The hospitality industry is facing turbulent times: On 11 August (2 – 4 p.m. CET) ITB Berlin will launch its next round of online sessions as part of the virtual ITB Berlin Convention. Under the heading ’ITB Virtual Convention Hospitality Update – Trends & Cases’, the three sessions and interviews on the global platform itb.com (www.itb.com/VirtualConvention) will focus on the topic of hospitality. The events will be streamed live in English and available shortly afterwards to anyone interested as videos on demand.
Kicking off the three-part series will be the session ‘Smart Hotel – Future Scenarios and Current Practice in the Crisis’ at 2 p.m., in which Prof. Dr. Ing. Vanessa Borkmann of the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering IAO will provide valuable insights into technological scenarios and cognitive environments. She will highlight ways in which digitalisation can help the hotel industry in these challenging times and provide examples of how hotels are integrating smart solutions and new technologies to overcome the crisis.
This will be followed at 2.30 p.m. by ‘Ready, Set, Listen: Staying Fit in a Hotelier’s Race to Recovery’, an exclusive interview with Ben Jost, the CEO of TrustYou. In conversation with Iris Steinmetz, Senior Director of Operations EMEA, HRS International, he will discuss how hoteliers can maximise the potential of the Travel Health Index and why listening to guest and staff feedback will be the key to success during and after the pandemic.
Rounding off the series on 11 August at 3.15 p.m. will be a discussion round titled ‘How to Create a Comeback – Practical Learnings from the Crisis Period’, also moderated by Iris Steinmetz, Senior Director of Operations EMEA, HRS International. Together with other panel members, Andreas Westerburg, Head of Development, BWH Hotel Group, Stefan Matthiessen, Chief Brand Officer, Koncept Hotels, and Julie White, VP Commercial EMEA Wyndham Hotels & Resorts will outline the thorny road to recovery for all the various types will outline the thorny road to recovery for all the various types of hotels around the world. What direction are hotel brands taking? How are new, smaller brands positioning themselves, and how are the major established hotel companies finding their way? The practice-oriented panel discussion at this session will focus on sharing practical advice and experiences with representatives of different hotel brands.
