PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE
by Earl Wilde

Now that I have had a little time to settle into the position as President of the BC Hotel Association, I have had the opportunity to reflect on what I would like to see accomplished over the next couple of years. 
Of course, there are many challenges and opportunities that will present themselves in the coming months. You can rest assured that your CEO, James Chase, and the staff at the BCHA will continue to work hard on issues such as the province-wide labour shortage and the determination of best practices for using the 2% hotel marketing tax. We have the opportunity to become a greener industry and we encourage you to enroll your property in the Green Key program on the Hotel Association of Canada website www.hotelassociation.ca/site/programs/green_key.htm.

There is, however, one objective that is at the top of my list and it is one that I will strive to achieve over my term of office. I believe that we are in the perfect position to strengthen our membership and to bring the various stakeholders of our hospitality industry together under one umbrella. This is not to suggest that the various associations would change their existing structure. It simply means that we would be able to identify and pursue common issues, especially in the areas of government relations and member benefits. 
Our first priority should be to strengthen the membership in every zone in the province. I believe that every hotel that meets our membership criteria should become a part of the BC Hotel Association. Your business can only benefit from a strong association. Whether we’re working with local government or coming together to support an event in our communities, strength is in the numbers. 

If you have non-member properties in your area, please ask them to consider joining the one association that will benefit them the most. It simply makes sense. Contact the BCHA office for more information on the benefits of membership, or go to www.bchotelassociation.com. 

It is a strange coincidence (some would call it fate) that the BC Restaurant & Foodservices Association, the BC Lodging and Campground Association, and the Council of Tourism Associations are all seeking to relocate their offices in 2008. All of these associations have expressed an interest in sharing office space with the BC Hotel Association. At our Board of Directors’ meeting in January a motion was passed directing the executive to explore our options for selling our building and securing a larger, stratified office space in or near Vancouver’s downtown core. 

The logistics of such a move are daunting to say the least, but the resulting synergies would be well worth the effort. It is a golden opportunity to bring the hospitality industry in BC together under one roof, and I ask for the assistance of the staff, the board and the members to make that goal a reality.