HFTP Presents: 2022 Year in Review
For HFTP, the year 2022 saw the return of some of its most popular initiatives and the launch of a successful new program. It marked the bittersweet departure of some beloved HFTP leaders, and the arrival of enthusiastic individuals ready to take up their mantles. Ready for a rundown of the most noteworthy highlights of the year? Keep reading.
The Return of the Biennial Compensation and Benefits Report:
Hospitality professionals regularly reach out to HFTP seeking the latest version of this long-standing research report. Over its 30-year history, this report has helped countless professionals gauge the latest industry trends to determine appropriate pay and benefits for themselves or their employees.
This is especially indispensable data in light of the staffing challenges that are currently afflicting the industry; competitive wages and benefits often make the difference in recruiting new talent to your organization and retaining top performers. Following a two-year hiatus during the Covid-19 pandemic, the latest data (2020-2022) is now available, and it is free to active HFTP members. Learn more here >>
The Return of E20X to HITEC North America:
Last seen at HITEC North America in Minneapolis three years ago, HFTP’s extremely popular startup pitch competition made a triumphant return to HITEC Orlando in 2022. Eight hospitality technology startups brought their exciting business concepts to the HITEC Headliner stage and show floor this past June.
The Judge’s Choice Award went to process automation specialist RobosizeME, whose virtual robots help hospitality companies automate hotel operational processes including reservations, revenue management, group sales, events and more. The People’s Choice Award went to Florida-based Beachy, which serves resorts with reservation activities and mobile food and beverage solutions to improve the guest experience.
An E20X competition also took place at HITEC Dubai this year, where eTip won the E20X Judge’s Award, S-Rate won the Judge’s Choice Semi-Finalist Award, and Turpal was chosen by HITEC attendees to receive the People’s Choice Award. Read this blog post written by one of the E20X Dubai competitors on their experience participating in the event.
Applications have just opened for E20X North America 2023, which will be held on June 28 in Toronto. Learn more at HFTP News >>
The Launch of the HFTP Leadership Excellence Series:
The new HFTP Leadership Excellence Series program debuted to great success in January 2022, quickly reaching its capacity of 100 individuals. This member-exclusive program helped participants cultivate new leadership skills and knowledge through virtual sessions held throughout the year, which included lectures presented by hospitality leaders, book clubs, hot topic webinars, and idea-brainstorming exchanges. The participants were recognized in a special reception at the HFTP 2023 Annual Convention last October.
On the heels of its inaugural victory, the Leadership Excellence Series will return in 2023, with applications now open through January 13. Learn more at HFTP News and don’t miss your chance to participate next year. This program is expected to fill up quickly once again.
The Global Board Experiences First Transition Since 2020:
The year was also marked by the departure of Mark Pate Sr., CHAE, CHTP, MBA from his role as HFTP Global President. Having spent two years in this capacity, Pate served as the association’s fearless leader throughout much of the Covid-19 pandemic, guiding HFTP’s growth and initiatives during a time of rapid, uncertain change in the hospitality industry. Read his final “Letter from the HFTP Global President” blog post to learn more about his experiences leading the HFTP Global Board.
As of this past October, Neil Foster, CHTP, MBA has stepped into the role with enthusiasm to continue building on Pate’s legacy. He brought with him to this new position over 25 years of professional experience in hospitality technology. Get to know the new HFTP Global President in this introductory blog postwhere he describes his international career journey and decades-long relationship with HFTP.
A Change in HFTP’s European Governance:
Carl Weldon, HFTP’s COO Europe since 2016 and a beloved member of the HFTP staff, announced his retirement in 2022. HFTP bade him a celebratory farewell during an HFTP Europe meeting at the citizenM London Tower on October 26. Read this entertaining tribute from HFTP CEO Frank Wolfe, CAE, FIH.
A familiar face now presidents over HFTP’s presence in Europe. Carson Booth, CHTP became HFTP’s new COO Europe as of November 1. The association will benefit from his decades of international, hospitality industry experience in management and technology-centered positions. Booth has been involved with HFTP for many years, volunteering his expertise on multiple HFTP boards, including as chair of the HITEC Europe Advisory Council.
Learn more about Booth’s appointment as COO Europe on HFTP News >>
Engaging Students Remains a Top Priority:
HFTP consistently seeks to engage hospitality students as future leaders of the industry. Two initiatives, which have been successful year-over-year to achieve this goal, produced great results in 2022.
Every academic semester, the HFTP/MS Global Hospitality Graduate Student Blog Competition generates unique hospitality research, and the Fall 2022 edition was no exception. A panel of expert judges representing HFTP selected the top-scoring blog posts, which explore financial aspects of the increasingly popular glamping business model in hospitality; the impacts of environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues in asset management; the transformation of the traditional dining experience using augmented reality (AR) and 3D modeling; and the implementation of virtual reality (VR) to revolutionize employee training techniques.
The winning blog posts will be published on HFTP over the next few months.
Learn more on HFTP News >>
the HITEC Student Volunteer Program provides students the opportunity to volunteer behind the scenes at HITEC North America. In exchange for assisting HFTP staff throughout the conference, the students are provided with a complimentary full conference registration and housing accommodations. For the student volunteers, the program is a significant opportunity to network and learn from the brightest minds in the industry.
