Leora Lanz
Digital Marketing Edition Editor; Assistant Dean of Academic Affairs; Faculty Chair of the Graduate Program; Associate Professor of the Practice, Boston University School of Hospitality Administration

- Title Digital Marketing Edition Editor;
Assistant Dean of Academic Affairs; Faculty Chair of the Graduate Program; Associate Professor of the Practice, Boston University School of Hospitality Administration - Email lhlanz@bu.edu
- Education BS, Cornell University
MS, Boston University
Leora Halpern Lanz, ISHC has been an active leader and participant in the field of hospitality marketing since 1985, and has always been at the forefront of strategic marketing and communications. She was named the 2010 Hospitality Marketing Executive of the Year by the Big Apple (Greater New York) chapter of the Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International (HSMAI). In February 2017, HSMAI ‘s national leadership awarded Leora as one of the Top 25 Extraordinary Minds of Hospitality Sales and Marketing for 2016. She was also honored as Professor of the Year for 2016-2017 by the students of Boston University’s School of Hospitality Administration. In November 2017, Leora was accepted as a member of the prestigious International Society of Hospitality Consultants. In November 2019, Leora Lanz was also named one of the “18 Women Paving the Way in Hospitality” by Lodging Magazine, and in early 2020 she was nominated as a Massachusetts Lodging Association Business Partner of the Year.
In addition to serving as full-time faculty at BU’s School of Hospitality, Leora is Principal of LHL Communications, assisting hotels and hospitality organizations with content marketing, branding, media relations, digital and social media advisory, and online reputation management, including: development of internal and external position statements; content creation and story-telling for audience engagement and connections; media training, and “branding” and “solutions” sales training. Her clients include hospitality management and ownership companies, consulting firms and advisory services, regional investment conferences around the globe as well as owners’ associations.
Previously, Leora served, for 15 years as Global Director of Marketing & Communications for HVS, a leading international hospitality consulting and services firm. She was responsible for overseeing the internal and external marketing communications for the organization’s multitude of offices, services, conferences, and articles and research. She directed the firm’s global business teams for Marketing and Communications, Graphic Standards, Internal Communications, Social Media, Conference Branding and the Market Connections annual event. She also managed and edited the firm’s weekly newsletter, the Global Hospitality Report and was the company’s primary media contact.
Simultaneously, Leora directed HVS’s Sales & Marketing division, working directly with a myriad of hotel properties and companies, hospitality-related services, and other entertainment and recreational venues. Leora and her team of experienced marketing communications specialists provided strategic planning, innovative sales training and action planning, social media marketing and publicity, and big-picture branding consultancy.
Prior to joining HVS, Leora served for 10 years as Director of Public Relations and Advertising for the ITT Sheraton Hotels of New York and for five years as Director of Public Relations for the Greater Boston Convention & Visitors Bureau. With ITT Sheraton, she ran the public relations and advertising operations for six hotels and played a significant public relations role for the hotels during the 1992 Democratic National Convention, and for numerous hotel openings since that time. While in Boston, she spearheaded the citywide promotion of the Monet exhibition and was invited by the Japan National Tourist Organization to teach destination marketing to tourism officials there. During her graduate studies, she also handled public relations activities for the (then) new Four Seasons Hotel at the Boston Common.
Leora is an active member of the Public Relations Society of America, having served as chairperson of the PRSA Travel & Tourism Conferences in 1998 and 2000, and a member of the Society of American Travel Writers, and Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International. She is also a board member of the Cornell Club of Long Island, where she resides. She earned a bachelor’s degree from Cornell University and a master’s from Boston University. She has written for dozens of industry publications and excerpts of her articles are included in The American Hotel & Lodging Educational Institute Sales and Marketing textbook 6th edition, released in March 2014.
Publications