HOSTEC 2001 will take place April 24-26, 2001 at the ExCeL Centre in London. The ExCeL Centre is a new, state-of-the-art conference and exhibition centre with excellent national and international transport access from locations throughout Europe. 

More than 2000 attendees and more than 100 exhibitors are expected to attend HOSTEC 2001, which is aimed at both global companies as well as independents. Keynote addresses and industry speakers will discuss the latest technology trends, highlight successful working practices and provide insights into technological developments. 

�Our goal is to bring to the UK and Europe the highest quality and scale of tradeshow, educational conference and networking opportunities available to the industry,� said Rob Grimes, CEO & Chairman of CynterShow. He added, �All educational sessions will deal with the real world issues businesses face when researching, selecting, implementing and financing new technologies. Vendors will exhibit the latest software, Internet services and hardware in the industry.� 

Following the plenary sessions, delegates are provided with the opportunity to select from a programme of 36 educational conference sessions spread over three days focusing primarily on four themed tracks:

• Foodservice/Retail/Leisure Technology, 
• Hospitality/Tourism Technology, 
• Internet Technology and 
• General Technology Trends. 

HOSTEC 2001 delegates come from all segments of the hospitality, foodservice, leisure, tourism and retail industries including restaurants, hotels, casinos, clubs, resorts, convenience stores, pubs, off-site facilities in business and industry, cruise lines and government institutions.

HOSTEC 2001 will also include Technology Industry Awards. These awards are designed to salute industry achievement in the categories of Team Excellence, Project Excellence and Innovation. 

The HOSTEC 2001 Advisory Board includes 

• W. Douglas Lewis, CIO & Executive VP, Bass Hotels & Resorts; 
• David Weick, Senior VP & CIO, McDonald's Corporation; 
• Joel Katz, Group IT Manager, Conran Restaurants Ltd.; 
• Dr. Andrew Frew, Professor, Business & Consumer Studies, Queen Margaret University College; 
• Willi Tinner, VP, IT, Swissotel Management, Ltd.; 
• Toby W. Malbec, Managing Director, CynterCon Technology Advisors; 
• Evy Cohen, Financial Director, Hotel Meurice; 
• Nigel Underwood, Senior VP, IT, Hilton International; 
• Andrew G. Guy, Acting Chief Executive, City Centre Restaurants; 
• John Kirby, IT Director, Thistle Hotels; 
• Herbert W. Perkins, III, CIO, Tricon Global Restaurants, Inc.; and 
• Lori Runkel, Managing Editor, CynterPubs Information Resources.

HOSTEC 2001, now in its second year, is organised by CynterShow UK, an affiliate of CynterCorp, with world headquarters in Rockville, Maryland in the U.S. CynterShow also produces and manages the educational conference of FS/TEC, the U.S.-based technology conference and exhibition for the foodservice industry, launched in 1996. CynterCorp has offices located throughout the Americas, Europe and the Pan-Pacific.