" You will not be in most of the consumer-facing industries in the next decade if wellness is not part of the equation , predicted Kevin Kelly ," CEO Sensei .
Susan Santiago , who leads the Miraval and Lifestyle portfolio for Hyatt , took part in the panel on Understanding Diversity , Equity & Inclusion in Luxury Hospitality and spoke about how her lived experiences as a female , Hispanic , gay woman has driven a passion for her to be a voice and affect change in her organization . Diana Lerma , COO , Stokes-Wagner talked about DEI being the big elephant in the room and the different ways to address it . In her opinion more regulation will not make a difference as there is always a big gap between legislation and how it applies to the hospitality industry because the people who write the laws don ’ t understand the industry , so it never translates well . She added that DEI is very specific to the brand and the resources they will put forth to meet it . Regulations specifying benchmarks won ’ t address the large goals , rather a program that companies have to determine the investment they want to put into DEI and what the ROI will be . How do they want their brand to be perceived ?
Kevin Kelly , CEO , Sensei spoke about wellness and technology in Well-being : Putting Wellness at the Forefront of Recovery for both People & Industry . He said that there has been a seismic shift in our culture and explained that when there is trauma to the system you will see a shift in value systems around wellbeing . Most apparent right now is where people had their career as one and relationships two . It ’ s now flipped . People are saying that their jobs still matter , but not at the expense of their relationships and hotels are seeing this as they face current staffing challenges . As we lean into this shift in culture , wellness is becoming more and more important . The younger generation who have similar values as their parents , even though practiced separately , are finding that their emotional wellbeing is important to them . They are aware of their vulnerability due to covid . People want to take a vacation . He spoke about how difficult it used to be to talk about the value of wellness and sustainability , whereas now , “ wellness has become the new black .” Kelly added that wellness being an opportunity for interfacing and grabbing consumer market share is significant everywhere and not just in our industry .
Roundtable discussions took place at the event on topics around trends , marketing strategies , wellness , guest service , and AI & robotics and followed an organic format where speakers like Rebecca Goldberg , Hotel Manager , The Peninsula , and Vaughn Davis , General Manager , Dream Hotel Los Angeles introduced their topic and brainstormed ideas with conference participants . The atmosphere was alive with new connections and shared experiences as leaders and hospitality professionals in the industry worked through challenges and bounced ideas around .
The ILHA INSPIRE conference would not be possible without the sponsors who support the luxury hotel industry . Best Buy Business , ResortSuite , World Cinema , HCN , Molekule , Vilebrequin , tabl ’ eau Filtered Water , Canary Technologies , Unifocus and more took part in the conference , all of which offer valuable solutions to challenges the luxury hotel industry is facing .
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