Karoline Wiegerink
Karoline Wiegerink (PhD MSc) is professor of City Hospitality at Hotelschool The Hague and is the director of the Community Platform for Customer Centricity Professionals in The Netherlands, PvKO. During her professional career, she has always combined academia, consultancy and management. As an economist and marketeer, she gained special experience in the field of live communication and event marketing and shared that knowledge via Erasmus Centre of Event Marketing, Erasmus School of Economics and Nyenrode Business University.
In her work at Hotelschool The Hague she focuses on creating value through hospitality experience, in research, education and collaboration with the industry. Karoline’s special focus areas are cities, urban spaces and neighbourhoods in which different dimensions of hospitality contribute to liveability and lovability. Destinations are experienced by their welcome. Understanding, supporting and engaging with hospitable communities through meaningful encounters, contributing to a balanced City Hospitality Experience by all stakeholders… and dedicated to demonstrating the value of hospitality by building on the hospitality business case. In co-creation with HTH research colleagues, students, academic fellows and last but not least industry partners as NBTC, Kennisnetwerk Destinatie NL and the European City Destination Alliance the she adds value to the academic knowledge base and practical insights and tools.
‘I am dedicated to hospitality and customer centricity and the value creation it leads to. Putting the guest, customer, passenger, tourist, patient, student… the human ... in the centre of any operation and organisation makes the difference. Emphasizing that it is the personal touch of the host that makes the difference: Sincere attention, interest for the other and an open attitude are the elements that pay off, also in times of high tech! I have experienced this myself in many professional roles as researcher, consultant, keynote speaker, teacher, hospitality maker and CX community manager ... and of course on a daily basis as a consumer.’