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This year, the AHLA, in partnership with Questex, hosted the second annual Hospitality Show in San Antonio, Texas. The event saw a remarkable 26% increase in attendees, attracting over 4,800 people, along with a 43% increase in vendor participation, with more than 460 booths at the expo.
The show kicked off on Monday, October 28, with three concurrent summits: the GM Summit, the F&B Summit, and the new HSMAI Commercial Futures Forum. Afternoon sessions began with the recognition of the GMs of the Year by property type, followed by several panels and an interview with Chef José Andrés. The opening welcome reception at the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts featured a festive Día de los Muertos-themed experience.
Day 2, Tuesday, October 29, began with main stage panel sessions and a keynote, while the expo floor featured two stages, the Solutions Stage and the Spotlight Stage, for expanded educational offerings. San Antonio’s unique River Walk provided attendees an opportunity to network and enjoy dinner at three private venues, including the Hard Rock.
Day 3, Wednesday, October 30, served as the final day of the show, with a keynote kickoff by FOX Sports Broadcaster Erin Andrews, followed by additional main stage panels before the expo floor reopened.
hertelier correspondents Suzanne Bagnera, PhD and Emily Dailey traveled together from Florida – here are our top 5 takeaways from the show:
To Find Your People, Bring Your Own Party
With thousands of attendees at The Hospitality Show and other busy events, it can be easy to miss connections. To avoid the challenge of navigating through a crowded convention center, take inspiration from the big sponsors and bring your own party! On the first night of the event, several Female Founders in Hospitality members gathered at a happy hour hosted by Stephanie Smith of Cogwheel Marketing and Cayuga Hospitality Consultants, while others connected at the ForWard happy hour hosted by Anna Blue’s team outside the expo floor.
These smaller, purpose-built events offer an excellent chance for one-on-one conversations and meaningful introductions. While the larger events allow for a high volume of interactions, bringing your own gathering can lead to deeper, more personal connections. These gatherings are also lower-stakes than formal meetings and can easily fit in before the evening parties and headline sessions. Hosting doesn’t have to be complicated or costly—if you’re attending an event and there’s a group of people you’d like to meet, consider setting a time and location to grab coffee, walk to a session, or visit a local attraction together.
HSMAI Commercial Futures Forum
There were several co-events and pre-events at The Hospitality Show, including the inaugural Commercial Futures Forum skillfully crafted by HSMAI’s Dorothy Dowling. This event brought together the industry's favorite data experts and commercial strategy professionals to explore projections for 2025. The numbers presented were fairly unified, showing consistent perspectives across different industry niches. First, we can't stop comparing current performance to 2019, as we haven’t yet exceeded that benchmark. The near future appears to hold equal parts opportunity and uncertainty. Year-over-year performance is up, but as we move into Q4, growth is expected to ‘normalize’ and likely slow. For owners and GMs wondering why higher ADR and RevPAR haven’t fully reached the bottom line, it’s worth noting a roughly 5% gap between industry revenue growth and the 18% inflation growth rate as a contributing factor.
Commercial strategy—including revenue management, marketing, and sales—is now more data-driven than ever. With economic, technological, legislative, and geopolitical changes ahead, analyzing the data remains our closest approach to a crystal ball. Setting the stage with these numbers provided a clear-eyed look at both challenges and opportunities, framing the discussion for the rest of the show.
GM Summit
The GM Summit encouraged attendees to sit together based on their chain scale for an engaging discussion activity. The primary theme to the information presented focused on employee engagement. The results of a study conducted by Lightcast reported that the hospitality industry is presently at a 97.6% turnover rate! Over 90% of workers are currently looking for work elsewhere. Therefore, the focus of any operator should be on retention. When searching for new candidates, Hireology, provided some useful tips, most importantly to be thorough, be first, and be fast! If you haven’t yet tried your own application process yourself, then test it out, to see first-hand where the pain points are for the candidate.
Improving Mainstage Representation
Like pairing Stars of the Industry with ALIS, adding the GM Awards to the mainstage puts the associates at the heart of our industry front and center. Diverse representation on the main stage is notably improving at industry events, and seeing the AH&LA Foundation make prominent appearances helps reinforce the importance of that work.
Keynotes Matter
A keynote defines an event's theme and can set the tone for the day. The Hospitality Show featured three keynote speakers: Chef José Andrés, Scott Greenberg, and Erin Andrews, each offering unique perspectives.
Chef José Andrés shared insights from his humanitarian work with World Central Kitchen, emphasizing the power of food to drive positive change. He highlighted how the hospitality industry can play a crucial role in supporting communities and underscored his belief that "food is a basic human right," inspiring attendees to think beyond business and toward community resilience.
Scott Greenberg crafted his message to resonate with leaders in the room. He outlined a formula for successful franchisees (applicable to any business) in a people-focused version of SWOT analysis. As he spoke about circumstantial, operational, and human elements, he reminded attendees that hospitality is “not just about the transaction of lodging; it’s about improving their emotions.” Greenberg emphasized building company culture “in the head, in the heart, and on the floor,” adding, “A guest is anyone who’s not you.” Resilience, he noted, is key to business success, advising attendees to reframe challenges (what he calls “red zone moments”) from “HOW do I get out of the red zone, to WHAT do I get out of the red zone.” His message set a tone of human-centered, optimistic resilience.
Erin Andrews shared life lessons that resonate with hospitality’s “love language.” Reflecting on her career strategy, she urged attendees to “just say yes to everything,” seeing every opportunity as a step toward achieving their goals. Andrews also highlighted the importance of research and preparation in her daily work, advising the audience to be ready for any opportunity that comes their way.
The 2025 Hospitality Show will be in Denver October 26 - 28! Mark your calendars.