Artificial Intelligence, (AI), has the potential to affect mankind in the way the Internet did in the early ’80’s. Today, the general population are largely ignorant about what AI is, how it already is being used, and how much potential it has to change the way we work, we shop, we live, into the future. A few pioneers around the planet are helping shape the way AI can be useful in making our lives easier across many industries. Nishan Silva is one such pioneer, who has made it his mission to understand how AI can be used for the betterment of the hotel industry. Nishan and I have worked together across three companies over the past twenty years. I have seen him develop from an excuberant Food and Beverage Manager into a seasoned General Manager and now a super successful Regional General Manager, and I have always been impressed by his creativity, his enthusiasm, his intelligence and his dedication to the customer experience. Someone once said….”creativity is intelligence having fun”. In Nishan’s case this is so true! Anyone who aspires to be a success in the hotel industry in the future needs to know about AI, and how it can be used to improve the business of hotels and the experiences of the customer. I commend Nishan on his initiative to not only gain the highest level of knowledge on the subject from the worlds’ best universities, but also in his endeavour to pass on his knowledge so that future leaders in the industry can benefit from his expertise.

Nishan is an ambitious, self-mastery international hotel executive with extensive experience in Asia and Middle East. Nishan is objective driven and is always motivated to go above and beyond. He continues to perform as a Regional General Manager in his scope of responsibility and demonstrates real focus on delivering sustainable business results in Accor. He is very passionate of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence, and clearly leads in this field and has a true motivation to drive competitive advantage in hotel performance through technology. Nishan has fantastic communication skills and naturally looks at opportunity to inspire his team, peers and business partners. I am truly impressed by his life-long learning where he graduated with a Doctorate from California Southern University and followed leadership programs at Harvard Business School and Stanford University. I always enjoy playing a round of golf with Nishan!

Nishan is a strategic and ambitious business leader with excellent communication skills. He is strong advocate of digitalization, innovation and change to drive competitive advantage in hotel performances. He has been instrumental in applying Robotic Process Automation, Artificial Intelligence and Data Science in our hotels to drive efficiency and cost saving. With a proven track record of transforming businesses and hotel operations through guest journey, employee engagement, topline revenue, above-par profitability, strong market share, ESG performances and solid owner relations, we are pleased to have him in heading Majid Al Futtaim-Accor Properties.

I have known Nishan for longer than I can remember and watched him progress in his career through a potent combination of innovation, commitment, empathy and pursuit of perfection, embellished by constant emphasis on guest experience. His desire to share his expertise is exciting as the knowledge and experience that Nishan has acquired form the ingredients of success for any aspiring hospitality professional seeking to go beyond convention in hospitality with novel perspectives on guest experience, the role of technology, commercial and people perspectives.