October 28, 2022
Siegel Sez
Well, it is eight months out and it is already starting! For those of you in the technology space, you’ll find Doug Rice’s Definitely Doug column that follows quite interesting. This week he doesn’t talk about the latest technology advancements – in my mind, it is all about how embarrassed our industry is right now creating a problem that didn’t have to be created. But I’m not going there again, it is what it is and as Doug and many others have said, those who have technology solutions for the industry are understandably upset. I strongly suggest you read his third paragraph in “The 2023 Conflict” section. He has heard the same thing I’ve heard from just about every vendor I’ve talked to. What a weird year next year will be. I thought some of the points Doug brought up were right on, but many I don’t agree with. If you are a technology person from the industry and have attended events over the years, please read through his column and share your thoughts with me. Actually, let us both know. It is going to be a very strange eight months.
In the fall issue of Hospitality Upgrade that you will be receiving this week, you can read a great article on this topic -
What’s Happening in the World of Hospitality Trade Shows? Fran Worrall went right to the top and interviewed the leaders of HFTP, AHLA, HSMAI and a few others. It is a great read to follow Doug’s column. The issue is a very strong one and if you want to see what hotel technology leaders get challenged with daily you will love the CIO Summit review by Jeff Parker from Highgate Hotels. If you know these leaders, then you will absolutely laugh at some of the pictures included. Did somebody really fall off a horse at the CIO Summit?
Finally, about next year (for now), March 29-31 will be our 18
th Executive Vendor Summit. It is truly amazing how this event continues to grow. If you are a technology vendor and you want to be successful you need to work with other vendors. Last year we had nearly a hundred attendees and with the industry going gangbusters as it is now, we expect that number to grow. If you have any questions on EVS, please reach out to
kim@hospitalityupgrade.com. I can only imagine the conversations that will be taking place with “The 2023 Conflict” only being three months from that date. Yes, it is going to be a strange upcoming eight months!
Here is Doug’s column along with an update on the latest technology happenings. I will see you at the end with this week’s attempt at you-know-what. Let the adventure begin!
Rich
Rich@hospitalityupgrade.com
Definitely Doug
The Trade Show Duel
This week I will divert from my more typical subject matters to talk about something that is near and dear to my heart, and that has recently been the subject of much discussion in the North American (and global) hotel tech community. And that is dueling industry conferences sponsored by associations.
A Little Background on the Association World
Associations play an important role in our industry. A lot of people don’t really understand how they work, however, so before we get into the topic of association-sponsored conferences, some background may be helpful in explaining how they work and what drives their decision making.
There are many types of associations in the business world, focusing on a variety of issues such as political advocacy, education, cooperative problem solving, and standards development. In the U.S. and many other countries, most associations (including all the ones discussed here) are not-for-profit. That does not mean they can ignore revenue or expenses, in fact just the opposite. With no shareholders or owners, non-profits cannot sell stock. They cannot, therefore, access capital markets for funding to cover cumulative losses. An association that spends more than it takes in runs out of money.
Associations rely on membership dues, sponsorships, and events for most of their revenues. We would like to think that the associations we know, love, and volunteer for would play nicer with each other than competing for-profit businesses. However, the reality is that they are all competing for funding from the same budgets (mostly the marketing budgets of members and sponsors, although this can vary). So even if the missions of two associations and their events are mostly complementary, funds are limited and a decision to join one association or to sponsor one event often comes at the expense of another.
In addition, while most associations employ at least some paid staff (larger ones may have dozens or even hundreds) for administration, marketing, and management of various member activities, much of the effort expended by associations comes from member volunteers. Associations compete for volunteers’ time as well as funding. The ones that get the most time are the ones that provide the most interesting and engaging opportunities to their volunteer members (and to their employers, who fund their salaries and travel expenses).
Many associations play important roles in the global hospitality technology space as educators, innovators, or even just as voices for key user groups. These include
Hospitality Technology and Financial Professionals (HFTP),
Hotel Electronic Distribution Network Association (HEDNA),
OpenTravel Alliance,
American Hotel and Lodging Association (AHLA, which expanded its technology role through its merger with
Hospitality Technology Next Generation, or HTNG, in 2021), and
Hotel Sales and Marketing Association International (HSMAI), and the International Hospitality Information Technology Association (
iHITA).
In an ideal world, major associations with overlapping missions align their activities to divide and conquer. They need to avoid too much duplication, in order to be seen as responsible stewards of the financial contributions and volunteer time commitments made by their members and sponsors. In past years, leaders of many of the organizations listed above
met informally once or twice a year to discuss areas of actual and potential overlap and coordinate to achieve this – and to leverage each other’s strengths to support common missions. It wasn’t perfect, but it worked well.
