Spotlight on young hospitality talents

This March 29th, the General Managers Council (GMC) invited participants, industry representatives and guests to the Hotel Sacher for the 8th annual Young Hotelier Award (YHA) contest. Heralding a new tradition, Professor Wöber presented the inaugural MODUL Award to Christina Baumer from the Steigenberger Hotel Herrenhof. Ms. Baumer will cap her current professional career with an MBA in Tourism Management study on a full scholarship provided by MODUL University Vienna.

The YHA, organized by the GMC, is a contest for young professionals of Vienna's luxury hotels. For the first time, the YHA was comprised of two contests; aside from the already well-established Diversey contest which targets young professionals up to 25 years of age, the GMC initiated the MODUL contest, targeting young professionals in middle management positions between 25 and 35 years of age. 

For their projects, participants chose from the following topics:

1. Target group Generation Y: what does it expect from a luxury hotel today, and do we expect further changes in needs?
2. Talent scouting: how to gain more qualified hospitality apprentices by analyzing the market situation and improving the image of apprenticeships?

The preparation of the projects was supported by the GMC through a range of first-class lectures, as well as presentation skills training. The final projects were presented to a jury joined by Hani El-Sharkawi, Head of MODUL Career and winner of the first YHA in 2004.

For the inaugural MODUL contest - with the coveted prize of an MBA scholarship at stake - Ms. Baumer, Executive Housekeeper at the Steigenberger Hotel Herrenhof, convinced the jury with a creative and conclusive presentation on the guests of the future. MU Vienna welcomes her as an MBA student for the fall 2011 semester. 

For the Diversey contest, the award comes with 4 professional development courses at Cornell University including a return flight to Ithaca, New York. This year, the prize was awarded to Kaisa Laukkanen, Assistant to the General Manager, of the Hotels Bristol & Imperial. As the organizers have revealed, these hotels will also have the pleasure of hosting the YHA in 2012, which will bring food and beverage management to the agenda.