The HBAA staged its annual headline social event on Friday 14th January. Bringing together over 400 booking agents, hoteliers and venues, the dinner saw incoming chairman for the association Juliet Price set her vision and goals for 2011.
Taking place at the Hilton London Metropole, Juliet outlined her key objectives for the year ahead to further drive membership of the association and encourage future talent in the industry.
Juliet was welcomed to the stage by 2010 chairman Stephen Usher who said: “The HBAA is in the most robust position in its history; membership is at an all time high and we have consistently broken attendee numbers at business and our social events. Additionally the association is being recognised for its thought leadership in creating best practices around topics such as TOMS.”
Juliet Price, 2011’s chairman continued: “With membership at an all time high in 2010 it is key that we continue to attract the talent of tomorrow. Just look around and see the professionalism that we have in this room, collectively we must continue to encourage the next generation to our sector of the business travel arena and thereby drive the industry forward.”
Juliet also laid out her plans for the ‘Chairman’s Charity’, whereby HBAA fundraising profits are made directly to a charity of the chairman’s choice. Throughout Juliet’s tenure, the Chairman’s charity will be WheelPower which provides disabled people with sports wheelchairs along with training and coaching that will subsequently enable them to participate in both competitive and recreational sport.
Juliet commented: “Next year not only marks the London 2012 Olympic Games but also the Paralympic Games. We can all be part of this by helping to raise funds not just for our Olympiads next year but for the future generations.”
In addition to the chairman’s charity, the HBAA has been a long term supporter of Lynn’s Bowel Cancer Charity and funds raised on the evening exceeded £15K for the charity.
The HBAA represents the interests of parties involved in the procurement and management of conference, meetings and accommodation in the UK and internationally. It has an annual buying power in excess of £2.3bn per annum and is recognised by corporates as the benchmark of quality and integrity.
Juliet Price is head of UK marketing and business intelligence for Hotelzon, one of the world’s leading corporate and leisure online hotel booking companies and providers of software technology.
