The Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International (HSMAI) celebrated excellence in travel marketing at the Adrian Awards Celebration at The Boca Raton in Boca Raton, FL. It was the first time in more than 25 years that the event was held outside of New York City.
In welcoming the more 350 industry and agency professionals in attendance, Robert A. Gilbert, president, CEO, HSMAI, said that, “tonight, we honor and recognize the great work done by hotels, destinations and their agency partners to get travelers moving again, showcase safety and security, and welcome those traveling for the first time in over a year. It’s been two years since we’ve been together face to face, and I’m sure I can speak for everyone when I say tonight is a welcome reunion.”
The 2021 Adrian Awards honorees were selected from more than 500 entries by senior industry and media experts.
Best of Show:
Visit Norway/NNR and agency Trigger Oslo, for their entry 13,000 Reasons to Visit Northern Norway
Platinum Awards
(agency in parentheses)
- Utah Office of Tourism
- Club Wyndhan (The Decker/Royal Agency)
- Visit Norway (Visit Norway/Maverix)
- DiscoverAtlanta.com (Madden Media)
- Best Western Hotels & Resorts (Ideas Collide)
- Visit Irving (Simpleview)
- Visit Norway/NNR (Trigger Oslo)
- The Broadmoor Manitou and Pikes Peak Cog Railway (Percepture)
President’s Awards (Focus Categories)
- Corporate Social Responsibility: Atrium Hospitality (WiseHive Public Relations LLC)
- Recovery Campaign Evolution: Naples, Marco Island and the Everglades CVB (Paradise Advertising & Marketing)
- Recovery Marketing: Accor
- Technology Innovation (Presented in partnership with HFTP): Milestone Inc.
Additionally, a panel of senior industry executives selected the HSMAI Top 25: Extraordinary Minds in Hospitality Sales, Marketing and Revenue Optimization for 2021. Each Top 25 recipient was honored by HSMAI in a separate ceremony.
HSMAI also honored two industry leaders with HSMAI Lifetime Achievement Awards. Clayton Reid, CEO, MMGY Global, was recognized with the 2021 Albert E. Koehl Award for Lifetime Achievement in Hospitality Marketing.
“For all of us in this industry, the second largest industry on Earth, we make things happen,” said Reid. “Not only do we drive economies, we create empathy by placing people in places they don’t understand, by making the economy go, and that’s what I’m proud of. That’s what I’m proud of with our company and the things we’ve done over 40 years, and for that reason, I’m really proud that HSMAI would recognize us in that way.”
Alice Diaz, a veteran of the hospitality industry with more than 30 years of service, was honored with the 2021 Winthrop W. Grice Award for Lifetime Achievement in Hospitality Public Relations.
“It truly is an honor to be on this stage, especially after what the travel industry has endured,” said Diaz. “A lifetime achievement award is something I never imagined. Certainly, I know that I’ve been blessed by representing some of the best travel clients in the world, but a girl from Corona with more street smarts than book smarts didn’t think she would end up on this stage.”
Given the unique current landscape of hospitality and travel and the emergence of extraordinary leaders, HSMAI created a new recognition program in 2020 “HSMAI Hospitality Heroes: An Adrian Awards Honor.” Carrying on the mission of those honors, the recipients of the 2021 Hospitality Recovery Heroes were also recognized during the Adrian Awards Celebration.
HSMAI Foundation Chair Michelle Woodley urged the audience to support a new initiative of the Foundation and HSMAI Europe: a designated fund to support both the immediate and longer-term needs of Ukrainians studying and working in the hospitality industry.
(Pictured above: Reid, Diaz and Gilbert)
