United hoteliers are aiming to reel in stray tourist properties as they bid to revolutionise the organisation of the Island's largest "people'' industry.

After a landmark summit involving Bermuda Hotel Association members and non-members, the delegates have pledged to bring into the fold the remaining hotels to form a collective front.

Already 75 percent of the Island's hotel beds are part of the new initiative, and BHA president Muriel Richardson is setting her sights on inn keepers and hoteliers who are not yet part of the move.

With all accommodations on board, Mrs. Richardson and co-organiser Mike Winfield believe they can help improve Bermuda's image overseas and bring about change within the industry on-Island.

And with backing from the majority of players in what is the Island's largest employer, they can now lobby Government hard over issues such as tax incentives or immigration matters.

The BHA president said they were already launching efforts to contact the fourteen licensed properties, mostly the smaller accommodations, who were not members of the association -- which itself may take on a new format.

Currently there are 62 licensed properties, 48 of which are in the BHA.

"We are determined to reach out to the little properties,'' she said. "We want to keep them informed and let them be a part of a revitalised hotel industry.'' Mrs. Richardson said the meeting, held in the last few days at Cambridge Beaches, had focused members on moving forward together, and coming up with a shared idea of where they wanted tourism to go.

Committees set up as a result of the forum are to tackle individual issues.

Mr. Winfield, president and CEO of Cambridge Beaches, said the consensus to move forward as one was an historical moment for the industry.

"I think what will come out of this will be a re-energised BHA as a re-focused dynamic body,'' he said.

"At the moment there is a blurred image of Bermuda's market in tourism, we are not able to get a clear consensus from the hotel industry because we are not together.

"But if we get together and give that clear vision, the Minister of Tourism can help tourism sell Bermuda and help hoteliers sell themselves.'' He said that while the hoteliers had the resolve to improve the product on the Island, there was a need to present Tourism Minister David Allen with one vision for overseas marketing -- something which the Minister has said is lacking in the past.

And he said there was now a need to look forward and not dwell on what went wrong with tourism.

"We are wonderful at saying what's wrong but not so good at saying what is right. We have got to put our money where are mouth is.

"I am convinced that part of the problem is that we have a `wishy-washy' image in the marketplace. If you go to the US East Coast and say `what is Bermuda?', you will get a lot of answers but nothing consistent that stands out.''