I knew this was going to be a different kind of conference the moment the music started...."Cash Money taking over for the '99 and the 2000."
Before the MC took the stage, the room was already alive with a sound that felt like a deliberate choice: a nod to the culture, the city, and the moment all at once.
We were in New Orleans, at the Four Seasons, and Hospitality Hued had just set the tone for everything that followed without saying a word. That is how you open a conference.
The HUED Summit 2026, held August 5 through 7, brought together hospitality leaders from across the country under one theme: Play to Win. And play to win they did.
What Is Hospitality Hued?
If you are in the travel and tourism space and this organization is not already on your radar, pay attention now.
Hospitality Hued was founded by Ashli Johnson with a clear and specific purpose. In her words: "There was no one facilitating community for Black and Brown hospitality leaders, owners, and executives, and there was not a carved-out space for us."
That gap is now closed. Now in its third year, the summit draws hospitality professionals from every vertical of the industry: hotels, food and beverage, healthcare hospitality, parking and valet operations, travel and tourism, entrepreneurship, and hotel investment.
It is not a niche event for one corner of the industry. It is a gathering of the full ecosystem, and it is growing fast.
Johnson described the transformation she has already witnessed: "It is nothing short of phenomenal to come back here and see someone that was a director in year one, that's a vice president in year three, someone that was a vice president in year two, is now president of brand in year three."
Three years. Real career movement. Real community accountability.
The Room Told the Story
As a first-time attendee, I came in curious. I left with a clear understanding of why this event exists and why it matters beyond any single industry vertical.
The attendees at HUED 2026 included recent college graduates from hospitality programs, top executives, hotel brokers, entrepreneurs, and professionals from sectors that most travel advisors have never sat in the same room with. That mix is intentional, and it is one of the things that makes this event genuinely different from the conference circuit most of us are used to.
The programming leaned into its theme without apology. Speakers including Juan Webster of Blu Eagle Consulting, who brings a deep luxury hotel background, spoke about intentionality and how to navigate unexpected pivots in a career and in life.
Coach Kalyn Romaine and Victor Simmons added their own perspectives on what it actually takes to reach the next level in this industry. What made the speaker lineup work was not just the content. It was an honest undercurrent running through all of it: we are here to help you grow in your career, not to tell you to leave your job, especially if your company paid for you to be here. The room laughed because the room understood.
Victor Simmons at the 2026 Hospitality Hued (Photo Credit: Belvin Baldwin II)
Voices From the Floor
Shawna Grissette, Director of HR at Peregrine Hospitality and The Tess Hotel Autograph Collection in Atlanta, was attending for the second time. She did not need much convincing to come back.
"It is the most comfortable summit I have ever been to," Grissette told me. "Just surrounded by professionals who are like-minded, Black and Brown, feeding off of each other, absorbing all this great, amazing hospitality industry energy."
But it was something else she said that I think every TravelPulse reader needs to hear: "Travel needs to be here. Tourism needs to be here. If you are interested in anything that is hospitality adjacent, like luxury travel, this is perfect for any way that you would like to get into a hotel or even own your own hotel."
She is right. And she said it without prompting.
Two recent NYU School of Professional Studies graduates in Travel Tourism Management, Rosa Mohrmann and Alaina Moise Kwarteng, also offered perspectives that stopped me. Rosa described her approach to networking in a way that most veterans should consider: "I am intentional with my connections. I want to get to know a couple people more on a deeper level, so we have deeper connections and deeper conversations."
Alaina, who also completed a master's in hospitality management, came to HUED specifically because she wanted to see what she had not seen enough of in her academic program: Black and Brown professionals in positions of real authority. "It was really nice to see Black people and other ethnicities as well that were in higher places in hospitality," she said.
Both graduates are now eyeing destination marketing as their next step. HUED put them in the same room with the people who can help make that happen.
Why This Matters for Travel Advisors
Here is my honest take as someone who came to this event from the travel advisory side of hospitality.
We spend a lot of time at conferences designed for us: travel advisor summits, supplier showcases, luxury travel forums. Those events matter. But there is something we miss when we only talk to each other.
Understanding how the broader hospitality industry operates, how hotels think, how HR professionals evaluate partnerships, how the next generation of hospitality leaders is being shaped, makes you a better advisor. It expands your context, your relationships, and your ability to communicate across the industry in ways your clients will never see but will absolutely feel.
Ashli Johnson summed up the spirit of Hospitality Hued better than I could: "What folks get from Hospitality Hued, they are committed to returning to continue pouring, so that we can all benefit from the overflow."
That overflow has room for travel advisors. I would encourage you to be in it next year.
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