HITEC 2016: world`s largest hospitality technology show

Resort News
August, 2016
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HITEC 2016: world's largest hospitality
technology show
The Ernest N. Morial
Convention Center in
New Orleans hosted
the Hospitality Industry
Technology Exposition and
Conference.
This yearly convention is wellknown for bringing the brightest
minds and hottest technologies
together in one place.
What did HITEC have in store
for us this year?
HITEC promised to offer a
"unique combination of topnotch hospitality technology
education led by industry peers
and experts, and an unparalleled
trade show showcasing the latest
products and services from over
300 companies," and it managed
just that.
The attendance at the
conference was record-breaking
with over 6000 hospitality
technology professionals
gathered in New Orleans. The
exhibit showcased that "the
prominence of technology will
only continue to grow in our
everyday lives," according to
HFTP CEO Frank Wolfe, CAE.
Each year, the HITEC
Advisory Council identifies the
top technology issues of interest
to the industry and this year
was no different, with over 106
speakers presenting educational
sessions including robotics,
disaster recovery, new operating/
IT talent models, digital customer
journeys and more.
HITEC's educational program
officially began with the opening
keynote from Jer Thorp, cofounder of the office of creative
research, who spoke about
adding narrative meaning to huge
amounts of data.
Tuesday's keynote session
featured Josh Linker, CEO of
Hyper-Growth, who spoke about
the entrepreneurial mindset
and why it is better to innovate
and disrupt your organisation
before your competition does.
Johnny Earle, CEO of Johnny
Cupcakes, closed HITEC on
Thursday afternoon by talking
about viral business and how to
inspire customer loyalty through
branding.
Guestroom 20X, a futuristic
guestroom, featured the latest
and near-future technologies
for the modern hotel room.
Technologies included nontraditional types such as lighting,
'green' fabrics and furniture, as
well as traditional technology
like next-generation televisions,
phones and robots.
The HITEC exhibit hall
buzzed with hundreds of
companies excited to present
their new products and signature
technologies. Many of the new
technologies presented were to
be expected; new data security
firewalls, web and wifi systems,
guest booking tools and guest
centric platforms like the
HotelTap Analytics Dashboard,
which "helps hoteliers pinpoint
and resolve complaints".
A Telemetered Pest
Monitoring System that
detects and captures pests
at the speed of light, excited
housekeepers. The DeltaFive's
TPMS is a "discrete pest lure
and placement-agnostic device
that alerts management,
housekeeping, and engineering
the instant a pest is detected.
Alerts are sent through email,
SMS and the DeltaFive TPMS
dashboard.
Industry favourite, Samsung
Electronics America announced
its new Samsung Lynk Reach 4.0
remote control and its newest
hospitality TVs. Assa Abloy
Hospitality showcased its next
generation locking solutions with
VingCard Essence undetectable
doorlock technology and their
Allure lock with support for
mobile access and ethernet.
New technologies that
surprised and excited attendees
included the SmArtGallery touted
as "the next generation canvas",
a seamless way to digitally exhibit
fine art so that guests enjoy a
large diversity of ever-changing
artworks on screen. This new
technology transforms places like
hotels and restaurants into digital
art galleries and offers artists an
opportunity to easily display and
sell their artworks.
Following the success of
this three-day event planning for
HITEC Amsterdam has already
begun in plenty of time for spring
2017. The HITEC Amsterdam
Advisory Council, made up of
hospitality industry executives
from nine European countries
began planning an in-depth
education program in mid-July.
RiCh Robotics showed
visitors how to improve the
productivity of housekeeping
operations with their terrabot
system that aims to enable
better communication between
staff and guests. "Our unique
system can be fully autonomous
and tie into the 'internet of
things' for better data collection
and analytics," the company
announced.
As the coldest weather of the
year descended on south-east
Australia, even Queensland's
The new Golf Starter App
from ResortSuite promises to
maximise the revenue potential
of a golf course! The app enables
the monitoring of a golf course
anytime, anywhere: view the tee
sheet, check player status, view
payment status, record tee-off
times, track pace of play and
record ad-hoc notes as golfers
Ice Age descends on
normally 'Sunny Coast'
Sunshine Coast wasn't spared,
with an Ice Age descending on
the normally tropical Australia
Zoo.
