For the week of March 4th – March 10th, participants from the Global MBA Hospitality Management major hit the road and headed from Paris to Berlin, Germany for the 21st annual International Hotel Investment Forum (IHIF), held at Berlin’s Intercontinental Hotel. What a week it was!
For the 60+ hotel company CEOs, 180+ guest speakers, and over 2,000 attendees at this year’s IHIF Conference, this event was a chance for real estate and hospitality professionals from over 80 different countries to meet, network, initiate potential deals, and attend seminars on a variety of related topics. Overall, it was a chance for hoteliers to do what hoteliers do best: connect. We got to take part in the action by attending the networking events and reaching out to some of our new connections to meet and find out more about their part of the industry, which helped us work out more of our career details for ourselves and forge ahead in our own future post-ESSEC paths.
Included in the companies that attended were AccorHotels, Barcelo Hotel Group, The Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group, Choice Hotels International, Dream Hotel Group, Hilton, IHG, Wyndham, and many, many more. What a roster! In addition to these impressive companies, however, were also an almost uncountable number of new startups and hospitality brands who were looking to promote their new ideas and expand their company personas. Several of us had opportunities to sit down with these entrepreneurs, as well as hear their startup pitches at several pitch competitions throughout the week. We are bowled over by the innovative ideas about to hit the marketplace.