Hospitality – The Hospitality Show and WMF – We Make Future together to enhance projects that transform sounds, atmospheres and emotions into tools for relationships, inclusion and well-being.
Applications open until June 10, 2026
There is an invisible element that can transform the way a guest experiences a hotel, restaurant or hospitality venue. A moment that, in every hospitality experience, remains imprinted more than images. It is a feeling, an atmosphere, a note in the background that can make us feel in the right place, truly welcomed.
This is the idea behind “Hospitality Award – Notes of Inclusivity and Hospitality,” the new call promoted by Hospitality – Il Salone dell’Accoglienza, Italy’s leading international event for hôtellerie and catering organized by Riva del Garda Fierecongressi, in collaboration with WMF – We Make Future, Italy’s largest fair dedicated to digital innovation.
The initiative is designed to highlight tourism and HoReCa businesses that have chosen to integrate music and sound into their hospitality offerings, using them as levers to improve guest well-being, consolidate the identity of spaces, and create more inclusive and engaging experiences.
The project takes shape from a shared path of reflection that began last February at Casa Sanremo, where Hospitality and WMF, within Casa Futuro, investigated and imagined the future of hospitality starting from a universal language: music. From this discussion emerged a more sensory vision, in which sound becomes
part of places, capable of creating atmosphere and relationship to make every guest feel recognized, respected and at ease.
An idea that is also part of the multi-year DI OGNUNO project that will be presented again at We Make Future in Bologna. DI OGNUNO is the initiative of Riva del Garda Fierecongressi for Hospitality dedicated to accessible hospitality, developed in collaboration with Lombardini22 and Village for all – V4A, which since 2024, in every edition of the Fair, proposes to the HoReCa world concrete solutions in this area.
“Hospitality today is increasingly measured in the ability to build experiences that stay and to make each person feel truly welcomed. Music and sound, if designed with awareness, can become extraordinary tools for generating well-being, inclusion and a sense of belonging. With this award we want to give space to all
those realities that have understood the power of these elements and are already experimenting with this vision, transforming hospitality into an emotional and sensory journey that speaks to everyone,” comments Giovanna Voltolini, Hospitality Exhibition Manager.
“Innovating hospitality also means creating connections between different skills, languages and visions, to give rise to experiences that put people at the center. Music represents one of the most interesting areas in this transformation process: a terrain where technology, creativity, culture and design meet, generating new ways of experiencing spaces and relationships. As WMF we believe that the most significant innovation comes precisely from the contamination between different worlds and the ability to translate these connections into inclusive, engaging and high human impact experiences,” adds Cosmano Lombardo, Founder and CEO of Search On Media Group and creator of WMF – We Make Future.
Applications are open until June 10, 2026 at this link: https://hospitalityriva.it/it/hospitality-award
The call is aimed at hotels, non-hotel facilities, restaurants, bars, campgrounds, resorts, spas, lodges, event venues and all those realities in the HoReCa and tourism sector that have been able to integrate music into their identity. The goal is to enhance projects capable of using sound not as a simple accompaniment, but as a tool for relationships and inclusion, capable of improving the experience of guests and making it more authentic, immersive and personal.
Those who win will have the opportunity to tell the story of their idea during WMF – We Make Future 2026, scheduled for June 24-26, 2026 at BolognaFiere, accessing an international audience of innovators, businesses and industry stakeholders and taking the stage at the official awards ceremony.
The journey will then continue during the 51st edition of Hospitality, Feb. 1-4, 2027 in Riva del Garda, through visibility activities on the event’s official channels, dedicated moments and participation in exclusive experiences within the fair.
Entries will be evaluated by a jury of hospitality, accessibility, design and communication experts based on criteria such as: impact on the quality of guest accommodation and inclusion, degree of innovation, conscious use of sound as a design element, sustainability and replicability of the model, and quality of storytelling.
Who can participate: all facilities in the tourism sector, from hotels and non-hotels to restaurants, caterers, campgrounds or wellness centers that have developed experiences, services or projects in which music, acoustic comfort or sound architecture contribute to improving the welcome and well-being of guests.
Hospitality Press Office-The Hospitality Show.
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