Agenda

2026 Historic Hotels Annual Conference

October 11-16, 2026
Williamsburg Lodge, Autograph Collection

Monday, October 12

Sunday, October 11, Monday, October 12, Tuesday, October 13 – Discover, Explore, and Experience (All Day)

If you have booked and are staying at Williamsburg Lodge, Autograph Collection, you are eligible to receive a pre-conference 3-day America’s Historic Triangle Ticket to visit historic Jamestown, Yorktown, and Colonial Williamsburg (complimentary for all attendees booked at Williamsburg Lodge through conference booking link). Important, the 3-day ticket expires 3 days following the first usage at Jamestown, Yorktown, or Williamsburg. You may select from one of three scheduled custom guided tours (shown below) of Jamestown and Yorktown with bus transportation provided by Visit Williamsburg, or select from Colonial Williamsburg activities and scheduled tours (see the daily calendar of what is scheduled within Colonial Williamsburg). Most activities and attractions within the Colonial Williamsburg historic area are walking from the Williamsburg Lodge or complimentary shuttle transportation provided within the Colonial Williamsburg historic area) also, enjoy golf and spa – both golf and spa are user paid.

Monday, October 12 and Tuesday, October 13

Pre-Conference Historic Triangle Tour - Optional Transportation - Hosted by Visit Williamsburg

Explore the history of America's beginnings prior to the start of the 2026 Historic Hotels Conference. Visit Williamsburg is pleased to provide these three options for complimentary bus transportation to and from Jamestown and Yorktown for conference attendees interested in visiting these iconic historic attractions. REQUIRES Advance sign-up via the Visit Williamsburg link and seats on each bus are subject to availability.

Departure Information for Monday, October 12 and Tuesday, October 13:

Bus Boarding: 8:30 a.m. from Williamsburg Lodge Conference Center
Departure Location: Williamsburg Lodge Conference Center

To provide the best guest experience, two transportation routes will be offered each day.

Route 1 - Offered on Monday, October 12 and Tuesday, October 13

9:30–11:30 a.m. – American Revolution Museum at Yorktown
11:30–12:30 p.m. – Lunch on your own at the Museum Café
1:00–3:00 p.m. – Historic Jamestown
Following the tour – Return transportation to the Williamsburg Lodge Conference Center

Route 2 - Offered only on Tuesday, October 13

9:30–11:30 a.m. – Historic Jamestown
11:30–12:30 p.m. – Lunch on your own
1:00–3:00 p.m. – American Revolution Museum at Yorktown
Following the tour – Return transportation to the Williamsburg Lodge Conference Center

Both routes include visits to the same two attractions—the only difference is the order in which they are visited.

The bus transportation schedule is designed to allow attendees to experience both historic Jamestown and Yorktown in one day. Guests wishing to spend additional time at either museum are welcome to do so and may return to the hotel independently via public transportation or a rideshare service such as Uber or Lyft (at attendee’s own expense)

Tuesday, October 13

8:30 – 11:30 a.m. Roundtables – Hoteliers are invited to join a series of five (5) optional educational roundtables hosted by the Historic Hotels team. These sessions offer a chance to dive into key topics relevant to historic hotels, such as storytelling in guest experience, sustainability, public relations, and member benefits. Designed to foster learning and peer exchange, each roundtable provides practical insights and actionable strategies tailored to the unique challenges and opportunities of operating a historic property. Attendance is flexible–drop in for the discussions that matter most to your team.

8:30 – 8:50 a.m. Reviewing Your Hotel’s History Content, Hosted by Matt Coletti, Member Services and Support

9:05 – 9:25 a.m. A Tour of the New Historic Hotels Websites & 2027 Marketing Opportunities, Hosted by Steph Price, Digital Marketing and Partnership

9:40 – 10:00 a.m. From Timeless Storytelling to Newsworthiness: How Historic Hotels Can Earn Media Attention in 2027, Hosted by Katherine Orr, Marketing Strategy and Communications

10:15 – 10:35 a.m. History is the One Luxury Hotels Cannot Buy: Elevating Social Media for Historic Hotels, Hosted by Nikki Hamidi, Communications and Social Media

10:50 – 11:10 a.m. Turn Preservation into Production, Hosted by Will Steele, Revenue and Distribution

1:00 – 7:00 p.m. Historic Hotels Annual Conference Hospitality Desk – Conference Registration

3:00 – 4:00 p.m. Optional History Tour of Historic Hotels – Williamsburg Lodge Lobby

