Guest Blog Posted By Don Meador, Director of Sales & Marketing, Landmark Hotel Group

Choosing associations in which to network your hotel product can be hit or miss. There are tons of them, each promising to give you the sort of exposure your company needs in order to at least justify the cost of your association membership. If your company is firm with the type of ROI they expect to see from your involvement with these groups, look no further than the American Bus Association.

Once I had experienced an ABA Marketplace, it was a no-brainer for us. I had researched other associations, attended their marketplaces and trade shows, but after the week I had at ABA's Nashville Marketplace a couple of years ago, it became quite clear to me that our company's association and trade-show dollars would be best spent with the American Bus Association. Don't get me wrong, we do hold other memberships in lesser organizations, but the relationships we've been able to cultivate, and the friendships that have formed could not have happened within any other organization. I have done a little soul-searching, and have come up with a collection of reasons why a hotelier should consider becoming a member of ABA.

ABA Motorcoach operators are reponsible and ethical. The whole "Go Green" campaign to save not only Penguins, but resources, and the effects the number of cars on the road are having on the environment are a valid concern being addressed by this organization. It's not always about how many buses we can get on the road. It's more about how many passengers we can get on the bus!

ABA Motorcoach operators are not only resilient, but care about the industry. They have a voice and they use it. Think about the number of travel-related issues this country has faced since 9/11, and how positively the motorcoach industry has responded. Is there another industry that could have re-routed trips, catered travel-related client concerns, and have made as much as a difference in making safe travel possible in a dangerous new world than the motorcoach industry?

ABA Motorcoach operators keep me on my game. They want ideas, and in order to get them, they know they need to know you! I have yet to run into an operator that hasn't either been excited about the itineraries I've been able to present to them, or have been straight-forward enough to let me know what their clients expect, and offered me the challenge of stretching my own creativity by developing original itineraries that truly stand out.

ABA gives back. And they gave back plenty while they were in my hometown of Virginia Beach this year. Even I was surprised by how many children in Portsmouth, Virginia, just ten minutes from Virginia Beach, had never even been to the beach. My heart was warmed by the way in which ABA got them there. In addition, the Polar Plunge in honor of former Virginia Beach Convention and Visitors Bureau employee Daisy Cohan raised more than $25,000 to fight cancer. I cannot think of another organization with the heart and the muscle to pull both of these off in the same week, but ABA did.

ABA feels like family. Even if I run into members of ABA at events sponsored by other organizations, the question will undoubtably come up: "Will I see you at ABA 's Marketplace this year?"

Yes, you will. And the next. And the next.