• Limited space available
• Advanced registration required
• Additional fee required

Registration Open –  Parish Hall
 

Icebreaker & Cocktail Reception - Piazza D'Italia

A Very Non-Traditional HU Icebreaker!

The Executive Vendor Sumit focuses on peer-to-peer interaction. It is important to us that you meet everyone, and we are very creative when it comes to networking. Join us for cocktails and Rich's infamous icebreaker. It can be silly, but we guarantee it is always fun. Please don't be late, you won't want to miss this. Dinner will begin immediately after the icebreaker.

BREAKFAST – Parish Hall

Educational Session #1 – Operating in the Age of Digital Disruption  – Louisiana Ballroom

The hotel industry didn’t need a pandemic when they were already battling epic changes borne from a rapidly expanding digital marketplace. Retailers, bankers and newspapers have all been turned upside down by it; how will hotels manage? The implications are important to understand for hotels operating in a world where consumers are beholden to the likes of Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Airbnb. Then along comes ChatGPT. Recovering from the pandemic brought its own challenges, but it also revealed many opportunities for hotels. How can hotels take advantage of the disruption over the next 1-3 years? Will the approach to customer acquisition change and how will the industry measure its success?  Data will be shared on hotel performance pre- and post-COVID along with a forecast for 2023 and expectations of how the hotel industry will evolve over the next 5-10 years. 
 

Speaker – Cindy E Green, CEO and Co-Founder, Kalibri Labs

Educational Session #2 – Everyone is Always for Sale! – Louisiana Ballroom

Is everyone always for sale? Of course they are! Having lived through being the acquired to becoming the acquirer, Matt Goche will share first-hand experiences from the two sides of the acquisition situation.  He will share what companies look for in an acquisition, how to set up a business to be acquired and what it takes for a company to go from business attraction to company alignment to acquisition. 

Speaker – Matt Goche, CEO, Uniguest

Disaster recovery and a reliable  communication channel to support your team and customers can’t be overstated during an emergency situation.  Tony Espinoza and his company CallTek know a little bit about traversing challenging times. Drawing upon his personal experiences during COVID-19 and then the recent and devastating Typhoon that hit the Philippines, Tony will open the floor for some interesting conversations about how to prepare for an unexpected disaster.

Education Session #5 – Are you there, Nessie? It’s me, AI…  –  Louisiana Ballroom

Who could have foreseen that the Loch Ness monster and modern technology like OpenAI's ChatGPT and Meta VR would have something in common? They are both current headlines, shrouded in rumors and myths, making the truth of what they are really difficult to discover. This session will seek to put some of the technology myths and rumors to rest (sorry Nessie!), focusing on the practical application of these new technologies to travel.

Speaker – David Chestler, President, PROVision Partners

Enjoy dinner and a 2-hour cruise down the Mississippi River on the Creole Queen, an authentic paddlewheeler that takes guests on day and night cruises for a totally different view of the Crescent City.