tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-64796771434897342172024-03-13T03:44:06.343+01:00ESSEC Hospitality Management IMHIGalackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07347039314951120516noreply@blogger.comBlogger70125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6479677143489734217.post-46287287014728307122017-08-17T11:14:00.000+02:002017-08-17T11:14:23.249+02:00Snapshot – The hotel demand management boot camp by hoteliers for hoteliers<div class="MsoTitle">
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri Light","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Calibri Light"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Written by: Guillaume Bendiyan
– Current ESSEC IMHI students</span><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Calibri Light"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxnF86S2Vf4IETxhpOCBcCObqZh8Yp6xpwIfBBpiyLcpI51VLgZEZP-tu5tt_FtuZa-8gA98tBr8WwfGpxbuVg7osCaCMcMoYQk4wjqFDyJZtRrBA323jj4OHr-okpX5my6Wg9Py-7i7lu/s1600/SNAPSHOT+CLASS.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxnF86S2Vf4IETxhpOCBcCObqZh8Yp6xpwIfBBpiyLcpI51VLgZEZP-tu5tt_FtuZa-8gA98tBr8WwfGpxbuVg7osCaCMcMoYQk4wjqFDyJZtRrBA323jj4OHr-okpX5my6Wg9Py-7i7lu/s320/SNAPSHOT+CLASS.jpeg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Calibri Light"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">A few days ago, I received a message from a
friend of mine totally freaked out by registrations for the upcoming trimester.
ESSEC offers its hospitality management students an extensive range of electives
to supplement the required fundamental courses, allowing us to customize our program
to acquire the skills and competencies we need to accelerate our future
careers. Therefore, every trimester, students face the agonizing ritual of
contacting previous students to get advice about individual classes and
building their personalized schedule. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri Light","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Calibri Light"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri Light","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Calibri Light"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">At that point, my friend’s dilemma was to select
between a class called “Snapshot, hotel demand management” or to take something
completely different. The cause of his apprehension was an email sent by
Snapshot’s lecturer, highlighting the words “intensive boot camp” half a dozen
times and barely hiding (and in fact highlighting) that it will be a tough
week. As he knew that I had taken this class the previous year, he reached out
to me to have my feedback. A few hours later,
with a couple of beers on the table, we started to discuss my previous
experience in this demand management boot camp. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri Light","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Calibri Light"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">I started our discussion by confirming that
the class is demanding, but that’s the point of a boot camp: No pain, No gain!
And talking about gain, I asked him what he was expecting<i>. “Don’t know exactly, but the name sounds good and many people said
that it was a great class”</i>. What can I add to that…? All the user feedback
was positive!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri Light","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Calibri Light"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri Light","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Calibri Light"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">To better understand the class, I should start
by saying that it’s a class designed by professionals for professionals. This might
seem meaningless, but you should remember that in hospitality, there is often a
big gap between people in operations and those in the corporate office. The
lack of a mutual understanding between people in sales vs. revenue management;
between management vs. front of house; or between headquarters vs. the property
often leads to a lack of alignment in term of strategy. Thus, having people who
truly understand operations create a class like this helps brings clarity and
understanding to many of the challenges being faced by hotels today. Snapshot
is a company founded a few years ago by hoteliers who wanted to facilitate the
centralization and interpretation of data in hospitality to enable the managers
to focus less on trying to find the right figures and more on actually growing
revenues. Later, realizing the great knowledge gap that existed, they created a
department in charge of education, which mission is to take participants
through the basics of a more holistic approach to hotel management and revenue
management. Thus the hotel demand management boot camp was born.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri Light","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Calibri Light"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri Light","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Calibri Light"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Planned over five days, during the boot camp you
study all the topics that help a manager to drive more value out of a hotel:
Revenue Management, Marketing, Distribution and E-commerce and finally, Asset
management. That being said, my friend made a good point, which is that we
already have all these classes at ESSEC. So why should he take them again?
Well, just because it’s always beneficial to review those topics with a fresh
look. Plus, since these help to drive demand, each of them impacts the others
and it’s important to link them together around a common example. For example,
Revenue Management classes typically focus on selling the right room at the right
price to the right customer. However, few revenue management classes focus on
which channel is most economical to acquire that customer, something a
distribution class will typically do, but the latter in turn fail to explain
how to optimally price the room. During the boot camp lectures build on previous
knowledge to strengthen participants’ understanding not just of each discipline
but to highlight the importance of considering each of these aspects
holistically as a future manager.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri Light","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Calibri Light"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri Light","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Calibri Light"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">In addition, the boot camp classes are not like
regular lectures, as a wide variety of knowledgeable guest speakers also gave
highly interactive presentations, discussing real-life example and sharing great
anecdotes. For example, we had the chance to meet David Turnbull, the
co-creator of Snapshot, who gave us a lecture on distribution, and Martin Soler,
consultant in marketing and former General Manager, who discussed concrete
cases on which he had previously worked. Hearing this my friend started to
worry, because he had previously a class given by various guest speakers, and many
of them repeated and overlapped with each other. To avoid that, a facilitator
stays all week to coordinate both the speakers and the content. This helps the
guest speakers to concentrate on delivering their personal core message as they
do not have to re-do introductory material each and every time they start a
class. This greatly enhances the attractiveness of their presentations, which was
much appreciated by the participants.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri Light","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Calibri Light"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri Light","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Calibri Light"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Lastly the boot camp adopts a “hands-on” approach
as you are doing a real-life case study in groups, where you are given a hotel
with competitor, financial and occupancy data. It is because of this that the
boot camp notion all makes sense because, although it’s interesting, it’s very
demanding: market trends study, competitive analysis, review scanning on
TripAdvisor, income statement analysis… you certainly never have the time to get
bored! Soon, you discover that your
hotel faces several issues, including a low average daily rate, a less than
perfect rating on the social platforms, an unbalanced business mix and inefficient
marketing campaigns. The idea is to work as if you were the general manager to try
increase both the earnings and the value of our hotel. On the last day, you
present your action plan which is analyzed by all the guest speakers you met
during the week. What a great jury! And great thing: the class doesn’t stop
here, and you get a detailed feedback on your project a few days later.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri Light","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Calibri Light"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri Light","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Calibri Light"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">At that time, our beers were empty, and my
friend more than motivated. A couple weeks later, I happened to see him and
asked about his reaction to the class<i>.
“You were right, it was very instructive. The guest speakers and the projects
are very interesting, and it makes a great recap of our two years. I’ll
definitely recommend it too!”</i> Told you!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
ESSEC Blogshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00194225310893086108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6479677143489734217.post-84518868478886501702017-08-01T12:12:00.000+02:002017-12-06T12:12:56.489+01:00Participating in the HEDNA Conference - Dublin<i>By Elisa Schiess, current IMHI student</i>
<p>In April, Hospitality Management students at ESSEC received an email from the school’s administration telling them that 2 students would have the opportunity to represent the school by
participating in the HEDNA conferences in Dublin in June. I had a deeper look at the conference website and
got very excited: the conferences as well as companies represented seemed very appealing to me.</p>
<p>
You might be asking yourself, what is HEDNA? “ Founded in 1991, HEDNA (Hotel Electronic Distribution Network
Association) is the only global forum exclusively dedicated to the advancement of hospitality distribution
through strategic collaboration and knowledge sharing. “
Their members are hospitality industry leaders and innovators from all over the world: all areas of
electronic distribution including hotels, representation and management companies, GDSs (Global
Distribution Systems), OTAs (Online Travel Agencies), tour operators, software and payment service
providers, industry consultants, and educational institutions. Besides working groups, white papers and
educational opportunities, the HEDNA association organizes two major events annually, one in the United States and the other in Europe.
Electronic distribution has been an increasing interest for me since I began the program, as I understood how distribution is fundamental to an hotelier's success. From basically finding a way to sell a room night to dealing with security payment, interfaces, privacy, CRM (Customer Relationship Management),
revenue management, data collection, content, SEO (Search Engine Optimization), mobile … it is rather complex! I have had the opportunity to be introduced to these concepts at Prof. Peter O’Connor's famous E-Commerce course in the IMHI program,
other courses of digital marketing and during conferences (Christopher Michaud, Expedia) which
triggered my interest; I wanted to go deeper on the subject!</p>
<p>
I applied and 2 months later, here I was at the Dublin airport on a fresh Monday morning with my teammate: Thomas Amet, IMHI student also an IMHI student. The event began on Monday evening with a welcome drink, which allowed us some time to enjoy a nice walk around Dublin city center and get ready for 3 intensive
days.</p>
<p>
We were welcomed at The Croke Park Hotel. The first day focused on HEDNA University courses and working groups, the second day consisted largely of conferences, and the third day was a global wrap-up and next steps focus.
At that time, we met the Dublin HEDNA organizers who introduced us to HEDNA board members including Sarah Fults, current HEDNA President and VP Distribution, MGM Resorts International. It was then time to meet all the attendees (over 250 professionals) with a first welcome drink and a perfect occasion to start networking. At such events, networking is extremely important. In fact, the
association hopes that members will be able to help each other, get to know what’s new in each company and
exchange best practices. During the networking, we had the chance to exchange views with and learn from very knowledgeable professionals such as Christian Meissner (Director of E-Distribution of Deutsche Hospitality), Sylvain Courtial (Senior Manager, Hotel Connectivity & Content, Amadeus) and many others.</p>
<p>
The conference started on early Tuesday morning in the impressive Croke Park Center. We were first briefed by the organization team: our job would be to distribute microphones at the end of each conference for the Q&A session, which would thus allow us to attend all the conferences and network with conference participants.
The first day was filled with content from HEDNA University offering two courses throughout the day: an
“Introduction to Distribution” and a more advanced level course on "Delving into Distribution”.
Besides the University courses, a large panel of working groups was organized. As I already had some knowledge of the topics
delivered by the HEDNA University during IMHI classes, I decided to participate in a few working groups, such
as the Hotel Analytics Working Group session. This new group is led by Matthew Goulden (Managing Director, Triometric) and David Turnbull (Co-Founder and Chief Commercial Officer, Snapshot). Its objective is to increase awareness and adoption of data
analytic practices and tools and demonstrate how data analytics can be applied to hotel distribution. In
this first session, we discussed some key aspects to focus on as follows: the cost of distribution, the
market trends, some distribution supply insight, the operational performance, the data management.</p>
<p>
The afternoon went on with a few other working groups including a great panel on OTAs and Emerging Models topic where Carlo Olejniczak (Director, Global Chains, Booking.com)
Omar Farrugia (Director of Sales - Online, Corinthia Hotels), Adrian Hands (Senior Sales Director, Enterprise Accounts
EMEA, TripAdvisor) and Daniel Holl (Head of Global Hotel Sales, Trivago) discussed the OTA’s value
proposition in the evolving hospitality landscape.</p>
<p>
The second day started with a nice Irish breakfast for a good refill before another intensive day. Before going into the distribution subjects, Kevin Kelly, international speaker and author of the book: The Pursuit of Xceptional Execution, gave a motivational speech highlighting what makes exceptional businesses
and their leaders succeed. Then we alternated between individual conferences and panel talks on several topics such as:
- A State of the Industry done by Jerome Wise, Vice President - Enterprise Clients, TravelClick
- Innov8 where 8 key professionals shared their innovations in our industry in an 8-minute pitch
- Artificial Intelligence, Chatbots, and Virtual Reality: How to use technology to engage with consumers in which Alex Gibson, one of our Senior Lecturers at IMHI, also spoke.
Finally, we had the opportunity to learn how to pour a Guinness during the concluding event held at the
Guinness factory house in Dublin with an amazing view of Dublin. After a final wrap up, it was already time to leave!</p>
<p>
We were flying back to Paris having forged many new professional connections, new knowledge, various insights and a great
way to concretize our career. Since then, we have continued to follow up on some of the working groups and are still
involved in the analytics group.
We would like to thank IMHI for the opportunity to take part in this conference and the HEDNA organizing and board teams, who were very friendly, didn’t hesitate to introduce us to other
professionals and gave us some good tips for our future careers!
