Five keynote speakers will headline the inaugural Cornell Hospitality Research Summit, scheduled for October 6–8, 2010, at the School of Hotel Administration on the beautiful Cornell campus in Ithaca, New York. Registration is now open for the conference, which is being developed by the Cornell Center for Hospitality Research. Faculty, corporate partners, and other industry leaders will work together to develop new ideas, theories, and models that improve strategic, managerial, and operating practices.

"This conference represents another way for the CHR to connect industry practitioners with active researchers, with a goal of creating new knowledge and developing improved operating processes," said Professor Rohit Verma, CHR executive director. "Not only do we want to have top-level presentations, but we want to develop new research questions for future studies."

The keynote speakers for this "thought leadership" summit are:
- Christine Duffy, President and CEO, Maritz Travel Company,
- Frances Frei, UPS Foundation Professor of Service Management, Harvard Business School,
- Adam Goldstein, President and CEO, Royal Caribbean International,
- Gerald Lawless, Executive Chairman, Jumeirah Group, and
- Randell Smith, CEO and Co-founder, STR.

In addition to the keynotes, the conference will offer numerous research presentations by academic and industry experts, and will present the first Hospitality in Research Practice Award, created to recognize and reward outstanding examples of rigorous analysis and research practiced in business organizations.