Mr. Ayub Kato, Managing Partner and Lead Consultant at Smiling Faces International, joined hospitality practitioners in Kigali, Rwanda, for the fourth Hospitality Practitioners’ Conference Africa. The main conference sessions took place at Grand Legacy Hotel on 27–28 October 2026, within the wider 26–30 October programme.
The gathering provided a setting for practitioners to exchange perspectives on the future of hospitality in Africa, connecting hotel operations, guest experience, people development and technology.
The Future Guest
Mr. Kato participated as a panelist, with The Future Guest as his discussion topic. The programme framed this conversation around what Millennials and Gen Z want from African hotels and asked whether robots will replace African hospitality.
These questions connect closely with SFI’s work in hospitality operations and service excellence: making the stay easier to navigate while retaining a clear human point of contact when a guest needs assistance.
A wider conversation about African hospitality
The supplied conference coverage highlights discussions about the global and African hospitality landscape, as well as luxury, artificial intelligence, digital transformation and smart technology.
Day 2 also brought attention to talent retention and future skills, sustainability and eco-tourism, mentorship, Pan-African hospitality and the experience economy. Together, these topics place the guest experience alongside the people, operating standards and local context that support it.
What this means for SFI’s work
For SFI, participation in this regional conversation complements its practical work with hotels, tourism businesses and service teams. Relevant areas include frontline service, leadership development, operational standards and the responsible use of technology to support guest-facing work.
SFI’s approach starts with the operating context: the guest journey, the team’s capability and the service promises a property can reliably deliver. Conference participation offers a useful opportunity to exchange perspectives with other practitioners while keeping those practical questions in view.
Conference photographs
The selected photographs show the conference gathering, Mr. Kato at the venue and a panel setting. They form part of SFI’s supplied Rwanda conference coverage.