A Note About Site Selection

As an international organization, IOA is always trying to balance a variety of potentially competing needs. We share this information in an effort to illuminate the complexities of hotel location contracting and hope it is helpful to share some information that impacted IOA’s decisions to contract with hotels in Miami to host our conference, as well as information about hotel contracting generally:  

• IOA's conference location is determined by a number of factors including what cities are willing to bid on our conference and if we have been to that region in the last five years.
• IOA contracts with hotels at least three years in advance of the conference date. This is generally the minimal amount of advance time required to be able to secure space that is adequate for both hotel meeting and sleeping room needs.
• The contract for Miami 2025 was re-negotiated as part COVID pandemic cancellations in 2021 and 2022.
• We try to host conferences in locations that can be easily traveled to by our international community. Miami is a gateway to the Caribbean and Latin America, and also more easily accessible from southern Europe. We have often considered hosting annual conferences in locations outside of the U.S. and have been met with concerns that U.S. members would not be able to travel. Balancing these competing needs is always a challenge.