The Expo, held at Australian Technology Park, Redfern was the largest to date with 39 organisations exhibiting on the day including major hotel groups, individual properties, event venues and recruitment companies including Accor, Acer Arena, Base Group, Carlson Hotels Asia Pacific, Crown Towers and Crown Promenade Hotel, De Vere Venues & Heritage, Four Seasons Hotel, Global Hyatt, Global Recruitment, Hamilton Island Enterprises, Hayman, IHG, Intrax Career Development, Marriott International, Merivale, Mirvac Hotels and Resorts, Quest Serviced Apartments P/L, Rendezvous Hotels and Resorts International, Rydges Hotels and Resorts, Shangri-La Hotel, Shoal Bay Resort & Spa, Starwood Hotels, Stella Hospitality Group, Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre, Toga Hospitality, and Voyages Hotels and Resorts.

“This Expo offers industry the chance to meet face-to-face over 1,000 hospitality, tourism and culinary students and graduates from our member schools,” says Ms Isabella Conde, the current Chair of the AAHS,” And through the Exhibitor’s Booklet entitled Find the right job to fit your picture, they can communicate their employment opportunities to another 4,000.”

“For our students, it is a fantastic networking opportunity to discover new employment openings and traineeship programs and, if are seeking employment in the next three months, the chance to be interviewed on the day,” says Ms Janette Illingsworth, BMHS Career Development Manager and a member of the Expo organising committee.

In her opening address at the Expo, Ms Conde thanked the major sponsors, Accor Hospitality, Toga Hospitality, Hyatt Hotels and Resorts, Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG) and Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide.

With a charter to develop and maintain standards in hospitality and tourism education, the AAHS (www.aahs.com.au) was officially launched at the first National Hospitality Careers Expo in 2002. This year the Association welcomed the Sarina Russo Schools Australia as a new member.

“It allows for a more in-depth relationship between a student and an employer than is normal in a job interview process and provides certainty for both parties about commitment and quality.”

Based on strict academic, practical skills and industry criteria, successful candidates are recommended to Industry Partners for their suitability for a company management traineeship program on graduation.

The following hotel companies have agreed to become GPP Industry Partners: Four Seasons, Toga Hospitality (Vibe, Medina, Travelodge and Adina), Marriott, Hyatt, Accor, and Starwood.

“We are very excited to be part of this program as it formalises a long relationship with the Blue Mountains Hotel School,” says Ms Rachel Argaman, CEO Toga Hospitality, who has recruited many BMHS graduates including two young General Managers for the company’s Adina apartment-hotels in Copenhagen and Berlin.

“We are prepared to dedicate a significant proportion of our management traineeships to this program,” says Ms Argaman, “BMHS is producing such high calibre graduates – decision-makers who accept accountability and can adapt on the run – and we know they will never let us down. We genuinely believe in promotion from within and have a similar culture to the school where you are a person, not a number.”

The first intake of students into the GPP program commenced this semester and industry partners will announce successful applicants to their graduate and corporate management traineeships later this year.

Professor Jones was Principal of Blue Mountains Hotel School from 2000 - 2004. He was also and active contributor to the local community through, Katoomba Rotary Club where he was President. He is still closely associated with the School as Chair of the ORION Academic Council for the ORION Global Hotel Schools Alliance if which Blue Mountains Hotel School is a founding member.

Following the endorsement of Katoomba and the Blue Mountains as a Slow City (Cittaslow) in March this year, the workshop’s aim was to raise community awareness of the Cittaslow philosophy and brand (symbolised by a snail) which underpins the region’s new status as an international network of 100 cities worldwide where ‘the living is easy.’

Participants also contributed their views on a range of Cittaslow topics including use of green technologies, home kitchen gardens, healthy eating, meeting places, hospitality and community and an appreciation of the seasons. The input from the community gathered at this workshop will form the basis for a Cittaslow marketing plan.

Guests enjoyed champagne and wine on arrival as well as locally produced finger food while viewing displays by local businesses. The centrepiece of this area was a magnificent Cittaslow snail ice sculpture by BMHS Executive Chef Andrew Neale and Chef Derrick Vale.

Guests were then seated for a high tea of local gourmet foods including pastries, cakes, chocolate-dipped strawberries and sandwiches. Major sponsors were Silks Brasserie Leura, Blue Mountains Cultural Tours, The Rooster Restaurant and Explore the Blue Mountains

The entire event was organised, planned and implemented by a dedicated team of event management students as apart of their course work. “The students did an excellent job on event management,” says Ms Kerry Fryer, CEO Blue Mountains Tourism Limited, “It was an interesting workshop connecting many different members of the community to develop possible directions for Cittaslow and Slow Food.”

The Congress theme of was ‘21st Century Guests Expectations – The Mint on the Pillow will not be Enough!’ There were presentations from eleven leading tourism and hospitality industry professionals and academics, interspersed with lively and thought-provoking panel discussions led by Professor Peter A Jones MBE, Chair of the ORION Academic Council.

