The American Hotel & Lodging Association invited six student ambassadors to participate in the Americas Lodging Investment Summit (ALIS) in downtown Los Angeles in late January.
ALIS is the leading and largest hotel investment conference in the world. With over 3,000 attendees, ALIS features numerous networking opportunities and an extensive array of seminars and panels by hotel industry experts, who discuss important trends and identify new opportunities for the year ahead.
This program is geared for those students interested in real estate, ownership, and the capital markets side of the hotel industry. This experience benefits students who are nearing the end of their college curriculum and will soon be heading into the workforce.
The 2020 ALIS student ambassadors are Max Brett, Colton Fox, Allen Heng, Hayley Ho, Vivian Kong and Monica Pluma.
Two student ambassadors gave us their takeaways from the conference
“ALIS sparked my interest in the business and investment aspect of the industry,” said Vivian Kong, a fourth-year hospitality management student. “I learned about development, real estate, acquisitions, and had the opportunity to attend educational sessions. The experience taught me more about the investment and business side of the hospitality industry.”
After graduation, Kong will work as a Revenue Management Voyager in Marriott's Voyage Global Leadership Program. She will be working at the West Revenue Management Cluster, located at the Sheraton Grand Seattle.
Our ALIS student ambassadors applied and submitted essays to be reviewed by The Collins College Scholarship Committee in order to join other undergraduate and graduate students from hospitality programs throughout the United States to participate at this conference.
“It was wonderful chatting with different students that had goals like mine yet experiences that were so vastly different,” said Allen Heng, a non-traditional hospitality management senior. “It provided me with insight into the general attitude of others out in my industry and gave me an idea of where the future of hospitality is headed.”
Heng’s post-graduation plans are to join Marriott's Voyager program as a Food and Beverage Manager in training. During his time there, he hopes to expand his skills and knowledge of hotel operations and possibly continue working for Marriott into the future.