Attendees Gain Insights into Innovation from Amazon, Under Armour, and Each Other
(McLean, VA, September 10, 2018) Hotel senior leaders representing HSMAI Organizational Member companies investigated key issues facing the hospitality industry at Curate: An HSMAI Executive Insights Forum, hosted by the Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International (HSMAI) on September 5 and 6 at the Hyatt Regency Inner Harbor in Baltimore. Headlined by keynotes from Amazon and Under Armour, the event also featured collaborative and interactive elements, such as group brainstorming and live polling.
“Curate is a unique opportunity for leaders in the hotel industry—there is no other body of delegates like it,” said Robert A. Gilbert, CHME, CHA, president and CEO of HSMAI. “Thought leaders in hospitality sales, marketing, and revenue optimization engage face to face with peers from other companies and collaborate across disciplines on industry solutions. This cross-pollination of ideas is valuable not only for attendees, but for the industry at large.”
The Curate program in Baltimore was the second event of its kind in HSMAI’s Americas Region, on the heels of a successful inaugural Curate held earlier this year at Terranea Resort in California. The main program in Baltimore began with a recap of takeaways from the inaugural spring event, where attendees identified innovation, data analytics, and talent development as priority issues for the hospitality industry.
This time around in Baltimore, Curate attendees identified distribution costs and technology platform challenges as major pain points at their companies. Attendees discussed each issue in depth and proposed solutions in guided collective brainstorming sessions.
The educational program continued with a keynote presentation by Sam McCleery, vice president of open innovation, and Perry Williams, chief of staff to the chief innovation officer, both at Under Armour. The presentation challenged attendees to think differently and consider partnerships across industries as a potential path to innovation. The speakers also gave insight into using customer feedback and data to drive innovation.
Later in the day, Amy Cropper, global talent acquisition leader at Amazon, shared additional insights into fostering a culture of innovation. She also highlighted the importance of experimentation, decentralized decision making, and determining in advance whether an innovation-related decision is reversible.
Informal networking was also prevalent throughout the event. The evening prior to the main program, attendees mingled at a welcome reception at Sagamore Spirit distillery, which was co-hosted by Visit Baltimore.
Prior to the first Curate, attendees took part in a survey that identified priority issues to focus on during in-person discussions and shed light on commonalities and differences in perspectives of the three disciplines of hospitality sales, marketing, and revenue optimization.
In attendance were a total of 70 delegates from major hotel brands and companies, including Accor, Best Western, Booking.com, Expedia, Hilton, IHG, and Marriott, as well as leading educational institutions. HSMAI has 59 organizational member companies, including six hospitality universities.
Curate is a keystone benefit of HSMAI organizational membership. HSMAI introduced its organizational membership category for 2018. For organizational membership, the company is the HSMAI member, and multiple corporate employees have access to a wide range of unique member benefits. There are several levels of membership for companies, based on their company size. To learn more about Curate and organizational member and to view a list of member companies, visit https://www.hsmai.org/organizationalmembership. 2019 Curate events will take place March 25–26, at the Thompson Hotel in Nashville, and Sept 4–5, at The Breakers, Palm Beach, Florida.
