ILHA Fast Forward 2020 Conference Report Back

WASHINGTON - Oct. 14, 2014 - PRLog -- Washington D.C., October 14, 2014 – ILHA’s inaugural Fast Forward 2020 conference featured an impressive line-up of luxury hotel experts, and delegates gained valuable insights into current and upcoming trends, technological innovations, emerging markets, as well as up-to-the-minute survey results and case studies.

Jan Freitag, Senior Vice President of STR, opened the conference with a fascinating presentation on the 5 key things you need to know about Global Luxury Performance, his overall message: “life is good”. Next, Hyatt gurus Tristan Dowell and Kenneth Villamil, explored Design and Guest Experience Now and into the Future, sharing how trends are evolving away from conventional design elements like chandeliers, marble staircases and brand name beds towards “barrier-free, signature experiences.”

Rohit Talwar, Futurologist, and CEO of Fast Future, was the afternoon keynote, taking us on a tour of the forces, trends and emerging ideas shaping the next decade. Mr Talwar spoke across all three conferences, the Medical Tourism Congress, Global Healthcare Congress and the ILHA Conference.

Barb DeLollis, founder of TravelUpdate.com, moderated the dynamic session Preparing for New Leaders in Luxury Travel, her panelists representing Brazil, Asia, and BRIC countries. Said Anna Abelson, Managing Director, Travel and Tourism Practice at Global Advertising Strategies, “Understanding of cultural nuances remains a key component for travel marketers in reaching and building loyalty with BRIC travelers, the most dynamically growing segments.”

Technology was a buzz word across most sessions, with Rohit Verma releasing results from his survey on using Technology Innovations to Personalize Guest Experience. Online Reputation Management Best Practices and Social Media Marketing were addressed from the hotel perspective, as well as experts from TripAdvisor, LinkedIn, TrustYou, Evins Communications, Sojern, Sabre and Clairoyix.

Lisa Potts, Senior Vice President, Sales and Marketing, Trump Hotel Collection, told us “I was thrilled to be a presenter at the inaugural International Luxury Hotel Association Fast Forward 2020 Conference and to be joined by fellow ILHA Advisory Board members and thought leaders in the luxury hotel industry. We had a great discussion on the importance of online and social media marketing in reaching affluent travelers and shared actionable insight on how best to engage with this audience. I very much look forward future conferences!”

Mathew Evins, Evins Communications and Eric Sinoway, Axcess Worldwide looked at the criteria for successful Strategic Partnership opportunities with Luxury Brands and went into detail on why some worked, and some were less effective.

Georgetown University sponsored the session Balancing Expectations across Diverse Generations of Luxury Guests through Experiences, Design, and Service. Gray Shealy, Executive Director of the Masters of the Master’s of Hospitality Program told us “It was exciting and fitting as a start-up academic program to be working parallel to a start-up conference. The location near Washington DC--what I consider to be the world capital of hospitality--was a perfect area to introduce an innovative dialog to unite key players in the industry. The energy of the entrepreneurial spirit, and engagement of unique ideas and eager and diverse presenters was stimulating. I look forward to our future collaborations with the ILHA.”

“It has been incredible to listen and learn from such esteemed thought leaders in the industry and we are deeply honored that they took the time to participate in our first congress,” said Barak Hirschowitz, President of the ILHA. “Our team is passionate about the luxury hotel industry, and are already working on the 2015 conference, hoping to make it even better, with more high-level networking.”

Premium sponsors included Georgetown University, Rainmaker, Clairvoyix, CVent, Cornell University and Luxe Bloom.

ILHA’s website http://luxuryhotelassociation.org/ will have information on next year’s conference as well as upcoming webinars and whitepapers from the 2014 conference

The International Luxury Hotel Association is a member-based nonprofit organization chartered to provide education and resources designed to assist the hospitality and travel industries to meet consumer needs and expectations. For more information or to become a member, visit www.luxuryhotelassociation.org