The Annual Hotel Conference (AHC) will gather together the brightest in UK hospitality at the Manchester Convention Centre next week (3-4 October).
The two-day event will see hoteliers, investors, developers and others interested in the future of UK hospitality investment, come together to gain advice and insight to help the industry ‘chart the course’ through current and future challenges.
David Smith, Economics Editor at The Sunday Times, will kick off the loaded programme on Monday with The Economic and Business Outlook: What Is in Prospect amid the New Uncertainty before Patrick Whyte, Editor-in-Chief of Hospitality Insights, chairs a panel discussion, weighing up consumer confidence and the impact it could have on the industry.
Monday’s programme includes discussions on leadership, development opportunities and sustainability with keynote interviews with Kenneth Macpherson, CEO, EMEAA, IHG Hotels & Resorts and Radisson Hotel Group CEO Frederico J Gonzalez punctuating the day.
For those seeking sustainable economic solutions, attendance of Lamington Group Managing Director Robert Godwin’s keynote session Zero Means Zero: Forging the Path to Whole Life Net-Zero is essential.
Sustainability is a topic which returns on Tuesday in multiple sessions, including The Sustainability Conundrum: Accreditation, Measuring and Reporting, which is moderated by Energy & Environment Alliance CEO UFI Ibrahim and How to Improve the Asset’s Lifecycle Performance and Net Zero Carbon Alignment.
An exploration of the ways lifecycle design practices could increase the asset value and long-term ROI will take place through case studies of successful sustainable projects in Planning for Longevity: Good for the Planet, Good for the Asset.
The AHC’s programme concludes on Tuesday with an interview with Steve Morgan CBE, founder of housebuilding company Redrow, owner of Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club and formerly the largest shareholder of De Vere Group.
More than 90 industry-leading speakers from the UK’s top hotel groups, the investor community and key suppliers will deliver the keynotes, panel discussions and presentations over the two days and delivered as keynotes, panel discussions and one-to-ones.
The full programme can be seen here: https://www.theahc.co.uk/theahccouk/programme.
AHC Fringe
Those seeking practical advice and insight around a range of topics, should visit The AHC Fringe.
Held during coffee and lunch breaks over two days, the 10 minute talks will cover areas such as staffing and automation to energy and revenue management.
Scheduled talks include How to Use Data to Drive Total Revenue with David Goodman of Duetto and Smart Hotels – Insights with Amazon and Hotel Cloud delivered by AHC Fringe sponsor Amit Popat, CEO of Hotel Cloud and Albert Creixell, Head of Europe Partner Programs, Amazon Alexa.
Networking and news
Breaks will also give attendees the chance to network with their peers and connect those with capital to those seeking to drive investment in the UK hospitality sector. There will also be many opportunities to find out about new products, the latest deals and signings from sponsors and supporters.
Companies announcing news at AHC, include:
Duetto. The hospitality software as a service provider of revenue strategy solutions, has a number of new updates to reveal at the conference, including innovations for ScoreBoard, its revenue intelligence application. Director of Sales EMEA, David Goodman, will also be hosting the session How To Use Data To Drive Total Revenue in AHC Fringe at 1:45pm on Monday.
HotelPartner. The technology company will be relaunching its revenue management system at the conference after spending months adjusting the look and feel to improve the user experience.
IHG Hotels & Resorts. IHG has signed a multi-property development agreement with Grape Hospitality. The deal will see five properties in Spain, Italy and France convert to the voco, Hotel Indigo and Crowne Plaza brands and add another 810 rooms to its European portfolio.
Naked Energy. The British solar tech developer will give further details of its partnership with Japanese heating water control and thermal technology manufacturer Rinnai and an insight into its work to support the UK’s transition to clean energy. Senior Commercial Manager Christian Albrecht will also be hosting the session Decarbonising Energy: How to Maximise Financial and Environmental Returns with On-Site Renewables at AHC Fringe at 1:35pm on Monday.
Oaky. The hyper-personalised hotel upselling software recently launched its new automated in-stay upselling feature and will be on hand to talk hoteliers through the service, showing how this addition to the platform allows hoteliers to automatically promote add-ons and services to in-house guests via direct messaging and QR codes.
Joe Stather, market lead for Questex’s Operational Real Estate portfolio, including the AHC, said: “With such dramatic change happening inside and outside our industry, it has never been a more important time to come together to share insight, innovation and provide practical solutions that can be put into place now to help us all chart the course. There are so many developments to talk about and valuable insights to share so we are very much looking forward to bringing the industry together in Manchester next week.”
Tickets for the AHC are available now. To register visit https://www.theahc.co.uk/