2026 HISTORIC HOTELS ANNUAL CONFERENCE BEGINS

– Welcome –

6:30 – 9:00 p.m. Welcome Reception, A Taste of Williamsburg – Including full bar, dinner-style appetizers, and special entertainment – Hosted by Visit Williamsburg – Williamsburg Inn Social Terrace

Wednesday, October 14

7:00 – 4:30 p.m. Historic Hotels Annual Conference Hospitality Desk – Conference Registration

7:00 – 8:00 a.m. Breakfast & Tradeshow, Sponsored by Jonas Hospitality

Location: Williamsburg Lodge – Virginia Room ABCD (Lower Level)

8:10 a.m. General Session, Sponsored by GCommerce

Location: Williamsburg Lodge – Virginia Room EF (Lower Level)

Welcome – Larry Horwitz, Executive Vice President, Historic Hotels of America and Historic Hotels Worldwide

Board of Advisors Greeting – Joseph J. Vezzoso, Chair, Board of Advisors; Vice President Resort Operations and Sales at French Lick Resort / French Lick & West Baden Springs Hotels

Opening Remarks and Welcome – Ed Harris, President & CEO, Visit Williamsburg

Opening Remarks and Welcome – Rhonda Khabir, Chair of the 2024 Host Committee, Vice President, Hospitality, Colonial Williamsburg

Keynote Speaker – Urgency for the AHLA to Win More Federal, State, and Local Tax Support for Hotels – Rosanna Maietta, President and CEO, American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA)

Sponsors and Exhibitors Introductions – Greg Leinweber, Vice President, Development & Sales, Historic Hotels of America and Historic Hotels Worldwide

9:55 a.m. Networking Coffee Break & Tradeshow – Sponsored by Toast

Location: Williamsburg Lodge – Virginia Room ABCD (Lower Level)

10:25 a.m. General Session – Sponsored by Milestone

Hosted by Stephanie Calhoun, Senior Vice President, Operations Historic Hotels of America and Historic Hotels Worldwide

Location: Williamsburg Lodge – Virginia Room EF (Lower Level)

Keynote Speaker – Chief Stephen R. Adkins, Principal Chief, Chickahominy Indian Tribe

Keynote Speaker – Christy S. Coleman, Executive Director, Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation

Keynote Speaker – Routes to Success from Nostalgia, Recipes, Journeys, and stories, Ted Ryan – Archives and Heritage Brand Manager, Ford Motor Company

12:30 – 1:30 p.m. Welcome and Celebration of New Members Buffet Lunch – Sponsored by Coca-Cola^®

Location: Williamsburg Lodge – Colony Room DE (Main Floor)

1:45 – 2:25 p.m. Academies – Select one from Academy #1, #2, #3 or #4 – Sponsored by Steelite International

Colony Room A, Colony Room BC, Tidewater AB, Tidewater CD

Academy 1:

Is Marketing Failing Your Sales Team?

Subject Matter Expert: Thomas McDermott, Chief Marketing Officer, Tambourine

When it comes to your leisure segment, your marketing teams build multi-layered media plans and elaborate websites. They deploy advanced email marketing strategies, remarketing campaigns, and personalization. But where are these advanced marketing tactics when it comes to group? In this session, we’ll unpack what it looks like when marketing takes an active role in supporting the group sales team.

What You Will Learn:

How to build a direct booking ecosystem that drives group business
How to reach more meeting planners and generate more direct group leads
How to turn more group leads into wins
How to align sales, marketing, and catering across the group buying journey
How to make group marketing a measurable driver of sales and demand

Academy 2: Beyond the Museum Walls: Using Strategic Licensing and Partnerships to Expand Your Brand
Subject Matter Expert: Kiri Franco, Director of Brand & Licensing, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation

Licensing and brand partnerships create opportunities to extend an organization’s mission beyond its walls by leveraging intellectual property, scholarship, and established brand equity through strategic collaboration and thoughtfully developed product storytelling. In 2025, it was reported that global sales of licensed merchandise and services reached a groundbreaking $369.9 billion in the prior year. This session explores how to tap into this growing market, build successful licensing programs that preserve authenticity, generate earned revenue, and expand audience reach. The process for partner selection, program development, and marketing will be highlighted, with practical examples on how Colonial Williamsburg engages new audiences, strengthens brand visibility, and creates lasting value.

