SAN JUAN, P.R.—As part of their commitment to the sustainable development of Caribbean tourism, the Caribbean Hotel Assn. (CHA) and Skyauction.com have agreed to extend their successful room exchange program to Caribbean hotel members who wish to participate in the upcoming Green Globe International & Caribbean Green Tourism Conference. The event will be held November 1 to 3 at the Half Moon Hotel in Montego Bay, Jamaica.
“This is great news, especially for the small properties, given the interest many of them have showed, and the potential benefits for them,” says Deirdre Shurland, director of the Caribbean Alliance for Sustainable Tourism (CAST). “Now this important hotel sector of CHA has an alternative means of paying for their registration—one that offers them the additional marketing benefit of online visibility at no additional cost.”
The Room Exchange Program allows CHA members to trade room nights as fulfillment for the participation in CHA events, membership fees or Gold Book advertising. Skyauction researches the auction value of the hotel’s rooms using tools such as the hotel’s website, Expedia, Travelocity, and Skyauction.com’s own expertise in the industry, to determine the number of room nights that would be needed to fulfill the dues. The hotel would then sign a Skyauction.com agreement for the required number of nights.
“Enhancing the Business of Tourism—The Path to Sustainability” is the general theme of the Green Globe International and Caribbean Green Tourism Conference. During three days, sustainability experts, industry leaders, as well as public, private and non-government organization representatives will meet to define problems, specify urgencies and discuss the future of sustainable development in the Caribbean. The main goal of the conference is to determine the priorities and actions that Green Globe Asia Pacific, CAST and their industry partners should pursue over the next two years, in service to the regional tourism industry.
Registration is open for all tourism-related companies and industry sectors with fees starting at $225.00 for small business (hotels with 75 rooms or less and companies with less than 50 employees) and room rates from $160.00 per night at the Half Moon Hotel. Daily conference registration rates are also available at $175.00 (Wednesday and Thursday) and $100.00 (Friday) per delegate. The conference secretariat is working to secure airline discounts and details will be posted shortly at www.caribbeanhotelassociation.com.
