New Zealand Hotel Council and Horwath HTL, co-hosts of this year’s New Zealand Hotel Industry Conference, on May 31, 2012 at the Pullman Auckland, have announced the line-up of its keynote speakers headlined by Accor’s Chief Development and Investment Officer for Asia-Pacific, Gaurav Bhushan.
Accor is the platinum sponsor of the annual hotel conference, now in its 6th year and supplemented by the technical seminar on the afternoon prior to the conference, which is free of charge to conference registrants.
The conference, also proudly sponsored by HM magazine, is the only conference dedicated to the New Zealand hotel industry.
Over 250 registrants, sponsors, speakers, panelists and registrants are expected to attend the conference and it will be concluded by a banquet dinner with three annual hotel awards celebrating excellence in the hotel industry in New Zealand.
Bhushan, in Singapore, is one of three keynote speakers on the day and, according to Terry Ngan from Horwath HTL, will “speak about building a global brand and will refer to Accor’s recent acquisition of the Mirvac hotel chain, its integration into the Accor global network and the strategy for Australasia where Mirvac operates”.
Another keynote speaker will be Cameron Bagrie, Chief Economist at ANZ who will present on the outlook for the domestic and global economies, and the impact on New Zealand tourism flows and hotel demand in 2012 and 2013.
Stephen Hamilton, Director of Horwath HTL Ltd, the third keynote speaker will address the conference on the hotel demand and supply outlook for Auckland, Rotorua, Wellington, Christchurch and Queenstown for the next two years, including the outlook for average room occupancies and room rates for hotels.
A feature of the hotel conference will be a one hour plenary panel session on the Christchurch hotel industry chaired by Rod Oram, renowned business commentator, discussing the rebuilding of hotels and tourism flow impacts on Christchurch, Queenstown and New Zealand, post the February 2011 earthquake.
There will also be four breakout panel sessions at the hotel conference according to Terry Ngan on behalf of the co-hosts, including discussion on:-
-Leadership in hotels focusing on the role of the General Manager and has it changed;
-An outlook for technology in hotels, including a presentation by IT consultant Ted Horner;
-Asian markets, including the best distribution channels to attract visitors to New Zealand; and
-Operator expansion, including what’s in store for New Zealand.
The conference dinner will again include the three New Zealand hotel awards for Senior Hotel Executive of the Year, Outstanding Young Hotel Executive and Environmental Initiative which were introduced in 2010 to celebrate excellence in the hotel industry in New Zealand.
Registrants to the New Zealand Hotel Industry Conference will gain complimentary entry to the technical seminar on the afternoon of the Wednesday (30 May) prior to the conference. This seminar’s programme is to be finalised shortly – last year’s featured strata title hotels and serviced apartments, hotel valuations and hotel management agreement trends.
The summary of the hotel conference program, registration details, speaker topics and biographies and sponsors are posted on the hotel conference website www.nzhotelconference.com