What You Will Learn:

Develop a licensing strategy that aligns with your mission, intellectual property, and brand values.
Identify and cultivate distinctive partnerships that expand audience reach and reinforce shared missions
Evaluate the most important criteria when considering collaborations, both qualitative and quantitative
Collaborate with retail, marketing, and legal teams to develop noteworthy products and experiences
Understand different tiers of opportunity- niche, micro, macro, mega - and how each benefit your hotel
Leverage PR, social media, and partnerships for visibility
Create lasting relationships that continue to generate brand amplification even after formal agreements may have ended

Academy 3: Preserving Tradition, Inspiring Innovation: The Williamsburg Inn Culinary Legacy

Subject Matter Expert: Travis Brust, Executive Director, Food & Beverage, Colonial Williamsburg Company

Join us for a fascinating journey through nearly a century of culinary excellence, where history, hospitality, and innovation come together at America's iconic Williamsburg Inn. Moving from the initial hospitality vision of Abby and John D. Rockefeller Jr. to the legacy of modern culinary trends, attendees will trace ninety years of dining evolution, influential chefs, and historic royal visits.

What You Will Learn:

The Inn’s Origins: The history behind Abby and John D. Rockefeller Jr.’s foundational vision for the Williamsburg Inn and its role in establishing hospitality standards.
Culinary Evolution: How menus, flavor profiles, and dining experiences have transformed over the last ninety years, alongside the stories of influential chefs who led the way.
American Culinary Heritage: The history and diversity of American cuisine, and how Colonial Williamsburg works to preserve and elevate that national food legacy.
Historic Milestones: The behind-the-scenes stories of signature menus, state dinners, and hosting distinguished royal guests.
Future Trends: How the Inn navigates emerging culinary trends and evolving guest expectations while still honoring its historic legacy.

Academy 4: The Dog in the Lobby

Subject Matter Expert: William P. Perry, Jr., Founder and Group CEO, Spark Hudson

Ninety-five million American households own a pet, and the industry that serves them reached $158 billion in 2024, with $165 billion projected for 2026 (American Pet Products Association, 2025). Those households travel, and they book the hotel that will take the dog. For a historic property the question is not whether to accept pets. It is whether the program has been designed, cleaned, priced, and accounted for, or simply allowed to happen.

This session treats a pet program as an operating discipline with six moving parts. It is built for owners, general managers, directors of finance, and the people who actually clean the rooms and maintain the grounds.

What You Will Learn:

The pet experience. Arrival ritual, in-room amenity kits, and public-space etiquette. Which amenities guests use, which ones only photograph well, and how to build a program that reads as hospitality rather than tolerance.
Cleanliness and turnover. Room designation strategy, deep-clean protocol, allergen and dander control in historic textiles, soft goods, and original flooring, and the point at which ordinary turnover becomes an extraordinary cleaning event.
Revenue and accounting treatment. Fee, deposit, and damage recovery as three different instruments. Where each belongs under the Uniform System of Accounts for the Lodging Industry, 12th Revised Edition, effective January 1, 2026, including the new Extraordinary Cleaning Fees account that names pet damage as a triggering example (Mandelbaum & Miller, 2024).
Social media. Guest pets are among the highest-engagement content a historic property can publish. Consent, staffing, cadence, and a posting rhythm a small team can sustain without an agency.
Landscaping and grounds. Relief areas, turf and plant selection with attention to toxicity (specifically plants), waste stations, drainage, and lighting, all weighed against the preservation obligations that come with historic gardens and hardscape.
Artificial intelligence in the pet experience. Pre-arrival guest and pet profiling, personalized welcome, matching pet inventory to the right rooms, and faster service recovery when something goes wrong.

2:25 – 2:30 p.m. Switch Academies – Transition from Session 1 to Session 2

2:30 – 3:15 p.m. Academies – Select one from Academy #5, #6, #7, or #8 Academy Break sponsored by AHLA

Academy 5: Bridging Museums and Hospitality: Historically Relevant Interiors for the 21^st Century Historic Hotel

Subject Matter Expert: Cheryl Griggs, Director of Interior Design, The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation

The interior of a historic hotel can significantly influence the guest's experience, property reputation, and income potential. Historic hotel interiors have the potential to create a strong sense of place, reflecting the unique history of the property while balancing authenticity with modern guest comfort. Collaboration with preservation, curators, and branding experts foster design decisions that honor a property's heritage while effectively communicating its history to guests. By developing and maintaining timeless interiors, properties can preserve their character and brand identity for generations to come. In this session we explore how a thoughtfully designed historic property cultivates storytelling and serves as the backdrop for memorable guest experiences. Attendees will explore how Colonial Williamsburg hotels combine carefully curated interiors, distinctive programming, and enduring traditions to enhance brand identity, and inspire multi-generation guest loyalty.

