Hitec 2001

An estimated 6,000 hospitality professionals converged on Orlando's Orange County Convention Center on Tuesday for one the industries' largest hospitality technology trade shows: HITEC 2001, from a space odyssey to a high-tech reality. Over the three days of the show, hospitality owners, operators and IT professionals will gather in seminar halls and meeting rooms to discuss the latest issues in hotel technology. Topics for this year's show include revenue management, Internet distribution management strategies and energy management. After learning about the technology available, attendees can take a trip to the trade show floor, where more than 300 exhibitors are showcasing the latest technologies on the market.Application service providers (ASPs) continue to be a hot technology model for the hotel industry, and vendors displayed ASP solutions for property management, reservations and point of sale. Another major trend at the show is data consolidation and systems integration, and vendors are offering a number of solutions to help hotel operators bring their pertinent data together to create usable and actionable information.

Here's some news from the tradeshow floor:

* Central Point Technologies, a developer and provider of next-generation property management systems and advanced hospitality technologies announced the launch of Speedway, a speech recognition telephone reservations solution developed and marketed in partnership. Central Point Technologies is a subsidiary of Commercial Consolidators Corp., and is announcing this in conjunction with CGI Group Inc. - both specialists of voice recognition and Web technologies accordingly. Speedway allows repeat customers to book a reservation using speech recognition technology, with a phone or cell phone anywhere, anytime. The transaction-based model interfaces with Central Point Technologies' property management system and gives the user an immediate confirmation.

* IBM, Symbol Technologies, Starwood Hotels Worldwide-owned Galaxy Hotel Systems and Computerized Security Systems-Saflok, have developed a new mobile guest check-in solution that allows hotel guests to check-in at the curb. The mobile guest check-in solution employs the Symbol SPT1740 Palm jOS Web-enabled handheld computer, integrated with Symbol's Spectrum 24 wireless local area network. The pocket-sized system features a bar code scanner and pen access that allows a complete check-in to be performed, as well as make changes to a reservation and retrieve messages.

* UniFocus, a management firm for the hospitality industry that specializes in guest and employee survey systems, introduced MeetingScope, a product aimed at improving service to the meetings industry. MeetingScope is powered by e-Perception Technologies, a provider of advanced perception assessment tools, technology and solutions for the human resources, customer relationship management and market research arenas, to create a three-tiered online survey tool providing hotels with real-time access to meeting feedback before, during and after the meeting. In addition, MeetingScope consists of a meeting planner profile, meeting profile and hotel profile.

* Axiohm Transaction Solutions Inc., a manufacturer of transaction printers, launched two new POS printers at the show, named Color POS, available in both single station A795 and hybrid A760 models. Both printers offer the ColorPOS command set for easy integration and Axiohm-unique printing functions. The single station A795 ColorPOS printer is currently available, and the A760 Hybrid ColorPOS printer will be available during the third quarter of 2001.

* OpenTable Inc., a supplier of networked software applications to the hospitality industry, and Opryland Hotels, announced that OpenTable will build restaurant application networks to enhance operational efficiencies, help ensure guest satisfaction and introduce new cost-savings stra