When the Hospitality Industry's sharpest minds meet: HITT

The hospitality industry doesn't lack opinions. What it often lacks is the space to have genuinely honest conversations, no polished keynotes, no PR messaging, just experienced professionals working through difficult questions together.

That's what the HospitalityInside Think Tank (HITT) has always been about. Now in its 9th edition, it has grown into one of the more respected gatherings in European hospitality. A small-group dialogue where supply chain realities, technology disruption, and sustainability pressures get discussed with refreshing frankness.

This year's theme feels timely: "Driving Performance in a Disrupted World. Redesigning Sustainability & Intelligent Innovations." Topics range from food waste and procurement to AI partnerships.

A long-standing connection

Hotelschool The Hague has been a partner of HITT since its first edition, nine years ago. It's a relationship that reflects a straightforward belief: that research and industry practice are more useful when they're in conversation with each other.

This year, Dr. Alexander Lennart Schmidt, Professor of Technological Innovation in Hospitality at Hotelschool The Hague, takes on the role of moderator, guiding the innovation thread through the two-day programme. He has been contributing to the Think Tank's content since 2024.

A flavour of what's on the agenda

The programme covers a lot of ground over two days, to give you a good sense of the depth on offer. One of the sessions looks at procurement, not as a back-office function, but as a strategic lever. Hotels depend on vast, complex supply chains, and the sourcing decisions made today increasingly define a brand's environmental credibility and operational resilience.

JoAnna Abrams (Founder & CEO, MindClick) and Dimitris Manikis (President EMEA, Wyndham Hotels & Resorts) will explore whether circular and regenerative approaches can deliver measurable results in a global hospitality context. It's a question the industry has been circling for some time and here it gets taken seriously.

Another interesting session tackles something equally fundamental: what does performance actually mean today? Financial returns matter, of course, but leading organisations are increasingly measuring success across economic, environmental, and social dimensions. Sven Wiltink, Global Senior Director Sustainability at Radisson Hotel Group, will join to discuss whether the perceived trade-off between profitability and sustainability is still a useful framing, or whether it's simply time to move past it.