Washington, August 4, 2011—Chip Conley, founder and executive chairman of Joie de Vivre, will receive the 2012 International Society of Hospitality Consultants (ISHC) Pioneer Award at the Americas Lodging Investment Summit (ALIS), January 23-25, 2012, in Los Angeles.

Since starting the company at age 26, Conley has overseen the creation of more than 50 original boutique hotels at all price points and of all sizes almost exclusively in California, and is the country’s second-largest boutique hotelier.  Conley has written four books, including the bestseller PEAK, and Emotional Equations, which will be released January 2012.  He’s raised more than $5 million for San Francisco inner city youth programs.  Conley received his bachelor of arts and master of business administration from Stanford University, and has a son and three grandchildren.

He was honored by the San Francisco Business Times as the “Most Innovative CEO” in the Bay Area in 2007.  The paper also awarded the company the 2nd Best Place to Work in the Bay Area in 2008, and Market Metrix gave Joie de Vivre first place in customer satisfaction in the Upper Upscale hotel category in 2010.  USA Today calculated that no hotelier worldwide had created more boutique hotels and editorialized that the company represents “the most delightfully schizophrenic collection of hotels in America."

The ISHC Pioneer Award was established in 1996, honoring those in the lodging community based on three criteria: active involvement in the industry, extensive contribution to the industry, and personal/organizational attributes and qualities.  Details on specific criteria supporting the general categories are available on the ISHC Website.

Co-hosted by the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AH&LA) and Burba Hotel Network (BHN), the two-and-a-half-day ALIS event features an extensive array of seminars and panels hosted by leading experts and investors discussing important trends and identifying new opportunities.  The conference attracts the lodging industry’s leading hotel executives, investors, lenders, developers, and professional advisory community. Proceeds from ALIS benefit the educational, research, and training missions of the American Hotel & Lodging Education Foundation (AH&LEF), AH&LA’s nonprofit affiliate.  For information on the Foundation, visit www.ahlef.com.

Online registration is available via the ALIS Website.  For general event information and sponsorship opportunities, contact BHN associate Jodi Braverman at [email protected].

Serving the hospitality industry for a century, AH&LA is the sole national association representing all sectors and stakeholders in the lodging industry, including individual hotel property members, hotel companies, student and faculty members, and industry suppliers. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., AH&LA provides members with national advocacy on Capitol Hill, public relations and image management, education, research and information, and other value-added services to provide bottom line savings and ensure a positive business climate for the lodging industry. Partner state associations provide local representation and additional cost-saving benefits to members.

AH&LEF is the charitable fund-raising and endowed fund-management subsidiary of the American Hotel & Lodging Association. Founded in 1953, AH&LEF is the premier organization for scholarships, professional certification, and instructional material as well as funding for hospitality industry research.

BHN is the worldwide leader in developing and organizing conferences for the hotel and tourism investment community. With more than two decades of experience, over 80 events completed or in production to date, and more than 60,000 international delegates, BHN conferences have become “must attend” events for industry leaders who come together to network, conduct business and to learn about the latest trends. BHN events include the Americas Lodging Investment Summit (ALIS) in Los Angeles; the ALIS Summer Update in Dallas; the Caribbean Hotel & Resort Investment Summit (CHRIS) in Miami; HICAP JAPAN in Tokyo; the Hotel Investment Conference Asia Pacific (HICAP) in Hong Kong; HICAP UPDATE in Singapore; the Hotel Investment Forum India (HIFI) in Mumbai; the Hotel Opportunities Latin America (HOLA) conference in Miami, and the new Hotel Investment Conference Europe (Hot.E) in London. The BHN website at www.Burba.com is the gateway for information about the conferences BHN produces, as well as a direct link to important players in the hospitality investment world.

ISHC is a professional society of leading hospitality industry consultants. Membership is by invitation only and members are required to abide by the ISHC Code of Professional Conduct.  ISHC is represented by some 200 members who, collectively, have expertise in over 40 different specialty areas and work experience in 65 countries. A complete listing/directory of members and specialty areas of expertise represented within ISHC is available under “Consultant Search” on the ISHC Website, www.ishc.com.