Hospitality Technology & Innovation Ahead of HITEC 2023 | with Neil Foster

The Modern Hotelier #36: Hospitality Technology & Innovation Ahead of HITEC 2023 | with Neil Foster === Steve, who do we have on the program today? Yeah, David. Today we have on Neil Foster, the President of the Hospitality, financial and Technology Professionals, or more commonly known as HFTP Neil has. Over 25 years of hospitality experience. He's been on the hotel technology, and even on the tourism side, bringing a well-rounded background to the HFTP. Welcome to this show, Neil. Thanks, Steve. Thanks David. Thank you, John. Pleasure to be here. Thanks, Neil. So we're gonna get started. So we've got really three areas that we cover. We're gonna get to know you better, talk about your career, and then get your input on what's going on in the industry. Sound good? Sounds great. Okay. So what's the worst job you ever had? newspaper, on my first day I opened the newspapers up and they all blew away. I was seven years old at the time and it just killed my confidence. So that was the worst job and since then I've been looking for jobs that helped to boost it, not kill it. Are you a morning or a night person? oh gosh. I'm a morning person now. I've got two kids. They love to get up early and they love to get dead up early. So, uh, yeah, love the mornings. So if you had to delete all the apps, On your phone, except for three, you could keep three apps. What three apps would you keep? okay. So I'd keep the phone part cuz I, I like to talk on the phone. That's my media channel of, of choice. there's a great app called Radio Garden, which is like the earth, and you could find radio stations visually by clicking on them. really love that. and probably high tech. So I'm gonna be installing that app in a few weeks and I hope you are too. All right, cool. Yeah, we'll be there. what emoji do you use the most? not really a big user of emojis. I guess I'm kind of old fashioned that way. But probably the, uh, the smiley face with the rosy cheeks. I'm really fascinated to hear what kind of data these emojis are gonna yield for, for the folks that are working on these different AI solutions, cuz I'm sure they'll figure out all of our moods and understand us better than we do. Who's your favorite singer or band? I like Brian Eno and I like him because he, he can't really, you can't slap a label on him. And he is sort of done for music. what we try to do in hospitalities, in kind of the inventor of ambient music and creates an atmosphere and environment that's usually welcoming and comforting. So I like his stuff and I like, I like him and his vision. Great. What's your favorite adult beverage? I'm not really much of a drinker. I guess I, I used to like a pint of Guinness every now and again, but, uh, yeah, I really don't drink that often anymore. if you had your own talk show, who would your first guest be? Ah, that's a tough one. So many different, uh, do they have to be living or, well, I guess they'd have to be living if it's a talk show. Well, Uh we'll give you a pass. It could be somebody, you know, it could be, I think somebody, it's gotta be somebody at least somewhat current, I think. Okay. Well, if, if I could go back in time and he, if he's. Ernest Shackleton would be the guy that I'd love to talk with. he's, you know, trying to figure out how to get out of this impossible fix, which he did probably the greatest heroic story ever and the greatest leadership story ever. As we're trying to figure out all these different weird forces, he'd be the guy that would probably figure, figure out for us or help us understand how to lead. So if you had a time machine and you could go into the future or back to the past, which would it be and what year would you go to? gosh, that, that's, I guess it's kind of a funny question cuz uh, maybe we'll get to this a little bit later, but in some ways, uh, my family and I actually did travel in a time machine. we moved like 50 years into the past to this little island called St. Helen. That took us to the land without really smartphones and without constant interruptions and communications. A place where there's community. so I guess we were lucky to be there. we were there during the pandemic and it was a good spot to be. So today actually, coincidentally, is the 200th anniversary since Napoleon's death on St. Helen. So, if I could go back to that time, it'd be interesting, to sort of understand, the mood with an emperor that's, uh, exiled in this remote place, who made so much of a difference to the world, both positive and negative. Great answer. Oh, those are good. So now we'll learn a little bit more about your personal details, kind of where you grew up, a little bit about you, what makes you tick. So kind of do that. Where did you grow up? I grew up in Winnipeg, Manitoba. on the license plates, they say friendly Manitoba. So I'd like to think that people, uh, from there are friendly and maybe that's where I got my first. Love of hospitality and the love of people. I was lucky to be born and raised there because it's flat. it's cold, it's, some people say boring, so it kind of pushed me or forced me to see what else is out there in the world. And I'm super grateful to that. I live in Vancouver now and probably if I grew up here, uh, lived here, that I might not be as curious to see what else might be out there. That's awesome. Besides your curiosity and your friendliness, did it shape you in kind of any other way? probably, yeah, so great question. I guess the, uh, the winters are pretty harsh. being able to get outdoors and, and I guess even in terms of preparing for things that, Just understanding how things work in, in places where there are