At this year’s Adrian Awards, the HSMAI Foundation is launching a silent auction to support the people who power our industry. Donations directly support scholarships, faculty partnerships, industry‑aligned research, Rising…
The Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International Foundation is proud to announce Reem Alaqili, Juliette van der Ham, Margaret Thompson, and Libby Warden as the recipients of the 2025 Mike Dimond Student Career Success Grant
Adrian’s Deadline Approaching: Submit Before It’s Too Late There are 14 more days to submit Adrian Award entries! If you haven’t looked at the details – we’re excited to share…
Each year, HSMAI honors the Top 25 Most Extraordinary Minds in Sales, Marketing, and Revenue Optimization, celebrating the people who are pushing our industry forward with fresh ideas, bold strategies,…
I’m excited to share the HSMAI Foundation continues its work exploring the impact of AI on our industry and on our workforce. The report will be widely distributed in the…
I left feeling more a part of the industry that I love and better equipped to tackle what’s next.
That’s what makes Curate so different. It’s not a conference; it’s a forum for the future. A space where commercial leaders can think beyond daily pressures, challenge assumptions, and uncover new paths forward together.
If there’s one word that sums up the future of hospitality commercial strategy, it is unified. At HSMAI, we’ve long talked about the power of cross-disciplinary collaboration.
Brian Hicks, President and CEO of Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International (HSMAI) In hospitality, relationships are the key to growth, yet many professionals overlook how powerful a strong network…
In 2024, AI adoption in recruitment within the hospitality industry remains in its infancy. While AI holds the promise of revolutionizing talent acquisition, most organizations are still experimenting, focusing on basic applications like resume screening and job description writing.
Scott Dahl, Board Member, Room Price Genie, and HSMAI’s 2024 Revenue Optimization Professional Of The Year (Corporate), gave this Lightning Round presentation during the 2024 HSMAI Sales Leader Forum.
Excerpted from the study guide for HSMAI Global’s new Certified Hotel Sales Leader (CHSL) certification, designed to recognize the expertise of hotel sales leaders, emphasizing the most up-to-date sales and commercial principles, practices, and strategies.
We invite you to apply to join us at the HSMAI Fall 2024 Curate event for a unique opportunity to share your expertise and inspire industry leaders with your AI case studies.
HSMAI is seeking a transformative leader to become its next President & CEO. This visionary executive will provide leadership,
foster innovation, and position the association for future growth while championing HSMAI’s mission and value to its more
than 5,000 members.
As we observe Mental Health Awareness Month, and as industry leaders grapple with the challenges of burnout and the increasing importance of nurturing the holistic well-being of their employees, the emphasis on mental health and well-being remains paramount. We explore this in an excerpt from the HSMAI Foundation Special Report: The State of Hotel Sales, Marketing, and Revenue Optimization Talent 2023-2024.
The hospitality industry is continually reshaped by transformative trends and innovations. The HSMAI Foundation Special Report: The State of Hotel Sales, Marketing, and Revenue Optimization Talent 2023-2024, a cornerstone resource for sales, marketing, and revenue optimization leaders, offers a roadmap for navigating these changes. This year’s report is more than findings and forecasts. It offers best practices, case studies, and suggested actions to improve talent outcomes across the commercial functions.
This year, in collaboration with Women in Travel THRIVE, we took a significant step towards our mission with the release of the “The Power of Mentorship” research paper. This study, a critical examination of mentorship’s impact on female leadership in hospitality, offers insightful strategies for nurturing the next generation of women leaders.
Organizations must measure employee wellbeing, happiness, stress, satisfaction, and purpose. Everyone should ask themselves, “How am I creating a thriving workplace?” The past few years have shaken everyone’s confidence in health, job security, and income. Get insights on solutions from the HSMAI Foundation’s State of Talent Report.
For close to a century, HSMAI has stood as a guiding light for innovation, support, and community growth within the hotel sales, marketing, and revenue optimization fields. Now, as we begin the countdown to our momentous 100-year anniversary in 2027, we’re excited to unveil the Century Campaign for the HSMAI Foundation.
