PRESIDENT’S
LETTER
From all of us at the
ILHA we hope you
have had a wonderful
and profitable New
Year and festive
season.
I want to take
this time to thank
our members
and sponsors for
their continued
commitment
to building the
International
Luxury Hotel
Association (ILHA)
into the preeminent
organization promoting, unifying and advancing the
luxury hospitality industry globally. Through their
support we will be launching several key initiatives
in 2016 as part of our development framework that
will ensure the ILHA will continue to grow and provide
benefits to members for years to come.
We are excited to announce our first ILHA European
Luxury Hospitality Summit at the Athens Ledra Hotel,
May 19-22, 2016. It will be a must-attend event, with
two days of energizing talks and inspiring keynotes
that will ensure hoteliers stay competitive in the
European luxury hospitality market. Learn more
about the event and early bird specials at this link
www.ilhasummit.com.
In the first quarter 2016 we will make available a
luxury service training certification course that
was developed with the expertise of top luxury
hoteliers and spearheaded by Dr. Lily Lin. Dr. Lin
was senior lecturer for more than 20 years at Hotel
School The Hague and is the author of well-known
books on luxury hospitality including “Interviewing
Successful Hotel Managers”. She is also the editor of
wearehoteliers.com
The course will be the first in a series that will
provide hoteliers regardless of their location with an
accessible program to train new staff on the nuances
of luxury hospitality service.
In March, thanks to the generous support of a major
sponsor and mobile technology gurus Benbria and
in partnership with Cornell University we kick off
an 18 city tour of the US and Canada where we will
host VIP invitation only round tables on mobile
technology trends. This will be part of the research
for a definitive report we will be launching on mobile
in hospitality at our ILHA Pinnacle Summit in DC Sept
25 – 27 2016, luxuryhotelconference.com
This past year we introduced our Hotelier
Concierge service to members. This valuable
tool can be accessed via the association website
luxuryhotelassociation.org and can be used to source
any information or referrals a hotelier may need to
help their business grow.
I was excited to see it has been very popular and since
inception our team has helped with a diverse set of
requests which include recommending a new software
vendor, assisting with an off-market hotel sale, advice
on selecting a hotel brand and insight into preferences
of VIP guests from Korea. It’s great to see the service
being used by members at all levels of the industry from
property through to ownership.
I look forward to connecting with our members in
2016. I also invite non-members to join our growing
global community and benefit from the resources
that will help guide and grow their career and
business in luxury hospitality. Visit http://www.
luxuryhotelassociation.org
Best Wishes
Barak Hirschowitz,
President, International Luxury Hotel Association
ILHA 3