On April 26, the Cornell Peter and Stephanie Nolan School of Hotel Administration and Center for Hospitality Research hosted “The Next 100 Years: Innovators and Disruptors Shaping the Future of Hospitality,” a webinar facilitated by Women Leading Travel & Hospitality’s vice president of brand strategy, Hannah DeMaio.

Joining DeMaio to speak on the difficulties the hospitality industry will see in the future were Emily Weiss, senior managing director, Accenture; Heeyon Kim, assistant professor of strategy, Cornell Nolan School of Hotel Administration and Cornell SC Johnson College of Business; and Jamie Cohen, chief financial officer, Vacasa.

“There are some important differences between innovators and disruptors. Can you explain who is an innovator and who is a disrupter, and what are the key differences between the two?” DeMaio asked the panel.

Disrupters, or disruptive innovation, is a term coined by Clayton Christensen, a professor at Harvard Business School, according to Kim. Disruptor innovation is a business model usually originating with smaller companies, which in turn forces the industry to accommodate to these new models.

Kim and Cohen both agreed that Airbnb is a prime example of disruptive innovation. While many disruptors don’t aim to challenge an entire industry, the demand for the new model prevails.

When asked what makes these innovators so successful, Weiss said, “They’re testing and learning, and they’re not afraid to do that. When we talk about innovation we talk a lot about failing fast; they’re [innovators] not afraid to do that.”

Test and learn is the best approach to innovation and potential disruption, according to Cohen. Customer experience is key for innovators, particularly as they seek to deliver their product or service with ease.

The process of true innovation starts with digital innovation. Without the technology needed, brands couldn’t keep up with the rapidly changing climate of the industry.

“A big factor in innovation and disruption is that technology has advanced and these firms somehow found ways to integrate the new technology into new business models,” Kim noted.

Successful innovators take advantage of new technologies to get ahead of their competition. To create innovation within a company, one must try to anticipate the future needs of consumers and then try to meet them.

The future of travel and hospitality could possibly be found in the phone in your pocket. With the rise of digital media, customers have found that travel platforms are just as accessible on their phone than any other method.

“People can order and book anything from their mobile devices,” Cohen said. “As a result, guest expectations are higher than they have ever been around accessibility and what they can what they can easily do.”

Watch the full discussion, which includes more details on the innovative methods and businesses that are disrupting the hospitality industry, here.