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By Robert A. Gilbert, CHME, CHBA, President and CEO, Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International (HSMAI)
I hope you had a peaceful, healthy, and prosperous 2018 and a wonderful holiday season, and are excited about the new year. HSMAI certainly is. We’re fresh off a robust 2018, during which we successfully launched our new Organizational Membership category with 59 member companies and exclusive benefits that included two well-received Curate events and the monthly Executive Insights newsletter. Plus, we’ve already added eight new Organizational Members in 2019.
In 2018, we also saw the continuing evolution of HSMAI’s overall membership mix, with 62 percent of hotel members now coming from the corporate offices of hotel brands, management companies, and ownership groups. Plus, we realigned the mission of the HSMAI Foundation to focus on talent and leadership development, and staged well-attended Adrian Awards, Digital Marketing Strategy Conference, Revenue Optimization Conference, ROCET, Executive Roundtable and Executive THINK, and professional-certification programs; and offered industry-leading member benefits such as our weekly Insights newsletter, free HSMAI University viewing of all conference recordings, and preferred pricing at both chapter and national HSMAI events.
I hope that you have found — and continue to find — these resources valuable in your career as a hospitality sales, marketing, or revenue-optimization professional. And I hope you’re ready for the even better programs, events, content, and other tools we’ll be bringing you this year.
Start with the articles in this issue of HSMAI Insights, which share the emerging trends and issues that our Sales Advisory Board, Marketing Advisory Board, and Revenue Management Advisory Board have told us are top of mind in 2019. And stay tuned for the new and improved HSMAI.org coming soon. Happy reading — and happy new year!