Our hospitality industry, where it's heading!

The HSMA, an association of hotel sales and marketing professionals, will be holding their third Sales and Marketing Summit this June 19, at the City of Dreams (COD) Grand Ballroom. Having attended the two previous iterations, I'm certain it will once again be an illuminating “snapshot” of our hotel industry — with speakers and panels discoursing on where the hospitality industry is headed, what improvements are needed, and what roadblocks still persist.

- PHILIP CU UNJIENG

Entitled “Leading the Shift: Re-defining Sales and Marketing for the Next Generation,” the media gathering held the other week was the HSMA's teaser of what to expect, and why this emphasis on the next generation. Foremost in the mindset of the organizers was the recognition that the composition of the present HSMA Board are primarily filled with “veterans” and long-standing luminaries of the industry. While that is fine and good, the issue of succession, of enabling the next generation of leaders, has become a pressing concern. Plus, it is about making the Summit relevant to the younger HSMA members, who now make up the majority of the Association's membership.