HITEC Europe 2020 Keynote Speaker Lindsay Herbert, author of Digital Transformation — Photo by HFTP

Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals (HFTP®), producers of Hospitality Industry Technology Exposition & Conference (HITEC®), has released its educational lineup for 2020 HITEC Europe, including a keynote presentation from Lindsay Herbert author of Digital Transformation. Produced in cooperation with Hospitality Technology Next Generation (HTNG), HITEC Europe is designed to bring together thought leaders, practitioners and vendors to cover hospitality technology trends and practices. HITEC Europe will take place from 21-23 April 2020 at the Palau de Congressos in Palma, Mallorca, Spain.

"The HITEC Europe Advisory Council, a team of hospitality practitioners and academics, gathered this past September and placed great emphasis in designing a relevant program for the European hospitality market," said Carl Weldon, HFTP COO - Europe. "The spectrum of topics is a demonstration of the practical to futuristic topics that are of high-interest to hospitality technology professionals."

Capping the first day's education program on 22 April, digital transformation expert Lindsay Herbert will present, "Never Say 'Digital Transformation': How to Actually Innovate." In her presentation she will set the record straight about what real digital transformation is and how every company in the hospitality sector can achieve it. Herbert is the author of the book Digital Transformation. In addition, she is a Digital Transformation Leader at IBM, where she drives innovations that create new markets and sharpen the competitive edge for the world's largest companies. As a sought-after industry speaker, Herbert will share her insights about society's new relationship with digital technology and how it continues to redefine every aspect of our commercial and human service enterprise. Watch Herbert's preview message to HITEC attendees.

The keynote is part of a two-day education program with outstanding content and presentations by field experts from across the globe. Topics include managing guests' varying technology expectations – high- and low-tech; facial and voice recognition technology; robotic process automation; the Chinese tourism market; loyalty program management; distribution; F&B digital essentials; and more. In addition, on 23 April the program will end with a General Session focused on how technology can affect sustainability in hospitality. The schedule and session descriptions are now available on the HITEC Europe website. The sessions will primarily be presented in English, with two feature sessions presented in Spanish.

HITEC Europe also features a trade show with an expected 50 plus companies exhibiting, showcasing the latest innovations in hospitality technology. Exhibit hours are in the afternoon on 22-23 April and do not overlap with the education program. View the current HITEC Europe floor plan to see which companies are exhibiting. Stands for the 2020 exhibition are still available for companies interested in participating.

Following HITEC Europe, HFTP will host the larger HITEC San Antonio on 15-18 June 2020 in San Antonio, Texas USA. For more information about HITEC and HFTP's other international activities, contact the HFTP Meetings & Special Events Department at [email protected] or visit www.hftp.org and www.hftp.org/hitec.

About Hospitality Technology Next Generation (HTNG)

The premier technology solutions association in the hospitality industry, HTNG is a self-funded, nonprofit organization with members from hospitality companies, technology vendors to hospitality, consultants, media and academic experts. HTNG's 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 also develops new open standards to meet the needs of the global hospitality industry.

Currently more than 400 corporate and individual members from across this spectrum, including world leading hospitality companies and technology vendors, are active HTNG participants. HTNG's Board of Governors, consisting of 22 top IT leaders from hospitality companies around the world, itself has technology responsible for over 3 million guest rooms and world-leading venues. HTNG publishes workgroup proceedings, drafts and specifications for all HTNG members as soon as they are created, encouraging rapid and broad adoption. HTNG releases specifications into the public domain as soon as they are ratified by the workgroups. For more information, visit www.htng.org.

About HFTP

Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals (HFTP®), established in 1952, is a hospitality nonprofit association headquartered in Austin, Texas USA with offices in the EU and Middle East. HFTP is recognized as the spokes group for the finance and technology segments of the hospitality industry with an international network of members and stakeholders. HFTP uniquely understands the industry's pressing issues, and assists its stakeholders in finding solutions to their challenges more efficiently than any organization. HFTP offers expert networks, educational resources, career development programs, research, leadership opportunities and conferences and events. HFTP produces international events throughout the year, including the world's largest hospitality technology tradeshow and conference brand: HITEC. In addition, it oversees the hospitality-specific Pineapplesearch.com® and the Uniform System of Accounts for the Lodging Industry (USALI). For more information about HFTP, visit www.hftp.org. For the latest news, visit the HFTP News page at news.hftp.org and the HFTP Connect blog at blog.hftp.org.

Eliza Selig
Staff VP, Marketing and Communications
+1 512 220 4026
HFTP