5. ITB Hospitality Day talk: only innovations can help hotel managers now
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Berlin (March 5, 2010). The countdown to get a feeling for new trends has started: it''s "ITB Hospitality Day" next Thursday, March 11, 2010. For the fifth time, Messe Berlin and its hotel media partner hospitalityInside extend an invitation to the hotel conference. Getting a feeling for trends is free for ITB visitors and does not require any reservations. "Top knowledge for free" - the slogan of this year''s ITB Convention - should come true. One of the panels at the ITB Hospitality Day is about "The Prescription for Bland Hotels". Innovations are necessary when hotels have already reduced their costs to zero but still have to maintain their turnover and keep the guests happy.
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| Geoff Marée. |
Geoff Marée, Professor for Creativity and Design at the Dutch NHTV Breda University of Applied Sciences, has invited four guests with very creative concepts and views to Berlin: Christoph Hoffmann, Partner and CEO of 25hours Hotel Company from Hamburg; Michael Levie, Chief Executive Officer of the luxury budget group citizenM hotels from Amsterdam, as well as the two creativity consultants and developers Axel Donald Sauer, Managing Director, ProLeisure Business Development GmbH from Frankfurt, and Titus D.F. van der Werf, President Global Hospitality Procurement, The Parker Company from Dubai.
It is not possible to predict the exact content of the panel as all guests agreed to come up with spontaneous ideas and share their experiences. citizenM, for example, belongs to the less known groups – from a global point of view - in the budget sector whose concept, however, causes furore among insiders: they offer luxury beds (allegedly the same ones as Four Seasons Hotels) in a very tiny space, with flexible lighting and bathrooms behind glass. 25hours is among the young hotel groups that have realised "theme hotels" in ambitious ways: for example, the 25hours Levi''s in Frankfurt - an absolutely authentic "jeans hotel", which eliminates any thought of luxury by virtue of its creative realisation and, on top of that, has a surprisingly good price-performance ratio.
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| Christoph Hoffmann. |
Will such nice hotels have a greater influence on the hotel industry in future? What can individual hotel managers learn from these hotels? How are such concepts developed? Axel Donald Sauer and Titus D.F. van der Werf will be answering these questions - they are experienced hotel insiders and co-creators of innovative concepts.
Geoff Marée, Professor of Creativity of the Breda University of Applied Sciences for Tourism in the Netherlands, will surely conduct an unusual moderation; at least, this is what he promised. The panel discussion "Innovation: The Prescription for Bland Hotels" takes place on Thursday, March 11, 2010, at 11.45 am (Hall 7.1b, Auditorium London).
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| Michael Levie. |
hospitalityInside is media partner of the ITB Hospitality Day and is responsible for thecontent of the panel discussions. The remaining discussions revolve around the key words resorts/tour operators, mobile devices, climate and budget. In addition, there will be a CEO panel.
Please find the detailed programme of the entire day under this link. / kn
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