B-TREAT 2026 BRINGS THE FUTURE OF WEDDING HOSPITALITY TO PUGLIA AND BASILICATA

B-treat 2026

Alessandro Baccaro, General Manager of Masseria San Giovanni and Director of Events at Epoca Collection

Gabriella Koya of A Flair to Remember

Tracey Manailescu and Danielle Andrews of The Wedding Planners Institute

Lana Olifer & Alexa Skuba, WEMA Global

B-Treat 2026 brings global wedding leaders to Puglia & Basilicata for a boutique event on the future of hospitality, business and destination weddings.

BARI, PUGLIA, ITALY, August 19, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- WEMA Global’s international boutique industry event returns to Italy from 25–30 October 2026, bringing together selected wedding planners, hospitality businesses, industry leaders, media and creative professionals to examine what the next generation of destination weddings will demand.

A strong reputation can build a business. It cannot guarantee its future.
That idea sits at the centre of B-Treat 2026, WEMA Global’s flagship international wedding industry event, taking place in Puglia and Basilicata from 25 to 30 October 2026.

This year’s programme is built around the theme:
FUTURE OF WEDDING HOSPITALITY: Heritage, Innovation & The Next Generation

B-Treat will bring together a carefully selected group of international wedding planners, hospitality businesses, venues, suppliers, media, photographers and videographers for a programme combining education, business meetings, destination discovery and shared experiences.
The event follows four pillars developed by WEMA Global: EDUCATE – CONNECT – EXPERIENCE – FAMILIARISE.
They shape the entire programme, from the conference and B2B meetings to dinners, venue experiences, destination exploration and the Photo Creative Lab.

The goal is practical: participants should leave understanding the market better, knowing the people they met beyond an exchange of business cards, and having experienced the hospitality product they may later sell or recommend.

A CONFERENCE BUILT AROUND THE QUESTIONS HOSPITALITY BUSINESSES NEED TO ANSWER
The B-Treat conference will focus on one uncomfortable reality facing established wedding businesses: Yesterday’s success does not guarantee tomorrow’s bookings.
Wedding clients are changing. Their discovery process is changing. Search behaviour is changing. AI is entering destination research and decision-making. New generations evaluate brands, hospitality and value differently. At the same time, many businesses continue to market, package and sell weddings almost exactly as they did several years ago.
The conference will explore how the wedding hospitality sector responds. Topics will include changing wedding demand, AI and search behaviour, destination selection, visibility and desirability, generational succession, personalisation, communication, experience design, collaboration, scaling hospitality while protecting identity, and the expectations of modern wedding clients.
The discussion will open with Alexa Skuba (CMO) and Lana Olifer (COO) of WEMA Global presenting “The New Wedding Economy”, examining how the way couples discover destinations and select hospitality businesses is evolving - and why history, architecture and reputation now need to be translated into relevance for a new client generation.
The programme then moves directly into the relationship between heritage and change.

A father-and-son (Matteo Moramarco and Domenico Moramarco) conversation from I Luoghi di Pitti will explore “One Legacy. Two Generations. One Future.” The discussion will look at the balance required in family hospitality businesses: what should be protected, what needs to evolve and how two generations can build the future without weakening the identity that created the business in the first place.

Alessandro Baccaro, General Manager of Masseria San Giovanni and Director of Events at Epoca Collection, will address another challenge facing successful hospitality brands in “Growing Without Losing Your Soul.” His session will examine scaling, authenticity, service, personalisation and the increasingly individual definition of luxury.

Destination wedding planner Gabriella Koya of A Flair to Remember will bring the client perspective with “What Modern Clients Are Really Buying.” Her discussion will challenge venues and hospitality businesses to look beyond the physical product and consider the complete experience surrounding a wedding: how guests are welcomed, how communication feels, how spaces work together and what clients remember after the celebration is over.

Tracey Manailescu and Danielle Andrews of The Wedding Planners Institute will close the conversation with “The Decisions Hospitality Businesses Cannot Delay.” Their session will focus on practical changes businesses can begin implementing now, from personalisation and communication to collaboration, internal processes and experience design.

Throughout the conference, B-Treat will examine one central idea: Heritage remains an advantage when the next generation can understand its value.

WHY B-TREAT HAS BEEN BUILT DIFFERENTLY
B-Treat was created around a recurring problem WEMA Global sees across international industry events: participants may attend excellent meetings, conferences or FAM trips, yet rarely experience all the elements required to build a serious business relationship in one environment.
A planner needs more than a presentation to understand a destination.
A hospitality business needs more than a short sales appointment to understand a planner.
A strong professional connection often develops through several different interactions: a formal meeting, a discussion during dinner, a venue visit, a shared experience, or a conversation that happens when nobody is watching the clock.
B-Treat intentionally creates space for all of them.
The 2026 edition will welcome a selected group of approximately 30 international planners from markets including the USA, Canada, United Kingdom, UAE, India, Germany and France.
Its boutique scale allows exhibitors to work with a defined group rather than compete for attention inside a large trade-show environment.
The programme combines structured B2B meetings with destination and hospitality experiences, allowing planners to understand how the properties, people and region operate outside a sales presentation.
Participants will meet across several locations in Puglia and Basilicata, each contributing a different part of the experience.