As rising leaders, we need to spend time thinking about our next steps for career growth and seeking out opportunities to progress further. HSMAI Rising Sales Leader Council recently discussed the topic of career growth, progression, and personal development.
With the pandemic in our rear-view, and a focus on work life balance more prevalent than ever before, keeping our teams producing without the fear of “burn out” has been a continual focus for sales teams.
The HSMAI Foundation Global Collegiate Case Competition and the Mike Dimond Career Success Grants Program, along with others HSMAI Foundation programs, are playing a pivotal role in shaping the future of hospitality leadership.
Talent issues continue to dominate headlines and high-level corporate discussions. The need to restore trust in hospitality companies is essential to attract and retain qualified professionals.
Marketing professionals continue to prove their importance in contributing to the bottom line as well as the top line. Marketing expertise was called up in 2022 to attract and retain talent.
Flexible work means many different things, including flexible location, hours, time off, earning potential, job sharing options, and more. “We have an SOP, which gives us a guideline, but we’re flexible on an individual basis, and more so in some departments than others. Building fairness and equity into the policies is crucial,” one senior executive said.
The HSMAI Foundation identified staff development, reskilling, and upskilling as one of the top talent trends this year.
Cultures change when behaviors change. You may not be able to dictate attitudes, but leaders can dictate the behaviors they expect in the workplace.
The HSMAI’s Global Distribution Advisory Board met recently to brainstorm ideas on how to build distribution bench strength. Here are some ideas to take back to your organization.
Burnout is most common among high achievers and is often related to being short-staffed and high turnover, both prevalent in the current climate. Over the last year, burnout has been a recurring topic for the Rising Sales Leader Council as we’ve brainstormed ways to prevent burnout in ourselves and our teams.
Twice annually the HSMAI Foundation convenes deans, directors, and faculty members in hospitality schools across North America to talk about what’s happening in the commercial arenas of sales, marketing, and revenue management education. Among the key findings: The industry needs to rekindle the passion that has historically attracted talent to hotel opportunities.
The HSMAI Foundation is excited to announce the release of the 2nd Annual State of Talent report! This report dives into eight talent-related trends we have identified as key considerations for attracting new talent, developing emerging talent, and engaging existing talent.
Recently the HSMAI Americas Board and HSMAI Foundation Board members shared perspectives on talent management. Here are some of the highlights for how leaders are handling talent management in the coming year.
Staffing challenges in sales, marketing, revenue optimization, and operations are being felt across all hotel companies at the unit and corporate levels. In the HSMAI Sales Leader Forum 2022 session, Kimberly Rath provides insights into “loud retaining” strategies you can deploy to recharge your talent strategy.
Why, in her extremely limited “spare time,” has Kerry Mack spent more than 20 years as an adjunct professor of Revenue Management at New York University’s Preston Robert Tisch Center for Hospitality, Tourism, and Sports Management? For one reason: Talent.
In recent years, the hospitality industry has faced well-placed scrutiny over its lack of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). The Rising Sales Leader Council discussed how they are thinking about DEI at personally and professionally.
With the start of the new year, professional growth may be on your list of intentions or goals. The HSMAI Sales Rising Leader Council met to discuss the importance of continual learning in our career development, and how there are always opportunities to grow.
Insights from Eric Kreins, Assistant Managing Director of Sales, Hilton Worldwide Sales, Chair of HSMAI Sales Advisory Board, on the discipline’s evolution and which skills are needed today to excel in the profession of hotel sales.
Five tangible ways to leverage the StrengthsFinder assessment tool.
As employers are enhancing benefits and increasing salaries, one of the most important best practices to implement now is staying in touch with managers and associates in a meaningful way. One method of doing this is through a stay interview.
When it comes to talent — on property and off — we are all too familiar with where we’ve been over the last couple of years. But, where are we going? Insights from the HSMAI Sales Advisory Board.
The HSMAI Foundation recently convened four academic forums and polled deans, directors, and faculty in sales, marketing, and revenue, across 30 unique university hospitality programs. They had much to say about the state of hospitality programs and students following the devastating effects of the pandemic.
