Midwest Lodging Investors Summit (MLIS) is being held from July 17-19, 2011 at Chicago's Hyatt Regency McCormick Place, located just minutes south of downtown Chicago.

For those people who work in Hospitality Management Companies, MLIS 2011 is not to be missed. Topics crucial to the industry will be addressed during general sessions, break-out sessions, and presentations by keynote speakers including Stephen Rushmore, President and founder of Hotel Management Company HVS.

Among the important issues being covered during the conference: extended-stay brand and ownership, acquisition and development issues, branding in new hotel construction, valuations and the transaction market, ROI and operations, revenue building, and hotel financing among many other topics.

Sure to be included the highlights of the conference is the inaugural Lodging Hospitality Game Changer Award. The first-ever recipient of this prestigious award will be Steve Marcus, the chairman and CEO of Marcus Corp. Mr. Marcus led the Milwaukee-based theater company into the world of lodging when he acquired and successfully restored the classic Pfister. He also launched the Budgetel brand in 1974, later rebranded as Baymont in the late 1990s. That brand was sold to La Quinta and now resides with Wyndham Worldwide. Future Game Changer awards will be presented to those who have made significant contributions to the lodging industry in the Midwest and the industry.

Sponsors of the 2011 conference are a who's who of hotel and hospitality management companies, including Best Western, AmericInn, Choice Hotels, Dolce Hotels and Resorts, Hyatt, Intercontinental Hotels Group, Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels, Kokua Hospitality, LaQuinta, McGladrey, The School of Hospitality Business at Michigan State, Paramount Lodging Advisors, Real Hospitality Group, Vantage Hospitality Group, and the Wyndham Hotel Group.

If you are part of a Hospitality Management Companies or a Hotel Management Industry, this is the event of the year, and should not be missed.