The HSMAI European Travel Awards: 4 More Months

The HSMAI European Travel Awards is being held for the first time ever, to take place at the London Hilton Park Lane hotel on Thursday 5 May 2011, with invitations to submit contributions and detailed information pending some time during the second week of January.

“You really should reserve the day already,” Ms Ingunn Hofseth, HSMAI Europe’s president and CEO, underlines, making a point of the event’s long overdue premiere. “HSMAI is in the process of refocusing on its European activities, and for the first time in HSMAI’s 80-year-long history, there will be a European competition and awards night, featuring representatives from the travel and hospitality industry throughout Europe, with a daytime conference to accompany the event”, Ms Hofseth, says, amid preparations for the 7 February HSMAI Revenue Management & Internet Marketing Strategy Conference, also to be held in London (at the Hilton London Metropole).

The European president and CEO has already taken up residence in London, commuting to and fro Oslo, in preparation of the upcoming events, in addition to a great deal of other activities, including:

• Revenue Management & Internet Marketing Strategy Conference in London Monday 7 February 2011
• HSMAI Roundtable Conference in London Thursday 5 May 2011 (detailed presentation to follow)
• HSMAI European Travel Award, the evening of Thursday 5 May 2011 (detailed presentation to follow)
• Starting up chapters in new markets
• HSMAI Sales Conference, Autumn 2011 (date and place to be announced at a later stage)
• Webinars
• Meeting Exchanges, to be held in all Nordic countries (and possibly other countries) next year
• National Prize Awards, to be held in conjunction with afore mentioned Meeting Exchanges
• The HSMAI Gazette twice a year (possible four issues when needed)
• Special Interest Groups (SIGs) on:
  • Revenue Management
  • Travel Internet Marketing
  • Other subjects
• Increased presence in the social media
• Continued membership recruitment
• Developing comprehensive PR strategies
• Continue to develop industry partnerships

The last couple of months saw a number of successful meetings and conferences held by HSMAI Europe, among which we would like to mention:

• Three Revenue Management Workshops in:
  • Dublin
  • Belfast
  • London
• European HSMAI Advisory Board meeting
• Four conferences in:
  • Oslo (page in Norwegian)
  • London
  • Madrid
  • Lisbon

Trend Seminar At The Ritz

HSMAI Europe eventually landed on the Ritz hotel for its Trend Seminar in London Thursday 9 December, opening at 9 AM, with an introduction by HSMAI Europe’s president and CEO Ms Ingunn Hofseth (right), followed by an interesting lecture, given by long standing HSMAI member and Director of the Senior Executive Programme at London Business School, Mr Michael Nowlis (depicted – text continued below photograph).

The lecture, named Mega trends in the Tourism Industry: Implications for Leaders in the Travel Sector, will be touching on subjects such as:

[…] the radical changes revolutionizing their commercial sector. Shifting paradigms in consumer behavior, mergers & acquisitions, strategic marketing, organizational design, service delivery, knowledge management, risk analysis, product development and electronic distribution are radically altering the business of selling travel, accommodation, food service and recreation. Understanding the complex relationships between these disparate activities and thinking strategically to maximize profitability are critical to success. Key topics will include asset acquisition in the hotel industry, strategic alliances in the airline sector, the role of e-business in achieving competitive advantage, changing concepts of service excellence and the development of new-wave tourism products. A series of mini-cases will illustrate examples of business excellence and strategic failure in the hotel, restaurant, airline, cruise, duty free, tour operator and travel agency sectors.

If you haven’t had the time to sign up yet, please do so on this page.

First Class to Vegas

British Airways is introducing First class on its popular Las Vegas route next summer (from June 1, 2011) and increasing capacity by 18 per cent, according to a press release.

The direct daily flight from Terminal 5 at Heathrow was launched a year ago and operated by a three-class Boeing 777. A four-class B747 offering BA’s First cabin will replace it.

By moving to a B747, BA will be sending an additional 124 seats on every round trip. Each flight will now have 14 seats in First.

Richard Tams, British Airways head of marketing and sales, said: “Our direct service from London Heathrow to Las Vegas has been one of our most successful launches in recent years.

“It is one of the star performing routes on the BA network and such a winner with our customers that we are increasing capacity by 18 per cent from next summer and offering that extra touch of luxury.”

