Hayley Conference Centres have joined the Hotel Booking Agents Association, following their acquisition by Principal Hotels.

The 19-strong Principal Hayley collection joins the HBAA as the association’s collective buying power approaches £900m per annum. The Principal Hayley Group’s membership of the association will facilitate access to the UK’s leading hotel booking agents and will help drive meeting, event and accommodation business to the prestigious collection of hotels and venues in the UK and Europe.

Tony Troy, CEO of Principal Hayley Hotels and Conference Venues, said: “Principal Hotels have always been a strong supporter of the HBAA. We are delighted that the Hayley Conference Venues we acquired last year, and which now form part of the newly formed Principal Hayley Group, will be able to take advantage of the significant benefits offered by the HBAA .  We can assure members that as a Group we will continue to strongly support the HBAA and we are delighted to announce that the Association’s Code of Conduct has been fully rolled out and implemented across all the Principal Hayley properties.”

As partner members of the HBAA, the newly formed Principal Hayley Hotels and Conference Venues Group will incorporate the HBAA’s Code of Conduct into its policies. The code is widely recognised as the most effective governance of relationships between booking agencies, venues and corporate clients and represents the centrepiece of the HBAA’s drive to promote professionalism and accountability in the hotel booking agent sector.

Made up of 70 hotel booking agents, The HBAA has recently partnered with the Chartered Institute of Purchase and Supply (CIPS) to create a template for corporate procurement departments.  As corporates, including PricewaterhouseCoopers, Ernst & Young and Nestlé, contract hotel booking agents to consolidate their buying power, agency members of the HBAA are at the forefront of the decision making process.