At the Hospitality Gipfel Wien on December 12, 2019, almost 250 participants gathered on the Beletage of the Park Hyatt Vienna. For the organisers Claus Jacobs Network, hotelbau and PKF hotelexperts, the focus was again on thinking outside the box/Schnitzel-Tellerrand of the real estate industry. Norbert Kettner, CEO of the Vienna Tourist Board, gave an introduction to the so-called Visitor Economy, which not only thinks about what the city is doing for its guests, but also about what the guests can do for the city.

The question as to whether or not the next crisis will have significant impacts on global hotel development could not be answered clearly by the economic guru of the conference, Dr. Daniel Thorniley. Rather, he attributed increasing populism as one of the greatest threats to economic growth, calling on business leaders in particular to ensure fair pay.

Game, set, victory? It's not always so easy with hotel projects, and yet Dr. Daniel Jelitzka, from JP Immobilien, repeatedly comes up with new and challenging hotel and resort projects in Germany and abroad - he dared himself, a passionate competitive athlete, to play a verbal match with tennis star Michael Stich. What can the real estate industry learn from professional sport? What does a professional athlete expect from a hotel? These and other questions were brought to the stage in an entertaining and thought provoking way.

Does the hotel industry need any new brands at all? German fashion designer Wolfgang Joop was able to confirm this in his video message despite an injury-related break from the catwalk. In the subsequent discussion round between Markus Lehnert from Marriott International and Daniel Schneider from the architectural firm Monoplan, the new hotel concept The Wolfgang was presented for the first time, at the Hospitality Gipfel Wien 2019. The debut was held in form of a coffee party with the original Sacher cake, served by Hani El Sharkawi from the Sacher School of Excellence. Where the brand will appear on the catwalk for the first time in full splendour after this world premiere is currently still uncertain. Potsdam or Vienna?

"With new formats as well as speakers and content that offer inspiration and reflection outside the usual limits of our industry, we want to make a difference to other conference formats," says Christian Walter, Managing Director of PKF hotelexperts. His colleague Michael Widmann adds: “Even if the further overall economic development is uncertain due to global political uncertainty factors – one aspect is certain: there have never been such great opportunities for creative niche concepts. The area of Serviced Living also offers enormous growth potential. ”

It has not yet been revealed whether this could be the focus of the programme for the next year, but in any case, the Hospitality Gipfel Wien will be held again in 2020.

More about event: https://www.hotelbau.de/veranstaltungen/hospitality-gipfel-wien/