HITEC 2024: Innovation, Education, Networking and Not One Mention of AI*
*It was actually far beyond one mention! Artificial Intelligence was discussed, demonstrated, and debated thousands of times throughout the event.
This year’s Hospitality Industry Technology Exposition and Conference (HITEC) 2024 in Charlotte, North Carolina, brought together nearly 6,000 attendees from over 60 countries, more than 325 exhibitors, and 100+ speakers.
Produced by the international nonprofit association Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals (HFTP®), HITEC 2024 offered unparalleled opportunities for learning, networking, and exploring the latest innovations in hospitality technology.
Keynote Speeches and Educational Sessions
The conference featured a comprehensive educational program designed to address the most pressing topics in the industry. Dr. Bryan K. Williams, a former Global Corporate Director of Training and Organizational Effectiveness for the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, delivered the Opening Headliner presentation.
Williams provided attendees with ten proven tips to help them take control and transcend obstacles in their professional and personal lives.
Artificial Intelligence, as expected, was a hot topic among the presenters, vendors and participants. Two standout sessions on AI applications were particularly notable:
- “Navigating the Generative AI Landscape in Hospitality: Tools, Risks, Ethics and Best Practices”, featuring Mihai Bote, Jordan Hollander, Jason Doebrich, and Daniel Barsky. The panel discussed everything from AI’s potential to revolutionize guest experiences to its ability to confuse hoteliers trying to keep up with the latest jargon.
- “Navigating Applications of AI in Hospitality: Because Seriously, How Do You Use This Thing?”, brought together Ira Vouk, Shane O’Flaherty, Matt Schwartz, and Bryan Steele to demystify AI applications. This session offered practical advice on implementing AI technologies to enhance operational efficiency and guest experience. Attendees left with a clear understanding that AI is not just a buzzword but an important technology, given its impact on every aspect of the hospitality experience, from pre-booking to post-stay.
HITEC 2024 Tradeshow: Highlights
The HITEC 2024 trade show floor featured over 325 companies presenting the latest technology solutions for the hospitality industry. Exhibitors ranged from established tech giants to innovative startups, all eager to demonstrate their products and services. The exhibit hall buzzed with activity as attendees explored cutting-edge technologies, from AI-driven chatbots that can book a room to AI-driven revenue management systems that can help predict your hotel’s occupancy rate.
Here’s a glimpse of some standout exhibitors and their offerings:
Safety Net Access provides secure and high-performance Wi-Fi solutions, ensuring seamless connectivity for guests and supporting IoT integration in hotels. They are deployed in 5,000+ venues with an outstanding service model putting integrity first because for them “it’s personal”.
Kore.ai offers AI-powered conversational platforms, enabling hotels to automate guest interactions and improve service delivery. Vijay Raghavan, explained how the kore.ai platform can help staff enhance the guest experience. One example showed how an initial interaction with an AI chatbot can seamlessly transition to an employee when human intervention is needed.
Tom Pullen demonstrated how PureHD delivers high-definition TV and interactive solutions, enhancing in-room entertainment options for guests. They are a leading provider of HDTV solutions for the hospitality industry, meeting brand requirements for major hotel chains and having over 180,000 installs.
M3 provides accounting and financial management solutions specifically designed for the hospitality industry. Their applications are used in more than 8,000 hotels across North America. Among their products is M3 CoreSelect™, a self-service accounting and financial data management solution targeting smaller portfolio hotel owners, operators, and management companies.
Rob Bell from Hub OS provided a demo of their comprehensive hotel operations platform, streamlining communication, task management, and guest request handling across departments for enhanced efficiency and responsiveness.
Comcast Business delivers enterprise-grade network and communication solutions, supporting high-speed internet and advanced voice services for hotels. The Comcast MachineQ: IoT Solutions was on display, covering a wide range of applications, including leak detection, pest control and temperature and humidity monitoring.
Dave Bacher provided a tour of the impressive lineup of products from LG Electronics showcasing innovative display solutions and smart TVs, elevating in-room entertainment and digital signage throughout properties, including vacation rentals! Their clear display provides new options for front desk applications and they also offer robot solutions like the LG CLOi ServeBot.
According to Jady West, “Today’s guests expect a seamless experience connecting their devices to the property’s Wi-Fi, as it’s often one of the first things they do when they get to their room. For them, high-speed Wi-Fi is not a nice-to-have but a necessity.” That’s why many hotels work with Cox Hospitality Network, a comprehensive technology solutions provider for the hospitality industry, offering services such as high-speed internet, managed WIFI, in-room entertainment, and cloud-based solutions to enhance guest experiences and streamline operations.
Steve Bronken and the team at Ruckus Networks discussed the benefits of WIFI 7 to the hospitality industry. Their solutions include advanced WIFI systems, AI-powered network management, IoT integration, and unified hospitality services.
