Fiturtech, FiturGreen and the ITH Gateroom, organised by the Hotel Technology Institute in collaboration with FITUR, brought together hundreds of visitors and members of the tourist and hotel industry throughout the three days set aside for the professionals at the trade show.
Innovation and technology played a starring role at Fitur 2014, which, this year, devoted a large part of its trade programme to analysing the role that technologies have to play within the hotel sector and tourist industry as a whole.
Throughout the course of Fiturtech and FiturGreen, tourism and hotel representatives and professionals were able to discover all of the potential that mobility, connectivity and other technological developments are able to offer in terms of consolidating the relationship between hotels, destinations and tourists, based on an astonishing approach that is both unique and tailor-made.
The future of retailing according to professionals from the industry
The first conference presented at Fiturtech 2014, staged on Wednesday 22nd January, was the Inaugural Address by Julio Bruno, the Vice-Chairman of Global Sales at TripAdvisor for Business. This was followed by a roundtable conference in which various heads of online travel agencies (OTA’s), such as Fabio Cannavale, Chairman of Rumbo Bravo Fly, Tomeu Bennasar, Managing Director of Logitravel, and Daniel Crestelo, Head of Global Corporate Strategy at MuchoViaje, analysed the role that OTA’s play within the tourist industry today and their future role as tourism retailing channels. In the afternoon, Chema Herrero, Revenue CRS Manager at Zenit Hoteles, together with Roberto Sanchez, the Marketing Director at AlojaPro, outlined different hotel revenue management techniques, together with the criteria that must be taken into account when designing pricing policies. They also analysed different scenarios, channels and strategies that hotels can pursue in order to make the most of their various retailing channels, both online and traditional.
However, the event of the morning on Thursday 23rd January undoubtedly consisted of a meeting that brought together the largest number of professionals at Fiturtech 2014. These participants were interested in discovering the opinions of international hoteliers such as Andres Girondeau, the Executive Vice-President of Melia Hotels International; Hugo Rovira, Managing Director of NH Hotel Group; Aurelio Vazquez, Managing Director of Iberostar Hotels & Resort; and Kike Sarasola, Chairman of RoomMate Hotels. These key figures highlighted various new strategies and fields of specialisation for the future, as well as analysing the current situation within the industry in the light of the economic crisis, all as part of a roundtable chaired by Andres Vicente Ranz, the Managing Director of Empresas Vodafone Espana S.A.U.
In the afternoon, Fiturtech 2014 hosted the staging of the International Travel Media Meeting, which analysed a series of key technologies and identified decisive trends under the headings of tourism marketing, e-commerce, mobility and retailing. This meeting featured the participation of the following figures: Florence Kaci, European Market Specialist at PhoCusWright; Jason Clampet from Skift; Angel Jimenez de Luis from El Mundo – Ocho Leguas; Mariah Assuncao from EyeforTravel; Andres Fernandez Rubio from El Pais-El Viajero; Patrick Mayock from Hotel News Now; David Placer from 02b.com; Kevin May from Tnooz; Juan Daniel Nunez from Tecnohotel; and Eduardo Arcos from Hypertextual – ALT1040.
Friday4Tech: The customer’s experience from the perspective of innovation
The closing day of the FITUR Trade Programme, Friday 24th January, focused on cutting-edge technologies for tourism, innovation and the latest developments in areas as disparate as Big Data, robotics and nanotechnology. These conferences were delivered by the following professionals: Javier Delgado, Head of Travel, Global TA at Google; Pedro Moneo, founder and CEO of Opinno and publisher of the MIT Technology Review in Spanish; and Patricia Araque, the co-founder and CEO of Ellas2.0.
Friday also hosted the presentation of various hotel and technology ideas that are destined to revolutionise the relationship between hotels, destinations and tourists. In this respect, we might mention the following: Sol Wave Hotel, which is known as the Hotel Twitter; the applications for intelligent accessories from Droiders; and the experience presented by Ushuaia Beach Hotel, which attended Fiturtech with the musical shows that have earned it worldwide renown, featuring the presence of one of the best DJ’s in the world, DJ Une. Furthermore, visitors were able to interact with MACCO, the Cocktail Robot, which not only sang and danced, but also prepared drinks and cocktails for those attending Fiturtech throughout its three-day duration.
Fiturtech also introduced thousands of visitors to Google Glass, one of the best-known and revolutionary technological accessories, which offers endless possibilities for hotels and the realm of tourism. Its presence at the Fiturtech stand attracted hundreds of businessmen and professionals, who had the opportunity to try the tool out and discover its applications before this technology becomes available to the general public.
