2 CALIFORNIA LODGING NEWS www.calodging.com Lynn S. Mohrfeld CHLA President + CEO MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT + CEO Every year, CHLA holds its Legislative Summit, an important event for our industry that helps keep owners and managers in touch with key developments in Sacramento. It also offers an opportunity to meet legislators and create or strengthen relationships with them and have them get to know us as business owners and people. The Summit is a valuable investment of time to be sure, but it is truly just the beginning of an effective engagement with the lawmakers and regulators whose decisions can affect our industry and your property. Whether in Sacramento or your local City Hall, decisions with the potential to hurt your business can happen fast. This is when it is important to have those strong relationships that will enable you to have a voice in the decisions where it matters. There are many ways that you can leverage the connections you made at our Summit in an effort to extend and solidify the relationships that began there. First, consider sending a simple follow-up email or letter to a legislator or staffer you just met, or pick up the phone and call to thank them for the interaction—and create a permanent line of contact. Just like you, they have likely met and spoken with many people during the Summit, so keeping that connection fresh also keeps the door open when serious issues come up. So, this post-Summit contact is a great next step. Next, consider extending your new relationships by attending local events featuring or sponsored by your legislative contacts. These could be anything from ribbon cuttings to community celebrations. Connecting with your legislative contacts at local events when you are not necessarily seeking their assistance or support on an issue helps reinforce that you are an active part of the community. That will be invaluable when you do want their support. Education is another key part of building these new relationships. Few legislators truly understand how a hotel operates or the day-to-day work that’s required to maintain a property and provide guests with the services they expect. Yet many of the issues that matter to our industry relate to what goes on behind the scenes, away from the public areas. Part of your relationship building with local officials could include arranging to have them visit your property for a tour, where they can see operations first-hand and understand what it takes (and the people it takes) to run a property. As you develop these relationships, you will find opportunities to bring up local issues that are important to your property and to the hospitality industry. Even though CHLA works to bring attention to key issues around the state, adding your local voice to those efforts is extremely powerful. As the late Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill was fond of saying, “All politics is local,” so that on-the-ground contact with a local manager or owner goes a long way. As we move into a national election, we will see more and more issues come up this year, whether local proposals at City Hall or on the ballot. Either way, the more we make our voices heard, the more we can shift the ultimate decisions in our favor. Building on the relationships from our Legislative Summit is a crucial part of that.
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