Michael Cohen appointed as VR/AR Association Co-Chair for Hospitality #VRARA @michaelccohen

We are thrilled to have Michael Cohen help lead our community in the Hospitality industry vertical.

Michael Cohen is a veteran executive and innovation leader within the global travel, hospitality and MICE industry, with a specialized focus on web3, VR and AR. He is the Managing Partner @ Growth Advisors International Network - GAIN, a global advisory group focused on innovation and growth within the travel, hospitality and meeting tech space, as well as a Mentor and Speaker at the NYU Tisch Center of Hospitality.

“ I am pleased to announce my appointment as Co-Chair of the VRARA’s Hospitality Committee. As VR and AR technologies continue to revolutionize engagement and customer loyalty within the travel, hospitality, and food service industries, I am excited to contribute to the committee’s leadership efforts in driving innovation and enhancing guest, patron and passenger experiences through these emerging mediums.”

— Michael Cohen

Skip Kimpel appointed as chair of VR/AR Association Hospitality Committee

We are thrilled to have Skip Kimpel chair our Hospitality Committee and help lead our community in this sector.

Skip Kimpel is a restaurant and hospitality technology evangelist and an industry known thought leader. Kimpel is currently the Principal of Independent & SMB Consulting for ConStrata and has held previous roles as the CIO and senior technology roles for 4R Restaurant Group, Technology for Virtual Dining Concepts and for Anthony’s Coal Fired Pizza. His responsibilities have included all areas of strategy and operational technology not only at the restaurant level but also within the various corporate departments. He views data as the number one asset that a company has at its disposal that allows them to leverage this for honing in on business strategy and solid pro-active decision making.

Kimpel is also the creator and host of The Tech Chef Podcast, which is a restaurant and hospitality technology show and is one of the most popular places to get the latest information on operational and technology driven solutions solving for the complications brands are currently experiencing. Skip actively sits on the Board of Governors for the Restaurant Technology Network (RTN) as well as the marketing and allied member committees and previous board member for the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association (FRLA). He is heavily involved with anything that is hospitality technology driven and has been instrumental in creating industry standards as well as the restaurant industry’s first standardized open API.

“I am excited to chair the virtual reality and augmented reality committee for hospitality because it provides an incredible opportunity for this vertical to explore new ways of engaging with customers, creating immersive experiences that are tailored for their needs and interests in addition to training programs that usually involve complex and dangerous skill sets that can be achieved, safely, through a virtual platform. Companies in the hospitality sector can create innovative experiences to delight their customers and unlock new revenue streams that will quickly be adapted once shown the possibilities and the ROI. Currently, this area is completely unexplored in the hospitality sector”

— Skip Kimpel