Press release -
FIU Hosts Inaugural Visionary Leaders Forum in Singapore
November 19, 2013 (FIU) Singapore - In an industry so heavily reliant on talent, evolving technology, consumer trends, and where change is the norm, the Institute for Hospitality and Tourism Education and Research (IHTER), a division of the Chaplin School of Hospitality and Tourism Management at Florida International University (FIU) set its sights on addressing key issues faced by the hospitality industry with the launch of the Visionary Leaders Forum in Singapore.
“Being an important regional hub for the hospitality and tourism industry, Singapore was an obvious choice from which to expand FIU’s footprints in Asia beyond our 9-year presence as a leading hospitality management school in Tianjin, China,” said Mike Hampton, dean of the Chaplin School of Hospitality and Tourism Management at FIU.
Held on October 24, during the week of Web In Travel and ITB Asia, this ‘invitation-only’ insight exchange forum brought together senior hospitality leaders to speak candidly about the persistent issues that have a profound impact on a hotel’s ability to stay current, competitive and profitable.
Three topics chosen for discussion were:
- Revenue
Management in the Digital Age
- Optimizing
Profits with Total Revenue Management
- Revenue
Management Leadership & Talent
Common threads running through each discussion group:
- Serious
need for robust customer segmentation, supported by tightly integrated hotel
management systems and business intelligence tools to allow hoteliers to see
the big picture, spot the opportunities, be confident, fluid and more responsive
to customers as individuals with different needs and motivations.
- Asia’s
high real estate development cost together with the rise in mix-use development
projects will inevitably shift the focus to a Total Revenue Management (TRM) approach,
but that being said, participants agreed that the industry is lacking in sufficient
performance benchmarks and best practices to move us forward?
- Revenue management in the Digital and TRM age requires a new set
of performance metrics. Tracking
RevPAR and RGI alone is no longer relevant and should be replaced with KPIs that
considers multiple revenue streams and all associated cost of distribution by
channel. Only then can we make conscious decisions on the type of business to
accept in order to maximize profitability across the entire asset.
- Operators
and owners should leverage more on revenue management professionals like asset
managers at an early stage of the hotel’s technical design & development,
and during the various lifecycles of the asset. The “If you build it - they
will come” idealism is just an elusive dream. The result can be a rude
awakening when you get it wrong.
- Develop
future hospitality leaders with a holistic and commercial mindset to optimize
the total asset, while at the same time, provide professional education to
senior management to prevent unintended ‘traditional and legacy thinking’ from
stifling growth and long-term career progression of younger professionals.
- While
revenue management is a highly specialized discipline on its own, education in
revenue management must be an integral component of the hospitality and tourism
management curriculum regardless of specialization.
“It was a privilege to play host to this distinguish group of hospitality leaders. The rapport and energy among the group members as they delved into their respective discussion topics was refreshing,” said Simone Champagnie, executive director of IHTER.
“Presenting partners, HSMAI Asia Pacific, IDeaS a SAS Company, Travelport and Trust International, actively engaged participants throughout the day. They played a vital role in the program delivery and their proactive approach to this partnership was essential,” said Christine Toguchi, project consultant for IHTER.
Sharing their insight and perspective at this forum were:
- Anna
Au-Yeung, Head of Partner Marketing, Asia Pacific – Travelport
- Fabian
Bartnick, Senior Consultant, Asia Pacific – IDeaS a SAS Company
- Simone
Champagnie, Executive Director - Institute for Hospitality and Tourism
Education and Research at FIU
- Bernadette Dennis, Director - BD
Concepts/Managing Director – HSMAI Asia Pacific
- Craig Fong, Founder & Director –
CF Ventures Pte Ltd
- Siv Forlie, Vice President - Revenue
Management - Shangri-La International Hotels
- Jeannette
Ho, Vice President, Revenue Management and Analytics, Asia Pacific – Fairmont
Raffles Hotels International
- Puneet
Mahindroo, Director, Revenue Management, Asia Pacific – Four Seasons Hotels
& Resorts
- Jurgen
Ortelee, Vice President, Revenue Performance – Pan Pacific Hotels
- Shailesh
Pallipuram, Director of Revenue Management – Operations and Pricing, Asia,
Middle East & Africa – InterContinental Hotels
- Jagdish
Sandhu, Assistant Vice President, Revenue Management & Distribution –
Silver Needle Hospitality
- Philip
Schaetz, Senior Vice President, Sales & Marketing – Dorsett Hospitality
International
- Christine
Tan, Vice President, Sales, Asia Pacific – Trust International
- Maria
Taylor, Regional Vice President, Revenue – Meritus Hotels & Resorts
- Maunik
Thacker, Senior Vice President, Marketing – Marina Bay Sands
- Christine
Toguchi, Managing Director – MacroVision Network Pte Ltd/Project Consultant for
IHTER at FIU
- Richard
Wiegmann, Chief Operating Officer – Trust International
- Stefan
Wolf, Senior Vice President, Revenue & Distribution Strategy – Onyx
Hospitality Group
Facilitators guiding the discussion groups were:
- Patrick
Andres, Vice President & Regional Managing Director, Asia Pacific –
Travelport
- Mike
Hampton, Dean - Chaplin School of Hospitality and Tourism Management at Florida
International University
- Grahame
Tate, Managing Director, Asia Pacific – IDeaS a SAS Company
A white paper containing key outcomes on the issues and opportunities discussed at IHTER’s Visionary Leaders Forum will be published and shared with the industry. IHTER will be producing a series of Visionary Leaders Forums with equally provocative themes in Asia Pacific in 2014.
Topics
- Business enterprise
Categories
- hospitality
- singapore
- fiu
- leaders forum
About Florida International University’s Chaplin School of Hospitality and Tourism Management:
Florida International University's Chaplin School of Hospitality & Tourism Management has been distinguished as one of the top hospitality programs in the U.S. More than 2,000 undergraduate and graduate students from across the United States and around the world choose FIU for its outstanding reputation, advantageous campus locations, expert faculty, rich curriculum, and fast-track career opportunities in the international hotel, foodservice and tourism industries. In August 2006 FIU unveiled the first US School of Hospitality and Tourism in Tianjin, China. The Marriott Tianjin China Program is FIU’s largest international program, with a capacity for up to 1,000 students. For more information about Florida International University’s School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, visit http://hospitality.fiu.edu/.
Media Contact:
Simone Champagnie
Executive Director, Institute for Hospitality and Tourism Education and Research at Florida International University
Email: snchampa@fiu.edu
Tel: +1-305-919-4810