Furthermore, visitors to Fiturtech on this occasion were also able to enjoy the ITH GateRoom, an initiative presented by the Hotel Technology Institute and Serrano Brothers. This “intelligent hotel room” undoubtedly played a starring role at Fitur 2014, attracting the attention of hundreds of professionals, businessmen, members of the media and hoteliers from all over the world. The ITH Gateroom combines the latest technological advances and a revolutionary design approach developed by the international design studio, Serrano Brothers. This company also created its Flynnkey and Gatecontrol technologies within the framework of the Broomx (Best Room Xperiences) initiative, which enabled users to interact with the room.
This prototype room incorporated technologies and equipment provided by Microsoft, Samsung, Vodafone, Cosentino, B-Interactive, Kvadrat, Pikolin, Philips, Roca and Broomx, amongst other firms. The aim was to bring the HotelGen3¦Third Generation Hotel Programme to fruition, a model based on a highly optimised, efficient and connected accommodation option that seeks to enhance, personalise and extend the guest’s experience and boost the hotel’s results.
FiturGreen: technology for promoting sustainability
The fifth staging of FiturGreen, an event organised by the Hotel Technology Institute (ITH), the World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) and FITUR, in collaboration with Grupo Habitat Futura, presented the results of various technology projects designed to promote the sustainability of the hotel sector. Under the heading of “Sustainability at Tourist Destinations”, the opening day at FiturGreen (22nd January) was devoted to reviewing good practices at cities and in countries that have designed sustainable tourism management and promotion policies. The meeting also analysed the impact that these policies have had with regard to the competitive appeal of these destinations. The first debate, which aroused the interest of numerous visitors, featured the participation of the following figures: Ana Brana, Manager of the Tourism Joint Venture of Gijon; Arantxa Garcia, the Head of Sustainable Development at TUI Travel Accommodation & Destinations; Benjamin Liberoff, the National Head of Tourism in Uruguay; and Luigi Cabrini, Advisor to the Secretary General on Sustainability at the UNWTO. Jose Maria de Juan, the Head of Koan Consulting-Centro Espanol de Turismo Responsable, chaired this debate.
On the same day, the CIAT Group analysed the findings of a study carried out by the ITH on efficient air-conditioning based on heat recovery, whilst Bosch Buderus and Jaga Espana explained the importance of incorporating efficient air-conditioning systems that help to enhance the indoor air quality at hotels. Finally, Aqualogy, Grundfos Espana and Italsan highlighted the technological advances that boost the efficiency of water management at hotels and how this helps to reduce the consumption of this precious resource.
Thursday 23rd January was devoted to reviewing the options that technology offers hotels and other forms of accommodation when it comes to boosting energy efficiency and sustainability management strategies. Speakers such as Celina Alvarez, Manager of the Sustainable Hotels Network of the Balearic Islands, and Ignasi Uno, CEO and co-founder of TwentyTu High Tech Hostel, highlighted the advantages, benefits and financial results of sustainable and efficient accommodation. With a view to facilitating the introduction of these technologies at tourism companies, the most strongly attended meeting on the part of hotel and finance professionals consisted of a presentation delivered by representatives from the Spanish Climate Change Office at the Ministry of Agriculture and the Environment (MAGRAMA), the Institute for Energy Saving and Diversification (IDAE), DYRECTO Consultores, Banco Sabadell and the Santander Group. These participants sought to review the most efficient schemes for refurbishing hotels.
According to the Managing Director of the ITH, Alvaro Carrillo de Albornoz, this staging of Fitur 2014 “demonstrated the need to focus our sector’s efforts on developing technological solutions that are not only capable of boosting hotel and tourism companies, but also offer a series of unique experiences that are tailored to the needs of every tourist”. Mr Carrillo de Albornoz expressed his “profound satisfaction at the spectacular results achieved by the events organised by the ITH in collaboration with the trade fair”. In this respect, the ITH “will continue to participate actively in order to help develop these initiatives in coming years”.
Tatiana is the news coordinator for TravelDailyNews Media Network (traveldailynews.gr, traveldailynews.com and traveldailynews.asia). Her role includes monitoring the hundreds of news sources of TravelDailyNews Media Network and skimming the most important according to our strategy.
She holds a Bachelor's degree in Communication & Mass Media from Panteion University of Political & Social Studies of Athens and she has been editor and editor-in-chief in various economic magazines and newspapers.