From a student's perspective, the HEDNA conference was a great occasion to meet with numerous professionals, wider our knowledge and gain valuable insights of the Hospitality distribution sector.</p>
ESSEC Blogshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00194225310893086108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6479677143489734217.post-82154427187612888952017-06-20T14:17:00.001+02:002017-06-21T13:26:24.751+02:00ESSEC Hospitality and Food management Forum 2017<b style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: 18.6667px; text-align: justify;">By: Victoria Estic, ESSEC student.</b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcdNz8wvPD7IPk4WWZEPRoZfHKk2pJoI3yxDpbWbdGS9DCkYRWsx3wIqcobWohl-4w1-vte-f7fAP4Mae-621yFSVFTILaoKewuU_bWybJo4NAgQwqy7bNUyfpgkJIN1DfDYiubOImUIdM/s1600/1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcdNz8wvPD7IPk4WWZEPRoZfHKk2pJoI3yxDpbWbdGS9DCkYRWsx3wIqcobWohl-4w1-vte-f7fAP4Mae-621yFSVFTILaoKewuU_bWybJo4NAgQwqy7bNUyfpgkJIN1DfDYiubOImUIdM/s400/1.JPG" width="400" /></a><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"><b>Every year, ESSEC Business School hosts an industry conference focused on
topical strategic issues affecting the hospitality sector</b> on its campus in
Cergy Pontoise near Paris.</span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;">This brings students from both of its Hospitality Management programs (the MSc in Hospitality Management and ESSEC’s Global MBA major in Hospitality Management) together with alumni and industry partners to discuss issues, challenges, and trends facing the industry today, giving them the opportunity to interact with senior industry executives as well as advance on their job search for after graduation.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;">This year ESSEC jointly organized this forum with the Mastère Spécialisé Management International Agro-alimentaire (MIA), further expanding participant's horizons away from traditional hospitality and opening their minds towards opportunities in the broader food production, distribution and retailing areas.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;"><b>The forum kicked off with two industry panels focused on two key interconnected industry issues –developing business models and innovation. The first panel, entitled ‘Excellence in Business Models’ was moderated by Professor Peter O’Connor and included speakers from a very wide spectrum of hospitality companies including Trivago, Squarebreak, Touch & PLAY, Deutsche Hospitality and SnapShot. </b>The discussion started by highlighting how the business model behind traditional hospitality companies is increasingly coming under threat, whether from innovative players such as AirBnB or online companies such as the OTAs, both of whom are radically changing paradigms as what it means to be successful. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"> </span></span></span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS2xXt2RIhR6a9VVS165y2HKaCsTsJzxbjXnadRfmY3Dmotl85U-wY5XJvU6c0hVEpEpWCyYo5vs6igjeSRlMlrXpC5OSHuu6Bk9PaKGcvDDNO3eeqOczMj0Q9JOYD7sIr_gOKLdnOYj_2/s1600/3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: xx-small;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS2xXt2RIhR6a9VVS165y2HKaCsTsJzxbjXnadRfmY3Dmotl85U-wY5XJvU6c0hVEpEpWCyYo5vs6igjeSRlMlrXpC5OSHuu6Bk9PaKGcvDDNO3eeqOczMj0Q9JOYD7sIr_gOKLdnOYj_2/s400/3.JPG" width="400" /></span></a><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">According to <i>Laurent Michaud (IMHI 2011), CEO
of </i></span><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Eazeat<i>, </i>today<i>
</i>hotels are struggling to drive additional revenues. <b>Currently accommodation make up four-fifths
of overall revenues, but this figure is relatively fixed and if hotels wish to
keep growing, they need to find supplemental revenues from somewhere else.</b> Some companies are moving ahead – for example
Accorhotels with its innovative ‘Local’ initiative, Deutsche Hospitality by
moving away from the company’s traditional markets with its new concept Jaz,
and Squarebreak by combining private rentals with hotel-like services while also
innovatively responding to a growing demand for both privacy and unique
experiences. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><b>The biggest challenge most hospitality companies
currently face is this one of managing change.
</b>Which is why perhaps they should consider trying to collaborate more
closely with start-ups </span><span style="font-size: 14pt;">like Snapshot or Eazeat, whose smaller size and
nimbler organization structure allows them to react to developing market
opportunities much more quickly. As David Turnbull<i> (Co-Founder & CCO of </i>Snapshot)
pointed out, the hospitality industry should start investing in technology and data to better understand customers
and satisfy their developing needs. The PMS can be used to store information,
the CRM to offer personalized services and the channel manager for online distribution.
Then, the staff should be trained to use the data and be proactive.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">The second panel returned to this topic of innovation. Speakers such as Régis Bertrand, Innovation Manager at Metro and Laurent Repelin, General
Manager Food Service and B2B at Savencia, highlighted the role of having the
right people in the innovation process. <b>Thus, creating an environment that fosters innovation is essential. Thinking
differently about this business is one of the key issues, which perhaps helps
explain why having a shadow Comex composed of Millennial has become a growing
trend in companies struggling to keep ahead of the game.</b></span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSbuklT87C4JioXYjQktUw0oHupCJU1fYD4wDQjxMai1ac5NaJXZ5NdSVDkmk26PrSrg3zzJz4eetiVCMa1q_z7z96CQ_1ztc5ebDZra5NT8A-zoM_ogLq5umIQDFI1z-MKf7Df0nMUd72/s1600/2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSbuklT87C4JioXYjQktUw0oHupCJU1fYD4wDQjxMai1ac5NaJXZ5NdSVDkmk26PrSrg3zzJz4eetiVCMa1q_z7z96CQ_1ztc5ebDZra5NT8A-zoM_ogLq5umIQDFI1z-MKf7Df0nMUd72/s400/2.JPG" width="400" /></a><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">As Craig Cochrane, Senior Vice
President Human Resources Movenpick pointed out, <b>hotels do not always
have the internal resources to innovate for themselves, but can use startups to
better understand the customer and respond faster to their needs through social
media, the web and media such as mobile.</b>
In the food industry, innovation also means finding the proper tools to
respond to both individual needs and more macro trends to insure that the
company can deliver the right product to the right user at the right time. For
example, restaurants could make better use of CRM to better understand customer
habits. From this communications channels such as social media could be used to
better market to the customer, thus helping to increase turnover.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;"><b>Irrespective of the industry, the key issue is understanding the customer to know what products he is looking for and how much he is willing to pay. </b>In Berlin, Metro is launching an accelerator where solutions are tested for free by customers to make sure that the digital promise matches real life requirements. And companies should also keep in mind that although some innovations can be considered global issues, others need to be tackled locally to better service regional needs.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: 18.6667px;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;">After the round tables, the afternoon was dedicated to meetings with partner companies. Participants included AccorHotels, Booking.com, Carlson Wagonlit Travel, Citizen M, Colisée, Compass Group, Deutsche Hospitality, Domitys, Dorchester Collection, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, Oetker Collection, Marriot, Hosco, Savencia Fromage & Dairy, Metro, Movenpick, Trivago, The Ascott Limited, Paris Inn Group and EliorGroup, providing participants with the perfect opportunity to talk with senior industry leaders and start finding jobs and internships. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;"><b>The event highlights the close connection between industry and the school </b>– an important consideration given the latter’s orientation to provide practical, applied and relevant educational opportunities for its participants. Thank you to all the industry executives who made this possible for your continued commitment to preparing the next generation of hospitality leaders.</span></span></div>
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ESSEC Blogshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00194225310893086108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6479677143489734217.post-48620187688179629222017-06-16T18:55:00.004+02:002017-06-21T13:25:30.868+02:00Travelling the globe with ESSEC’s Global MBA major in Hospitality Management (IMHI)<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: times, serif; font-size: 14.85px;">By: Victoria Estic, ESSEC student.</b></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBl1z1seVa7lQU-IO7g3hn54xodWyg5qvT-A1PStGYcorAm0cILc1w42bExQJj77MiJ32tKetNUkMmO-vhvfa0XqP2KRgHHrMwbWHGvhMvpwvuf0l5lu4asX8P3Xfa6fOCkWrE12k3oR87/s1600/Teacher+pic+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1065" data-original-width="1600" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBl1z1seVa7lQU-IO7g3hn54xodWyg5qvT-A1PStGYcorAm0cILc1w42bExQJj77MiJ32tKetNUkMmO-vhvfa0XqP2KRgHHrMwbWHGvhMvpwvuf0l5lu4asX8P3Xfa6fOCkWrE12k3oR87/s400/Teacher+pic+2.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times" , "serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><br />Diversity is highly valued in
ESSEC’s Global MBA major in Hospitality Management (IMHI), and this quality is
reflected not just in its orientation and its student body, but also in the
composition of its teaching staff. As
befits one of the leading schools producing graduates for the global
hospitality sector, ESSEC’s hospitality faculty not only have widely different
educational and professional backgrounds but also hail from every corner of the
globe. Here we take a look at four really great teachers that truly represent
the spirit of the IMHI program. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times" , "serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">The first is of course Professor <b>Peter
O’Connor</b>, Academic Director of the program and the one who teaches both the
Business Computing and the eCommerce courses.
Coming from Ireland, Peter has a deep connection with the hospitality
sector. While he holds a PhD from Margaret University College in Edinburgh and
has authored both textbooks and countless articles, his true value is his
expertise on using electronic channels of distribution in hospitality, as well as
on how technology can be used to enhance operational effectiveness in hotels.
Peter is greatly appreciated amongst his students. He is not only passionate
about his subject but can communicate and pass this onto his students in only
one class! A talented speaker, he is a strong believer in “action learning” and
“learning by doing”. While difficult,
and often frustrating, for some, by forcing participants to think for
themselves, experiment and find creative solutions, this quickly produces
deeper learning that traditional methods. “Instead of immediately revealing the
‘right’ solution, by trying over and over people finally succeed and understand
much better what they’ve done”. Perhaps
the best reflection of this approach is the high level of technology literacy
amongst graduates of the program, a competency much appreciated by
employers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times" , "serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">A second teacher who has had an enormous
influence of generations of IMHI students is Professor <b>Robert E. Kastner</b>,
nicknamed Bob, who comes from America and teaches Financial Accounting. After
completing his studies, Bob taught at Cornell on the faculty of the School of
Hotel Administration. He is widely known as a lecturer and producer of
management development programs for the global hospitality sector. He has had a
long association with leading international hospitality management companies,
and also works with Robert M. Chase & Associates to deliver executive
education programs using two management simulations, the Cornell Hotel and
Restaurant Administration Simulation Exercise.
Bob’s highly dynamic nature, enthusiasm, and ethic nature represent well
his American genes. Bob is an excellent teacher who pushes students to work
hard and excel at what they are doing, with the result that, during their
careers, graduates think back about Bob’s financial accounting classes &
methods. His key battle cry is “cash-flow”!
