Houtusa group has successfully finalised their 2016/2017 school year of their Smart People competition, a university competition that promotes the link between the university and businesses, and where more than 250 students from 10 universities from all over Spain took part.
Last weekend, the group held their conference “Talent Match”, with the aim of helping students to learn more about the sector whilst also conducting in networking with relevant people from the industry, that can be very useful for their professional future. During the conference, a total of 23 finalists of all the participants, presented their projects on the touristic sector.
For over 48 hours, the participants of the Talent Match conferences, have offered formation sessions to work and complete the projects that the students have been working on during their academic year. During the first edition of this award, the students had to develop a new hospitality concept by doing an analysis of the touristic sector and suggesting innovative solutions to make the most of the opportunities that the market has to offer.
Between all the proposals of the participant groups, the best-valued by the jury was the one created by the students Sara Morales López, Pablo Días de la Viña, Niels Bartels and Martin Holtegaard Kasler from the Masters Degree in Sports Marketing at the Real Madrid Graduate School – Universidad Europea. They presented a project called Gaslamp Triathlon, that proposed the creation of a hotel that covers all the basic necessities of the athletes, by offering a niche service office, always keeping in mind their specific needs when it comes to diet, training and equipment.
"We had to propose to the Hotel Chain Eurostarts a new business concept related with sports. This is how we came to the idea of a triathlon hotel. Eurostars is one of the strongest urban hotel chains in Spain and it’s quite popular in other European territories too. However, the brand has a lack of presence in America, especially North America. We thought that this new concept could help Eurostars to jump into the American market by creating brand awareness and make the most of the values that sports can add to the brand. For us the location of our hotel - San Diego - was very important. San Diego is historically a benchmark-city for the triathlon and they organise one of the biggest in the world. Our idea is to create a hotel specifically designed for triathlon athletes, by offering the best services and creating a meeting point of all the triathlon fans from all over the world. Our target group is basically formed by professional triathlon athletes and low-level athletes (who would have a series of personal trainers adapted to their levels)” Explained Sara, of the of the team members.
The proposed hotel services would be:
In the room: a jacuzzi and a tub for muscle recovery and a mini-bar bespoke-filled to meet the needs of each of the athletes: energy bars, isotonic drinks etc.
When it comes to general facilities, the hotel should have: a running track, outdoor pools of 50 meters with sub-aquatic chambers that record from different angles in order to allow the athletes to improve their technique, spa and a specialized gym.
Other services that they would offer could include bike rental and repair (carrying bikes from other countries around the world is quite expensive and being able to rent it at the hotel would be a big advantage), neoprene rental, nutritionists, sports shops and personal trainers at different levels. The kitchen would be specialised too with healthy food specifically designed for the athletes.
When it comes to branding, there would be conferences during the year, all focused on the world of triathlon and there would be people invited like Madona Budder or Enhamed Enhamed.
Some of the marketing activities that they proposed were: for the first year, the sponsorship of the professional athlete Gwen Jorgensen and also the sponsorship of triathlon events by the hotel in San Diego.
"The idea was born by discussing in which sport we could base our hotel, and we thought that the triathlon is one of the sports where there is still a lot to explore, and where the needs of the athletes are not fully met yet in most hotels. We tried to get in touch and managed to interview Javier Gómez Noya (the only athlete who has won 5 world titles), Ramiro Lahera (the President of the Madrid Triathlon Federation) and Enhamed Enhamed (the first blind athlete to complete a triathlon). A big part of our work was based on putting together the feedback that we got from our mentors” She added.
The jury was formed by some people from the company, who evaluated the projects based on their innovation, viability and presentation. Each of the members of the team will be given the opportunity to do a professional presentation at the Hotuse Group. They will also receive as a prize complimentary stays at the Eurostarts Hotels, the place where the competition was held. Furthermore, for the duration of the project all the team members have been monitored and based on their capabilities and they will be able to develop a formation plan within the company.
Smart People by the Hotusa Group is looking to develop the capabilities of the future tourism professionals, offering the new graduates special professional paths in several areas: finance, commercial, digital marketing… Every year they get more and more participants coming from several universities.