“Reaching semi-finals in Amsterdam” 3 DTC students shortlisted in Sustainable Hospitality Challenge 2022

Sustainability has been raised into global awareness these days since the situation of global warming has worsened and caused both environmental and human casualties all over the world. Hospitality sector is another leading industry that takes rapid actions to reduce the effects of environmental crises and make healthy economy from sustainable ideas.  

The stage of Sustainable Hospitality Challenge is one of the practices with the same focus which drives the advancement by empowering the next generation of hospitality professionals who are currently in the academia world to further push the boundaries of innovation and to create value-added solutions through competitions.

Among over 30 participating universities worldwide in this year’s Sustainable Hospitality Challenge 2022, the team of 3 students from Dusit Thani College was chosen to introduce more of the innovative idea “The Martian Mission” in the semi-finals in Amsterdam, the capital of the Netherlands.  

Aaron Joshua Palma, a member of this shortlisted team and student of DTC’s Hospitality Management International Program, has told us more of the marvelous idea. “The Martian Mission is an educational hospitality idea that helps travelers indulge in extraordinary experience of sustainability on Earth by providing state-of-the-art facilities including hotels, transports, and tourism accommodations that make learning about sustainability more easily and increasing the awareness and willingness of sustainable living in the most convenient way and the most unique experience,” said Aaron. “When my team and I first came up with our concept for the competition, it was based on two movies that we have watched before, The Martian and Passengers. In the beginning, the idea felt ridiculous and crazy, but the only reason why we pursued it was because we chose to believe in it either way despite it being crazy. And after months of hard work, we gradually saw our bad idea transform into the best idea we had for this competition.”

After the first presentation of the concept online, the idea had led them to the opportunity to join the semi-finals and compete with other teams in Amsterdam. 

Parattakorn Techatamnukul or Ken, a team member from DTC’s Professional Culinary Arts International Program, said that, “Having a chance to go for this event is such a wonderful memorable moment even our concept was previously just for fun that we didn’t expect much from it. Personally, it is such an opportunity and honor for me to be a part of this competition as I could exchange the ideas of sustainable hospitality with other teams from around the world and enhance my life experience in other countries. This competition really broadens my vision and thoughts as I had a chance to meet lots of people including CEOs and managers of each famous company. They did give crucial speeches that are surely useful for my future.”

Even they did not make to the final round in Dubai, they had earned precious experience that could not be found anywhere else.

Chen-Hao Yang or James, the last member of the team from DTC’s Hospitality Management International Program, has shared what he has learned from this experience. “The most thing I learned during these three months of brainstorming and making this idea more concrete is teamwork,” said James. “Thanks to Aaron and Ken, they taught me how the real team is supposed to work. We can create another whole different way in a peaceful discussion. Surely, there were the conflicts between us, but we always respected each other’s opinion and figured out the way to combine the ideas. In order to keep our teamwork at the top level all the time, passion and belief are important to keep us motivated. This skill will definitely help me in the future, especially while working in the hospitality industry. Also, DTC provides the good environment to me to know myself more, and many helps on building the confidence. It provides me the place where I am eager to learn and build my future path.”

Dusit Thani College has remained the dedication to pass on world-class knowledge in hospitality industry from the mothership Dusit International. In addition, the institute also promotes building environmental awareness and global citizenship in students for them to become the great citizens of the nation, and of the world society.