Monday 19 October - Tuesday 20 October - Wednesday 21 October

17:00 - 20:00

Registration Open

Lower Level Foyer

18:30 - 20:00

Citrus Restaurant (Private Room)

Reception sponsored by:

Monday 19 October - Tuesday 20 October - Wednesday 21 October

08:00 - 09:00

Exhibits Open

Mediterranean Ballroom, Lobby Level

07:30 - 20:00

Registration Open

Lower Level Foyer

09:00 - 09:15

Welcome Remarks

New York Ballroom

Speaker:

Douglas RICE, Executive Vice President & CEO, HTNG

Thierry Guiraudios' Slides

Centralising Hotel IT

New York Ballroom

Many hotel companies have been asking the question “why do we run expensive IT systems at every hotel, instead of one data center?” There are many potential advantages – license cost, hardware, specialized support staff, ease of upgrade, agility – but also many challenges, such as reliability of communications, the need to convince third-party owners, and the design of software products built for a single-hotel environment. This session will explore the experiences of two hotel companies who have embarked down the path of centralization and will provide critical guidance to companies considering whether, how, when, and what to centralize.

Moderator: 

Nick PRICE - CIO/CTO, Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group

Speakers: 

Carson BOOTH, Vice President IT, EAME, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

Thierry GUIRAUDIOS, Vice President IT, Louvre Hotels

10:30 - 11:10

Break

Mediterranean Ballroom, Lobby Level - Exhibits Open

Break sponsored by:

11:10 - 12:00

Slides

HTNG Workgroup Update:  Property Web Services

New York Ballroom

Highlights, recent developments, and real-life case studies from the HTNG workgroup focused on connecting hotel-based systems.

Speakers:

Stephen BURKE, Vice President, Product Development, Knowcross Solutions Pvt. Ltd.

Laurent CARDOT, Managing Director, Ariane Systems

Brigitte DIEM-GUY, General Manager, SpaSoft, Par Springer-Miller Systems
Bill EULER, President, Professional Accounting Solutions, Inc.

12:00 - 12:15

Slides

HTNG Update

New York Ballroom

Overview of HTNG activities, personnel and workgroup/forum changes, WIKI navigation and more.

Speaker:

Douglas RICE, Executive Vice President & CEO, HTNG

12:15 - 13:45

Lunch

Mediterranean Ballroom, Lobby Level - Exhibits Open

Lunch sponsored by:

13:45 - 14:35

Slides

Near Field Communications

New York Ballroom

This session will educate attendees on the buzz around near field communications (NFC) and what this means to the hospitality community and guests. In addition to learning about how NFC technology is evolving, we will discuss how it compares to RFID as well as general industry and hotel-specific NFC applications. Session participants will learn about current barriers to wide scale adoption and how these can be overcome to leverage NFC to offer differentiated guest services, improve staff productivity and enhance the guest experience. Today, most people associate NFC primarily with guest room locking systems but it's so much more. This session will help hoteliers navigate the complex maze of NFC and understand fact vs. fiction.

Speaker:

Cathy ZATLOUKAL, President & CEO, MobileAccess Networks

14:35 - 15:05

Slides

HDMI Update

New York Ballroom

HDMI has become the global standard for connecting HD devices. Learn more about HDMI, 1.4 the latest version of the specification, and and why HDMI holds the promise of improving the guest entertainment experience in hotels.

Speakers:

Steve VENUTI, President, HDMI Licensing, LLC

15:05 - 15:40

Break

Mediterranean Ballroom, Lobby Level - Exhibits Open

Break sponsored by:

15:40 - 15:55

Slides

Unique Global Identifier Project

New York Ballroom

A brief update on the HEDNA project to provide unique global identifiers to travel suppliers and other entities in an effort to simplify distribution.

Speaker:

Anton HELL, Managing Director, hit-CONSULT GmbH

Slides

HTNG Workgroup Update:  Property/Distribution Workgroup Update

New York Ballroom

Highlights, recent changes, adoption news, and upcoming developments for the workgroup that deals with reservations-related interfaces

Speaker: 

Robin COKER, Manager PMS Development, Amadeus

16:10 -17:00

Slides

Beyond Best Practice in Distribution Management

New York Ballroom

Distribution best practice still remains an elusive target for the majority of hospitality industry denizens, and one might also argue that striving for best practice is simply attempting to gain parity with a level of performance already achieved by one or more of your competitors. This market relevant session will briefly review and acknowledge today’s top best practices in distribution management, but then move the bar up one level by examining a subset from the standpoint of leading practice and innovative thinking. A panel of industry experts will debate whether these select leading practices will become must haves, best practice in their own right, or perhaps disappear as quickly as they came.

Moderator: 

Mark HOARE, Principal, The Prism Partnership

Speakers: 

David OHANDJANIAN, Senior Director of Internet Marketing Solutions, TravelCLICK

Clive TAYLOR, Vice President-Operations, Easy (EZ) Revenue Management Solutions
Gerry SAMUELS, Founder & Executive Director, Mobile Travel Technologies Ltd.

