Visionary Leaders Roundtable in Singapore Identifies Opportunities for Growth in Hospitality Industry

Global events, market disruptors, new alliances are all issues that are requiring the travel industry executives to constantly re-evaluate plans to manage during uncertainty and plan for future global tourism demand.

The Institute for Hospitality and Tourism Education and Research (IHTER), a division of the Chaplin School of Hospitality and Tourism Management at Florida International University (FIU) set its sights on addressing key issues faced by the hospitality industry by organizing the 3rd Edition of the Visionary Leaders Forum in Singapore.

“The tourism industry has been navigating through turbulent times for well over a decade. As we address these issues here and now, we must also continue to focus on our organization’s long-term vision for success and ensure we are adequetly resourced to seize opportunities in the future,” said Mike Hampton, dean of the Chaplin School of Hospitality and Tourism Management at FIU.

Held on November 17 at Pan Pacific Singapore, this exclusive ‘invitation-only’ event brought together senior hospitality leaders to speak candidly about the persistent issues that have a profound impact their ability to stay current, competitive and profitable.

Executives brainstormed ideas for revenue optimization that included, driving growth through better customer insight and analytics, an analysis of what is the difference between direct distribution and third-party options, and optimizing profits.

Sharing their insight and perspective at this forum were:

• Shirley Alexander, Lead Consultant, Learning & Development, MacroVision Hospitality
• Simone Champagnie, Executive Director, FIU’s Institute for Hospitality & Tourism Education & Research
• Henry Chew, Manager, Customer Intelligence, Resorts World Genting
• William Chua, Director of Revenue Generation & Distribution, HPL Hotels & Resorts
• Siv Forlie, Vice President, Revenue Management, Shangri-La International Hotels
• Pierre-Charles Grob, Managing Director, Asia, FastBooking
• Rosmalia Hardman, Chief Marketing Officer, PT Lippo Karawaci Tbk
• Jeannette Ho, Vice President, Revenue Management and Analytics, FRHI Hotels & Resorts
• Carmen Lam, Vice President, Sales & Marketing, Asia Pacific, FRHI Hotels & Resorts
• Michael Lee, Consultant, Banyan Tree Lifestyle Services
• Josephine Lim, Managing Director SEA, Preferred Hotels & Resorts
• Jurgen Ortelee, Vice President, Revenue Performance, Pan Pacific Hotels Group
• Jagdish Sandhu, Vice President, Revenue Management, Distribution and Sales, Travelodge Asia
• Fanie Swanepoel, Vice President, Revenue Optimization, Marina Bay Sands
• Christine Tan, SVP Strategic Sales & Account Management, Asia Pacific, FastBooking
• Christine Toguchi, Managing Director, MacroVision Hospitality and Consultant to the FIU’s Institute for Hospitality & Tourism Education & Research
• Sean Treacy, Managing Director, Singapore & South East Asia, Royal Caribbean Cruises

Facilitators guiding the discussion groups were:

• Patrick Andres, Managing Director, Asia Pacific, Rainmaker
• Mike Hampton, Dean, FIU’s Chaplin School of Hospitality & Tourism Management
• Jameson Wong, Director of Business Development, Asia Pacific, ForwardKeys

Presenting partners, FastBooking, ForwardKeys and Rainmaker actively engaged participants throughout the day and played a vital role in the program delivery.

A white paper containing key outcomes on the issues and opportunities discussed at IHTER’s Visionary Leaders Roundtable will be published and shared with the industry. IHTER will be producing a series of Visionary Leaders Roundtables and Forums with equally provocative themes in Asia Pacific and the Americas in 2016.

“Positioned as a high-level ‘think-tank’ for peer-to-peer insight exchange and collaboration, the Visionary Leaders Roundtable has a solid track record for producing tangible outcomes and benefits for participants, partners and the industry,” said Simone Champagnie, executive director of IHTER. Feedback from the inaugural event highlighted the need for revenue management education that engages non-revenue managers to encourage a team-work approach to optimize revenue and profits.”