MAKING - A - C H A N G E
YoungHôtelièresInsights aims to develop the professional visibility of our young female talent in a network of established hoteliers and hôteliéres.
EHL’s Women in Leadership, IUAS University of Applied Sciences, and Institut Paul Bocuse share a commitment to promote our top female students in the hospitality industry. Together with HoteliersGuild’s LeadingHôtelierès Chapter, we created YoungHôtelièresInsights (YHI), a space dedicated for aspiring female hospitality leaders where they can contribute to our industry with their reflections, ideas, trends and hot topics as viewed by their generation. A compilation of these inputs will be featured in the HoteliersGuild ForumOfDialogue magazines and LookBooks with the aim to develop the professional visibility of our young female talent in a network of established hoteliers and hôteliéres .
EHL’s Prof. Dr. Sowon Kim and Founder of Women In Leadership says: “We focus on female students and from time to time male students here is a thought, we could for example limit to 10-20% of male contribution, and content could be in lines of male championing women (in line with one of our pillars) like f o r e xa m p l e h o w they see the contribution of their female peers; this might be eye opening for the established hoteliers reading such a piece and realising why there might be a need for them to change too. From my perspective making the “YoungHotelièresInsights” primary female is not being exclusive but rather in line with the mission of HoteliersGuild’s LeadingHôtelierès chapter. In addition there is a need to be inclusive when a group is a minority which in this case is women in leadership positions. While everyone needs to be promoted is these hard times, the system is heavily biased against women which is the exact reason why less than 5 percent of the top leadership functions across business and politics worldwide are occupied by women, and hence the raison être for HoteliersGuild’s LeadingHôtelierès chapter”
INTRODUCING
Of American nationality, Mary Barnett is a fourth-year student at EHL who will be graduating in July 2022. With experiences at Cordis Hong Kong (Langham Hotels) and The LINE Austin (Sydell Group), Mary has a keen interest in Food & Beverage management and concept creation. She is passionate about cooking, travel, and design. Mary can be reached at mary.barnett@ehl.ch. Mary Barnett has written this article under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Sowon Kim who is also the co-chairlady of HoteliersGuild’s LeadingHôtelières Chapter.
For Future Generations, Human Interaction Will Be the New Luxury Mary Barnett, EHL After a recent class discussion about what the word “luxury” truly means, I realized that for many of us commonly referred to as “Gen Z”, that is, born since the mid-‘90s, the Oxford Dictionary definition -- “a state of great comfort or elegance, especially when involving great expense” – is insufficient. Unlike previous generations, tech-savvy Gen Z consumers have visual access through social media to almost every “luxury” product and experience that is out there in the world: “Look! Kylie Jenner has the newest Vuitton bag!”; “Hey! Cool pic of the Beckhams on their yacht in Sardinia!” Social media is so saturated with postings like this, Gen Z has become almost immune to impressions that a hotel or a jacket or a car is anything particularly special: once a Rolex or a Relais & Chateaux has been posted, it’s almost immediately old news and no longer worthy of aspiration. Anyone from a Kardashian to a kid in Shanghai or Chicago can hop on the internet and order up any product or experience if they have cash to throw at, but what they cannot snap their fingers and achieve in this soulless, isolating digital age are human connection and authentic, meaningful interaction with the culture around them. For Gen Z, these are the ultimate luxury goods. The hospitality industry has certainly taken note of this: high-end cruises offer shore excursions where vacationers can help villagers with a community project; fancy travel agencies promote “cooking with Nonna” opportunities in remote Italian hamlets. But to Gen Z, opportunities like this seem purely performative, not legitimate efforts to promote mutually enriching interaction. The restaurant industry faces challenges in engaging on a lasting level with Gen Z, because myriad technological changes mean a consumer never has to interact with a human being from ordering through consumption: automated food delivery services, ghost kitchens, robots that can chop, sauté, and plate, ordering from tablets and QR codes— even the possibility of “dining” in the metaverse. Hotels have taken similar steps that reduce, not encourage, human interaction, for example by replacing services like check-ins and check-outs with contactless alternatives. Some of these actions may appear to make sense from a business perspective: given the industry’s current labor shortage, they are providing ways for companies to hire fewer staff and reduce labor costs. But do
they build long-term loyalty and profit? Consider this: do persuasive Yelp or Trip Advisor reviews focus on the lavishness of a resort pool, or a restaurant’s pricey cutlery, or the softness of a spa’s towels in describing why they would or would not return, or do they write about the fun and helpful service from the pool attendant, the wonderful recommendation they got after an engaging chat with the sommelier, or the relaxing empathy they received from their masseuse? And when they complain in a compelling manner, is it usually about something not living up to their expectations of “luxury,” or is it more often something related to flawed human interaction— or a complete lack thereof? Promoting human interaction alone, however, is not enough to attract younger luxury consumers; Gen Z can ‘cancel’ an establishment for perceived inauthenticity in the blink of an eye. What feeds that perception? Here’s an example: I recently visited one of the “best” restaurants in the world, according to food critics. While some of the over-the-top courses deserved the high praise, it is not the innovative food that I remember, but the sterile, almost inhuman nature of the overall experience. Upon arriving, we were greeted by a boredlooking hostess, sporting a Bluetooth device in her ear. Barely raising her eyes, she motioned us into an empty waiting area where we sat for a few minutes, confused. Suddenly one of the walls lifted and the dining room was revealed, presided over by quasi-military looking individuals dressed in black suits. The room was dark with spotlights hanging above each table; it was as silent as a church. Throughout the meal, the unsmiling men in black constantly circled our table, closely watching us eat and making occasional remarks into their headsets. My companions and I could not help but laugh at certain points in the meal; whatever all that nonsense was supposed to be, it was not “luxury” – it was just uncomfortable. The world is only going to get more and more connected (and isolated) by the internet. Our attention spans for luxury brands and products will continue to shorten. Jobs will keep being replaced by tech, especially in hospitality, where labor costs present a huge challenge. For all of these reasons, genuine, human interaction will be the most highly sought-after luxury. One can walk into a McDonalds, order, and pay through a touch screen with zero human contact. These types of experiences are only going to become more common. Companies, particularly those in the hospitality industry, who understand this and try to create genuine, emotional human experiences for their customers, will win over a generation that is the first to call out inauthenticity and pretentiousness.
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