Washington, June, 2002 During last week’s Las Vegas International Hotel & Restaurant Show, officials of the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AH&LA) unanimously agreed to assess the association’s governing model. With that decision, AH&LA recently retained the services of Washington Resource Consulting Group, Inc., to perform a study to identify ways to improve the organization’s current membership structure.

The Bethesda, Md.-based group will objectively evaluate AH&LA’s functionality as it strives to provide optimal service to its members. The survey process will be conducted in several phases including meetings, telephone interviews, focus groups, and status reports. Funded by the association’s not-for-profit affiliate, the American Hotel & Lodging Educational Foundation, the study is currently in progress and should be completed by early October 2003.
“The main objective of this research is to make AH&LA more effective in planning for the long-term growth and success that will benefit the entire lodging industry. We want to continue to be the U.S. lodging industry’s advocate and indispensable resource; however, we need to continue to remain relevant, and currently that means evaluating our governance structure,” said 2002 AH&LA Vice Chairman Michael K. Handlery, CHA, senior vice president of Handlery Hotels, Inc.

As the upcoming 2003 chairman of AH&LA, Handlery has vowed for the next 18 months to focus on this initiative in order to provide overall benefits to every member state association and property involved.

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