McLEAN, Virginia—The Hospitality Gross sales and Advertising and marketing Affiliation Worldwide (HSMAI) concluded the 2026 Business Technique Convention on June 17 in San Antonio, Texas. Over 1,000 hospitality professionals registered for 2 days of training, networking, and cross-functional collaboration.
Held June 16-17 on the Henry B. González Conference Middle together with the Hospitality Trade Know-how Exposition & Convention (HITEC), HSMAI’s convention introduced collectively leaders throughout advertising and marketing, income optimization, gross sales, and distribution to discover the tendencies, challenges, and alternatives shaping the way forward for hospitality industrial technique.
By way of keynote displays, breakout periods, hands-on workshops, and associate showcases, attendees explored how industrial disciplines are more and more converging to drive extra unified and worthwhile decision-making.
Assertion From Management
“This 12 months’s Business Technique Convention highlighted the facility of bringing hospitality’s industrial disciplines collectively round a shared technique,” mentioned Brian Hicks, president and chief government officer of HSMAI. “From advances in AI to shifting shopper behaviors and visitor expectations, the selections being made at this time will form the way forward for hospitality. The insights, collaboration, and dialog that occurred over these two days bolstered the significance of aligning individuals, expertise, and knowledge to drive efficiency and progress throughout our business.”
Convention Highlights
The convention included a programming lineup with a number of keynote displays, together with:
Change Mindset: Change. Merely. Do It.
From Occupancy to Obsession: What Inns Can Be taught from Fan Tradition
New Realities Forward: Navigating North America’s Financial and Geopolitical Crosswinds
Enhanced Hospitality: Shaping the Way forward for Business Technique
Throughout periods, a number of key themes emerged, underscoring how rapidly the hospitality industrial panorama is evolving. Trade leaders highlighted the rise of the unified industrial group, the place gross sales, advertising and marketing, income administration, distribution, and expertise are more and more working as one built-in perform. Conversations additionally explored AI’s shift from experimentation to execution, with rising emphasis on real-world functions delivering measurable industrial influence.
Extra discussions centered on the evolution of business expertise and the brand new ability units required in a extra data- and technology-driven setting. Leaders additionally pointed to the business’s ongoing shift towards complete industrial profitability, alongside the continued convergence of worldwide hospitality markets, as organizations navigate shared structural challenges and alternatives.
The convention additionally featured a strong Accomplice Showcase, offering attendees with alternatives to attach instantly with main hospitality expertise and repair suppliers whereas exploring options designed to drive progress and profitability.
