HITEC 2026 rode into San Antonio June 15-18, 2026 to the Henry B. González Convention Center. The event was produced by Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals, the global association behind HITEC. This year’s show welcomed more than 6,100 hospitality technology professionals, with more than 400 exhibiting companies across roughly 85,000 net square feet of show floor space.
AI was everywhere and attendees learned about all aspects of this technology: the good, the bad, and the ugly. Among the good: improving hotel operations, alleviating staffing pressure, enhancing guest communication, and getting a better handle on data, cybersecurity, and financials. Among the bad and the ugly: misunderstanding and misuse of this transformative technology.
Event Highlights
HITEC 2026 gave hoteliers a clear look at where hospitality technology is going, and where it is already being put to work.
The education program covered AI, cybersecurity, guest engagement, revenue management, connected systems, payments, infrastructure, and hotel operations. Many sessions focused less on theory and more on day-to-day use. How does a hotel answer guest messages faster? How can staff see problems sooner? How should teams protect systems and data? Which tools save time without making the guest experience feel cold and impersonal?
The session “The Dark Side of AI – Ethical Dilemmas and the Disasters Heading Our Way” was both fascinating and terrifying. Assumptions and past definitions are changing with AI. Are human hackers losing their “jobs” to AI agents? Could that peace sign you flashed in your selfie now be used to scan your fingerprints? Given the growth of AI slop and algorithmic echo chambers, cognitive skills, authenticity, and critical, free-thinking are becoming more important and more valuable than ever.
Bart Berkey provided ways to counterbalance technology with genuine human interaction in his engaging session, “Making People Feel: Stop Letting Technology Kill the Experience”.Inside Hospitality Solutions defines hospitality as anywhere you welcome a guest, and Bart highlights that “Every interaction is an opportunity to make others feel a certain way.” So, how are you making your guests, coworkers, and employees feel to transform your operations and your guest experience?
The headline sessions emphasized that AI will change everything, but that companies cannot lose focus on the guest and the employee. Yes, there are tremendous opportunities to improve efficiency and profitability, but these should also create opportunities to improve employee effectiveness and service to the guest. One of the headliners, James Taylor, provided the skills required to thrive in this new world: Creativity, Collaboration, Critical Thinking, and Collaboration. AI tools change brainstorming from “old-fashioned” ideation to asking better questions. Focus on curiosity and questioning to innovate and take your business to the next level.
Highlights from the Tradeshow Floor
The show floor provided attendees with tools that can improve labor efficiency, drive revenue, protect systems, support employees, and make the guest experience easier to manage. Here are just a few of the many great companies that exhibited:
Akia helps hotels automate guest communication before, during, and after the stay. Its tools cover messaging, digital check-in, guest guides, upsells, staff workflows, and service recovery, giving hotels a way to reduce repetitive front-desk work while keeping guests informed.
Amadeus offers hotel technology across distribution, reservations, revenue strategy, sales, operations, and guest engagement helping you manage all aspects of your hospitality business and the guest journey. During HITEC 2026, Amadeus also highlighted an expanded AI strategy for hospitality, including AI commerce tools designed to help hotels appear and sell through AI-powered search, assistants, and marketplaces. Its Amadeus Max assistant layer works across Amadeus hospitality products, with tools aimed at booking conversion, travel advertising, sales workflows, and group RFP handling so hotels can capture more demand, reduce manual work, and keep tighter control of pricing and merchandising.
Blueport provides hospitality network, television, and entertainment technology. Hotels can use its services to support guest Wi-Fi, in-room entertainment, casting, and managed connectivity across guestrooms and public areas.
Comcast Business provides hospitality internet, TV, voice, Ethernet, managed WiFi, security, and backup connectivity services. Hotels can use Comcast Business to support guest WiFi, in-room entertainment, staff communications, payment systems, and network redundancy, with X1 for Hospitality adding centralized video-device management and a more familiar in-room TV experience for guests.
Cybertek provides managed IT and cybersecurity services. For hotels without large internal IT teams, Cybertek can help with monitoring, network support, security planning, and cyber-risk reduction.
Bringing the hotel service bell to the modern age, Dinggly offers wireless call button and paging technology for hotels, restaurants, pools, service areas, and back-of-house teams. Hotels can use it for poolside requests, tray pickup, housekeeping alerts, guest service calls, and faster staff response.
Lula Cleaning helps property managers, owners and cleaning companies to streamline daily tasks. Whether you manage short-term rentals, corporate spaces, or other properties, Lula saves you time and ensures top-quality service, keeping your team up-to-date.
MTN provides managed connectivity using satellite, 5G, and terrestrial networks. Resorts, remote hotels, and large properties can use this type of service for primary connectivity, backup internet, guest Wi-Fi, operational systems, and payment continuity.
OpsTechPro AI uses AI to help hotel teams read operational signals across guest sentiment, demand patterns, service issues, and property workflows. Its value is in helping managers see problems earlier and act before they become guest complaints or lost revenue.
Philips Professional Displays provides hospitality TVs and professional display technology, including in-room entertainment, casting, display management, and property system integrations.
Queen Bee Purchasing supports hotels with procurement for hospitality televisions, appliances, and related products, helping properties source and deploy guestroom technology with less internal lift.
RealTime Reservation helps hotels manage and monetize bookable amenities such as cabanas, pool seating, spa, dining, activities, parking, recreation, and equipment rentals. With its acquisition of STAY, RealTime Reservation is expanding into a broader guest experience platform for properties that want to increase ancillary revenue and improve pre-arrival and in-stay engagement.
Revenue Amplified focuses on hotel revenue reconciliation and financial accuracy. Its platform is designed to help hotels identify missed revenue, reduce manual review, and improve control over financial leakage.
