With just over a month to go until hoteliers and suppliers will attend Hotel Summit and Tech in Hospitality Summit, Editor Hamish Kilburn takes a look at the speaker line-up, which includes panel discussions and talks on sustainability, technology and diversity…
With just under five weeks to go until Hotel Summit and Tech in Hospitality Summit officially get underway, the line-up of speakers, which Hotel Designs has secured as part of its on-going partnership with the events, has been announced.
Owned by Forum Events, Hotel Summit, which for more than two decades has been bringing together senior hospitality professionals with key-industry suppliers, will take place between September 26 – 27 at Radisson Hotel & Conference Centre, London Heathrow. The event, which is free to attend for qualified hotel buyers, will consists of pre-arranged, one-to-one meetings, a carefully curated seminar programme and a networking dinner with entertainment.
After recognising the rise in demand for tech-driven hospitality, Forum Events has strengthened its hospitality and design portfolio by launching a summit specifically catered towards technology. Tech in Hospitality Summit will make its debut on September 27 at Radisson Hotel & Conference Centre, London Heathrow.
The sister events, both closely linked, will not only share the same venue, but also the same talks programme, which has been designed to tackle relevant and ever-evolving topics, such as ESG and greenwashing; diversity and inclusion, efficient marketing and sensitively injecting technology.
The line-up is as follows:
SEPTEMBER 26, 2022
08:45 – 09:30 (opening presentation)
Opening presentation: Net-zero hospitality in 2022 & beyond
Scratching away at the greenwashing veneer, Hotel Designs aims to put sustainability and ESG (Environment, Social and Governance) at the forefront of Hotel Summit, which will start with an exclusive panel discussion that will explore how recent research, development and a conscious mindset is allowing hotels to lay down innovative initiatives to achieve a net-zero business model – and it starts with design.
09:45 – 10:30 (seminar)
Back to front inclusion
Presented by Sheryl Miller, Founder, Reboot Global, this session will explore how to create an inclusive culture that values difference, turns your customers into fans and gives you a competitive edge in customer service. The session will cover navigating the evolving diversity of global travellers, how cognitive bias can derail a positive customer experience, how a ‘be yourself’ workplace empowers colleagues to respond to unique guest needs and practical strategies to make colleagues feel valued through everyday interactions.
Miller is a Chartered Accountant by background. She qualified with EY and worked in a variety of commercial finance roles before moving into organisational change, leading large scale transformation in companies such as National Grid and Tesco. In 2018 she wrote the book, ‘Smashing Stereotypes: How To Get Ahead When You’re The Only _____ In The Room’. This led to extensive research into the science of individual performance in the workplace for people from different backgrounds.
She provides Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) training, consultancy and C-suite coaching to businesses who are looking for fresh perspectives on how to create the right environments for high performance. She also holds a number of Non Executive Director roles for organisations including the NHS, Birmingham’s Symphony Hall and is Head of Mentoring for the London Chapter of PWN Global (Professional Women’s Network).
17:00 – 17:45 (seminar)
Recession marketing plan: the 7 key areas to focus your limited spend
Former hotelier and digital marketing expert, Adam Hamadache, CEO, DHM, will present a talk on effective and efficient marketing strategies. As recession looms, and energy prices soar, marketing budgets will be scrutinised, reduced or even slashed. Stopping all marketing activity is well known to be a false economy as we learnt during the pandemic. Hamadache will share his advice on what hotels should do with their limited marketing resources in 2023. His presentation aims to provide a set of guiding principles to help hotels continue to grow bookings and recruit staff with a reduced budget.
SEPTEMBER 27, 2022
08:45 – 09:20 (Panel discussion)
Sensitively injecting tech in hotel design & hospitality
With tech in hospitality and design being one of the key pillars of Hotel Summit and Tech in Hospitality Summit, Editor Hamish Kilburn interview Naomi Heaton who is the developer of the new hospitality brand The Other House to understand how the brand – from design to service – is meaningfully injecting and embracing technology.
09:30 – 10:30 (Seminar)
“How hospitality technology has changed and what does the future look like?”
The two-day programme will end with a talk from Jane Pendlebury, CEO of HOSPA. The pandemic saw an influx of new technologies some of which have been adopted into ‘normal’ life, others have been dumped! In this final session, Pendlebury will explore what the future looks like regarding technology in hospitality?
Sounds great! How do I attend either summits?
If you are a supplier (tech or otherwise) to the hospitality industry looking to meet top hotel professionals, contact Ashley Dawson at a.dawson@forumevents.co.uk– or click here to book your place.
If you are a hotelier and would like to attend either Summit for free, please contact Kerry Naumburger at k.naumburger@forumevents.co.uk – or click here to book your place.
Main image credit: Hotel Designs/Interior Design & Architecture Summit
