Passion 4 Hospitality is the name of the debating contest organised by the Institute of Hospitality as part of its student membership and services scheme. A guest audience of industry luminaries, students and hospitality operators attended the pilot contest on 31 March at the Victory Services Club, London.
Four teams of students from Oxford Brookes University, London Metropolitan University, University of Surrey and the University of West London worked their market research to deliver 15 minutes of persuasive insight into the application of technology within all aspects of the hospitality industry. They vied to win the opportunity to progress beyond preliminary heats and participate in the final debate in front of the live audience.
The University of Surrey and the University of West London were chosen as finalists by the judges: Russell Kett FIH (Chairman of Judges), Managing Director of HVS International, Peter Lederer CBE FIH MI, Chairman of Gleneagles, Jane Renton FIH MI, Estate Manager of Kinnerton Street Freehold Ltd, Wendy Bartlett FIH, Managing Director of Bartlett & Mitchell and Heiko Figge FIH, Managing Director of Guoman & Thistle Hotels.
The University of Surrey team of Paul Ioannou, Louis Walter and Jeremy Dawson were mentored by Professor Peter Jones FIH. Arguing for the motion, they said that hospitality exploits technology and uses it as a competitive weapon. They defined technology as the use of scientific knowledge for practical purposes and cited franchising, Total Quality Management and forecasting as areas where technology was effectively used. They went on to say that the hospitality industry was excellent at adapting technology to suit its needs.
Evidence included the use of personalised guest data, corridor lighting activated by CO2 sensors, virtual hotel room tours, underwater hotels in Dubai and Hawaii, and Virgin Galactic, the first commercial spaceline.
The University of West London team of (below left to right ) Sanjeev Kashiara, Steven Conlon, and Ashraf Said-Saad Akef were mentored by Mia Touzin.
Arguing against the motion, they made three key points: firstly hospitality is embracing but not creating technology innovation; secondly it is using products developed by other industries; and lastly, technology is not used effectively across all hospitality sectors.
To support their key points the team said: “Revenue Management, now used widely by hotels, was developed by airlines first, but a hotel room is different from an airline seat. Revenue management has been adopted to drive financial benefits but not to enhance the guest experience.”
The hospitality industry handles an enormous volume of personal customer data, but its record on data security is poor. In 2009 it was responsible for 38% of data breaches, compared to 19% for financial services and 14% for retail (Trustwave).
“96% of these hospitality security breaches could have been prevented by better staff training,” said the University of West London team.
“We are struggling to keep up with technology advancement. Consider the capabilities of property management systems such as Opera and Fidelio. How many front-of-house staff make full use of the functionality available? We suspect not many,” they argued.
Fighting back, the University of Surrey team said that the franchising model of business expansion incorporated technology at all levels to achieve output efficiencies and maximise profits.
Ordering pizza from your TV or phone (Domino’s) and modular construction (budget hotels) were given as examples. Internet-based performance management systems such as those designed by software provider eproductive and used by IHG and Ramada Jarvis were also cited as examples of technology innovation.
In counter-argument, the University of West London emphasised that the UK hotel sector is primarily made up of SMEs and the majority of these businesses are not using technology to enhance their service.
“Nearly 80% of us use social media so all businesses need to use it to establish effective customer relationships. But many hospitality businesses lack knowledge or acceptance of change. Try convincing a small business owner that they need to employ someone to look after their social media,” argued the team against the motion.
In an audience vote, the motion against was carried and the University of West London team were declared the winners.
“The debate enables students to meet the industry and use networking to identify their career path," said Mia Touzin.
London Metropolitan mentor Dr Martin Peacock agreed: “The debate gives the students the opportunity to experience presenting under pressure, which is a valuable part of their learning".
"Today is truly about passion for hospitality. The study and effort that has gone into each presentation is incredible and the students here today should be very proud of themselves,” said Peter Lederer, President of the Institute of Hospitality. “I'm delighted to see the work going on in the colleges and universities supported by the Institute. I could do with this thinking in my business today."
The University of West London team were awarded places at the prestigious Institute of Hospitality Annual Lunch, which takes place at The Dorchester in London on Tuesday 7 June.
All four teams were awarded certificates by Philippe Rossiter FIH, Chief Executive, the Institute of Hospitality, who thanked the University of Brighton for their tremendous input into the design and operation of the debate and in particular Ioannis Pantelidis FIH for the original concept. Additional thanks went to Red Carnation Hotels, Fresh RM, Harbour & Jones Ltd, Ignite Marketing and Bartlett & Mitchell for their generous support and to Helen Atkinson MIH of the University of Brighton for guidance and adjudication on the day.
