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Santa Barbara, Calif. (Sept. 15, 2025) — Beth Olson, director of sales at Visit Santa Barbara, has been honored with a Smart Women in Meetings Award from Smart Meetings, a leading meetings industry publisher and resource for event professionals.
Now in its 10th year, the Smart Women in Meetings Award has become a respected benchmark in the hospitality industry, honoring women whose leadership and impact elevate the meetings profession. This year’s nomination process drew the largest response in the award’s history, with Olson among just 100 women from around the world selected for this distinguished accolade.
“I was honored and delighted to find out I was selected as a ‘Smart Woman in Meetings,’ ” Olson said. “The most fulfilling part of my career has been seeing people with whom I’ve worked and who I mentored grow and succeed, and many of these current and former colleagues are here in Santa Barbara. Hospitality is a rewarding and exciting career, and this award just reinforces the value we bring to our community as industry professionals.”
The award celebrates women who contribute to the meetings industry through their skills and unique abilities.
Recipients are honored across six categories, and Olson was recognized in the Industry Leaders category. She accepted the award during the Smart Woman Summit awards gala on Friday, Sept. 12, 2025, in Tampa, Fla.
Olson has served as director of sales at Visit Santa Barbara since joining the organization in 2019. She oversees Visit Santa Barbara’s sales strategy and leads a team dedicated to increasing visitation to the Santa Barbara South Coast by growing group business, travel trade and leisure stays at a diverse range of hotels and resorts.
Olson earned a Certified Destination Management Executive (CDME) in 2023 from Destinations International. It is recognized as the tourism industry’s highest individual educational achievement.
She has 37 years of hospitality experience in Santa Barbara, having held multiple roles in hotel operations and hotel sales, including 14 years as director of sales and marketing at Fess Parker Resort (now Hilton Santa Barbara Beachfront Resort). Olson also previously held positions at Relevé Unlimited and PRA Destination Management. A graduate of the University of California, Santa Barbara, she earned a bachelor’s degree in political science and international relations.
ABOUT VISIT SANTA BARBARA
The mission of Visit Santa Barbara is to inspire overnight travel to the Santa Barbara South Coast in order to enhance the community’s economy and quality of life. VSB’s primary vehicles are tourism marketing, PR and sales channels that lead to overnight bookings, increase business and tax revenue and support jobs. Visit Santa Barbara is a nonprofit 501(c)(6) organization jointly funded by the South Coast Tourism Business Improvement District and a membership of hospitality-related businesses, as well as grants from the City of Santa Barbara and the County of Santa Barbara. Annual spending by travelers to the South Coast totals more than $2.24 billion, supporting more than 15,000 jobs and generating more than $82.9 million in yearly tax revenues, according to Future Partners, a tourism market research firm.
ABOUT SMART MEETINGS
Sausalito, Calif.-based Smart Meetings is the leading meetings industry publisher and voice of inspiration for meeting professionals. The organization publishes meetings content in print and digital, hosts world-class networking events, produces Knowledge Exchange CEU-accredited webinars, produces podcasts and hosts the events community in the MeetSmart Hub. The publication annually awards the Smart Stars and Platinum Choice Awards to hospitality companies that meet the publication’s high standards and celebrates leaders at the annual Smart Woman Summit and Smart Women in Meetings Awards Gala.
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