Last week HFTP hosted the largest HITEC in the event’s 46-year history. Taking place at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas USA, the over 6,650 attendees had access to four days of industry-specific education in a variety of formats, an exhibit hall featuring over 380 companies, and numerous social events and parties, beginning with the Opening Party presented by Samsung and HFTP at the House of Blues. Just that sentence alone presents an overwhelming summary of activity crammed into four days. Imagine being there and maximizing what you could take-away from such a wide-ranging program. It is difficult to do.
Before HITEC Houston recedes into the past and you move on with your summer plans, be sure to follow-through with act two of your HITEC attendance. Reach out to the connections you made onsite. See how you can address the notes and ideas you wrote down, and implement them into your workplace. Start strategizing a project plan and budget to bring in the technologies you demonstrated onsite. To help keep what you learned in Houston fresh, and perhaps expand your knowledge-base with details you might have missed, is a summary of content, blog posts and news reports covering topics and trends stemming from HITEC Houston. If you did not attend, take advantage of the material provided, just read on.
HITEC Bytes Special Report
HFTP’s annual publication is produced to coincide with HITEC North America, with quick-read articles covering the topics on the HITEC agenda. Authors are subject experts and academics who explain where to place your company’s technology priorities. In this year’s issue, security expert John Bell covers the privacy and security concerns to address within the next year. Alvaro Hidalgo, chair of the HFTP GDPR/HDPO task force, discusses why businesses the world over, not just EU-based companies, should pay attention to the new regulation. Consultants Amitava Chatterjee and Siva Kantamneni illustrate how to build an architecture that takes advantage of tech innovations. The 2018 publication is filled with additional articles on topics such as robotics to revenue strategy.
Guest Bloggers
For many years now, HFTP has recruited industry professionals to serve as a team of observers to report back to us on their experience at HITEC via the HFTP Connect blog. Each guest blogger comes from different backgrounds all providing a unique outlook. Take a moment to read their posts and comment on what they report.
Kara Heermans is vice president of product management and user experience at Sonifi Solutions. Kara presents what it is like to be a HITEC exhibitor. Her posts include:
• Remember HITEC Houston
• The Realities of a Memorable Guest Experience
• HITEC Houston 2018: An Open Call for Partnership and Collaboration
Jennifer Jones is president at J2 Hospitality Solutions. Jennifer takes a look at how technology trends are incorporated in hospitality environments. Her posts include:
• Being a Service Critic is in My DNA
• HITEC 2018 Hidden Treasures
• A European Vacation of “Pay at the Table”
James Lingle is president at James Lingle Consulting. James advises on how to address trends vs reality. His posts include:
• A Few of My Favorite (HITEC) Things
• For Everything, There is a Season
• My HITEC To-Do List (and Maybe Something for You, Too!)
And finally, University of Houston graduate student Ting-Bing Wu, CHIA recalls her time as a student volunteer at HITEC Houston. Her post includes:
• HITEC: Where You Can Learn, Network and Have Fun
News Reports
As THE annual event for hospitality technology, HITEC draws quite a large number of industry press. With many industry players in one place and numerous launches happening onsite, many leads and information come out of the event. Below are a few of the published stories. Comment below if you find others.
- Hoteliers Look to Streamline and Integrate Technologies at HITEC │ Lodging Magazine │ June 22, 2018
- What Caught My Eye at HITEC 2018 — Off the Beaten Path │By Geoff McDowell │Hospitality Upgrade│June 26, 2018
- HITEC Offers Up New Product Innovations│Hotel Business│June 26, 2018
- HITEC Wrapup—Guestroom Energy Management Innovations Grab Most Attention │By Glenn Hasek │Green Lodging News │June 26, 2018
- Voice, Including Rollout of Hotel-driven Alexa, Dominates at HITEC │By Chloe Riley │HOTELS │June 20, 2018
Photo Gallery
And last, to close out this summary, get a glimpse of HITEC Houston via the photo gallery.
HITEC Houston 2018 in Pictures
Look to attend HITEC Minneapolis next year on June 17-21, 2019 at the Minneapolis Convention Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota USA. Also coming up is HITEC Dubai, December 5-6, 2018 at the Madinat Jumeirah and HITEC Europe on April 10-11, 2019 at the Palacio De Congresos in Palma (Mallorca), Spain. Provide your impressions from this year’s HITEC in the comments below.
Eliza Selig (eliza.selig@hftp.org) is the HFTP Director of Communications, where she oversees HFTP content publications and research reports and more. This was her 18th HITEC.
