Be inspired
HITT – the HospitalityInside Think Tank – is an unconventional, English-speaking
networking event on a solar-powered ship launched in 2018.
Casual, but with high-calibre experts from inside and outside the industry.
Limited in number, not in quality.
Inspiring deep thoughts instead of shallow PR talk.
Personal, direct, interactive and off-the-record.
The floating forum is a place to share knowledge, exchange ideas and develop solutions
for the industry’s most pressing issues: digitalisation, sustainability and human resources.
Senior executives and experts from hotel operation, hotel real estate, finance, sustainability,
digital transformation, legal and HR are most welcome.
Let’s take this journey to find answers together!
HITT 2023
Next level: Measure. Benchmark. Drive.
Lifting sustainability from intention to traction.
The 6th HospitalityInside Think Tank (HITT) aims to build understanding and thought leadership on the biggest imperatives for change and enablers to help accelerate the industries path to net positive hospitality; “giving back to the world more than we take out”.
Day 1, Monday 26 June
HITT ON THE SHIP anchoring at the Quay Wall
Start in the early afternoon on board of the restaurant ship PATIO, in Berlin Junction Kirchstraße and Helgoländer Ufer 13 A
14.00 Register
14.45 Welcome on board
- Tim Davis, Managing Director, Pace Dimensions / HITT Moderator & Facilitator
- Maria Pütz-Willems, Editor-in-Chief, hospitalityInside.com
15.00 Keynote / Impulse 1: The imperative for change
Better travel, hospitality and tourism: How do governments and legislation drive change, how do industry bodies and NGOs shape and investors enable change? Are consumers’ voices heard? Where should the industry and companies focus?
- Keynote: Sophie Herrmann, Partner, Systemiq, A certified B-Corp company and a highly collaborative system designer, developer, and disruptor.
16.00 Coffee Break
16.30 Impulse 2: The case for sustainability
The growing voice of consumers and corporate buyers is impacting hospitality choices: Both insist on staying in sustainable hotels (only). How strong is the pressure of these clients on the hotels’ business, how does it affect the hotel brand appeal and performance?
- Impulse: Dr Crispian Tarrant, Chairman, BVA-BDRC Consumer Research, A specialist market research consultancy presenting the latest research data for hospitality.
- Eric Hofmeister, Head of Global Lodging Procurement, Siemens AG, A company that introduced its own “Green Stay Initiative” (GSI) as a first global standard for more sustainable accommodation for business travel and meetings.
- Fabio Fornari, Product Manager for Sustainability, HRS Group, An OTA that is leading in business travel, offering an end-to-end Lodging as a Service platform with sustainability as a core principle.
★ Exclusively for HITT: The results of the current research “Global Sustainable Hospitality Trends 2023”, including the changed consumer behaviour.
18.00 Relax! Get-Together at the same venue, the restaurant ship PATIO
Day 2, Tuesday 27 June
HITT ON THE SHIP floating Berlin’s waterways
8.30 Boarding the event ship Orca Ten Broke in Berlin, Alt Moabit 91
9.00 (sharp!) Departure of the floating think tank. Welcome on board!
9.00 Wrap-up
Tim Davis, Managing Director, Pace Dimensions / HITT Moderator & Facilitator
9.30 Impulse 3: Giving back more than you take out – The importance of Biodiversity
Help reduce carbon and improve quality of life: The richness of animals, plants, fungi and microorganisms, their genetic diversity, and the diversity of ecosystems matters are an underestimated driver for investors and operators. What are the main risks of inaction for companies?
- Impulse: Zaneta Sedilekova, Director of Climate and Biodiversity Risk, Climate Law Lab, A pioneering consultancy firm helping you understand how to turn your climate and biodiversity risks into opportunities for your business, society and nature.
10.00 Coffee Break
10.30 Impulse 4: Practicalities of measurement, management, and control across ESG
Ensure purpose and traction: How is legislation and the UN agenda evolving to determine what needs to be measured to evaluate ESG factors, in particular the EU Taxonomy. How do you measure operational and embedded carbon emissions and – new – social factors, the “S” in ESG?
- Impulse: Florian Huber, Co-Founder and Lead EYCarbon, EY, A companion from strategy to technological and operational transformation.
- Dr Felix Krieglstein, Partner, Jung & Schleicher, A German real estate law firm with particular expertise in hotel law, advising national and international hotel chains, investors and operators.
- Malin Lindfors Speace, Founder and CEO, Ethos, A Scandinavian hospitality focused consultancy working on upcoming standards and frameworks such as GRI and SASB, the GHG Protocol, and the EU Taxonomy on sustainable finance.
12.00 Lunch on board
13.00 Impulse 5: Key enablers to building a pathway
Increase the likelihood of success: Measurement, management and control is best enabled by technology systems that can help hotel companies achieve better governance, improvements to economic and sustainability goals. How does the tech landscape look like today? Who are the leaders and fast-growing disruptors? Best practises, uses cases and examples.
- Anthony Tuffour, Director, Global Lead GIS and Digital Twins, Buro Happold, A global engineering company working across different scales, from buildings and districts to city scale.
