The European Hotel Managers Association (EHMA) will bring its 52nd Annual General Meeting (AGM) to London from 13 to 15 March 2026, gathering nearly 500 members from 24 European countries for what the association describes as a defining moment in its evolution. Under the theme “Transforming Hotel Hospitality for a Thriving Future,” the three-day gathering will place workforce leadership, artificial intelligence and sustainability at the centre of an executive agenda shaped for an industry in transition.
The London AGM builds directly on the momentum of last year’s Warsaw meeting, where EHMA members formally endorsed the British capital as the 2026 host city. The choice carries obvious symbolic weight. Few cities balance heritage and reinvention as visibly as London – a dynamic that the association says mirrors its own strategic intent heading into the second half of the decade.
“Transforming Hotel Hospitality for a Thriving Future is more than a theme,” said Panos Almyrantis, President of EHMA, in the official announcement. “It is our collective commitment to lead with vision, to innovate with purpose, and to safeguard the enduring human essence at the heart of hospitality.”
The programme will unfold across a portfolio of London’s most iconic properties. Business sessions will take place at The Dorchester, with the Welcome Evening hosted at Raffles London at The OWO. The Gala Dinner and Awards Ceremony will be held at The Savoy, and the gathering concludes with a Farewell Brunch at The Chancery Rosewood.
Founded in Rome in 1974 as a non-profit organisation dedicated to raising management standards within Europe’s luxury hotel sector, EHMA today represents more than 400 premier hotels across 24 countries. The association’s membership stands at nearly 500 professionals – a figure that has grown steadily through deliberate outreach to emerging markets and younger career stages.
The formal General Assembly will open on 13 March at The Dorchester, chaired by President Almyrantis. Core governance business will be followed by Members’ Time, an open forum that EHMA regards as central to its culture of inclusive decision-making. Delegates will also receive a presentation of EHMA’s confirmed venues for 2027 and 2028, with Helsinki introduced as a candidate for the following year.
A centrepiece of the afternoon will be the EHMA Best Practices 2025 showcase, themed “How IoT and AI Help Hoteliers Enhance the Guest Experience.” The session will demonstrate how Internet of Things technologies and artificial intelligence are functioning as operational tools rather than abstract aspirations – with applications spanning service personalisation, energy efficiency and predictive guest engagement. Best Practices Awards will be presented in partnership with the American Hotel & Lodging Educational Institute (AHLEI).
A dedicated AI session by Gianni Buonsante of Ingenia Direct will examine how luxury operators can align digital transformation with the requirements of the European AI Act, advocating a human-centred approach to compliance and responsible innovation. For HR professionals and senior leaders, this framing matters: the regulatory environment around AI in hospitality is tightening, and the industry is still developing consistent frameworks for governance.
The Young EHMA Group 2026 will be formally introduced by Professor Ian Millar of Ecole Hôtelière de Lausanne (EHL), with associated awards recognising innovation and strategic thinking among emerging executives. The initiative reflects a consistent EHMA investment in intergenerational leadership – and one that senior HR leaders in luxury hotels would do well to track, as competition for high-potential talent intensifies across the European market.
The Educational Day Conference on Saturday 14 March will be chaired by Professor Dimitrios Buhalis of Bournemouth University, one of Europe’s most recognised voices on hospitality technology and strategy. The session on transformational leadership will feature Stefan Wissenbach of The Empowered Group of Companies and Philippe Clarinval of Prince de Galles Paris, while Niale McLoughlin and a team from RESILIRĒ Psychological Growth will address employee engagement, psychological safety and resilience as foundations of sustainable performance.
Technology strategy will be addressed by a panel including Professor EHL’s Alessandro Inversini, Phil Le Brun – author of The Octopus Organisation – and Tony Matharu of Integrity International Group. Separately, Chef Ferran Adrià will offer a perspective on gastronomy’s evolving role in the luxury guest experience, framed alongside Henry Chebaane of Blue Sky Hospitality.
The sustainability agenda will be led by Christoph Steindorf of Diversey, Peter Andrews of the World Sustainable Hospitality Alliance, and Ufi Ibrahim of the Energy and Environment Alliance – a combination that signals the conference’s intent to move beyond aspiration and into measurable ESG accountability. The day will conclude with an address by world-renowned yachtsman Brendan Hall, drawing on lessons in decision-making under pressure that translate directly to high-stakes leadership contexts.
The Gala Dinner at The Savoy will feature EHMA’s most prestigious annual accolades: European Hotel Manager of the Year, the Hans Koch Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Sustainability Award by Diversey. These honours consistently recognise practitioners who have driven cultural or operational change over the long term – not short-cycle metrics.
The organising committee is chaired by Duncan Palmer, Managing Director of Bvlgari Hotel London, and includes general managers from The Dorchester, 45 Park Lane, The Goring and The Stafford. Philippe LeBoeuf, CEO of Dorchester Collection – appointed to that role in June 2025 – will formally open the Educational Day alongside President Almyrantis and Palmer.
For hospitality HR and people leaders, the London AGM arrives at a moment of genuine urgency. European luxury hotels are managing simultaneous pressures: talent attraction and retention, AI integration into people functions, sustainability reporting obligations and the ongoing evolution of guest expectations. EHMA’s 2026 programme addresses each of these directly – making London not just a venue, but a working brief for the year ahead.