Visitors to the Sunshine
Coast were able to enjoy a surf in
the morning and snow toboggan
in the afternoon thanks to
Australia Zoo being transformed
into a winter wonderland to
celebrate the launch of the film
Ice Age Collision Course.
The team at Australia Zoo,
with the Irwin family at the fore,
were busy making ice over the
weekend in preparation for
today's launch.
In partnership with Visit
Sunshine Coast and Fox Studios,
Australia Zoo is offering visitors
the chance to experience real-life
snow and snow themed activities
such as toboggan rides and
snow-ball making.
It's an unusual event for the
Sunshine Coast to be able to
offer such icy pursuits as the
region's day time temperatures
during winter are usually in the
low 20Cs, and the sun shines for
most of the time.
Visit Sunshine Coast, Fox
and Australia Zoo participated
in a multi-faceted promotion for
the Ice Age launch, with Richard
Wilkins of the Today Show
broadcasting live from the Zoo
and interviewing Terri, Bindi and
Robert Irwin.
Terri, Bindi and Robert Irwin with Today's Richard Wilkins
at Ice Age at Australia Zoo
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Baby tiger discovers snow atAustraiia Zoo
AccorHotels is official
accommodation partner
for the 2016 Cairns
Indigenous Art Fair
AccorHotels once again
partnered with the Cairns
Indigenous Art Fair (CIAF),
continuing its support of the
nation's Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander culture and
communities.
It was the fifth year that
AccorHotels supported
the popular local event as
accommodation partner, which
took place July 15-17, with an
opening night party held July 14.
Chief operating officer
AccorHotels Pacific, Simon
McGrath, said: "AccorHotels is
proud to continue its support
of this significant arts festival,
which is an important event on
Far North Queensland's cultural
calendar.
"CIAF has been created to
promote greater understanding,
appreciation and enjoyment of
Australia's Indigenous art and
culture. Accor's own corporate
vision is to celebrate and
raise the profile of indigenous
ambassadors and their culture,
both at work and in a broader
community context, so the
festival is a natural alliance for us.
"We're also pleased for the
opportunity to play a more active
role on behalf of the tourism
industry to better promote
Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander art and cultural heritage
through hotel experiences, with
the launch of our new artist in
residence program in partnership
with the event this year."
atmosphere.
For the second time,
AccorHotels appeared as an art
exhibitor, with the introduction
of a fresh hotel-based artistin-residence initiative for 2016
designed in partnership with CIAF
and KickArts Gallery, the peak
Contemporary Arts Organisation
of Far North Queensland.
The 'secret Santa' gifts were
magnificent and this was evident
with all the happy faces opening
their presents like little two-yearolds. Lots of ladies stayed behind
at the bar for more entertainment
- a thoroughly wonderful day.
All ladies in management are
very welcome to come along
and join in on the fun on the third
Wednesday of the month for
lunch and a chat! Just contact
Kathleen at kater111@live.com.au
for more details.
"By having an artist available
at each hotel, guests have the
opportunity to see first-hand the
process of how art is created,
and to have the opportunity to
ask questions of the artist. This
way visitors can see not only the
finished artwork, but the manner
in which it is manufactured and
developed thereby increasing
their awareness and appreciation
of the time and thought that
goes into each unique piece,"
said Justin Bishop, director of
KickArts.
AccorHotels arts partners
curated art installations at four
hotel addresses across the city
during the fair - at the Novotel
Cairns Oasis Resort, Pullman
Cairns International, Pullman Reef
Hotel Casino and Cairns Harbour
lights.
Christmas comes early for
ladies in management
Even although the sun was
glorious outside July 22, 55 very
happy ladies turned up to the
D'Arcy Arms in Broadbeach for
the special Christmas in July
lunch. The restaurant was full
of Christmas spirit with the tree,
baubles and all the trimmings
- like a Christmas wonderland.
Many ladies also dressed up very
'Christmassy' to add to the great
Novotel Swan Valley
Vines Spa beats off global
opposition
Keishi Spa located poolside at the
Novotel Swan Valley Vines Resort
WA, has won two major awards
at the World Luxury Spa Awards
held in the Alps in Switzerland
each year.
