February 2016 Shannon College Students Bring Silverware Home to the West

Team ‘Millennial 5’ travelled to the Netherlands to represent Shannon College of Hotel Management at the European Mise en Place Cup (EMCup) last week. The team comprised of five third-year students from Kilkenny, Clare, Cork, Budapest, Hungary and the USA. The students won the ‘Best Case Study’, and awarded second place in the overall competition.

Hazel Mullarkey, from Ennis, Co. Clare, was one of the students on the winning team: “The competition was an amazing experience and gave us the opportunity to network with hospitality professionals and students from other hotel schools all over Europe.”

Dr Phillip Smyth, Head of Shannon College, said: “This fantastic achievement reinforces the importance of in-depth business knowledge for young hoteliers and the ability to analyse the ever changing market place. Our students took on some of the best hotel schools in the world and beat them in the analysis of a hotel business case and were second overall. High level analytical skills are critical for success in the hotel business and our students have them.”

The theme for this year’s EMCup was ‘Surfing the Silver Wave’ which investigated the impact of the ageing population on the Hotel and Tourism Industries. Within 35 years, there will be more people alive older than 60 than there will be people younger than 15. During most of the 21st century, the people over 60 will be the fastest-growing consumer group in the world. This ‘Agequake’ influences the business models of various industries such as health, retail, technology and hospitality. Students were asked to focus on the opportunities that will arise in the hospitality sector from this shift in demographic. Team Millennial 5 proposed setting up a new awarding body in Europe to rate hotels on their facilities and services for the elderly population.

Patrina Meskell, Marketing Lecturer at Shannon College, said: “We are all extremely proud of the girls, they put in so much hard work and it really paid off. They represented the college at the highest standard.”

ENDS