In This Issue
HTNG 2008A Specifications Released
First Asian Conference - September in Macau
Third European Conference - November in Vienna
Coming Soon: Developers' Resources
Quick Reference Guide
Upcoming Meetings & Conferences
Register Colleagues for HTNG Mailings or Activities
Monitor HTNG Workgroup Mailing Lists
Register for HTNG Conferences and Workgroup Meetings
Speaking Opportunities at HTNG Conferences
HTNG 2008A Specifications Released
The HTNG 2008A specifications have been officially released. These specifications mark major progress from the first release in early 2007, both in terms of maturity and coverage. Except as noted, certification will be available for these specifications within the next few weeks.
The Property Web Services 2008A specification includes updates to the HTNG Web Services Framework including specifications for asynchronous as well as synchronous communications. They also include the Single Guest Itinerary specification and the first releases of the Digital Signage specification. Also released in preliminary form, but not yet ready for certification, are specifications for Back Office Integration, Open Data Exchange, and Guest Self Service.
The Property/Distribution Solution 2008A specification adds group profiles; Best Available Rate handling; and statistics. It also adds functionality for sharers, accompanying guests, and services; and it offers improved error handling.
Released specifications are available at http://www.opengroup.org/htng/specs/.
HTNG at HITEC
If you will be attending this year’s Hotel Industry Technology Exposition and Conference (HITEC), June 16-19 in Austin, Texas, HTNG’s “community center” will be located at booth #1051. Stop by to meet the hotel CIOs and CTOs from HTNG’s board of directors, to network with HTNG’s workgroup members, to learn more about the organization or its workgroups, or just for a cup of coffee, which will be available throughout exhibit hours.
HTNG 2008 Annual Conference
In case you missed it, this year’s fourth annual HTNG Members’ Meeting and Conference in Seattle was full of fast-paced and well-honed presentations, and a packed ballroom at the Westin Seattle. More than 350 attendees from all corners of the globe represented every sector of the industry. The presentations by HTNG’s six workgroups were particularly well received, highlighting more concrete deliverables from the past year than ever before. Other presentations and panels led by Intercontinental Hotels Group VP Gustaaf Schrils and Marriott VP Edward Goldman provided real-life examples of member hotel companies turning the HTNG vision into reality. And as always, there were outstanding networking opportunities for technology buyers and sellers alike. Most of the presentations are available to members here (login required). The 2009 conference will be held March 2-4, 2009 at the Omni Mandalay Hotel at Las Colinas, located near the Dallas/Fort Worth airport.
First Asian Conference - September in Macau
HTNG is planning our first Asian conference for September 22-23 at the new Venetian Macau. We already have a lot of interest from Asian hotel groups as well as from regional Asian IT executives at global hotel companies. The program format differ somewhat from our American and European conferences, with greater emphasis on Asian issues, including the challenges of adapting package software developed in Western countries to meet the needs of the diverse segments of the Asian market. For members coming from outside the region, the conference is scheduled so that you can attend both Hostec Asia (Bangkok, Sept. 17-20) and the HTNG Asian conference in a single trip. A small number of sponsorships will be announced shortly, with Platinum members having priority. If you are interested in sponsoring and are not already on our marketing mailing list, please contact our membership department and ask to be added as soon as possible so you can receive the information as soon as it is available.
Third European Conference - November in Vienna
Because of changes in the academic calendar at Ecole Hôtelière de Lausanne this year, we have had to relocate our European conference for 2008. This year’s conference will be held at the Grand Hotel Vienna, November 5-7. Sponsorship information will go out to marketing contacts in 3-5 weeks. The In-Room Technology Workgroup is also scheduling a two-day meeting in Vienna on November 4 and 5.
Coming Soon: Developers' Resources
We are in the final stages of preparing the HTNG wiki for launch. The initial focus will be on using it as a resource repository for developers, with longer-term efforts to provide quick reference information for all relevant HTNG constituencies. With so much activity occurring within our workgroups, and limited resources to organize it, we think there’s a need for a single place that both HTNG staff and members can maintain and consult, providing links to the latest releases of specifications, work-in-process, and other developer resources. By using a wiki, we hope to encourage member contributions to a “living library” of documentation and useful links. The wiki will be launched in stages, first to workgroup participants, and later to other members. HTNG has also engaged a consultant to develop some sample code and implementation guidelines to assist developers who are new to HTNG implementations.
Workgroup Updates
New for hotel members: In the next few months, HTNG will restructure the way in which hoteliers can participate in workgroups, offering an option designed to appeal to executives who need solutions to problems, but who are not technical or who prefer not to be involved in the nuts-and-bolts of specification development. Members from the hotel community will be able to sign up as “business advisors” to any workgroup or team, and will be invited to participate only during key direction-setting and review calls and meetings, with specific issues outlined in advance so you can decide whether they are relevant to you. In some cases, workgroups may ask their business advisors to solicit input or targeted participation by others within their companies – for example, some workgroups have found the need for input from general managers, directors of sales, or non-technical staff, on very specific issues. The new format is designed to give hoteliers greater value with less commitment of time, and to expand the quality of the business requirements that drive the workgroup development efforts.
