Contents - Resort + Recreation Magazine

HITEC Tackles Technology
Hospitality Investment Still A Priority
The 2009 Hospitality Industry
Technology Exposition and Conference
(HITEC), held June 22-25 at the Anaheim
Convention Center in Anaheim, Calif.,
was attended by over 3,000 hospitality professionals.
The conference addressed technology
issues related to the economy, social
media, green practices, convergence and
other topics relevant to today’s hospitality
industry.
While attendance was down 28% from
last year, Frank Wolfe, CAE, CEO of
Hospitality Financial and Technology
Professionals (HFTP), was impressed with
the quality of attendees. "In comparison,
other industry trade shows have been down
by 40 percent this year,” Wolfe said. “It’s a
testament that technology investment is
still a priority." And Jay Williams of Clear
Sky Software observed that those who
attended this year came with a clear purpose
to buy, noting “Our prospects have
been high quality.”
HITEC featured new products, signature
technologies and discussion on the
future of hospitality technology, including
a display dedicated to the latest in emerging
club technologies. Terry Jones, founder
of Travelocity, discussed the importance of
digital relationships, emphasizing the multiple
channels and opportunities that are
available to build a relationship and ultimately
capture customers. Additional sessions
included a panel of experts discussing
how they are using technology to battle the
tough economy. The conference closed
with IDEO's chief technology executive
Doug Solomon explaining how design
thinking in problem solving can be applied
to the hospitality industry. He asserts that
while design thinking starts and ends with
people, the key is to take an ethnographic
approach and look at behaviors, motivations
and cultural environments.
New this year were the HITEC
Roundtables, where attendees were able to
share their thoughts, exchange ideas and
listen to what others are experiencing.
Roundtable topics included Twitter/Web
2.0, PCI compliance, mobile technology,
maximizing revenue during tough economic
times and more.
In this issue, R+R presents one of these
technology topics relevant to hospitality
and recreation operations, beginning on
page 12. In our next issue, we’ll expand on
these topics even more as we look at technology
applications from across the industry,
packaged in our annual Technology
Pavilion editorial section; be sure your subscription
is up-to-date to avoid missing the
next issue!
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