NHLA is pleased to introduce Sherri McVey. Sherri resides in Northern Nevada and will be assisting with our membership and sales efforts and participating on the newly formed NHLA No. NV Council. Learn more about Sherri.
Guest Blog Written by Sherri McVey
It is with great excitement that I have the opportunity to do a guest blog post and introduce myself all at the same time.
NHLA is near to my heart both personally and professionally. From a personal perspective there are pretty amazing, passionate people associated with this organization that I’ve had the pleasure to know for several years. In my past life we’ve done business, supported each other and become friends. On a professional level, I’ve had the opportunity to speak at a few seminars and be a member with my prior company. When the opportunity presented itself to do some business development for NHLA, I jumped at the chance. Especially because it’s in my own backyard in Northern Nevada.
NHLA sees significant growth in the past couple of years
It has been amazing to see all of the great events, seminars and activity that has been happening at NHLA over the last couple of years. Since I live in the Reno area, when I could, I would fly down to attend meetings or speak in Vegas. At the time there wasn’t a whole lot happening in Northern Nevada with the organization. That too has changed over the last year. It was incredibly refreshing to have, at no cost, a seminar on driving revenue with a panel of speakers…twice in a year! That is progress. Incredibly good progress!
Focusing on Northern Nevada
Now there is another initiative for NHLA to focus on building membership in Northern Nevada. I’m excited to say I’ve been offered the opportunity to be a part of the team, focused on building membership. It is so exciting that there is a committee dedicated to building a strong NHLA presence up here as there is in Vegas. Both on the event side and membership. I’m ready to jump right in and serve on the NHLA NNV council!
An industry veteran
As for me, I’ve been in the industry about 15 years and have had the pleasure of working in hospitality in a wide variety of roles. It all began in 2000 when I answered a newspaper ad in the Vegas newspaper for a market manager at a small company called Travelscape. It became Expedia.
I had zero hospitality experience had no idea what acronyms like ROI and ADR meant. Luckily there were great people that I worked with that helped me along the way. Another OTA was launching and a friend opened another door for me at Orbitz. In 2008 I left the OTA world and Las Vegas for a hotel casino sales job here in the Reno area. Very different being on the “other side”.
With a true love for both hospitality and technology, in 2010 I moved into the booking engine, connectivity and travel agency/GDS side of things. I have learned so much more about technology and working creatively with independent hotels. Late in 2014 I took a breather and have been doing business development for a small wholesaler.
I look so forward to this endeavor and being a part of the growth. Thank you NHLA for welcoming me to the team!