“In order to make this great organization even greater, we need to focus on the fact that we are all about membership,” said 2001 AH&MA Chairman John Russell.  “The first year of membership is the most critical in retaining new members.  Most of our member state associations have a 75 percent retention rate, so we believe this campaign will be a hit.” 

To complement the membership initiative, 100 national lodging companies have been targeted for visits from AH&LA officers and senior staff members including two newly recruited regional sales representatives.  The visits will emphasize several new benefits the association has recently added, including an employment practices liability insurance and national health insurance program.  This is in addition to valuable existing products and services such as access to millions of travelers through AH&LA’s reservation Web site, GotRooms.com; lobbying to protect the lodging industry’s business interests at the federal level; networking and educational opportunities at the association’s conferences and trade shows; discounts on training materials from AH&LA’s Educational Institute; and complimentary, award-winning publications, including Lodging magazine.

AH&LA, founded in 1910, is a federation of state lodging associations throughout the United States, with some 11,000 property members worldwide, representing more than 1.4 million rooms.