Top honors went to the team
for: "Best Luxury Boutique Spa"
Continent Level (Australia and
Oceania) and "Best Luxury Golf
Resort Spa" Continent Level
(Australia and Oceania).
Opening just two years ago,
at Keishi Spa (Keishi meaning
pearl), just 35 minutes from
Perth's CBD. There are also
luxury lounges outside for an
alfresco treatment if desired.
Treatments on offer at Keishi
Spa include luxury facials, body
and spa packages for men and
women, and are performed
by highly trained and caring
therapists at the resort's spa.
"We are so proud of our
staff and their dedication has
been recognized and rewarded
globally," said spa owner and
manager Everlyn Zaccagnini.
"Ultimately, the greatest winners
are our clients, as they receive
award winning service each and
every time they visit us," she
added.
The awards celebrate
ultimate achievement in service
excellence and aim to reward
those who have excelled and
gone beyond the normal call
of duty. The World Luxury
Spa Awards are considered a
benchmark for luxury hotels and
spas across the globe.
Three levels are represented
- global, continent and country
- 38 countries competed, in 16
categories, and entrants ranged
from safari lodges to health
retreats worldwide.
Best of Queensland
innovation recognised at
AHA State i'Awards 2016
The Australian Information
Industry Association (AHA) has
announced the iAwards state
winners and merit recipients in
Queensland for 2016. Entrants
competed in five base award
categories across business
services, community services,
consumer, industrial & primary
services, and public sector and
government as well as student
categories and cross categories.
Winners and merit recipients
across all categories will go
on to represent their state and
compete at the National iAwards
in Melbourne, with the national
winners announced September 1,
2016 at the prestigious AHA Gala
Dinner and Awards Ceremony
attended by over 900 guests.
•
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Quest appoints CCO to lead
next phase of growth
company's strength and ongoing
success.
properties and personalised guest
experiences," he concluded.
operations at Las Vegas Sands
Corp.
Quest Apartment Hotels has
appointed Craig Ryan as its first
chief commercial officer, to lead
the business into its next stage of
growth and international expansion.
Quest CEO, Zed Sanjana looks
forward to welcoming Craig to
the team and articulated his
enthusiasm about working together
towards the next phase of Quest's
growth journey.
Chris Cahill appointed as
AccorHotels' CEO of luxury
brands
Cabinet rep & new regional
focus a good outcome for
Tourism according to TAA
Craig joins Quest from Oakwood
Worldwide where he was
managing director - Asia Pacific,
responsible for the operation of the
region's leading accommodation
solution marketplace, offering 400
properties across 15 countries and
72 cities.
"We are thrilled to welcome Craig
Ryan to the Quest team as CCO.
He brings a robust track record
for achieving targets and creative
strategies, in addition to an
international perspective, which will
be a great asset as we expand into
the UK," said Mr Sanjana.
The company has appointed Chris
Cahill as the group's chief executive
officer, luxury brands. In this newly
created role, Chris, who will also
become a member of AccorHotels'
executive committee, will lead the
FRHI integration process and be
responsible for the strategy and
global operations of AccorHotels
Luxury Brands.
Tourism Accommodation has
welcomed the appointment of
Steve Ciobo as the new minister
representing the tourism sector
in federal cabinet. Steve was
appointed this week as the minister
for trade, tourism and investment.
In his role as CCO Ryan will be
responsible for developing the next
stage of Quest's sales, marketing,
brand and revenue strategies,
as the leading apartment hotel
operator continues its rapid growth
across Australasia and establishes
a presence in the United Kingdom.
He brings more than 16 years of
global hospitality management
experience to Quest, having
held positions with York Hotels
in Australia, BridgeStreet Global
Hospitality in the United States
and Singapore, and Oakwood
Worldwide in London and
Singapore.
In his role as managing director
of Oakwood Worldwide, Craig
successfully developed and
implemented world-class sales and
growth strategies and processes,
significantly contributing to the
•*
In Queensland, the AHA
also awarded the Queensland
Premier's iAward for Public
Sector Innovation, of which the
winner was chosen by a panel
of iAwards category judges in
conjunction with Queensland
government representatives.