Everything invariably has to do with “cash-flow”, the lifeblood that
makes a company run well. Behind his
serious manner, Bob is a very nice and funny teacher. Students will never forget Bob and his
countless hilarious ties! He is a truly
passionate teacher who definitely doesn’t leave students indifferent. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times" , "serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Adding further to the international dimension
is Revenue Management specialist <b>Dr. Sunmee Choi </b>from South Korea. Another Cornell graduate, she teaches courses
on quantitative analysis and decision modeling, particularly applied to the
Revenue management area. Before joining the academic world, she worked in several
interesting industry positions, including Director of Hotel Revenue Management
at priceline.com, as well as in operations for companies such as Hyatt, Hampton
Inns, and Sheraton. Sunmee is an amazing teacher who clearly knows her highly
technical subject inside-out. She is passionate about research and provides
students unique academic articles to read and analyze. Rather the simply
teaching classes, she encourages students to dig deeply into research and
innovation. Her way of teaching, which
is very methodical and thus very different from Professor O’Connor’s more
unstructured approach, represents well her South-Korean roots and thus
confronts students with the perfect opportunity to learn about different ways
of working. Despite her highly quantitative
discipline, Sunmee is at heart very soft as well as genuine and as a result the
students love her. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times" , "serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">And last but not least we have global
traveller, <b>Dr. Stefan Groschl</b>, an ESSEC faculty member specialized in Human
Resources Management, educated in the UK, based in France but originally from
Germany and now living in Panama! Stefan is Co-Chair of the ESSEC Leadership
and Diversity Chair and Member of the Faculty of Management at ESSEC Business
School. A graduate of Oxford Brookes University, Stefan has both worked in the
hotel industry and taught in academic positions in England and Canada before
joining ESSEC. He is a regular panelist and speaker at academic conferences and
industry events all over the world as well as delivering courses at numerous
academic institutions in Mexico, Taiwan, Spain, New Zealand, Germany and
Bahrain – a truly international profile. Stefan is an excellent teacher and
even though his subject – Human Resources – was not necessarily the one that
students were initially the most excited about, he consistency manages to make
it as one of the students’ favorite classes. Indeed, one of his classes
“Managing Oneself and Leading Others” goes much further than just teaching
basic human resources management. It enables students to work and reflect on
their own personal growth. Stefan also succeeds in prove to students that Human
Resources is at the center of success in most companies, but particularly in
the people oriented hospitality sector. His rigor, as well as his proximity to
students, are greatly appreciated, and his ability to help people understand
that hospitality is above all a people business adds an important dimension to
the IMHI experience. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times" , "serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Thus, from Ireland, to America, to South Korea
and Germany, and many destinations in between, almost the entire globe is
covered by the ESSEC faculty. To that we add the students, who typically come
from nearly twenty different countries, the orientation which focuses on the
global hotels sector and it all adds up to a truly international
experience. Such a variety of intertwined
cultures presents students with a unique opportunity from which to adapt and
learn, and in fact experience what most of us actually experience when we’re
hired in different positions in global companies in different parts of the
world. ESSEC’s Global MBA major in Hospitality Management – offering a truly
international education to help prepare you for a truly international career!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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ESSEC Blogshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00194225310893086108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6479677143489734217.post-85315827469787466302016-06-30T11:38:00.001+02:002016-06-30T11:52:47.929+02:00HEDNA's European Global Distribution Conference held in Berlin from June 14-16, 2016.<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>by <b>Galina Mereacre</b></i></span></div>
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Attending a conference is a professionally
rewarding experience. As we find out that we will be<br />
representing ESSEC at HEDNA's
European Global Distribution Conference in Berlin, Jessica and I took the
responsibility seriously – preparing and trying to give out our best in order
to make our institution proud.</div>
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<span lang="EN-US">HEDNA (<i>Hotel Electronic Distribution
Network Association</i>) is the only global forum exclusively dedicated to the advancement
of hospitality distribution through strategic collaboration and knowledge
sharing. For over 25 years, the non-for-profit association has provided members
with networking platforms, educational opportunities and professional resources
to help them navigate the ever-evolving landscape of hotel electronic
distribution.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">For a soon graduated MBA in hospitality
this was a wonderful opportunity to learn about the latest trends in the
industry, to get a better grasp of the on hands on experience, and finally
assess how ready we were in our turn – for the beginning of our new careers. During
the 3 day conference, we got to listen to some of the biggest names in the
industry, participate in different workshops and even engage in hallway
conversations with these experts. We were pleasantly surprised to conclude that
our MBA program prepared us well in order to understand and contribute to
solving the main challenges the hotels are facing today. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #3d85c6;"><b><i>"Jonathan’s inspiring speech inspired a deeper understanding of the hotel industry's challenges and opportunities"</i></b></span></blockquote>
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<span lang="EN-US">We were again reassured just as it was a
Peter O’Conor’s e-commerce class that emerging consumer and industry
technologies, guest expectations, business strategies, market forces, and
organization strategies create a compelling and essential need for hotel
distribution to continue to evolve and transform. HEDNA's own research presented
a compelling vision into the future of hotel distribution presenting us with the
various factors driving the need of change as well as discussing optimal
solutions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Among some of the greatest speakers we were
honored to attend was also Jonathan MacDonald - a world-renowned speaker that
provided thinking, new perspectives and avenues of thought for companies such
as Google, Apple, P&G, Unilever, Nestlé and IKEA. Jonathan’s inspiring
speech inspired a deeper understanding
of the hotel industry's challenges and opportunities and enabled hoteliers to
utilize knowledge to explore what the future could look like, and whether they
are building the future hotel industry as the one they want to live in.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">The conference was concluded by another
wonderful motivational speaker – Jim Pickell
also founder and CEO of HomeExchange that discussed innovation,
disruptive technology, and data and how these aspects are already removing
traditional barriers and friction points in reshaping and delivering a better hospitality
and travel experience.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Especially valuable I found the opportunity
to network with other professionals, which is an exceptional chance for our
professional development and horizontal exchange of experience. We got the
chance to meet professionals from all areas of electronic distribution
including hotels, representation and management companies, GDSs, switch
companies, OTAs, tour operators, software and payment service providers,
industry consultants and educational institutions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">As I am looking to build a career in
digital marketing, attending Hedna conference and gathering valuable industry
insights had a significant contribution to my future professional expertise. I
feel beyond lucky to have had the opportunity to attend this event along with professionals
from all over the World.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
ESSEC Blogshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00194225310893086108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6479677143489734217.post-59115675697274859402016-06-03T10:33:00.000+02:002016-06-03T10:51:29.605+02:00IMHI Forum round tables: 2016 EU Forecast<div style="text-align: right;">
<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">by Daniel Alexandre Portoraro</span></i><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj14-Im2_yeRrpknMrqXPzQq4LSG_XGEWLMpCJaY0Bbkjb4m7GyBUyyakYFLuAJvGdtmoBYKbOBC7XoqUzAQOb_YOLPLm-u4ZdKFPNLHzPvq_EFh1j1TOnJGEMgUVP-buI0vLRktVNKgB2l/s1600/13226804_1129954747061765_3570359870672568184_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj14-Im2_yeRrpknMrqXPzQq4LSG_XGEWLMpCJaY0Bbkjb4m7GyBUyyakYFLuAJvGdtmoBYKbOBC7XoqUzAQOb_YOLPLm-u4ZdKFPNLHzPvq_EFh1j1TOnJGEMgUVP-buI0vLRktVNKgB2l/s1600/13226804_1129954747061765_3570359870672568184_n.jpg" /></a></div>
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After any headline year, it’s always easy to be pessimistic. After a record-breaking 2015, in which hotel transactions<b> topped $85 billion</b>, single asset transactions broke through the<b> $47 billion dollar level</b>, and Blackstone claimed the largest ever portfolio acquisition in eight years (Strategic Hotels & Resorts for $6 billion), common sentiment may be “things can only go down from here.”</div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></div>
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And while this may very well be the case, let’s not mince words: Going down from $85 billion in transactions is nothing to scoff at.</div>
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In May, at the<i> IMHI Forum</i>, Thomas Lamson, Executive Vice President of Transactions for JLL France, tempered any fears the audience may have had in regards to the robustness of the European hotel brokerage market. According to him, while the market would no doubt slow down (again, how can’t you, from nearly $90 billion?), foreign investment would continue its flows into the continent, with gateway cities such as London and Paris leading the charge.</div>
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<h3 style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">According to Mr. Lamson, a startlingly </span></i><i><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">overwhelming </span></i><i><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">amount of all foreign cash </span></i><i><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">inflows was focused on the French capital.</span></i></h3>
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Indeed, if there’s one thing that may raise caution, it’s the latter’s prominence within the French transaction market. According to Mr. Lamson, a startlingly overwhelming amount of all foreign cash inflows was focused on the French capital.</div>
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And the numbers are there to back it up.</div>
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According to an HVS report, in 2015, while France enjoyed an increase of 16% in single asset transactions, 80% of those occurred in the Greater Paris area. While this no doubt satisfies investors already present in the metropolis, it does raise concerns about the market’s centralized nature. This figure overshadows the 63% of UK single asset transactions focused on London, demonstrating the latter’s nation as a more spread out investment environment, with burgeoning growth in markets such as Manchester, Birmingham, and more.</div>
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But it’s one thing to look at where the money’s going, and another to see where it’s coming from. In 2015, private equity investment into hotels reached nearly 28% of all inflows, thereby demonstrating the financial community’s continued appetite for the hospitality industry; this figure was tailed closely by institutional investors (pension funds, insurance companies, etc.) showing that even typically risk-averse investors are interested by the manageable, variable returns hotel properties can offer.</div>
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And as always, the Middle East demonstrated its sustained interest in European trophy assets, with the Qatar Investment Authority purchasing the star-studded Maybourne Collection – comprised of Claridge’s the Connaught, and the Berkeley – for €2.75 billion euro.</div>
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Again, however, while 2015 may have been a banner year, it’s important to note firstly, the strong fundamental performance of hotel assets driving demand, a continued low-interest rate environment, as well as the fact that the Q4 of 2015 accounted for a third of the year’s total transaction volume, which may very well spillover into 2016. And this is to say nothing of the continued ascendancy of the German hotel market, and revitalization of once-embattled tourism hubs such as Spain and Italy.</div>
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Even if 2016 doesn’t turn out like 2015, the transaction market may very well have a rosy period ahead.</div>
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<span style="color: #6fa8dc; text-align: center;"><br /></span></div>
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<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i><span style="color: #6fa8dc; text-align: center;">During the last IMHI Forum, interesting topics were </span><span style="color: #6fa8dc; text-align: center;">discussed by industry professionals. Current student </span><span style="color: #6fa8dc; text-align: center;">Daniel Portoraro was present to report about the </span><span style="color: #6fa8dc; text-align: center;">most memorable messages of the day.</span></i></span></div>
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ESSEC Blogshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00194225310893086108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6479677143489734217.post-24750817706383618022016-04-14T10:07:00.000+02:002016-05-17T16:46:34.625+02:00How to make the most of your apprenticeship<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span lang="EN-AU" style="background: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">By Capucine Viguier, MBA in
Hospitality Management, France, 2014-2016 2nd Year</span></span></i></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTRhuvWoA_wwEGAyTvhHE3t7INwlyHMUkxKPrGBPgCwHNcU3jUz5kDM5ZXFy4Q7ao5YBCsM59VHg8_XHQ_K-spgd4U3sVTDS5wjui1Q9pr_4v1rwPyx0NtbFnDBr2K2AQQKTT_lRYzHkR8/s1600/Picture-15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTRhuvWoA_wwEGAyTvhHE3t7INwlyHMUkxKPrGBPgCwHNcU3jUz5kDM5ZXFy4Q7ao5YBCsM59VHg8_XHQ_K-spgd4U3sVTDS5wjui1Q9pr_4v1rwPyx0NtbFnDBr2K2AQQKTT_lRYzHkR8/s1600/Picture-15.jpg" /></a></div>
<span lang="EN-AU" style="background: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">After
a prep school, I graduated a Master of Sciences in Management at Kedge Business
School in Bordeaux. As I have always wanted to work in the hospitality industry
while getting a business background, I took the opportunity during my Business
School course to spend one year in Bangkok to follow a management training in
a Pullman hotel (Accorhotels Group) in F&B, Front Office and Marketing
departments. After several internships in Reservation in Belgium and Revenue
Management in Berlin I was ready to enrol and enter the MBA in Hospitality
Management at ESSEC. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="background: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As I
planned to follow the apprenticeship program offered by IMHI, I was fortunate
enough to continue my adventure within the AccorHotels Group in Paris as a Hotel
Preopening Project Manager for the Luxury and Upscale department. At the same
time I joined the Accor Student Ambassador program in order to promote the
group internal event for my school community such as the Wolrlwide Take Off
Student Challenges. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU" style="background: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU" style="background: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">During
the last 12 months, I had the opportunity to join the preopening team of 2 challenging properties opening: Les Cures Marines de Trouville a 5-star
MGallery by Sofitel, and the Pullman Roissy CDG Airport 4*. At the end of these
two operational experiences, I started working at the headquarters on a hotel
pre opening tool kit for the next MGallery franchises openings. This was such
an enriching mission, as I wanted to keep a foot in the operational side while
being involved in the Global strategy of each brand. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="background: white;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">These two pre
openings experiences were a lot of hard work but so stimulating and
rewarding. I had never stopped learning in the last past 12 months. For both
mission, I was right away emerged within the hotel when the construction was in
progress. I started the adventure from the scratch, as there were only the GM
and the Director of HR. Everything had to be created. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU" style="background: white;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU" style="background: white;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">From October 2015
to March 2016, it was an intense period as I combined classes at ESSEC for 3
days a week then work at Trouville for 2 days. Once the two first trimesters were completed, all apprentices were required to spend 9 months full time in their
respective companies. At that time, I moved from a seaside hotel to an airport
property in Roissy. The key objective of my job was to ensure that the project
was delivered on time. For that I supported every head of department in term of
Human Ressources, Sales and Marketing, Revenue Management and Food &
Beverage. My mission covered a large area of topic: from the implementation of
standard operating to furniture and fixtures equipment ordering and social
media campaigns (just to name a few). There were also nice aspects such as food
and wine tasting. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU" style="background: white;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="background: white;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I was the coordinator of the
project between the Headquarters and the operational side. Project Management
is captivating because it allows me not only to support on various topics but
also to work with multiple departments on cross-functional projects. It was a
challenging experience as for each property we had to face unexpected events
and always adapt ourselves to come up with solutions, especially in case of
delay of the opening date. As you can see, there is no time to waste when it
comes to opening a hotel, I never count my hours and I love it. <span style="color: #333333;">I was fully dedicated to my job as I was considered
myself as an employee as a whole. I had the chance to be trusted and to work directly
with both General Managers who gave me many important responsibilities and
missions to achieve. I had the opportunity to participate to strategic meetings
and I often interacted with the Brand Regional Directors. It helped to develop
my communication and leadership skills. Some of my managers acted more as
mentors than direct superiors. </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU" style="background: white;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #333333;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="background: white; color: #333333;">It was the opportunity to provide my
competencies learnt in course but also to bring my expertise from my previous
experiences in Revenue Management and Marketing. Nevertheless, one challenging
aspect of this apprenticeship was switching from one team to another and
finding my place to get the trust of my managers in some stressful period. It
was also emotionally hard to leave one team for another when you have shared
such strong moments. Indeed, it is above all a human experience and it would
have no value if it would have been easy. I developed strong relationship for
life with people from different background. Last week, I came back at the
Pullman Paris Roissy CDG Airport for the inauguration party, and it is always
the same emotion of </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="background: white; color: #252525;">accomplishment
of 8 month-hard work</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="background: white; color: #333333;"> and pleasure when entering this
hotel and meeting my former colleagues. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="background: white; color: #333333;">Needless
to say, my apprenticeship was my best professional experience so far and </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="background: white; color: #252525;">I could not have imagined better with two-hotel preopening at this stage of my professional early career.
It was truly a fantastic and unforgettable experience with amazing memories
remaining with me forever. </span></span></div>
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Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6479677143489734217.post-44652377684971318712016-04-14T09:48:00.000+02:002016-05-17T16:46:12.758+02:00The Brandstorm L’Oréal Competition<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Virgile Faury, Clément Ghidini and Clara Muller, MBA in Hospitality Management 2013-2016</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As current students of the MBA in Hospitality Management (IMHI) we have the opportunity of taking advantage of ESSEC classes, which enables us to take classes out of the hospitality context.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Attending Mr. Simon Nyeck class in "Anthropology of luxury brands", the final exam work was based on the worldwide L'Oréal competition, the Brandstorm L'Oréal. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Since 1992, the company has given the opportunity to young students to participate in this unique international business competition. With a reward of 10 000€ as well as a coaching from top L'Oréal executives, the Brandstorm is an exciting way to challenge students in a real business case study.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This year's topic is to find a digital strategy for L'Oréal brand La Roche-Posay, in order to attract 15-25 year old customers. Indeed, this dermocosmetic brand is lacking Millenials customers, and looking at the evolution of digital nowadays, a strategy based on technology is inescapable.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The competition is organised around 4 major steps:</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">1)<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The pre-selection to be part of the 12 teams competing for the campus final.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">2)<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The campus final, which will determine the team representing the school against other French schools.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">3)<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The national final regrouping all participating schools and their finalist team, in order to determine the team that will represent France at the international final. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">4)<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The international final, where countries will finally compete to win the Brandstorm 2016. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Almost 3300 teams worldwide participate in this challenge, which means that the competition is very tough. We need to be unique, consistent and surprising if we want to access to the international final.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Thanks to the Brandstorm, we are facing a concrete and realistic case study which also enables us to meet managers and executives of La Roche-Posay and L'Oréal. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">With our "Thunderteam", we are proud to have won the ESSEC final, and we will do our best to represent IMHI and ESSEC at the national final and, of course, win !!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It is extremely exciting to be part of this competition. We always want to go further to the next step and push even more our limits. </span></div>
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Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6479677143489734217.post-58979224730345875442016-02-29T09:52:00.001+01:002016-05-17T16:45:26.248+02:00Industry Leader Conference: Olivier Thierry La Fourchette<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><i style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; line-height: 20.79px; text-align: start;">By Daniel Alexandre Portoraro, MBA in Hospitality Management, Canada/Italy, 2014-2016 2nd Year</i></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><i style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; line-height: 20.79px; text-align: start;"><br /></i></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Last
week, IMHI had the pleasure of hosting <b>Olivier Thierry, ESSEC alumnus, COO and B2B Director of
La Fourchette</b>, as part of the fifth installment of the Industry Leader
Conferences.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Over
the course of the evening, Mr. Thierry’s presentation veered more towards the
role his company plays, as opposed to the path that led him there. While the
latter would have certainly been interesting to touch upon, this is not to
suggest La Fourchette is anything but an incredibly innovative platform in the
hospitality industry. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In
short, La Fourchette is the Expedia, the Booking.com of restaurants across
Europe. However, unlike Expedia, La Fourchette brings services hitherto unused
by restaurants across the continent.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">For
example, while the practice of yield management is a long-standing one within
the hotel and aviation industry, restaurants have yet to be fully exposed to
it. La Fourchette offers restaurants to take advantage of revenue management by
offering guest discounts (sometimes, as much as 50%) during down time.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In
addition to this, La Fourchette also replaces the dusty, biblically-sized
reservation book. As mentioned by Mr. Thierry, “in this book, you have an
incredibly wealth of information; from names to phone numbers to culinary
tastes and table preferences. Yet, at the end of the year, this reservation
book is often thrown away by the restaurant, or set aside in some dark corner
and remains untouched.” La Fourchette seeks to replicate all the benefits of
the reservation book while packaging them in a lightweight, easy-to-use digital
format.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Naturally,
there are a lot of services which can justify the fees La Fourchette charges
participating restaurants; they can take advantage of revenue management
principles, can reach a new audience, and most importantly, develop an
invaluable data bank about their guests.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">That
said, we’ve heard this before, especially those in the hotel industry. Already,
some customers ask themselves why if one week they can buy dinner at a
restaurant for 40% off the list price, they must pay the full amount the next
week at a more popular booking time. In order to quell this frustration, or
rather, confusion (which both the hotel and airline industries went through),
La Fourchette is going to great pains to make its system as transparent as
possible.</span></span></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In
addition to this, however, it remains to be seen if all the value La Fourchette
brings to restaurants will soon pose to be a problem for various eateries.
After all, hotels were once happy to have OTAs help them reach out to new
customers, but as anyone following the industry today knows, the war is often
between operators and these travel agents, as opposed to between the operators
themselves. Is it possible that ORAs (Online Reservation Agents) such as La
Fourchette will eventually occupy the same invaluable place in the supply chain
that Booking.com and Expedia do? It may appear so. And as we’ve seen, the
strength of OTAs can incite firms such as Marriott to acquire major hotel
players such as Starwood. It will be interesting to see how the restaurant
industry will react, and more importantly, evolve.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6479677143489734217.post-65553723175248232682016-02-11T09:55:00.000+01:002016-05-17T16:44:51.771+02:00Industry Leader Conference: Sophie Barrault Club Méditerranée<i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; line-height: 20.79px;"><br />By Daniel Alexandre Portoraro, MBA in Hospitality Management, Canada/Italy, 2014-2016 2nd Year</i><br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In January, IMHI had the benefit of hosting </span><b style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Sophie Barrault, Vice President of Development and Asset Management of Club Méditerranée</b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">, pioneer of the all-inclusive resort model. </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Over the course of the evening, Madame Barrault spoke of her career at the hospitality group, and what led her to it. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A journalist and economics teacher prior to taking on managerial roles in operations at a variety of Club Med resorts, Madame Barrault stressed how her communication (honed from her time as a journalist) and explaining abilities (developed over the course of her educational career) allowed her to move up the corporate ladder.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /> But the majority of the evening focused on Club Med itself. And why shouldn’t it? Once the vanguard of all-inclusive resort experiences tailored for mature audiences, the French company has gone through numeral changes over the past several years. Maybe most striking was its acquisition last year by Fosun International, a Chinese investment firm based in Shanghai. Part of the wave of Chinese hospitality acquisitions, Barrault discussed the solid fit between these two firms: Club Med’s growth strategy is focused in the Far East (where communal, all-inclusive experiences are well received), and Fosun can help them navigate the complex market. Furthermore, as part of Club Med’s rebranding campaign to move away from the image lent to it from films such as Les Bronzes, and to an upper-upscale, sometimes even luxury brand, Fosun is also on board. This stands in stark contrast to the strategy proposed by another courter of Club Med, Andrea Bonomi, who sought a strategy based on midscale growth centered on Europe. In a key strategic move, Club Med aligned itself with an acquirer which agreed wholeheartedly with its rejuvenation strategy. As simple as this may seem, it’s often impossible for firms to grow when there is a discrepancy between viewpoints of the executive committee and buyer.<br /><br /> As part of this new initiative, Club Med is determined for the strong majority of its properties to become upper-upscale resorts. Furthermore, as a testament to its commitment to the Chinese market, Club Med has also developed the Joyview brand, which acts as an introduction to Club Med for this key growth market. <br /><br /> Perhaps most interestingly, however, while Madame Barrault is the VP of Development and Asset Management, a large part of the evening focused on the operations of the firm’s products, and the habits of its customers. This just goes to show that while development and asset management may often appear to be a numbers game – one predicated on the analysis of financial statements – one must keep in mind that behind all these numbers are the actions of men and women on the field. Needless to say, if there’s one major take-away from the evening, it’s that the human component of the hospitality industry can never be discounted, no matter where one may be perched on the corporate ladder.<br /><br /> </span></div>
Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6479677143489734217.post-23678089955274617122016-02-02T14:44:00.000+01:002016-02-27T13:47:13.926+01:00Marriott International's Acquisition of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Assessment<div style="text-align: start;">
<span style="color: #5c5c5c; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.85px; line-height: 20.79px;"><i>By Daniel Alexandre Portoraro, MBA in Hospitality Management, Canada/Italy, 2014-2016 2nd Year</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Last November, Marriott International announced its surprise acquisition of Starwood Hotels & Resorts for roughly $12 billion. </b>This has led Marriott to become the world’s number one hotel operator, with over a million rooms across 5,500 hotels. Below, we’ll run a (very) quick <b>Four Dimensions of Fit assessment</b> to see, from a strategic perspective, whether this deal makes sense.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Simply put, there is a very strong strategic fit between the two firms. Both are direct competitors across various market segments, and while Marriott may be the larger company, it faces stiff competition from Starwood at the luxury, and lifestyle luxury segments. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">There is even stronger fit when one considers that Marriott, post-acquisition, will have unmatched bargaining power in face of online travel agents (OTAs) which will allow them to command lower commission fees, but also diverge dependence via stronger technological prowess. Needless to say, this deal also allows Marriott to operate in a stronger position against other competing operators (e.g. Hilton, Hyatt.) </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>2. Resource Fit</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This is where things get even more interesting. There is a significant amount of resource overlap between the two companies as they operate within the same industry. This extends to brands (e.g. EDITION vs W; Ritz-Carlton vs St. Regis; Delta vs Sheraton, etc.), and while some may fear for cannibalization, one must remember it’s often better to destroy one’s own market share, as opposed to cede it to a competing firm. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">But branding isn’t everything; one key driver for the acquisition is also Starwood’s leading loyalty program, SPG. In fact, SPG is so strong that upon announcement of the acquisition, program members were immediate in voicing their concern that their cherished benefits would evaporate (Marriott CEO Arne Sorenson was quick to assure SPG members that this would not be the case.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">And let’s not forget of other deep synergies that can be optimized between these two firms, namely in distribution, sales and marketing, development networks, and maybe most importantly, technologies, which will help Marriott fight back against margin-munching OTAs.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>3. Organizational Fit</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We see a good fit between these two firms in terms of their organization; both are based within relatively close proximity to one another, and seem to be similar in their decision-making process. Taking a look at the firms’ respective timelines, we see they operate quickly. For example, within a single year, Marriott acquired both Delta Hotels and Protea Hotels (firms which operate in two completely different markets, Canada, and Africa, respectively.) Between 1997 and 1999, Starwood – hold your breath, now – acquired Sheraton ($14.3 billion), Westin ($1.8 billion), rebranded themselves as Starwood Hotels & Resorts, and launched their landmark W Hotel brand. Needless to say, it’s doubtful one organizational structure will slow down the other.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">That said, we see some discrepancy in how these firms are structured; Marriott is a firm with family-heavy ties (Sorenson is the first non-Marriott CEO to be appointed.) Starwood, on the other hand, was created for tax reasons. We will see below how this affect the cultural fit between the two companies.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>4. Culture Fit</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">There is the potential for a bit of culture conflict in regards to this acquisition. This may be best exemplified by the origins of the companies’ names (Marriott: family name; Starwood: investment fund.) In Starwood’s case, we may see more of a financier mindset at play, compared to Marriott’s hotelier bent. At the management level, we see a discrepancy as well: the average length of stay for a chief Marriott executive (e.g. CFO) is 19 years, compared to Starwood’s average of five years. That said, both firms are American, publically-traded, and thus, seek to generate value to shareholders – a definite positive which eases the acquisition process. Furthermore, as Sorenson said job cuts will begin at the executive level, we may see a better alignment of top brass pedigree, and therefore, a more consistent culture.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Naturally, there is a great deal more to be said about this acquisition, and this version of the Four Dimensions of Fit only begins to scratch the surface of one of the largest deals in the history of the hospitality industry. But overall, we can see a strong fit between the two firms, thus signaling the first step in a successful acquisition deal.</span></div>
