Supporting State and Local Partners: AIHP has supported our members in a number of states as they grapple with local regulations, ordinances and other issues related to the home sharing economy. We have sent letters of support on these issues to a number of states including Illinois and Minnesota. We will be supporting many other members in other states in 2017. We are creating a strong grassroots network to support you on the state and local level.
AIHP on the Road: AIHP hit the road this year meeting with AIHP members, potential members and our state association leaders, to talk about important bed and breakfast issues and AIHP’s efforts to advocate for the industry on your behalf. In 2016, we participated in Pennsylvania, New Mexico, Virginia, Michigan, Wisconsin, California, Texas, Tennessee and Florida. We plan to be in even more states in 2017.
Strategic Plan: Your board of directors approved an AIHP Strategic Plan this year, which will be our roadmap to the future. The Strategic Plan is focused on AIHP positioning itself as “The Voice of Innkeeping,” and all components of the plan lead to growing and sustaining AIHP membership though best in industry education, proactive advocacy and helping you create progressive business practices for your bed and breakfast.
Educational Opportunities: AIHP is bringing the industry together to learn and grow – we had a tremendously successful 2016 Knowledge Sharing Summit and Marketplace in April in Nashville. For an inaugural event, we had more than 200 innkeepers represented and our marketplace achieved over $500,000 dollars in commerce. We had a very successful 2017 InnSpire Summit & Marketplace in January, with 375 innkeepers already signed up. We developed strong partnerships with CABBI and Select Registry to put together this successful event.
Participation in National Travel and Tourism Day: AIHP supported the U.S. Travel Associations National Travel and Tourism Week in 2016. This provided us an opportunity to talk about the importance of the bed and breakfast industry in overall travel and tourism throughout the country. We will increase our participation in 2017. Dates are already set: May 7th – May 13th, with Travel Rally Day being on Tuesday – May 9th.
I want to thank you again for all that you do to support AIHP. Our success is possible only because of your support. Thank you for what you do to support the bed and breakfast industry.
Best wishes for a very blessed New Year. I look forward to seeing you in 2017.
Sincerely,
Rob Fulton