Our office had the chance to sit down with the HBS student Hospitality Club COO, Keaw Poopichapong. Here’s what she had to say:
As a club officer for The Hospitality and Travel Club, what are you most excited for?
- We are really excited about the variety of events that our HTC team is planning, both on the career and fun sides. For example, we just had an exclusive dinner at the Chef’s table at Menton which was praised as one of Boston’s best restaurants. The Marriott team visited campus to give an HTC-exclusive industry education presentation. The best part was that they gave our members a surprise gift - Marriott Gold Membership status! We are also pleased with the increased collaboration with other clubs at HBS, such as the Real Estate Club who we are working with on the Dubai Trek and the Annual Conference.
What are the top buzz words among your members this year?
- Treks! We might have up to 4 treks this year, doubled from previously just 2. There was a lot of excitement around the inaugural Dubai trek this coming January that we are co-hosting with three other clubs. This is a great addition to our usual Las Vegas Trek and New York Trek. We are also in the planning phase for the Italy Trek during spring break. Let’s see how it goes.
Describe one of your greatest events last year?
- The New York Trek was our favorite event last year. The lineup was amazing. Our Keynote Speaker was Amar Lalvani (HBS 2001), Managing Partner of Standard Hotels, former Global Head of Luxury & Lifestyle Development for Hilton and former Head of Global Development for W Hotels. The celebrity Chef Daniel Boulud made a special appearance during our lunch and restaurant tour at Bar Boulud. We also had a coffee chat with the NYC Dining Room Collaborative (executives from some of NYC’s most notable restaurants such as Per Se, Eleven Madison Park, Jean-Georges, Daniel, Del Posto etc.). We did hotel tours at three of NYC’s top properties - W Downtown, the Standard High Line and Dream Downtown. We also met with the Tao Group’s Director of Nightlife and Director of F&B, did some wine tasting with a wine expert and also visited two start-ups in the travel and food industries. It was such an eventful day and we hope to make the trek event better this year.
What events are you most looking forward to in the year ahead?
- Our 5th Hospitality & Travel Conference this Spring is going to be bigger than ever. We are partnering with the Real Estate Club and will have joint panels of great industry leaders. It will be on March 29th, 2015 and we are already starting to work on it.