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Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6479677143489734217.post-86014549154051057642016-01-27T15:32:00.000+01:002016-05-17T16:44:23.942+02:00Meet the students: Caroline Lucas - France<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig2rgRXN4U7fDQYWRi8lPR1-x5ChbfpeVCxuaB7BHlmpofJy3NhySprRk1sY5EewFXL6p7kXEmiiWo-rD4jgEn8yT8s9cUUWBHnC6WuGLrj2U8jAgDhiBbaySxm6Xi10uBsEjCfCxTtxma/s1600/LUCAS+Caroline.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig2rgRXN4U7fDQYWRi8lPR1-x5ChbfpeVCxuaB7BHlmpofJy3NhySprRk1sY5EewFXL6p7kXEmiiWo-rD4jgEn8yT8s9cUUWBHnC6WuGLrj2U8jAgDhiBbaySxm6Xi10uBsEjCfCxTtxma/s1600/LUCAS+Caroline.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I graduated high school with a "Baccalauréat" in Economics and social sciences (English European section) in Brittany and moved to Lyon in order to follow my passion and study Culinary Arts and Food Service Management at Institut Paul Bocuse, after several internships and jobs in the kitchen as a Commis, Part Chef and Teacher in Paris, Monaco and Shanghai I obtained my bachelor's degree. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">However, I decided to study for an extra year at Institut Paul Bocuse/IAE Lyon III and obtained a double bachelor's degree in International Hospitality Management and Tourism, which led me to follow a Management training of 1 year as a "School of Excellence" trainee at the Sofitel Chicago Water Tower. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Today I am a second year student of the MBA in Hospitality Management at IMHI/ ESSEC Business School and finished last September an internship as Junior Analyst at JLL Hotels & Hospitality in the real estate field.</span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Why did you decide to do an MBA and why did you choose the IMHI program?</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I decided to do an MBA in Hospitality Management in order to further my knowledge especially on the financial and administrative side that I felt could be more developed. I chose IMHI among all the other MBAs because it is one of the best in the world which had already proved its value through its alumni such as my last mentor in Chicago who went to Institut Paul Bocuse just like me and then to IMHI. We had the same bachelor's degree but I could definitely tell what was different between us and I really wanted to reach that level it pushed me to want more, therefore I thought IMHI would be able to bring me there.</span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In your opinion, what are the strong points of the program?</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The strong points of the program are the numerous team workshops that make you learn a lot about yourself and others, strong financial and managerial programs, the quality of the teachers and the network.</span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">What has surprised you most about yourself during your time at ESSEC? </span></li>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I was surprised that I would be able to become a generalist in the field. My financial skills and my understanding of the industry had been developed to a high level and extremely quickly, I did not know it would be that fast!</span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">What's the best advice you received during your time at ESSEC? </span></li>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It is not only about work in the classroom but also about the people you meet and the network you build.</span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">What are your professional goals after you graduate and how will this MBA help you achieve them?</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I am not quite sure yet, I would probably go back to F&B but differently, with a new eye and a position allowing me to implement innovations in the sector. This MBA opened my mind to such a wide variety of fields within the hospitality industry. I think I would have a totally different approach to each work and I do not foresee my career as a straight line leading to the destination; probably because I find so many aspects of the industry and even outside extremely interesting and worth taking a look at. To be good at what you do you have to know about everything else, I feel that it is important to open your mind and not only focus on a reduced environment.</span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Any advice for students applying for the program?</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Be yourself, be bold and be curious.</span>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6479677143489734217.post-54181575410822574402015-12-17T15:20:00.000+01:002016-05-17T16:43:43.859+02:00Industry Leader Conference: Michel Jauslin Hyatt France<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><i style="background-color: white; line-height: 20.79px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">By Daniel Alexandre Portoraro, MBA in Hospitality Management, Canada/Italy, 2014-2016 2nd Year</span></i></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Last
week, IMHI students and alumni had the pleasure of being welcomed to the Park
Hyatt Paris Vendome for the <b>third edition of the Industry Leader Conferences,
with Michel Jauslin, Area Vice President for Hyatt France</b>.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Over the course of the
evening, Mr. Jauslin discussed everything from the long path of his career, to
the existing supply of Palaces in Paris, and the future of the hospitality
industry.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A
few items that stood out were some of Mr. Jauslin’s <b>career advice in relation
to what one must do as an employee, and what kind of company he should work
for</b>. </span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">According
to Mr. Jauslin, if one works hard and diligently at his job, he should never
ask for a promotion; if the firm one is working at is well-structured, and
well-designed from a human resource perspective, actions speak much louder than
words, and one should be rewarded without ever asking for it. </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">He did, however, stress
the importance of perseverance; going as so far as to say he was likely to hire
someone who kept applying for the same job after multiple rejections. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />As a word of advice to
young graduates, <b>Mr. Jauslin spoke about having no geographic restrictions</b>; if
something comes up someplace, go for it. Speaking from his experience working
across multiple continents, this is not only a great way to accelerate one’s
growth, but one’s career as well. According to him, working at the
Intercontinential in Abidjan in the Ivory Coast was the best learning
experience of his career; there, he not only had to follow the mandate of IHG’s
head office, but learned how to apply it within the parameters of the local
team, and its customs. Having worked at three firms – IHG, Peninsula, and Hyatt
– Mr. Jauslin recommends spending two years at several firms to expand one’s
knowledge, before settling down in a company that has a strong sense of
culture.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In addition to this
geographic flexibility, Mr. Jauslin also stressed the <b>importance of being
flexible with one’s time</b>. Any operational role within the hospitality industry
is an all-consuming one, much like being a parent. On the personal side, then,
it is key that one’s partner is aware, and more importantly, comfortable with
the strenuous demands of the job.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b><u>Paris Attacks & Market Insights</u></b></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLsSBHRhyPlCVTVovQoBHF3zfvofxKwhmlJB3wHOfPbeMHCHtwPMMWy-_dSTvmgrEjyXcspV0pPD7iRk7kGochgblQuRMlzxTnpOen8IZTrA1tINvaRrFVMaoKHVSyOgHIJSvBdDSsnwtb/s1600/ILC_Hyatt_Michel-Jauslin4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLsSBHRhyPlCVTVovQoBHF3zfvofxKwhmlJB3wHOfPbeMHCHtwPMMWy-_dSTvmgrEjyXcspV0pPD7iRk7kGochgblQuRMlzxTnpOen8IZTrA1tINvaRrFVMaoKHVSyOgHIJSvBdDSsnwtb/s1600/ILC_Hyatt_Michel-Jauslin4.JPG" /></a><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">According
to Mr. Jauslin, following the attacks of November 13<sup>th</sup>, all Paris
hotels were hit hard in terms of lost bookings. Luxury properties are
especially at risk, as their clientele is very sensitive to geopolitical
disturbances, and can easily cancel a trip to Paris in favour of one for
London. After the Charlie Hebdo attacks, Mr. Jauslin it took the Park Hyatt
about four and a half months for business to return to normal. Today, he sees
hotels being in what he refers to as an insecurity zone of three years. After
these three years, barring any future problems, the market will once again
stabilize. Hopefully, this comes sooner rather than later, as, according to Mr.
Jauslin, there is an oversupply of luxury hotels in the city – and this will
only get worse with the reopening of the Ritz, and the Crillon in 2016 and
2017, respectively. That said, Mr. Jauslin sees strong potential for what he
calls “casual luxury” embodied by brands such as W, and Hyatt’s own Andaz.
According to him, we’re going also going to see much more customized luxury
experiences as opposed to cost-saving standardization; pointing to the example
of luxury watches, Mr. Jauslin stresses the importance of individuality and the
unique, arguing that luxury by definition is personal.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Needless to say, it was a
memorable evening, and with a great of insight on offer from Hyatt’s Area Vice
President. </span></span></div>
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<o:p></o:p></span>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6479677143489734217.post-66041597791710698672015-12-14T16:18:00.001+01:002016-05-17T16:42:41.247+02:00Welcome back 4L IMHI – ESSEC !!<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">By </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Emy Baumgartner, MBA in Hospitality Management IMHI, France, 2014-2016 2nd Year</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In February 2016, three teams from IMHI will
participate to the <b>4L Trophy desert Rally</b>. </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Students from all over Europe will drive 6000km
from Biarritz to Marrakesh in old Renault 4L cars, seeking challenges and
adventure.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The rally was started in 1997 by a student
called Jean-Jacques Rey at ESC Rennes School of Business in France. The first
rally was held in 1998 with three teams. That number has grown exponentially
each year since the beginning. The 2015′s edition counted 1,159 teams and 2,318
participants from 1,460 schools. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Created 13 years ago by IMHI students, the <b>4L
IMHI-ESSEC</b> is an association supporting team willing to participate to the 4L
Trophy. The 4L IMHI-ESSEC organizations gather the students from IMHI and ESSEC
willing to participate in the 4L Trophy and helps the teams setting up their
projects. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This year, 3 IMHI teams are starting their
preparation for the 19<sup>th</sup> edition of the 4L Trophy. </span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We all started our preparation almost 6 months
ago in April 2015 by sending our pre-subscription to the organization leader:
Desert Tour. Once we received our team number we actively started looking for our 4L
cars which became the third team member for each crew. Then started a long
journey of preparation. Indeed we are still searching for sponsors, donations,
and getting our cars ready.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/camillesvetlana4ltrophy" target="_blank"><br /></a></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/camillesvetlana4ltrophy" target="_blank">Team # 1: Svetlana Feodoroff and Camille Monod</a>;
The Team “Paris Brest” as they car is based in Bretagne and girls are superstar
in the regional newspapers. They are raising money through micro sponsoring
offering a picture on their 4L in exchange of a donation. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/4L2016MarieChantal" target="_blank">Team #2: Astrid Cahelo and Blandine Decaux</a>; Both
came back from an internship abroad and start the preparation from oversea.