What You Will Learn:

Create environments that provide a sense of place through interiors that reflect the historical significance of your property.
Balance authentic décor with modern amenities and guest comfort to achieve the best of both worlds.
Tell your story and reinforce branding through strategic furnishing solutions that provide a backdrop for transformative guest experiences.
Develop interiors that stand the test of time and preserve valuable resources.
Partner with historians, curators, preservationists, craftsmen, product development and branding experts in achieving interior design goals, inform the guests about the history of your property and strengthen historical and brand significance.
Build guest loyalty through memorable, time-honored traditions in distinctive programming and historically relevant interior decor.

Academy 6: The New Power of Guest Data: Using Data to Enhance Guest Experience and Drive Profits

Subject Matter Expert: Rick Sousa, Sales Director, Fuel Travel

Your guests are already telling you what they want. Today's travelers expect personalized, meaningful experiences—86% actively seek them, and personalization can drive up to a 306% increase in lifetime customer value. Yet only 23% of hotel guests feel they receive that level of service. That gap is your opportunity.

What You Will Learn:

Close the personalization gap at every stage of the guest journey; deliver the right offer at the right moment to boost ancillary revenue; unify siloed information across multiple systems; reduce manual work while empowering every department to act. This session will show hotels how guest preferences, behaviors, and booking patterns can improve experience, increase revenue, and build loyalty. Through real-world stories and practical strategies, you'll learn how smarter data turns single stays into repeat business – and happy guests into loyal fans.

Reserve your seat and start putting your guest data to work.

Turn existing guest data into profitable action across every stage of the journey.
Deliver the right offer at the right moment to boost ancillary revenue.
Reduce manual work so teams focus on service, not systems.
Transform single stays into repeat business and loyalty.

Academy 7: How Data Benchmarks Create the Best Business Strategy - Your CoStar + STR Enhancement

Subject Matter Expert: Brandon Gill, Sales Executive – STR (CoStar Group)

STR's data and reports are now seamlessly integrated into CoStar, with clients receiving full access to this world-leading platform of commercial real estate information, analytics, and news. This expanded product experience is empowering STR clients with an unprecedented level of market intelligence, empowering users to fine-tune their commercial strategies and elevate their lead generation efforts.

What You Will Learn:

Understanding the features that come with a CoStar + Benchmark subscription
How to action data in a more efficient way to take advantage of every opportunity
Why this expanded benchmarking solution is especially valuable to Historic Hotel members
Understand how enhanced data and analytics as well as a view of the complete CRE market will help your overall business strategy

Academy 8: Building a Hotel Memory: Using AI to Preserve and Activate Your Property’s History

Subject Matter Expert: Gina Petrone, Heritage Manager at Hotel del Coronado

A historic hotel’s story is often scattered across archives, newspapers, photographs, property files, and the memories of longtime team members. AI can help bring that sourced research together into an organized, searchable body of knowledge that grows over time. We’ll explore how to build a reliable “hotel memory” and put it to work. Through real-world examples and live demonstrations, you’ll see how good research can uncover overlooked stories—and how AI can help organize those discoveries, reveal connections, and transform verified history into tours, talking points, guest experiences, training, and other practical uses throughout the hotel.

What You Will Learn:

Explore a practical process to collect, research, verify, source, organize, preserve, and access your hotel’s historical knowledge
Learn how to structure archival materials and sourced research as a searchable, continually growing ‘hotel memory’
Discover how AI can uncover connections, identify overlooked stories, and distinguish compelling narratives from claims requiring further research
See through real-world examples and live demonstrations how verified research can become tours, talking points, historical overviews, guest experiences, marketing content, and team member training
Understand the limitations of AI—including inaccurate information and repeated hotel lore—and why human expertise and reliable sources remain essential

3:15 – 4:15 p.m. Networking Break & Tradeshow – Sponsored by STR (CoStar Group)

Location: Williamsburg Lodge – Virginia Room ABCD (Lower Level)

6:00 – 9:00 p.m. Shields Tavern Dinner – Shields Pavilion

Location: Meet in lobby of Williamsburg Lodge and join us for a Fife & Drum Escort to reception and dinner; Colonial dancers and musicians at dinner; Special Ghost Tour following Tavern dinner. Flat walking shoes strongly encouraged.

