The Lodging Conference hit a major milestone this year: record attendance with 2,750 participants. Demand for travel—including business travel—is surely booming, and Harry Javer, president, The Conference Bureau Inc./founder, The Lodging Conference, is at the forefront. Along with his wife Elizabeth Wolff, Javer’s passion is providing attendees with a relaxed, comfortable environment to get deals done. Hotel Business caught up with Javer about this year’s show and his plans for the future.
How was this year’s attendance? What’s so exciting about these numbers?
We hit record attendance—2,750, about 100 more people than last year. We were sold out a few days before the conference. We didn’t want to increase the attendance too much above last year as the high quality of the conference is always our primary goal.
What’s so unique about TLC? What sets it apart in the industry?
When we started the conference 29 years ago, the goal was to have a very upscale, fun event at a luxurious, beautiful resort where people can accomplish their business and feel relaxed. That goal holds true today. All the industry events are great, and I attend many of them, but nobody is serving lobster or having pickleball, golf and lazy river events while deals are getting done. My wife Elizabeth and I strive to give our guests a great networking forum in a relaxed atmosphere. Absolutely no suits and ties. When people are more relaxed, they become approachable, conversations get started and deals are initiated.
Why do you think industry executives keep returning to the show year after year? What do leaders get from the show?
Top industry leaders want to meet with other industry leaders and hotel operators in a relaxed atmosphere. They want to network, learn from their peers and consummate deals. Previous attendees consistently tell us that they do more deals at this event than at any other forum. Many of our attendees have attended more than 20 times.
How have you seen meetings and events change in the past few years?
Industry events are more important now than pre-COVID. The more that people work from home and the less corporate travel they do, the more isolated they feel, and the greater the need to get out on the road to be with clients and colleagues. There’s no better way to accomplish this than by attending a large conference or trade show.
How are you working to evolve TLC for the future?
The ranks of our top industry executives are thankfully becoming more diverse. With this in mind, we are striving to have more women, minorities and younger executives on our panels. We’ve never had a “formal” steering committee; however, our industry sponsors and attendees are my informal committee, and I reach out to them every day to find out what they’re looking for in a conference. We always want to keep raising the bar. The formula we have works, but we try and tweak it a bit every year to keep it fresh.
What are some challenges facing meetings and events right now? How are you working to overcome those?
High demand is a big challenge for event producers right now. It’s a good problem to have, but it means that venues are booked way in advance, and group events are stacked one after another. Ideally, I would love more time to move in and out of a venue, but ultimately, it’s great that hotels and convention centers have this demand so I’m not complaining. And after 40-plus years of producing events, I am used to overnight move-ins. It’s more challenging, but I have a great team and we’re up to the task.
What about some opportunities? How are you taking advantage of those?
We’re in an up-cycle right now. I see this continuing for a while and the best way to take advantage is to attract new attendees and new sponsors to our show. We’ve grown into the largest industry development conference in the world for the past three years while continuing to provide the ultra-high level of service, food, content and networking that The Lodging Conference is known for.