The Architecture Workgroup has formed two teams, one focusing on the HTNG Reference Architecture, and the other on Governance. The governance team will focus on a process for ensuring the integrity of HTNG specifications (e.g. version control), maximizing reuse of web services, and managing potential overlap and conflict between different HTNG workgroups. This will likely be accomplished through a governance council that will include active participation from the other HTNG workgroups. The workgroup elected Bill Peer of IHG as co-chair, replacing Paul DiGiovanni, who left his position at Agilysys earlier this year. Steve Burke of Knowcross Solutions continues as the other co-chair of the workgroup. John Bell from Marriott leads the new Reference Architecture team, and Kevin Short from EDS heads the Governance effort.
The Distribution Content Management Workgroup has completed its first specification for delivery of rich content, such as text descriptions, photos, videos, maps, and audio, from content providers (such as hotel companies or content management systems) into distribution channel. The specification supports both push and pull models and is expected to be included in the 2008B certification specification.
The In-Room Technology Workgroup has formed a European Advisory team to work with each of the five preexisting teams to ensure that European interests are fully represented. While many European members already participate in each of the five teams, the new team will give European members a new voice in helping to set the priorities of the overall workgroup and each of its teams. Meanwhile, the Media Content team is creating material to assist corporate IT executives in educating their business people, hotel managers, and owners about deployment of next-generation television systems. The infrastructure team is working on a gateway specification that it expects to submit for certification. The IP telephony team is surveying business requirements with an objective of defining a foundation set for IP telephony, with a goal of identifying a balance of functionality and cost to enable manufacturers and hoteliers alike to recognize economic benefit from next generation telephony. The In-Room Guest Controls team is defining infrastructure and messaging protocols to enable guestroom devices to respond intelligently to the environment, to guest needs, to each other, and to other systems within the hotel. The Applications and Device Integration team has completed specifications for an intelligent auxiliary panel and an in-room IP set-top box, and is working to make both specifications certifiable.
The Payment Systems Workgroup, under the leadership of Alan Lubitz from Planet Payment, has made rapid progress toward its first deliverable, a specification that will enable hotel systems to reduce or eliminate the need to store sensitive credit-card data in most systems, by using a secure vault as the only permanent storage location, and substituting secure data proxies in all other systems. Just four months old, this workgroup has already completed its use cases and is reviewing the second draft of an interface specification for connecting various hotel systems securely to a vault.
The Property Web Services Workgroup is readying the now-released specifications for Open Data Exchange, Back Office, and Guest Self Service for certification in the 2008B release. It has also split the Guest Self Service team into activity scheduling (merged into the Single Guest Itinerary initiative) and a new Food & Beverage ordering team, led by Markus Leibundgut of MenuLogic. The Back Office team is now under the leadership of Bill Euler from PAS, replacing Axel Janz of SAP, who has moved into a non-hospitality related job. Work continues on a first release of the Identity Compliance specification under the leadership of Brian Alessi from Delaware North Companies.
The Property/Distribution Solution Workgroup continues to expand and refine its already successful work. The 2008A certification specification includes additions of group block management, best-available-rate handling, and statistics for revenue management systems; and also offers improvements in handling for sharers, accompanying guests, and services, migration of the message transport layer to the HTNG Web Services Framework, and error handling. Several participating vendors have indicated their intention to certify their products for the first time to the 2008A specification.
Upcoming Meetings and Conferences
While many HTNG meetings occur by telephone, and most face-to-face meetings are scheduled with only 1-2 months lead time, some have longer planning horizons, and members often ask so they can mark their calendars. The master workgroup meeting schedule is always posted at www.htng.org/Schedule.htm, including all face-to-face meetings and conference calls. But for those who would like to mark the dates for face-to-face meetings, here’s the schedule as we know it today. Please remember that workgroup meetings are not “open”– if you are not a member of a workgroup but would like to attend one of its meetings, you will need to make advance arrangements to attend as a guest or as an applicant for membership. While all workgroups welcome new and prospective participants, each workgroup has its own guest and new-member policies, and these can vary from meeting to meeting. For information about attending any workgroup meeting, please contact the HTNG workgroups mailbox.
- May 19-20 - In-Room Technology Workgroup (Santa Clara, CA, USA)
- September 22-23 – HTNG Asian Conference (Macau)
- November 4-5 - In-Room Technology Workgroup (Vienna)
- November 5-7 - HTNG European Conference (Vienna)
- March 2, 2009 – Most workgroups will meet (Dallas)
- March 2-4, 2009 – HTNG North American Conference (Dallas)
Register Colleagues for HTNG Mailings or Activities
All technology vendors, as well as many hotel companies, hold corporate memberships in HTNG. If your company has a full corporate membership, then you can share the benefits of HTNG membership with as many colleagues as you like (for hotel "five-pack" memberships there is a limit of five).
The key first step is to enroll each person in the HTNG database - then they can apply to do anything any other member can do. Remember there is NO LIMIT as to how many people can represent your company in a workgroup - just a limit on (a) how many can vote (one per company) and how many can attend face-to-face meetings without paying an extra-person fee (normally one).
