Hong Kong Hospitality Innovation Panel

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On Saturday, September 21, 2019, CHS Hong Kong / Macau held its first Hospitality Innovation Panel.  The event was held at The Work Project, and was sponsored by AB InBev, Impossible Foods, and foodpanda.

Following a welcome reception, a series of keynote speakers and panels featured top in the hospitality industry that shared their thoughts about the upcoming trends and the newest innovations.

Keynote Speaker – Increasing Brand Loyalty in the Hospitality Industry

  • Jun Lu – VP Customer Experience, Marriott

Panel – Millennials and the New Luxury – Redefining Hotel Design

  • Monika Dubaj – VP of Development, Hyatt
  • Jun Lu – VP Customer Experience, Marriott
  • Daphne Tan – VP Feasibility & Owner Relations, Marriott
  • Noel Merainer – VP of Development, Rosewood

Keynote Speaker – Innovation in the F&B Landscape

  • Paul Measor – Commercial Director, foodpanda

Panel – Tech in Food Industry – Redesigning Customer Behavior

  • Paul Measor – Commercial Director, foodpanda
  • Max von Poelnitz – Founder & CEO, Nosh
  • Joe Yau – CEO and CTO, OpenRice

Hong Kong/Macau – Hospitality Innovation Panel

First Annual Rome Lodging Outlook

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On October 3, 2019, the CHS AlpAdria & Eastern Europe chapter hosted our 1st Annual Rome Lodging Outlook at the St. Regis Rome.

Jonathan Spada’10 kicked off the event with a welcome to our guests, explained who is CHS and opportunities for becoming a member (as it turned out one of the guests just completed her 4 PDP courses in July!), as well as a quick shout out about our Hospitality Symposium that we’re putting together for the EMEA meeting next April.

Up next, Giorgio Palmucci, President of ENIT (Italy’s national tourism board, responsible for promoting Italian tourism worldwide) gave a welcome and a brief overview of the state-of-the-industry at the moment.

Sarah Diugnan of STR then gave the keynote presentation of market data and forecast, indicating a bright future for Rome, but especially for other markets like Naples, Palermo, and Puglia. Venice forecast, on the other hand, is less bright due to a drop in demand and the cruise ship controversy.

Following Sarah, we invited a panel to discuss the outlook qualitatively. The panel was moderated by Roberto Necci, Chairman of Necci Hotels and President of Centro Studi Federalberghi Roma, and included Giuseppe de Martino, GM of the St. Regis Rome; Gianni di Fede, VP Total Revenue Management EMEA at Radisson Hotel Group; Palmiro Noschese, local hotelier and developer; Sabrina Fragiacomo, owner at Extramilevent; and Rocco Lomazzi, Co-Founder of Sweet Guest.

The nature of the panel offered practical information for hoteliers in the audience to apply in their own hotels for 2020.

The audience was made up of about 40 local hoteliers and managers, representing the top properties in Rome.

A special thanks to Palmiro Noschese ’19 and Luca Cerretani ’09 who helped organize the event. We really appreciated the support from fellow chapter presidents and VPs, and we’re very satisfied with the result for this inaugural event.

Rome Lodging Outlook – October 2019

DC Area Hotelies Run 5K

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Since 1980, Four Seasons has organized and participated in annual charity runs and other initiatives all over the world to raise funds toward advancing cancer research, a cause that has been supported by Four Season employees since Terry Fox’s historical Marathon of Hope across Canada 39 years ago. This year’s race, hosted by the Four Seasons Hotel Washington, DC, was particularly meaningful as the race was held in honor of Julie Saunders, a Four Seasons Hotel Washington, DC, colleague, who lost her battle with cancer in December 2018. Her career as concierge at Four Seasons spanned 25 years and she was the first woman to ever hold the Chief Concierge position in the DC hotel’s 40-year history. This annual event, which will mark its 40th year next year, raises critical funding for cancer research at Washington Cancer Institute (WCI) at MedStar Washington Hospital Center; over $2.3M has been raised to date, with this year’s event successfully raising $450,000.

Cornellians running in the race were Blair Boyce ‘16, Katie Minnock ‘14, Kendall Brown ’16 and Meredith Carr ‘15

2019 Four Seasons 5K in DC.

CHS New England Tours Whitney Hotel

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In September, the New England Chapter hosted a tour and cocktail reception at The Whitney Hotel. The boutique hotel opened in July in Boston’s Beacon Hill neighborhood with 65 luxury guestrooms. The hotel is named for Henry Melville Whitney, a Boston industrialist and owner of the site in 1800s when it served as a dorm for nurses at a local hospital. Over twenty alumni, including CHS Global President Dexter Wood ‘87, were able to see the beautiful property including its garden courtyard, learn of its long history, and enjoy food and beverage from Peregrine, the hotel’s coastal Mediterranean restaurant.