rough climates that, that maybe people are a bit more conservative, in some ways just thinking about the future and trying to plan a little bit better, maybe years ago, in the old days, with the farmers that if they didn't think too much about, yield and about, self-preservation, the winter comes around and there's no food. so you probably had to plan pretty well back then. Both my parents are immigrants, so they came to Canada from different places. So I guess I had, the benefit of understanding three different cultures, which also helped me, ease into the hospitality industry a bit. So you were majoring psychology at Western University and then you switched to hospitality at Cornell. What, what drove that? What made you do that? so David, it's a bit of a longer story than that. So, actually years ago I started, with computer science and physics, and I really loved, how they started. I didn't exactly like how they finished. So in first year there were 450 people in physics. in second year there were 12 people. And guess it was, it didn't take me long to to understand why. It was, extremely demanding. it took me a little bit out, a bit too far outside my comfort zone, an area of interest that, the folks that were really hardcore physics and astrophysics people were. Not really that interested in socializing and being with, people, at least in, in the groups that, that I was exposed to. so I backed out of that and found a different path to technology. but I, I realized over time that, you know, I, I understood enough, about technology, a high level I've learned how to learn. And I guess what I really wanted to understand more about, was people. And I really appreciated being able to go back to school, to do psychology, to learn about people in sort of the human condition. and that helped me sort of, uh, regroup a little bit. I, I think that that probably changed me. I had an opportunity just before that, to do the, uh, the certificate from Cornell University, the Masters in Hospitality Essentials. I completed that before psychology, and that was the tail end of my time with Starwood Hotels in Toronto. But, yeah, really grateful to to have learned a bit about the, the human condition while at university, you went to Kenya, you were at in Singapore for a semester. What did you learn from those trips and what has stuck with you from those experiences? thank you for asking these questions. I'm really happy to, to share the. perspective. So, the Kenny experience was sort of a, a one-off, it was an exchange sim or a, a co-op term. During my time at, the Richard Ivy School of Business doing my MBA program, many of my colleagues were doing, internships with, investment banks and consulting and various other, organizations and industries and, There was a, brand new initiative that, cares. So the, charity care had come up with a new perspective on aid, looking at sustainable aid where they sent a small group of MBA students to work out in the field. literally. So we were working with agronomists and were working with small hold farmers, folks that made like a dollar or $2 a day, and trying to figure out how to grow vegetables that didn't really have a local market in Kenya. So vegetables that. Let baby corn, for example, bitter Gord, but the soil and conditions were perfect to be able to grow these vegetables. That would be ideal for export Asia. So what I learned from, from that experience was that education is really subjective and firstly, coming into another environment, another culture with degrees and, and education, that that doesn't always translate really well. And it's a humbling experience in a good way. At the end of the day, when you're, immersing yourself in another culture, it's a perfect opportunity to learn more about yourself. And also about others and what I learned that was small hold. Farmers making a dollar, $2 a day. many of them were extremely intelligent and could have done, unbelievably well in the first world if they had the experience, if they had the opportunities, if they had the j just the, the bridge. that's what I learned from, from there. and Singapore was a, an exchange semester with, uh, the National University of Singapore. So I was lucky enough to be able to get out there to do my last semester in Singapore. And I got to this little place, this tiny little island in the middle of Southeast Asia where there's super development and everything works. And it's like, wow, how did this place come to exist? So again, I learned a ton. I learned a ton from classmates that were from India, China, from Singapore for o, other places around the region. And again, a humbling experience that what I learned in the classroom in London, Ontario, and Canada, was different from what I learned in Singapore. So, um, I decided to stick around. I came back to Canada, sold up all that I could sell, and put some stuff in storage. brought a suitcase with me and figured I'd look for work. eventually I found work with, uh, micro Fidelio back then. With a shout out to Carson Booth who, uh, might be listening and Michael Delargy, who put me in touch with the folks at Micro Fidel and gave me that opportunity. And it was so wonderful to be able to stay and experience Singapore in the region and to reconnect with my hospitality roots there. that's awesome. And I, I love that kind of experience that you got. And, kind of to jump back a little bit in your career, before you got to Oracle, before you graduated, you actually, I believe it was while at the university or Western University where you worked at a western. Which got acquired by Starwood Hotels where you became the area manager of it. while you were there, you saw some really groundbreaking innovations