Welcome to the Hotel Las Vegas

LAS VEGAS–The first time out for a collocation can be a challenge, as exhibitors in HotelWorld Expo & Conference recently discovered. Held Feb. 24-27 at the Las Vegas Convention Center, HotelWorld was one of the newest components in Questex Media Group's Intl. Hospitality Week.

The newly launched brand combined four hospitality-related tradeshows (some old, some new) under one mega-event umbrella. They were Nightclub & Bar Convention and Tradeshow, the Intl. Restaurant Show – Las Vegas, the Intl. Coffee and Tea Expo and HotelWorld.

The entire event spanned 225,000 net square feet with more than 1,000 exhibiting companies. Nightclub & Bar, ranked No. 99 on the 2007 Tradeshow Week 200, drew about 30,000 attendees, according to Questex. Intl. Restaurant drew about 5,000, and HotelWorld 2,500.

Questex President and CEO Kerry Gumas said he intended to create an all-in-one industry event under a broader marketing platform.

The new Intl. Hospitality Week brand is “a way of conveying to an audience that we have multiple events for the entire hospitality sector,” Gumas said.

Separating all the pieces that came together to create this new identity can get confusing. Think back to last August, when Questex acquired Oxford Publishing, producer of Nightclub & Bar and Intl. Restaurant (then aka The Show).

According to Gumas, Questex had the idea for launching HotelWorld prior to negotiations with Oxford, and approached the Nevada Hotel and Lodging Assn. about sponsoring it. Similar conversations took place with the Nevada Restaurant Assn. The two associations hadn't worked together since the disbandment of the Las Vegas Intl. Hotel & Restaurant Show in 2006.

Despite low attendance relative to Nightclub & Bar, the Intl. Restaurant Show appeared busy. Most exhibitors were satisfied with booth traffic and said they would return next year, but there were exceptions.

“Presence wise, set-up wise, it was all right, although we didn't know who were the bar people and who were the food people. Everybody was kind of confused (about badge identity),” said first-time exhibitor Dave Summers, owner of DS Sales Food Brokers.

“The hotel section was very quiet,” he added. “You couldn't even see it. It was like they were left out of the show completely.”

HotelWorld was indeed an alternate universe compared to the bustling party atmosphere of Nightclub & Bar. Geared toward hospitality industry professionals, suppliers and manufacturers, HotelWorld encompassed 240 exhibitors on a 26,000 net sq. ft. showfloor focused on hotel and resort design, development and operations.

Some exhibitors said they understood a launch could be unpredictable and were willing to give the relatively slow show another chance.

“Although the leads (aren't) as numerous as they'd be for a more mature show, the quality (is) good,” said Chris White, senior vice president of planning and design services of WTS Intl., “We may give (HotelWorld) a year to mature further.”

Other exhibitors weren't so sure.

“It's considerably slower than we would have liked,” said Todd Mickey, account executive at Proctor & Gamble.

Meanwhile, adjacent to Nightclub & Bar was the Intl. Coffee and Tea Expo, also making its debut. According to show management, 28 companies exhibited in the section adjacent to the noisy Nightclub showfloor, where some were subjected to inebriated attendees seeking caffeine. “What I'm doing is sobering up drunks,” said Natasha Lebedev, lead trainer and wholesaler from Zoka Roaster & Tea Company.

Nevertheless, Gumas said, the coffee and tea section was a natural addition to the show.

“Each of the shows has its own brand, content and marketing identity,” he said. “This is important since each show has a unique audience profile it targets and serves.”

Nevada Hotel & Lodging Assn. President Van Heffner said he was “thrilled” about the partnership with Questex. “Our affiliation with Questex will be a great strategic partnership,” Heffner said. “I think (HotelWorld) was a great show, and it surpassed what we anticipated would happen.”