How often do you get to visit your past? If you are like me then probably not as much as you would like. Do you ever get to go back, grab something and bring it to today? I had a chance to do that last month at our 10th CIO Summit in Miami at the beautiful Mandarin Oriental Hotel. Ten years ago the idea for the CIO Summit was born when I met with Tom O’Toole who was the CIO at Hyatt Hotels at the time. He encouraged and inspired me. I often think back to all the great people I have met over the 19 years I have been doing my technology thing and how one simple meeting can change a future. This makes me think of the book "The Five People You Meet in Heaven." I believe Mitch Albom’s story. Tom’s encouragement eventually paid off and the CIO Summit was born at the Hotel Dupont in Wilmington, Del., in September 2002. As we planned our 10th CIO Summit earlier this year I thought how nice it would be to harass Tom and asked him to come back. Today he is the COO at Mileage Plus Holdings, LLC, at United Airlines, and when I invited him he jumped at the opportunity. When I told this story to our attendees and introduced him, it was simply one of those moments for me. Visiting the past and having it join you in the present is truly a great experience. He did a great job highlighting his role today and how his time in the hotel industry was such a big part of what he does today. This is a very unique industry with very creative people, and I am thankful that I have been in it this long.

Not only were those in attendance at our CIO Summit creative, they are visionaries. We allotted time on the program to share the progress we have made with Hospitality Upgrade’s TechShare initiative. I figured instead of telling them what they would get out of it, we asked Katrina Lane from Caesars Entertainment, Ken Barnes from White Lodging and Gustaaf Schrills from IHG to explain why they are participating. I followed this group by asking everyone to imagine coming to work on a Monday morning, signing on to HUTechShare and seeing what technology was installed at all hotels from luxury to limited service around the world last week, last month or last quarter. We are so excited to see this idea come to fruition. If you have any questions regarding HUTechShare, please email Lisa D’Angelo at lisa@hospitalityupgrade.com or call her at (678) 802-5306. This was another great moment at this year’s CIO Summit. I admit it: I am into moments that I know I will remember forever.