"We are a government that
is embracing the digital-first
approach," said Ms Palaszczuk.
"There are so many fantastic ICT
applications improving the safety
of public servants and the speed
and efficiency of the services
they are delivering the people of
Queensland.
Craig expressed his excitement
about becoming part of the iconic
Australian brand.
"I am absolutely delighted to be
appointed Quest's first CCO.
With this new role comes great
responsibility, as well as great
opportunity. I am honoured to be
joining the talented and passionate
Quest team as they continue to
grow and strengthen the brand's
legacy and build on its many
successes," said Craig.
"Together we will focus on
continuing the process of
modernising the brand; evolving
the organisation's culture as it
transitions from a family-base to a
corporate-base. Expanding national
and global market share will be
a priority, achieved by partnering
with our franchisees and other
stakeholders to deliver premium
"I would also like to
congratulate Infoxchange and
the Department of Science,
Information Technology and
Innovation for being awarded the
Queensland Premier's iAward for
Public Sector Innovation for their
work on the Government Wireless
Network."
Chris is an experienced hotelier
who has led several successful
integrations, is familiar with multibrand management and brings
an extensive background in luxury
operations, sales and marketing.
With more than 30 years of
hospitality industry experience,
including 19 years working
with FRHI and its predecessor
companies, Chris is ideally
positioned to lead the integration of
the Fairmont, Raffles and Swissotel
brands into the AccorHotels
portfolio, and will ensure
AccorHotels' luxury brands grow
and prosper.
He most recently served as
executive vice president global
•
•
Business services:
o iVvy - iVvy Marketplace
(Winner)
•
Community services:
•
"We thank former minister for
tourism, senator Richard Colbeck,
for his enthusiastic support of
the industry, and welcome Steve
Ciobo and Keith Pitt to their roles
of guiding tourism and hospitality
towards achieving the objectives
set out in the Tourism 2020 plan,
which were established when I
was the minister responsible for
tourism," said Mr Ferguson.
"It is clear that the shape of our
economy is changing rapidly,
with service sector industries
such as tourism becoming firsttier industries with the brightest
o DoseMe P/L
- DoseMe (Winner)
Public sector and
government:
o CitySmart, Queensland
University of Technology
and BCM - Reduce Your
Juice (Merit)
o Infoxchange and
Queensland Police Service
- Queensland Police
referral system (Winner)
Consumer:
o Metro South Health - PAH
Digital Hospital (Merit)
o Domino's Pizza
Enterprises - Domino's
Pizza Enterprises GPS
Driver Tracker (Winner)
The Queensland 2016 state
iAwards winners and merit
recipients were:
Student:
Industrial and primary
services:
o Cathedral School of St
Anne and St James,
Hamish Finlayson - Triple
T- ASD and Me [Junior
Students] (Winner)
o AXON Systems -AXONVX
virtual exchange (Winner)
o Cannon Hill Anglican
College and Whitsunday
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This new structure will include
Raffles, Fairmont, Sofitel Legend,
So Sofitel, Sofitel, MGallery by
Sofitel, Pullman and Swissotel.
The member for Hinkler in regional
Queensland, Keith Pitt, was also
appointed as the new assistant
minister for trade, tourism and
investment. Welcoming the
appointments, TAA chair and
former federal cabinet minister for
tourism, Martin Ferguson, said it
was essential for tourism to have a
voice at the cabinet table.
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prospects for growing export
earnings and creating jobs. We
are currently in the most dynamic
expansionary phase ever in terms
of hotel construction and tourism
infrastructure growth and it will
be essential that the government
support the industry through
positive policies and a reduction in
barriers.
"The fact that a regionally-based
MP has been appointed assistant
minister is encouraging, because
it is in regional Australia where
we face some of the greatest
challenges confronting the industry.
In particular, the backpacker tax is
threatening the supply of labour to
regional areas and the government
needs to act quickly to confirm that
the measure will be suspended
permanently. It is also essential
that temporary skilled migration
channels are made more flexible
to overcome shortages of labour
in regional and remote areas, while
at the same time, we are calling
on government to support major
training and career development
programs to help fuel the industry's
expansion.