Ireland, UK: Revenue Management Workshops En Route

HSMAI Europe will be co-hosting seminars on Revenue Management with HSMAI Ireland in Dublin and Belfast, as well as with BAHA in London between 29 November and 2 December, in what is dubbed an extraordinary opportunity now rolling out across Europe, the “introduction to the CRME (Certified Revenue Management Executive) programme, granting you the right to add CRME to your name and title, which carries with it the recognition and authority, as well as job opportunities, entailed”.

The programme is based on HSMAI Amaricas’ recently upgraded certification in Revenue Management, where “individuals working in revenue management in the travel and hospitality industry, upon meeting the minimum qualifications for participants, can take a 60-minute online examination offering a chance to confirm their knowledge, experience, and capabilities”.

The workshops will take place in Dublin (29 November), Belfast (30 November) and London (2 December) 2010.

Accomplished international resource

“We are extremely pleased to introduce our Irish and British colleagues to the workshops, led by Jeffrey Osborne CRME, who is an accomplished international resource and trainer with broad experience throughout European and North American markets,” says Ms Ingunn Hofseth, president and CEO of HSMAI Europe in a statement.

Jeffrey Osborne CRME, CEO of Intelligent Hotels, has been recognised worldwide for his cutting edge, results-driven approach to the design and implementation of systems that enable hotels to maximise profits through savvy revenue management. Using the expertise developed during a 25-year hospitality career, involving corporate, operational and revenue management positions, Osborne has successfully put his results-driven strategies to work for independent and branded hotels and resorts throughout Europe and the North American markets.

Two tailored seminars

There will be two separate seminars in all three venues. The first session, from 9 am to midday, is designed to help current revenue managers prepare for the examination required to become certified in Revenue Management under the current guidelines of HSMAI.

Session 2, from 1 pm to 4 pm, is directed towards experienced revenue managers and their leaders, to help them better understand what the process is all about, and what it implies for their business units.

Potential participants are welcome to join one seminar or the other – or both, taking place in these hotels:

Bewley’s Hotel, Ballsbridge in Dublin:

The Fitzwilliam Hotel in Belfast:

Hilton London Metropole in London:

Ambitious expansion plans

“We all share the expectation that the seminars may signify the onset of a productive HSMAI era in Ireland and the UK, but I would like to emphasise that it would have been hard to pull this off without the fabulous people in BAHA and HSMAI Chapter Ireland’s board of directors,” Ms Hofseth continues, adding:

“But let’s not forget the busy schedules in The Netherlands and Norway,” with reference to this agenda, including the HSMAI Europe conference in Lisbon 15 December, the HSMAI European Revenue Management conference in London 7 February 2011 and the HSMAI Europe Marketing conference in London 5 May, followed by the HSMAI European Travel Awards on the same evening – among numerous other events.

“There can be no doubt that we have an extremely interesting year ahead of us,” she says.

Career Investment Scholarships

BAHA – the UK’s leading educational organisation for professionals involved in financial management, revenue management and IT within the hospitality industry – is inviting senior hospitality industry practitioners to nominate outstanding young employees – working in Finance, Revenue Management or IT – for a ‘BAHA Career Investment Scholarship’, designed to provide career development for upcoming young people currently working in the hospitality industry.

The new BAHA educational initiative involves the awarding of a total of five ‘Career Investment Scholarships’. The scholarships will afford the five lucky winners – who must be 25 years-old or under, and do not need to be BAHA members – an unique opportunity to learn from, be noticed and publicly recognised at, the forthcoming one-day BAHA Annual Conference and IT Exhibition, to be held on 25 November 2010 at the Sofitel Hotel, London Heathrow at Terminal 5.

Commenting on the new awards, BAHA Chief Executive Carl Weldon said: “The ‘BAHA Career Investment Scholarships’ offer the winning candidates an unrivalled chance to enhance their continuing professional development (CPD) at the Conference through attending a comprehensive programme of highly topical ‘best-practice’ educational workshops and presentations led by a distinguished array of speakers – all experts in their own fields – who will be addressing the most pressing current issues in hospitality finance, revenue management and IT.

