Grab a coffee and a pastry while meeting our exhibitors.

Piers Brown, CEO, International Hospitality Media

One to one: two leading entrepreneurs interview each other

Short video voxpop interviews with leading hoteliers and industry experts about the future, and how boutique, hybrid and lifestyle hoteliers can best blend technology such as AI with the human skills needed for hospitality.

Followed by a quick fire 'on the spot' with Lennert De Jong, chief commercial officer, CitizenM.

The planning, development and opening of two exciting and very different hotel projects.

• The Good Hotel, London
The floating Good Hotel launched in Amsterdam and was the first Good Hotel to open worldwide. After staying a year in Good Hotel's hometown, the platform was ready to continue its journey to London and will call the historic Royal Victoria Docks home for five years. In October 2016, the floating 8 million kilos concrete structure was transported by a submersible barge over the North Sea Canal, on the River Thames and through the King George V lock to its current location. A challenging and one-of-a-kind project made possible thanks to the people behind it – all experts in their field. The hotel's training program offers long-term unemployed locals a unique hospitality training and a chance to re-integrate into the economy. After successfully completing the training, trainees get on-the-job training and a full-time salary at Good Hotel, after which they are mediated towards a permanent job in the local economy. For every booking made directly on the hotel website, it donates £5 per night to an NGO partner, Niños de Guatemala.

• Novanta, Tuscany
Novanta is an organically growing eco resort in a deserted village in the hills of Tuscany with 15 bedrooms including a tree house and sky lodge. We are an experience hotel focusing on showing our guests the “real” Tuscany with things like truffle hunting, pasta making, sausage making, bbq lunches at our river and hikes to our neighbours for traditional Tuscan lunch, to name a few! We dine together on long communal rustic tables and have an honesty bar where our guests can help themselves to local wines and beers. We are a hotel where the bar comes to the river in the back of a Landrover, and cocktails and aperitivo are served in the ruins of our ancient church! Novanta was founded in 2014 through a crowd funded pop-up hotel. Four entrepreneurs from Amsterdam (Mart, Jeroen, Leonard and Igor) own and run Novanta.

Grab a caffeine hit and meet our exhibitors

With Brexit looming, fresh new hotel brands, some soon to launch in London, debate the pros and cons of the capital market v other European gateway cities.

Moderator: Bill Barnett, Managing director, C9 Hotelworks

Panelists:
• Todd D Reppert, EVP, global development, Standard Hotels International
• Marc Dardenne, group chief operating officer, Jumeirah Group
• Alex Andjel, VP development, Virgin Hotels

What are the main challenges and opportunities facing boutique and lifestyle hotel owners?

Panellists:
• David Taylor, COO, Principal Hotels (tbc)
• Karma Sanctum Hotels

How to incorporate the trend for mindfulness in to your hotel offer for guests and staff alike.

Moderator: Nicola Cloherty, Love and Oranges

Panellists:
• Laura Willoughby, founder, Club Soda - the mindful drinking movement
• Louise Chester, founder, Mindfulness at Work
• Ramesh Arora, managing director, Montcalm Luxury Hotels
• Amruda Nair, founder, Araiya Hotels & Resorts

Enjoy a 'mindful cocktail' compliments of Club Soda too!

Join us over a bloody mary as three industry pioneers present for 10 minutes on F&B trends that are sweeping the sector.

Host: Heleri Rande, F&B strategist and consulting editor, Supper Magazine
Presenters:
• Olubunmi Okolosi, founder, Kajola on "Grab'n'go and ghost restaurants"
• Murray Wilson, chef at Rudding Park, on kitchen gardens (tbc)

Motion: The sharing economy is a major threat to the hotel sector.

Hosted by Michael Prager, business leader

Proposer:

• Guus Bakker, CEO - EMEA, Frasers Hospitality

Opposer:
• Karim Nielsen, CEO, Brøchner Hotels

Food, networking and exhibition stands to browse!

66% of luxury brands are expecting their influencer marketing budget to increase over the next year. How can boutique and independent hotels build a relationship with customers via digital channels? Who should they be working with, and just what is an “influencer”?

Moderator: George Sell, editor, Boutique Hotel News

Panellists:
• Benoit Racle, ‎senior director, AC Hotels
• Amber Hoffman, founder, WHIT Media
• David Gabriele, CEO, Swayy
• Emily Manson, PROCLAIM Communications

It's not just about local produce – hotels who truly get the local trend are community hubs as well as destinations for travellers. What are the best ways to tap in to your local market and keep your neighbourhood customers coming back time and time again?