Astrid and Blandine also named “Les Marie Chantal” wanted trough the 4L Trophy
to be part of a human adventure by bringing school supplies to children in
Morocco.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/4Ltrophyemycamille" target="_blank">Team #3: Camille Desforges and myself, EmyBaumgartner</a>. Even before joining IMHI, we wanted both join 4L IMHI – ESSEC
association. We believe that 4L Trophy is a great adventure and a way to be
part of a humanitarian mission and challenging journey.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We are all
very excited to take on a solidarity project during our studies at IMHI. We saw
a chance to open ourselves to a new challenge, which was not in our core
program. The humanitarian actions are coordinated by the French association
“Enfant du Désert”,” which collect school supplies for children and builds
education facilities.</span></span></div>
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Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6479677143489734217.post-20407741968852403272015-11-27T11:30:00.000+01:002016-05-17T16:41:27.429+02:00Country Projects: Human Resources in Practice<div style="text-align: justify;">
<i style="background-color: white; color: #5c5c5c; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; line-height: 20.79px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">By Daniel Alexandre Portoraro, MBA in Hospitality Management, Canada/Italy, 2014-2016 2nd Year</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The hospitality industry, like many others, is defined first and foremost by the service delivered to the customer. Unlike many other industries, however, that <b>service is hugely dependent on human interaction</b>. As such, it is paramount that those in the hospitality industry have a firm grasp not only of this concept, but of how to best utilize what is referred to as human capital. </span></div>
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As part of the MBA in Hospitality Management IMHI, <b>all candidates are required to undergo two classes in human resources</b>, Managing Oneself, and Managing People. Both are integral to developing a cohesive human resource strategy; after all, one cannot manage a team without knowing one’s own limitations, skills, and personal aspirations. </div>
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In addition to the theoretical material taught in class, students are required to complete two projects. The major one centers on developing a strong, logical, sprawling human resource plan for a hotel opening in an emerging market (e.g. Kenya, Iran.) In addition to this, groups are assigned a specific brand of a specific hotel operator. This forces students not only to put together an HR plan for a hotel, but one which matches the core values and mission statements of specific brand, and its overarching operator. </div>
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Students are therefore required to delve deep and analyze the corporate culture of a firm, as well as that of a specific brand, and apply it to a specific market, taking into consideration a variety of factors. Following this, students are required to engage in feasibility studies: We have the operator, we have the brand, now how many keys will the hotel have? What facilities? Seemingly easy questions to answer, one must be careful to balance the physicality of the hotel with what the market demands, what the supply is, and keeping all of this in-line with brand standards. </div>
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Once this has been completed, students must begin the strategizing of the hiring and recruitment process: Identifying what types of employees are needed, where to source them, and how to structure compensation packages for both financial, and non-financial reward. While this may appear simple at first glance, one must remember that in certain emerging markets, there is not only a lack of skilled labour that customers and operators expect, but certain cultural, legal characteristics which require further analysis (e.g. market-dependent ethnic or gender quotas.) </div>
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And all of this must be done while keeping within certain financial parameters; human resources is not simply a matter of making one’s operational team happy, but aligning one’s HR goals with the investment objectives of a hotel’s owner. Needless to say, this project requires intensive research, and forces students to reach out to HR professionals within the hospitality industry. </div>
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Whether one is seeking a future in revenue management, business development, or finance within the hospitality industry, this HR project is of paramount value as it forces students to think – regardless of their professional aspirations – of the core aspect of the hospitality industry which is human interaction. By forcing students to think at this level, we realize that wherever we wish to go, sound usage of human capital is of vital importance, both in terms of how we manage others, and ourselves.</div>
</span>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6479677143489734217.post-7207900808502664212015-11-24T16:51:00.000+01:002016-05-17T16:41:03.142+02:00Industry Leader Conference: Javier Delgado Muerza from Google<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Jessica Moses, <span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.85px; line-height: 20.79px;">MBA in Hospitality Management, United Kingdom, 2014-2016 2nd Year</span></i></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">IMHI recently had the pleasure of welcoming <b>Mr. Javier Delgado
Muerza, Head of Vertical Search at Google </b>and an alumnus of the MBA in Hospitality Management at ESSEC, for the second edition of the
Industry Leaders Conference.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Over the course of his presentation, Mr. Delgado Muerza provided his
personal insight into life after IMHI, being part of one of the most successful
digital companies in the world, and his outlook on the future of travel
research behavior. He touched on subjects such as:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<li><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">IMHI</b></li>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As a former student at IMHI, Mr. Delgado Muerza began the session by
expressing that the students present were in fact the focus of his presentation. According
to him and despite an impressive career in the digital travel industry, the
best years of his life were spent at IMHI, building long-lasting relationships.
An interesting fact that Mr. Delgado Muerza also shared was that although his
strengths did not necessarily lie in academics, his everlasting passion for the
travel industry allowed him to be at the position he is in today.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<li><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Google</b></li>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It is reasonably fair to say that being a part of a digital giant
such as Google, especially at a time when technology has embedded itself into
our everyday lives, is certainly a sizable accomplishment. In order for us to
understand this achievement Mr. Delgado Muerza
spoke about his impressive career in the travel industry starting in
Spain, his home country, at Iberia Airlines , followed by successive positions
across southern Europe and the UK at one of the digital travel leaders,
Expedia. During his time at Expedia Mr. Delgado Muerza was in fact headhunted
by Google in order to head a new division, which was dismantled shortly after
his arrival at the company, and integrated into Google’s main product, Search.
Following this, Muerza was then redirected to the vertical search department of
Google, where he is now the department head.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>E-Commerce and Travel</b></span></li>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Having witnessed the major changes and evolutions of the travel
industry and more specifically the digital travel industry throughout his
career, one interesting figure is that during the beginning of his career there
were maybe 2 actors on the digital travel market. Today there are over 250! <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Mr. Delgado Muerza being extremely passionate about the travel
industry, believes that this growth is only logical, as the importance of using
the internet and new technology is now a major part of our lives (here’s an
example: we unlock our smartphones on average 150 times per day.)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">According to Mr. Delgado Muerza, in order to accompany their users
in these evolutions, Google strives to optimize their tools on a daily basis.
An example of this is in Google headquarters itself, where the Engineers not
only drive innovation, but are actually in charge of all aspects of the company;
for them, usability and customer satisfaction comes first. This was the case
for Google Hotel Finder, which was dismantled in spite of its online success.
In relation to Google their travel services, when asked whether or not Google
could become a major OTA such as Booking.com or Expedia, Mr. Delgado Muerza
confirmed that it was not in the company’s future plans. At least for now.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Lastly, with regards to small independent hotels and their bargaining
power in paid search as opposed to large hotel companies, Mr. Delgado Muerza
confirmed that the algorithms in terms of search results are not only based on
monetary paid search, but also on relevance and other criteria in order to give
all hoteliers the best chance at capturing business. Nonetheless, it’s clear,
however, that in order to strive within the hospitality sector, hoteliers must
gain a thorough knowledge of the online world, and how best utilize it. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Personally, I found it refreshing to have an alumnus at the Industry
Leaders Conference who was not purely focused on finance, and worked at a
digital vanguard like Google – especially since he was from the sales side.
Prior to Mr. Delgado Muerza coming to speak to us, the idea of working for a
company like Google within the hospitality industry wasn’t obvious. After Mr.
Delgado Muerza’s visit, however, the possibility of looking for career
opportunities at Google has opened up, and seems more realistic.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6479677143489734217.post-28515198761974566742015-10-27T10:21:00.001+01:002016-05-17T16:40:29.537+02:00Industry Leader Conference: Mr Gabriel Matar Managing Partner Sentinel Hospitality<div style="text-align: justify;">
<i style="background-color: white; color: #5c5c5c; line-height: 20.79px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">By Daniel Alexandre Portoraro, MBA in Hospitality Management, Canada/Italy, 2014-2016 2nd Year</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Last week, we had the pleasure of hosting Mr. Gabriel Matar, Founder and Managing Partner of Sentinel Hospitality, here at ESSEC as part of the first instalment of the Industry Leaders Conference.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Over the course two of hours (but which really felt like 10 minutes), Mr. Matar covered a wide range of topics: from the wage amplification the RICS brings, to the emotional hurdles one must overcome to become a successful entrepreneur, to personality types matching with different positions within consulting, and how excitement over Iran might be a bit overblown.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Needless to say, we covered a great deal of ground. Below are just a few takeaway that stick out in my mind:</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Consultant as the Eternal Student</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">According to Matar, to be a consultant is to never stop asking questions, and to constantly be expanding one’s knowledge base. This makes sense, as the market, and customer goals are in constant flux. To put it simply, in Matar’s words: Your hair either turns gray, or you lose it completely. To be a consultant, you must be willing to constantly put yourself in a positioning of learning.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Feasibility versus Transactions in Hospitality Consulting</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Within the world of hospitality consulting, there exists a strong demarcation between the two vital pillars of Feasibility and Transactions. While both play different, and important roles within consulting firms such as JLL, they also require different personality types.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">According to Matar, feasibility requires someone who adores the contours of numbers, is devoted to sending a message to the client, and intends to become a trusted advisor who whispers, as opposed to shouts. He makes sure that before engaging in a long-standing business transaction, the transaction is not only possible, but one which will bring added value to a client’s needs.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">The transaction man, however, to quote Matar, “is someone capable of selling oil barrels to a Saudi.” He is motivated by a constant uphill battle, and willing to structure, package deals in a multitude of ways to meet the strenuous demands of a client. Unlike feasibility, those in transactions put themselves front and centre.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Hotels as Trophies</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Within France, in addition to the 5-star luxury designation, we also have the accreditation of “Palace.” With only sixteen properties within the Hexagone, these establishments represent the finest in terms of service, room quality, customer experience, cuisine, and architecture.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">They also, however, represent the worst in terms of return on investment.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">If one were to see a hotel as a stock, for example, the annual return would represent a dividend payment. We see these “dividends” with hotels in a variety of service segments, but for a palace, the return comes solely from the capital gain realized at the final sale of the hotel. Furthermore, there is the unquantifiable payment of pride in knowing one is the owner of one of the finest hotels in one of the finest hotel markets in the world.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">In other cases, however, palaces represent a strong branding opportunity. Take the Shangri-La on l’Avenue d’Iéna, for example. While it offers tourists some of the most striking views in Paris, and unparalleled beauty, it also sends a clear message to the Shangri-La’s key market, the Chinese, that their own national brand has arrived on the world stage by being present in Paris. This feeds itself back into domestic demand.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">On November 4th, however, we will be hosting our second Industry Leader Conference, with Mr. Javier Delgado Muerza, Head of Vertical Search for EMEA at Google who will be showing us how one the most innovative companies in the world operates within the hospitality industry.</span></div>
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Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6479677143489734217.post-87428104249474104672015-10-01T17:44:00.003+02:002015-10-01T17:44:49.249+02:00How to make the most of your internship<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>By Daniel Portoraro, MBA in Hospitality Management, Canada/Italy, 2014-2016 2nd Year</i><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">
An internship is a variety of things, but chief amongst them, it is a stepping stone to achieving one’s professional objectives, much in the same way that an MBA from IMHI-ESSEC is. </div>
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A core part of the two-year curriculum, the IMHI six month internship allows one not only to apply classroom material to real world working environments, but also provides individuals with the reassurance that their roadmap is the correct. Furthermore, an internship can also be viewed as an extended interview between yourself and a potential employer.</div>
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Personally, I was fortunate enough to <b>intern at the Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group as a Summer Analyst for their Dubai office in the United Arab Emirates.</b> There, as a member of the Business Development team, I was exposed to sourcing leads, pitching to clients, doing financial projections, writing business development proposals for the Executive Committee in Brussels, deal structuring, as well as gaining invaluable insight into the Middle East as a market for hotels. The knowledge I gained was not only a result of the work entrusted to me, but also a result of those who were entrusting it to me. That is, my bosses who acted more as mentors than direct superiors.</div>
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Needless to say, my internship was an excellent experience (and no, Carlson Rezidor’s public relations department is not dictating this to me over the phone.) But you probably don’t want to hear about what I had; you want to hear about how I got it.</div>
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Well, the first thing I did was <b>talk to people</b>: Classmates with more experience in the hotel industry than me, professors, career advisors, and alumni. After all these conversations (and a few with myself in the mirror), I was reassured of what it was that I wanted: Business Development. Since <b>I knew what my goals were</b>, I could then focus my time on honing the skills necessary to achieve them.</div>
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For example, if my objective was to work in a field which was heavily involved in hotel management contracts, I would require to become well-versed in them. As such, I enrolled a year ahead of schedule into Real Estate Principles. If in hotel development, you’re constantly dealing with owners for whom hotels are first and foremost income-generating assets, then you had better be fluent in finance; so I made that another focal point of my academic attention (much to the detriment of what little social life I had left by that point.)</div>
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You see, for me, what was important was <b>making it clear to my employers that I didn’t view this internship just as opportunity to learn from them; I was there to offer something in return</b>. Basically, I wanted to be as useful to the firm as possible. After all, an internship – or any work for that matter – is an exchange of professional knowledge between yourself and your employer; if you walk into an interview expecting to be the only one who gains from the arrangement, you’ll leave with nothing.</div>
