ITB Hospitality Day: top panels about eco guests, HR, residences, resorts
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Berlin (January 30, 2009). For the fourth time, ITB Berlin welcomes its guests to attend the "ITB Hospitality Day" and listen - complimentary - to top speakers and panelists. The content of the hotel conference at the world`s largest tourism fair is created by hospitalityInside.com, ITB Hospitality Day`s media partner right from the beginning. International experts discuss the profile of the future eco guests, they talk about residences and Integrated Resorts. For half an hour, experts will answer questions from the audience about "talent management". The highlight of the day will be the first CEO panel with the heads of the international hotel groups InterContinental, Marriott, Jumeirah, Sol Meliá and The Leading Hotels of the World. Here is a first overview. In the next weeks you will read more details about each panel.
In a time of global economic and financial crisis the world’s hotel industry is once again facing huge challenges. On 12 March 2009, international experts at the ITB Hospitality Day will discuss current tendencies and future trends in six panels.
He is on everyone’s lips, but no-one knows exactly who he is: the eco-guest of the future. Who the much vaunted, eco-friendly free-spending guest of tomorrow really is still remains unclear. Representatives of eco-platforms, of recently founded design hotels, as well as socially friendly and eco-compatible resorts such as Frégate Island Private and companies like the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, will be discussing this issue at the first session of the Hospitality Day.
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| Sue Stephenson, Ritz-Carlton, joins the session about the eco guests. |
This is the first time at an ITB Hospitality Day that an interactive discussion round will be taking place, with human resource specialists answering questions from the audience. What qualifications must workers have in order to contribute to a hotel’s success in the future? Along with Ruud R. Reuland, General Director of the famous Ecole Hoteliére de Lausanne, Katrin Melle, Area Director Human Resources with Hyatt Int. and spokeswoman for Human Resources Circles in Germany, will be providing the answers. The session is moderated by Thomas Kraft from the specialised training institute IFH worldwide.
This year’s Hospitality Day HOTSPOT will involve high-level participants taking a 90- minute look at the hotel industry. Under the slogan ”Hotel industry - quo vadis?”, a global CEO panel will be taking place for the first time at the ITB Hospitality Day. The event will be moderated by Maria Puetz-Willems, chief editor of hospitalityInside.com, the media partner of the Hospitality Day. The following CEOs will be presenting their views: Andrew Cosslett, InterContinental Hotels Group/UK; Ed Fuller, Marriott International/USA; Gerald Lawless, Jumeirah Group/Dubai; Ted Teng, the new CEO of the Leading Hotels of the World/New York, and Gabriel Escarrer Jaume, CEO & Co-Vice Chairman of Sol Meliá Hotels & Resorts/Mallorca.
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| IHG CEO Andrew Cosslett and four colleagues talk about the current situation. |
Participants of equally high calibre will be taking part in a discussion round entitled "Residences". Particularly in times of crisis, financing hotels through residences is becoming more and more important, as this kind of financing can also increase the value of the properties of international hotel chains. But will they also survive the current crisis? Among those responding to questions will be Peng Sum Choe of CEO Frasers Hospitality, Asia’s largest residence company, and Scott Woroch, Executive Vice President Worldwide Development of Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts, based in Toronto.
The European perspective will be added by the consultant Manfred Schoenleben, TMC Partners. Philip Bacon, a residence specialist of the consultancy HVS Hospitality Services in Madrid, will moderate the session
One topic that particularly polarises opinion is "Integrated Resorts". Through their involvement with a region and local population they play an especially important role in economically weaker areas, in Asia and Europe alike. One example is the luxury golfing paradise operated by the Egyptian investor Samih Sawiris and currently being built in Andermatt, Switzerland.
At the ITB Hospitality Day he will be discussing the economic advantages and risks for investors, along with Eric Bello, of the Venetian Resort Hotel Las Vegas and the Marina Bay Sands project in Singapore, and Achilles V. Constantakopoulos, managing director of the mega resort Costa Navarino in Greece currently under construction, and Karl Pojer, Member of the Executive Committee, TUI AG/TUI Hotels & Resorts.
The sixth panel is still in preparation. For the detailed program, click this link and read the next issues of hospitalityInside.com. / kn
The ITB Berlin Convention
ITB Berlin 2009 will be taking place from Wednesday, 11 to Sunday, 15 March, and will be open to trade visitors from the Wednesday to the Friday. Parallel with the trade fair, the ITB Berlin Convention will be taking place(Wednesday to Saturday). For full programme details click on www.itb-convention.com.
Fachhochschule Worms and the US-based market research company PhoCusWright Inc are partners of the ITB Berlin Convention. Turkey is co-hosting this year’s ITB Berlin Convention. Other sponsors of the ITB Berlin Convention include Top Alliance, responsible for VIP service, hospitalityInside.com, the media partner of the ITB Hospitality Day, and Flug Revue, the media partner of the ITB Aviation Day. The Planeterra Foundation is the premium sponsor of the ITB Corporate Social Responsibility Day, and Gebeco the premium sponsor of the ITB Tourism and Culture Day. TUEV International is the basic sponsor of the event entitled "Practical Aspects of CSR". The following are partners collaborating with the ITB Business Travel Days: Air Berlin PLC & Co. Luftverkehrs KG, Verband Deutsches Reisemanagement e.V. (VDR), Vereinigung Deutscher Veranstaltungsorganisatoren e.V., HSMA Deutschland e.V., Deutsche Bahn AG, geschaeftsreise1.de, hotel.de, Kerstin Schaefer e.K. - Mobility Services and Intergerma. Air Berlin is the premium sponsor of the ITB Business Travel Days 2009.
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