CHICAGO – Hotel Technology Next Generation (HTNG), the membership association that unites the world’s hospitality companies and technology innovators to solve industry challenges, announced a robust agenda for next month’s technology conference. Industry CIOs and senior vendor executives alike use HTNG events as one of their most important sources for understanding key tech trends, learning about emerging technologies, networking with peers and viewing new product offerings from vendors.

“The pace of hotel developments in the Gulf Region, together with rapid changes in technology, continues to challenge developers and operators, who need current but cost-effective and future-proof technology,” said Douglas Rice, Executive Vice President and CEO of HTNG. “Now in its fourth year in the region, HTNG’s conference has continued to raise the bar in the quality of its program, and is not only highly rated by attendees, but is also now the only conference in the Middle East dedicated to hotel technology.”

HTNG creates conference agendas that focus on emerging and ongoing business issues that technology can address for hotels, as well as helping attendees stay current on technologies that drive the business. The association’s conference has become a critical event for hospitality professionals who want to maximize the value their companies gain from technology. Session items on this year’s agenda include:

• Executive Face-Off: Operations and Information Technology – Hear executives from global hotel chains explore the opportunities and challenges of collaboration between Operations and Information Technology.
• Do Central Reservations Systems Have a Future? – Four experts discuss possibilities in the rapidly evolving world of central reservation systems.
• Micromarketing Building Blocks – Mass marketing is dying. How will we engineer our systems to enable the one-to-one marketing of the future?
• From Pillows to Personalization: How Network Intelligence Can Transform the Guest Experience – If you know how to do it, the data you are already collecting can change your hotel.
• IT Leadership Panel – Top-level hotel IT executives discuss their biggest challenges, issues and concerns.
• Wi-Fi Roadmap: 2015 and Beyond – From device-laden guests to an array of new apps, Wi-Fi is now a critical foundation for innovation in hospitality. Gain an understanding of where and how to invest to meet guest demands.
• Wireless: It’s Not Just Wi-Fi Anymore – New wireless technologies are arriving at a pace of one per year. Which ones should you be leveraging and which ones can you ignore?
• Hotel Mobile Apps Go Mainstream – It’s not just about booking anymore; hotel apps are reinventing both the guest experience and staff productivity.
• Expo 2020 Preview – Hear from the organizers about this global event in Dubai that will attract 25 million visitors, 70% from overseas.

The conference content comes from more than 20 speakers, many of whom are hotel CIOs and other C-level executives in the industry. These industry experts will include:

• Floor Bleeker – CIO, Moevenpick Hotels & Resorts
• Bas Blommaart – Chairman – CTO, itesso
• John Burns – President, Hospitality Technology Consulting
• Emmanuel Clave – Group IT Director, Rocco Forte Hotels
• Perry Correll – Principal Technologist, Xirrus
• Benjamin Habbel – CEO, Voyat
• Fraser Hickox – Managing Director, The Conceptual Group
• Laurent Idrac – CIO, Accor
• Satish Iyer – Director of Mobility Solutions, Cisco Systems, Inc.
• Daniel Krisch – Vice President Distribution Services, Oracle Hospitality
• Thomas Landen – Marketing Manager – EMEA, Revinate
• Neils Mekenkamp – Director Hospitality Pre-Sales EMEA, Infor
• Monika Nerger – CIO, Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group
• Alan O’Dea – Senior Vice President, Africa, Moevenpick Hotels & Resorts
• Ralph Poesche – Director of IT Projects & Business Solutions, Atlantis The Palm
• Prasanna Rupasinghe – Director of IT & AV, Kempinski Hotel Mall of the Emirates
• Rick Scott – Senior VP Information Technology – Global Strategy, Kerzner International
• Olaf Slater – Chief Product Officer, Trust International
• David Teklit – CEO, Teklogix, LLC
• Joe Tesfai – SVP, Information Technology, Atlantis The Palm
• Michael Toedt – CEO, TS&C
• Nadini Veerasamy – VP Hotel Operations, Atlantis The Palm

Source: http://www.traveldailynews.com/news/article/65738/maximizing-value-from-hotel-technology