Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals (HFTP) has partnered with the American Hotel and Lodging Association (AH&LA) to offer a new Technology and E-business Webinar Series. The online program is based on AH&LA’s Technology Primer documents and will consist of 12 sessions starting October 2011 and run through 2012. Each webinar is presented as a live audio, interactive session and is free to HFTP and AH&LA members.

“The new series combines the expertise of both organizations in a format that is accessible to all of our members,” said Frank Wolfe, CAE, CEO of HFTP. “This is just one more step towards our goal to offer essential education on the industry’s most current business practices.”

The series' topics include:

• Green IT
• An Introduction to Hotel Systems
• Computer System Failure Contingency Plan
• e-Commerce
• Food and Beverage Systems
• Hotel Technology Infrastructure
• PCI Compliance
• Principles of Privacy
• Revenue Management
• Strategies and Tactics in System Selection
• Telecommunications in the Hospitality Industry
• Fundamentals of System and Data Security.

The series will integrate with HFTP’s ProLinks webinar program, which presents a new session covering key industry topics every first and third Thursday of the month. These offer HFTP members a valuable and convenient educational opportunity, including 1 CPE (continuing professional education) credit for attending the one-hour session. In addition, all webinars are archived on the HFTP web site for viewing at members’ convenience.

“In an era of constantly evolving technology, it’s more important than ever to ensure our members stay on the cutting edge,” said AH&LA President/CEO Joe McInerney. “These webinars make it easy to understand what’s going on and how to adapt new platforms to your property.”