Cornell Hospitality Summit Series: Failure Is an Option

This is the last in a series of four videos from the Cornell Hospitality Research Summit, attended by Klaus Kohlmayr, chief evangelist with IDeaS.

I had the great pleasure to join some of the leading experts in travel technology at Cornell University to discuss disruption and transformation in the hospitality industry at their Hospitality Research Summit last October. Our conversations covered a wide range of subjects, from how to improve the guest experience to what the capabilities of artificial intelligence look like for hotels in the future.

As our video series concludes, what were the key learnings of the innovators, veterans and recognized disruptors in the industry?

• Don’t lose sight of the basics—true hospitality matters. That means great experiences delivered by great people. Too many hotels struggle to fix the most common issues, which should be easily solvable. Technology should enable amazing experiences, with the best solutions being invisible.
• The industry is going through a tectonic shift, the rules are being re-written and tomorrow’s capabilities will be a huge change from what we have today. Smart hoteliers understand the current transformation and invest wisely to prepare for the future.
• To stay relevant, hoteliers must go bold in challenging the status quo. Failure is an option, and to enable innovation, more risk awareness and acceptance is required. Starting with a “minimal lovable product” and then building based on guest feedback, instead of expecting perfect from day one, will enable rapid scaling of tomorrow’s killer applications.

I tremendously enjoyed talking with Chris, Vivek, Pierre, RJ and Balaji. Maybe in a few years we will get back together to discuss how far the industry has come in embracing innovation, risk and creativity to create empowered hoteliers through technology.

Thank you to my fellow panelists for taking part in this intriguing conversation:
Chris Anderson, professor, Cornell University
Vivek Bhogaraju, director, revenue management solutions, Expedia, Inc.
Pierre Boettner, founder & CEO, hospitalityPulse
RJ Friedlander, founder & CEO, ReviewPro
Balaji Krishnamurthy, vice president, global strategy, corporate development and business intelligence, Sabre Hospitality Solutions

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Klaus Kohlmayr

Klaus began his experience in the hotel industry while studying at the Hotel Management and Catering School in Austria. He also studied business at Henley Management College, real estate investment and asset management at Cornell, and finance and strategy at the Singapore Management University. Klaus participates in various advisory boards, including HSMAI in the Asia Pacific and the Americas and the Cornell-Nanyang Institute of Hospitality Management in Singapore.

Latest posts by Klaus Kohlmayr (see all)

• On Discovery, On Distribution, On Data & Analytics – with Kalibri Labs - December 10, 2020
• Unconstrained Conversations – An IDeaS Podcast - April 16, 2020
• Welcome to the Future - January 23, 2020

Klaus Kohlmayr

Chief Evangelist & Development Officer

Klaus began his experience in the hotel industry while studying at the Hotel Management and Catering School in Austria. He also studied business at Henley Management College, real estate investment and asset management at Cornell, and finance and strategy at the Singapore Management University. Klaus participates in various advisory boards, including HSMAI in the Asia Pacific and the Americas and the Cornell-Nanyang Institute of Hospitality Management in Singapore.