Thursday, October 15

7:00 – 4:00 p.m. Historic Hotels Annual Conference Hospitality Desk – Conference Registration

7:00 – 8:00 a.m. Breakfast & Tradeshow – Sponsored by Tambourine

Location: Williamsburg Lodge – Virginia Room ABCD (Lower Level)

8:15 a.m. General Session – Sponsored by Aven Hospitality

Location: Williamsburg Lodge – Virginia Room EF (Lower Level)

Welcome – Larry Horwitz, Executive Vice President, Historic Hotels of America and Historic Hotels Worldwide

Guest Speaker – Hidden Hospitality: Timeless Lessons in Belonging, Experience and Legacy – Calvin Stovall, Chief Experience Officer, ICONIC Presentations, LLC.; author; and internationally recognized keynote speaker

Rediscover Black-Owned Hotels, Motels, and Resorts – and the History Behind Them

Throughout America’s history of slavery and segregation, Black travelers faced not just unwelcoming environments but the challenge of finding safe places to rest and recharge. In response to this basic human need, courageous Black entrepreneurs carved out spaces within the dominant culture, creating a network of Black-owned establishments that offered comfort and safety to Black travelers. Calvin Stovall, a hospitality professional with nearly thirty years in the industry, brings this overlooked history to light. In Hidden Hospitality: Untold Stories of Black Hotel, Motel, and Resort Owners from the Pioneer Days to the Civil

Rights Era, Stovall shares the inspiring paths of these pioneers. He highlights the immense challenges they faced and the enduring impact of their establishments, showing how their spaces became vibrant hubs of Black culture, where people could gather, find joy, and be their true selves.

Keynote Talk – Key Takeaways:

Look deeper
Honor legacy
Celebrate the rich, complex heritage of our industry.

Keynote Speaker – Creating Historic Hospitality in the Age of AI – Stuart W. Greif, Chief Strategy, Innovation & Operating Officer, Forbes Travel Guide

Keynote Talk – Key Takeaways:

Forbes Travel Guide has long served as one of the hospitality industry’s most respected authorities on elevating service excellence, driving quality, and delivering luxury travel experiences. Stuart is also one of the foremost industry experts on how AI is transforming Hospitality.
Stuart will share key insights and trends Forbes Travel Guide sees across 100+ countries globally spanning luxury hospitality, guest experience, and service excellence as well as the evolving expectations of luxury travelers. He will share specific examples of how one can raise the bar on service, including through anticipatory service.
Learn what every historic hotel needs to understand about AI, how it is transforming our industry, and what is most critical to focus upon
Learn ways historic hotels can successfully balance preservation, storytelling, and modern guest expectations while delivering exceptional service experiences – and turn your unique history into competitive differentiation and advantage that stands out even in the age of AI.

10:00 – 10:25 a.m. Networking Coffee Break & Tradeshow – Sponsored by Sponsored by Corsicana

Hospitality

Location: Williamsburg Lodge – Virginia Room ABCD (Lower Level)

10:30 a.m. General Session, Sponsored by Majestic

Location: Williamsburg Lodge – Virginia Room EF (Lower Level)

Keynote Speaker – The Duality of Leadership – Lessons from History for Today’s Hospitality Leaders, Subject Matter Expert: Gary Hernbroth – Customer Experience Expert, Leadership Consultant, and Author

In this 250th milestone year, the Historic Hotels of America conference convening in Colonial Williamsburg – a place where leadership was forged, tested, and defined – offers the perfect backdrop for a powerful truth: leaders are expected to pull their people up the hill, but who pulls them up the hill? In this energizing keynote, award winning speaker, coach, and author Gary Hernbroth explores one of the key leadership tenets from his book Twist the Familiar™: great leaders succeed not because they are endlessly strong, but because they understand the duality of leadership – the balance between leading others and ensuring they themselves are supported, motivated, and equipped. Gary will draw on a pivotal moment from early American history – one that unfolded not far from where this conference is being held – to illustrate how even iconic leaders needed outside assistance to break through tough conditions. The full story will be revealed from the stage, but its lesson is timeless: leadership is behavior, not a title.

Keynote Talk – Key Takeaways:

Lead with duality – knowing when to drive, when to support, and when to seek reinforcements
Break through barriers – because the goal of a leader is often to help your team break through where they think they can’t
Stay motivated as a leader even when the climb gets steep

Keynote Speaker –The Historic Hotels of America – STR Forecast 2026-2028 – Brandon Gill, Senior Sales Executive, Hospitality Analytics, STR (CoStar Group)

12:01 p.m. Announcement of 2027 Historic Hotels Annual Conference Location, 2027 Host Committee Chair

12:20 – 1:50 p.m. Historic Milestones & Celebrations Plated Lunch, Sponsored by Standard Textile & Mascioni

Location: Williamsburg Lodge – Colony Room DE (Main Floor)

