Chef Sabrina Gidda joined 700 hospitality students from across the world and 50 hospitality businesses at this year’s sold-out Institute of Hospitality’s Passion4Hospitality (P4H) Student Conference and Careers Exhibition on Friday 29 November 2024 at the Novotel London West.
The P4H event is the Institute’s largest, free UK hospitality event tailored for students, graduates and apprentices, and this year it had its largest audience to date since it began in 2011.
Thanks to the generous funding secured through The Savoy Educational Trust, 10 coach loads of hospitality, leisure and tourism students were able to travel from across the UK to London to attend the event.
Opening and closing the day, IoH CEO Robert Richardson FIH MI said: “It’s been an incredible day, packed with activities to engage and support the hundreds of students and apprentices who have attended.
He continued: “It is always such a privilege to meet so many students, apprentices and graduates and provide them with opportunities to network, gain insight into what employers need, allow them to learn new career skills in our interactive workshops and generally inspire them to feel passionate about hospitality and their future careers in the industry.
“So many people make P4H happen. Thanks to Sabrina for her speech on Passion to Profession: An Eclectic Journey into the Heart of Hospitality which we live streamed on LinkedIn for those unable to attend from around the world. To members of the Institute’s IoH Youth Council, to all our incredible supporters who ran and assisted in our workshops, who gave presentations and who joined us as panellists. To our amazing Business Partners and sponsors and the universities whose students were able to travel to London thanks to the generous funding from The Savoy Educational Trust. And to our exceptional IoH Events Team and our P4H working party members who have tailored a faultless programme of activities.
“It has been an incredible day of inspiration and learning, and the most remarkable and rewarding P4H we have ever held.”
Best Student Paper winner
Open to all hospitality students globally, this year’s winner of the IoH’s Best Student Paper Award 2024 was Molly Tunstall from Leeds Beckett University with her submission: Unlocking the Power of AI: Redefining Guest Experience in Modern Hospitality. As part of Molly’s prize, she will have her paper published in the Institute of Hospitality’s Magazine next year.
Awarding the prizes, judges Howard Field FIH from the Savoy Educational Trust, and Dr Lorna Wang SFHEA, FIH, FHOSPA, Co-Director, Centre for Research on Ageing and Generations at Surrey University were delighted by the standard of submissions and named Kanokwan Suphonsin, University of Surrey, as this year’s runner-up with Nafha Thabet, University of Greenwich, receiving a ‘Highly Commended’.
HOTS game-winner
The popular and demanding HOTS (Hotel, Operations, Tactics and Strategy) Business Game tested the teams to the full as they fought it out to take the top spot and win this year’s trophy. Organised and run by the Russell Partnership Collection, the winners were NHL Stenden University, in 2nd place were Cardiff Met University (Team 2) and in 3rd place were University of Surrey.
Educational membership
The Institute works with educational establishments across the world alongside UK apprenticeship providers, to support hospitality students, apprentices and graduates into the hospitality profession. With over 5000 young people now part of the Institute’s Educational Membership Scheme.
A scheme which offers free access to a wide range of resources, including, mentoring, live and online events, networking, online CPD resources, online library and tools to help them bridge the gap between education and work and grow their professional careers in hospitality.
Sarah Peters FIH IoH Head of Events and Head of Commercial commented: “I am immensely proud of all we have achieved this year. The additions we made this year based on previous feedback makes this an exciting event to plan and manage. The addition of a sensory room this year has been incredibly popular, along with our free professional photographer taking headshots, interview skills, careers and CV advice and networking workshops. Plus, the addition of various competitions including the popular HOTS game, always makes it such a fun and rewarding event.”
A huge thank you to all our supporters and sponsors who are fundamental in allowing us to deliver P4H, alongside many other events and activities, The Savoy Educational Trust for their ongoing, generous support, Novotel London West, IPW1, CHME, and HRC International.
