The founders of the Future of Hospitality Summit (FHS) had a very straightforward vision: to educate young hoteliers about occurring innovative and tech-based developments in the hospitality industry.

Thus, FHS was born: Europe’s only student-initiated conference that focuses on innovation and technology in hospitality.

Industry leaders from the likes of Starwood Hotels & Resorts and Fahrenheit 212 will be presenting on topics such as how digital and mobile marketing is quickly emerging among 5-star properties, to demonstrating portable sleeping pods to summit attendees.

From October 16 – 18 2015, both students and industry professionals are invited to attend workshops and keynote presentations at Les Roches International School of Hotel Management, which is globally ranked as one of the top three hotel management schools.

Groups of attendees will also be able to sign up to compete in a problem solving activity of which the winning team will win an award.

Being the first student-run hospitality summit in Europe, I was excited to learn more. Here is what members of the team shared about the event and inspiration:

How did you come up with the idea? Why?

The founders of the Future of Hospitality Summit – FHS (Devina, Vanessa, Akanshu and Alessandro) initially started the first entrepreneurship club at Les Roches Bluche, namely Startup Mountain (SM).

As we proceeded through the semester, SM meetings started moving toward innovation and technology because that’s what the members were most interested in discussing.

Thus, the seed for FHS was planted and of course the theme chosen was innovation and technology!

What criteria did you use to select speaks?

With all four of us being entrepreneurship enthusiasts, we had a natural inclination toward inviting startups, especially those who are redefining innovative frontiers in hospitality.

We believe that they will be able to contribute a lot to the summit by discussing their successes, future plans and of course the failures that they encountered along the way.

However, bigger companies also have vital lessons to share thus we did not remove them from the selection process.

The next step in the selection process involved discussing the speaker’s presentation topic with a member from the team.

After this being approved, the deal is sealed and they become official FHS partners! We are grateful to have had an immense amount of support from types of corporations!

What can attendees expect to learn?

From October 16 – 18 2015, both students and industry professionals are invited to attend workshops and keynote presentations at Les Roches International School of Hotel Management, which is globally ranked as one of the top three hotel management schools.

FHS is Europe’s only student-initiated summit that focuses on innovation and technology in hospitality, and in turn on new developments in the industry.

Change is the only constant, and change is what we shall embrace together at FHS.

Networking also makes up a significant part of the summit. From a cocktail night where attendees will be able to mingle with keynote speakers, to the after party where unwinding is the only agenda for the evening, there will be plenty of opportunities to interact with well-to-do hospitality enthusiasts.

What is the competition that will take place during the event?

Groups of attendees will be able to sign up to compete in a problem solving activity. The competition of the topic will be disclosed on the day itself, and teams will have the whole day to work on it.

Toward the end of the day, groups will present their solutions to a panel of judges, and the best teams will then proceed into the semi finals.

Finally, the winning team will win an award, and believe me it’s a good one!