Keynote Speaker – Leadership, Stewardship, and Preserving Places of Enduring Significance – Looking Ahead After the First 100 Years of Colonial Williamsburg,

Carly Fiorina, President & CEO, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation

1:55 to 2:40 p.m. Academies – Select one from Academy #9, #10, #11, or #12 this block, Sponsored by Spectrum Business
Colony Room A, Colony Room BC, Tidewater AB, Tidewater CD, Liberty AB

Academy 9: Leveraging AI: The proprietary playbook for winning new customers and future-proofing your marketing

Subject Matter Expert: Scott van Hartesvelt – Founder GCommerce Solutions

In a few short years, AI has become the dominant channel for travel inspiration and research. 55% of US consumers now use AI as part of their travel booking journey. A collection of specific tactics can keep your hotel visible on these emerging channels. The pace of change is only accelerating. The steps hotels take today will determine their future market share. In this academy, the Founder of GCommerce will give you a step-by-step guide for building your AI foundation and outline the new AI innovations that will transform the future of hospitality.

What You Will Learn:

The current state of the consumer booking journey, and how AI has upended our collective understanding.
Understand the specific steps you can take now on your website, social media, and other owned channels to ensure visibility in AI searches.
Understand the three phases of Hospitality AI - and how to prepare for each:
1. Visibility
2. Bookability
3. Agentic AI
Frontier Risks: Where AI can cause more harm than good to your brand
Discover the secret AI advantage of being a Historic Hotel, and how to leverage it. Hint: Historic Hotels of America can help.
How to balance your marketing mix, and what digital channels have become obsolete in the era of AI.

Academy 10: Preserving the Past, Elevating the Guest Experience: Lessons from Colonial Williamsburg

Subject Matter Expert: Matthew Webster, Vice President, Operations, The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation

Colonial Williamsburg is home to one of the nation's largest and most respected preservation programs, stewarding hundreds of historic structures while creating meaningful guest experiences rooted in authenticity. This session explores the principles, research methodologies, standards, and decision-making processes that guide preservation efforts across the Historic Area. Attendees will gain practical insights into protecting irreplaceable historic assets while transforming preservation into a compelling component of the guest experience, storytelling, and brand differentiation.

What You Will Learn:

Apply guiding preservation principles to safeguard irreplaceable historic resources.
Navigate preservation standards and identify trusted resources for best practices.
Utilize archival, architectural, and archaeological research to better understand historic structures.
Make informed preservation decisions that balance historical integrity with operational needs.
Transform preservation efforts into engaging guest experiences that strengthen storytelling and enhance marketing.
Position authenticity as a competitive advantage that increases guest engagement and reinforces brand value.

Academy 11: Turning Service Breakdowns into Loyalty – Building Opportunities

Subject Matter Expert: Gary Hernbroth – Customer Experience Expert, Leadership Consultant, and Author

Every guest experience is a promise. And when that promise is broken, great leaders have an opportunity to strengthen –not weaken – the guest relationship. Even the finest hotels occasionally experience service and product breakdowns. A room isn't quite ready. A maintenance issue slips through. A well-intentioned employee says the wrong thing. Left unchecked, small problems can quickly snowball into frustrated guests, damaged reputations, and lost business. But they don't have to. Drawing from one of the most memorable stories in his Amazon #1 Top New Release in the Business category, Twist the Familiar™, speaker, business coach, and hospitality veteran Gary Hernbroth shares the true story of a hotel stay where one service failure after another – from a room plagued with maintenance problems to missed opportunities for recovery – tested not only a property's operations, but its leadership, culture, and commitment to guest care. Through audience interaction, engaging discussion, humor, and practical coaching, Gary challenges participants to view familiar service breakdowns through a fresh lens. Together, you'll explore how the moments that test your organization most can become your greatest opportunities to build guest confidence, strengthen employee accountability, and create lasting customer loyalty. You'll leave with practical ideas and proven strategies you can immediately apply to elevate the guest experience – especially when things don't go according to plan.

What You Will Learn:

Transform service breakdowns into loyalty-building moments by responding with empathy, ownership, and confidence that turns disappointed guests into enthusiastic advocates.
Recognize the hidden breakdowns in communication, quality control, and organizational culture before they quietly undermine the guest experience.
Equip your team with a practical service recovery playbook that empowers employees to resolve problems quickly, protect your reputation, and reinforce your brand promise.

Academy 12: What does it take to be a Forbes Travel Guide 5-Star Hotel and to deliver Hospitality & Service at the Highest Level?

