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By Robert A. Gilbert, CHME, CHBA, President and CEO, Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International (HSMAI)
We make it a point to listen to our members, and one of the big takeaways from the two rounds of virtual Executive Roundtable programs we’ve hosted over the last four months has been the importance of combining established best practices with new and innovative strategies. From their positions as hotel chief sales, marketing, revenue, digital, and loyalty officers, our Roundtable participants compared notes on what’s changed and what hasn’t, what’s working and what isn’t — and across the board, I heard about hospitality companies and properties that are both relying on their established expertise and adapting to the ever-changing conditions.
As we head into the fall with no clear end in sight, HSMAI is taking the same approach. Our ambitious HSMAI Road to Recovery 2020 platform will offer online education, engagement, and experiences for hospitality professionals at every level throughout the rest of the year and into 2021 — in formats that mix tried-and-true programs like Executive Roundtables, certifications, Hotel Essentials Series, and Curate with new offerings such as Recovery Connections and Master Class.
We based the design of HSMAI Road to Recovery 2020 in large part on the results of a member survey in which most respondents told us they wanted to learn via self-paced online courses, instructor-led online courses, and/or webinar presentations from industry expert, with smaller but still significant numbers voting for videoconference networking. And they said they preferred — and in many cases, truly needed — programs to be modestly priced or free.
HSMAI Road to Recovery 2020 encompasses all of these learning modes, including webinars, on-demand education opportunities, classroom-style instruction, attendee-directed idea-sharing, and more. Our guiding philosophy can be summed up by one of our survey respondents, answering a question about how HSMAI can support hospitality sales, marketing, and revenue optimization professionals: “It is very important to show everybody in this industry that they are not alone. We need to see and show support.”
The idea is that anyone and everyone in our industry can take advantage of HSMAI Road to Recovery 2020, which offers content in different formats for free or at affordable price points in five main areas — and includes signature HSMAI programs and all-new options:
- NEW — Recovery Connections: Combining weekly live best practices webinars, small-group discussions, and on-demand micro-learning, with tracks for sales, marketing, and revenue optimization.
- NEW— Leadership: Including “Small Screen, Big Impact,” a Master Class on reaching and engaging with clients and stakeholders in a virtual world, presented in partnership with Mindset Digital; “Outlook 2021,” an industry forecast from global economic Bernard Bauhmol; and CURATE PRESENTS: Resilience Now, a three-part webinar series on personal, professional, and organizational resilience exclusively for Organizational Members, led by leadership and performance consultant Dr. Jannell MacAulay.
- Executive Roundtables: Attendee-driven programs focusing on best practices for hotel chief sales, marketing, revenue, digital, loyalty, HMC sales, and HMC marketing officers.
- Certifications: Industry-leading credentialing opportunities, including Certified Hospitality Revenue Management Executive (CRME), Certified in Hospitality Business Acumen (CHBA), and Certified Hospitality Digital Marketer (CHDM).
- Essentials Courses: Hotel Essentials Online Certificate Courses, which are collaborative educational classes led by expert faculty over five to six weeks and include Hotel Digital Marketing Essentials Series, Hotel Revenue Optimization Essentials Series, Hotel Digital Sales Essentials Series, and Hotel Data Analytics Essentials Series.
Some of the recovery is beyond our control — but much of it isn’t, including preparing yourself, your property, and your company for whatever lies ahead. That’s what HSMAI Road to Recovery 2020 is all about.