Panellists:
• Harry Harris, managing director, SUSD London
• Sheena Bhattessa, founder, Citizen Femme
• Edgard Helle, general manager, The Pilgrim, London

Coffee break and exhibition

What are the most cost effective and flexible methods of financing hotel acquisitions and operations, either through debt and / or equity? What alternative financing options are available?

Host: Philip Camble, director, Whitebridge Hospitality

Panellists:
• Lissa Engle, director, Berkeley Capital
• Trevor Morris, debt finance director, OakNorth Bank

• David Orr, chairman, Urbanist Group

Hotels are increasingly sophisticated when it comes to revenue management, but what can they learn from the airline industry and others about dynamic pricing. What's next for OTAs and other distribution channels?

Moderator: Steve Lowy, managing director, Umi Digital and chair of Hotel Marketing Association

Panellists:
• Steve Burns, managing director EMEA, BridgeStreet Global Hospitality
• James McClure, general manager, Northern Europe, Airbnb
• Anael Peu, director of revenue management, Kew Green Hotels
• Adam Rowledge, general manager, Georgian House Hotel

How should hotel owners choose who to brand, operate and sell their property? Is it best to go it alone, sign up with one of the big brands or join a soft brand or marketing alliance?

Panellists:
• Robert Swade, CEO, Grace Hotels
• Brenda Collin, managing director UK, Ireland, Nordics, The Netherlands, Preferred Hotels & Resorts
• Philippe Bijaoui, chief development officer, Wyndham Hotels (tbc)
• Nick Turner, principal, Laura Ashley Hotels & Resorts

You must be in the room to win one of our great prizes!

Coffee break and exhibition

Hosted by Piers Brown, IHM and Daniel Englender, Benjamin West

Break down in to smaller groups for collaborative discussions over a prosecco or two on the following topics:

• The currency of trust: what does it really mean and how to make the most of it. Guest reviews and reputation management - led by Francine Heywood, GuestRevu
• GDPR and its implications for hoteliers - led by Paula Swain, Shoosmiths
• China: tips on exporting your brand, and appealing to the Chinese guest back home - led by Stuart Johnson, pre-opening general manager, Shanghai - Rocco Forte Hotels (tbc) and Cho Wong, managing director, Compass Edge Europe

With a population of 1.38 billion people, the Chinese economy growing at 6.7% (source: World Bank) and outbound travel predicted to grow by 10% in 2018, it is a misconception that China is an 'easy' hospitality market - only 6% of the population have passports. We shall discuss how a typical Chinese traveller starts researching for his/her trip and makes the decision/bookings. How can European hoteliers reach out to Chinese travellers despite Google, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube being banned in China.

• "Alexa, order me a hotel room" - what's next for voice and digital marketing? - led by Rahul Arora, CEO, Digital Hotelier (tbc) and James Sandberg, Customer profitability, Loyalty, CRM and CX at CustomerDevoted.com
• Recruiting the next generation and working with hospitality schools - led by Mark Jones, GLION Hospitality school (tbc)
• Effective facility and energy management - led by Frazer Duris, Businesswise Solutions and Alfred Eetlink, Hotel Facility Concepts
• Hybrid hotels and poshtels - led by Navneet Bali, CEO, Meininger Hotels

• Beginners guide to blockchain and its potential impact on hospitality - led by Katia Lang, Co-Founder and CEO, Disrupts Media

The potential for blockchain to disrupt hotel distribution and more is very real. But how will this nascent technology compete with or complement the existing ecosystem? From advanced loyalty programs to disintermediation strategies, regaining control over room inventory and guest data is one of the main priorities of both branded and independent hotels. Blockchain technology could theoretically guarantee an open door to travel distribution, solving the problem of inventory access at its root: no more minimum volumes required by big players in order to open their APIs and no more exorbitant integration costs. This means close-to-zero cost per guest acquisition for hotels and a less OTA-dependent landscape. What will a blockchain-enabled future look like? What opportunities does blockchain offer hoteliers to get closer to the customer?

• Sustainability - a necessity not a luxury - led by Thomas Kendall, senior designer, Wayward, and Jan Hazelton, VP global business and real estate development, Kerzner International
The time for lip service is over – when the government sets a date for banning petrol and diesel cars you know the low carbon agenda is not going away. But a sustainably and efficiently run hotel is more profitable, especially with the shadow of sustainability levies on the horizon. What are the most effective ways to transform your property?

Piers Brown, CEO, International Hospitality Media