We know that as an hotelier, it’s important you keep up to date with the latest technology solutions to help increase revenue, customer retention and loyalty.

There’s so much to tell you about Travel Technology Europe, but here’s some info to help you start to plan your way around the Show (7-8 February 2012, Earls Court, London).

Register FREE today – click here

Meet world-class hotel suppliers

Keep your eye out for the hotel icon on stands at the Show. Follow the Hotel Trail and meet leading hotel suppliers looking to help you improve your hotel’s performance and increase competitive edge.  Click here for more

Sessions specifically for you

Experts will delve deep into the latest technology trends for the hotel industry including the HSMAI Europe, who will discuss new trends from a revenue manager’s point of view and Travel Technology Initiative (TTI) on the launch of a revolutionary new hotel identification service called TTIcodes, plus sessions from Digital Visitor on how to use social media to maximise content and Travelport.

See the full programme here

Leading experts

With support from HSMAI Europe and Cleverdis – this is the place to be if you are looking to meet experts and discuss the latest industry trends.

Keep up with the competition

These people have already registered – senior decision makers from companies such as Millennium & Copthorne Hotels, The Ritz and Guoman & Thistle Hotels and many more – why not join them and chat about your industry experiences.

There’s so much more going on at the Show – register FREE today for your entry badge.

2011 saw the light of the first European HSMAI Revenue Management Conference, and the feedback was overwhelmingly positive. The hands-on workshops were particularly cherished, so for 2012 we have included more workshops and hot topics, all to make sure that you get the best possible learning outcome – at the HSMAI Revenue Management Conference – Revenue Management 2.0, taking place at the Mint Hotel Tower of London (above) on Thursday 9 February 2012.

Through hands-on workshops as well as key note speakers and exciting panel discussions, you will be able to strengthen your skills in the four main topics of the conference:

• Basic Revenue Management Concepts and Skills
• Profit Management
• Channel and Distribution Management
• Social Media and Online Reputation Management

For further details on topics and registration, please visit this page

The Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International (HSMAI) will be represented at the Travel Technology Europe, the largest exhibition and conference of its kind in Europe, taking place at Earls Court in London on 7-8 February 2012.

Wilhelm K. Weber, Partner, Swiss Hospitality Solutions and Head of the HSMAI European Revenue Management Academy will present a session on New trends from a Revenue Managers point of view at the TTE Travelport Live Theatre on Day 2 (8 February 2012) at 3pm. The next day the HSMAI Revenue Management Conference will take place in London, so you can combine the two events.

Register FREE today -- click here

This is an unrivalled opportunity to discover the markets leading technology solutions to improve your business performance and increase competitive edge. Text continues after video clip.

A visit to Travel Technology Europe will provide quality content, top level speakers and innovative suppliers to ensure you are maximising all distribution channels through the effective use of technology.

Register for your FREE entry badge here

Play the TTE game here

Next year’s HSMAI Revenue Management Conference takes place at the Mint Hotel Tower of London on Thursday 9 February 2012. 2011 saw the light of the first European HSMAI Revenue Management Conference, and the feedback was overwhelmingly positive. The hands-on workshops were particularly cherished, so for 2012 we have included more workshops and hot topics, all to make sure that you get the best possible learning outcome.

Through hands-on workshops as well as key note speakers and exciting panel discussions, you will be able to strengthen your skills in the four main topics of the conference:

• Basic Revenue Management Concepts and Skills
• Profit Management
• Channel and Distribution Management
• Social Media and Online Reputation Management

Early bird rate until Friday 30 December 2011

HSMAI members: EUR 195
Non-members: EUR 295

(After 30 December an additional EUR 50 will apply to the delegate rate.)

For more information on topics and how to register, please visit visit this page.

Accommodation at the Mint Hotel Tower of London

We have reserved a limited number of rooms at GBP 150 + VAT per night, continental breakfast and Wi-Fi included.

Photo: The Mint Hotel Tower of London lobby.

HSMAI Europe is pleased to invite you to exhibit at the HSMAI Meeting Exchange. The HSMAI Meeting Exchange is a tailor-made meeting place for exhibitors and corporate buyers in the MICE market, and a proven success in Norway for 18 years. Now the time has come to provide this opportunity in many other countries!

Through our partnership with the Business Travel Show, we offer our members an opportunity to exhibit at the HSMAI Meeting Exchange Pavilion, a 200 sqm meeting place where suppliers and corporate buyers can meet and discuss their needs and offers.

