For the longest time, the running question for late night TV viewers was “Are you Leno or Letterman”? For me it has always been Letterman. Don’t get me wrong, Leno is great – but there was always something about the Top 10 list that I looked forward to. It is in that spirit, but with far less tongue in cheek humor, that I share with you 5 (or so) things I found pretty 
cool at HITEC this year. Warning – some of this is just for fun!
- Robert Irvine – I love the Food Network – and if you know me – I love food. I heard he was at the Comcast Business booth a couple of times. That would have been almost as cool to see as Warren Moon was in Minneapolis!
- Intello – This is a company that had a start in HSIA with our friends north of the border and is bringing a seriously compelling and affordable product to the market of digital signage. Cloud based and cost effective on the hardware and services side, I will be getting to know this company much better. They could bring affordable digital signage to hotels that previously would have never considered it.
- Tech Talks – Watching this grow over the last few years has been great. A ton of information packed into 15 minutes. The team at HFTP does a great job keeping these sessions informational and keeping the sales pitch out (or at least to a minimum). The number of topics continues to grow and expand – keep it up HFTP!
- Hot Dogs and Happy Hours at the booth – slogging through the floor for hours on end can get a bit tiresome and draining. Nice to see you can get a little something to perk you up without having to pay 4 bucks for a bottle of soda…and can anyone resist the smell of popcorn popping?
- Social Tables – I first met these guys at HITEC last year. Checking in with them a year later, they have had explosive growth and their product continues to impress. They are quickly gaining traction with the big brands and are putting a lot of pressure on the status quo.
- The karaoke project going on at Hospitality Upgrade – Rich is at it again! The team over at HU were roping people in to some sort of lip-synced version of karaoke. I cannot wait to see this one come to life.
It has been fun being a first time blogger for HITEC – hopefully somewhere along the line something resonated with you. Who knows – maybe I’ll get the chance to do it again. For those who’ve endured the blogs – thanks!
James is the president of James Lingle Consulting. In his consulting business James works with both vendors and hoteliers across a wide range of needs. Actively involved in the industry, James is currently a director at large for the HFTP Rocky Mountain chapter and has served on the HITEC Advisory Council.
The content published in this section was provided by HITEC Guest Bloggers. The information is the view/opinions of the Guest Bloggers and not of HFTP, nor of any person or organization affiliated or doing business with HFTP.
