by Kate O'Neil
June 21, 2011
This my third HITEC and it's already the
most exciting. I bet that this will be one of the most
enlightening HITECs for folks who've attended many more years than I
have as well. I'm going to give you a little recap of my day yesterday.
(Look for one
from a member of the Hospitality Upgrade/Hotel-Online team each day
this week)!
I
was able to attend a couple of sessions at HSMAI's Revenue Optimization
Conference yesterday morning. The attendance was the biggest standout
this year. I don't have the exact numbers, but I wouldn't be surprised
if it doubled in size from last year. I particularly liked the opening
panel's session. If anyone gets the opportunity to speak with Randy
Smith of STR about the trends in the industry, I suggest you do. He has
a way of presenting complex data in a way that is simple to understand,
yet very thought-provoking.
Did anyone see an empty seat at the opening session of HITEC? I didn't.
I saw a tweet that said there were over 1,000 people in attendance.
That's great! The most interesting part about Randi Zuckerberg's speech
was her reaction to a question from the crowd about privacy. She
informed the attendee about the various privacy settings, but then said
very seriously that, "It's our fault for not making you fully aware of
the privacy settings." I thought that was great. Facebook is one of
the most influential companies of our lifetime and her tone made it
sound like she took personal responsibility for someone not knowing the
full capabilities of her product. That must be part of Facebook's
secret sauce.
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left to right: Michelle Renn, Hotel-Online; Geneva Rinehart,
Kate O'Neil and Dean DeNeefe all from Hospitality Upgrade
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I went to HFTP's reception and to two more parties after that which
were fun. It's great to see so many familiar faces! There was one bad
part about yesterday though; I wore new shoes on the first day of
HITEC. What a rookie move.
Kate O'Neil is Associate Publisher
for Hospitality Upgrade magazine.
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