Beatrice Venturini
Sustainability in the Hospitality Industry: Going the Extra Mile
EHL | October 15, 2024
What’s holding hotels back from doing more than basic eco-friendly gestures, like reusing towels or reducing plastic, and embracing sustainable hospitality by adopting a green culture into their business? This article takes inspiration from a recent publication by Dr. Laura Zizka et al. that delves into current hotel green challenges. Addressing the difficult issues of ‘guest guilt’ and greenwashing, her work points an encouraging finger at the role of employee engagement, emphasizing the importance of hoteliers stepping up the pro-environmental communication - directing it not just at the guests but, more importantly, at their emplo...
Unlocking AI in Hospitality SMEs: Q&A With Ian Millar
Beatrice Venturini | April 11, 2024
By Beatrice Venturini Amidst the current discussions about AI's transformative potential, there's a common industry misconception that it primarily benefits large-scale hotels and enterprises, leaving smaller and medium-sized firms behind in the dark ages. To shed light on the nuanced reality, we sat down with EHL’s Ian Millar, Senior Lecturer in Hospitality Technology, to discuss how AI is not just a tool for hospitality giants but can also be a game-changer for SME hotels and firms with an innovative mindset. How is the hospitality industry gearing up to AI? PwC are describing the advent of AI as the “$15.7 trillion game changer...
An Insight Into the State of Luxury Branding Today
Dr Florent Girardin | March 16, 2023
By Dr. Florent Girardin, Beatrice Venturini The concept of what makes a luxury brand an attractive option worth buying into is undergoing a massive mind shift. This is especially true for the future luxury consumers, often referred to as the Millennials and Gen Z, or even more precisely HENRYs (‘High earners, not rich yet’). A 20+ years’ supply of new customers to be precise. This younger group of would-be spenders are developing a different approach to the idea of what a luxury brand should entail compared to the older generations of consumers. They value luxury experience more than luxury products and are thereby looking for mo...
Dr. Lloyd Terrier on the Fascinating Intersection of Hospitality and Healthcare
EHL & CHUV collaboration | April 1, 2021
By Beatrice Venturini As the patient experience moves to the forefront of healthcare delivery, what are the hospitality systems, processes and knowledge that might enhance customer outcomes in the healthcare sector? EHL, no. 1 in the hospitality school rankings, is committed to crossing boundaries and creating bridges via transferable skills at a time when interdisciplinary learning is more in demand than ever before. Despite the inescapable fact that a patient rarely choses to be in hospital whereas a guest at a hotel usually does, there are a myriad of important similarities between the two sectors. Whether patient or guest, both ...
Changes in the Industry: EHL Hospitality Talents Share Their Views
Beatrice Venturini | June 26, 2020
By Beatrice Venturini EHL CEO, Michel Rochat, quizzes this year’s group of bright sparks from the EHL Talent Academy on their thoughts and previsions on what the future of hospitality might entail in a post-pandemic world. Their insights are an important prism through which we can all gauge these changing times. EHL Group launched a new venture last year called ‘EHL Talent Academy,’ a program designed to support and develop young EHL employees in the professional world of hospitality management education. The EHL Talent Academy was created in order to spot the next generation of managers and leaders within the EHL Group, and inv...
Restaurants Reopening: An Overview From Lausanne, Switzerland
Beatrice Venturini | June 8, 2020
By Beatrice Venturini & Dr. Reza Etemad-Sajadi On Monday 11th May, restaurants and bars were among the few public establishments in Switzerland allowed to reopen. The move was preceded by lengthy Federal Counsel regulations made available to all restaurateurs setting out the now rather familiar guidelines: 2m distances between tables, maximum 4 people at a table, strict hygiene measures, service staff in masks and required contact details of each customer. Some noise was made about whether the move had come too soon, since initially the Swiss government had suggested reopening around early June. But with the Swiss Germans claiming f...
Hospitality With Heart: Successfully Branching Out Into the Pandemic Relief Effort
Beatrice Venturini | May 27, 2020
By Beatrice Venturini Since the worldwide safety measures to combat COVID-19 were announced two months ago, much has been written about the disastrous impact of lockdown on industry, none more sensitive than the sector of F&B, hotels, airlines and travel. The litany of nosediving businesses faced with immediate crisis was diametrically opposed to the spread of the virus in full ascent. While we wait to see if the worst is over and what the new security measures entail, it’s inspiring to read of how certain hospitality establishments have made a success in reminding us that empathy, community and inventiveness are as much at the heart...
How to Make Working From Home Work for You
April 7, 2020
By Beatrice Venturini From a no-no to the new normal In his 2017 TED Talk, the British economist Nicholas Bloom jokes of how his mission to encourage working from home (WFH) was initially met with disparaging remarks like “shirking from home”, “working…remotely” or simply, “getting paid for not getting dressed”. He argued that WFH would save companies money, create more time for productivity and certainly reduce global pollution with less unnecessary travel. What was once a HR issue, essentially reserved for working mothers, has suddenly become an enforced modus operandi worldwide. In the last few weeks, companies big and s...