Over the years, the hospitality tech associations coordinated on major event scheduling to make it easy for sponsors and attendees alike to attend the ones that mattered to them. This played out through both cooperative agreements (for example HSMAI and iHITA hold conferences in connection with HFTP’s HITEC) and by informal consultation among the association leaders as they started finalizing conference schedules. It was in their interest to avoid conflicts with any other events that were important to a significant proportion of their members. Over the 11 years as CEO of HTNG and planning 32 conferences around the world, I spent more time than you can imagine trying to avoid conflicts, both with association-sponsored and with brand-sponsored, vendor-sponsored, and commercial events. We (and others) often had to make last-minute changes in venue, city, or dates when we discovered another event being planned on the same dates.
Click here to read more of Doug’s column The Trade Show Duel
CORPORATE NEWS
- CallTek Named to the Best Employers 2023 List by Philippine Daily Inquirer
CallTek, Inc., a white label technical service provider, today announced that it was named to the Best Employers 2023 list by the Philippine Daily Inquirer. This is the first year that the Irvine, CA based company has been recognized for its exceptional workplace practices for their more than 6,000 employees around the globe.
calltekinc.com
PEOPLE ON THE MOVE
- Lodgistics Appoints Industry Trailblazer Jessica Kramer as New CEO to Lead Next Phase of Growth and Innovation
Lodgistics, the first cloud-based operations and collaboration platform built by hoteliers for hoteliers, has appointed veteran industry leader Jessica Kramer as CEO to lead its next era of innovation and growth. Today Lodgistics proudly serves hundreds of hotels, including properties in major markets branded under the Marriott, Hilton, Wyndham, IHG and Choice flags.
www.lodgistics.com
- HFTP Announces Renowned Industry Expert as New European COO
Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals (HFTP) announced that Carson Booth, CHTP will join the association as its Chief Operations Officer (COO) – Europe, starting November 1, 2022.
www.hftp.org
GUEST MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS
- Sentral Selects Stayntouch PMS and Kiosk to Power Flexible Extended Stay Communities Across the United States
- Erbon Software Announces Expansion Within the U.S. Hotel Market
- Stayntouch Launches Stayntouch 2.0, a Fully Integrated Hotel Technology Suite to Drive Direct Bookings, Optimize Distribution, Simplify Payments, and Streamline Operations
- ALICE by Actabl Completes Two-way Integration with Maestro Property Management System
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For more information on Guest Management Systems for 10/28/2022
RESERVATIONS & DISTRIBUTION
- Posadas' Hospitality Brands Launch New Website Experiences Powered by Amadeus
- Cloudbeds Amplify, The New Digital Marketing Solution, Launches Worldwide to Help Lodging Businesses Win More Bookings
- Advantage Reserve Is Delivering Reservation Services to Margaritaville Hotels & Resorts Through Its New Partnership
- SHR’s Windsurfer CRS Integrates with Adyen for Modern Payment Options
- U.S. Hospitality Gets More Hospitable with the Launch of allora.ai - the World’s First AI Booking Platform
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For more information on Reservations & Distribution for 10/28/2022
REVENUE MANAGEMENT AND ANALYTICS
- Preferred Hotels and Resorts Extends Technology Partnership with Amadeus to Its Member Properties
Preferred Hotels & Resorts will now endorse Amadeus' Business Intelligence and Sales & Catering solutions to member properties globally, providing access to industry-leading technologies as well as forward-looking data on average daily rate (ADR), bookings, and aggregated competitive insights that inform growth strategy.
www.amadeus-hospitality.com
GUEST FACING TECHNOLOGY
- INTELITY Named Best In-Room Tablet Provider by World Travel Tech Awards
INTELITY®, provider of hospitality’s leading guest experience and staff management platform, announced it has been recognized as the World’s Best In-Room Tablet Provider by the World Travel Tech Awards 2022. This is the second year in a row that INTELITY has earned this global designation.
www.intelity.com
- P3 Puts the Key into Kiosk to Provide Hotels with Completely Contactless Online Check-In Capability
Hotel software solutions provider P3 has rolled out a new service which allows hotel guests who check-in online to collect their room key at a kiosk rather than join a queue at the front desk. The ‘collect your key’ kiosk service was initially integrated into self-service kiosks at selected properties in the UK and Ireland, and is now being implemented at properties in additional regions.