Picture One: Alan Suzuki ’03, Dave Harelick, Kathleen Murphy ’87, Sebastian Colella ’05, Dexter Wood ’87, Nala Holmes ’12, James Carmody ’81, Stephanie Loeber ’95, Venus Tse ’17, David Hoff ‘81

Picture Two: Dexter Wood ’87 Global CHS President with Sebastian Colella ’05 Chapter President and Nala Holmes ’12 Chapter Vice President

CHS New England Tours Whitney Hotel

 

CHS Philadelphia Get Together

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On Saturday 9/14/19, the Philly/South Jersey chapter had a casual get together at the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society’s Pop Up Beer Garden.

Those in attendance were:

* Jessica (’04) and Peter (ILR ’03) Diamond with children Tommy and Teddy
* Vickie (’96) and Alex Kozhushchenko with children Mila and Nina
* Janet (’95) and Jacob Gerhard with children
* Ethan Gabany (’17)
* Maria Hera (’12)
* Ruthie Starr (’16)
* Rocky Forman (’16)
* Nick Quinn (’04)

CHS Philadelphia at Pennsylvania Horticultural Society

DC Chapter Welcomes Recent Grads

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On August 8th, 2019, CHS Washington DC welcomed the newly minted Class of 2019 Hotelies to the area, during the annual “Welcome to DC Happy Hour”. The chapter gathered for drinks and conversations at the Takoda rooftop bar.

Welcome to DC Happy Hour – 2019

Atlanta Lodging Outlook 2020

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On Wednesday, September 4, 2019 the Georgia Chapter of the Cornell Hotel Society held its annual Atlanta Lodging Outlook breakfast seminar.  A crowd of 350 area hotel industry professionals attended the 21st annual seminar.  This year’s event was held at the InterContinental Hotel in Buckhead.  Our host was Brian Ettelman ’87, Director of Catering.

CHS Georgia chapter President Sachin Desai ’14 opened the proceedings, followed by Jim Sprouse, President of the Georgia Hotel & Lodging Association and Rachel Humphrey, Interim President and CEO of the Asian American Hotel and Lodging Association.

The first panel of speakers discussed the hotel labor costs, recruitment, retention, and productivity.  The session was moderated by Professor Bruce Tracey, Ph.D.  Panelists included: Del Ross – Chief Revenue Office of Hotel Effectiveness, Bryan DeCort – Executive Vice President of Hotel Equities, and Greg Winey – President of North Pointe Hospitality.

Following the labor panel, local area experts presented their outlook for 2020:

  • Roger Tutterow Ph.D., Professor of Economics at Kennesaw State University
  • Mark Vaughan, EVP and Chief Sales Officer for the Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau
  • Mark Woodworth ’77, Senior Managing Director of CBRE Hotels Research

Thanks to eCornell who donated a certificate for $3,600 worth of online courses.  The certificate was auctioned off, and the proceeds were used to support the Georgia chapter’s scholarship fund.

Atlanta Lodging Outlook – September 4, 2019

CHS Singapore Welcomes Ted Teng ‘79

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On Saturday night, September 7, 2019, Bill ’79 and Debbie ’81 Minnock hosted a reception at their home in honor of visiting CHS Global 2nd Vice President Ted Teng ’79.  Joining Bill, Debbie and Ted were the leaders of the local CHS Singapore chapter.

Bill ’79 and Debbie ’81 Minnock Host Ted Teng ’79

Professor Enz Visits Amsterdam

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The CHS BeNeLux Chapter, together with The Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International (HSMAI), co-hosted an evening event in Amsterdam on Wednesday, August 7, 2019. The event included a tour of the new citizenM Amstel Amsterdam, an innovative lifestyle hotel concept followed by plenty of networking. We were joined by Cathy A. Enz, Ph.D., Professor of Strategy and Business Economics.

CHS Amsterdam Welcomes Professor Cathy Enz.

CHS Hawaii Says Aloha To Dean Walsh

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On Saturday, August 11, 2019, the CHS Hawaii chapter greeted Dean Kate Walsh while she was vacationing with her family. The event was held at Herringbone Waikiki in Honolulu. A total of 19 Hotelies and guests were able to attend.

Dean Walsh Visits CHS Hawaii