HOSPA, the Hospitality Professionals Association, has acquired the National Hotel Marketing Conference from Martin Evans of The Tourism Business, adding a long‑standing specialist event to its growing calendar. The handover brings a 20‑year industry fixture into the membership body’s events portfolio, with the next edition pencilled in for 27 May 2027 at the Hilton at St George’s Park.
The acquisition is a logical extension of HOSPA’s existing commitment to marketing professionals: the organisation already runs sector awards and works closely with marketing networks inside the industry. By bringing the National Hotel Marketing Conference under its wing, HOSPA inherits an established audience of hotel marketers, agencies and technology suppliers along with a format that mixes presentations, panels and practical workshops. That audience is precisely the cohort HOSPA seeks to better serve through training, professional development and community building.
What the change means for the conference format
For attendees and sponsors, the most immediate consequence will be subtle rather than seismic. The National Hotel Marketing Conference has built credibility over two decades as a focused, practitioner‑led day for commercial and marketing leads. Under HOSPA, organisers are likely to lean into cross‑pollination with their broader programme: expect tighter integration with HOSPA masterclasses, more membership‑driven content strands and potential alignment with existing award cycles. Operational changes — venue logistics, speaker procurement and delegate pricing — are feasible, but the brand equity of a 20‑year event suggests continuity will be prioritised.
Opportunity and risk for stakeholders
The acquisition offers clear benefits for suppliers and hotel marketers. Suppliers gain a single, more visible platform to reach members who influence procurement and tech adoption; marketers gain improved access to professional development and peer networks. However, there is risk in any consolidation. An industry body running a conference historically owned by an independent promoter can shift the editorial balance, inadvertently narrowing perspectives if commercial or membership priorities take precedence. Maintaining editorial independence, a diverse speaker list and vendor neutrality will be central to preserving the conference’s value.
Strategically, HOSPA now controls a more complete funnel: awareness (events), recognition (awards) and capability (training). That gives the association leverage to shape conversations around hotel distribution, brand positioning and data‑driven marketing over the coming years. It also presents a testing ground for new formats — hybrid delivery, curated track sponsorships, and closer links to research and benchmarking products HOSPA might deploy.
Why this matters to operators and creatives: for hotel operators, the move clarifies where marketing best practice and procurement conversations are congregating; attending HOSPA‑run events will offer easier access to peer benchmarking and potential cost efficiencies. For creatives and agencies, the acquisition signals where influential buyers will gather — an opportunity to forge long‑term relationships, but also a reminder to advocate for editorial breadth so the conference remains a place for debate, experimentation and independent challenge rather than a closed members’ echo chamber.