The Hotel Management Singapore Summit (HMS Summit) was held last week, attended by more than 35 speakers and 150 delegates.
Organised by Questex Hospitality Group, the summit is designed to provide a platform for senior hoteliers to come together and discuss the key issues impacting the industry.
Harish Shah, the “Singapore futurist” opened the conference with the keynote speech on the topic of “Anticipating Game-Changing Travel Trends for a Successful Future”. Using future studies methods, he helped hoteliers envision future events or developments and position themselves to minimise the stresses and shocks from the resulting impacts. Shah highlighted generation change, sharing culture and technology as disruptors to the industry.
The “Productivity Panel” featured leading hotel operations and finance executives from global hotel brands, including Lothar Pehl, Starwood’s senior vice president of operations & global initiatives for Asia Pacific, Sara Kearney, Hyatt’s senior vice president of operations for Asia Pacific, Bart Buiring, Marriott’s senior vice president of operations for Asia Pacific, Ian Wilson, Marina Bay Sands’ senior vice president of hotels operations for China, Soo Hin Yeoh, Kempinski’s vice president of finance, and Nikhil Nath, CEO of Knowcross. Together, they looked at existing hotel operating processes and service offerings and offered suggestions and best practices that help boost productivity.
Other heavyweight speakers include Bobby Hiranandani, managing director of Royal Group Holdings, Frederic Flageat-Simon, Commune Hotels & Resorts’ CEO for Asia, Marc Dardenne, CEO of Patina Hotels & Resorts, Ronald Tay, CEO of the Ascott Residence Trust, Gaurang Jhunjhnuwala, Naumi Hospitality’s director and CEO for Australia & New Zealand, David Topolewski, CEO of Qooco, Michael Ma, group CEO of the IndoChine Group, Symon Bridle, chief operating officer of Rosewood Hotel Group, Ananda Arawwawela, executive vice president of hotel assets management for City Developments Limited, KC Moy, executive vice president & board secretary of Capella Hotel Group, Rachel Grier, IDeaS’ managing director for Asia, Antoine Chahwan, regional vice president & GM of the Four Seasons Hotel Singapore, Jeannette Ho, vice president of revenue management & analytics for FRHI Hotels & Resorts, and Fabrice Blondeau, AccorHotels’ global vice president of F&B, luxury & upscale brands.
“We are grateful for the overwhelming industry support received in a time when Singapore hoteliers are in need of innovations,” said Questex Hospitality Group’s vice president, Ben Isenberg. “With a strong speaker line-up and interactive discussions, HMS Summit proved to be crucial for the future success of the industry.”
HMS Summit 2015 formed part of TravelRave, the week-long series of travel trade events hosted in Singapore every year. Travel Daily was a media partner of HMS Summit.
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