Audio Interview With Michael Kistner, President, Open Travel Alliance; CIO/VP Best Western International - Speaker At The AHLA Annual Convention

Mike Kistner joins us to summarize some of the interesting and informative points from the AH&LA's eBusiness Committee's Technology Educational Session entitled "eBusiness and Your Bottom Line." Kistner was joined by Frank J. Nardozza, REH Capital Partners; Scott Anderson, High Country Hospitality; and Clay Dickinson, Strategic Advisory Group. The session was moderated by the AH&LA's Rich Jackson.

Michael Kistner is CIO and vice president, Information Systems for Best Western International, the world's largest lodging brand. He is responsible for all telecommunication, information and E-commerce systems at Best Western. In his role as president of the OpenTravel Alliance (OTA), Kistner provides strategic direction to OTA, charged with developing communications specifications to enable efficient and effective electronic exchange of travel industry information.

Kistner has tremendous knowledge within the hospitality industry, having previously served as senior vice president of the E-Commerce Center and Hotel Information Technology at Cendant Corporation in Phoenix. There he was involved in Internet vendor management, resource allocation, organization formation, strategic planning, hospitality systems planning, development and implementation from property-based systems to host central reservation systems and other electronic distribution systems.

Previously, Kistner worked for Super 8 Motels where he held the executive vice president of Operations position. He headed the IT, Reservations, Corporate Travel, Guest Service, Convention Planning, Corporate and Franchise Insurance and Facilities Management departments. Kistner was also vice president, Management Information Systems and Reservations at HFS, Inc. in Phoenix from 1993 to 1996. He was responsible for all information systems to include financial, marketing and central reservation aspects.

Kistner holds Bachelor of Science and Associate of Arts degrees in accounting and information systems from Northern State University, Aberdeen, SD, and a Master of Science degree in information systems from Colorado State University.

AH&LA is a 92-year-old federation of state lodging associations throughout the United States with some 13,000 property members worldwide, representing more than 1.7 million guest rooms. AH&LA provides its members with assistance in operations, education, and communications, and lobbies on Capitol Hill to provide a business climate in which the industry can continue to prosper. Individual state associations provide representation at the state level and offer many additional cost-saving benefits.

The AH&LA Annual Conference is a property member services forum that provides education, motivation, and entertainment through specialty speakers, events, and programming subjects that impact professional development. The 2002 AH&LA Annual Conference was held in Philadelphia PA, April 2-4. This year's prominent keynote speakers included Bernard B. Kerik, former Commissioner of the New York City Police Department, Tom Brokaw, NBC Anchor: "An Anchorman Looks at the World" and Horst H. Schulze, former President & COO, Ritz-Carlton Hotels.

Kevin Heilbronner is the US Editor for hsyndicate.com, wiredhotelier.com and hospitalitynet.org, providing content for these websites in the form of articles and both audio and video interviews. Based outside of Washington DC, Heilbronner has worked with Hospitality Net to conduct interviews at several hospitality trade shows in the US and Europe over the last year. A familiar voice in Washington, DC, Heilbronner is the stadium announcer for the NBA's Washington Wizards, WNBA's Washington Mystics, WUSA's Washington Freedom and DC United of MLS. He resides in Centreville, VA and can be reached via [email protected].