We have all discussed the need for recruiting, retention, career development, breaking down the silos, and keeping teams motivated while avoiding burnout. Compensation is just one critical piece of the puzzle. Recently the Sales Advisory Board got together to discuss the evolution of incentives for sales teams while driving desired results and keeping teams motivated.
Industry leaders Lexy Coley and Jessica Davidson discuss how passion can fuel a career in hospitality, what hiring managers are looking for in new talent, and tips on leadership development.
Is this a bad thing? Not necessarily, however, the potential implications require awareness and caution. Insights from Peggy Berg, Founder, Castell, for the HSMAI Foundation.
As the industry rebounds and travel returns, organizations must continue to work to avoid employee burnout and improve the employee experience and company culture.
The common denominator among these three themes is the stress and burnout it has created among leaders and the associates who are trying to create work-life balance in a VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity) world.
During the recent Hospitality School Revenue Management Faculty Forum, hosted by the HSMAI Foundation, participants from hospitality schools discussed various topics related to student perceptions of the industry, specifically within revenue management.
Jessie Burns, senior director of brand and public relations strategy for Terranea Resort, will receive the 2022 Single/Multi-Unit Marketing Professional of the Year Award during the HSMAI Marketing Strategy Conference, taking place June 28.
In continuing the conversation on the challenges in hospitality talent and the talent pipeline, the HSMAI Foundation held its Hospitality School Sales Faculty Forum to discuss the student perspective when it comes to the sales career path.
Key lessons you can take back to your team to ensure you are attracting, developing, and engaging the best talent now and in the future.
Fifty-five Wyndham team members received their Certified Revenue Management Executive designations and were honored with a virtual graduation ceremony. Here’s the ROI they received as a result of this unique team-building program.
The hospitality labor shortage is real, and there are few easy answers. Talent was lost in 2020 to furloughs and layoffs, but also to individuals who chose to retire, transition to other industries, or downsize their household income to accommodate diverse needs. How can we market the career potential and the core purpose of the industry to a new base?
The HSMAI Foundation recently held its Hospitality School Deans and Directors Forum to gain firsthand insights on issues challenging those in higher education.
As the pandemic recovery goes on, we’ll continue to make strides to rebuild and reinvigorate our teams. HSMAI and the Foundation will provide the resources necessary to help members make this progress.
How can you keep sales, marketing, and revenue staffers when their quotas and expectations cannot be met through no fault of their own? The HSMAI Foundation’s State of Hotel Sales, Marketing, and Revenue Optimization Talent: 2020-2021 special report dives into this topic.
In the beginning of the pandemic, working remotely had a rocky start, as few companies had infrastructure in place to accommodate this. Above-property offices emptied, and companies figured out how to better communicate as each day passed. Now, hospitality companies face the challenge of figuring out how team members will work together, inside the office and remotely.
The concept of doing more with less became a two-edged sword, as workers insisted on compensation increases or other concessions to return to work, while burnout and turnover within their departments drove existing workers to seek work elsewhere.
As a result of the pandemic, a renewed focus on mental health and well-being of talent emerged. As the entire world masked up, social distanced, or sheltered in place at home, hoteliers grappled with finding ways to keep those who were still working safe.
Authenticity, accountability, and transparency are the trends in leadership that have been most strongly associated with successfully navigating the pandemic’s challenges. HSMAI’s State of Talent report outlines how expectations of leadership within hospitality have changed and where leaders need to focus their attention.
As we look toward post-pandemic recovery, corporate culture will dictate how teams can function and thrive. This is even more important now that four generations are in the workforce for the first time ever.
The Foundation Chair provides an overview of what’s on the horizon for the organization, as well as what she’s looking forward to most.
Sales, marketing, and revenue optimization talent has always been a key ingredient in the success of the industry, yet now we are facing a new landscape. What has changed over the past two years? How should companies be moving forward?
While progress has been made on many fronts over the past two years, there’s still a lot to be done to attract, develop, and engage the best hospitality professionals in this new and ever-evolving time.