Subject Matter Expert: Stuart W. Greif, Chief Strategy, Innovation & Operating Officer, Forbes Travel Guide

For 68 years and across 100+ countries, Forbes Travel Guide has set the global standards for luxury hospitality and brought its world leading expertise in Service Excellence at the highest level to drive performance and results for many of the world’s most admired, respected, and iconic luxury brands across industries. Forbes Travel Guide is also home to many of the world’s leading learning and development experts who teach principles of hospitality and service far beyond the standards themselves. Go behind the stars to understand their approach to evaluating and ratings hotels, restaurants, spas and cruise lines and how they teach hospitality across travel, hospitality and many other industries—sharing the principles and examples you can apply in your own hotel regardless of what style of hospitality and service you choose and regardless of what level and segment of customers you are choosing to serve.

What You Will Learn:

What’s behind the stars in how Forbes Travel Guide evaluates and rates hotels at a granular level
Learn why and service and emotional connection are such a heavy focus in support of you delivering excellence for your guests
Understand how Forbes Travel Guide approaches learning and development from an anticipatory, flexible, and adaptive approach – and NOT a rigid standardized approach!
Discover use cases and examples of these principles in practice, from some of the world’s most highly regarded and esteemed hotels, which you can use and adapt for your hotel
See through other industry examples how hospitality has gone horizontal and ideas, learnings, and approaches from which we can learn
Engage in discussion and Q&A to actively participate in the conversation with your experience, ideas, and questions

2:40 p.m. Switch Academies – Transition from Session 1 to Session 2

2:45 – 3:30 p.m. Academies – Select one from Academy #13, #14, #15, #16 – Sponsored by Guest Services Worldwide

Academy 13: The Answer AI Chooses: Winning the New Hospitality Customer Journey

Subject Matter Expert: Brandon Ahearn, Senior Director of Sales, Milestone Inc.

Guests no longer type "hotels near downtown Chicago" and scroll ten blue links; they describe exactly what they want to an AI assistant and expect a personalized answer back. This session unpacks how AI search, assistants, and emerging AI agents are rewriting the hospitality customer journey, and what hotels and hospitality brands must do now to make sure they're the answer AI recommends, not the OTA it defaults to.

What You Will Learn:

How AI is reshaping guest discovery: from query fan-out (how AI breaks one question into dozens of micro-questions) to how AI "grounds" its recommendations in trustworthy sources, and what that means for your content strategy
How to earn citations from ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and Perplexity: the technical and content fundamentals (crawlability, freshness, schema/entity markup, business profile completeness) that determine whether AI engines cite you or a third-party OTA
What's next: agentic commerce: how AI agents are starting to discover, compare, and even transact on a guest's behalf, and how hotels can prepare their data and systems for this shift
Turning AI-driven content into personalized guest experiences: using brand and guest data to auto-generate content that's both AI-optimized and genuinely useful to travelers
A practical roadmap for the new customer journey: measuring your AI visibility today and closing the gaps before competitors do

Academy 14: Balancing Heritage and New Audiences: Marketing a Historic Destination for Today's Traveler

Subject Matter Expert: Greg Kavanagh, Vice President Business Development, Visit Williamsburg

Historic hotels are more than places to stay – they are storytellers, cultural ambassadors, and often the first impression visitors have of a destination. Today's travelers, however, seek more than history alone. They are looking for authentic experiences, immersive programming, modern comforts, and memorable moments worth sharing. This session explores how historic hotels can successfully attract new generations of travelers – including younger audiences, families, leisure guests, meeting planners, and experience-driven visitors – without compromising the authenticity that defines their properties. Drawing on destination marketing insights, evolving visitor trends, and real-world examples from Williamsburg, attendees will discover strategies to position historic hotels as both timeless and relevant through storytelling, partnerships, experiential programming, and modern marketing tactics that drive visitation, occupancy, and guest engagement.

What You Will Learn:

Leverage the history and character of their property to create compelling experiences for today's traveler.
Reach younger audiences and first-time visitors through authentic storytelling, social media, and digital marketing.
Transform historic assets into marketable guest experiences that encourage longer stays, repeat visitation, and stronger guest advocacy.
Build strategic partnerships with local attractions, restaurants, cultural institutions, and destination marketing organizations to create seamless visitor experiences.
Increase appeal among meeting planners, group organizers, and niche travel markets seeking distinctive venues.
Balance preservation, authenticity, and evolving guest expectations while maintaining a competitive position in today's hospitality landscape.

