SMACK Hospitality
SMACK Hospitality
Welcome to SMACK!
Just like our name, everything we do here is a little different and yet you’ll probably have more fun here than elsewhere. SMACK Hospitality Media is your one-of-a-kind source for hospitality and tourism-related edutainment. It is our mission to provide fun and engaging content for industry professionals in modern media formats.
With our podcast we aim to give everybody around the world the chance to meet key decision-makers and trailblazers of the hospitality industry. Chasing that ambitious goal, our hospitality podcast airs twice a month between September and July.
So, join the conversation, tune in and never ever lose your curiosity.
Enjoy the show!
Just like our name, everything we do here is a little different and yet you’ll probably have more fun here than elsewhere. SMACK Hospitality Media is your one-of-a-kind source for hospitality and tourism-related edutainment. It is our mission to provide fun and engaging content for industry professionals in modern media formats.
With our podcast we aim to give everybody around the world the chance to meet key decision-makers and trailblazers of the hospitality industry. Chasing that ambitious goal, our hospitality podcast airs twice a month between September and July.
So, join the conversation, tune in and never ever lose your curiosity.
Enjoy the show!
Episodes
Mentioned books
Apr 8, 2021 • 51min
S2E14 (DE) -HSMA and developing a hotel group with Haakon Herbst
Managing Director Hotel Friends Group
In episode 14 of season 2 we were fortunate enough to meet someone, who’s pretty much done it all. Former president of the HSMA, recently elected regional DEHOGA president, owner of the Hotel Friends group and never shy of an opinion – Haakon Herbst truly has seen and done it all. In this German episode this hotel veteran talks to us about what it’s like to have to close down a hotel in times of Covid-19 and tells us why change generally speaking is never bad.
Mar 16, 2021 • 52min
S2E13 (EN) – The future of (business) travel and loyalty programs with Chris Hartley
CEO @ Global Hotel Alliance
In this episode Christopher Hartley, CEO of the Global Hotel Alliance (GHA) joined us for a talk about the future of (business) travel and loyalty programs. Chris is not only an experienced traveller, but also a veteran of the hospitality industry, so it goes without saying that we also asked him about his favourite airline, loyalty program and hotels – you’d be surprised…
Mar 4, 2021 • 30min
S2E12 (DE) – Travelling & Changing Workplaces with Boris Radke (part 2/2)
Director Corporate Affairs and Workplace XP @ Omio
In part 2 of Boris Radke’s visit to SMACK, we continue to learn more Omio’s predicitons on how travelling will change due to the pandemic. We also got a behind-the-scenes understanding of how he believes communications work in the corporate world and why internal communications is so much more important than external communications at first – especially during a global pandemic. Beyond that, Boris gave us a very honest opinion on the worst case possible for the travel industry and more specifically companies like Omio.
Enjoy the show.
Feb 23, 2021 • 26min
S2E12 (DE) – Travelling & Changing Workplaces with Boris Radke (part 1/2)
Director Corporate Affairs and Workplace XP @ Omio
Boris Radke, Ex-Zalando, Ex-ProSieben Sat. 1 Media and currently Director Corporate Affairs and Workplace Experience at one-stop-shop travel booking platform Omio, came to visit us on the show and told us all about his take on the travel industry and why he thinks it is one of the “least customer friendly industries” out there. In part 1 of their talk, Boris explained how cool “home-office” really is from a workplace point of view and let us in on his and Omio’s predictions on how travelling will change due to the pandemic.
Enjoy the show!
Feb 9, 2021 • 52min
S2E11 (DE) - Corporate Communications with Anne Wahl-Pozeg
Senior Vice President Communications Northern Europe @Accor Group
A real special episode marks episode 11 of season 2 as Anne Wahl-Pozeg, Senior Vice President Communications Northern Europe at Accor came to join us on the show. Anne told us all about her journey to now being in charge of the press, internal and partner communications in Accor’s Northern Europe division, which includes 30 countries. She also told us about the recent developments at Accor, why she hates titles in the working environment and shared a trick or two with us, on how to network if you are not the most extrovert person.
Feb 2, 2021 • 50min
S2E10 (EN) - Hospitality Education & EHL with Joshua Gan
Regional Manager Asia-Pacific @EHL Group
This Smack Episode takes us back to university. Joshua Gan, Regional Director Asia/Pacific of the EHL Group, came to visit us on the show and told us about his journey from being a working student at the Ecole hotelière de Lausanne to becoming director of the Asia/Pacific Region and pushing forward the expansion plans of the group there.
Josh also let us in on a couple of first impressions from the brand new EHL campus in Singapore, including what programs are planned on the campus and where to grab the best G&T on campus!
Enjoy the show!
Jan 21, 2021 • 54min
S2E9 (DE) - HotellerieSuisse & Union Work with Dr. Ueli Schneider
Business Development Leader @HotellerieSuisse
Dr. Ueli Schneider, Head of Business Development & Member of the Management Board at HotellerieSuisse, came to visit us on the show to give us some insights on what HotellerieSuisse’s Business Development team is currently working on, how Switzerland’s tourism will change in the future and why “the show must go on”. With a whole wealth of experience in the Swiss hotel market and beyond, Ueli also shared with us why sustainability will make a comeback after Covid-19 and gave us an outlook as to why he continues to remain optimistic about the future of travelling.
Enjoy the show.
Jan 12, 2021 • 49min
S2E8 (DE) - Stadium Management with Katharina Kienemann
Managing Director @ “Alte Försterei” / 1.FC Union Berlin
Episode 8 of season two takes us to the world of sports and hospitality management within one of Germany’s most unique stadiums. Katharina Kienemann, Managing Director of the infamous “Alte Försterei”, home to Bundesliga-team 1. FC Union Berlin, came to visit us on the show and told us all about the different aspects of running a stadium. From hosting events for 22’000 people, to running the operations during a regular matchday and adapting operations during Covid-19, Katharina let us in on this very unique area of hospitality.
Enjoy the show!
Dec 10, 2020 • 52min
S2E7 (EN) - Airline Management during Covid-19 with Lorenzo Stoll
Head of Western Switzerland @Swiss International Airlines
This episode takes us to the skies of Switzerland and beyond. Lorenzo Stoll, Head of Western Switzerland at Swiss International Airlines came to visit us on the show and told us about some of the thought processes of the airline during Covid-19 in a truly open conversation. From planning flights the same day and keeping the Swiss-Team in Geneva afloat, to the perks of being part of the Lufthansa Group, Lorenzo even let us in on what airline he would choose if Swiss are not available – you’ll be surprised!
Dec 3, 2020 • 1h 1min
S2E6 (EN) - Hotel development, real estate & entrepreneurship with Chalana Perera.
Entrepreneur
Chalana Perera, Ex-Citizen M and Ex-Yays came to visit us for episode 6 of season 2 and told us how his interest in real estate development for hotels was sparked at an early stage of his career. He also gave us an insight into his entrepreneurial mindset and explained how his interest in the filed of serviced apartments arose, which wasn’t the original plan. Chalana also explains his thoughts behind relocating back home to Sri Lanka after several years working and studying abroad, to develop projects with his family.
Enjoy the show!
