Attendees Hotel Experiences Addressed By High Point Market Authority

Furniture World Magazine

The High Point Market Authority has convened a Hotel Task Force to provide strategic advice, feedback, overview and recommendations from the hospitality industry to the Market Authority staff, executive committee and board. According to Brian Casey, president of the High Point Market Authority, “The Hotel Task Force will review current issues among Market attendees, as well as offer ideas on how the Authority can improve the housing situation around the bi-annual High Point Market and its working relationship with hoteliers. I wanted to establish a forum where we could have dialog around the issues and what we can all do to make things better for everybody involved.” In formulating the Task Force, which recently met for the first time, Casey sought a diverse group of properties, “some small, some large, and some from surrounding areas. We also sought representation from the area’s Convention and Visitors Bureaus (CVBs),” Casey relates. As such, Hotel Task Force participants include: Chris Adams, Ashford Suites; Mo Milani, Sheraton Hotel; Joe Varipapa, Comfort Suites Airport; John Rothkopf, Airport Marriott; Pamela Vargas, Marriott Downtown Greensboro; Tim Peters, Embassy Suites; Joe Tarasaria, Holiday Inn Express; Paulette Seaton, Hilton Garden Inn; Ron Stephens, Twin City Quarter; Henri Fourrier, Greensboro CVB; and Charlotte Young, High Point CVB. At the inaugural meeting, Pamela Vargas was nominated Task Force chairperson. Initial topics of discussion included the sharing of information and historical data between the Authority and the hoteliers, the development of best practices related to customer experience, and plans for the Market Authority to secure blocks of rooms with select hotels that the Authority would then make available to Market-goers. Explains Casey, “This is not intended to be a discussion about costs and rates; we can’t legally sit in a room and talk about those factors. Rather, the whole premise behind this is to set that aside and focus the discussion on what we can be doing as a community to make the overall Market experience for our attendees as positive as possible. Nonetheless, we hope to take away some ideas that we can use to formulate strategies to more effectively deal with the rate issue as we move forward.” About the International Home Furnishings Market Authority: The International Home Furnishings Market Authority is the official sponsor of the International Home Furnishings Market in High Point, North Carolina. Featuring more than 2600 exhibitors and attracting tens of thousands of visitors from more than 110 countries, the International Home Furnishings Market is the driving force of the home furnishings industry.