hotels?"
Douglas Rice, Executive Vice President & CEO of the American "Think Tank" HTNG in Chicago, will be the host and will contribute his own ideas as well. After all, HTNG - Hotel Technology Next Generation - is a non-profit organisation where the world`s leading hotel groups regularly meet representatives of the industry to work together on practical technology solutions. Today, the association has nearly 400 hotel companies as members, as well as technology manufacturers and sales persons and many other interested members. Moreover hospitalityInside.com became a media partner of HTNG last year.
"The standard of living at home influences the expectations towards the hotel today," knows Douglas Rice, " also in respect of technology." But how many costs do investors and hoteliers have to burden themselves with for this reason? Here, the discussion starts regarding today`s needs as well as those of future guests because hotels in Europe are being planned for at least 20 years. The hoteliers will probably have to change their business concepts. After all, there are still enough incalculable factors, such as energy costs, which are hard to influence.
Otto Lindner, Board of Directors of the strong expanding Lindner Hotels located in Duesseldorf, is very annoyed by these costs. They pull the turnover yield down. "I believe that ecology has to stay economical too," he says, concerning the enthusiastically researched alternative energy sources. Therefore, he takes care to lower as many cost factors as possible right from the start of construction.
In the meantime, Lindner is entering the realms of the scientists himself. Together with the Fraunhofer-Institut in Duisburg, the hotel room of the future is being created in a "future-oriented laboratory." Klaus Scherer, Head of inHaus Innovation Center of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft in Duisburg, and his colleague Vanessa Borkmann of the Fraunhofer IAO in Stuttgart, will join him in future scenarios that can be realised. In the laboratory looking to the future, the hotelier and scientists are trying to find out together with partners of the industry how flexible as well as how result-oriented and comfortable hotel rooms of the future have to be.
Between the investing and the operating parties, there are normally the interior designers, represented in this talk group by Peter Joehnk of JOI Design from Hamburg. He complains about the missing willingness to invest seriously in money-saving future technologies - even though the industry and research have found pioneering materials and energy-saving control modules for ages now.
This is the exciting topic on Thursday, March 6, 2008, between 2:45 and 3:45 pm in Hall 7.1a, "Auditorium New York 3" at the third hotel conference of ITB. hospitaltyInside.com acts as media partner of this event and is responsible for the content offered that day.
Please find the entire day’s programme at
http://www1.messe-berlin.de/vip8_1/website/MesseBerlin/htdocs/www.itb-kongress/de/Kongressprogramm/EDB-ProgrammDetails/index.jsp?amp;fairID=50201&
eventDateId=51528&eventBundleId=51531&lang=de / kn
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