The Business Travel Show is hosted in London 7-8 February 2012, and in Dusseldorf 26-27 September 2012.

For more details on the London event, please download this pdf.

For more details on the Dusseldorff event, please download this pdf.

We also have a few openings in the following Nordic cities:

Oslo, Norway 11 January 2012
Stockholm, Sweden 17 January 2012
Helsinki, Finland 18 January 2012
Copenhagen, Denmark 19 January 2012
Helsingborg, Sweden 23 January 2012

Attending corporate buyers hold job titles like Travel Managers, Meeting Planners, Travel Coordinators, etc.

For a quick glance at the HSMAI Meeting Exchange in Oslo earlier this year, please see this clip:

Sign up now and position yourself for a good start of 2012!

HSMAI Europe is delighted to announce the winners of Europe’s Top Ten Extraordinary Minds in the Hospitality & Travel Industry. With the awards in its first year, the HSMAI European Awards 2011 recognised both leading experts and industry professionals for their exemplary work within the travel industry.

Ingunn Hofseth, President of HSMAI Europe, introducing the HSMAI European Travel Awards 2011.

“Tonight we will award Europes Top Ten Extraordinary Minds in the Hospitality & Travel Industry. This will see us honour some of the great men and women who have achieved unbelievable results, and who will stand out as role models in the hotel and travel industry for many years to come,” said Ingunn Hofseth, President of HSMAI Europe, as she introduced the event.

The winners are:

• Bjørn Kjos, CEO, Norwegian Air Shuttle
• Gerard Greene, CEO, Yotel
• Grace Leo, President, G.L.A. Hotels
• José A. Tazón, Chairman, Amadeus
• Kurt Ritter, President, The Rezidor Group
• Tamara Heber-Percy, CTO, Mr. & Mrs. Smith
• Michael Levie, Founding Partner and CEO, citizenM hotels
• Petter Stordalen, Chairman and Owner, Nordic Choice Hotels
• Richard Branson, Chairman, Virgin Group
• Stelios Haji-Ioannou, Founder, EasyJet

Hearing some of the winners express their gratitude and sharing their knowledge and enthusiasm about the future of our industry, was truly a highlight of the event, which also introduced several other awards.

We are immensely pleased to provide you with updated information on one of this year’s most exciting events in European travel and hospitality taking place at the Hilton Park Lane, London, Tursday 5 May at 6 pm; an inspirational evening with focus on Professional development, Networking and Business, where we also will celebrate:

• The HSMAI European Travel Marketers
• The Young European Hotelier of the Year
• The Young European Travel Industry Leader of the Year

Dress code: Black tie

To top it off we will be presenting awards to the Top Ten Extraordinary Minds in the Hospitality and Travel Industry. Whilst nominations are still in the process of being entered, the evening will see some of the most prestigious industry professionals celebrated for their contribution to the sector.

Many of whom have confirmed his/her presence at the awards ceremony (while some have yet to confirm), where attendees will be offered the opportunity to learn from their extensive knowledge and experience, with winners interviewed live on stage by Jeff Senior, Chairman of HSMAI Global and Executive Vice President, Marketing & Sales, Fairmont Raffles Hotels International.

Come celebrate with our industry’s top leaders and enjoy the three-course dinner as well as lots of lively entertainment. Secure a table for your organisation now!

For registration and payment, please click here

The Young European Hotelier of the Year in partnership with

Every year HSMAI hosts a number of various awards events all over the world, of which these two, earlier this year, are the latest:

HSMAI Adrian Awards 2010

The HSMAI Awards Norway 2010

We would like to remind you of the HSMAI European Travel Marketer Awards taking place in London 5 May 2011. On this evening we will not only present the winners of several marketing awards (competition still open, see above link for details) and award the European Travel Marketer of the Year. We also have other exciting awards that will be presented during the evening:

• The Young European Hotelier of the Year
• The Young European Travel Industry Leader of the Year
• Europe’s Top Ten Extraordinary Minds in the Hopsitality and Travel Industry

We need you to suggest good candidates for all of these awards, and are certain you know brilliant leaders either within your own organisation or within your network. See below links below for more information:

Europe’s Top Ten Extraordinary Minds in the Hospitality and Travel Industry

The Young European Hotelier of the Year and The Young European Travel Industry Leader of the Year

Sign up for the event dinner and submit entries for the other awards here:

HSMAI European Travel Marketer Awards

Leading experts in the hotel and travel industry have this week called for greater cooperation between hotels and customer review websites such as TripAdvisor in a bid to provide accurate feedback to the consumer as the UK government-backed hotel ratings systems comes under review.

