BHN AND AH&LA LAUNCH The AMERICAS LODGING INVESTMENT SUMMIT (ALIS)

Burba Hotel Network (BHN) and the American Hotels & Lodging Association (AH&LA) announced that the two organizations have formed a partnership and launched ALIS, the Americas Lodging Investment Summit. ALIS will be held February 3-5, 2002 in Los Angeles, California at the new Renaissance Hollywood Hotel, part of the ambitious Hollywood and Highland redevelopment project. The Summit will benefit the Educational Institute (EI) of AH&LA and The American Hotel & Lodging Foundation.

“ALIS is designed to provide an annual meeting place for hotel executives, investors, lenders, developers and the professional advisory community in the hotel and tourism industry. The Summit will bring together leading experts and investors to discuss important trends and to identify new hospitality investment opportunities”, said Jim Burba, President of BHN and ALIS Chairman. “Perhaps the most important and unique part of ALIS is its organizational structure and commitment to the hotel industry. A substantial portion of the net proceeds of ALIS will be contributed to educating the future leaders of the hospitality industry”, Burba continued. John Russell, AH&LA Chairman added, “This is an incredible opportunity for our association and its constituents. We are proud to be a founding partner of ALIS and look forward to the future together.”

BHN is the organizer of some of the world’s largest and most prominent hotel investment conferences, including the recently held 4th Annual International Hotel Investment Forum in Berlin, Germany, the 5th Annual Caribbean Hotel & Tourism Investment Conference to be held in Curaçao, Netherlands Antilles in April and the upcoming 12th Annual Hotel Investment Conference to be held in Hong Kong in October. In addition, BHN was retained by the Government of Montenegro to organize the “by invitation only” Montenegro Hotel & Tourism Investment Conference in May 2001.

AH&LA, founded in 1910, is a federation of state lodging associations throughout the United States, with some 11,000 property members worldwide, representing more than 1.4 million rooms. AH&LA provides operations, technical, educational, marketing and communications services, plus governmental affairs representation to the lodging industry.