The Americas Lodging Investment Summit (ALIS) is the opportunity for hotel brand representatives, property management companies, hotel owners and financiers to get together, discuss the state of the industry and make deals. The 2013 conference was held Jan 22-24 at JW Marriott L.A. Live in downtown Los Angeles.

What many hotel guests do not realize is the fact that the brand name whether Westin, Residence Inn, Hampton Inn, or whatever is primarily for marketing and sales. The hotel has an owner who may own other hotels in different brands. I have met several hotel owners who have multiple hotels in the same area under different competing brands. And the hotel may even be managed by a different company than the franchise. For example a Westin Hotel branded as a Starwood, might be managed by a third party hotel management company and owned by some other individual or investment group.

This was my first time attending ALIS. I was not sure how relevant the conference would be for Loyalty Traveler. There was good data content and some insights into 2013 trends during presentations. I will pass along some of the data trends like where the rates are rising fastest in Europe and why the USA is now once again everybody’s darling with data from STR, PKF, PwC and other 3-letter acronym hotel industry sources.

As someone only peripherally connected to the hotel industry I found the hotel brand trade booths interesting and I photographed them. This post shares the hotel brands exhibit hall portion of the conference for the major hotel chains present at ALIS with brand booths. Hotel trade show booths are certainly not the most novel thing for a reader who has been to a travel or hotel industry trade show, but if you have never seen hotel trade show booths before, then here is your chance. Read More…

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