www.p3hotels.com
MARKETING
- Cendyn to Power TIME Hotels’ CRM & Guest Loyalty Programs
Cendyn, a catalyst for digital transformation in the hospitality industry, has announced that it has been selected by TIME Hotels to power their CRM and guest loyalty programs, across their portfolio of properties in the UAE and beyond.
www.cendyn.com
SALES & CATERING, GROUPS & MEETINGS
- Knowland Partners with UpMail to Improve Group Sales Productivity with Personalization of Account-based Sales Outreach
Knowland, a world leading provider of data-as-a-service insights on meetings and events for hospitality, and UpMail, a sales acceleration tool for the hospitality industry, announced a solution partnership to enable group sales teams to grow revenue faster and improve the sales execution process.
www.knowland.com
- LTD Hospitality Celebrates a Seamless and Successful Multi-Property Transition to STS Cloud
LTD Hospitality Group, the premier hotel development, and management company in the Mid-Atlantic region, recently partnered with SalesAndCatering.com to transition its portfolio of hotels to STS Cloud. While vetting prospective sales and catering platforms, LTD Hospitality identified STS Cloud as the most intuitive, user-friendly, and customizable system on the market.
salesandcatering.com
COMMUNICATIONS & INFRASTRUCTURE
- GrayMatter Networks Partners with Tyme Global
Today, telecom technology provider, GrayMatter Networks, and remote customer service company, Tyme Global (TG), announce their official partnership. GrayMatter Networks’ VoIP solutions will now be enriched with Tyme Global’s virtual agent and smart IVR system, “Skye.”
tymeglobal.com
FOOD & BEVERAGE
- New Orleans Marriott Warehouse Arts District Selects Clear Sky Software for Managing Beverage Inventory
- Atlanta Airport Marriott Installs Clear Sky's Food Inventory Management System for Better Control
- Beverage Inventory Control System by Clear Sky Software Helping the Raleigh Marriott City Center
- PPDS Unveils New 32:9 Philips S-Line Digital Signage ‘Stretch’ Series for More Creative Opportunities in Hotel Food and Beverage Environments
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For more information on Food & Beverage for 10/28/2022
HUMAN RESOURCES
- Unifocus Named World's Best Workforce Management Solutions Provider by the World Travel Tech Awards
Unifocus, the leading provider of Workforce Management Systems, was named the World’s Best Workforce Management Solutions Provider at this year’s World Travel Tech Awards. At the ceremony held on October 23, Unifocus was honored by hospitality professionals worldwide who voted for the hotel industry’s most outstanding achievements in travel technology innovation.
unifocus.com
SECURITY
- ASSA ABLOY Global Solutions Demonstrates Expertise in Hotel Technology Innovation with the Winning of Two World Travel Tech Awards
- VENZA Vision ’23 – Product Road Map Q3 2022
- The Umstead Hotel and Spa Chooses VENZA/CyberTek for Data Protection and IT Security
- Quest Apartment Hotels Deploys Mobile Access for Enhanced Contactless Guest Convenience
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For more information on Security for 10/28/2022
ARCHITECTURE & INTEGRATION
- Hapi, AHLA Launch HTNG Express to Accelerate Innovation
Hapi, the hospitality industry’s leading platform for simple connectivity between technology systems, has teamed with Hotel Technology Next Generation (HTNG), a division of the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA), to launch HTNG Express, an efficient and low-cost solution for technology solution providers to integrate with industry-leading Property Management Systems.
www.hapicloud.io
HOSPITALITY EVENTS AND ASSOCIATION NEWS
- Discover Live Demonstrates the Power of the IDeaS Community
IDeaS, the world’s leading provider of hospitality revenue management software and services, held its annual user conference, Discover Live, from October 18-20, bringing together nearly 800 users, representing more than 9,100 properties across 57 countries.
ideas.com
- Agilysys to Attend The Hospitality Network Stakeholders Conference in Dubai
Agilysys, Inc., a leading global provider of hospitality software solutions that deliver High Return Hospitality, today announced it will be attending the Middle East’s leading hospitality event, The Hospitality Network Stakeholders Conference October 18 – 20 in Lapita, Dubai Parks and Resorts, Dubai UAE.
www.agilysys.com
PIQUED OUR INTEREST
- Companies Take Hard Look at What Guests Want in a Loyalty Program
- Analysis: 2022 Hotel Leisure Travel Revenue Projected To Be Up 14% Over Pre-Pandemic Levels
- Challenging Trends Currently Facing Hospitality Executive Teams
- 2022 Top 25 Historic Hotels of America Most Haunted Hotels
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For more information on Piqued Our Interest for 10/28/2022
And now for the You-Know-What...