- Xenia zu Hohenlohe, Founding Partner, Considerate Group, A certified B-Corp company creating tailor-made strategies and hands-on solutions to hotels’ sustainability challenges.
- Anthony (Tony) Williams, Program Director Tourism & Sustainability Development, Buro Happold, A global engineering company working across different scales, from buildings and districts to city scale.
15.00 Coffee Break
15.30 Impulse 6: Teamwork – the only route to success
How the industry can better collaborate: Act together and speak with one voice to suppliers, industry partners, governments and legislators. This session aims to surface where collaboration is working well, where it needs to improve.
- Glenn Mandziuk, CEO, Sustainable Hospitality Alliance, An organisation uniquely representing the sustainable-committed hospitality industry, including 22 world-leading hotel companies and 35 supply chain and strategic partners, with a combined reach of over 50,000 properties.
- Willem van der Zee, Director of Operations Belgium, Pandox, A Swedish listed and internationally leading owner-operator with 157 hotels (35,500 rooms) in 15 countries.
- Sven Wiltink, Global Senior Director Sustainability, Radisson Hotel Group, A leading hotel group with nine hotel brands, more than 1,100 hotels in operation and under development in 95+ countries.
Subsequently: Prof Dr Wolfgang Arlt, CEO, Meaningful Tourism Center.
★ Exclusively for HITT: The first-ever “The Meaningful Tourism Index 2023” and its results for the hospitality sector.
16.30 Coffee Break
17.00 What’s next…
Turning insights into action
17.30 HITT Closing
- Tim Davis, Managing Director, Pace Dimensions / HITT Moderator & Facilitator
- Maria Pütz-Willems, Editor-in-Chief, hospitalityinside.com
Followed by a Farewell dinner nearby. Relax!
Speakers 2023
Sponsors 2023
Review
A serial event
HITT edition 5, 2022: “Embrace ESG for people, planet and prosperity.”
HITT edition 4, 2021: “Sustainability & Digitalisation: The Change Drivers.”
HITT edition 3, 2020: “Boost your Service Delivery.”
HITT edition 2, 2019: “Digitalisation. The New Value Creator.”
HITT Premiere 2018: “Emerging Technologies. Friend or foe?”
Testimonials
Wilhelm Luxem
“I see this event (HITT) as an inspiration day. It raises questions that I have not asked myself before and allows me to move forward in the development of our long-established hotel.”
HITT Workshop 2022
Drees & Sommer, Hamburg
Torsten Keppler
“As an IT specialist, I find it exciting to see what role AI or IoT will play in all these issues. After all, it can’t be the future to continue to thoughtlessly build concrete blocks in the inner cities.”
HITT Workshop 2022
Drees & Sommer, Hamburg
Erik Florvaag
“The hotel industry needs to open up: The hotelier must understand that he is one element in an organism and that he can also make use of the other elements for his own added value.”
HITT Workshop 2022
Drees & Sommer, Hamburg
Ascan Kókai
“The best possible mix of retail space, various offerings with gastronomy and the hotel – that’s what makes a quarter fit for the future. Care should be taken to ensure that everything is attractive, open and designed with a certain transparency.”
HITT Workshop 2022
Drees & Sommer, Hamburg
Andreas Lackner
“Great Event. Great exchange with industry peers and partners… very well structured program and line-up of great speaker providing the impulse for exchange and knowledge sharing.”
2021
Wilhelm Luxem
“The selection of speakers was excellent and of top level. It served as a perfect sharpening of the focus on the future topics… I found the dialogue in the round exceptionally enriching and inspiring.”
2021
Caro Brauer
“Eye-opening presentations with a hopeful outlook. It was great.”
2021
Dr. Michael Hartung
“All in all, extremely interesting and stimulating, especially with regard to ESG – I don’t want to be driven by politics.”
2021
Marco Nussbaum
“A circle peppered with top international speakers and top participants who did not come from the usual filter bubble of the industry…
The idea that I will implement for all future projects of mine, for example, is the CaFoPaR – Carbon Footprint
Per available Room.”
2021
Philipp von Bodman
“Renowned Wes Paul put the topics and their likely impact on global developments in the coming decades in a different
light once again, even if some of his predictions will hopefully not come to pass in such rigor.”
2021
Hans-Peter Hermann
“The entire industry still has a very long way to go, especially on the topic of ESG, which can only be successfully tackled together.”
2021
Wes Paul
“We have missed a number of opportunities. We need governments to regulate. We need someone to say you can’t do something. Capitalism needs to be moderated. We need to think big here.
Stand up, don’t wait. Collobaration, yes! At the moment, everyone is just working in isolation.
The hospitality industry can be an example of change. For how to do it right. We can show how leadership works. But we have to start now.”
Speaker 2021
Matthias Niemeyer
“Digitally, the event was also a win. I thought it was great that HospitalityInside dedicated two days to the probably most important future topic of sustainability. What I missed was the young generation, who will ensure that this topic is really taken seriously.”
