Honoring Innovation in Emerging Technologies

In today’s world, innovation is all around us. Voice controls, IoT and artificial intelligence (AI) are just a few concepts that come to mind that are changing technology across many industries.

Easing convenience, these new trends are allowing robots to deliver a guest’s room service and voice controls to answer questions which before would need to go through the front desk. These are just a couple examples of innovation that are gaining traction in hospitality.

As these emerging technologies come into our personal lives and homes, they start to become a norm for us and quickly become expected everywhere we go. With hospitality in particular, the guest experience is a critical factor to a company’s success. A guest’s anticipation of new technologies places a high demand on companies to be able to adapt to the changes going on around them.

In order to adjust to these new concepts, solution providers constantly look to enhance their technology whether it be to gain efficiency, effectiveness, better connectivity or less error. The surrounding desire for companies to stay ahead of the curve in order to excel helps drive the industry forward.

With diverse technologies evolving, it is important to look past the hype and identify which developments are most desired in the industry – and which actually work. HTNG’s TechOvation Award helps to do this by shining a light on the most in-demand solutions in hospitality.

Created to recognize and reward technology innovation in the industry, the TechOvation Award annually highlights a company looking toward the next generation of systems and solutions. The winner of this award proves their ability to shift and adapt to embrace these new trends and revolutionize the industry.

Appreciating these innovative solutions, the TechOvation Award Program provides contestants global visibility and plentiful promotional opportunities to highlight their emerging technologies. The 2018 TechOvation Award is open to participation from anyone in the hospitality space with a new technology product on the market, or that is coming soon to the market. 

As part of the award competition, each TechOvation contestant will produce a 90-second video showcasing their product and the potential impact it will have on the hospitality industry. These videos will be hosted on HTNG’s YouTube channel, where the public is able to engage and weigh in on what innovative technologies they seek to be effective to the industry. In 2017, the videos garnered over 66,000 views and 12,200 likes collectively from 76 countries across the globe.

All videos will be watched by an esteemed judging panel, comprised of HTNG board members and other industry leaders. The judges will choose seven semifinalists and the remaining three spots will be awarded through crowd sourcing. The semifinalists will advance to present their products live on March 14 at the 2018 HT-NEXT conference, taking place March 12-14 at the Manchester Grand Hyatt in San Diego. 

With the rapid pace of technological change impacting the hospitality industry, it is important to identify innovation that guests and next-generation workforces want and how they will affect the industry. Throughout the years, TechOvation has been a center stage for emerging trends in our industry. For anyone looking to keep a pulse on technology innovation in hospitality, TechOvation provides a platform for the public to see how these solutions can potentially impact the hospitality industry. 

Interested in participating in the 2018 HTNG TechOvation Award? Don’t miss your shot to win! Keep in mind these important dates:

• January 9 – Application fee and 90-second video submission due
• January 22 – Voting on the YouTube videos begin
• February 2 – Voting closes
• February 5 – Semifinalists are announced
• March 14 – Semifinalists present live at HT-NEXT and the winner is announced

For more information, visit HTNG’s Tech Ovation Webpage or contact HTNG at [email protected].