If you are looking to track your textile inventory, Datamars provides RFID solutions for linen management, helping hotels track and manage their textile inventory more efficiently.
Cash has not entirely disappeared, so Cashmaster offers cash management solutions, streamlining cash handling processes and reducing errors in hotel operations.
Velocity: Offers managed services and digital solutions, helping hotels optimize their technology infrastructure and guest experiences.
For properties with retail outlets, Impulsify provides grab-and-go solutions that can help increase retail sales and improve profit margins.
Reeco simplifies the procure-to-pay process for hotel operations and offers an easy onboarding and user-friendly solution.
Hotel guests can literally have the world’s digital newspapers and magazines at their fingertips with PressReader. Hotels around the globe are already providing this amenity to personalize stay experiences.
Sertifi offers electronic signature and payment solutions, simplifying contract management and secure transactions for hotels.
Xperity is a custom software development company that specializes in creating solutions for the hospitality industry, helping automate processes like reservations, check-ins, and payments while enhancing guest experiences through personalized services.
Ooma delivers cloud-based communication solutions, including cloud PBX phone systems, SIP trunking, managed WIFI, and integrations with the leading property management systems, improving hotel phone systems and staff connectivity.
Energex provides energy management solutions with a smart occupancy-detection system that saves hotels money and can be set up in less than 30 minutes.
Lodgistics offers a cloud-based hotel operations platform that optimizes procedures, reduces costs, and improves guest satisfaction by providing easy-to-use tools for each hotel department.
For hotel near airports, Flyte Systems provides real-time flight information solutions enhancing guest experiences by providing up-to-the-minute flight details on dedicated screens or guest televisions.
Improve the potential of one of your greatest assets, your people, with Qualee. Their platform leverages real-time feedback and data analytics to enable hospitality HR teams to better understand and address challenges like low employee satisfaction, high turnover, and inefficient recruitment – key issues that can significantly impact a hotel’s ability to deliver exceptional service.
VENZA offers cybersecurity and data privacy solutions, helping hotels protect sensitive information and comply with regulations.
Lilo is a one-stop shop for hotel supplies, offering hoteliers a comprehensive procurement platform that automates forecasting, vendor vetting, negotiations, and ordering from thousands of suppliers. By leveraging AI and data analytics, Lilo helps hotels save time and money.
Hotel Genie provides a suite of communications services that enhances the guest experience, drastically reduces telecom costs, increases staff efficiencies, and drives new revenue streams.
Toast Inc offers point-of-sale and restaurant management solutions, optimizing food and beverage operations in hotels.
Founded in 2010 as the world’s first company to develop a mobile key solution, Zaplox serves a wide range of customers including large hotel chains and independent hotels and enhances the guest experience through features like self-service check-in and mobile keys.
These were just a few of the 325+ exhibitors at HITEC 2024. If you’d like to see more highlights of some of the others, see Doug Rice’s article, “Definitely Doug 6/21/24: What’s New with the Newbies?” posted on HospitalityUpgrade. It’s a great article focused on first-time exhibitors. Jordan Hollander with HotelTechReport also has a great summary of vendors in the areas of Revenue Management, Guest Facing Tech, Hotel Operations and Sales & Marketing in his HITEC Charlotte 2024 Innovation Report.
E20X 2024 North America: Highlighting Hospitality Technology Innovation
The E20X North America 2024 competition showcased the innovative spirit driving the hospitality technology industry. Eight ambitious startups competed for top honors, presenting their ideas to a panel of judges and an audience of industry professionals.
The woman-founded H2O Connected won the People’s Choice Award for its smart water management solution while Folio received the Judges’ Choice Award for its mobile procurement software designed for hotel operators.
Here’s an overview of the other participating companies and their offerings:
Affixify helps hotels select the best technology solutions based on their specific needs.
Away Together is a mobile app that enhances guest communication by providing hotel information and enabling guest-to-guest interactions.
BonApp is a digital platform with features like multi-restaurant management, customizable digital menus, QR code ordering and payments, and real-time data analytics.
Crqlar is a guest data platform that creates personalized experiences for luxury hotels by centralizing and analyzing guest data.
Directful leverages AI and predictive analytics in its platform focused on automating hotel guest communication and marketing.
Yipy is a standards management software designed to help hotels organize, manage, and communicate operational standards, replacing traditional pen-and-paper methods with a digital solution.
Looking Forward to HITEC Indianapolis 2025
Planning for HITEC 2025 is already underway. The event will occur from June 16-19 in Indianapolis, Indiana. Mark your calendars for what is sure to be another great event to learn about the latest hospitality technology trends, gain insights from experts, and forge meaningful connections … and certainly hear more than one mention of AI.
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