At the first ever HSMAI conference held this week in London, TripAdvisor’s Guillaume Thevenot underlined his belief that government-backed ratings will die out, with the consumer championing online feedback sites.  Certain hotel industry figures on the panel and in the audience argued that an official ratings system is needed alongside online consumer feedback, which can be inaccurate.

The hotel expert and novelist, Daniel Edward Craig, responded with a call to hotels to adapt to the growing online feedback presence by engaging and responding to clarify any inaccuracies.  UK-based Q Hotels, represented on the panel, announced that it has already implemented a ‘response to TripAdvisor’ feedback as part of their marketing strategy and the panel agreed this ability to adapt is what is needed in the hotel industry.

Members of the audience acknowledged the positives in such steps by the hotel industry but questioned what online feedback sites are doing in return, calling for the likes of TripAdvisor to share business intelligence and create clearer demographic divisions in their ratings.

Ingunn Hofseth, President and CEO of HSMAI Europe, commented:

“Our first ever conference in London brought together some of the greatest minds in the hotel and travel industry from across Europe resulting in a thrilling and lucrative debate on the UK ratings system.  The fact that we are a pan-European organisation meant that  we were able to discuss every aspect of key industry issues and start to address them from every possible angle.”

Michael Nowlis (right) of the London Business School, who chaired the panel discussion, said:

“The panel discussion was one of the most insightful sessions of the day, with the audience and panellists challenging one another with very probing questions.  While I agree that hotels need to engage consumers online, interesting points were raised about consumer review sites needing to create a more sophisticated feedback system.  Faced with the potential disappearance of an official UK hotel ratings system, this issue takes on even greater significance.”

Ms Jorunn Svidal, Director of Revenue Management, Thon Hotels and one of the panelists, added:

“Coming from a country that has never had an official ratings system, we don’t see any need for a government-backed system. However, the online world is daunting for hotels and this fear needs to be addressed. We need to discuss such issues in the open and today is a big step towards that.”

Top photo: The Hilton London Metropole, venue for last Monday’s conference.

The HSMAI European Travel Awards is being held for the first time ever, to take place at the London Hilton Park Lane hotel on Thursday 5 May 2011, with invitations to submit contributions and detailed information pending some time during the second week of January.

“You really should reserve the day already,” Ms Ingunn Hofseth, HSMAI Europe’s president and CEO, underlines, making a point of the event’s long overdue premiere. “HSMAI is in the process of refocusing on its European activities, and for the first time in HSMAI’s 80-year-long history, there will be a European competition and awards night, featuring representatives from the travel and hospitality industry throughout Europe, with a daytime conference to accompany the event”, Ms Hofseth, says, amid preparations for the 7 February HSMAI Revenue Management & Internet Marketing Strategy Conference, also to be held in London (at the Hilton London Metropole).

The European president and CEO has already taken up residence in London, commuting to and fro Oslo, in preparation of the upcoming events, in addition to a great deal of other activities, including:

• Revenue Management & Internet Marketing Strategy Conference in London Monday 7 February 2011
• HSMAI Roundtable Conference in London Thursday 5 May 2011 (detailed presentation to follow)
• HSMAI European Travel Award, the evening of Thursday 5 May 2011 (detailed presentation to follow)
• Starting up chapters in new markets
• HSMAI Sales Conference, Autumn 2011 (date and place to be announced at a later stage)
• Webinars
• Meeting Exchanges, to be held in all Nordic countries (and possibly other countries) next year
• National Prize Awards, to be held in conjunction with afore mentioned Meeting Exchanges
• The HSMAI Gazette twice a year (possible four issues when needed)
• Special Interest Groups (SIGs) on:
  • Revenue Management
  • Travel Internet Marketing
  • Other subjects
• Increased presence in the social media
• Continued membership recruitment
• Developing comprehensive PR strategies
• Continue to develop industry partnerships

The last couple of months saw a number of successful meetings and conferences held by HSMAI Europe, among which we would like to mention:

• Three Revenue Management Workshops in:
  • Dublin
  • Belfast
  • London
• European HSMAI Advisory Board meeting
• Four conferences in:
  • Oslo (page in Norwegian)
  • London
  • Madrid
  • Lisbon