The fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic in the hospitality industry has been swift and substantial. Like organizations across the globe, HFTP's global staff had to pivot unexpectedly from operating out of its physical headquarters in Austin, Texas, to home offices in early March. Fortunately, the transition to work-from-home was seamless, allowing HFTP to immediately turn its full attention back to helping its members and the industry navigate an unprecedented, difficult time.

For decades, HFTP has served as the spokes-group for the hospitality finance and technology segments and has acted as an invaluable bridge between members and the resources and connections they need to help them grow professionally. It became our immediate goal to provide virtual networking and educational opportunities that bring together professionals and provide the most up-to-date information on trends and best practices during the shutdown and the subsequent recovery process.

These opportunities were developed in the form of HFTP Hangouts, a new Zoom series spotlighting different topics in finance and technology to help hospitality businesses navigate the pandemic. Each session is moderated by an industry expert and opens to a Q&A and lively discussion amongst participants. Thus far, they have covered everything from risk mapping, profitability trends, hotel and club strategies for recovery, federal relief, cloud services optimization and more. Recaps of each session are available on HFTP Connect (blog.hftp.org).

HFTP strives to help make members more competitive in a tenuous job market. During this time of mass layoffs and furloughs, HFTP discounted its Certified Hospitality Technology Professional (CHTP®) and Certified Hospitality Accountant Executive (CHAE®) programs to help professionals build new skills and improve their marketability.

HFTP also partnered with Ascend to develop new certificates on the Uniform System of Accounts for the Lodging Industry: the USALI-11 Theory Certificate and the USALI-11 Practice Certificate. In addition, discounts are available for HFTP members and furloughed/laid-off professionals.

Throughout this time, HFTP has continued planning for a 2020 North American HITEC®. It has been co-located with other 2020 events to become the first-ever Best of HFTP conference – a grand restart to hospitality meetings taking place October 26-29, 2020 at the Henry B. Gonzalez Center in San Antonio, Texas.

As the producers of HITEC, HFTP aims to help the hospitality industry respond to a rapidly evolving guest experience. Cleanliness has emerged as the greatest concern and essential to restoring confidence in travel. In response to this sudden shift, HFTP will unveil the Clean to Cleaner pavilion at HITEC, a brand-new display of contactless and cleaning technologies for the hospitality industry of the future.

I am grateful to the flexibility of the HFTP team to quickly develop resources to assist HFTP members and stakeholders.