Professor Breffni Noone discusses what her new course, Hospitality Revenue and Profit Optimization, entails as well as questions industry needs to ask to help aspiring professionals get reengaged with what the hospitality profession has to offer.
One of the top challenges impacting hotel sales, identified by the HSMAI Sales Advisory Board, is keeping sellers motivated, and one area the advisory board has been exploring is how the lack of authority among sales professionals may be affecting career satisfaction.
No matter whether front desk or gate agent, housekeepers or facilities, reservations or revenue management, hospitality and travel face a staffing shortage unlike any we’ve seen in recent history.
The HSMAI Sales Advisory Board recently identified some of the top issues facing the sales discipline. All these challenges can be positively impacted by ongoing education, training, and coaching.
How a cross-disciplinary group of brand, HMC, and ownership executives feel about three major challenges facing the hospitality industry.
In order to be an effective salesperson, it is crucial to understand the strengths and weaknesses that come from your personality. HSMAI’s Rising Sales Leader Council’s Sales Tools Workgroup has defined selling tips for four different personality types.
Discover how a chance visit to Las Vegas led a young professional to double down on a career in hospitality and make her mark on the Las Vegas Strip. How…
HSMAI’s Revenue Optimization Advisory Board members recently discussed how their companies are addressing labor shortages, not just today but in the years ahead.
While the war on talent is nothing new for the hospitality industry, the pandemic has made this an even bigger challenge. What other professions and industries can you target for talent and explore for new business development opportunities?
A new report offers encouraging news about women in leadership positions in hotel sales, marketing, and revenue management.
New insights from the HSMAI Foundation suggest how to encourage careers in hospitality sales, marketing, and revenue.
HSMAI’s Sales Advisory Board is developing resources to help hospitality organizations that are gearing up to bring back staff and hire for new positions, including niche market sellers. This outline will help sales leaders effectively recruit and deploy niche market sellers.
One of the biggest issues facing hotel companies right now is making sure that properties and departments are adequately staffed at every level.
As business comes back, an already stressed and strained hospitality workforce faces even more pressure. Take a pause with performance expert Dr. Jannell MacAulay’s exclusive three-part series on personal, professional, and organizational resilience.
New research from the HSMAI Foundation suggests that the talent pipeline is in trouble — which could hinder the recovery that is already underway.
HSMAI’s Sales Advisory Board (SAB) is developing resources to help hospitality organizations that are gearing up to bring back staff and hire for new positions, including vice presidents of sales. The SAB has drafted this job description template to use as a starting point for the sales vice president role.
While 2020 was a difficult year for the hospitality industry, one of the bright spots was the manner in which human resources (HR) professionals responded to the many unanticipated and still-evolving challenges associated with the pandemic.
Members of the HSMAI Foundation Board of Directors share insights on the hospitality talent crisis.
The HSMAI Foundation and HSMAI Middle East hosted a virtual Executive Roundtable for hotel chief human resources officers in the region to discuss best practices they have developed after nearly eight months in the world of COVID-19 revolving around changes in HR departments, technology, and employee wellness.
HSMAI convened a roundtable for Hospitality chief loyalty officers recently who discussed recovery timing, new ways of messaging, and how to build trust, among other topics.
Lessons learned and best practices revolving around employee retention, communication, and innovation after nearly eight months in the world of COVID-19.
The HSMAI Foundation and HSMAI Europe hosted a virtual Executive Roundtable for hotel chief human resources officers across Europe on Sept. 16 to discuss current and potential future challenges they are facing in the new world of COVID-19.
The HSMAI Foundation and HSMAI Asia Pacific hosted a virtual Executive Roundtable on Aug. 19 for hotel chief human resources officers in the Asia Pacific region to discuss current and potential future challenges they are facing in the new world of COVID-19.
Industry HR professionals to discuss current and potential future challenges they are facing in the new world of COVID-19.
You may have noticed that it’s gotten hard to attract and retain talented hospitality sales, marketing, and revenue optimization professionals. And you may have concluded that it’s because of the…