Content creation in the hospitality industry has grown at a rapid pace over the past several years, becoming an essential tool for marketing and storytelling in the space.
On the latest episode of "Next Gen in Lodging," host Davonne Reaves spoke with the people behind the new Hospitality Creator Summit, which will debut in June concurrently with HITEC and HSMAI ROC in San Antonio.
Anna Blue, founder and CEO of Blue Moss Group and founder and managing member of the Hospitality Creator Summit, said the idea for the summit came to her in the middle of the night. After leaving the American Hotel & Lodging Association at the beginning of last year, Blue said she spoke with several creators about the next phase of her career and it inspired her to bring this community together.
"We will have 200 industry content creators, storytellers, marketers, authors, community builders — it's just such a cool space of people who are creative and innovative and have varying expertise, and the content is really geared toward creators. We are not a hospitality conference talking about [revenue per available room]," she said. "We are a hospitality conference that is really focused on how to elevate content creators, how they can grow, how they can monetize, learn what the different tools are, come together."
Blue called up Anthony Melchiorri, president of Argeo Hospitality and long-time consultant and developer in the hotel industry, to pitch her idea for the summit and get his thoughts. Melchiorri said his response was a "100% yes."
Melchiorri said there can be friction and competition between content creators in the same space at times. Sharing the best practices and secrets is what the greats in any industry do, though, he said.
"We're in this together, and we're going to help each other," he said. "Everybody's ready, everybody's gonna eat and everybody's gonna be successful if you have the right heart."