and developments in the guest experience. Can you talk more about that? Oh, Steve, thank you for, for lobbing me this question. This is, I'm so proud of those early years and, uh, again, a shout out to John Gervois and Carl Johnston for taking a chance on me on those early, those early years. this was after I'd finished with computer science and, uh, and astronomy. Astrophysics, and, uh, figured that I'd, get out there in the real world. Before that, I was a dishwasher for a little while. maybe we can get to that a bit later, and busing tables. But, what I learned at that time, I mean, it was the perfect storm at that time. Westin was undergoing, there was a hostile takeover bid by Hilton at the time, and out of nowhere there was this company, Starwood Capital, that had the resources and had the gumption to acquire West and outright. And it was just this sensational media story with a 38 year old Harvard M B a Barry Sternlicht, who had, very little hospitality experience per se, but he was perfectly positioned to breathe a, a new life into, into hospitality. What I learned, I guess, and maybe there are too many things to talk about on the podcast, but really the innovations that Barry was able to introduce were ones that could only have come with an outside eye, so if someone says that, uh, The only thing that might not understand completely water is the fish, because the fish is always in water. That perhaps being outside of the water helps you understand that medium and helps you understand the perspective, from a really valuable perspective. So he came in and I guess he looked at, at the state of the industry and saw that a lot of beds were sagging and that there were these, covers that were usually, you didn't want to touch them. The showers had varying pressure. And so he came up with the idea of the Weston Heavenly Bed with his team, uh, with this pillow top and basically innovated the sleep experience. I mean, go figure, this is a hotel business, innovating the sleep experience, and then with the shower, looking to, find some consistency and experience there with the Western Heavenly shower. So for me, I guess it, it helped me realize, and I was young then, I think 21 years old at the time. That really anything's possible and how lucky I was to be in a business that cared about the human experience. And that's probably what pinned me down for as long as it has or, set the momentum in the hotel business for me. Awesome. And I do wanna touch base on, you kind of mentioned it here, about getting into the industry with kind of odd jobs, you know, dishwashing kind of, you know, kind of jobs that we all did when we were younger. What made you stick in the industry or, or what made you stick around? so going back to the odd jobs and, and the dish washing and. Busing tables. I got those jobs. So in the early nineties, there was a bit of an economic downturn, as I was looking for different opportunities out there. so the first dishwashing and busing experience was out of, high school. I think it was between university years. really that taught me a lot about how things actually work in the industry. That there's a pecking order that I learned early on. There was a level of, uh, effort and, and hard work that isn't always noticeable at the top levels. was pretty sure that, the general manager didn't completely understand what it was like to be in a dish pit. I didn't really see the GM at that hotel. Uh, I didn't meet that person, but I got to understand that there was something beautiful about, sort of the orchestra of hospitality that I was just maybe a little triangle in the orchestra, doing my little part and others were doing, their part and were making, making that music, whatever it was. So I don't know that it was that experience that completely solidified, the hospitality, commitment for me as it was, as a standalone experience. But it was, I guess, the serendipity of getting back into the industry again. I'd applied for a job. It was, uh, a real overshoot for me applying to be the IT manager for 300 room West in hotel. Had, no it management experience before. and there were two great souls, John Gervois and Carl Johnson, who took a chance on me. And Raaga, if you're out there and listening, you're still a big influence on my career and, on my, inner circle. I really appreciate all of your friendship and, and your, collegiality over the years. so getting into uh, hospitality with Starwood is really what cemented it for me. And in hindsight, I guess looking back and realizing how the industry works, I think has been, a unique asset where others that come from the outside that go straight into management opportunities or they're at corporate level, they don't really understand what happens, at the front lines that I see that as a disadvantage. Because there isn't really any force that forces senior leadership to see what happens. And so if you're lucky to see how all of it works, you might have a, a better chance at building that trust with the people who you need and depend on, to make your business work. That's great. And so from. 2011, 2017 worked at Hotels, hospitality company, even Iceland Travel. Looking back, maybe you can pick one or a couple of them. how have they helped you in your current role as president? so David, I think the perspective that's most helpful to me is being able to see things from all different angles. So from the hotel side, you don't know what the vendor side. Looks like from the vendor side, you don't completely know what, what the hotel side looks like. I've also had a chance to work with a, a third party supplier, Carlson Travel, which gave me an insight into vendor and hotel, from a completely different