Does Courtesy Matter When Industry Events Compete for Dates?

Higher costs, lower budgets and fewer attendees — that’s the playing field for trade shows today, and likely for the foreseeable future. And in an increasingly competitive market, success might require being less than hospitable, even in the hospitality industry. 

A current example hits close to home. The Hospitality Show, a new launch from the American Hotel & Lodging Association and Questex, will debut June 27-29, 2023, in Las Vegas, while HITEC, the Hospitality Industry Technology Exposition & Conference, will hold its 51th annual show in Toronto June 26-29, 2023. 

Organizers of The Show, as they’re calling the new event, claim they had no other options: With just over a year from conception to launch, it was nearly impossible to find the space, dates and rates to accommodate a large trade gathering, says Akshar Patel, who joined Questex in June as senior director of events and strategy, hotel operations. “It’s just how the calendars and the moons and the stars all aligned at that point,” notes Patel, who spent six years with the Asian American Hotel Owners Association before taking on his new role.

Industry insiders aren’t buying it. Neither is Frank Wolfe, CEO of Hospitality Financial & Technology Professionals, which produces HITEC. When asked for his reaction to the July 28 announcement about the rival event, Wolfe doesn’t hold back: “It’s horrible, terrible, bizarre, agitating, bullying…Those are some of the words I would use if I was making a word cloud.” The choice of dates is retribution, Wolfe believes, for HFTP’s decision earlier this year to decline an unsolicited merger offer from AHLA. 

“This would be like MPI and PCMA putting their summer conferences right on top of each other,” says an exhibition industry leader who requested anonymity. “That's exactly what AHLA and Questex have done. It’s too obvious.”

The launch of a rival event is no surprise to Wolfe. “If you have a really great show in a really great segment, people are going to come after you,” he says. He’s seen it happen in his 32 years with HFTP. “We’ve been hit before, and we’ve had some dips. But, in this case, we kind of feel like we've been hit by a cousin.”

The Backstory: A Merger Offer Denied

The cousin is AHLA, which has worked closely with HFTP and many other industry associations for years. In fact, AHLA wanted to partner with HFTP and become a part-owner of HITEC, but HFTP turned down that opportunity in late 2019 and again when the issue resurfaced this year. AHLA subsequently partnered with Questex, an information services company, and developed a hospitality show of its own.

The initial merger discussion took place when Wolfe and Michael Levie, COO of CitizenM Hotels and HFTP’s then president, traveled to Washington, D.C., in December 2019 for a meeting at AHLA’s headquarters. The visitors were not expecting the proposal put before them: AHLA would bring C-level hospitality executives to HITEC, broadening and growing the tech show’s attendee base. In return, HFTP would pay AHLA $1 million upfront. In five years, AHLA would own a portion of HITEC. But HFTP wasn’t interested, says Wolfe, and Covid soon preempted any further discussions

Fast forward to early 2022. In a conference call with HFTP, AHLA’s leadership again mentioned — several times, says Wolfe — the desire to merge. Again, HFTP declined. At that point, “AHLA said, ‘Well, then we’re going to get into the event business, because we have a strategic plan, and we have to pay for it,’” Wolfe reports.

When asked to confirm that scenario, an AHLA spokesperson said, “We don’t comment publicly on M&A-related speculation.” 

“Clearly, Questex and AHLA are going straight at HITEC and going after that market,” says David Audrain, CEO of Exposition Development Company, Inc. “If I was head of Questex, I would probably do the same thing, to be honest with you. None of us have any right to exclusivity. If Questex and AHLA think they can do a better job and can convince the marketplace to support them, they have every right to do so.”

This type of scenario is hardly unprecedented, notes Audrain. “Not having had conversations with either party, I would guess that Questex and AHLA believe they have support, or they wouldn't have launched it,” he says. “They've obviously talked to the biggest players and decided that the HITEC event is weak enough to take on. They thought of an acquisition — because we all would. An acquisition or partnership is always preferable. But when they were declined, they decided to go head-to-head.”

Questex’s Patel insists the perceived “hit” was unavoidable, and that “there are no ill intentions from the Questex side or the AHLA side in terms of layering right over HITEC or trying to take them out of business.”

In fact, organizers did try to avoid HITEC’s dates, says Patel. “We looked at everything from January 1 to December 31, 2023, but there are not a lot of places where you can have over 200,000 or 300,000 square feet of contiguous meeting space, enough guest rooms and so forth all under one roof…We just did not have a friendly calendar in our favor. So, yes, it landed on June 27 through the 29th.”

Cutthroat Competition or Market Compression?

Finding a home for large events has become more difficult for planners, confirms the latest Northstar/Cvent PULSE Survey. Forty-four percent of the 461 survey respondents report having trouble finding dates and space. Rates, too, are a major factor: 85 percent say inflation is having a material effect on their meetings. Market forces also are making planners cranky; they report lower satisfaction with the support they’re getting from suppliers, particularly hotels.

Are difficult conditions making friendly competition a thing of the past? In hospitality and other industries, it’s an unwritten code — and a professional courtesy — to steer clear of rival shows’ dates, says David Dubois, president and CEO of the International Association of Exhibitions and Events. Failure to do so is “a bold move,” he says. “As an international association, we don't condone it by any means, but we certainly don't get in the way of free and competitive commerce.” 

These are not “normal times,” and old rules and operating procedures might run counter to survival, says Gregg Talley, CEO of Talley Management Group. In fact, new research from Freeman suggests that in-person attendance has plateaued at 65 percent of pre-pandemic numbers. (An executive summary of the findings will be released this week.) “What happens to the other 35 percent?” asks Talley. His guess: Some might come back eventually, some will only participate digitally, and some won’t be coming back at all.

“Because of what has changed  in — pick your industry, pick your sector — and what’s changing in the attendee mindset,” says Talley, “you've got this conversation happening within every organization today: Are we OK doing business as usual, or has enough changed that we need to rethink literally everything, including our event strategy?”

The business is going to be fundamentally different, adds Talley, most of whose clients are large multinational associations. Expect more mergers or collaborations and, ultimately, fewer shows. Ongoing consolidation in many industries reduces the number of sponsors and the number of exhibitors, he says, “so now there's a real financial interest to do something different or collaborative or aggressive, because the market is shrinking.”

“We are an evolving industry that continues to see shows grow and decline, like all ecosystems,” notes Audrain. “Shows get better or they get overtaken.”

Exhibitors Have a Decision to Make

Exhibitors are in a tough position, too, particularly those who typically go to HITEC. Do they stay with the world’s largest and oldest nonprofit event in its niche, or try a new show that is targeting a more diverse audience?

In a typical year pre-Covid, HITEC drew about 6,000 participants, all with a hand in technology. That narrow focus, says Wolfe, is a foundation of HITEC’s longstanding success. “People go there to learn from their peers. Everybody who walks up and down that aisle at HITEC, and everybody in those education rooms, is in the same business. And they have a lot to talk about.” 

HITEC 2023 in Toronto has space for about 870 booths, says Wolfe, and exhibit sales began long before the new event was announced. As of this month, 85 percent of the show floor has been sold.

The Hospitality Show, meanwhile, intends to be “the only comprehensive hospitality event to bring together industry leaders and procurement specialists from across the hospitality spectrum,” per the launch announcement. “The event is designed to reach AHLA’s expansive membership across all segments, including leading service providers and suppliers as well as senior executives of hotel brands, owners and management companies, including CEOs, CCOs, CIOs, CTOs, CPOs and CMOs. It will also appeal to executives from restaurants, bars and interconnected businesses such as travel companies, gyms, spas, clubs and the experience economy, in which Questex has extensive relationships.”

Being a new event, it’s hard to estimate attendee numbers, says Questex’s Patel, but the target is between 3,000 and 5,000, including about 300 exhibiting companies: “It’s a first-year show, and it's a long show. But we are aiming very aggressively for those numbers.” And yes, those in hospitality tech are a key target. “About 35 to 40 percent of attendees will have a hand in the technology sector,” he expects.

The overlap also affects two associations that co-locate events with HITEC: Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International, which holds its Commercial Strategy Week show over the same dates, and the Annual Research Conference of the International Hospitality Information Technology Association (iHITA).

Can Both Shows Peacefully Coexist?

"Competition gives you heartburn,” states IAEE’s DuBois, “but it also pushes you to be better at everything you do.” HFTP has taken that to heart. With a newcomer in the market, organizers have stepped up their efforts to improve HITEC, holding broader focus groups and soliciting a great deal of feedback from participants. Ideas for improvement are being taken seriously, Wolfe says, and many will be implemented in 2023.

In another proactive move, HFTP has sought the backing of other hospitality industry association leaders. Among high-level contributors to a growing collection of endorsements and statements of support are HSMAI president and CEO Bob Gilbert; iHITA president Dr. Thomas Schrier; AAHOA chairman Neal Patel, who sits on the HITEC 2023 advisory council; Jeffrey Morgan, president and CEO of Club Management Association of America; and Fran Brasseux, executive director for the International Council on Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Education. A new supporting organization is Women Leading Travel and Hospitality; the group’s vice president of brand strategy, Hannah DeMaio, also has joined HITEC 2023’s advisory council. 

Some factors are in AHLA’s favor. The association has been a supporter and advocate for the U.S. lodging industry for more than 100 years and counts more than 30,000 members, including the country’s 10 largest hotel chains and 80 percent of all franchise hotels. 

A strong lobbying arm for policies that affect the industry, AHLA has a four-year plan that focuses on improving the guest experience, creating jobs and fostering more opportunities for career advancement. The organization is affiliated with a number of hotel conferences, including the Americas Lodging Investment Summit (ALIS), which is produced by AHLA and The BHN Group, a division of Northstar Travel Group.

The Hospitality Show is not HITEC’s direct competition, Patel emphasizes: “We simply listened to the market, and there is huge demand for a show that is focused on improving hotel operations through directed use of technology, but highlighting a host of other key factors, from labor to sustainability to F&B to operating models and more. Attendees who would potentially overlap with both The Hospitality Show and HITEC are encouraged to have a presence at both shows in 2023,” he says.

Larger organizations might be able to have a presence at both, but many will not, says Audrain. “Here's the bottom line: If the HITEC event is loved by the marketplace, why would exhibitors switch?” he asks. “If they love and support the HITEC event and don't want another event, then this new launch will die. It’s very simple. However, if AHLA’s power and might, and the perceived value of being able to bring in key buyers, is seen as a value to the marketplace and to the exhibitors in the HITEC event, then they may switch or they may do both. My suspicion is the bigger ones will grudgingly do both to see who wins and who's better. And the smaller ones will have to pick.”

Direct Competition Could Hasten the Outcome

The industry can only speculate now; this story will play out in time. In a sense, the overlap is healthy for the marketplace, Audrain muses. “If they had picked a different set of dates, it would have made the new show easier to launch. But it also would have made it easier for companies to do both, which would have simply dragged out the fight. Companies will have to make a decision, and their decisions will determine the winner. This way, we’ll get to the outcome more quickly.”

“It's a bold move to launch anything new,” notes Dubois. “There's a lot of risk, but obviously they've reviewed the risk vs. reward, and they think there's a good upside. I'll be an innocent bystander watching it unfold.”

Meanwhile, Wolfe expects his growing list of endorsements will sway decisions in HITEC’s favor for 2023 and beyond. HITEC 2024 will be held June 24-28 in Charlotte, N.C. Neither AHLA nor Questex replied to questions about The Hospitality Show’s 2024 dates. Wolfe remains hopeful that the new event “will find a place on the calendar that will work better for the entire industry, and we'll all go back to doing what we do well.”