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While this may sound like the beating of my own chest, that is not my intention. Rather, my goal here is to lay out the idea that <b>an internship, if such a valuable opportunity, should be meditated upon from day one</b>, worked towards from the moment you arrive at IMHI-ESSEC, and treated as seriously as any other job as it may very well have significant implications on your life after graduation.</div>
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<b>This involves speaking with your existing network, and taking advantage of the new one the school offers you; reflecting on one’s own objectives; tuning and augmenting your skillset to be as valuable as possible to the firm that – hopefully – hires you; interviewing, and making your case for why you’re the best person the job.</b></div>
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And finally, after all that, that’s when the real work begins. </div>
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Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6479677143489734217.post-44105265292306956792015-07-29T15:09:00.001+02:002016-05-17T16:39:44.634+02:00ESSEC IMHI Graduation & Hall of Honour 2015<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">From the
beginning of the academic year, the MBA in Hospitality Management IMHI class of
2015 has been exposed to challenging academic and hands-on experiences to provide
them with the skills necessary to achieve their career goals. On the 16th of
July 2015, all their efforts and hard work paid off as they received their diplomas
during the MBA in Hospitality Management graduation ceremony, and are now about
to embark on the first steps of their professional journeys.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Past
<b>Academic Director Peter O’Connor</b>, who will return to this position in the new
academic year, confidently told the students:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>"You
now know how to push yourself beyond your limits, you are aware of your capabilities,
where your strengths and weaknesses lie... You are young, talented,
enthusiastic, inter-culturally aware and internationally exposed people who are
needed by the hotel, food and travel services."</i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Congratulations
to valedictorians Cecile Leclerc Vaché from the 1-year-track and Laura Dutrieux
from the 2-year-track who upheld the strong IMHI values of academic excellence
and achieved the strongest academic results in their class. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Alumni Association
also recently elected a new <b>President, Laurent Michaud H01</b>. He expressd his
excitement at welcoming these new graduates to the IMHI community and to working
with the new board to expand IMHI’s presence internationally and evolve into
the digital realm. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The <b>IMHI
Hall of Honour</b> inducted two inspirational individuals from the hospitality
sector for 2015, Evelyne Chabrot and Olivier Chavy, who have achieved highly
successful careers whilst continuing to support IMHI and the students
throughout the years. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Evelyne Chabrot<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Evelyne started off her career in 1974 as a housekeeper in the Novotel Hotel in Coventry
UK of which she eventually became the General Manager. From her modest
positions in operations, she advanced through the industry, eventually
managing over 45,000 people as the Director of Human Resources of the Middle
East, Europe and Africa. Evelyne is now the Senior Vice President of Human
Relations at Accor. </span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Since 1994 Evelyne
has worked closely with IMHI to put a number of industry changing
educational institutions in place. She was heavily involved in
introducing the apprenticeship partnership between IMHI and Accor, and
she also put in the place Accor’s IHMP management development program between
Accor and IMHI for high potential future General Managers, in which IMHI
plays an integral part.</span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Olivier Chavy <o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Current CEO and
President of Wilson Associates, Olivier Chavy has experienced a highly
successful and diverse international career since graduating from IMHI in
1988. After working as General Manager of Luxury Properties at Lucien
Barrière, in 2000 Olivier moved on to Hilton Corporation as a General Manager
in Mauritius, afterwards launching the Hilton Arc de Triomphe property in
2003. Olivier continued to advance through the company being named Senior
Vice President of Resort Operations for Hilton Grand Vacations in 2006 and
International Head of Lifestyle and Luxury Brands for Hilton Worldwide in
2010. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Olivier continually offers
his availability to students if they need advice; regularly participates in
conferences and other events at ESSEC Business School as well as also
contributeing to classes and student projects. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A very
special thank you to <b>Professor Nicolas Graf</b> who has lead the MBA in Hospitality
Management IMHI as Academic Director for the past 2 years and will be moving on
to other ventures in the new academic year. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We wish the
students all the very best as they embark on their professional journeys and we
also look forward to following their careers with great pride and enjoyment. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As stated
by Peter O’Connor:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<i><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"You
will now stop being the future and start being the history."</span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span></i><br />
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Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6479677143489734217.post-16281225199785804282015-06-26T15:56:00.000+02:002016-05-17T16:38:18.298+02:00Accor Take Off! Challenge<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">By Thuong Bui, MBA in Hospitality Management, USA, 2014-2015</span></i></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy4ASuM_3OnlCaxx3lAEGZAmrDPdV9mRcEeCbdj2vQ101k_bLIvo_BWBjFdBe9Ru3PoacqzCYcSK0GBQKuc0Ek3cmNyj9QOcNzfSJN3C5he5BOM4kP6YaCRp-yz-6MpnQadQYfvfbZWhhs/s1600/TAKE_OFF_2015_HD_092.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy4ASuM_3OnlCaxx3lAEGZAmrDPdV9mRcEeCbdj2vQ101k_bLIvo_BWBjFdBe9Ru3PoacqzCYcSK0GBQKuc0Ek3cmNyj9QOcNzfSJN3C5he5BOM4kP6YaCRp-yz-6MpnQadQYfvfbZWhhs/s1600/TAKE_OFF_2015_HD_092.JPG" /></a><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">The
</span><a href="http://www.accortakeoff.com/" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">Accor Takeoff Challenge</a><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"> is an annual innovative competition where university
students worldwide are given a real AccorHotel case study to work on. The case
study is then evaluated by professors from top universities as well as
AccorHotel professionals. For 2015, the topic is Customer Loyalty Program at
AccorHotel in 2020.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">This
year, the IMHI team comprised of Marie Laviolette, Edouard Chandovoine, and I. Since
April, we were given different challenges to complete. For Round 1, we
submitted a Pinterest-inspired photo collage to create a buzz about our
proposal. After we garnered over a whopping 620 votes, we were among the 16
teams (out of 164) to proceed to the next round. For Round 2, we had to produce
a video about improving the customer experience of </span><span lang="EN-US">young business travelers</span><span lang="EN-US">.
Marie, Edouard, and I roamed the streets of Paris to shoot a split-screen video
about two young leisure and business travelers who met and formed a budding romance
through their travel experience with AccorHotels. After defending our video to
a jury via Skype, we were informed the following week that we were among the
top 5 teams going to the finale!</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">The
finale this year took place in Paris. All teams, as well as their school
representatives, were invited to stay at the Ibis Bercy Village. On the first
day, we were welcomed by the Accor Takeoff coordinators for a light cocktail
party. The ambiance was jovial yet intimate as all the team members were thrilled
to get to know each other and make travel plans during their stay in Paris. The
finalists for the challenge were surprisingly diverse. The students came from
many different countries, such as the US, India, Hungary, Germany, Switzerland,
and France; and their age ranges from early teens to early-30s.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">The
following day was the big day! After
being treated to a nice breakfast at the hotel, we arrived at Odyssey, AccorHotel’s
headquarter in Paris<b>,</b> where Emanuel
Baudart<b>, </b>AccorHotel’s SVP of </span><span lang="EN-US">Customer Expertise & Loyalty</span><span lang="EN-US">, greeted us with the final
assignment presentation: What would be AccorHotel’s loyalty program of 2020,
including data, customer experience, and [by building a] loyalty program? We
were sequestered to a private room and were given two-and-a-half hours to
answer this question as well as producing a Powerpoint presentation. The final jury
included Fabrice Tessier, Yves Lacheret, </span><span lang="EN-US">Jean-Luc Chétien,</span><span lang="EN-US">
</span><span lang="EN-US">Michael Antioco, Laurent Picheral,</span><span lang="EN-US">
</span><span lang="EN-US">Isabelle Birem, Michel Rochat, and other executives.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Minutes
before presenting our case, my team and I realized that after months of
preparation, everything boiled down to 12 minutes of presentation and 8 minutes
of Q&A. We reminded ourselves that we were proud to be in the Top 5, and we
were just really happy to be there at that moment. We became suddenly more
relaxed and as nerve-wrecking stress disappeared, we were ready to present our
case. </span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTLXPOPcLH3U07DDiJUL-Ks47IIlyGwlBPsQ_pNaOvojMLzqaRoV9nlkgnSYTy-4Fk54gC40-DSk3shr22MNJFWrFW-g1goLPxskqMWCbhGn6y4g6D7rmHBSXQEjR0rZIHdid9CQolBgMY/s1600/CHykdThXAAAg06_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTLXPOPcLH3U07DDiJUL-Ks47IIlyGwlBPsQ_pNaOvojMLzqaRoV9nlkgnSYTy-4Fk54gC40-DSk3shr22MNJFWrFW-g1goLPxskqMWCbhGn6y4g6D7rmHBSXQEjR0rZIHdid9CQolBgMY/s1600/CHykdThXAAAg06_.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">After
the jury deliberation, the members of AccorHotel’s executive committee,
including CEO Sebastien Bazin, Sven Boinet, and Vivek Badrinath, welcomed all
the teams and their school representatives at the award ceremony. The IMHI
support team included Cyril, Jeanne, Joelle, Capucine, Laurie, Clement, and
Nicolas. Finally, Arantxa Balso, AccorHotel’s Chief Human </span><b style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><u>Resources Officer,
announced us as the 3<sup>rd</sup> place winners for the challenge.</u></b><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"> We were
absolutely delighted, as were the IMHI support team as they cheered for us as
we received our award. Afterwards, all the finalists headed off to the Sofitel
Paris le Faubourg for a special dinner curated just for us by Chef Yannick
Alleno.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">On
the last day, we were treated to a surprise bateaux mouches ride by Fabrice,
Lucia, Sarah, Xinya, and Djibril. All the finalists hung out for one last time
and enjoyed the sunny weather and each other’s company. It was a nice and
fitting ending to a great journey.
Before we parted ways, we all exchange contacts and promised to hang out
in the future. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">At
the end of the challenge, we were given gifts, such as the new Samsung Galaxy
Tablet, 5-year Gold membership status at AccorHotels, a special gift from Accor
Solidarity, and a personalized, handwritten thank you note, among other treats.
However, I would say the best gift was having such a memorable experience!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6479677143489734217.post-27690126098042714642015-06-16T10:32:00.000+02:002016-05-17T16:37:14.231+02:00CSI: The final stretch of the IMHI Marathon<i style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.8500003814697px; line-height: 20.7900009155273px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">By Marion Neveu, MBA in Hospitality Management, France, 2013-2015 2nd Year</span></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14.8500003814697px; line-height: 20.7900009155273px;">Here we are, last trimester, last mandatory course at IMHI, <b>Competitive Strategic Intelligence</b>. In this class, taught by Nicolas Graf and Stefan Gröschl, we are being asked to work as consultant for different companies: either for <a href="http://www.accorhotels.com/" target="_blank">AccorHotels</a>, <a href="http://www.streetbangkok.fr/" target="_blank">Street</a> (Norman Kolton entrepreneurship project) or personal students’ projects.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14.8500003814697px; line-height: 20.7900009155273px;">CSI is a long process that allows us to answer a mission given by each company. With my group, we have been asked by Accor to answer to: “What services or products could be pushed/proposed to Accor customers throughout their customer journey, once we have Big Data?"</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14.8500003814697px; line-height: 20.7900009155273px;">The class is structured around 4 assignments, followed by a final report and a presentation. In the first assignment, we had to <b>identify what is going to happen in the future followed by the opportunities</b> we can get out of these trends.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14.8500003814697px; line-height: 20.7900009155273px;">The following assignment asked us to <b>forecast the impact of these trends on the environment of the company</b>: how will the evolution of social life impact Accor, its suppliers, its regulators or its customers, which is called the “task environment”. The other two assignments look at <b>competitive methods</b>: "what bundle of services and products will help the company to be competitive in the future?" and core competencies: "what has to be set so that the company can effectively use these competitive methods?"</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14.8500003814697px; line-height: 20.7900009155273px;">In order to answer to these questions, we had to perform a lot of research, analyses and brainstorming. <b>The CSI course challenged us a lot: justifying what is going to happen and defining what will give Accor the tools to be efficient in the future is not easy to do.</b> Of course, we also had short deadlines to meet! </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14.8500003814697px; line-height: 20.7900009155273px;">As the final step of the IMHI program, the CSI class is asking us to put into practice everything we’ve been taught at IMHI. It is therefore a good test to evaluate our skills and competencies: Are we ready for working life? </span></span><br />
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<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6479677143489734217.post-65155114284336624112015-05-19T16:30:00.001+02:002016-05-17T16:36:51.310+02:00Where are they now?<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihFy2Fe57uYpEMbrsQ8OVNmiex9-yENIN9jsnTFpg3fns10LLaLNAvX_uNBwan4HfsZHL1kGDde7vMlIGOa91UDaCfFxuUfmFKQd9Cz_jYA-mvovvgQPpvwv7122hFdRcQn3c9BJ579Afv/s1600/FullSizeRender+%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihFy2Fe57uYpEMbrsQ8OVNmiex9-yENIN9jsnTFpg3fns10LLaLNAvX_uNBwan4HfsZHL1kGDde7vMlIGOa91UDaCfFxuUfmFKQd9Cz_jYA-mvovvgQPpvwv7122hFdRcQn3c9BJ579Afv/s1600/FullSizeRender+%25281%2529.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span class="il" style="background-color: white;">Bachir Sanhaji graduated the IMHI program in 2011 and since, has gone on to achieve great success in the field of revenue management in France and Singapore. We had the opportunity to speak with Bachir and ask him about career after ESSEC Business School.</span><br /><b><br />1. What were you doing before the MBA and why did you decide to come to the ESSEC MBA program? </b><br /><br />Before joining the ESSEC MBA program, I was working as a Yield Management Assistant at the Ritz Paris. I joined Ritz Paris right after graduating from a SHA / BBA diploma at Les Roches Swiss Hotel School.<br /><br /><b>2. Please describe your career path since graduation. What is your current position and responsibilities?</b><br /><br />I joined Accor and Novotel right after my graduation as a Revenue Manager in one of the Novotel Flag Ships in France, the Novotel Convention & Wellness, 295 rooms and 1200 sqm of meeting space in Paris CDG Airport. Back then, I was in charge of implementing revenue management tools, strategies, processes as well as managing distribution and reservation department. This first experience was I believe a fast learning track as an Airport Hotel with Convention Center offers typically all the different segments that a hotel can possibly have.<br /><br />After 2 years, I was given the opportunity to take over the second Novotel in Paris CDG Airport. I held this “cluster” position for the two Novotel units for another year.<br /><br />Since then, I have moved to Singapore as Cluster Director of Revenue and Distribution for the 2 Sofitel units in the area.<br /><br /><b>3. What in particular in the MBA in Hospitality Management IMHI program helped you prepare for your career path or qualify you for your current position?</b><br /><br />In my opinion, I would say that the most important thing is learning to work as a team. In the work place, we cannot be in charge of everything, and we need to be able to delegate tasks to others, or even to rely on others. With the number of group projects, the ESSEC MBA in Hospitality Management teaches us that.<br /><br />Another particularity is that the MBA trained us to work hard, not as a sprinter, but as a marathon runner. One of the most famous saying at ESSEC MBA in Hospitality Management is "Work Hard, Play Hard."<br /><br /><b>4. What is your best memory from your time in the ESSEC MBA program? </b><br /><br />Graduation is definitely the best memory. My emotions were mixed between satisfaction of graduating after 2 hard years, and excitement to get down to business.<br /><br /><b>5. What advice would you give to current students in the program?</b><br /><br />Take most out of the program. ESSEC MBA in Hospitality Management allows us not only to follow MBA courses, but also courses from the ESSEC business part. There is a lot to learn! Work with your classmates, as this is what you will be doing once in the work place.</span>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6479677143489734217.post-77071736805555922922015-05-15T10:23:00.000+02:002016-05-17T16:35:52.455+02:00IMHI Forum 2015<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">One of the characteristics
that the ESSEC IMHI Center of Excellence in Hospitality, Food and Travel prides
itself on, is its ability to bring together multiple and powerful players in
the hospitality industry to initiate debates or prompt industry related discussions.
