On Wednesday 13 October, Ms Nicola Thomson, Director of Manager Recruitment and Selection for Four Seasons, Toronto Canada visited the campus for a familiarisation tour and to meet and inform students about opportunities in Four Season’s graduate programs globally.
On Friday 20 October, the School was delighted to have Mr Andrew Nodding, Area Director of Human Resources, Pacific for Hyatt and Mr Peter Wade, Director of Human Resources, for the Park Hyatt, Sydney, give a recruitment presentation about Hyatt’s graduate programs. On graduation in December, Mr Tim Lee will join the Hyatt graduate program with the Hyatt Regency in Perth and Ms Kate Sims will join the program with the Park Hyatt in Sydney.
On Tuesday 31 October, the School was again honoured to have a delegation of senior managers from Mariott Hotels, Resorts and Suites join us for lunch and then for a series of presentations in the Fitzroy room to students. The group included Mr Tom Fitzgerald, Assistant HR Manager, Sydney Harbour Marriott, Mr Scott Evans, Director of Rooms, Sydney Harbour Marriott, Ms Kathryn Hudson, HR Manager, Courtyard by Mariott North Ryde and Courtyard by Marriott Parramatta, Mr Sean Baskett, General Manager, Courtyard by Marriott Parramatta, Mr Gabriel Polias, F&B Manager, Courtyard by Mariott North Ryde, and Mr Angus Pitkethley, Director of Marketing, Sydney Harbour Marriott. The students were fortunate to hear behind-the-scenes briefings on all departments from these visitors.
“I am pleased to report that we are inundated with requests from industry to visit the school and that we accommodate these requests through the Guest Lecturer Program and other site visits,” says Career Development Manager Ms Janette Illingsworth, “These are valuable opportunities for key industry partners to recruit our top students into their graduate management traineeship programs or into Career Development placements.”
ORION CONFERENCE
From 12th to 15th October 2006, BMHS hosted the annual ORION conference for the Principals/CEOs and Deans of the ORION hotel schools with the theme of “juggling: how to manage competing priorities as a teacher, coach, mentor and researcher.” The conference opened with a juggling workshop conducted by BMHS student Ms Rosemary Higgerson and Duty Manager Mr Joe Zhou.
The conference considered a wide range of important developments to consolidate the work done by the alliance to date. Delegates heard reports presented by Mr Adam Sargeant, BMHS Recruitment Coordinator, on the proposed Dubai recruitment and placement office and the new ORION website and by Mr Ben Wilson, SMG Business Manager Australasia, BTS Australasia, on computer simulation software as an educational tool.
Conference activities included a day trip to the spectacular limestone formations of the Jenolan Caves, west of the Blue Mountains, with a behind-the scenes briefing by the General Manager of Caves House and the Manager of Visitor Services. A conference dinner at Peppers Fairmont with a regional wine-tasting, a scenic morning bushwalk and several gourmet barbecues rounded out the delegates’ Australian hospitality experience.
ORION CONGRESS
On Monday 16th, October BMHS hosted the 3rd Annual ORION Congress on the topic “How Will Gen Y Manage The Future? New Rules, New Roles”, examining issues for the next generation of managers, employees and customers of the hospitality and tourism industry.
The one-day event was attended by over 130 delegates from education and industry including the University of New England, University of Queensland, Blue Mountains Grammar, The Hills Grammar School, Mr Bill Healey, National Affairs Director, Australian Hotels Association, Ms Natasha Rasheed, Director of Human Resources Sydney Metropolitan Marriott, and Ms Cara George Training and Development Manager, Toga Hospitality.
The keynote speaker was Mr Mark McCrindle, psychologist and social researcher, who defined: the characteristics, attitudes and perceptions of Generation Y (those born between 1980 and 1994) and suggested strategies to motivate and engage with this emerging generation of students and future employees.
BMHS Head of Research, Mr Mark Woodbridge’s paper “Intellectual Property: Will Gen Y Destroy Civilization As We Know It?” considered the threat that Gen Y’s laissez-faire attitude to intellectual copyright poses in the new world economy of ideas as major drivers of capital growth and the need for a new approach to intellectual property.
Mr Wayne Zhang from CTMI outlined the characterstics and cultural differences in Gen Y attitudes for China’s Y Generation while Ms Eve Kawana Brown, Dean of Quality and Curriculum, PIHMS presented the results of her extensive survey of Gen Y hospitality students’ expectations before and experiences during industry placement and argued that, in the current economic climate, industry ought to pay attention to the expectation gap.
Hotel industry speakers Mr Patrick Sheehan, Vice President HR, Rendezvous Hotels & Resorts International and Mr Rajeev Menon, General Manager, Marriott Hotels, Australia and New Zealand outlined ways that their companies engage with Gen Y as employee, manager and customer.
Both industry speakers were then joined on an industry panel by BMHS graduate Mr Michael Edwards, GM Peppers Fairmont, and Ms Rachel Argamann, Chief Operating Officer, Toga Hospitality to field questions from the audience. The panel was moderated by Mr Gavin Faull, President of Swiss-Belhotel International and Professor Peter Jones, Chair ORION Academic Council.
Following lunch, BMHS Gen Y students made presentations about their own experiences from different cultural backgrounds: Ms Angie Cassimatis from Australia, Mr Raj Mewar and Mr Kevin Nathaniel from India, Ms Vivien Nguyen from Vietnam and Mr DJ Byun from Korea.
