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Publisher's Letter

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October 15, 2015
Publisher's Letter
Richard Siegel - Rich@hospitalityupgrade.com

It is 6:30 a.m. as I start typing this letter here in Atlanta. The day is just getting started and I have received an email from the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas where I will be staying tonight. The hotel notifies me that my room is available for check in. The hotel asked my arrival time and will text me when my room is ready. All I have to do is pick up my key when I get there. I would prefer that when my room was ready that the hotel would simply tell me what room number and I could use my smartphone to check in. I hope that will happen in the near future. However, it was nice to receive that email,  but it got me thinking of the changes the hotel industry has experienced and dreaming of what is still to come.

Our feature article this issue does exactly that in one of the most creative ways we could conspire. When I received the article the first thing I questioned was why in the world Trevor Warner, Warner Consulting with the help of Jeffrey Parker from Interstate Hotels, would title the article “Squirrel!” As I started to read it I smiled when Maggie was mentioned and her want for a certain toy. Yes, it started to make sense at that point. The magic with great writing is being able to have an article maintain interest to a wide-ranging audience. “Squirrel!” does this with their making the ongoing trends in technology understandable. It touches so many in the industry who are fighting battles as to what needs to be done and what doesn’t. Thanks to them both for an amazing article and for being part of Hospitality Upgrade. I strongly encourage you to get comfortable and read it all the way through. You will find great value in it.

I encourage you to go to page 4 and look at this issue’s Table of Contents. There are wide ranging topics that are covered along with our fun and creative columns like On the Bookshelf, Ask the Guest, Who’s the Reader and, of course, our infamous Junk Mail Corner. Then of course we all love pictures and we have some great ones from HITEC (pg. 150) and on Siegel Sez (pg. 152). It was in September of 1992 when our first issue of this publication came out, 20 pages and it was mailed to 3,000 hoteliers in the United States. Today we have more than 32,000 readers following technology in 110 countries. Many of these readers are from the fasted growing segment of technology influencers, those who are responsible for revenue strategies and sales and marketing efforts.  Be sure to catch (pg. 114) a special welcome from Bob Gilbert the CEO of HSMAI as well as a special section for those who are part of the HSMAI world. We are glad to welcome this section to our expanding world of Hospitality Upgrade. Also, with so much growth internationally especially with our digital edition we thought why not share the changes and challenges that different parts of the world are experiencing (see Tech Updates from Around the World on pg. 138).  We are thankful for the friends we have made, those who share their knowledge with us and especially those technology companies that support our effort with their marketing dollars. I hope that you will continue to thank them also.

As you can see from our cover, we take a look back at this year’s CIO Summit. The picture was taken on the USS Midway in San Diego that was an unbelievable look back at history. We had one of our biggest crowds ever this year with technology leaders coming in from all over the world. We are grateful that they took the time to join us. We also thank HP for being a great partner in our program. You have to feel good when every attendee said they would be back next year. Kris Burnett does a stellar job in her CIO Review sharing what we learned and what changes will be coming. Her review starts on page 50 and there are some great pictures. I guess there would have to be considering all the things we did including our first-ever CIO Regatta and a beach party. Yes, San Diego (actually Coronado) was wonderful and the Loews was a great hotel. It raises the bar for next year, but what is life without challenges. Now that is something that I think I might enjoy experiencing, but then again wouldn’t we all? Thanks again for your support. It is very much appreciated!
 
 
©2015 Hospitality Upgrade
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