Algonquin College BHTM students place second in global hospitality competition
Posted on Friday, June 21st, 2019
Three Algonquin College Bachelor of Hospitality and Tourism Management students took home second place in Take Off!, a global hospitality competition held in Paris this week. Their ground-breaking concept for the hotel room of the future — a highly customizable, multi-sensory, AI environment — impressed the judges.
Brielle Pelletier, Yuxiang Jiang, and Tsvetan Stanchulov — also known by their team name “Cultures United” — won the chance to compete against over 500 worldwide competitors with their pitch on how Artificial Intelligence can enhance the experiences of hotel guests. As finalists, they presented their concept to Accor’s top hotel management.
Excerpt from the team’s initial pitch:
“Imagine paying $400 a night for a hotel room looking directly across into an ugly office building. What if it were possible to get your dream view while you were anywhere in the world through an AI in-room atmosphere control. While sitting in a stressful meeting, transform your hotel room into a tropical paradise through lighting, floor to ceiling imagery, temperature, sound, humidity and scent. Atmosphere control will allow the guests to experience a more personalized and relaxing stay.”
When asked about the project, the team shed some light on the inspiration behind this initiative.
“E-Atmosphere is a concept that was created out of real life experience,” said Jiang. “We were sitting in a conference room and asked, how much more productive can we be in this scene?”
“The idea of this year’s competition was to improve the guest experience through AI and technology,” said Pelletier. “What we noticed in research was that [AI] took away guest experience by removing human interaction. Our inspiration was to stay away from that type of artificial intelligence, and create something that would enhance the experience in the room.”
It was important to the team that the project maintain the aspect of human value. “We don’t want to take away jobs from the hotel industry,” the team stated. “We don’t want to see our industry fail from technological disruptors.”
“The foundation of hospitality itself is based on human experience. It cannot be provided to you through a machine,” said Stanchulov.
As part of Accor’s student challenge, 515 global teams took part; projects included robots, facial recognition, biometric bracelets, smart mirrors, holograms, and more. The E-Atmosphere team was chosen to go to the finals in Paris. The Algonquin College students were the only team from the Western Hemisphere to attend.
Take Off! Is a global competition that enables students to be evaluated by top-level Accor professionals, and by recognized teachers with various cultural backgrounds.
The team was also interviewed about their project, E-Atmosphere on CBC’s All in a Day. Listen to the interview here.
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