Master Innholders is a unique hospitality organisation recognised as an industry leader and champion of the UK hotel sector, providing thought leadership, sharing best practices, and establishing and promoting accredited industry qualifications.
Of course, they do so much more to inspire the next generation of hotel leaders, including the highly regarded annual Hotel General Managers’ Conference. This week, we joined the 26th Master Innholders conference team for the third time as a corporate sponsor. This year’s event was held at the Intercontinental O2, a really great conference venue with stunning views over the River Thames.
The Theme of the conference was “The Time Is Now,” a fitting title for some great content and inspiring speakers, which included David Guile, an executive leader and business coach, who spoke eloquently on the importance of making time for reflection and how that time can be used to our greatest benefit.
Sounds simple and logical, but it was only during the conference when we sat and listened that the message truly resonated, revealing some great examples of what can be achieved when we make time to reflect. We are all so busy, but there is never a better time than now to reflect on decisions concerning both business and life.
We also heard from Kate Nicolls, CEO of UK Hospitality, who works tirelessly to promote the hospitality industry at a government level to ensure that our industry is afforded the value that it deserves.
The UK hospitality sector exceeded £100 billion for the first time in 2018 and now employs 2.35 million people (Autumn 2018 ONS data). We congratulate Kate for making our voice heard and focusing on our current and future contributions to the economy (hospitality has the potential to create tens of thousands of new jobs and up to 200,000 new apprenticeships over the coming years, plus many other learning opportunities: UK Hospitality Workforce Commission 2030).
The time is indeed now to support Kate and her team’s lobbying efforts and to reinforce the messages they deliver on our behalf.
The stand out keynote was by Marcus Child, a humble and witty man, who has the ability to equip hoteliers and other industry professionals with the right tools and techniques to attain and sustain peak performance. Sounds like jargon? Well, the time is now to stay focused, drive revenue and create profit. If one man can assist, Marcus can, having provided real success stories from companies that have achieved phenomenal growth through the right mind-set.
Now, 2019, is the time to focus on our people so that we can retain talent, we want to encourage more people to work in our incredible industry, and we want to ensure we invest in our people to improve standards and service experiences for all customers who enjoy and benefit from our work.
Now is the time to network, and we did just that at a fantastic Moet & Chandon champagne reception and gala dinner where David Taylor was presented with an award for Hotelier of the Year. Congratulations David for continuing to inspire current and future leaders to be more and to achieve more. Now is the time to clone David perhaps! And congratulations to the Arora family for investing in the conference and delivering an outstanding food and beverage experience for attendees.
And so, onto Day 2, which was another great opportunity to hear from keynote speakers such as Stefan Wissenback who discussed employee engagement, Ian Millar on the top ten technology trends (I learnt about the impact of 5G), David Bailey from CBRE on hotel operations and an investment outlook, and Rob May on cybersecurity. All fantastic and engaging presentations developed to stretch, enlighten and motivate.
A final wrap up from Danny Pecorelli, Chairman of Master Innholders to reflect on the theme and another successful conference. And for myself, a chance to reflect on the event and what it means to me and the team at Preferred Hotels & Resorts. Networking, meetings, friendships? Sure, all of those things, but the biggest driver for our presence is that we share the same purpose as Master Innholders.
We are committed to inspiring, promoting and engaging hotel professionals in an effort to retain the best talent and to showcase our industry to new talent. The time is now for all of us within the hospitality industry to support this purpose so that our industry’s valuable contribution to business, services, and the world, is safeguarded. Can you imagine a hotel with no people to serve in it? Your time is a long term investment. The time is now!
Warmest regards
Brenda
Brenda Collin, Managing Director, UK, Ireland, Nordics & the Netherlands, Preferred Hotels & Resorts