Incentive Travel Exchange

NEW YORK (Feb. 2, 2015) ─ Buyers and suppliers who plan to attend Questex Hospitality + Travel's 10th anniversary Incentive Travel Exchange (ITE) event March 18-21 at The Delano Las Vegas at Mandalay Bay can look forward to numerous development opportunities, thanks to a robust educational program, dynamic keynote address and landmark Las Vegas hotel tours.

Questex, in partnership with the Society for Incentive Travel Excellence (SITE), will offer an insightful education session, "Managing the Incentive Travel Experience: Planning and Logistics," led by Ann Gravette (PICTURED RIGHT), a 23-year industry veteran who is director, quality excellence, learning & development, for Maritz Travel, based in Fenton, Missouri. She earned her Six Sigma Black Belt at Villanova University in Pennsylvania and is a Certified Meeting Planner and Experience Economy Certified Expert.

Participants will discuss the planning phases crucial for incentive travel program management. They also will review proven solutions to mitigate common risks inherent in incentive travel. The course also will provide project management strategies to help incentive travel professionals manage incentive travel programs more efficiently and effectively.

"Attendees will learn to plan an incentive travel program, from definition through final evaluation, while identifying the key logistical details involved in managing an incentive travel program," said Danielle Cirami-Gillis, Questex's vice president of event sales.

Michael Dominguez, senior vice president of hotel sales for MGM Resorts International, will serve as the keynote speaker for ITE 2015, offering insights on sales performance excellence. Dominguez provides oversight for MGM Resorts International hotel sales in Las Vegas and other global destinations. He is responsible for leisure and group sales, including 42,000 hotel rooms and 3 million square feet of meeting space.

Las Vegas pre-event hotel site inspections will include stops at The Mirage Hotel & Casino, ARIA Resort & Casino and Bellagio Resort & Casino.

"This year, ITE celebrates its 10th anniversary, a milestone representing a decade of success, new leads generated and thousands of dollars in revenue earned by our suppliers," said Cirami-Gillis. "At ITE, the opportunities for networking and growing your incentive business are vast and offer a high return on investment."

The event brings together prequalified, top-producing buyers and global suppliers of incentive travel for prearranged meetings, high-caliber networking and educational opportunities. Suppliers will include cruise lines, tour operators, destination management companies and sought-after incentive destinations across the globe, including hotels, resorts and spas.

ITE provides suppliers the opportunity to meet one-on-one with fully vetted, high-performing meeting and incentive travel buyers with preset meetings in the privacy of a luxury suite. Buyers represent key incentive purchasing sectors including corporate incentive buyers and incentive companies, both full-service and travel.

The hosted buyer program gives premium meeting and incentive travel buyers the opportunity to maximize their time during focused meetings with leading incentive travel suppliers and networking with industry colleagues.

For the latest event information, please visit IncentiveTravelExchange.com. Global Meeting & Incentive Travel Exchanges (GMITE), owned and managed by Questex LLC, feature invitation-only, appointment-based events catering exclusively to the meetings, incentives, conferences and events (MICE) market. For more information, visit GlobalTravelExchanges.com.

About Questex Hospitality + Travel

The Questex Hospitality + Travel Group of Questex LLC serves the worldwide hospitality, travel and related industries that together contribute over $6 trillion the global gross domestic product. Through an innovative platform of targeted solutions, the group serves the sector's entire ecosystem, from tourism and hotel development and investment to hotel design, purchasing, management and operations.

The Questex Hospitality + Travel Group serves every business-to-business segment of the industry, from investment and development to management operations, sales and marketing of hospitality and travel products to destination development and marketing, via proven demand generation, learning, loyalty and rewards solutions as well as a network of live events. This division of Questex is aligned around three broad market segments – hospitality, travel and meetings – and supported by its Digital Media staff.

Additional information is available at questex.com/markets/hospitality-travel.

Evy Apostolatos
RDR PR LLC
973-452-7208
Questex