HD Expo Hollows out Even Deeper Niche

The highly targeted HD Expo & Conference is quietly taking over the Sands Expo & Convention Center in Las Vegas.

The show, an annual event for hotel designers, currently nets at 230,000 square feet, a tight squeeze into Sands halls A, B and C. "We're a 10-gallon show in a 5-gallon bucket," said Lee Arevian, the group show director hired last December to manage the growing expo. Next year, the show will expand to Hall D, adding 30,000 square feet and allowing Arevian to "put some air back into the floorplan," as he put it.

The show is scheduled to take place at the Sands through 2006. Arevian would not say whether growth will force him to look elsewhere beyond that.

Rather than dramatic jumps, the show's growth has been controlled. VNU reported that, even during the economic downturn of the last three years, attendance increased by an average of 10 percent per year, and the showfloor increased by 10,000 to 12,000 net sq. ft. per year.

With the show's popularity, Arevian said, it could have been more. "But we're still a niche show and have to be respectful of our clients," he said.

Michelle Finn, vice president of the hospitality design group for VNU Business Publications, believes the show's stability is due to its buyer base. Being highly specialized, it is the one place hotel designers can come each year to find the specific products they use.