Trump hotel will host Advantage Conference 2018
The Trump National Doral in Miami has been confirmed as the location for the 2018 Advantage Travel Conference.
The consortium’s conference hasn’t been held in a long-haul destination since 10 years ago when it was held in Kuala Lumpur.
MD Julia Lo Bue-Said said the group believed it was time for another long-haul conference.
"We felt it was time to do something different. We always look be innovative and stand out from the crowd and nobody in the industry has had a long-haul conference for some time. Miami brings a completely different angle to it."
She said she wasn’t worried that some potential delegates might question the choice of a Trump hotel.
According to reports, Trump hotels suffered a significant drop in bookings during and after the presidential campaign as Trump critics boycotted them.
One UK travel company decided to remove Trump hotels completely from its website citing opposition to Trump’s policies, perceived as divisive.
But Lo Bue-Said said: "Advantage is a travel company, not a political organisation, and when organising a conference we’ll go for a hotel that is right for our audience and can cater for the amount of delegates we need. We’re not concerned with who the owner is or their political stance."
The conference will be held on May 10-13. Airline partners have yet to be confirmed.
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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