STR Global awards young student

HSMAI Europe has the great pleasure of announcing that our very own Hans Stenseng, leader of the HSMAI Student division, has won a prize awarded by STR Global for his essay on The Future of the Hotel Industry – What Are the Top Three Markets, and Which New Innovations Will Affect Future Product Offerings?.

“This competition has given our European student members an excellent opportunity to work with an actual case; it is a topic that affects our industry in the highest degree. These members are the future of travel, hotel & tourism, and it is important that they think innovatively, as they will be working in tomorrow’s tourism-industry,” says Ingunn Hofseth, President of HSMAI Europe.

The competition was held in a cooperation between HSMAI Student and STR Global, in which the mentioned challenge was given to its student members.

The STR Global management that judged the competition made the following statement on Stenseng’s essay:

We thoroughly enjoyed the essay which had excellent structure, strong arguments and comprehensively researched information.

“Hans’ essay was selected from several entries and we were impressed by the quality of all the submissions. I extend my congratulations to Hans for his accomplishment and I believe that if he is any indication of the caliber of the next generation of hotel professionals, the future of our industry is in very capable hands,” according to Elizabeth Randall from STR Global.

“I was very surprised to win this competition. I heard there were some good contributions and I am very proud to be awarded this prize. The topic is interesting and certainly something that is important for the future, it is really educational and fun to work with such a task, and I hope it’s something I can do more of in the future – both through school and at work,” says Hans Stenseng himself, currently studying at the Oslo School of Management, and the leader of HSMAI Student, to boot.

The award was presented at the STR Global Client Event at Park Plaza, London on Tuesday 6 September.

The essay is downloadable for your perusal (click PDF-symbol):

STR Global Facts

STR Global provides clients—including hotel operators, developers, financiers, analysts and suppliers to the hotel industry—access to hotel research with regular and custom reports covering Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific and South America. STR Global provides a single source of global hotel data covering daily and monthly performance data, forecasts, annual profitability, pipeline and census information. STR Global is part of the STR family of companies and is proudly associated with STR, RRC Associates, STR Analytics, and HotelNewsNow.com. For more information, please visit www.strglobal.com.

Photo: Elizabeth Randall, Managing Director STR Global, Randy Smith, Chairman and Co-Founder STR, Hans Stenseng, Student at Oslo School of Management and leader of HSMAI Europe Student, and Ingunn Hofseth, President HSMAI Europe.

Extended deadline for HSMAI Student competition

A couple of months back HSMAI Student launched a competiton in cooperation with STR Global, challenging students to write an essay of 1000 words, or less, on the topic The future of the hotel industry: What are the next top three markets, and which new innovations will affect future product offerings?

The good news is that we have decided to extend the deadline until 20 August.

What will the winner get?

A slight change in the prize has been made, but the winner will still get a trip to London, accommodation and airfare included, and instead of a full day hotel data conference, we now have the great pleasure of inviting the lucky winner to a very exclusive STR Global client event. The event will feature:

• Industry Overview
• Review of Past Olympic Performance
• The 2012 Olympics: UK Going for Gold
• Economic Forecast by Tourism Economics

The event takes place at the Park Plaza Riverbank on 6 September, and will accommodate general managers, directors of revenue, directors of sales, consultants, investors, et cetera. In other words: A great opportunity to make important industry contacts!

Be sure not to miss this opportunity and enter your essay now!

Best of luck from HSMAI Student and STR Global.

STR Global provides an excellent opportunity for members of HSMAI Student Europe

Practical experience and an opportunity to network is something both STR Global and HSMAI Student Europe recognise as critical factors in today’s competitive job market. They have decided, therefore, to create an exciting competition for members of HSMAI Student Europe.

Students are to write an essay of 1000 words, or less, on the following topic:

The future of the hotel industry: What are the next top three markets, and which new innovations will affect future product offerings?

The winner of the contest will be sponsored with a conference pass to the Hotel Data Conference in London, 6 September 2011. Accommodation and air-faire included.

“Being present at this conference provides a great opportunity to learn about the latest trends in the industry and what we can expect in the future. This is the type of hands-on training we don’t receive in the classroom, which can provide us with a competitive edge,” says Hans Stenseng, student and leader of HSMAI Student.

This is an excellent opportunity for students to meet with industry leaders, as the Hotel Data Conference Europe is a gathering of industry executives. The conference will be held in conjunction with the first Hotel Investment Conference Europe (Hot.E) at the Park Plaza Riverbank Hotel in London. This means that not only executives from the hotel industry will be present, but also hotel owners, providing the student even further possibilities for valuable contacts.

“The students need to get out there and show themselves so that the industry is aware of who they are when they seek for future employment,” says Ingunn Hofseth, President of HSMAI Europe, continuing “and we are very pleased to work with STR Global to empower our future leaders.”

For more information on the Hotel Data Conference Europe, please go to http://www.hoteldataconference.com/HDCEurope.aspx

Click here for details on HSMAI Student Europe

To submit to the competition, please send an essay of no more than 1000 words to postbox@hsmai.no

Make sure to include your name, contact information, field of study and your school.

The competition deadline is 31 July 2011. The winner will be announced mid-August.

Please note: New deadline and competition updates! (added 15 August 2011)

HSMAI Europe and STR Global form partnership

As briefly mentioned in a report last week, STR Global, the leading provider of market data to the world’s hotel industry, and HSMAI Europe have signed an agreement to work more closely together and support HSMAI Europe and its members.

“We are delighted to partner with HSMAI Europe and provide our hotel market data and knowledge to HSMAI and its members”, commented Elizabeth Randall, managing director of STR Global, adding “I am personally excited to join the European advisory board of HSMAI Europe and help shape the future of the organisation”.

“We have selected pre-eminent STR Global, as our benchmarking supplier, based on their position as leading provider in Europe and worldwide”, says Ingunn Hofseth, president of HSMAI Europe. “We look forward to work together on various events and publications, and to let the members benefit from the partnership, where applicable”.

The partnership agreement includes HSMAI Europe, STR Global and its sister company HotelNewsNow.com, the vital source of information for hotel decision makers and a division of STR. HSMAI Europe will also be present at the inaugural Hotel Data Conference Europe, which will be held 6 September 2011 in London.

About STR Global

STR Global provides clients—including hotel operators, developers, financiers, analysts and suppliers to the hotel industry—access to hotel research with regular and custom reports covering Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific and South America. STR Global provides a single source of global hotel data covering daily and monthly performance data, forecasts, annual profitability, pipeline and census information. STR Global is part of the STR family of companies and is proudly associated with STR, RRC Associates, STR Analytics, and HotelNewsNow.com. For more information, please visit www.strglobal.com.

Belfast’s RevPAR strong

LONDON — Data from STR Global, the leading provider of market information to the world’s hotel industry, shows the decline of the Belfast hotel market being offset by surprisingly competitive recent revenue per available room. The year-over-year percentage change in RevPAR for the 14 hotels sampled by STR Global in Belfast—which includes a mix of independent, domestic and international branded properties—has been in accelerated decline since September 2008.

Read more at HotelNewsNow.com