17/08/2026
Global luxury hospitality group The Lux Collective continues to redefine leadership development, becoming the first organisation globally to implement a real-life business simulation learning programme integrated with AI tools using CELEMI Enterprise™, customised for luxury hospitality to strengthen business acumen and embed owner-level thinking.
This pioneering initiative has earned The Lux Collective the prestigious Gold Award of Excellence for Learning and Development – Best Use of Games or Simulations for Learning at the 2026 Brandon Hall Group HCM Excellence Awards, also known as the global “Academy Awards” of Human Capital Management.
Through the dedicated Leadership in Business Challenge, delivered bilingually across eight resort destinations over 20 weeks in late 2025, 133 senior leaders across Mauritius, Maldives, Zanzibar, Réunion Island and Mauritius Headquarters managed simulated luxury resorts, making commercial, operational and investment decisions while seeing their impact on profitability, guest experience, brand equity and strategic positioning.
Led by our Group Head of Learning and Development and Talent Management Smita Modak, the programme delivered measurable gains in commercial fluency, pricing and capacity allocation, segment targeting and alignment between corporate strategy and daily ex*****on. It also identified high-potential leaders, strengthening the Group’s leadership pipeline.
“At The Lux Collective, with our dynamic scale of growth, guest experience and commercial discipline can no longer sit in silos. Owner-level thinking integrated with advanced AI learning is now essential to protecting brand equity and long-term profitability,” Olivier Chavy, Chief Executive Officer of The Lux Collective.
More than a leadership programme, the initiative has catalysed a cultural shift towards greater commercial fluency, operational excellence and owner-level accountability.
This global recognition is a powerful testament to The Lux Collective’s forward-looking approach and reinforces its position as a pioneer in leadership development through advanced AI learning.