AUGUST 22, 2008. Sales professionals attending the Second Annual HSMAI Hotel Sales Strategy Conference will receive a special white paper addressing the impact of increased transportation costs and the slowing economy on lodging sectors.

The white paper titled "Have Higher Transportation Costs and a Slowing U.S. Economy Shifted Lodging Demand Within Lodging Sectors? Trends and implications for future hotel sales strategies, marketing strategies, and discounting strategies" will be made available to attendees during the conference on Tuesday, September 9 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C.

The paper will show sales and marketing professionals practical applications, trends in demand, suggested sales strategies for discounting, and future applied implications of the research across six lodging demand sectors.

Topics from the white paper include:
• Trends from January 2006 to August 2008 in demand in six different lodging sectors in the U.S., regions of the U.S. and selected destination cities.
• Trends for leisure demand, business demand, and group demand and their implications for hotel sales and marketing strategies.
• Implications for the revenue impact of discounting in each lodging sector, and an examination of where discounting could erode revenues.
• Implications of these trends for future discounting strategies specifically for each of six lodging sectors.

Written by Stephen C. Morse, Ph.D. Director & Economist, Tourism Institute, University of Tennessee-Knoxville and Chad D. Church, Smith Travel Research, the paper will be distributed to conference attendees as an initiative of the HSMAI Sales & Marketing Faculty Special Interest Group.

The Second Annual HSMAI Hotel Sales Strategy Conference is designed to add even greater value for hotel sales staff attending HSMAI's Affordable Meetings(R) National and Event Technology Expo(TM), which follows on Sept. 10-11, 2008. It provides an additional component of targeted, educational programming and creates a venue for timely dialogue among hotel sales staff. Each attendee will also receive a free copy of the newly released Demystifying Distribution 2.0 (a $99 value) TIG Global special report published by the HSMAI Foundation.

Highlights of the day-long agenda include:
• Successfully Selling in a Changing Global Economy 5-3-1 - John Parke, CMP, President & CEO, Leadership Synergies, Inc.
• Maximizing Your Sales & Marketing ChannelsModerated by Cindy Estis Green, Managing Partner, The Estis Group and author of Demystifying Distribution 2.0
• Customer Trends Luncheon - Cindy D'Aoust, Senior Vice President of Strategic Meetings Management, Maritz Travel
• The Voice of the Customer - Interviews with customer market segment experts
• The Changing Face of Today's and Tomorrow's Sales Teams - Panelists will address the interplay and increasing convergence among the disciplines of internet marketing, revenue management, distribution, CRM, and sales

Conference partners include American Express, Cendyn, TIG Global, and TravelCLICK.

About HSMAI Hotel Sales Strategy Conference
The HSMAI Hotel Sales Strategy Conference is organized by HSMAI and HSMAI's Hotel Director of Sales and Marketing (HDOSM) SIG Advisory Board. The HDOSM SIG provides information, leadership development, and a variety of other resources specifically relevant to hotel directors of sales and marketing, to sales staff who aspire to one day be directors of sales and marketing, and to other industry professionals interested in developments within hotel sales. Their vision is to establish a resource-rich environment in collaboration with the HSMAI membership that is indispensable for the career professional in hotel sales and marketing. Visit www.hdosm.org for more information.