“The prize for winning each of the five Scholarships comprises full-day attendance at the Conference and IT Exhibition; as well as a place that evening at the BAHA Conference Gala Dinner – one of the traditional social networking highlights of the hospitality industry year – where the candidates’ outstanding achievements will be officially and publicly recognised. And that’s not all – each scholarship recipient will be featured in BAHA’s monthly magazine ‘BAHA Times’!”

The criteria for application are that:

• Candidates must be 25 years-old or younger on 11 November 2010
• Candidates must be employed in a hospitality organisation and working in Finance, Revenue Management or IT
• Candidates must have been working in the hospitality industry for a minimum of 12 months
• Nominators must be senior members of staff and understand that there is only ONE application allowed per company/independently owned business
• Nominators must accompany their candidate’s application with a CV and letter outlining why the candidate should be considered.

To make the entry procedure as fair as possible, BAHA is asking all scholarship nominators to make their nominations online – for the nomination form, visit: www.bahaconference.co.uk. The closing date for entries is 4 November 2010, with judging taking place on 11 November. Further information can be obtained from BAHA head office on telephone: 01202 8894 30; or BAHA Chief Executive Carl Weldon on email: carl.weldon@baha-uk.org

About BAHA | BAHA is a non-profit educational organisation, formed in 1969 with the aim of bringing together those hospitality industry professionals involved in financial management, revenue management and IT. Since its inception, the membership has expanded to over 800 members and is recognised as the United Kingdom’s authoritative voice in the hospitality industry on financial management, technical accounting issues, taxation, and hotel valuation. BAHA is also the leading arena for debate on hotel systems and Revenue Management topics through their annual Conference and meetings programmes. BAHA provides the only industry specific Hospitality Finance qualification and is currently developing similar qualifications for Revenue Management and IT within Hospitality. For more information, visit www.baha.co.uk

HSMAI Partners With d2o

HSMAI Europe has signed a sponsor agreement with the renowned PMI company d2o (Performance Management Intelligence), who has been extremely successful in the international hospitality industry over the last couple of years, chiefly among the larger chains, but also with independent operations.

The HSMAI sponsorships work as a two-way arrangement, mutually benefiting both parties, both financially and professionally, and we believe that d2o have a lot to contribute with regards to the latter, but are convinced that we can provide them with a great deal of industry related feedback, as well as exposure.

The next issue of the HSMAI Europe quarterly, HSMAI Gazette (click here to read the first issue), features an in-depth interview with d2o’s CEO Mr. Young N. Nguyen (above), but until that, we strongly recommend a look at this article. Please visit the company’s website for further details.

There are other partnerships in the pipeline, too, to be announced in due time.

London Business School

The Norwegian HSMAI GM Forum for hotel managers, assisting managers and chain managements is to be held in Oslo on 16 November, with London Business School’s Michael Nowlis as keynote, followed by the Norwegian HSMAI Hospitality and Travel Industry Day on 1 December.

Revenue Management seminars are scheduled for a number of European cities, starting in Dublin. HSMAI Europe’s first Portuguese conference is to take place in Lisbon on Tuesday 7 December. Two days later, Thursday 9 December, it is time for the first HSMAI European Advisory Board meeting in London, setting out to plan next year’s HSMAI European Travel Awards on 5 May, also taking place in London, with a two-hours lecture by Mr. Nowlis, who will act as moderator for the rest of the meeting, making plans for the HSMAI activities in Europe.

The 18^th Norwegian HSMAI Meeting Exchange is held in Oslo on 12 January, at the Radisson Blu Scandinavia Hotel. The HSMAI Meeting Exchange is the largest meeting place for buyers and sellers of conference and meeting services. That same night HSMAI’s Norwegian Awards is held at another Oslo venue.

International Expert

Mr. Michael Nowlis may seem a recurring name during the autumn term, and rightfully so. Mr. Nowlis is an American, residing in Paris for a number of years. He headed the Cornell Essec in Paris, and fronted the international hotel organisation, too. We have had the good fortune to use him as lecturer at several earlier occasions, to which members have responded extremely well.

For the last four years Michael has been directing the Senior Executive Programme at London Business School.  LBS has been in the news a lot since it was named the top business school in the world by the Financial Times earlier this year.  He directs their flagship executive education programme for C-suite enterprise leaders at major global corporations.  Harvard is the only other business school that has a programme at this level.