On the 6</span><sup style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">th</sup><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> of May, the Center certainly lived up to its reputation.
The 2</span><sup style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">nd</sup><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> annual </span><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">IMHI Forum</b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">
brought together 29 partner companies, instigated three different round table
discussions and provided the current MBA in Hospitality Management IMHI
students with the opportunity to meet industry leaders and discuss their future career prospects.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Moderated
by Professor Peter O’Connor,<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b>the
first Round Table focused on the topic of<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">
‘Careers in Hospitality Distribution’</b>. Joined on stage by <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Cynthia Castillo</b>, Head of Customer
Program & Relationship Management at Amadeus and two IMHI graduates, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Julie Cheneau</b>, Director Market
Management at Expedia and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Etienne
Faisandier</b> Group Director of Revenue Management at Movenpick Hotels , the
discussion centered around their passion for the hospitality industry and
advice for students interested in a career in revenue management. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As a
position in revenue management heavily focuses on numbers, do you need numerical
skills to be able to work in this function? Julie mentioned that analytical
skills are highly necessary however you also have to have the ability to be
critical and find meaning in the numbers. Expedia are looking for people with a
vision, who can adapt to the company, want to learn and are motivated. Cynthia
expanded on this by mentioning that to be successful in the role, the candidate
must have both hard and soft skills to be flexible and be able to make sense
out of the information. Etienne emphasized that the ability to think outside of
the box and willingness to go the extra mile are attractive attributes to have.
The pace of change is speeding up and you have to be able to keep up! Ask
yourself the question, what can you bring to the company? <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The second
Round Table was dedicated to the topic of<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">
‘Luxury Hospitality Management’</b> and was moderated by Denis Morisset. The
guest speakers were <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Franka Holtmann</b>,
General Manager at Hôtel Le Meurice, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Jean
Faivre</b>, AVP Operations Western and Southern Europe Hilton and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Michael Boroian</b>, President at Sterling
International. All speakers swiftly agreed that the luxury industry is
experiencing a period of transition. The market has changed with more emerging
markets being interested in luxury and people becoming more impatient. Franka
commented openly that you have to work harder than ever to deserve your guests.
Hotels must go back to the basics with an emphasis being put on service.
Everything is about the customer, it is that simple said Michael. It is also due
to this that people from the luxury hospitality industry succeed when put in
charge of other luxury brands. They know the customer as they have met them,
spoken to them regularly and have had to solve many problems that have arisen
with a smile! They are internationally oriented because they work with people
from all over the world and have cultural sensitivity. Jean also stated that
luxury customers have shifted their focus on being someone and experiencing
things rather than having things. The industry must be agile in order to
understand how the retail industry works. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Is it a
challenge to find people to work in the luxury hospitality industry? Jean
raised a very good point when he mentioned that you do not have to be born into
luxury to be able to work in luxury. Hilton Worldwide is interested in people
who are warm and passionate. Franka strongly agreed and also noted that she
hires people on their passion as luxury is a state of mind. Jean believes that
there are many opportunities for ambitious young people and thinks that their
success in the company depends on the recruitment policy and how they are
integrated into the company. Denis Morisset also offered a very valuable piece
of advice to the students, travel and see the world. This will help you know
the customer and become culturally sensitive.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">third and final Round Table was on the
topic of ‘Innovation and Value Creation’</b> moderated by Professor Nicolas
Graf with <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Yves Lacheret</b>, Senior Vice
President Entrepreneurship Advocacy at Accor, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Michael Levie</b>, Board member at SnapShot GmbH & co-founder of
CitizenM and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Xavier Destribats</b>,
President Europe, Executive Operations at Kempinski in the discussion panel. Innovation
seems to be the buzzword of today, everyone is talking about it and attempting
to inspire their employees to be more innovative. Yves said that innovation is
any bright idea that can add value for instance by generating a new product or
service. Michael quickly stepped in to add that people tend to confuse
innovation with new creation however that is not always the case. Innovation is
so important that Kempinski have spent the last 4 years heavily investing in
it. Accor are also attempting to boost their innovation by working with
companies outside of the group and especially with start-ups to come up with
new ideas. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So how can
you foster creativity and innovation? According to Xavier, you can’t put people
in a room for a couple of hours and expect them to be innovative, this is why
having an innovation department will not automatically lead to success. Everyone
should be involved in the process and staff should be encouraged to be
innovative by being constantly open to new things and experiences. All speakers
agree that empowerment is an important factor. Most individuals want to belong
to an organization which means having the passion to get up every morning and
to do your best. They also want to participate and be recognized for their
contribution. Michael stated that the hospitality industry has become very good
at following the guests instead of innovating and also at making excuses as to
why things have gone wrong. He says that instead of making excuses, you should
understand why things went wrong and try to fix them. You can’t innovate and
create new services if you can’t get the basics right. Michael also followed on
by mentioning that organizations need to share their values when recruiting,
training and create an environment where those values live. People will produce
better ideas which are more likely to be successful in this way.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Thank you
to all the guest speakers, the companies who participated throughout the day,
the students, the alumni and staff who organized the event. The day provided
everyone with a unique opportunity to get an insight into the current trends of
the hospitality industry and what is in stall for the future.</span></span></div>
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Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6479677143489734217.post-47410149813924591082015-05-04T11:58:00.000+02:002016-05-17T16:34:30.876+02:00A very intensive week of asset management<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<i style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.8500003814697px; line-height: 20.7900009155273px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">By Marion Neveu, MBA in Hospitality Management, France, 2013-2015 2nd Year</span></i></div>
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<i style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.8500003814697px; line-height: 20.7900009155273px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Last week, the 2<sup>nd</sup> year and
1-year track IMHI students had an intensive week of Asset</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Management with
Professor Daniel Lebret, a former IMHI student with a PhD in Finance from Cornell.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_1GrjwurpoF91s4R5YCERhpct_lKdbudocLudZPcUAYGnKJeZFS4vE9LIcrBm8z4WGSktTpzs0gCPjYs0O3I_6BiIuED7CMBPyQx0zDOuFkM2jTBUggrqDiccJKGRZJC9HYUT7wPpEIbM/s1600/FullSizeRender.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_1GrjwurpoF91s4R5YCERhpct_lKdbudocLudZPcUAYGnKJeZFS4vE9LIcrBm8z4WGSktTpzs0gCPjYs0O3I_6BiIuED7CMBPyQx0zDOuFkM2jTBUggrqDiccJKGRZJC9HYUT7wPpEIbM/s1600/FullSizeRender.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Hotel Asset Management week happened
during the IMHI break, but nothing looked like holidays, except the location of
the project we had to work on: Santa Monica, CA. Intensive? Yes, 5 days, 25 hours of class, and about 40 hours on the project! <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">During these five days, we have been
overwhelmed with new information: market research, excel models, finance, a
step back in Corporate Finance and Quantitative Methods classes from last year
and a little more finance! Despite a lack of sleep starting from Day 2, the
motivation was here! Daniel knew how to arouse our curiosity and keep our level
of concentration high. As he said, at the end of Day 2 class, “fried brains”!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Santa Monica project focused on
providing recommendations to a real estate investment fund, on whether or not
to bid for an investment opportunity. </span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />
We had to value the existing property and then calculate its exit value after
the modifications due to our recommendations. Some students decided to create
an hospital or a hotel. In my group, we decided to create a mix-use property
with a service hotel, condominiums and townhouses. <br />
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Asset Management class was exhausting
but the amount of learning that took place was incredible. <br /><br />
</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">On behalf of all the students, I would like to thank Daniel for sharing his
knowledge and passion. We would all have loved the course to last longer! </span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">He is one of the inspiring professors we
have the chance to meet at IMHI. </span></div>
Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6479677143489734217.post-70367119246832690232015-04-07T13:50:00.000+02:002016-05-17T16:34:07.263+02:00Where are they now? - Matthias Geoffroy<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcshg6JPEKXtCqdyCf3iqhRjn2KXtzIzvLBHVfjQjPtpQI7lR1KqvNtV1DGbcs6GWwqfagUblaZ1y__7e0CwP81NV6XS_E6kQJQJxC4MstIgfdPmdGFnlUxdnMqV0H1XOkJlG63URZxVgt/s1600/Matthias_Geoffroy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcshg6JPEKXtCqdyCf3iqhRjn2KXtzIzvLBHVfjQjPtpQI7lR1KqvNtV1DGbcs6GWwqfagUblaZ1y__7e0CwP81NV6XS_E6kQJQJxC4MstIgfdPmdGFnlUxdnMqV0H1XOkJlG63URZxVgt/s1600/Matthias_Geoffroy.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222;">Matthias Geoffroy graduated from the MBA in Hospitality Management IMHI program in 2010. We had the opportunity to catch up with him to see what he has been up to after completing the MBA journey at ESSEC School of Business.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222;">What were you doing before the MBA and why did you decide to come to the
ESSEC MBA in Hospitality Management program?</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Prior
to joining IMHI, I was working as a Guest Relations Manager for IHG in
Shanghai. A friend who graduated from IMHI highly recommended that I join the program. I also thought it was now or never to go for an MBA and I thought it would be a great opportunity to expand my network and knowledge in order to get a boost in my career.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Please describe your career path since graduation. What is your current
position and responsibilities?<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I was in Shanghai 5 years as a
Revenue Manager and Cluster Revenue Manager for IHG and Hilton Worldwide. I
decided to make move on my next role in a new market, Dubai, as Cluster Director
of Revenue for Rotana Hotels and Resorts.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">What in particular in the MBA in Hospitality Management IMHI
program helped you prepare for your career path or qualify you for
your current position?<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />
I think there are way too many factors to take into consideration but the main
ones that stand out are the following:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<ul>
<li><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I did the apprenticeship which
definitely helped me apply what I was learning during my MBA at work</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The quality of teachers who
are experts, passionate and real professionals</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The workload helps you to
quickly understand that in order to be competitive you need to able to take
more</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Last and not least all the
friends that you make during your class as you are mostly working in groups
projects</span></li>
</ul>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">What is your best memory from your time in the ESSECMBA program?<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The beginning and the end! The
middle is just a tough journey. The graduation is probably one the most cherished
memories that I have. Seeing all your friends graduate after all the hard work and being able to finally
enjoying all the success together was great. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">What advice would you give to current students in the program?<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Remember why you are doing your MBA and learn as much
as possible. Build strong relationships, challenge the status quo and most importantly
be passionate about learning!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0