Calling it “incredibly exciting,” executives from the Asian American Hotel Owners Association (AAHOA) and Emerald Expositions jointly announced a partnership to relaunch HX: The Hotel Experience as HX: The Hotel Experience Powered by AAHOA.
The relaunch of the show – the largest hospitality trade show in North America – will start with the November 2019 show in New York City.
“There is nothing but a very bright future ahead for HX,” said Rachel Humphrey, interim President and CEO of AAHOA.
Emerald Expositions will provide a boost to HX bringing educational offerings and networking opportunities to new people in the hospitality industry.
Members of AAHOA, the world’s largest hotel owners’ association, own almost one in every two hotels in the United States, with billions of dollars in assets and hundreds of thousands of employees.
“It’s not a coincidence that we’re relaunching. It’s relaunching because we’re taking it to the next level, educationally. And we want to let people network in a different part of the country than they’re used to,” said Emerald Expositions Vice President and Group Show Director Kevin Gaffney during a press conference April 26.
Gaffney and Humphrey made the announcement and unveiled the new logo during the first day of the AAHOA Convention & Trade Show in San Diego, along with a team from Emerald Expositions: Executive Vice President Joe Randall, Boutique Design Group Vice President Michelle Finn, and Vice President of Hospitality Design Group and Editor-in-Chief for Hospitality Design Magazine Stacy Shoemaker Rauen.
Before a multimillion-dollar rebranding in 2015, HX: The Hotel Experience show was the International Hotel, Motel & Restaurant Show (IHMRS).
Reach Kevin Gaffney at Kevin.Gaffney@emeraldexpo.com or (770) 291-5446 Rachel Humphrey at (404) 816-5759 or pr@aahoa.com.
