In a recent meeting citizenM Hotels' Commercial Director Lennert De Jong was elected to succed Christian Boerger as chair of the HSMAI Europe Revenue Management Board, accompanied by IDeaS Revenue Solutions' Senior Manager Paul Van Meerendonk as vice chair.
"The commitment among the Revenue Management Advisory Board members, and their genuine intention to contribute to the further development of our industry, is inspiring," Ingunn Hofseth, HSMAI Europe's President and CEO, says, adding:
"We couldn't dream of a better team."
In addition to Mr De Jong and Mr Van Meerendonk, the HSMAI Europe Revenue Management Advisory Board is made up by:
• Agnes Roquefort, Senior VP Global Revenue Management & PMS, Accor
• Anabelle Beets, Corporate Manager Revenue & Reservations, Kempinski Hotels
• Arthur Waller, Co- Founder, PriceMatch
• Brian Hicks, Vice President, Revenue Management Europe & Global Revenue / Property Based Systems, InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG)
• Chinmai Sharma, Chief Revenue Officer, Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces
• Ciro Grande Director, Revenue Account Management, Preferred Hotels
• David Turnbull, Co-Founder & COO, Snapshot
• Etienne Faisandier, VP Revenue Management & Business Intelligence, Moevenpick Hotels & Resorts
• Jan Lundborg, Vice President Revenue Management, Scandic Hotels
• Janel Clark, Director of Revenue, Avvio
• Joanna Schröder, Vice President Revenue Management, Steigenberger Hotels
• Michael McCartan, Managing Director, EMEA, Duetto
• Perra Pettersson, Founder & Owner, Benchmarking Alliance
• Ralf Scheffler, Area Director Revenue Optimization Central Europe, Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group
• Stan van Roij, Managing Director, Infor Easy RMS
• Steven Dow, Vice President of Revenue Management – Europe, Diamond Resorts
• Åsa Murphy, Vice President Profit & Distribution, Nordic Choice Hotels
The advisory board is set to convene in Amsterdam on Friday 3 July.
Judging by Lennert De Jong's informal inaugural declaration, the new board has high ambition on behalf of the industry:
"The current hotel and travel industry is in heavy weather when it comes to technology and distribution, but HSMAI provides a great platform to discuss, educate and work together, to make it a better place," he says.
"This renewed advisory board will be putting a lot of energy in webinars, a fantastic conference in February – and certification, to make sure that step by step we all become smarter and stronger. Let's continue to unite as one European platform to constructively look at our issues, find resolutions for them and apply fixes for every hotelier out there," Mr. De Jong declares, continuing:
"We have succeeded if we avoid reserving this platform for the chains and the larger groups, attracting the independent hotelier as well, to listen in and join the discussion."
"We launched the HSMAI Europe RM Advisory Board in 2014 and started to lay the groundwork for what has now developed into an important congregation of industry thought leaders," Paul Van Meerendonk explains.
"The expanded board in 2015 seeks to continue this under the guidance of Lennert, and with the support of the wider HSMAI Europe organisation. With some great new members, it should be an exciting and productive year for the board, as we aim to guide, help and support revenue management growth and development in the region."
"It is great news for Revenue Management in Europe to have a new and reinforced HSMAI Europe RM Advisory board. It represents huge opportunities to share powerful insights between the variety of experts and players in Europe, trough qualitative conferences, webinars and Think Tanks, "says Agnès Roquefort, Senior VP Global Revenue Management & PMS, Accor.