2021
Volkmar Pfaff
“The HospitalityInside Think Tank has been an extremely exciting event for Accor from the very beginning, and in 2020 we were once again pleased to be a sponsor. We appreciate the high quality of the network and see the HITT as an ideal platform for qualitative exchange with colleagues from the industry. The burning issues and challenges of the future are addressed; last year, for example, the focus was once again on digitalisation – a topic whose relevance is greater than ever.”
2020
Gesa Rohwedder
“The global impact of Covid-19 will change our ways of living, working, trading and also traveling. The hospitality sector has to re-think its essentials and redefine many established business models, concepts and processes to be fit for the future.”
Sponsor 2020
Roland Schwecke
“The Think Tank 2020 has created many qualified contributions that provide an overview to the industry, especially in difficult times. Orientation through high-quality information is created by HospitalityInside not only through the weekly reporting – the HITT format also provides exceptional contributions for the hotel industry.”
2020
Tom Seddon
„Corona accelerated existing trends. AI can help in rapid learning. Realize how important it is to be in a position to learn from short-term trends.“
Speaker 2020
Michaela Papenhoff
“My participation in the HITT Think Tank in 2020 was extremely helpful. We were at the very beginning of the pandemic. The speakers provided valuable insights. This helped us to better assess the situation, if that was possible. Furthermore, I liked the content and the possibility of networking (afterwards). A very successful event in a time of radical change. Rethinking the hotel industry – this is what HITT does excellently!”
2020
Torsten Keppler
“My full respect for the conversion of this in the past completely analogue event into a new digital one! Certainly, compromises had to be made in terms of direct exchange with other participants, but the selection of topics and speakers was excellent and the view beyond the horizon to other industries was very inspiring. And the professional preparation and follow-up also helped to leave a lasting impression.”
2020
Stefan Leser
„Covid-19 kills the city centers. How can I convince my customers to come to my hotel in prime location?“
Sponsor & Speaker 2020
Georgios Ganitis
“The HITT has always been a very good event to get information on the latest technical developments focused on hospitality. It is always interesting to think outside the box and see what other hotel groups are working on. In addition, the exchange among like-minded is good, among other things, to be able to discuss hurdles in the field of digitalisation.”
2020
Georg Schlegel
“The reality check did us all a lot of good and forced us to see that other sectors are facing much greater challenges. We have “the final mile”, i.e. in the end, we still have the guests in our hotels and can use this to our advantage!”
2019
Duncan O'Rourke
“The speakers and presentation at HITT were at a very high level, inspiring discussions among hospitality professionals and giving food for thought for our everyday challenges. However, for me the most important learning was how essential it is to take some time to sit, exchange, network and create a platform. We are already looking forward to meeting with the HITT participants again and to continue being part of this special hospitality community.”
Sponsor & Speaker 2019
Jan Hein Simons
“The HITT, Edition 2 was yet another step-up from the first version in 2018. The Hotel-Tech world has a love-hate relationship, and the legacy system landscape has still many hurdles to take without aligned industry standards. The input of ‘out-of-the-box’ speakers created an environment of active and open interaction. The 2020 HITT will be enriched with hotel asset owners and investors as well. Great prospects for deepened exchange.”
2019
Kai Gehrmann
“2. HITT – next level. Very fruitful collaboration and helpful discussion with senior executive colleagues regarding a topic, all of us are putting a lot of efforts in. Let‘s face the challenge together. Very much looking forward to our upcoming workshops and next year’s meeting.”
2019
Martin Kemmer
“Not bullshit bingo, but a deep, forward-looking exchange of ideas.”
2019
Jörg T. Böckeler
“The Think Tank stimulated me to open up to the discussed topics and to leave my personal comfort zone several times in the discussion, in an environment with like-minded, creative industry colleagues and carefully guided by competent moderators. The Think Tank has given me a valuable new perspective, something that inspires me in my daily routine.”
2019
Michael Struck
“For those who want to know which conference could be a useful investment of time: for me, the HITT is definitely one of them. Important topics; presentations with new contents worth knowing; panel discussions on a high contextual level; and a conference location and setting, which is an experience in itself and offers good opportunities for establishing new contacts.”
2018
The HITT Advisory Committee
We thank our advisors for their inspiration and support.
Tim Davis &
Louise Burns
Wolfgang
M. Neumann
Xenia
zu Hohenlohe
Anthony
Williams
Be part of it!
We invite you to participate in HITT 2023. At the 6th Think Tank, you can once again expect cutting-edge topics, well-versed instigators and exciting discussion and talks. Please register with this form and note the early bird rates and member benefits.
We look forward to your participation! Your HospitalityInside team.
If you have any questions or problems concerning the registration, please contact office@hospitalityInside.com.
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Contact
Michael Willems
phone +49 821 885 880 20
eMail michael@hospitalityInside.com
Maria Puetz-Willems
phone +49 821 885 880 10
eMail maria@hospitalityInside.com
About us
The story of HospitalityInside starts in 2004 when founder and editor-in-chief Maria Puetz-Willems, a specialized international hotel trade journalist, and her husband Michael Willems, a business economist, consultant and today’s Managing Director of the publishing house decided to focus on delivering quality content for the top management in the hospitality industry.