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EuroCHRIE Amsterdam 2010 Report

On behalf of the board and as the President of EuroCHRIE, I would like to express our warm thanks to the Dutch organizers of EuroCHRIE Conference 2010.

It was hosted by Stenden International Hospitality Management and Saxion Hospitality Business School. Especially their students did an outstanding job. Maureen Brooks summed that "Students were great ambassadors of their schools and they should be given recognition of their outstanding efforts". They had that required passion for hospitality excellence. The organizing team took all efforts to ensure that we had another memorably conference in the great city of Amsterdam. The planning and running of the conference is always a challenging task. Our hosts did it with an excellent score and with smile in their face.

 

More than 250 EuroCHRIE Conference delegates had the opportunity to share ideas, discuss the industry and education issues and create networks. There were many notable comments on the quality of the keynote speakers: Prof. Dr. Catrien Santing put hospitality in historical Erasmus perspective; Hans van Driem from Holland Business Promotion Office presented his interesting ideas on Destination Branding; Michael Levie (pictured right), CEO of citizenM hotelgroug did talk and gave a clear example of innovation in Hospitality and Louis J. Frankenhuis expressed his vision about sustainability, wilderness protection and tourism. It is good to know that only 1% of the space in Europe is in the wild condition and if you want to see wolfs or brown bears in nature, you may visit for example, Finland.

On the top of keynote speakers, there was a variety of educational and industry-related activities - the most importantly researchers presented their papers. I got feedback from many delegates, which enjoyed the high quality of those presentations. ICHRIE President, Cynthia Deale stated "I listened and learned a great deal about hospitality management and thank everyone for the warm EuroCHRIE welcome and a wonderful conference experience".

EuroCHRIE conference provided an exceptional opportunity to meet new partners to future collaboration, not forgetting the social program. The Opening Ceremony, Receptions and Gala Dinner increased our enjoyment and provide remarkable experiences. An important part of the conference is the awards ceremony. This year the winner of Emerald Award was Michael Davidson and EuroCHRIE Amsterdam 2010 Student Award was Florian Aubke. EuroCHRIE Institute of Hospitality Education Research Award was given to the topic of 'Strengthening Curriculum Through Student Learning Outcome Assessment in Experiential Learning' , which was presented by Sheri Dressler, University of Central Florida, Kettil Cedercreutz, University of Cincinnati and Amanda Pacheco, University of Central Florida. EuroCHRIE Industry Award went this year obviously to our host hotel: Mövenpick Hotel Amsterdam City Centre. What a great job they did! EuroCHRIE Laureate Hospitality Award winner was Phil Race and EuroCHRIE Nestlé Pro Gastronomia Award winner George Ortiz. EuroCHRIE President's Award was presented to our past president Ron Carpenter (pictured above right), who concluded that "When I arrived at the conference in Amsterdam I had a special feeling, like always, because I was coming home - to my EuroCHRIE family".

In Amsterdam delegates were able to see bikes, bridges, cultural attractions, canals, houseboats, markets, etc. Many of us enjoyed the great restaurants of the city. Heineken Experience was something special and one delegate said that "walking in the red light district in the rain was very different". Next year EuroCHRIE Conference will be in Dubrovnik and the conference theme will be Tourism and Hospitality, Drivers of Transition. Vidimo se u Dubrovniku - See you in Dubrovnik.

Once more I would like to give my sincere thanks to the conference organizing committee and everyone involved in planning and running the conference in Amsterdam. With this kind of passion for hospitality excellence I feel privileged to be the president of the EuroCHRIE family.

President Jouni Ahonen Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences Helsinki, Finland E-mail: jouni.ahonen@haaga-helia.fi

This page was last updated on Tuesday, November 30, 2010 19:22