Two students who participated in the HITEC Student Volunteer Program in 2022 shared their experiences in blog posts on HFTP Connect. You can read all about their time at HITEC Orlando in Part One and Part Two.
Did You See These HFTP Chapters in Action?
While HFTP is a global association, we also understand the importance of building connections at the local level. HFTP’s chapter system fosters these connections through meetings, educational opportunities, philanthropic activities and social networking events. HFTP chapters were very busy in 2022 – check out this blog post to get a glimpse at some of the activities that HFTP chapters did this year.
A Look Ahead to 2023
As 2022 ends, HFTP has already begun to look ahead to everything 2023 has to offer. Don’t miss out on the many events and opportunities already scheduled to take place in the new year – the HFTP 2023 Leadership Excellence Series (kicking off January)the HFTP 2023 Club Summit (March 27-28), HITEC Dubai 2023 (May 23-24), HITEC Toronto 2023 (June 26-29), and E20X Toronto 2023 (June 28) … just to name a few. See you in 2023!
Here Is Why ESG Holds Significance in Asset Management
Written by Shivam Sharma
As an institutional investor, consider your investments — a hotel, club, restaurant, anything. Being an investor requires knowing how to allocate the appropriate funds to the right assets at the right time. But what if you have someone who can intricately manage that for you? This is where an asset manager would step in and decide what exactly investors should expect in returns from their assets. They define the metrics and targets to be achieved so that the entire asset is optimized to its maximum potential. Then, there is ESG: environmental, social and governance.
- Environment: issues related to the quality and function of the natural environment and systems around which the asset operates.
- Social: issues related to the rights, well-being and interests of the people and communities.
- Governance: issues related to the way companies are managed and overseen.
Investors have always been the key force for asset managers’ adoption of ESG strategy. About 85 percent of hedge fund managers have estimated that institutional investors are the biggest drivers of ESG funds, and the percentage of investors implementing ESG rose by 18 percent from 2019 to 2021.
With ever-increasing risks surrounding the environment, renewable energy, human rights, business ethics and labor standards —governments, companies, institutional investors and their asset managers are now questioning the extent to which their assets are responsible for the damage that has been caused. They are also exploring what can be done to mitigate these risks in the future, so that they are optimizing each asset to its best capacity. Investors and asset managers are smart enough to identify which assets show genuine ESG compatibility and, with the help of the regulators, provide oversight of green funds doing what they are intended to do and living up to their branding. To make the most of the funds and fulfill their purpose, asset managers are required to define the overview and context of what ESG means to them when identifying the metrics for their assets’ performance. It comes not only from the financial point of view; the ESG lens can be a solid risk-management tool with non-financial outcomes.
The non-financial factors that affect the performance of the assets must be managed well because they tend to be more efficient, aligned with the preferences of the investors, and generally less exposed to the risks by various regulators from different domains. But one may ask: what would be the non-financial ESG factors that asset managers may consider for their investment performance? Let us take a look:
- Environment: greenhouse gas emissions, climate change resilience and pollution control (water, water, noise and light).
- Social: workplace safety, cybersecurity and data protection, human rights and local stakeholder relations.
- Governance: fiduciary duty, board diversity, bribery and corruption, executive compensation and independence of chair and board.
Asset managers must work closely with investors to create their own policies and standards. Lack of standardization provides an operational burden on asset managers, thanks to additional due diligence requests and customized reporting for prospective investors. As asset managers begin to set their own ESG policies and/or offer ESG products, managers must consider their overall ESG investment strategy (ie, active versus passive ownership) and implement policies to support that chosen strategy. Lastly, the emphasis on ESG investment is picking up globally and regulatory bodies either already mandate how asset managers meet and disclose ESG objectives, or they are determining how they should bring forth regulations. For managers and investors who decide to set an ESG policy and offer responsible investment products, they must determine the regulatory requirements for each region and the legal jurisdiction in which they operate, as there is not yet alignment on global standards.
While it may come with operational challenges, asset managers must consider ESG across the whole office. Front office teams must ensure their investment screening and portfolio construction decisions align with ESG mandates and investors’ expectations, while compliance and regulatory teams in the middle and back offices have to provide a review function for adherence to mandates and regulations. Thus, asset managers will want to explore how to proactively include ESG mandates in the assets to help ease pressure and support the smooth transition of socially responsible investing.
An emphasis on ESG investing may be in the early stages in most regions of the world. Still, its impact will only advance as governments and society place more importance on managing climate risks and socially equitable business practices.
This blog post tied for First Place in the Fall 2022 HFTP/MS Global Hospitality Business Graduate Student Blog Competition presented by the HFTP Foundation. Participants are students participating in the Master of Science in Global Hospitality Business, a partnership between the Conrad N. Hilton College of Global Hospitality Leadership at the University of Houston, the School of Hotel and Tourism Management at Hong Kong Polytechnic University and EHL. The blog posts that received the top scores will be published on HFTP Connect through March 2023. Learn more at HFTP News.
Shivam Sharma is a student in the Master of Science in Global Hospitality Business with aspirations in asset management. He has four years of experience in the hospitality industry and has worked for Marriott International in their revenue management operations from 2019-2021.
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