NEW YORK—Besides a new name to mark its centennial anniversary, HX: The Hotel Experience—Rooms to Restaurants (HX)—formerly the International Hotel, Motel + Restaurant Show (IHMRS)—will feature five new show divisions: Food & Beverage, Guest Services, Technology, Kitchen Design and Rooms.
“Making this enormous change at our 100-year juncture is exciting,” said Anthony Mangano, chairman of the board for HX 2015, which will take place Nov. 8-10 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center here. “These are not tweaks or modest improvements. HX is an entirely new show.”
Other new show features include two product theaters—HX: Onstage Restaurant and HX: Onstage Hotel—as well as HX: Studio, where topics from cooking trends to social media will be covered; and HX: Tech, where attendees can find the latest products, solutions and ideas in technology.
“We’ve created more reasons for attendees to be on the show floor longer by reimagining, renovating and rebranding the entire experience,” said Mangano.
HX will also feature the 35th annual Golden Key Awards, where standouts in hotel and guestroom design, among others, will be honored at a cocktail reception and dinner on Nov. 9 at the Waldorf Astoria, New York City in conjunction with co-located show BDNY. The judging panel for the awards includes Stacey Greene, VP, design and construction, Chesapeake Lodging Trust; Kemper Hyers, SVP, design, Starwood Capital Group; Ted Jacobs, VP of global design, Starwood Hotels & Resorts; Raul Leal, CEO, Virgin Hotels; John McMullen, SVP of construction, Highgate Hotels; Christine Shanahan, managing director of design, HVS Design; and Erik Warner, cofounder, Eagle Point Hotel Partners.