NATIONAL REPORT—Hospitality Technology Next Generation (HTNG), in partnership with Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International (HSMAI), launched a joint initiative to better align marketing and technology disciplines in hospitality organizations.
This joint community of interest will operate under HTNG’s concept of Strategic Pillars for the industry following the successful launch in 2018 of a similar effort around hospitality distribution with partners HEDNA (Hotel Electronic Distribution Network Association) and the OpenTravel Alliance.
The Marketing and Commercial Technologies Strategic Pillar will focus on improving and leveraging organizations’ uses of technology that support commercial strategies while strengthening the internal relationships between a hotel brand CIO, CMO and CTO.
“HTNG and HSMAI have always had a very close relationship, so this is a natural step toward leveraging the talents and expertise of both organizations’ members to improve the industry,” said Michael Blake, CEO of HTNG.
As a joint effort between HTNG and HSMAI, participation is open to any member of either organization. The strategy chair for this pillar is Jacqueline Nunley of SalesForce, and the strategic advisors are Calvin Anderson of Domio, Kristie Goshow of Preferred Hotels and Resorts, Tammy Lucas of Best Western Hotels & Resorts, and Flo Lugli of Navesink Advisory Group LLC.
“The need for the hotel industry to find efficiencies in integrating and building their technology stack has been talked about for years,” said Robert A. Gilbert, president and CEO of HSMAI. “We’re excited to have this group of senior executives working to identify ways to move the industry forward, which can only happen when marketing and commercial strategies are integrated first. Customer expectations are only going to continue to rise, and hotels will need to adapt to continue to capture and achieve premium performance levels.”
The Marketing and Commercial Technologies Strategic Pillar will kick off with a teleconference on Tuesday, June 23, 2020, at 10:00 a.m. Central Standard Time.
