I want to drive positive change in the hospitality industry and help shape it into a desirable industry to work in. The pandemic has shown weaknesses and the strength of the business. I think it is fair to conclude that we need to make hospitality more resilient. Even though the new campus includes numerous environmentally beneficial components, for me, true sustainability also lies within the workforce. It is why I also participated in the Sustainable Hospitality Challenge; a renowned challenge organised by Hotelschool The Hague with 30 participating hotel schools worldwide, which encourages students – including me - to think of innovative hospitality solutions. My team members and I developed a concept focusing on people with dementia. With the demographic developments in the following years, we will be confronted with an increasing number of health-related issues such as loneliness, physical distancing, anxiety, or depression. Coupled with that, we will probably see a growing number of people with dementia, which creates an opportunity to utilise existing strengths of hospitality and combine them with healthcare to address the needs of an ageing society. After all, hospitality is about people.

I like the project-driven style of education offered at Hotelschool The Hague. It is very enriching to work in teams and to find innovative solutions together. I experienced the hybrid education model, which combines on- and offline education, but definitely missed catching up with everyone else in a real-life setting and can’t wait to be back on campus. I believe both the new campus and more offline education will enable students to connect with each other and their lecturers in an easier way, fostering more fruitful discussions (without having to raise your hand on MSTeams). The new campus will be the place where all of us meet, socialise, and discuss openly.

“Today sustainability is about the climate. In the future, it will be about people.”

I am a very practical person, so I tremendously enjoyed the ‘hands-on approach’ of the “Managing an Outlet” block, in which I worked in the school’s kitchen. The F&B facilities at the new campus in The Hague are impressive; for instance, the gastronomy room and instruction kitchen are connected, so practical and theoretical education are combined within one setting, making classes a lot more impactful and effective. This is where we can discover innovative combinations of food and wines in a beautiful atmosphere while being stimulated to use all our senses working with different ingredients, flavours and modern equipment. In addition, I believe that F&B is a connecting element in hospitality and unites people; having a chat with peers during lunch or sharing opinions on interesting topics at dinner makes life on campus a lot more exciting.