10:30 a.m. – 11:15 a.m.
360° of Advancing Women in Hospitality
Industry leaders share strategic initiatives that reveal how companies are prioritizing support and advancement of women at all levels of business. Get key insights that you can implement at your organization to encourage diversity and boost employee retention and satisfaction. Whatever your position in the industry, this is a session you can’t afford to miss.
11:30 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.
Influencer Marketing and Scaling Your Social Media Reach
Recent research shows that influencer marketing for the hotel industry yields double revenue than the spend. Hospitality can benefit from an influencer marketing strategy, and many brands that recognize this have increased their budgets for working with bloggers and content creators to share their experience with their followers. Learn how to engage influencers to amplify your offering.
1:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.
Understanding the Minds of Your Guests
Chris Davidson, EVP of global strategy for MMGY Global, will share the company’s most current research and data about what influences travelers when selecting a hotel, and what these travelers will expect and value in the future. Featuring highlights from MMGY’s 2017/2018 “Portrait of American Travelers” and from its massive DK Shifflet traveler database, Davidson will also explore emerging trends in consumer preferences and behaviors in the hospitality industry, including hot topics such as the rise of shared accommodations, the emergence of micro-hotels, the effectiveness of soft hotel brands like Autograph Collection and Curio Collection, the influence of travel agents and more.
2:00 p.m. – 2:45 p.m.
Lodging Industry Look: Trends for 2017 & Beyond
Hear from industry insiders about up-to-the-minute statistics and future projections that will impact the hospitality industry in the year ahead. Highlights include STR segmentation trends, pipeline numbers and the future, and the 2017/2018 STR outlook, as well as the CBRE economic outlook and its impact on hotel performance, supply and demand, and 2018 profitability challenges.
2:15 p.m. – 2:45 p.m.
Change the Way You Operate With Audiovisual Technology
From leisure hotels to conference hotels, audiovisual technology plays a substantial role within the guest hotel experience and in a hotel’s internal operations. Audiovisual technology and your options are continuously evolving, and this is the discussion that will give you insight on how AV impacts your hotel operations and, more importantly, your guest experience. Learn how you can leverage audiovisual technology to upgrade your hotel experience.
4:15 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Crisis Management: Are You Prepared?
Crises are unavoidable in the lodging industry of today. In the aftermath of the Las Vegas shooting and hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria, the importance of crisis management is evident now more than ever. This panel of industry experts will provide you with fundamentals in preparedness for your organization.
10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.
How to Design Hotels for Operational Efficiency
Maintaining peak performance takes a team, whether it’s for an Olympic athlete or a hotel’s bottom line. Get the lowdown on collaboration with brands, managers and owners. Find out what budgets look like, where CapEx money goes, how form and function need to be balanced, how external factors are impacting design choices and get a look into the future of hospitality design trends.
11:15 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.
Lifestyle Leaders
Clients are raising the bar for experiential hotels. Get clued in on how today’s demanding consumers are changing where hotels are developed, what role design plays in creating their identity and how different your scope of work will look as clients weigh options from pop-ups and pods to multi-brand urban developments.
1:00 p.m. – 1:15 p.m.
In the House: What Residential Design Can Teach Hospitality
Today’s guest wants to feel at home away from home. Find out how to use furniture, focal points and scale to make hotels feel human scale.
1:15 p.m. – 2:15 p.m.
What Your Clients Are Not Telling You (But Really Want You to Know)
Losing work and losing clients? Boost effectiveness and improve your firm’s win rate. Listen to this panel of clients who tell it like it is and don’t sugarcoat the truth. Learn what pet peeves they have when it comes to professional service marketing, what mistakes to avoid, and how to win more business.
2:30 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.
Sharing Economies: How Crowdfunding and Coworking are Driving Hospitality
What does the hospitality industry need to know to stay a step ahead of Airbnb and its clones? Get the inside scoop from the design, finance, management and operations executives behind New York’s hottest upcoming collaborative development, The Assemblage Houses.
3:45 p.m. – 4:45 p.m.
Artificial Intelligence in the Guestroom
Enter the guestroom of the future with this revolutionary blueprint for what’s possible and probable with the menu of tech tools at designers’ disposal. It’s not just about FF&E anymore. Brace yourself to become the creator of a holistic experience.
