Three Keywords for the Hotel of the Future

Hotels evoke holidays, those things that we might return to in a few months, when the nightmare we are experiencing is supposed to loosen its grip. But hotels, in particular an international chain experiencing strong growth with over 550 structures in the world, and 50 in Italy, specialized in the budget & economy sector, were the protagonists of a fierce competition in the context of the Master in Tourism Economics (MET) of Bocconi University.  
 

The hotel chain in question is B&B Hotels and the competition, as explained by the director of the program, Cristina Mottironi, "aimed to understand how hospitality will have to evolve to meet the new needs of demand and identify possible levers to increase the value of the customer experience of the B&B Hotels chain: customer centric, experience driven, and digitization are the cornerstones of the proposals ".

The 36 students of the Master, before being divided into groups of six according to the skills acquired in their studies, had the opportunity to meet the Italian CEO of the group, Valerio Duchini, and all the managers of the various functional areas in the classroom to get an overall view of the company. They also went to visit two hotels in Milan, in contact with the resident managers. "After the creation of the groups", continues Cristina Mottironi, "each team has been busy identifying possible levers to increase the value of the experience of the customers without distorting the chain’s business model. They carried out qualitative and quantitative research to support proposals and maintained a constant dialogue with the company both in the request for information and in the verification of their proposals ".  
 

The projects, completed over two months, between January and March, also involved other teachers, in particular Marianna di Salle and Sara Bricchi from MET and Anna Uslenghi and Alessandro Recla form the areas of Marketing and Tourism Analytics. At the end, the jury, which included teachers and managers of the Group, awarded the project of the team composed of Chiara Brinati, Federica Camoletto, Luca Contarino, Stefano Donati, Erinea Ravasio and Gabriella Taurino, who developed three design lines: be smarter, be safer and get closer; diversity is a fact, inclusion is an act; enjoy today, pay tomorrow. “Our project concerned three areas that we consider very important: technology, which is one of the strengths of B&B but which can always be improved; the issue of the inclusion of diversity, in particular of those traveling with mental disabilities in great difficulty and of the LGBTQIA + community, which often suffers discrimination even in hotel settings; and finally the possibility of deferring payments, now extended to many sectors, particularly felt in a challenging time like this ". These topics struck the jury and will be taken into serious consideration by the managers of the Group.
 

"On Friday, April 16, the students of the Met 20/21 class had the opportunity to present their projects, based on work in teams lasting two months, during which they were able to get involved by refining their analytical and problem-solving skills, seeking solutions and looking for innovative ideas to evolve the B&B Hotels customer experience”, says Valerio Duchini. "The B&B Hotels Italia Team and I are very happy to have had the opportunity to get in touch with bright young people full of passion, who have managed to fully identify with the reality of the company and have given us an exciting day full of new stimuli ". 
 

The prize, most welcome, for each member of the winning team is a voucher for a stay for two in a structure of the Group.