Don’t you just love it when things work out? Last week we had one of our largest Executive Vendor Summits in Austin. Putting a program together for 60 executives from the vendor community is a double-edged sword. It gives you a great deal of flexibility since you want a program that is less about technology and more about business, but since everyone deals with the hotel industry and technology you don’t want to totally ignore those topics either. This year we covered all subjects and it was the greatest feeling to have every attendee, including those who have attended for more than 10 years, tell us it was the best program we have ever offered. We must thank HFTP who partnered with us for EVS and did an amazing job to ensure every detail was covered, including some great help with the program. The final session comprised four CIOs candidly sharing what is on their plates and what challenges they are facing was a great way to end the event. We thank the CIOs and every other speaker who participated this year. For details on EVS please make sure you receive Hospitality Upgrade (www.hospitalityupgrade.com/subscribe) and I promise you that you will see the funniest pictures from golf, ice breakers and an amazing night at iFLY where just about everybody went flying. It was a great week in Austin. We might have raised the bar on expectations a bit, but what is life without the occasional challenge?
 
After Austin there was no break as I left Sunday for ITB in Berlin. It is difficult to explain how unique ITB is: sort of a throwback to days gone by when vendors set up their booths, the doors open and for the next six hours every booth is noisy with nonstop customers and potential customers. I met so many people that I hadn’t seen for quite a while and more importantly I met many who I hadn’t met before. It is always a great feeling when I am introduced and the person says, ‘I know you from the magazine.’ It does kind of make it all worthwhile. I have always stayed at a different hotel when in Berlin for ITB but I think I have a new favorite. I am writing this from my room at the Melia Berlin. It’s a great hotel, reasonably priced for ITB and a 30-second walk to the train station with a direct route to the convention center. The property is just wonderful and has a great staff. That is two weeks in a row I’m staying at great hotels. The Executive Vendor Summit was hosted at the Sonesta Bee Cave in Austin. I would call both properties four-star hotels with six-star service. What else could you ask for? It has been a great two weeks. Next week it is a much easier trip heading to Orlando for the Infor Hospitality Users Group which is always a fun event. It really is the time of year where things seem to go nonstop with events running one after the other until June and HITEC. We are only three months away from HITEC and it’s something everyone looks forward to each year. 
 
Here now is the latest technology happenings in the industry. I will see you at the end with this week’s attempt at you-know-what. I think it is time now for a German beer!

Rich Siegel

Technology NEWSSTAND
Recent headlines from Hospitality Upgrade

Top O’ The News

• Marriott International Opens Its First-Ever Property Created with Three Brands In Downtown Nashville, Offering Distinct Hotel Experiences Under One Roof
• Marriott International Expected To Debut More Than 30 Luxury Hotels Around The Globe In 2019
• Marriott Bonvoy Kicks Off Global Marketing Campaign to Introduce New Travel Program
• Best Western® Hotels & Resorts Acquires Global Upper Upscale And Luxury Hotel Collection, Worldhotels™
• Strong Net Rooms Growth of 13.6 percent in 2018 Including Two Roads Acquisition

 
For More Information on Top O' The News For 3/8/19
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People On The Move

• John Mansfield, Formerly of Verifone Joins FreedomPay Leadership Team to Accelerate Global Platform Adoption
• IDeaS Director and Hospitality Leader Audrey Murante Joins HEDNA Board of Directors

 
John Mansfield, Formerly of Verifone Joins FreedomPay Leadership Team to Accelerate Global Platform Adoption
FreedomPay, a leading global customer-centric commerce platform, has announced the appointment of John Mansfield to its leadership team.
www.freedompay.com
IDeaS Director and Hospitality Leader Audrey Murante Joins HEDNA Board of Directors
Audrey Murante, director of global alliances and initiatives for IDeaS Revenue Solutions, has been named to the Hotel Electronic Distribution Network Association (HEDNA) 2019/2020 board of directors.
www.ideas.com/
 
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Guest Management Systems

• Maestro PMS Analytics BI Tool Gives Us the Ability to Target the Right Market with the Right Product at the Right Time
• Maestro PMS Live Chat Support Provides Answers Instantly, While Keeping Property Staff Engaged in Guest Service

 
Maestro PMS Analytics BI Tool Gives Us the Ability to Target the Right Market with the Right Product at the Right Time
Maestro PMS, a preferred cloud and on-premise hotel software solution suite for independent hotels, luxury resorts, conference centers, and multi-property groups strengthened its Maestro analytics and business intelligence (BI) module with the addition of a combined revenue and marketing analytics view.
www.maestropms.com
Maestro PMS Live Chat Support Provides Answers Instantly, While Keeping Property Staff Engaged in Guest Service
Maestro PMS, a preferred cloud and on-premise hotel software solution suite for independent hotels, luxury resorts, conference centers and multi-property groups announced the launch of Live Chat Support.
www.maestropms.com
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Guest Services

