IC4HD has been on show for the 10th time at HD Expo Las Vegas 2021 (August 24 & 25), the largest and most preeminent hospitality design tradeshow in the US, with some of the best Italian companies of the hospitality design sector, covering a wide range of product types: surfaces with Grassi Pietre and its Vicenza Stone, LEA North America for ceramics and Stoneglass® innovative material; design wallpaper for Londonart; carpets and rugs by Loloey; doors and windows by Piva Group; last but not least, indoor and outdoor furniture by Slide and Spazio Soft Seating.

Elegance, Reliability, Expertise and Technique: the features of the best players for the best performances. But not only: this year the company selection kept into account also the Green Factor: environmentally friendly and sustainable for the materials used, the processes adopted or low environmental load in terms of CO2 emissions.

In this 2021 edition, after last year pandemic limitations, a great number of decision-makers returned to HD Expo and safely attended 40 sessions with over 90 presenters and the exposition floor featured 850 exhibitors. As always, industry members have gathered to connect with peers and to experience what’s new in the sector and the attendee onsite verification goal saw a double digit increase from 2019 in attendee to exhibitor ratio.

My overall impression of HD Expo + Conference was extremely positive. I spoke with a lot of exhibitors and attendees onsite and I rarely heard anything negative. A lot of attendees that were at the show were serious buyers and the attendee to exhibitor ratio was higher. Also, we still have not received any information on a single positive Covid case tracing back to the event.

Jackson Schultz, Marketing Manager | Design Group, EmeraldX

During the conferences, Hospitality Design editor in chief and senior vice president of the design group at EmeraldX, Stacy Shoemaker, moderated some of the prominent industry leaders that shared their outlooks for the industry. Bruce Ford, senior vice president of Lodging Econometrics, during his annual presentation revealed his forecasts and trends for the hospitality industry through 2022. Lodging Econometrics states that, around the world, of the top 10 markets having over 100 projects in the pipeline, 5 are in the US, 4 are in China, and 1 is in the Middle East region. The markets with the largest hotel construction pipeline counts are New York (US), Chengdu (China), and Los Angeles (US). Research analysts also forecast an overall total of 2,802 new hotels/414,696 rooms to open by 2021 year-end worldwide, with a 2022 preview of +11.4% new hotels (about 1/3 in the US) and +14.8 rooms.

IC4HD – Italian Contract 4 Hospitality Design coordinates the participation of Italian companies and institutions to international events for hospitality and contract design and is the organizer of the Italian Contract 4 Hospitality Design Pavilion at Hospitality Design Expo + Conference. To date, more than 50 Italian brands participated directly (or with their US branches) to HD Expo, turning the IC4HD area into a pole of attraction of the entire show.

Next edition of HD Expo + Conference will be held in Las Vegas on April 26-28, 2022.

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