FOR PLANNERS: KNOW WHAT YOU ARE RECOMMENDING
Destination planners carry considerable responsibility when recommending a venue or destination to a client. Beautiful imagery helps create interest. It does not answer the operational questions that determine whether a wedding will work. B-Treat gives planners direct access to hospitality businesses, venues and local partners while allowing them to experience service, atmosphere, logistics, geography and guest potential firsthand.
They can see how properties function. They can understand distances and destination combinations. They can ask difficult operational questions. They can evaluate whether a venue works for their specific clientele.

The conference adds another layer: the opportunity to step outside immediate wedding production and discuss how the international market itself is evolving.
For planners looking to expand their destination portfolio, strengthen their European network or understand Puglia and Basilicata beyond social media imagery, B-Treat provides concentrated access within one programme.

FOR HOTELS & WEDDING VENUES: ACCESS MATTERS MORE WHEN THERE IS TIME TO USE IT
For venues, hotels, destinations and wedding businesses, international promotion increasingly depends on the quality of professional relationships behind it. A planner who remembers a property only as one meeting among dozens is unlikely to understand its full potential. At B-Treat, exhibitors have several opportunities to become part of the buyer’s experience. Formal meetings create the introduction. Shared events, dinners and destination experiences create context. Conversations continue throughout the programme.
This allows exhibitors to communicate details that rarely fit into a short appointment: the personality of the property, service philosophy, flexibility, operational capabilities, guest experience and the type of client for whom the product works best.
It also gives businesses direct exposure to planners from several key international source markets at one event, while providing insight into what those planners and their clients currently need. For hospitality businesses preparing for the next generation of destination weddings, that market intelligence is as valuable as the immediate lead.

MORE THAN A B2B PROGRAMME
The 2026 edition also includes a dedicated Photo Creative Lab, created by WEMA Global together with Roberta Burcheri for professional photographers and videographers. The concept was developed from conversations with established creatives who were looking for something different from the traditional workshop format.
Instead of teaching experienced professionals how to shoot, the Photo Creative Lab creates the conditions for them to produce, experiment and connect.
On October 27 at I Luoghi di Pitti – Masseria San Giovanni, selected photo and video professionals will work within a complete editorial wedding environment, while participating planners join the experience as guests.
The format also creates an additional meeting point between planners and visual creatives - two professional groups whose work is closely connected but who rarely have enough structured opportunities to build relationships outside active wedding productions.

THE BUSINESSES HELPING CREATE B-TREAT 2026
B-Treat is being developed with hospitality partners across Puglia and Basilicata that will host different elements of the programme.
The 2026 sponsors and experience partners include:
Tenuta Pinto
Cala Ponte, a Tribute Portfolio Hotel
Masseria San Giovanni – Epoca Collection
Masseria Spina
I Luoghi di Pitti – Masseria San Giovanni
Matera Collection

Rather than appearing only as logos attached to the event, these partners become part of the participants’ experience of the destination - through stays, meetings, dinners, events and familiarisation activities. This approach gives buyers a direct understanding of the businesses they may later introduce to their own clients.

INTERNATIONAL MEDIA PARTNERS
B-Treat 2026 is supported by wedding industry media partners representing different markets and audiences:
Lovenozze
Weddings & Honeymoons
Sposi Magazine
Zankyou Portugal
Wedding Venues Directory
Their participation extends the conversation beyond the professionals physically attending B-Treat and helps bring the event’s discussions, destinations, businesses and market perspectives to a wider international wedding community.

A SMALLER EVENT WITH A BIGGER PURPOSE
B-Treat was never designed around maximum attendance. Its value comes from selection, access and the amount of meaningful interaction that can happen when the group remains intentionally limited.

“We work internationally with destinations, venues, hotels, planners and wedding businesses, and we see the same challenge from different sides,” says Alexa of WEMA Global. “Businesses want access to the right planners. Planners want access to destinations and partners they can trust. Both need enough time to understand who is sitting opposite them. B-Treat is designed around that reality.”

The result is an event where education, business development, hospitality, destination discovery and professional relationships are treated as parts of the same process. Because the future of wedding hospitality will be shaped by more than beautiful properties.
It will depend on how well businesses understand the clients coming next - and how quickly they are prepared to evolve with them.

B-TREAT 2026
October 25–30, 2026
Puglia & Basilicata, Italy
For selected international wedding planners, venues, hotels, destinations, wedding businesses, media, photographers and videographers.

Registration and participation opportunities for buyers and exhibitors are currently open.

Organised by WEMA Global
Hospitality Marketing for Weddings, Events & Corporate Experiences

Oleksandra Skuba
WEMA Global
email us here

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