Day 1 – Monday, 19th March

　　The Young Hoteliers Summit (YHS) 2012 Opening Ceremony began on Monday morning (March 19th) with a buzz of excitement and enthusiasm as delegates, guest speakers, and VIPs from around the world took their seats at the Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne (EHL). After an introduction by the YHS Executive Team, the Founders of YHS Global and from Mr. Rochat, Director of EHL, the floor was given to Mr. Pascal Gauthier, VP Learning & Development for Hyatt Hotels & Resorts, representing Hyatt Hotels & Resorts as the Challenge Provider for YHS 2012. The challenge was unveiled as:

　　“Design the structure and various components of an attractive graduate program keeping in mind graduating student expectations and the company’s managerial needs”

　　The final objective for the delegates will be to ‘sell’ their innovative program in a 7-minute presentation to future graduating students and a jury of Hyatt Executives. The results will be pitched on Wednesday, March 21st at 16:30.

　　Mr. Gebhard Rainer, Managing Director at Hyatt Intl. (EAME), concluded the morning activities with his take on the challenges that the hospitality industry faces today and the responsibilities of industry leaders towards the environment. He stressed the necessary changes and foresight that needs to be considered, in order to survive the upcoming years of modern hospitality development, underlying the fact that talent shortage is becoming an increasing concern that should be addressed. Mr. Rainer concluded by emphasizing on the benefits and gratifications that working in the industry can bring by stating: “hospitality will never go out of fashion”.

　　The afternoon activities ensued with the first Panel: Corporate vs. Operational Hospitality paths for hospitality graduates. Mr. Francois Delahaye, Director of Operations, The Dorchestor Collection; Mr. Ian Nicholson, CEO, Faena Hotels; Mr. Nick Mutton, Executive VP HR & Administration, Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts; Mr. Chris Mumford, President, EMEA HVS Executive Search; and Mr. Christopher Michau, Director of Global Strategic Operations; led by Dr. Damien Hodari, Professor of Strategic Management at EHL discussed the decision between operational and corporate hospitality for graduating students beginning their careers. Interestingly, the discussion started with a majority of delegates seeming more inclined to follow the corporate path, yet ended with an audience no longer underestimating the value of hotel operations.

　　Day 1 came to a spectacular end with the keynote speech by Mr. Christophe Navarre, CEO of Moët Hennessy. Mr. Navarre shared his curriculum with the participants and stressed the importance of enjoying your profession by discussing the notion of pride in work, as it is essential for a long and fruitful career. We all strive to go forward with our careers, but sometimes it is necessary to go sideways to learn and backwards to re-evaluate and move on stronger and better than we were before”. He followed with a word on branding, underlying how important it can be for the success of a firm and the power it can have when matched with the correct distribution network.