In the hospitality arena, there’s no shortage of innovation visionaries. With hotels embracing everything from cloud-based PMS solutions to streamlining front-desk activities, the new area of hotel IT is here, and the most forward-thinking hotel brands often drive these paradigm shifts.
To recognize these companies, for the past 13 years, Hospitality Technology Magazine has been honoring hotels for outstanding leadership in customer-facing and enterprise innovation. Following are this year’s winners of the publication’s Visionary Awards:
- Hyatt International: The leading global hospitality provider won the “Enterprise Innovator” award for re-imagining the front desk experience to turn transactional experience into personalized experiences for all guests.
- La Quinta Inns & Suites: By creating the Redeem Away! Program, an industry-first benefit strategy that allows loyalty members to redeem points anytime for many everyday purchases with a linked Visa credit card and mobile phone number, La Quinta Inns & Suites was bestowed the “Customer-Facing Innovator” award.
- NH Hotel Group: To overcome technology integration issues, NH Hotel Group was named the “Enterprise Innovator” for developing and deploying a unique, innovative, single and centralized solution: the Digital Core Platform. The solution is accessible from the cloud, and was based on open technologies that would reduce the hotel’s dependence on outside players while at the same time offering avant-garde technology.
- Watermark Luxe Cottages: David and Susan Barton transformed an old fishing campground into a deluxe getaway: Watermark Luxe Waterfront Cottages. What makes this property unique is that it leverages a technology ecosystem to maintain efficient operations while servicing guests all without a staff present. This effort garnered them the “Customer-Facing Innovator” award.
We would like to congratulate all of these 2017 Visionary Award winners. To read more, please click here.