This year, JoAnna Abrams, Founder and CEO of MindClick, joined HITT Brussels via video. She showed how supply chain data is increasingly winning business for hotels. Dimitris Manikis, President & Managing Director EMEA of Wyndham, shared the franchisee reality check on the matter. They agreed to disagree. A new era in the supply chain and procurement.

The AI session at this year's HospitalityInside Think Tank (HITT) in May did not feel like a technology showcase. It felt like a reckoning. Operators, startup founders, a global distribution giant and a representative from the European AI Office sat in the same room and tried, not always successfully, to agree on what AI actually means for this industry right now.

Sven Wiltink came to HITT in Brussels with something rare: an actual case study. Two renovated hotels, verified to a net zero standard, with a year of operational data behind them. The session that followed was one of the most engaged of the day.

Wind patterns determine the layout of the terraces, and diagrams illustrate thermal comfort. And ideally, the stone used for building should be local. At the 9th HospitalityInside Think Tank (HITT), the renowned Japanese architectural firm Kengo Kuma & Associates showed just how to plan for a smaller footprint.

Cameras and AI are now making their way into the bins of professional kitchens: Together, they help to identify food waste in the bin in real time. Anyone aiming to save half of this earns $25,000 a year. The technology behind this comes from Winnow in Chicago. At the HITT Think Tank founder and CEO Marc Zornes set the pulse regarding food waste

Something shifted at the HospitalityInside Think Tank (HITT) 2026. For the first time in HITT's nine-year history, the European Commission sent not one but two representatives to the meeting in Brussels, willing to sit with the industry and take questions. What followed over the next two days was, at times, a very frank and heated exchange between participants from the hospitality industry and the EU institutions.

Just 10 days to go until the HITT Think Tank in Brussels! The briefings are complete, the speakers are ready to showcase best practice, explain the backgrounds and future plans. Naturally, they're only revealing snippets for now, but by the end, all clicks into place. Join us: a lot of Food for Thought and fun in a pragmatic circle of sustainability-driven entrepreneurs, executives and EU experts.

There's news from the HospitalityInside Think Tank in Brussels! HITT is moving to a new lifestyle venue at short notice – the Hoxton Brussels. Experience AI LIVE with us: the AI agents working behind the scenes will connect participants in a unique way. The program is set; 14 international experts are ready to answer your questions. HITT speaks plain text. Register now!

Who does what, and where do synergies arise? Who should you speak to at the HospitalityInside Think Tank? The AI will answer these questions. HITT participants will experience LIVE how their own basic and contextual data can generate new contacts and greater insights in no time at all. AI expert Tigran Manvelyan will highlight the most exciting findings during the event.

With so much hostile noise about sustainability and extraordinary claims about technology the 2026 HospitalityInside Think Tank is a perfect opportunity to check the temperature in the market. A rarity indeed in our increasingly polarised world. The HITT program is here! Register, join us and boost performance in your company. On 11/12 May in Brussels.

The 9th HospitalityInside Think Tank will take place on May 11/12, for the second time in Brussels. Delve deeper into the chances of success for sustainable resources in these difficult times! This drives performance. Best practice proves it. Top-class experts will analyse supply, architecture & design, food waste, robots & managers with you. And experience live in the group what your AI profile looks like and how AI guides you to an early warning system. The registration form is ready.

Gut feeling is no longer a resilience strategy; numbers count – networked data. And experience, best practices. The HospitalityInside Think Tank 2026 examines how technology and innovation are fundamentally recalibrating the operational performance of hotels and reducing real estate risks. The first three catalysts are here: Misa Labarile from the EU Commission, Nicolas Guichard from the Japanese architecture firm KKAA and Marc Zornes from Winnow in the USA.

Sustainability is when trekking tourists install solar panels in the mountains. Innovation is when a tool is intelligently combined with the human factor. A new team of moderators will shape the 8th HospitalityInside Think Tank: Prof. Graham Miller and Prof. Alexander Schmidt. In May in Brussels.

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and UN World Tourism Organisation have launched the "Recipe of Change" initiative to tackle a global sustainability challenge: food waste.

HEAD OF PRODUCTS, HOTEL DISTRIBUTION

DIRECTOR OF GROWTH

FOUNDER & CHIEF EXCECUTIVE OFFICER

TRANSFORMATION OFFICE MANAGER

GLOBAL SENIOR DIRECTOR SUSTAINABILITY

CHIEF TRANSFORMATION OFFICER

PRESIDENT EUROPE, MIDDLE EAST, EURASIA AND AFRICA (EMEA)

PROGRAMME OFFICER, Artificial intelligence Innovation and Policy Coordination - A4

Architect & Project Manager

Founder & CEO

POLICY OFFICER, Directorate-General Mobility and Transport, Unit 001 Tourism

CHAIRMAN, NON-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, STRATEGIC ADVISOR; FOUNDER & MANAGING DIRECTOR

CHAIRMAN, NON-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, STRATEGIC ADVISOR; FOUNDER & MANAGING DIRECTOR

MANAGING DIRECTOR

PROFESSOR, AUTHOR, RESEARCHER & SPEAKER 

PROFESSOR OF TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION