Joe's Tales from the Road

Hitting the Airways
January 15, 2010

I’m sure you have been following the devastating reports from Haiti as closely as I.  After consulting our counterparts at the Caribbean Hotel Association, we sent an advisory encouraging our members to provide assistance and compiling a partial list of organizations coordinating relief efforts.  What they really need now is cash to assist in their efforts. 

Monday marked my first business travel of the year as I headed to Dallas with AH&LA Senior Vice President of Industry Relations Kimberly Miles for the Convention Industry Council’s (CIC) 16^th Hall of Leaders Gala honoring travel industry icons M. Theresa Breining, CMP, CMM; Thomas M. Mobley, Jr.; Stevan Porter; Preston Robert Tisch; and Jerry A. Wayne.  We had nominated Bob Tisch and submitted a letter on behalf of Stevan Porter, so it was a pleasure to see them recognized with this prestigious award. 

CIC put on a first-class event, which was held during the PCMA annual convention, which Kimberly also attended.  I, on the other hand, had the opportunity on the way to the airport on Tuesday to take an exclusive tour of the new NYLO hotel in Las Colinas.  This new lifestyle property is an impressive facility in a class of its own, and has already been well received in the marketplace.  

The rest of the week was spent in a diverse array of meetings.  On Wednesday and Thursday, we welcomed Supra Dey, our new senior vice president and chief information officer based in our Orlando office to meet the Washington staff.  Since it’s Restaurant Week here in D.C., AH&LA CFO Joori Jeon and I had the pleasure of taking him to lunch at Bobby Vans, and AH&LA COO Pam Inman and I took him to dinner at Brasserie Beck that night. 

Some of you may be aware of the  December 17 letters Marlene Colucci, executive vice president public policy, and I sent on behalf of AH&LA to all members of the House of Representatives and the Senate, expressing our strong opposition to draft legislation proposed by the Interactive Travel Services Association (ITSA) (sometimes referred to as the “Internet Travel Tax Fairness Act”) that would prevent state and local governments from collecting room taxes from third-party intermediaries. In addition, it would prevent hotels and hotel companies from creating their own booking sites to obtain that same tax advantage. Not only would the legislation place hotels at a competitive disadvantage, it could result in forcing tax jurisdictions to look to hotels to make up for the loss of revenue from TPIs. 

ITSA Executive Director Arthur Sackler’s rebuttal to our letter to the House and the Senate triggered our requesting a meeting, which we had Thursday with Art and his president, Brent Thompson of Expedia, who called in from Brussels.  Our primary “ask” was to have ITSA’s members meet with our members to learn firsthand about their proposed legislation. 

Today, it’s a group effort finalizing copy for our 2009 annual report, which we hope to include with  the March issue of Lodging.  Speaking of groups, we had a very productive meeting with Bob Carr, Sanford Brown, Dennis Carpenter, and Nancy Gross from Heartland Payment Systems, one of our Preferred Partners, discussing a variety of future initiatives for our members.  

We’re expecting good weather here for the Martin Luther King weekend.  I hope you have the good fortune to enjoy some good weather and a great weekend.