Hans Meyer is one of the Co-founders and Managing Directors at Zoku. A firm believer of value creation and innovation for the international hospitality industry,
Mirella Kleijnen is Professor of Customer Experience Management at the Marketing Department of the School of Business and Economics (SBE), Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. She also serves as a Vice Dean of Education on the Board of SBE and as of January 1, 2023 she has taken up the role of Co-Editor in Chief of the Journal of Business Research.
Matt believes that technology is the only way to learn about your property, your guests and deliver the best for both of them, and so he joined the Mews journey at its beginning in 2012.
Trix van der Vleuten serves as The Social Hub’s Chief Marketing Officer, heading up a newly structured Marketing & Performance team at the business that offers hotel facilities, student and extended stay rooms, co-working, gyms and event spaces all under the same roof at 18 locations across Europe
Mark van Vugt is Professor of Evolutionary Psychology, Work and Organizational Psychology at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.
His expertise is in evolutionary perspectives on human social behavior and in applications of evolutionary psychology to fields such as leadership, business and management, economics, sustainability, health, politics, war and peace.
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Discover the unique perspectives of our featured guests by clicking the + signs on our window. Each guest shares their deep insights on a specific topic via an article or podcast.
We then use AI to analyze this source material (the guest's articles/thoughts).
Our moderator, an advanced chatbot, guides the discussion. It is empathetic, Socratic, and positive, much like other modern chatbots. Crucially, the moderator's responses are strictly limited to the source material provided by our guests.
We invite you to join in the discussion, we'd love to hear your thoughts!
Below you will find our moderators in a lively debate, as well as som epreviously asked questions.
The EuroCHRIE 2025 conference addressed these critical challenges by emphasizing innovation that bridges industry lines and fosters collaboration between academia and practice. The responses to the specific challenges you mentioned are as follows:
Balancing Travel Growth with Sustainability
The conference approached sustainability not just as a trend, but as a core component of business transformation and regenerative tourism.
ESG as Central to Operations: Keynote speaker Marloes Knippenberg emphasized that ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) must be a central aspect of the entire value chain and business processes.
Circular and Sustainable Models: Industry leaders discussed the implementation of circular business models and sustainable design to rethink hospitality from the ground up.
Service Redesign: Specific focus was placed on redesigning services to meet consumer concerns regarding climate change and fostering sustainable consumption practices.
Sustainable Gastronomy: The event itself modeled these principles through dining experiences that highlighted local, seasonal ingredients and sustainable gastronomy.
Integrating Digitization with Human Interaction
The conference operated under the theme "High Tech, High Touch Horizons," focusing on how technology can enhance, rather than replace, the human element.
Synergy Over Replacement: EuroCHRIE President Yasemin Oruc stated that the future lies in the synergy between technology and human connection, asserting that innovation should inspire hospitality, not replace it.
Human-Centered AI: Keynotes by Hans Meyer and Marco van der Werf explored how AI can empower people to create smarter, more human-centered operations while preserving the "high touch" experience at the heart of the sector.
Personalization: Research sessions delved into using AI to create personalized guest experiences, ensuring that digitization serves to deepen the connection between the guest and the service provider.
Managing Labor Shortages
To address the global labor shortage, the conference suggested a multi-faceted approach involving HR innovation and the elevation of the industry's image.
Combatting Workplace Ageism: Award-winning research by Zhiwei Wang highlighted workplace ageism as a barrier; the response suggested using inclusive HR strategies and targeted training to better integrate older employees into the workforce.
Elevating Career Credibility: Interactive sessions were dedicated to increasing the visibility and credibility of careers in hospitality and tourism to attract and retain talent.
Future Skills Development: Dr. Maartje de Graaf focused on the "Skills of the Future," arguing that professionals need a combination of digital fluency, ethical awareness, and adaptive thinking to lead responsibly in an evolving landscape.
Practice-Based Education: The conference demonstrated the power of immersive, practice-based education by fully embedding students into the event's operations, showing how early engagement can prepare the next generation of leaders.