Academy 15: How to Leverage Destination Heritage in Your Recreational Spaces into Memorable Guest Experiences

Subject Matter Expert: Rhonda Khabir, Senior Vice President, Hospitality, Colonial Williamsburg Resorts

Subject Matter Expert: Aimee Morrill, Director, Spa of Colonial Williamsburg

Colonial Williamsburg is uniquely positioned to bridge world-class recreation with living history, offering immersive guest experiences across both The Spa of Colonial Williamsburg and the legendary Golden Horseshoe Golf Club. This session explores how to seamlessly incorporate rich historical assets into modern recreational operations—from 18th-century wellness traditions to championship course design. Attendees will discover how to leverage destination heritage as a powerful differentiator, utilize historical techniques in amenity management, and transform recreational spaces into compelling storytelling platforms that elevate the entire resort brand.

What You Will Learn

Incorporate history and period-inspired techniques into modern recreational and wellness assets.
Identify and amplify the unique elements that make resort amenities stand out from competing properties.
Capitalize on rich destination history to drive guest engagement, loyalty, and brand differentiation.
Balance historical integrity and preservation techniques with contemporary luxury standards and operational needs.
Position authenticity as a competitive advantage that strengthens storytelling and enhances overall resort value.

Academy 16: Jefferson’s Journey: From Journal to Glass – A Historic Journey Through the Wines of Piedmont

Subject Matter Experts: Mark Frankel, Brand Ambassador, The Williamsburg Winery

In 1787, Thomas Jefferson crossed the Alps into Italy’s Piedmont region on a journey fueled by curiosity, discovery, agriculture, innovation – and wine. His detailed journal entries from those travels would, more than two centuries later, provide the inspiration for Jefferson’s Journey, a collection of four wines curated to bring his experiences to life through the glass.

This immersive tasting experience follows Jefferson’s travels through Piedmont, using his own writings and observations to connect each wine to a particular moment in his journey. From his passage through the Alps and secret pursuit of Piedmontese rice, to his fascination with an ingenious ferry on the River Po and his discovery of Nebbiolo – a wine he described as “a pleasing wine”– each selection tells a chapter of the story. Participants will taste four wines while exploring how historical research, primary-source journal entries, regional wine traditions, and thoughtful curation were brought together to transform a centuries-old journey into a modern hospitality experience.

More than a wine tasting, Jefferson’s Journey demonstrates how historic properties can take the stories within their archives and bring them to life in ways guests can see, taste, experience, and remember.

What You Will Learn

How Jefferson’s 1787 journey through Piedmont and his journal entries inspired the creation and curation of the Jefferson’s Journey wine collection.
How each of the four wines connects to a specific place, discovery, or experience documented during Jefferson’s travels.
How wine, history, and storytelling can work together to create an immersive and memorable guest experience.
How historic hotels and properties can transform archival stories into engaging food-and-beverage programming and experiential hospitality.

Four wines will be poured during the session:

Passeggiata – Sparkling Cortese
Il Segreto – Timorasso-led white
Pendulum – Dolcetto
Piacere – Nebbiolo

6:00 – 7:00 p.m. Cocktail Reception

Sponsored by Colonial Williamsburg Resorts and Visit Williamsburg

Location: Williamsburg Lodge – Virginia Room Pre-Function Area (Lower Level)

7:00 – 10:00 p.m. 2026 Historic Hotels Annual Awards of Excellence Ceremony and Gala Dinner

Sponsored by The Hershey Company, Bernardaud, and Haviland

Location: Williamsburg Lodge – Virginia Room EF (Lower Level)

Attire: Cocktail

Friday, October 16

Morning Departures

Special Attendee Benefits, Discounts, and Complimentary Tickets

Attendee discount on retail shopping, outlet dining, golf tee times, spa services etc.

Access to fitness center including indoor and outdoor pools

3-day America’s Historic Triangle Ticket for all attendees provided by Visit Williamsburg (if booked through website link at Williamsburg Lodge)

Complimentary length of stay ticket to Colonial Williamsburg Historic area, one per guest, maximum of two per room (if booked through website link at Williamsburg Lodge)

Custom tours of historic Jamestown and Yorktown with transportation provided by Visit Williamsburg

Custom Colonial Williamsburg tour

Complimentary Wi-Fi in guestroom for attendees booked at Williamsburg Lodge

Complimentary parking for attendees booked at Williamsburg Lodge

Discounted room rates available for attendees three (3) days prior to the conference (starting on 10/9/2026) based on availability and must be booked through website link.

Book now at Williamsburg Lodge through conference booking link.

*Agenda Subject to Change*