17:00 - 18:30

Free Time

Mediterranean Ballroom, Lobby Level - Exhibits Open

18:30 - 19:30

Reception

Mediterranean Ballroom, Lobby Level - Exhibits Open

Reception sponsored by:

19:30 - 21:30

Dinner

Mediterranean Ballroom, Lobby Level

Dinner sponsored by:

Monday 19 October - Tuesday 20 October - Wednesday 21 October

08:00 - 09:00

Exhibits Open

Mediterranean Ballroom, Lobby Level

Registration Open

Lower Level Foyer

09:00 - 09:50

Slides

HTNG Workgroup Update:  In-Room Technology

New York Ballroom

Highlights of initiatives to standardize infrastructure, to improve guest-room device controls and energy management, to ease acquisition of entertainment, to enable a universal remote control for hospitality TV/entertainment systems, and other efforts.

Speakers:

Dean COMPOGINIS, Chief Marketing Officer, Bittel Electronics Co. Ltd.

Dayna KULLY, Vice President, Channel and Vertical Strategy at MobileAccess

Monika NERGER, Vice President IT, The Americas, Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group

Vanessa OGLE, CEO, Enseo

Antonio SPERA, Business Director, VDA

Bryan STEELE, Managing Director, Jireh-Tek Ltd.

Michael ZETTERLUND, Research and Development, Choice Hotels Scandinavia
 

09:50 - 10:35

Wireless Mesh Networking Standards

New York Ballroom

Wireless mesh networks hold the promise of intelligent coordination of guestroom devices, switches, and controls, without the need for expensive wiring. These low-power, low-bandwidth networks are perfect for connecting light switches, outlets, actuators, sensors, door locks, and other devices to each other and to hotel systems. This session will explore some of the emerging standards for wireless mesh communications and their applicability to hospitality.

Moderator:

Fraser HICKOX, Managing Director, Hospitality Laboratory Limited

Speakers:

Jim GIST, Vice President, Global Hospitality, Control4

Graham MARTIN, Chairman, EnOcean Alliance
Bent SØRENSON, Director of Sales, Zensys AS

10:35 - 11:15

Break

Mediterranean Ballroom, Lobby Level - Exhibits Open

Slides

Social Media

New York Ballroom

A friend recommendation is more convincing than any travel agent proposal. User generated content is better than brochures. Customers reviews can be more effective than advertising. But you are no longer in control of the reputation of your service. The travel industry has to deal with Social Media, and deploy consistent strategies in marketing and technology.

Speaker:

Léon BENJAMIN, Author of Winning by Sharing

12:05 -12:20

Slides

HTNG Workgroup Update:  Architecture

New York Ballroom

Highlights of efforts to establish a reference architecture and common terminology for hospitality systems -- and what this means for hotels and vendors.

Speaker:

Stephen BURKE, Vice President, Product Development, Knowcross Solutions Pvt. Ltd.

12:20 - 13:50

Lunch

Mediterranean Ballroom, Lobby Level - Exhibits Open

Lunch sponsored by:

13:50 -14:35

Slides

Data Security

New York Ballroom

This practical session, delivered by a former hotel CIO who now runs a company that provides security consulting services to major hotel groups, will focus on the key aspects of securing your sensitive data, including network security, legal aspects, guest satisfaction, and securing data held by software vendors or traversing carrier networks. The session will also cover prioritization of key steps, and minimizing the cost of securing your data.

Speaker:

François STÄUBLI, CEO, Entiretec

14:35 -15:05

Mobile Applications for a Mobile Staff

New York Ballroom

Hotels are highly mobile environments and mobile applications are fundamentally changing the way that staff and guests interact with the hotel, systems and each other. How can hoteliers capitalize on the power of mobile technology to improve the bottom line and delight guests?

Speaker:

Stephen BURKE, Vice President, Product Development, Knowcross Solutions Pvt. Ltd.

15:05 -15:15

Slides

HTNG Workgroup Update:  Payment Systems & Data Security

New York Ballroom

Introduction of certification for Secure Data Proxy, and how this can help hotels protect sensitive data more easily; roadmap for global payments interface specification.

Speaker:

Alan LUBITZ, Senior VP & CTO, Planet Payment (recorded presentation)

15:15 - 15:45

Break

Mediterranean Ballroom, Lobby Level - Exhibits Open

15:45 - 16:55

Entertainment Systems & Broadband Trends

New York Ballroom

In-room entertainment systems will undergo massive change in coming years as guests increasingly move to on-demand, Internet-based content that will strain any hotel's bandwidth. IPTV, HDTV, 3DTV, time-shifting, place-shifting, and other trends will change the face of hotel TVs forever. Will bandwidth demand ever flatten? And what are the implications for a hotel's IP infrastructure and provisioning?

Speaker: 

Tom DUKE, CTO, iBAHN

Moderator: 

Wibecke VINKE, IT Consultant, Wibecke Vinke Consulting

Additional Panelists:

Marc BUDIE, Technology Director, Quadriga Worldwide

David CHEVENEMENT, Key Accounts and Marketing Director, Locatel
Alistair FORBES, CEO, Acentic GmbH
Antonio SPERA, Business Director, VDA
Rick STERNITZKE, CTO, Swisscom Hospitality

Closing Remarks

New York Ballroom

Speaker: 

Douglas RICE, Executive VP & CEO, HTNG