• broughtonHotels’ Park James Opens with INTELITY’s Complete Guest Experience and Hospitality Management Platform
• INTELITY Named ‘Official Mobile and In-Room Technology Provider’ by Forbes Travel Guide for Third Year
• INTELITY to Attend the 2019 National Indian Gaming Association Tradeshow & Convention
• Macarthur Place To Streamline And Standardize Operations With Knowcross
• Allbridge Announces Website Launch Following New Brand Unveil

 
For More Information on Guest Services For 3/8/19
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Marketing/ Management

• dailypoint™ Announces Data Cleansing Technology Partnership With protel
• Cendyn is North America’s Leading Hotel CRM Technology Provider & Data Driven Marketing Agency for 2019 as voted by World Travel Awards

 
dailypoint™ Announces Data Cleansing Technology Partnership With protel
Central data management platform dailypoint™ and protel hotelsoftware GmbH, provider of world-class property management systems (PMS) and a groundbreaking Hospitality Platform, announce a new data cleansing service that will allow protel customers to automatically clean, correct and de-duplicate their guest profiles within their protel PMS.
www.dailypoint.com
Cendyn is North America’s Leading Hotel CRM Technology Provider & Data Driven Marketing Agency for 2019 as voted by World Travel Awards
Cendyn, a leading provider of hotel CRM and hotel sales platforms in the hospitality industry, has been voted as North America’s Leading Hotel CRM Technology Provider and North America’s Data Driven Marketing Agency for 2019.
www.cendyn.com
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Back Office

• Airline Hotels Installs Aptech’s PVNG Enterprise Accounting at 9 Properties
• DKN Hotels Partners with ProfitSword to Create Seamless Data Management and Transfer Process

 
Airline Hotels Installs Aptech’s PVNG Enterprise Accounting at 9 Properties
Aptech Computer Systems announced that Airline Hotels upgraded its financial system to PVNG Enterprise Hotel Accounting Software at nine properties.
www.aptech-inc.com
DKN Hotels Partners with ProfitSword to Create Seamless Data Management and Transfer Process
ProfitSword, one of hospitality's premier developers of business intelligence and data integration software, has announced the implementation of its ProfitSage operational and financial reporting solution by DKN Hotels, one of California's premier hotel management companies.
www.profitsword.com
 
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Communications, Infrastructure

• Hyphen Joins Beekeeper Marketplace to Provide Advanced Survey Analytics
• Integration Partnership Between Crave Interactive and Quore is Enabling Hotels to Deliver World-Class Digital Hotel Services
• Broadband Hospitality Designated as Qualified Vendor for Choice Hotels

 
For More Information on Communications/ Infrastructure For 3/8/19
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F&B/ Point Of Sale

• Epson and Partners will Show Attendees at MURTEC 2019 How to Adapt to Changing Hospitality Environment
• Vend Adopts Epson Receipt Printer for its Retail Management Software

 
Epson and Partners will Show Attendees at MURTEC 2019 How to Adapt to Changing Hospitality Environment
At MURTEC 2019, the multi-unit restaurant technology conference, Epson and partners will be showcasing a variety of POS solutions designed to support customer transitions to the changing hospitality environment that leverages the latest technology and addresses evolving customer behaviors.
www.epson.com/pos
Vend Adopts Epson Receipt Printer for its Retail Management Software
Epson America, Inc., a leading supplier of value-added point of sale solutions, announced that Vend, a cloud-based POS and retail management software provider, has adopted the Epson TM-m30 compact receipt printer for its sleek design and advanced functionality to help merchants create more personal customer experiences, make better business decisions and meaningfully reduce admin time.
www.epson.com/pos
 
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Payment Processing

• Merchant Link Announces Dates for Annual Product User Conference – Innovation for Tomorrow

 
Merchant Link Announces Dates for Annual Product User Conference – Innovation for Tomorrow
Merchant Link, a leading payment gateway offering cloud-based cardholder data security solutions, has announced the dates for its annual Product User Conference – Innovation for Tomorrow.
www.merchantlink.com
 
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Security

• It’s Black Diamond Time at The Lodge at Spruce Peak with dormakaba BLE Enabled RFID Electronic Locks
• Prism Hotels & Resorts chooses VENZA’s Everest™ Package

 
It’s Black Diamond Time at The Lodge at Spruce Peak with dormakaba BLE Enabled RFID Electronic Locks
The Lodge at Spruce Peak is a premier resort that offers luxury accommodations and amenities. That is why it installed dormakaba’s Saflok Quantum BLE-enabled RFID electronic door locks to make hospitality smart and secure.
www.dormakaba.com
Prism Hotels & Resorts chooses VENZA’s Everest™ Package
They say everything is bigger in Texas. That is certainly true when applied to the commitment to guest data protection made by Prism Hotels & Resorts. 
www.venzagroup.com
 

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