He also continues his consulting and seminar activities.

We would like to use this opportunity to welcome new members from all over Europe, hoping that together we will prosper and thrive as a result of new knowledge, brought about by the industry’s top notch experts.

Sincerely,
Ingunn Hofseth
President & CEO, HSMAI Europe

Top photo: Mr. Young N. Nguyen, d2o’s CEO.

Preparing for HSMAI European Travel Awards

The HSMAI European Travel Awards is being held for the first time ever on Thursday 5 May next year, according to the weekly letter (in Norwegian) from Ingunn Hofseth, president and CEO, HSMAI Division Europe and Chapter Norway. The event will be taking place in London, but the exact venue is yet to be decided, as we understand.

“You should however reserve the day already,” Ms Hofseth underlines, making a point of the event’s long overdue premiere. “HSMAI is prepared to refocus on pan European activities, and for the first time in HSMAI’s 80-year history, there will be a European competition and awards night, featuring representatives from the travel and hospitality industry throughout Europe, with a daytime conference to accompany the event”, Ms Hofseth, recently returned from the U.S. HSMAI Adrian Awards, says.

The European president and CEO will be taking up residence in London shortly, both in preparation of the upcoming event, but also the pan European activities for the next couple of years, including:

2010

• HSMAI Lodging Chief Marketing Officer Roundtable Conference in London
• Consolidate and develop the level of activities in national chapters
• Special Interest Groups Revenue Management and Travel Internet Marketing
• Revenue Management Certification programme
• Webinars
• A digital European magazine; European Marketing Review, four times a year
• European Advisory Board meeting, twice a year
• Starting up chapters in new markets

2011

• HSMAI Roundtable Conference in London Thursday 5 May 2011
• HSMAI European Travel Award, the evening of Thursday 5 May 2011
• Starting up chapters in new markets

“Also, I’m happy to announce that American Express Global has signed up as official HSMAI Europe sponsor, with new sponsors in the pipeline, to be announced as new activities are unveiled,” Ingunn Hofseth informs.

‘Brutally frank’ Saatchi book

LONDON, UK — The adland legend Charles Saatchi is to produce a new book answering 200 questions put to him by journalists, critics and members of the public.

According to the publisher Phaidon, the notoriously reclusive Saatchi will answer the questions “with brutal frankness”.

Read more at Campaignlive.co.uk

Aubergine, Marlow Bridge

I was with my best friend, which perhaps intensified the romantic atmosphere of the Compleat Angler, as there was no pesky real-life man to spoil it. The restaurant that now houses Aubergine has been here for donkey’s years, since its low-slung, vaulted, leaded interior was the height of the mode. (The panels in the cocktail lounge have been there for four centuries, apparently. The restaurant itself feels like English heritage via the 1930s. You can picture discreet affairs conducted in the dying days of the aristocracy. It’s all tremendously exciting.) The set menu (£45 for two courses, £55 for three) was preceded by a frankly horrid amuse-bouche – pickled anchovies that tasted of vinegar, on top of pickled carrots that tasted alarmingly of vinegar, drizzled in a saffron oil that was no match for the vinegar. I didn’t mind, to be honest. It seemed to be a new twist on the amuse concept – not a palate cleanser so much as a palate stripper. And it made us so grateful for our delicious starters.

Read more at Telegraph.co.uk

Whole Foods Market, Kensington

We grew tired of building monuments to God, so in the boom we took to constructing cathedrals to food. Great vaulted expanses sprung skywards around every town, where we were invited to worship not purity, but freshness. The spiritual foundations of supermarkets were always, in truth, a little shallow. Adverts might have described a raspberry fool as “heavenly”, but it could just as easily have used devil’s horns as decorative motifs.

The Lisbon earthquake of 1755 destroyed everything, including faith. The Cathedral of Santa Maria crumbled, crushing worshippers on a Catholic holiday. Voltaire asked how a disaster killing 100,000 innocents could be “for the best of all possible worlds”. The London economic quake of 2009 scored lower on the Richter scale, but left many citadels to capitalism in ruins. Supermarkets appeared particularly vulnerable, having elevated mere trifle to something almost worthy of worship. Just as the earthquake shattered belief, the economic tremors left many questioning the value of the food movement.

Read more at Telegraph.co.uk

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