Award Ceremony Highlights the Heritage Carved by Hospitality Technology Pioneers

Hall of Fame member and HFTP President, John Cahill, CHA, CHTP, welcomed the newest member to the prestigious group, Eric Orkin. Orkin is founder of OPUS 2 Technologies and was selected for his involvement in the growth and use of revenue management and central reservation systems.

Next comedian, Greg Schwem, served as an M.C. to the Award of Merit ceremony, a new award designed to honor individuals who have made a significant innovation or breakthrough that established a path for others in hospitality technology. The chairman of the selection committee and a member of the Hall of Fame, Richard Brooks, CHA, helped present the awards to Roger Lane, Richard Maloney, Dietmar Müller-Elmau, John Pignataro and Robert Sanford (not present). These individuals were selected by members of HFTP's International Hospitality Technology Hall of Fame as individuals who have made a significant innovation or breakthrough that established a path for others in hospitality technology.

This first-time award was established to coincide with HITEC's 30th anniversary. Each individual was chosen for his unique contribution to hospitality technology. Eligible nominees could have been from any hospitality discipline, not just technology; however, their contribution had to have been in hospitality technology.

Each individual was selected for the following accomplishments:

Roger Lane, CHAE, currently the MIS/controller at the Lago Mar Resort and Club in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. is one of the original supporters of hospitality technology. He installed one of the first property management systems at the resort he was working at, pushing the implementation of hospitality automation. He was also a very strong proponent of an annual hospitality technology show, which eventually became what is now HITEC.

Richard Maloney, was a pioneer in hospitality telecommunications. As an account manager for ITT Sheraton, Maloney commanded the attention of Northern Telecom (now Nortel Networks) to focus on the opportunities available in the hospitality industry. He went to work for Northern Telecom and was able to convince the tech company to support a joint development activity with key hospitality customers, resulting in the development of a robust set of hospitality features. Breakthrough products in voice messaging, systems integration and terminal instruments (data jacks on guest room phones) were developed by Nortel and led the industry. Nortel's products became upscale hotel standards, adopted by major hotel companies on a global basis. Maloney led Nortel's vertical marketing group for nearly a decade. He was also a visible supporter of HFTP, HITEC and HFTP's International Hospitality Technology Hall of Fame. Maloney retired from Nortel in 1999.

Dietmar Müller-Elmau founded Fidelio, which developed the only non-US-based property management system that is today the standard for most international chains. The approach to software design was revolutionary for the industry and the rapid creation of the sales and distribution network on a worldwide basis was very successful.

John Pignataro was vice president of technology functions at Sheraton hotels in the late '60s, the '70s and most of the '80s. During those years, he led a three-pronged technology effort which included centralized corporate systems, the Reservatron reservation system in 1972-73 which endured for 15 years, and implemented successful hotel systems throughout all of Sheraton's properties worldwide. Pignataro was also instrumental in helping the IAHA Hospitality Technology Conference develop during the late '70s and early '80s.

Robert Sanford created Hotel Information Systems (HIS), through which he was an enterprise technology pioneer. HIS was one of the first vendors to use industry standard IBM equipment such as the S/34, S/36, S/38 & AS 400 for its property management systems. This allowed international companies (such as Hilton International and Intercontinental) to provide a common platform for systems around the world, which was considered a real breakthrough. HIS was also a technology leader for many years, particularly in interfaces with various other systems. Sanford was very passionate about his products and strived to make them better.