If necessity is the mother of invention, extreme discomfort might be the mother of necessity, as Cornell Alumnus Arthur Chang discovered during a return flight from the Dominican Republic back in 2001. After jostling for armrest position yet again, he conceived an idea of a contraption that would provide much needed comfort to a cramped airline seat. He set the idea aside, though, as he entered into the competitive industry of hospitality consulting with Jim Coyle’s (’87) prestigious firm Coyle Hospitality Group; meanwhile, his wife and fellow Cornell Alumnus, Grace, earned her masters degree in architecture and began working in design.

Arthur & Grace Chang

The airline comfort idea never fully died, though, and in 2011 the Changs decided to bring their brainchild to life. Thanks to Arthur’s vision and Grace’s background in design, they created a sleek, lightweight, attachable armrest divider that successfully ends the fight for armrest space, allowing both sides to share equally. The couple searched for ways to bring it to market, but struggled to interest vendors in their design.

Fortunately, they belong to an innovative network of people who share their entrepreneurial spirit: The Cornell Hotel Society. Arthur and Grace began to consult with old friends and fellow Cornell Alumni, who offered valuable insight into the Changs’ branding and marketing strategy. The Changs engaged with Hotelie Kira Kohrherr (’01), who helped with the company’s rebranding; with a new name and a strategic marketing campaign, Soarigami quickly took off.

Deeply impressed, the television marketing experts at Will It Launch brought Soarigami to “As Seen On TV,” and the Changs’ savvy invention began to revolutionize the travel industry as it received international acclaim and became the “product to have,” according to publications such as Conde Nast Traveler, Fast Company, CNN, Gizmodo, The Atlantic, and over 400 others in 50 countries.

Thankful not only for the success of their invention but for the instrumental advice and support from their fellow Cornell alumni, the Changs were inspired to give back during Entrepreneurship@Cornell’s Annual Celebration Conference. As Arthur put it, “We were blown away by all the students who have ideas to disrupt industry and change the world. Our idea feels so small compared to these students’ (ideas).” Thus, Arthur and Grace led the way in creating the “Launch your Idea!” consumer product competition.

This competition, made possible by a deal that the Changs brokered between Entrepreneurship@Cornell and Will it Launch, will look for the next big “it” idea among Cornell students and alumni and will connect the winner directly to both funding and to the people who can bring it to market. The Changs’ biggest regret is not going to their CHS network sooner, so they are thrilled at the chance to help others by smoothing the way for fellow Cornell students and alumni.

Arthur and Grace are taking all that they’ve learned from their entrepreneurial adventure and leveraging it into the start-up world. Most significantly, they remember that this sense of community and belonging comes full circle: connected every step of the way to their fellow Hotelies, they received support to become an international success, and now will influence those who follow in their rather impressive footsteps.

Yotel brings fresh insight to the modern guest experience.

The way travelers views accommodations is changing — and Yotel is at the forefront of this market dynamic. Yotel is a unique series of hotels offering intimate, artfully designed spaces that combine affordable luxury with a clean, tech-driven approach and a Japanese-inspired aesthetic. Offering three airport-based hotels in London and Amsterdam, as well as a 600-cabin hotel in New York City, Yotel is reshaping the industry’s approach to lodging. They’ve successfully positioned themselves as a digital leader in hotels through implementation of the latest technology and a hyperawareness of the needs of today’s modern guest.

“We look at the hospitality industry and take things from a technology perspective,” explains Jason Brown ’05, Chief Development Officer at Yotel. “An example of that is the check-in kiosk. The airlines have done a great job over the last 20 years of getting people used to checking in on kiosks, but that had never been done in hotels before because it was said that no one would ever use them. But it was actually fantastic—95%+ of our check-ins and checkouts are done at kiosks now. And this really frees up our crew members’ time to do what they are supposed to do—deliver exceptional hospitality.”

Each Yotel offers guests simple, thoughtfully designed rooms that provide luxury without the expensive provisions that tend to spike the prices of other rooms. Guests enjoy free wifi, workspaces with printers, galley kitchens with complimentary beverages, and other offerings that cater to today’s budget-savvy consumer. The New York location features robotic luggage storage and numerous spaces for mixing and mingling, while Yotel’s airport locations offer guests in-terminal accommodations that are bookable in hourly increments, providing a respite for travelers to rest or work between flights. “We’ve created an environment where guests can work, play, eat, and sleep — delivered in a digital footprint,” says Brown.

Yotel has enjoyed incredible success with this model, building on its original European offerings to its New York location the United States. Plans for expansion include the 2018 opening of a 600-cabin hotel in the heart of Singapore’s bustling fashion district.

Lou Carbone, CEO of Experience Engineering, came to share his work with Professor Kathy LaTour’s marketing classes (services marketing, principles of marketing). Carbone and LaTour have been working together on various projects for the last fifteen years, after meeting at the Mind of the Market Lab at the Harvard Business School.

Professor LaTour’s work on memory reconstruction offered important insights into how marketers can “backward”-frame an experience by influencing how consumers remembered the event. Carbone’s work on experience design had primarily focused on engineering the experience prior and during by implementing clues that guide how consumers interpret the experience. Most recently they published an article in the Cornell Hospitality Quarterly on “Sticktion: Assessing Memory for the Customer Experience”