We are delighted to announce that the 35th CHME conference will be hosted by Breda University of Applied Sciences (the Netherlands), from Tuesday 25th to Friday 28th May 2027 (Tuesday 25th will be the Doctoral Day and the main conference starts on Wednesday 26th).

Hospitality is a cornerstone of the global economy and one of its largest employers, and a sector in transition: shifting labour markets, digital and AI-driven transformation, changing guest expectations and sustainability agendas worldwide are reshaping how hospitality is organised, experienced and taught. CHME 2027 brings together the people who study, teach and lead these transitions.

The 35th CHME conference aims to offer a distinctive forum where participants from academia, industry, sector bodies and government can actively exchange and challenge ideas through cutting-edge research, case studies and practical insights. The conference theme ‘Hospitality in Transition - Experiences, Places and People’, asks how our sector is changing and who it is changing for.

We invite contributions on transitions in experiences: how digital, AI-enabled and human encounters create value and meaning for guests; transitions in place; how hospitality shapes liveable destinations, communities and the flows that connect them; and transitions in people: how work, skills, leadership and education are being redefined. We welcome theoretical, empirical and methodological contributions, including rigorous case studies and country-specific analyses. Authors may select a track and submit work relevant to hospitality, tourism, leisure or events.

Track 1 - Hospitality Management

· The future of work in hospitality: emerging technologies, hybrid and flexible work models, workforce diversity, and strategies for fostering resilience, wellbeing and mental health.

· Attracting, developing and retaining talent in a changing labour market, including skills, careers, leadership and cross-border mobility.

· How organisations navigate transformation while enhancing productivity, performance and employee wellbeing.

· Digital and AI-enabled transformation of hospitality organisations, from data analytics and revenue management to service automation and smart hospitality environments.

· Designing meaningful guest experiences, including personalisation, service design, hospitality marketing, and hotel and hospitality design.

· Sustainability transitions in hospitality management, including energy, water, food and waste, and the strategies and business models that make them viable.

· Hospitality and place: how hospitality organisations shape (and are shaped by) destinations, communities and the flows of people, goods and services around them.

· Other topics in hospitality management, including strategy, entrepreneurship, finance, operations and revenue management.

Track 2 - Critical and cultural studies of hospitality

· Transforming society through hospitality: contributions to communities, local economies, liveable places, charitable work and the tensions these create for residents and destinations.

· Hospitality for all: critical perspectives on who hospitality includes, excludes and serves as society changes.

· Hospitality, human rights and decent work, including migration and labour mobility in a shifting labour market.

· Regenerative, circular and post-growth principles and practices in hospitality, including case studies.

· Disruption, crisis and resilience: how organisations, workers and communities absorb and adapt to shocks and long-run transitions.

· Responsible and critical perspectives on technological transformation in hospitality, including surveillance, algorithms and the future of human encounters.

· Other critical and cultural approaches to hospitality.

Track 3 - Learning, teaching and assessment in hospitality management education

· Shaping hospitality leaders for a sector in transition: employability, innovation and inclusivity in hospitality education.

· Innovative pedagogy, curriculum design and assessment methods, including how programmes are being redesigned for changing industry and student needs.

· Digital, immersive and AI-supported learning, including simulation, extended reality and the opportunities and integrity questions that generative AI raises for teaching and assessment.

· Partnerships with industry, professional bodies and communities, including work-based learning, living labs and lifelong learning for the existing workforce.

· Developing leadership, intercultural competence, sustainability literacy and global citizenship in students.

· Student experience, belonging and wellbeing.

· Developing hospitality educators, including the scholarship of teaching and learning, reflective practice and educational leadership and industry-to-academia transitions.

· Other topics in hospitality, tourism, leisure and events education.

Submission Guidelines

Full papers

- 1,500 words (maximum) for initial submission, excluding notes, references, author details, keywords and abstract.

- Submissions should include the article title, an abstract of 120 words, and 6-8 keywords in the main manuscript.

- Author names, affiliations and email addresses should be supplied separately via the EasyChair system and not be included on the paper.

- All submissions will be blind reviewed. Authors should amend the work in light of the reviewers' comments and then submit the final version via EasyChair.

- Revised full papers should not exceed 2,500 words.

- Best papers may be invited to a fast-track peer review in the conference’s companion journals, Tourism & Hospitality Research https://journals.sagepub.com/home/thr and Hospitality & Society https://intellectdiscover.com/content/journals/hosp. Subject to sufficient number of best papers, these may appear as part of a special issue.

Posters

Poster submission proposals should be by an initial abstract (500 words maximum) and should also be uploaded to EasyChair. These will be included in the conference proceedings.

An A1-sized poster, which should include author details, title, introduction, methodology/methods, results (if applicable), impact/practical implications and conclusion should then be submitted by the final submission deadline.

Important dates, deadlines and registration

- Deadline for paper and poster submissions: 15 January 2027

- Feedback on submissions by: 5 February 2027

- Notification of acceptance: 19 February 2027

- Deadline for the final paper submissions: 26 March 2027

- Registration details will follow; early bird registration closes 12 April 2027

Venue

The conference will be held at the campus of Breda University of Applied Sciences, the Netherlands.

Contact

Submission queries and general questions: CHME27@buas.nl