NIHF Hospitality Exchange

This week saw the Northern Ireland Hotels' Federation (NIHF) annual conference, Hospitality Exchange, in the Ramada Hotel, Belfast. The NIHF is the membership that represents the Hotel Industry in Northern Ireland.
On Tuesday I left Enniskillen early in the morning arriving at the venue after 9am. There is a great exhibition during the day with presentations dotted throughout the morning and afternoon. It's always a great opportunity to meet up with old friends and make new ones. I even met Mr Punjana (not his real name) - A great local success story and even better tea!

Terry McCartney, Pamela Emo & Mr Punjana

I attended the Online Marketing session with Frank Reeves from Avvio. Frank gave a very informative talk about how hotels can embrace social media mentioning facebook, twitter and tripadvisor. These websites are becoming integral in the development of a Hotel's online presence; facebook.com/BelmoreCourt & twitter.com/BelmoreCourt.

Guy Levine, Leila Makki & Terry McCartney

After a short break we returned to hear a Tourism Ireland supported presentation by Guy Levine and Leila Makki (presentation). These social media experts gave insights into the industry specifically mobile solutions. Mobile has been identified as the fastest growing medium for Hotel purchases. Belmore Court & Motel, Enniskillen had already identifiesd this and with the assistance of BookAssist we have developed a mobile web app which can be seen when you visit our website from a web enable phone (like an iPhone).
At the end of the presentation they both greed that ALL hotels should ensure that they provide FREE Wifi, accessible powerpoints and Ipod docking stations in all rooms.
After lunch there was a detailed presentation from Michael Williamson (ASM) on cost control.

Ramesh Rana, James McGinn, Mary & Terry McCartney

On the Wednesday night there was a President's Ball to welcome James McGinn as the new President of the NIHF. Once again it was great to see lots of aquiantences and hotelliers having fun.