HSMAI 69th Annual Adrian Awards 2025: Celebrating the Best in Travel and Hospitality Marketing

The hospitality industry came alive on the evening of February 18, 2026, as more than 500 marketing executives, brand strategists, and creative agency leaders gathered at the iconic New York Marriott Marquis for the 69th Annual HSMAI Adrian Awards Celebration. Hosted by the Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International (HSMAI), the event spotlighted the campaigns, marketers, and visionaries setting new standards in global travel marketing — and served as a powerful reminder that storytelling, emotion, and purpose remain at the heart of what moves travelers.

What Are the HSMAI Adrian Awards?

Founded in 1927, HSMAI is one of the world’s oldest and most respected hospitality industry associations, with more than 5,000 members across 30+ chapters in the Americas Region alone. The Adrian Awards, now in their 69th year, represent the association’s flagship recognition program and are widely regarded as the largest and most prestigious competition dedicated exclusively to travel marketing. Named after the Latin word for “Adriatic” — a nod to the spirit of exploration — the awards have long honored the advertising, digital, public relations, and integrated campaigns that define how travel brands connect with audiences around the world.

This year’s competition saw an expanded scope, recognizing achievements across advertising, digital marketing, public relations and communications, and integrated campaigns. New categories reflected the industry’s evolving media landscape, with expanded recognition in areas such as influencer marketing, reputation management, affiliate strategies, and broadcast integration.

“The Exceptional Experience”: This Year’s Theme

The 2025 Adrian Awards were anchored by a unifying theme: The Exceptional Experience. According to HSMAI, the theme was chosen to celebrate campaigns that go beyond showcasing a destination — campaigns that capture the power of storytelling, emotion, and human connection to inspire travel decisions and shape unforgettable guest journeys.

“The Adrian Awards showcase the work that sets new standards in travel marketing,” said Brian Hicks, President and CEO of HSMAI. “This year’s winners represent the ingenuity and passion that continue to elevate the global travel experience.”

This sentiment was palpable throughout the evening. From purpose-driven social campaigns to immersive experiential activations, the body of winning work underscored a fundamental truth: the best travel marketing doesn’t just sell a room or a destination — it sells a feeling.

A Refreshed Awards Structure for a Changing Industry

One of the most significant developments at this year’s ceremony was the introduction of a refreshed awards structure. HSMAI reorganized its 30 entry categories by media type, aligning entries under four core pillars: Paid, Earned, Owned, and Multi-Channel/Integrated Marketing. This framework reflects how modern marketing teams actually plan and execute campaigns — not in silos, but through coordinated, cross-channel strategies that meet travelers wherever they are.

Within each pillar, campaigns were evaluated and awarded at four tiers: Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum. Platinum honors represent the highest tier within each division and were announced live on stage during the Celebration. From those Platinum recipients, a select group of Best of Show honorees were then unveiled — representing the single most impactful campaigns across key categories.

The judging criteria remained rigorous and results-driven. According to Noble Studios, which took home both Platinum and Gold honors at the event, campaigns are evaluated across five specific criteria: objectives, strategy, creativity, execution, and results. This ensures that every winner on stage didn’t just produce clever creative — they produced measurable outcomes.

Spotlight on Notable Winners

This year’s winner pool was as diverse as it was impressive, spanning independent hotels, destination marketing organizations, and full-service agencies.

Noble Studios earned some of the evening’s most coveted honors, winning both a Gold and a Platinum award for its “Rules to Lake By” campaign — a purpose-driven initiative that tackled the environmental threat of overtourism by establishing clear guidelines for responsible travel. The dual recognition confirmed it as “best of the best” in its category. Noble Studios also took recognition for its “Sagebrush Saloons” activation, developed in partnership with media firm Fahlgren Mortine, which used experiential marketing at Nevada Raiders games to revitalize rural tourism and drive visitors to explore Nevada’s authentic heritage sites.

GCommerce Solutions received five separate Adrian Awards across search marketing, social media, and website categories, reflecting the agency’s strength in combining hospitality-specific data with strategic storytelling to deliver measurable results for hotel and resort partners.

CSM Corporation’s lodging marketing team was honored with a Bronze Adrian Award in the Innovation — Multi-Channel/Integrated Marketing category for its work developing and promoting the Northern Starlight Express experience at Renaissance Minneapolis Hotel, The Depot — an example of how a single experiential offering can be transformed into a compelling, award-winning marketing campaign.

Visit Jackson earned two Gold, Best of Category Awards and a Bronze Award, including recognition for its broadcast campaign This Little Light — a narrative and lyrical television spot that brought authentic storytelling to the forefront of destination marketing.

Recognizing the Industry’s Top Leaders

Beyond celebrating campaigns, the 69th Adrian Awards served as a platform for honoring the human capital driving the industry forward.

Top 25 Extraordinary Minds — HSMAI’s prestigious individual distinction — was awarded during an exclusive VIP reception held in conjunction with the ceremony. The honor recognizes outstanding leaders in sales, marketing, revenue optimization, and distribution across hospitality, travel, and tourism organizations.

Three industry executives were presented with the Robert A. Gilbert Award for Career Achievement in Commercial Strategy, named in tribute to the man who led HSMAI as President and CEO from 1995 to 2024. This year’s recipients were Mary Casey, a respected hospitality and business events leader; Jeff Doane, Chief Commercial Officer at Omni Hotels & Resorts; and André Fournier, Chief Commercial Officer at CoralTree Hospitality. The award recognizes leaders whose influence extends far beyond financial performance — individuals who have advanced the profession itself, strengthened industry teams, and elevated the overall practice of hospitality commercial strategy.

Giving Back: The HSMAI Foundation Silent Auction

Philanthropy was also on the agenda. The HSMAI Foundation hosted a Silent Auction during the evening, raising over $15,000 to support programs dedicated to building the next generation of hospitality talent. Funds will be directed toward student scholarships, faculty partnerships, industry research initiatives, and the association’s Rising Leaders programs — ensuring that the industry continues to attract and develop world-class marketing professionals for decades to come.

Why the Adrian Awards Matter for the Hospitality Industry

In an era when travel brands compete for attention across an ever-expanding array of channels and platforms, recognition from HSMAI carries significant weight. Winning an Adrian Award signals to the broader market that a brand or agency is not just participating in the space — it is leading it. For hotels, destinations, and agencies alike, the awards serve as both validation and competitive differentiation.

As Noble Studios noted in its post-event recap, “The Adrian Awards represent the highest benchmark in hospitality and travel marketing. For nearly 70 years, this competition has identified the most effective and creative campaigns across the global tourism sector. Earning a spot on this stage signals to the industry that a brand is leading through innovation and measurable results.”

With the 2025 competition now officially in the books, the entry period for the 2026 HSMAI Adrian Awards is expected to open later this year, with the celebration tentatively planned for early 2027.

The 69th Annual HSMAI Adrian Awards reinforced what the best hospitality marketers already know: great travel marketing is not about selling amenities — it is about selling transformation. Whether through responsible tourism campaigns, broadcast storytelling, data-driven digital strategy, or community-rooted experiential activations, the work honored at this year’s celebration demonstrated the extraordinary lengths to which travel brands will go to create genuine, lasting connections with their audiences. As the industry continues to evolve, the Adrian Awards remain the gold standard by which excellence is measured.

More Travel News