North America’s largest individual member hospitality sales and marketing organisation has made a major leap in expansion for the Asia Pacific region with the formation of a local chapter to communicate with the growing number of hospitality professionals.
The Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International (HSMAI) was set up in 1927 in Chicago and continues to provide certification and accreditation programs to hospitality professionals in the areas of sales, marketing and revenue management.
Today, HSMAI is the largest and most active travel industry sales and marketing membership organisation in the world, with over 7,000 members from 30 countries in 60 chapters worldwide representing hotels and resorts, airlines, cruise lines, car rental agencies, theme parks and attractions, convention and visitors bureaus, destination management companies, reservations sales organizations, restaurants, golf and recreation sites.
President and Chief Executive Officer of the HSMAI, Robert A. Gilbert, is in Sydney with Melbourne-based HSMAI Asia Pacific MD, Bernadette Dennis, to officially elevate the expanded SE Asia chapter into an autonomous ‘region’ which will now cover Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific and be known as the Australia and Oceania chapter.
These areas will now have their own chapters within the region.
HSMAI Regional board member, Lynne Ireland, said: “As the HSMAI grows within the region, we can create new chapters as demand dictates. The Australia and Oceania chapter will be based here in Sydney and has 28 members currently. I expect we’ll add another 40 or 50 members within the next 12 months.”
Unlike other networking and social organisations, the HSMAI exists to provide skills-based education to hospitality professionals as well as delivering support services to the travel, tourism, hospitality and MICE industries.
“The strategy is to build strong chapters in the key markets first,” Gilbert said.
Pictured: front row – seated: Bernadette Dennis – MD Asia Pacific HSMAI; Jackie Douglas, Qantas – Chapter President and Lynne Ireland, Preferred Hotel Group – Chapter Vice-President; back row: Grahame Tate, iDeaS; Amanda Cottome, Urban Hotels; President & CEO of HSMAI – Bob Gilbert; Benjamin Weinmann, The Lido Group; Eric Munoz, Infor-SoftBrands and Alistar Shackman, Hostec.