LOS ANGELES—The BLLA Leadership Symposium will take place in Las Vegas from Sept. 17-19, at the newly opened SLS Hotel & Casino.
This will be the first conference to take place at the lifestyle hotel’s new conference center. The Awards Gala dinner, which will crown the winners of the 2014 Boutique Lifestyle Hospitality Awards, takes place in the newly designed Congo Ballroom Thursday evening.
New this year, the event includes many topics, such as conversation from key executives representing innovative lodgings, floating boutique & luxury liners, lifestyle-designed hostels and authentic experiences such as luxury tents and treehouses, according to the association. Additionally, six companies who represent customer-facing technologies will take center stage. Also new to the conference, BLLA is inviting the big chains to discuss their boutique brands.
Select key executives participating as speakers include Arash Azarbarzin, SBE Hotel Group president; Jeff Ehret, PENTA Building Group president; J.F. Finn, Gensler principal; Sam Baksantepour, SBE/SLS Hotels president; Drew Patterson, CEO & co-Founder, Room 77; Shirley Tafoya, TravelZoo president; Edie Rodriguez, Crystal Cruises president & COO; Guy Young, Uniworld Boutique River Cruises CEO; and Rafat Ali, SKIFT founder & CEO.