What can COVID-19 teach us about sustainable hospitality?

Does COVID-19 teach us about sustainable hospitality?

Sustainability has been a hot topic in the hospitality industry for a long time. Thus, it is no longer a "nice to have", but a "need to have". And the COVID-19 crisis ‘helped’ in this regard. When the first International Hospitality Management Symposium in 2019 on hospitable futures took place, we could not oversee what the impact of this crisis could be or how forward-looking its overarching theme would be. The subtitle of the symposium was, "Preparing talents and understanding the technology to create meaningful encounters". It resulted in the book: Sustainable Hospitality Management: Designing Meaningful Encounters with Talent and Technology.

Scholars and professionals joined the symposium to speak about the sustainability of the hospitality industry, a topic that is rather challenging in times of crisis. Whereas before, sustainability and technology were topics that the industry gradually tried to incorporate in their strategy and operations, they sort of ‘overtook’ the agenda’s of hospitality businesses during and due to the COVID-19 crisis.

Many people are yearning to go back to ‘old times’. However, it is most likely that things have changed for good. All the more the reason to look into the combination of meaningful encounters, (future) professionals, technology, and the question of how hospitality can add value to this.

The book is divided into three parts. Firstly, it focuses on hospitality and experience. Different perspectives and domains are discussed. Next, it looks at talented employees and the way in which they find their way in the hospitality industry. And thirdly, it looks at the important drivers, sustainability, technology, and innovation in the hospitality industry.

The book has been edited by Huub Ruël and Angelique Lombarts from the Research Centre at Hotelschool The Hague. The research center studies the future of hospitality and tourism, with the mission to contribute to the social and economic sustainability and the circularity of hospitality and tourism. The book "Sustainable Hospitality Management" has been published electronically and in print by Emerald Publishers.

Huub Ruël and Angelique Lombarts (eds.), Sustainable Hospitality Management: Designing Meaningful Encounters with Talent and Technology. 216 pagina’s. Bingley (UK): Emerald Publishing Limited. ISBN: 9781839092664. Available via: Emerald Bookstore