The hospitality industry is thriving.

Why growth in the hospitality sector is good for associations.

Associations don't exist to hold meetings, but meetings are a core line of business for most, and meetings mean travel - hotels, convention bureaus and centers, airlines, car rental companies, and for that matter, restaurants and retailers. The destinies of associations in virtually every field are inextricably woven with trends in the hospitality industry.

That being said, the good news is that it's been a wonderful year for hospitality. Revenues and profits are up for hotels and airlines; investment is coming back; and a set of unprecedented, customer-friendly efficiencies has been put in place that promises continuing progress in the years ahead.

Expansion among convention centers has been remarkable. A conservative estimate of convention center space available now or under construction adds more than 10.5 million gross square feet of space. And the new and renewed centers are wonderful - full of light, innovation, and customer input.

Hotel companies are building, buying, and renewing again, too. Loews Hotels showed its optimism with a commitment to three new Florida properties and the intimation of more to come. Stock in the Hilton Hotels Corporation went up by a billion dollars in the first four months after Stephen Bollenbach stepped in as the new president and chief executive officer, reflecting confidence that Hilton now had the financial acumen to get the financial resources it needed to invest in its future. And Hilton purchased Ballys, making it the largest gaming company in the world, and reunified the Hilton brand to bring under one corporate roof both its international and domestic chains. ITT Sheraton clarified its three brand groups - the Luxury Collection, Sheraton, and Four Points Hotels - and has committed itself to being the "fastest-growing hotel chain brand in the United States - and overseas." Throughout the industry, from remarkable independent expansions like Opryland Hotel Convention Center's Delta to the formation and expansion of mega-companies, investment in hotel growth is ubiquitous. But what does this growth mean to associations?

At the Masters Program, an annual convergence of some of the most important voices in hospitality, industry leaders made some predictions about what lies ahead.

* Hotel check-in will get easier for guests. First- and business-class passengers on some airline flights can "check in" to their hotel rooms while they're still in the air. It's not entirely far-fetched that you won't need a credit card - just your thumbprint - to complete your check-in at the hotel front desk. And in the slightly more immediate future, you'll see lots more ATM-like check-in systems in hotels. All this should make for a more efficient arrival for your delegates, letting them get down to meetings sooner.

* The debate about the future of teleconferencing has become academic. Most of the major hotel chains have set about hard-wiring teleconferencing facilities, available at minimal cost to planners. The question is no longer "to meet or not to meet" but rather "in how many simultaneous locations?"

* Technology is going to handle a rapidly growing share of all reservations. The Centralized Housing Reservation Service initiated by the International Association of Convention and Visitor Bureaus (IACVB), Washington, D.C., was probably an idea just a little ahead of its time, but there is no doubt that technology is going to centralize and streamline the way your delegates register for your meetings and make their related travel arrangements. Masters Program panelists from leading technology companies on average predicted that 10-20 percent of all airline tickets would be sold online within three years, but some went so far as to guess that half would.

* Technology is going to improve the ability of hotels to assess the value of your business, so hotels will be sharper and smarter in negotiating room rates for your delegates. As Dan Weadock, president and CEO of ITT Sheraton Hotels, said while speaking at a meeting of Sheraton owners and operators this past year, "The room rate is only a portion of the money that a guest spends during a stay. The question is, where does the guest eat, drink, shop, and have fun? Too often it's outside the front door of the hotel. It's crazy to get excited about a $5 room rate increase and then watch your guests leave the hotel to spend hundreds of dollars on drinks and food elsewhere." Look for shrewder management of the total revenues your members will generate - and more competition for groups that generate high total yield for a hotel.

* Technology is going to increase the ability of the smart chains to achieve customer intimacy with you and your members. There will be more sharing, via the Internet, of customer information. More immediate customer profile data will be available to the front desk clerk when your delegates check in.

* Technology is going to make it easier for the meeting planner. From electronic transmission of contracts and room schematics to virtual shopping for space, more accurate and more efficient meeting details will travel via the Internet.

* The hospitality industry is getting organized around a clear and simple legislative agenda, and high on the list are the issues surrounding the propensity of government to solve urban problems by taxing tourism, meetings, and travel. Speaking on behalf of the Travel Business Roundtable, an association of 71 hospitality members, Chairman Jonathan Tisch (the president and CEO of Loews Hotels) articulated two key goals for 1997:

1. Move the business meals deductibility from the current restrictive 50 percent to 80-100 percent.

2. Develop a reliable and discrete economic indicator of vitality in the hospitality industry.

To achieve these goals, the Travel Business Roundtable has targeted a $1 million war chest and hired a high-profile lobbyist, Charles Merin.

Also high on the agenda for the hospitality industry this year will be the development of a public-private partnership in the formation of an organization to replace the United States Travel and Tourism Administration, which saw its demise at the Department of Commerce in the past year. You would expect to find the Washington, D.C.-based American Hotel & Motel Association actively leading that movement, along with IACVB and the Air Transport Association, also based in Washington, D.C., but also in the mix are a variety of other associations - like the American Association of Museums, Washington, D.C. - that see the direct link between the success of their members and the hospitality industry.

At the Masters Program, Jeffrey Harrow, president and CEO of Travel One, Inc., an East Coast-based travel management company, said the biggest thing on his mind these days is "figuring out how this whole industry fits together." Figuring out how associations relate to this enormous industry - how we can best partner with the hospitality industry to meet our associations' individual agendas - may be one of the most critical issues of the next few years. On the following pages is a list of convention and visitors bureaus and convention centers - organizations that will be important partners as we pursue this quest.

Elissa Matulis Myers, CAE, is the publisher of ASSOCIATION MANAGEMENT.