To enroll a colleague under a corporate membership, you (or they) can use this link: www.htng.org/join/memberreg.htm.
How to Apply for HTNG Workgroups
It’s now simpler than ever to join an HTNG workgroup, or any “team” effort organized within a workgroup. Just visit our “join workgroup” page at www.htng.org/workgroups/common/joinwg.htm. Your company will automatically be put on the agenda for consideration at an upcoming meeting of that workgroup or team. As before, workgroups still retain control over admission of new members, but you will now be able to attend workgroup meetings while your application is pending or provisional.
Workgroups are particularly eager for greater participation by business unit representatives from hotel companies. Many of the workgroups now have formal mechanisms for hoteliers to become involved with less time commitment and expense. For example, many now have business requirements teams, consisting entirely or primarily of hoteliers, which meet periodically by teleconference to define the business needs and to review whether the solutions being designed by the technical teams are “on track.” HTNG will be working with each workgroup to formalize the option for hoteliers to participate less formally as “advisors,” as an option to full membership particularly for those who do not want to participate in highly technical discussions.
Not sure if you should participate? Consider attending one meeting before committing. Most workgroups permit one-time guests, to help you decide if the fit is right for you. To attend as a guest, contact the HTNG workgroups mailbox. A per-meeting, per-person fee, which varies based on the workgroup and length of the meeting, normally applies to guests (see www.htng.org/workgroups/common/fees.htm).
While many workgroups and teams meet periodically by teleconference, new participants often find face-to-face meetings to be critical in helping them engage with the process. See the schedule at www.htng.org/Schedule.htm for a full list of upcoming teleconference and face-to-face meetings. If the workgroup you are interested has not yet scheduled its next face-to-face meeting, you can check back later or join the workgroup’s mailing list (below) to receive all workgroup communications.
Monitor HTNG Workgroup Mailing Lists
Members frequently ask us if they can be added to workgroup mailing lists so that they can monitor workgroup activities. We now have the ability to “cc” you on mailings to workgroups and teams of interest, without requiring that you join the group.
If you would like to be “cc’d” on workgroup correspondence for one or more HTNG workgroups or teams, just complete the online form at www.htng.org/workgroups/common/cclist.htm.
Register for HTNG Conferences and Workgroup Meetings
To register for any conference or workgroup meeting, simply visit the Member Services site (accessible through the link bar at the top of the public HTNG website at www.htng.org, or from the link in the navigation bar of the collaboration site, or access it directly at https://members.htng.org). Click on the Meeting Registration link to view the meetings open for registration.
If your company is a voting member of a workgroup, an applicant, a provisional member, or an approved guest, you should see a “Register” link for each meeting of that workgroup. Registration is free for the primary representative of each voting member company that has paid the annual workgroup support fee. Other representatives of voting members companies, as well as applicants, provisional members, and approved guests, will pay the per-meeting fee at the time of registration. If you are attending in place of the primary member, you will need to follow the instructions to avoid the per-meeting fee.
If you do not see a “Register” link, then either your company is not a member of the workgroup (or an applicant to join), or you have not registered as a representative of your company. To remedy this situation, complete the form at www.htng.org/workgroups/common/joinwg.htm.
You will need your login and password to the Member Services site to register for any meeting. This may or may not be the same as the login and password to the Collaboration site (we have no way to know your current password to the Collaboration site). If you don’t know your login and password to the Member Services site, you can use the link on the login page to have it e-mailed to you. We can reset your login and password to the Member Services site to match your Collaboration site logins, but only if you tell us your current password for the Collaboration Site. Simply complete the form at www.htng.org/common/forms/syncpw.htm, and we will make that change.
You can also use the Member Services pages to update your contact information.
Speaking Opportunities at HTNG Conferences
We are often asked about speaking opportunities at HTNG conferences. Our hotel members have applauded the relative absence of commercial material in our program, and we think that’s critical to drawing top-level participation by hotel IT executives. Unlike many organizations and conferences, HTNG selects sessions and presenters based solely on member interest and technology leadership, not on sponsorship. Our top-level sponsors do get brief (5-minute) commercial messages during the conference, but otherwise have no preference for conference sessions. For those, speakers are either solicited based on their recognized expertise, or based on real-life case studies of integration from the perspective of hotel companies, or in the case of workgroup presentations, by the workgroup participants themselves.
Hoteliers who have implemented innovative technologies or achieved new levels of system integration are welcome to submit proposals to speak, and (as appropriate) may suggest sessions that include participation by the participating vendors. Technology vendors who have great integration stories to tell and want to speak at our conferences should consider recruiting a hotel customer to lead a session that includes them and the other vendors involved. In an effort to avoid commercialization, HTNG is much more likely to approve a proposal from a hotelier who can demonstrate proven value, than from vendors who – whatever the merit of their accomplishments – have primarily commercial objectives. Proposals for standalone presentations from vendors are most likely to receive serious consideration if the speaker is a recognized world expert in a particular technology, if the technology is used (or usable) across multiple industries, and ideally if the technology is likely to be commercially available three or more years in the future, rather than now.
© 2008 Hotel Technology Next Generation.
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