The fair is a space where innovation, transformation, success stories, disruptive models and all kinds of solutions for the sector will demonstrated, showing the keys to adapting effectively to new management models and meeting the needs of increasingly demanding customers. More than 12,000 professionals (entrepreneurs, managers, chefs, etc.), 260 brands and more than 900 innovative solutions are expected to be exhibited. Additionally, an international conference called Hospitality 4.0 will be held. It will bring together more than 120 speakers from around the world to contribute their entrepreneurial vision of the sector and to share current trends and success stories of disruption to help professionals improve their business.

“We are at the beginning of a profound revolution in the hospitality industry. The consumer of accommodation and food services has evolved drastically in recent years. What attracts them now is the content, the experience and what they will get with it,” says Manuel Bueno, director of HIP. “The entrepreneur, the F&B director, the director general, and the COO are becoming catalysts for innovation, with the aim of providing the best customer experience. A leader should help transform the business model of the company” says Bueno.

How is HIP organized?

HIP has been organized into three main areas around complementary but very different areas in the sector:

·BAR & Co., where the world of coffee, snacks, tapas, beers, spirits and wines are the focus. New products and strategies to improve the customer experience and increase bar revenues will be presented every day.

Alfredo Pernia, director of Bar & Co., explains that “the bar is evolving as an individual concept or as part of other restaurant concepts. Vermouth bars, craft breweries, gastropubs, cocktail bars, tasting cafes, etc. They are growing as fast as the customer’s interest for authentic and unique experiences.”

·RESTAURANT TRENDS, where the latest gastronomic trends and concepts will be presented by great restaurateurs. Kitchenware and small cooking devices is a specific area of products and foods that will interest the most discerning palates, without neglecting the latest trends in nutrition and diets, and equipping visitors with a more current look of the gastronomic world in all its versions.

According to Octavio Llamas, President of Autogrill Iberia, President of Marcas de Restauración and Vice President of the Spanish Federation of Hotels and Restaurants (FEHR), “this initiative breaks down the barriers which the hospitality has encountered so far in other fairs or congresses. HIP will become the main meeting point for the sector, and not only nationally. We are convinced that this project will become the reference for the HORECA sector at the European level.”

·HOTEL WORLD will display hotel trends as the central point of the traveler experience, and where the visitors can find industrial solutions, such as kitchen and living room large machinery, HVAC and refrigeration, furniture and lighting, technology and entertainment, wellness and fitness devices, amenities, and laundry and energy efficiency systems, and more.

“HIP is a unique opportunity for Spain, a global player in the tourism sector, and a place whose hotels and restaurants are a reference for the rest of the world – and it should continue to be so,” says Hugo Rovira, CEO of NH Hotels for Spain, Portugal, Andorra and the United States, and executive vice president of the Tourism Association of Madrid. “HIP is a great opportunity for our country, for Madrid and for the Horeca sector in general to do something different thanks to its interesting approach.”

Hugo Rovira, CEO of NH Hotels for Spain, Portugal, Andorra and the United States, and Octavio Llamas, president of Autogrill, have been named co-chairs of HIP – Hospitality Innovation Planet

HOSPITALITY 4.0: A three-day international congress on the sector’s transformation and new challenges

According to Eva Ballarín, director of Hospitality 4.0, “the congress shall consist of five summits with a large number of international speakers focusing on the areas of shopping, marketing, customer experience, talent and leadership, and innovation.”

“In conjunction with the fair, the congress will offer monographic sessions on topics such as digital transformation, corporate reputation, revenue and back office management, collectivity, or trends in business models. All of these, along with the summits, complete an interesting mix for the different professional profiles of the participants: CEOs, F&B, purchasing managers, marketing experts, human resources specialists or IT managers, as well as business developers and entrepreneurs,” says Ballarín.

HIP – Hospitality Innovation Planet is a trade fair co-organized by NEXT BUSINESS EXHIBITIONS (NEBEXT) and IFEMA.