Newmar is moving its annual dealer meeting east.
The luxury RV manufacturer has hosted its annual dealer gathering at The Broadmoor hotel in Colorado Springs, Colorado, for the past three years. Next year, the event will be at the Omni Fort Lauderdale (Florida).
The event is scheduled for Feb. 24-25, a month earlier than typical. Vice President of Sales Matt Ellinger said the earlier dates worked well with the manufacturer’s production schedule. He said he expects the meeting to be held in late February moving forward.
The Omni opened for business this fall. Ellinger said the hotel will host one other trade show before Newmar dealers gather.
“This gave us the opportunity to stay on brand for our Newmar dealers,” he said. “This is a high-end, new facility, and quite frankly, we got into that area at the price point we needed to be.”
Ellinger said dealers east of the Mississippi River have asked to move the event closer to home. He said East Coast dealers loved their experience at The Broadmoor, but the company looked forward to giving dealers west of the Mississippi a taste of palm trees and sunshine in late February.
Newmar selected the site after an eight-month process. The manufacturer worked with Performance Strategies to select the right venue.
“We wanted something true to the brand, and we wanted to be in a nice place,” Ellinger said. “This checks all the boxes.”
Among the other considerations was a northern Indiana location. Newmar executives considered bringing the dealer meeting close to home and potentially pairing the event with facility tours on Newmar’s Nappanee, Indiana, campus. Ellinger said hosting the event in northern Indiana in late February might bring some pushback from dealers.
“Now we will host it in a nice weather climate,” he said. “We wanted to get back on the East Coast for a couple of years. This gave us the chance.”