Safety NetAccess designs, builds, and supports wired and wireless networks for hotels, resorts, conference centers, and public venues. Reliable connectivity now touches guest Wi-Fi, casting, mobile check-in, payments, meetings, staff tools, and connected-room systems, so the network has become part of daily hotel operations.
Samsung Electronics America offers hospitality displays, hotel TVs, digital signage, content management tools, and connected in-room entertainment solutions. At HITEC 2026, Samsung introduced The Frame hospitality model, bringing its Art TV concept to hotels and premium commercial spaces with 4K QLED entertainment, customizable artwork, hotel branding, AI-generated visuals, and connected guest services. For properties, the product gives the in-room TV a second role as part of the room design, helping guestrooms feel more polished while still supporting entertainment, messaging, and service delivery.
SiteMinder helps hotels manage online distribution, direct bookings, channel connections, and revenue opportunities. The platform provides AI-powered insight, distribution and revenue management, all in one platform.
TrackMyShuttle provides real-time shuttle tracking, estimated arrival times, bookings, fleet visibility, and reporting. Airport hotels, resorts, casinos, convention hotels, and properties with shuttle service can use it to reduce front desk calls and give guests better arrival information.
TraknProtect provides staff safety technology for hotels, including employee safety buttons and alert systems. These tools help properties respond faster when employees need assistance and support safety requirements for housekeeping, engineering, and other team members working alone.
Tyme Global combines hospitality contact center services with AI-powered guest communication. Skye AI can help answer common questions, route calls, create tickets, and support voice, SMS, and email interactions so hotel staff can spend less time on repetitive requests.
Venza provides cybersecurity, compliance, privacy, and security awareness tools for hospitality. Hotels can use Venza for employee training, assessments, risk management, and stronger protection around guest data, payment systems, vendor access, and brand requirements.
WithMe offers self-service amenity programs, including print services and coffee solutions for hospitality, multifamily, and shared spaces. For hotels, these amenities can give guests convenient lobby services while reducing the staff time tied to older business center models.
Yipy is a hospitality standards management system. Hotels can use it to organize brand standards, checklists, audits, operating procedures, and daily execution across teams and properties.
ZipTip provides cashless tipping for hospitality teams. As fewer guests carry cash, digital tipping gives hotels a way to support housekeepers, valets, bell staff, shuttle drivers, and other service roles while making the tipping process easier for guests.
Entrepreneur 20X North America 2026
HITEC 2026 included Entrepreneur 20X, the startup pitch competition produced by HFTP. The North America 2026 competition featured eight startups selected from a larger applicant pool. Each company had four minutes to pitch and four minutes for questions from the judges.
Two awards were available: Judges’ Choice, selected by the judging panel, and People’s Choice, selected by attendee vote, with a $5,000 prize for the Judges’ Choice winner.
The participating companies were:
Abra Hospitality builds guest intelligence and service orchestration providing property staff with super powers. Its platform is designed to bring guest preferences, staff notes, and service signals into one place so hotel teams can deliver more personal service.
Altek AI can help answer guest questions, support bookings, manage upsell opportunities, and route more complex requests to hotel staff. The platform resolves questions and requests so your team can focus on guests, not inboxes.
Bonafide helps companies control how their information appears across AI search and discovery tools. For hotels, that means more accurate brand, property, and product information when guests use AI tools to research travel.
Caleta focuses on predictive hotel operations. Its platform is built to help teams find operational issues across departments and shifts before those issues affect the guest experience.
Conscious Creative Group develops interactive AI voice characters for hospitality, cultural institutions, and entertainment uses. Hotels can use this type of technology for guest engagement, storytelling, and branded digital experiences.
Lobby automates your reservation inbox to improve response time and conversion rate. It reads emails and extracts booking details instantly, automatically checks availability, pricing, and applies your business logic and creates proposals, updates systems, and sends responses.
Optylink helps automate deployment of smart room technology. For hotels, this can reduce setup time and improve consistency when rolling out technology across one property or a full portfolio.
StayFull presented an AI-native property management concept led by Ava, a virtual assistant supported by specialized AI agents for hotel functions such as operations, revenue, marketing, concierge, front desk, and back-office work.
Congratulations to StayFull , who won Judges’ Choice and Abra Hospitality, who won People’s Choice!
Looking Forward
HITEC saddles up and heads to Orlando, Florida next year, scheduled for June 28 – July 1, 2027 at the Orange County Convention Center. Event details will be posted on the HITEC event page.
For suppliers, HITEC puts your products and services in front of a focused hospitality technology audience. For technology executives, hotel owners, operators, and property teams, HITEC is a great place to compare vendors, meet peers, and learn how technology is being used in real hospitality settings and what innovations lie ahead.
San Antonio was another great HITEC to meet, learn and discuss what exists and what is possible. That conversation continues in Orlando.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What were the main attendance and exhibition metrics for HITEC 2026?
HITEC 2026 welcomed more than 6,100 hospitality technology professionals to San Antonio, Texas. The massive trade show floor featured over 400 exhibiting companies spanning roughly 85,000 net square feet of exhibition space.
Which companies won the Entrepreneur 20X (E20X) startup competition at HITEC 2026?
The Entrepreneur 20X North America 2026 startup pitch competition crowned two winners: StayFull won the prestigious Judges’ Choice award for its AI-native property management concept led by a virtual assistant, while Abra Hospitality won the People’s Choice award for its guest intelligence and service orchestration platform.
Where and when will the next HITEC event be held?
Following the conclusion of the 2026 show in San Antonio, HITEC is scheduled to move to Orlando, Florida, from June 28 to July 1, 2027, at the Orange County Convention Center.
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