Visionary Leaders Roundtable In Singapore Identifies Opportunities For Growth In Hospitality Industry

MIAMI - SINGAPORE – 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 - Institute for Hospitality and Tourism Education and Research at FIU 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 & Consultant to the Institute for Hospitality and Tourism Education and Research at FIU 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 - Chaplin School of Hospitality and Tourism Management at Florida International University Jameson Wong, Regional 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.” To read more about the topics of the forum, visit IHTER website.

About Florida International University’s Chaplin School of Hospitality and Tourism Management:
Florida International University's Chaplin School of Hospitality & Tourism Management has been distinguished as one of the top hospitality programs in the U.S. More than 2,500 undergraduate and graduate students from across the United States and around the world choose FIU for its outstanding reputation, advantageous campus locations, expert faculty, rich curriculum, and fast-track career opportunities in the international hotel, foodservice and tourism industries. In August 2006 FIU unveiled the first US School of Hospitality and Tourism in Tianjin, China. The Marriott Tianjin China Program is FIU's largest international program, with a capacity for up to 1,000 students. For more information about Florida International University's School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, visit http://hospitality.fiu.edu/.About FIU:
Florida International University is recognized as a Carnegie engaged university. It is a public research university with colleges and schools that offers more than 180 bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral programs in fields such as engineering, computer science, international relations, architecture, law and medicine. As one of South Florida’s anchor institutions, FIU contributes $8.9 billion each year to the local economy. FIU is Worlds Ahead in finding solutions to the most challenging problems of our time. FIU emphasizes research as a major component of its mission. FIU has awarded over 200,000 degrees and enrolls more than 54,000 students in two campuses and three centers including FIU Downtown on Brickell, FIU@I-75, and the Miami Beach Urban Studios. FIU’s Medina Aquarius Program houses the Aquarius Reef Base, a unique underwater research facility in the Florida Keys. FIU also supports artistic and cultural engagement through its three museums: Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum, the Wolfsonian-FIU, and the Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU. FIU is a member of Conference USA and has over 400 student-athletes participating in 18 sports. For more information about FIU, visit http://www.fiu.edu/.

Simone Champagnie
Executive Director, Institute for Hospitality and Tourism Education and Research
+1 305 919 4810
FIU