Mr Marcus Annett, iPod product Manager, Apple Australia, talked about Apple’s latest technologies and the application of podcasting to education. An open forum of current BMHS students, moderated by BMHS graduate Mr Adam Sargeant, voiced their own opinions about Gen Y and took questions from the floor.
Mr Richard Batterley from marketing firm Relationship Alliance challenged the whole notion of Gen Y as too large a market segment and proposed a more targeted, individualistic approach to building relationships in the marketplace and the classroom.
Professor Peter Jones concluded with his own view of a converging cross-generational model of values and aspirations which he called the M (for Multi) Generation based on the availability, irrespective of age, of new technologies, global choices and access to different media and culture, and wider career options.
Downloadable PDF versions of the powerpoints and podcasts of presentations are available on the ORION website under Projects>ORION Congress and a PDF version of the ORION Observatory containing the Congress research papers is available under Projects> ORION Journal.
OFFICIAL LAUNCH OF NEW CAMPUS FACILITIES
On the evening of Monday 16th, October, BMHS Director Mr Max Player introduced the Hon Mr Bob Debus, MP for the Blue Mountains, to officially open BMHS’ new campus facilities on behalf of the Premier of NSW, the Hon. Morris Iemma, MP.
Mr Player stated that “this fresh, modern and stylish campus symbolises BMHS’ confidence in its own future, its determination to remain a market leader and its ability to adapt, evolve and change as the times demand.” Mr Debus praised BMHS’ contribution to the economy, community and tourism industry of the Blue Mountains as well as to the national tourism industry through its education of managers for the future.
Mr Debus joined delegates of the ORION Congress for a cocktail function in the Chambers fine dining room where well-known cocktail-maker and fleuring champion Mr Hayden Wood entertained guests.
As the result of the School’s major building program, BMHS now boasts a state-of-the-art campus with additional student accommodation, new student recreation lounge, new indoor-outdoor café, new library, new classroom and learning studio, fully refurbished dining room, new bar and new guest lounge, front office and lobby. The campus is also fully wireless networked for students to use laptops in class, public areas and their rooms.
New signage around the campus includes a new design for the main board sign on Northcote Street, a Blue Mountains Hotel School sign over the front entrance steps, BMHS brass plates on the stone pillars flanking the driveway off Fitzroy street and on the hotel entrance stairs, and a No 1 Chambers brass plaque and Reception sign facing the entrance off Chambers Road. The new studio and library also have information plaques mounted near their entrances to help students conduct visitor tours of the campus.
15th ANNIVERSARY - “CELEBRATING ALUMNI”
On the anniversary of 15 years of successful operation on 17th October 2006, BMHS welcomed back graduates from all over the world for a celebratory lunch with champagne toasts and speeches, a jazz trio and juggling act followed by wine tastings from two cold climate vineyards, Southern Highland Wines and Cherry Tree Hill, thanks to graduates Mr Juan Corrodi and Mr David Lorenz.
Guests included the members of the BMHS Industry Advisory Board, representatives of local and national tourism and hospitality, and the Principals and Deans of ORION partner schools. In his speech Mr Fritz Gubler reflected on the achievements of BMHS over the last 15 years and its remarkable growth in student numbers, international affiliations and stature in the eyes of industry.
Deputy Principal, Mr Val Cook thanked those alumni who were attending and spoke briefly about alumni success. Mr James Robson (graduate 1995), Manager of Ross Hill Vineyards in Orange, made a reply speech on behalf of alumni in which he expressed his pride in the school and the value of the alumni network. The Deans and Principals of fellow ORION Schools and the Director of the Sala Bai Hotel School, Cambodia, presented BMHS Director Mr Max Player with gifts in honour of the occasion.
The celebrations ended with an exhibition “Graduate Stories and Journeys” of poster profiles of 80 graduates, featuring career stories and views about industry, and an alumni cocktail function hosted at Peppers Fairmont by BMHS graduate Mr Michael Edwards, General Manager of the property.
SELECT HOTELS ‘BACK TO SCHOOL’ DINNER
On the evening of 17th October, BMHS hosted the opening dinner for SELECT hotels’ four-day annual conference held at Lilianfels. Themed as a “Back To School” dinner in the School’s fine-dining room with references in décor to schooldays and Harry Potter’s Hogwarts, the evening featured a three-course dinner of upmarket ‘boarding school’ food including Beef Wellington.
The 68 guests were Mr Richard Rosebery, Director of SELECT Hotels and the group’s GMs and DOSs, Mr Herve Nicole, the Director of the Sala Bai Hotel School in Cambodia, BMHS academic staff and BMHS Director Mr Fritz Gubler's invited guests from ORION hotel schools around the world. Inspirational ‘lessons from life’ were presented by speaker Ms Karni Liddell, born with Spinal Muscular Atrophy and the fastest woman in the 50 m freestyle and 100 m freestyle, who competed in the Sydney Paralympic Games with a dislocated shoulder and won Bronze.
The members of the ORION Board, Mr Fritz Gubler, Mr Max Player and Mr Gavin Faull presented a cheque for US$50,000 to Mr Herve Nicole, the Director of the Sala Bai Hotel School, the result of fundraising efforts by all the ORION Schools in 2006.
The alliance between ORION Hotel Schools and SELECT Hotels to fund the Sala Bai Hotel School in Siem Reap, Cambodia (with a donation every time a SELECT guest makes a reservation online) was also launched. Donations from guests to Sala Bai on the night amounted to $2150, more than required to fund the education, accommodation and board of one Cambodian hospitality student for a whole year.
The evening also saw the launch of the Customer Care learning program developed by ORION to be used within SELECT Hotels.
