HTNG Shares Three Resolutions for 2016
Welcome to the first official edition of “HTNG Checks In,” a new regular section appearing in Hospitality Technology magazine. Hotel Technology Next Generation (HTNG; www.htng.org) has entered into a strategic alliance with HT magazine — now the official publication of the association — to provide even greater education and support to the hospitality industry. Through this monthly column, HTNG will share best practices, association news and success stories, plus leadership and member insights. Kicking off the first edition, HTNG is excited to share its resolutions for the New Year.
Commitment to Partnerships
The first goal is build strong partnerships with hospitality industry associations, companies and members. In addition to the new relationship with HT magazine, HTNG plans to continue working closely with CHTA (www.chta.com.cn) in China to support its efforts of global expansion and education. We’ll build on the partnership with HEDNA (Hotel Electronic Distribution Network Association; www.hedna.org), an effort that has already resulted in the joint publication of payment best practices guide, Virtual Payment Cards: A Handbook for Hoteliers. We aim to work with other associations to spread the word about our goals and help them reach theirs; and of course, collaboration with member companies will remain the heart and soul of HTNG.
Workgroup Expansion
Our second resolution is to continue addressing important industry issues through the creation of new workgroups. We have restructured our Corporate Industry Partner memberships to allow members to take part in both Forums: Infrastructure & Device, and Software. We are excited that we can now invite all HTNG members to join any workgroup. This will encourage more points of view and engagement in already-created efforts as well as these three new workgroups:
• Hotel Systems Dashboard: Individual hotel systems have basic monitoring systems that are disparate and often require detailed analysis to provide actionable insight. The workgroup will define the requirements for a comprehensive dashboard system.
• Personally Identifiable Information (PII): This group’s goal is to propel the hospitality industry ahead of the curve on this subject at a time when rapidly changing demands for privacy are paramount and countries continue to change legislation, impose stricter laws to protect their citizens’ data, and enforce penalties on those that do not comply with their rules.
• Scalable Cellular Service: Secure indoor wireless services are needed for the entire spectrum of hotel property types. This workgroup will identify new technologies, deployment methods and business models to enable excellent cellular services in hotels of all sizes.
Improve Communication
Though there are many other points on the HTNG list of 2016 resolutions, the last one we will share now is our focus on increasing and improving communications, documents and education for our readers and members. This new channel with HT will give HTNG greater exposure to reach more people and spread the word about the benefits of working with the association. Members can also expect to hear from us soon regarding a new association management system that will provide a user-friendly portal to connect with HTNG and other members, access to shared documents, and down the line, opportunities to post job listings and blogs.
HTNG workgroups will publish several new documents to help hotels choose the proper technology systems for their needs. Look for links to these new papers on HTNG’s Twitter and LinkedIn in the coming months: Above Property Systems Business Considerations; Hotel Systems Dashboard; Moving the PBX to the Cloud; New Builds Design Guide and Commissioning Check List; Personal Area Networks Architecture; and Secure Payments Framework Update.
HTNG events will remain on the must attend list of hospitality IT professionals in 2016. We’ve lined up several new voices to speak on fresh topics at the North American Conference in March. Best-selling author Jennifer Kahnweiler will talk about how cooperation between introverts and extroverts can benefit companies. Travel industry expert Henry Harteveldt from Atmosphere Research will educate attendees on the “Three I’s of Hospitality Technology: Immediacy, Individualism and Inspiration.” We expect this to be the biggest HTNG conference yet, so we hope to see you there. We look forward to meeting these goals and making it a great year for our members!
HTNG is a self-funded, nonprofit organization with members from hotel and hospitality companies, technology vendors to hospitality, and other industry members. Its members participate in focused workgroups to bring to market open solution sets addressing specific business problems. HTNG fosters the selection and adoption of existing open standards and, where necessary, develops new open standards to meet the needs of the global hospitality industry. For more information, visit www.htng.org.
Commitment to Partnerships
The first goal is build strong partnerships with hospitality industry associations, companies and members. In addition to the new relationship with HT magazine, HTNG plans to continue working closely with CHTA (www.chta.com.cn) in China to support its efforts of global expansion and education. We’ll build on the partnership with HEDNA (Hotel Electronic Distribution Network Association; www.hedna.org), an effort that has already resulted in the joint publication of payment best practices guide, Virtual Payment Cards: A Handbook for Hoteliers. We aim to work with other associations to spread the word about our goals and help them reach theirs; and of course, collaboration with member companies will remain the heart and soul of HTNG.
Workgroup Expansion
Our second resolution is to continue addressing important industry issues through the creation of new workgroups. We have restructured our Corporate Industry Partner memberships to allow members to take part in both Forums: Infrastructure & Device, and Software. We are excited that we can now invite all HTNG members to join any workgroup. This will encourage more points of view and engagement in already-created efforts as well as these three new workgroups:
• Hotel Systems Dashboard: Individual hotel systems have basic monitoring systems that are disparate and often require detailed analysis to provide actionable insight. The workgroup will define the requirements for a comprehensive dashboard system.
• Personally Identifiable Information (PII): This group’s goal is to propel the hospitality industry ahead of the curve on this subject at a time when rapidly changing demands for privacy are paramount and countries continue to change legislation, impose stricter laws to protect their citizens’ data, and enforce penalties on those that do not comply with their rules.
• Scalable Cellular Service: Secure indoor wireless services are needed for the entire spectrum of hotel property types. This workgroup will identify new technologies, deployment methods and business models to enable excellent cellular services in hotels of all sizes.
Improve Communication
Though there are many other points on the HTNG list of 2016 resolutions, the last one we will share now is our focus on increasing and improving communications, documents and education for our readers and members. This new channel with HT will give HTNG greater exposure to reach more people and spread the word about the benefits of working with the association. Members can also expect to hear from us soon regarding a new association management system that will provide a user-friendly portal to connect with HTNG and other members, access to shared documents, and down the line, opportunities to post job listings and blogs.
HTNG workgroups will publish several new documents to help hotels choose the proper technology systems for their needs. Look for links to these new papers on HTNG’s Twitter and LinkedIn in the coming months: Above Property Systems Business Considerations; Hotel Systems Dashboard; Moving the PBX to the Cloud; New Builds Design Guide and Commissioning Check List; Personal Area Networks Architecture; and Secure Payments Framework Update.
HTNG events will remain on the must attend list of hospitality IT professionals in 2016. We’ve lined up several new voices to speak on fresh topics at the North American Conference in March. Best-selling author Jennifer Kahnweiler will talk about how cooperation between introverts and extroverts can benefit companies. Travel industry expert Henry Harteveldt from Atmosphere Research will educate attendees on the “Three I’s of Hospitality Technology: Immediacy, Individualism and Inspiration.” We expect this to be the biggest HTNG conference yet, so we hope to see you there. We look forward to meeting these goals and making it a great year for our members!
HTNG is a self-funded, nonprofit organization with members from hotel and hospitality companies, technology vendors to hospitality, and other industry members. Its members participate in focused workgroups to bring to market open solution sets addressing specific business problems. HTNG fosters the selection and adoption of existing open standards and, where necessary, develops new open standards to meet the needs of the global hospitality industry. For more information, visit www.htng.org.