Singapore hotel community comes together for new conference

Singapore Hotel Association (SHA) kicked off its first Hospitality Exchange 2024 this morning at Hilton Singapore Orchard, a conference built to tackle vital industry trends and key concerns and of hoteliers operating in the city-state.

Welcoming participants, Kenneth Li, president of SHA, described the new conference as a “must-attend blockbuster event of the year” with a programme that leverages SHA’s expertise in innovation, sustainability and human capital.

Li expressed hopes that the Hospitality Exchange would become an annual platform for industry colleagues to “promote exchange of ideas, views on how to advance our industry, and to jointly tackle challenges we face through real-life case studies and experiences”.

Sessions included a panel discussion on the impact on the workplace brought on by the integration of people and technology, a panel discussion on co-creating a green hospitality experience, a presentation on latest sustainability trends and initiatives in Singapore, and more.

Hospitality Exchange 2024 comprised an exhibition component that showcased vendors supporting various operational aspects of hotels.

Speaking to TTG Asia on the sidelines, Li said the debut edition was well attended by about 270 people – most of whom were hotel general managers, senior leadership and hotel owners in Singapore.

When asked if the next edition would be held across more than just a day and target hoteliers from the region, Li said priority was to “start small and then slowly grow” the conference, with a focus on “captivating the local audience with topics right and relevant for us”.

As for topics to be featured next year, Li said the SHA team would look into leading trends of the moment and consider diving deeper into the same pertinent areas that were addressed this year.

“There are some ideas that I’ve already pencilled down,” he said, adding that breakout sessions could be built into future editions.