If you would like a more structured look at how these themes were distributed across the event, I can create a slide deck or an infographic summarizing the key takeaways from the various sessions and keynote speakers. Would you like me to do that?
The provided sources do not contain information regarding how Hans Meyer and Marco van der Werf met or specifically how they began working together.
The sources do establish that they are collaborators in a professional capacity, specifically for the EuroCHRIE 2025 conference, where they co-presented a keynote titled "Where Hospitality Meets AI" Their collaboration focuses on the interplay between artificial intelligence and human-centered service, exploring how technology can empower employees rather than replace them while maintaining a "high touch" guest experience.
While their meeting story is not detailed, their individual backgrounds are provided:
Hans Meyer is a co-founder and Managing Director of Zoku, previously a founding partner of citizenM, and an alumnus of Hotelschool The Hague.
Marco van der Werf is the founder of Bit (an AI studio) and Bit Academy, and he is affiliated with the University of Amsterdam and TU Delft
While the sources do not specify how they met or began their partnership, but they provide several details regarding their joint session, "Where Hospitality Meets AI," and their individual professional backgrounds.
The report focuses on their "High Tech, High Touch" philosophy, specifically how they advocate for using artificial intelligence to empower employees and create smarter, human-centered operations rather than simply replacing staff with technology. It also highlights their unique perspectives: Hans Meyer's experience with innovative hospitality concepts like Zoku and citizenM, and Marco van der Werf's expertise in AI algorithms and education.
While the sources do not explicitly mention the ABI (Aligning Business and Information) course by name, the EuroCHRIE 2025 conference would likely be highly beneficial for its participants because its core themes directly address the synergy between business strategy and information technology.
The conference was specifically designed to explore how innovation can transform business models and professional practices, with a heavy emphasis on the following areas relevant to aligning business with information:
Strategic Integration of AI and Technology
"High Tech, High Touch" Philosophy: A central pillar of the event was exploring how AI can create smarter, more human-centered operations rather than just replacing labor. This aligns with the business need to use information technology to enhance value.
Future Impact of AI: Dedicated sessions, such as "Translating Hype into Hospitality: Demystifying AI now and 2030," provided research-backed insights into how technology is shaping the industry landscape.
Re-envisioning Education and Operations: Workshops specifically focused on "Re-envisioning Hospitality Education: Incorporating AI" and the role of technology in creating personalized guest experiences.
Tech-Driven Business Innovation
Industry Leaders: Keynote speakers like Matthijs Welle (CEO of Mews) highlighted how technology is the primary tool for learning about properties and guests to deliver better business results.
Concept Innovations: The conference delved into concept innovations for digital nomads and bleisure travelers, segments that rely heavily on the seamless alignment of information and business services.
Simulations: Participants explored integrating ESG into curricula through simulations and harnessing Generative AI, demonstrating practical applications of aligning complex information sets with business management.
Direct Benefit for HTH Students
The sources note that the conference was fully embedded into the academic curriculum of Hotelschool The Hague. This allowed students to participate as active contributors, applying their classroom learning—such as the principles of aligning business goals with information systems—to a real-world international environment.
Given the conference’s focus on digital transformation, data-driven guest experiences, and the ethical/regulatory impacts of technology, participants of an ABI course would find direct applications for their studies in nearly every session
Hans Meyer, Prof. dr. Mirella Kleijnen, Rogier Braakman, Maartje de Graaf, Marloes Knippenberg, Trix van der Vleuten, Mark van Vugt, Matthijs Welle, Marco van der Werf
The EuroCHRIE 2025 Conference, hosted by Hotelschool The Hague, served as a global summit for hospitality and tourism professionals to examine the intersection of innovation and human connection. Held in November 2025, the event addressed modern challenges such as artificial intelligence, sustainability, and the industry-wide labor shortage. Through a diverse program of keynote speeches, academic workshops, and student-led service experiences, participants explored how technology can enhance rather than replace the personal touch of hospitality. Notable industry leaders and scholars presented research on evolutionary leadership and the shifting needs of digital nomads. The conference successfully fostered international collaboration between academic researchers and commercial partners, ultimately highlighting the essential role of practice-based education in shaping the sector's future.
