EHL Hospitality Business School, founded in Lausanne in 1893, trains the managers of international hospitality: in 2026 it ranks first in the world for the eighth year in a row in the QS ranking for Hospitality & Leisure Management. Its Innovation Hub brings together startups, industry players, investors and students to build new solutions for hospitality.
The EHL Ventures Growth Program lasts six months, takes place in Lausanne with exchanges to Singapore and China, and is open to startups that already have customers and revenue. It supports them on commercial strategy, product validation with industry operators, international expansion across Europe and Asia and investor readiness, through EHL's network of companies and mentors.
The 2026 cohort brings together 11 startups from hospitality, travel, education and wellbeing. AiDA is the only AI receptionist in the group.
What AiDA brings to the programme
AiDA answers guest calls, emails, chats and WhatsApp messages in about 2 seconds, in 25 languages, around the clock. Before replying it checks availability and rates on the property's booking engine, prepares the quote with a direct booking link and hands over to staff the requests it cannot handle. Today it is used by more than 450 properties.
For AIM Solutions the programme is a chance to work with international hotel groups, start pilot projects outside Italy and grow AiDA with the support of the industry's leading school.
“EHL is the Harvard of hospitality. Being the only AI receptionist chosen for the 2026 cohort tells us we are on the right track: artificial intelligence built on the real work of the front desk, which takes repetitive requests off the team and leaves more time for guests. Now we want to bring AiDA to more and more hotels, outside Italy too.”
Not just EHL
The selection adds to AiDA's other 2026 recognitions: the incubation programme of I3P, the Politecnico di Torino incubator, the finals of MyStart BCN and the Premio Speciale Repower, and the top 10 of the Swiss Italian Startup Award.
About AIM Solutions
AIMS S.R.L. (AIM Solutions) has been building artificial intelligence for travel and hospitality for more than 10 years and develops AiDA, the multilingual AI Receptionist for hotels. It is based in Palermo, with offices in Turin, at the Politecnico's I3P incubator, and in San Francisco.
About the EHL Innovation Hub
The EHL Innovation Hub is the innovation platform of EHL Hospitality Business School in Lausanne. It connects startups, companies, investors and students to develop solutions for hospitality and for services where people come first.