Sustainable Hospitality Challenge

The Sustainable Hospitality Challenge (SHC) is a Hotelschool The Hague initiative launched in 2014. Originally founded under the name Genio Worldwide Innovation Summit, the challenge has recently re-established itself by making sustainability its central theme.

This global student competition annually brings together hospitality leaders and the next generation of hoteliers who apply innovation in addressing the industry’s evolution. With over 40 participating universities from around the globe and over 20 nationalities represented, the SHC offers them the chance to re-imagine the future of hospitality.

Participants from top-tier universities work towards bettering the planet and the hospitality industry by establishing innovative and sustainable solutions. The students are given the incredible opportunity to present on a global stage in front of significant industry leaders such as NEOM, The Bench, and the Sustainable Hospitality Alliance, who can turn their ideas into real projects.

Established as a platform that challenges innovative hospitality approaches for the last eight years, SHC has evolved into a global knowledge-based initiative supported by the world’s best-known hospitality brands, global hospitality project developers, and smart cities.

Connect

best-in-class global universities & create a community of like-minded talented students

Drive innovation

for preserving the sustainability of our industry & world

Bring together

the student community, corporate world, accelerators, and investors and allow their innovations and solutions come to life

Theme 2022

This year’s Sustainable Hospitality Challenge aims to inspire and motivate students to create innovative sustainable concepts. The challenge is widely inspired by the principal sponsor NEOM, a region in northwest Saudi Arabia being built from the ground up that promotes a new model for sustainable living.

For the 2022 case with the theme “Remote”, participating students are tasked to develop sustainable solutions based on their choice of dimension. This can be either a) “The NEOM hospitality concept of 2030”, a sustainable hospitality concept in a remote area, or b) “The NEOM hospitality concept of 2030”, social sustainability in a remote area.

The 2022 case was created with the support of the SHC ambassador Marloes Knippenberg (CEO, Kerten Hospitality), Chris Newman (Executive Director of Hotel Development, NEOM), Colin Abercrombie (Strategy Director of Hotel Development, NEOM), Carlos Martin-Rios (Associate Professor of Management, École Hôtelière de Lausanne) and other industry executives.