Mr Tony Collier, CEO of Desert Rangers Dubai, discussed the visionary thinking and commitment of the ruling family which in 15 years has transformed Dubai from a small township, originally dependent on pearl diving and trading, into the fastest developing city in the world, almost completely independent of oil production.

Dr. Franz Heffeter Mg from the Salzburg Tourism School–Klessheim, presented the combination of culture, heritage and landscape as the basis for Salzburg’s tourism industry and outlined the main pillars of the successful ‘Salzburg way of hospitality’.

“Mints were never enough!”: industry viewpoints

Mr Gavin M Faull, President of Swiss-Belhotel International Limited, presented his company’s service philosophy, ‘My Priority is YOU!’, and highlighted the changes and challenges in the demands of service, together with the passion required in hospitality as the industry goes through a global renaissance.

Mr Bruce McKenzie, Regional Vice President–Operations, Greater China, InterContinental Hotels Group, put forward his view that it takes more than generic service initiatives to win the battle for customers and that the way to success is through having strong brands that deliver on guest expectations every time.

In his paper, ‘Can This be the 21st Century Budget Hotel?’, Mr Raymond So of Inno Hotel Management, discussed the current state of the hotel market in China and canvassed what he believes is the very real possibility for skilled entrepreneurs to develop a successful budget class brand in China’s burgeoning tourism and hospitality industry.

Mr Kenneth J Kominski, Group Director–HR & Training, Six Senses Resorts & Spas, emphasised that global business has an important responsibility to provide for sustainable business practices to protect our world and the future for our families and future generations, which ahs become the core principle of his company.

Mr Kent Zhu, Vice President, Shangri-La Hotels & Resorts, likened exceeding customer expectations to ‘satisfying them with the product you provide, brand promises you make and values you represent; making no “turnoff experiences” 99% of the time; plus adding a bit of “surprise and delight” that touches the hearts of your customers.

Mr Graham Berridge, Senior Lecturer and Teaching Fellow at Thames Valley University, London, explored the use of the 2007 Tour De France Grand Depart by the city of London to both re-image the city as a cycle friendly experience and create social awareness amongst the population that there are alternatives to car travel. London’s initiative can also be seen as a successful thrust into 21st Century tourism.

In the final presentation, Professor Wayne Zhang (Zhang Wei) from the China Tourism Management Institute (CTMI), Tianjin China, asked if international 5-star hotels in China cater for the needs and expectations of Chinese guests, noting that there remain many difficult to reconcile cultural differences between Chinese and Western expectations.

The closing address was given by Principal Zang Qilin of the Suzhou Tourism and Finance Institute and the Congress concluded with a grand banquet in the ballroom of the Shangri-La, which was co-hosted by Mr Gubler and Principal Zang.

A complete digest of the 4th Annual Orion Congress proceedings will be contained in Issue #3 of the Orion Observatory Orion Journal of International Hotel Management, which will be published in December 2007. ‘Innovations in Tourism and Hospitality’ will also be the theme of the 5th Annual Orion Congress, to be held in Dubai in the UAE in October 2008.

Conducted from Sunday 21 October to Wednesday 24 October, the program allowed students to experience BMHS’ educational environment as well as get a taste of the exciting world of hospitality employment. Students trained alongside current BMHS students in skills-based activities as well as participating in the day-to-day running of the BMHS simulated hotel.

Practical skill sessions included training in different aspects of Food & Beverage (café and fine dining service, kitchen) and Housekeeping (laundry and room servicing) under the expert guidance of BMHS staff. BMHS and All Saints College Bathurst first joined together in 2006 to provide this opportunity for students to get a taste of the hospitality & tourism industry to assist with their future study options. Both BMHS and All Saints agreed the program was a success and valuable to the participants and look forward to continuing the program next year.

On 15 October, Mr Peter May, Director of Client Relations, Wise Foundation a US hospitality recruitment agency, was our guest lecturer with two guests, Ms Monica Myer-Oberg, Regional College Recruitment Manager, Hyatt Hotels Corporation, and Mr Rob Spooner, Director of HR, Manchester Grand Hyatt, San Diego, to talk about careers in the USA and with Hyatt.

On 23 October, the School invited back Ms Debbie Simister, National Director Talent Management & Mobility, Accor, who gave a thorough and stimulating presentation on Accor’s graduate management traineeship program including a short video presentation with testimonials from graduates currently in the program. Ms Simister fielded many questions from the audience of soon-to-be graduates and was assisted by Ms Nina Gothberg, Talent Management Coordinator.

During their visits to the campus, Four Seasons and Accor conducted preliminary interviews with third year students for their graduate management trainee programs. Four Seasons, Accor and Hyatt have become three of the School’s official Industry Partners of the BMHS Graduate Privileged Partners program, a selective program designed to connect BMHS’ highest achieving final year students with industry.

On 30 October, Mr Rhett Harris from the Department of Immigration, Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs (DIMIA) was our guest to give an informative talk and field questions from international students about the new Graduate Skill Visas.