"Inbound annual growth is currently
running at 9.3 percent, and the
latest Tourism Research Australia
figures predict that by 2019-2020,
total overnight expenditure will
reach $127 billion, which makes
tourism an integral component of
the trade, tourism and investment
portfolio and worthy of serious
consideration at the cabinet table."
Anglican School, John
Hatfield, Jake Magro
and Ryan Olsen - Cycle
[Senior Students] (Winner)
o Brisbane Girls Grammar
School, Imogen Low Elevator [Undergraduate
Tertiary Student] (Winner)
Cross categories:
o Metro South Health - PAH
Digital Hospital [Big Data
Innovation of the Year]
(Winner)
o Battlefield Sports - SATR
Laser Tag System [Export
of the Year] (Winner)
Metro Hotels appoints new
BDM for NSW and Victoria
In this role, Darryl is responsible
for maintaining and growing
the domestic leisure, corporate
and government business for
Metro Hospitality Group's seven
properties in NSW and Victoria.
AUGUST
8-10
o CitySmart, Queensland
University of Technology
and BCM - Reduce Your
Juice [Mobility Innovation
of the Year] (Winner)
o Metro South Health
- SNOMAN - Clinical
Terminology Mapping
Solution [Research &
Development Project of
the Year] (Winner)
o NetHealth-
Luxperience
Sydney
beinspired@luxperience.com.au
lhall@tourismcouncilwa.com.au
11-12
19
Savour Australia HOSTPLUS
Extraordinary Tourism
Awards for Excellence
Exchange
Canberra
Margaret River Region
jackig@restaurantcater.asn.au
Alanna Green, ATEC
15-17
OCTOBER
Talkabout Tasmania
Roadshow
19-22
Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane
Inbound UpNorth
North OLD
Tenille Daft, Tourism Tasmania
Cheryl Kelly, ATEC
SEPTEMBER
1
NOVEMBER
South Australia - Uncorked!
Sydney
4
belinda.barton@tourism.sa.com
6
2016 South Australian Tourism
Awards
Melbourne Tourism Industry
Adelaide
Exchange
info@satic.com.au
Melbourne
michel le@desti nation .melbourne
"Darryl's proven background in
maintaining and growing strategic
business relationships with
domestic wholesalers and key retail
accounts will be instrumental in
helping us grow our market share
in NSW and Victoria." Darryl has a
career background spanning many
well-known hotel and travel brands
including Aspen Parks & Resorts,
Holiday Inn Darling Harbour and
Star Ratings Australia. •
o AXON Systems AXONVX virtual exchange
[Infrastructure & Platform
Innovations of the Year]
(Winner)
18-21
2016 WA Tourism Conference
Australia
The position reports to Metro
Hotels director of sales and
marketing, Rachel Pirie, who
welcomed Darryl's appointment.
"Darryl brings to this role the
commercial acumen and business
development skills necessary
to recognise and capitalise on
potential sales opportunities and
build strong business relationships
in both domestic and international
markets," she said.
15-21
11
2016 Queensland Tourism
Awards Gala Ceremony
NT Round Up
Darwin
Brisbane
Erika Stewart, Tourism NT
awards@qtic.com.au
I RUM
•
^
^
^
^
S O F T W A R E
NetHealthData [Startup of
the Year] (Winner)
•
Queensland premier's
iaward for public sector
innovation:
o DSITI and Mingara
Australasia - Government
Wireless Network (Winner)
"The calibre of entrants for
this year's awards has been
astounding," said Rob Fitzpatrick,
CEO, AHA.
"It's rare to see a student
innovation compete with a
government or a large corporate
innovation, and this is what
S O L U T I O N S
makes the iAwards particularly
exciting.
All innovators are potential
winners - regardless of origin,
size, scale, industry or social
focus."
The iAwards is a chance
for students, researchers,
governments, SMEs and large
businesses to showcase their
innovative ideas and projects to
the nation and be recognised
and rewarded for having the
potential to, or already having a
positive impact on the community
- at home, in the office and on a
global scale. •
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INDUSTRY EVENTS
CALENDAR
Metro Hotels has appointed Darryl
Montu to the role of business
development manager for NSW
and Victoria.
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