perspective. and really, I would say that that's probably the most helpful. Going back and maybe looking, looking at some of the other experiences. So being president of HFTP to me means about understanding what the members want and being able to connect effectively with, members, of all the different segments. And so, if I've been lucky to be able to connect with people from different walks of life, from different cultures, from different backgrounds, that maybe that's instilled in me a love of getting to know people and getting, really wanting to truly understand. So, This year, I've been lucky to be able to get out on the road where my predecessors, uh, mark paid and Michael Levy, who did an, an amazing job during the pandemic era in keeping the ship afloat. Uh, I'm one of the lucky ones, I guess, as things are emerging, being able to get out there and to be able to, get together with people again. So, to answer your question, that all of these experiences have been super helpful from different angles to, to help me, as president. and before this you were involved in HFTP but that time in 2013, you became the member of the Global Board of Directors. Can you tell us how you first got involved with HFTP? Oh sure. so years ago and, and this dates back to the Western London, Ontario years when I was green and inexperienced, and, was super lucky to have great mentors and folks who. saw something in me back then, Carl Johnston was the first to, to plant the seed in my mind. And I remember going into his office one day and I saw this thick book on his desk that said HFTP on it. and it said, membership directory. And I wondered, huh, what, what, what is this? So I'd asked him a little bit about HFTP, and member directory, of course, was an actual directory of, members and phone numbers, and it was a pretty thick book. That helped me appreciate the breadth and the scope of the, the association back then. That to me, it seemed like a big deal. These were people all around North America and some internationally. and Carl said to me one day said, you want to come to a meeting? And I was a little nervous. I thought, this 21 year old kid among all these seasoned professionals at the meeting, I'm not sure what I can add. But for him, and what he shared with me was that that really wasn't the point. That it was about being able to get to know people and to be part of a community. and as soon as I got to that first meeting, I, I realized what he was talking about because I didn't really have to do much of the talking. I felt immediately a warmth that I came into the room and Carl introduced me to all of these different people and made me feel comfortable. And, I found that, that I was in my element That I could share what little I knew at that time and to ask questions and found that there was a great, circle for, for support and feedback. And this was my earliest experience with HFTP. Now, over the years, I had encouragement, from ke Kana who might be listening also to this podcast who, who was the general manager of the Sheridan Hamilton at the time. And the late Costa Tomazo, who, uh, was extremely instrumental in my participation with, external activities and going to high-tech and, being able to participate. Costa was the general manager of the Sheridan Center at the time, and he was also, he became the vice president of Six Sigma for Starwood Hotels, in the early two thousands. So he was one of the folks that got me excited about, how the, the direction of hospitality. him and Carl Johnston, who also have passed on, and Dave Norton, who was the director of technology back then, have all, really been instrumental in getting me involved, getting me out to high-tech, planting the seed in my mind. when I got to Asia, One of the connecting points out there was, little did I know I was a little bit outta touch, but, there was a high, uh, an HFTP Asia chapter, and I remember how, um, how amazing it felt to be invited to a meeting to the HFTP Asia chapter. And because I held a designation, the certified HOS Hospitality Technology Professional designation, I was invited to do a talk. I had met, uh, Frank Wolf had come out to that event. This was back in 2008. And it was an, an event to, create a partnership between a local community college and HFTP to introduce formal education around the C HTP designation. So again, I felt very much at home. I was really happy to be able to share all that I knew about HFTP and the CHTP experience. And so I guess all of this, you know, when you feel like you belong somewhere, You find that there are opportunities to get more and more involved, that you can contribute more and more. And so I guess I'm at the point now in, in my career, certainly with HF t p, where it's time for me to, give back and to find more opportunities for others. I'm a big fan of the young professionals programs that HFTP has been putting on over the years. The student chapters Las Vegas, university of Houston, the Cougars, they have an extremely strong chapter under the, the leadership of Agnes DeFranco and Arlene Ramirez. just so amazing to see how HFTP creates this community and this feeling of home for many of us in the industry. absolutely couldn't have said it better myself. So, in 2018, you mentioned this already, and I'm really excited to hear more about this. You, uh, were working with St. Helena Island to help develop a tourism industry. it was connected to a potential new airport, you know, and then Covid happened. Can you tell us more about this experience? Oh, Steve, this, this is the stuff of like, if you believe in miracles for me, this was, this was a miracle. an opportunity came up to help, to establish support for a really modest tourism industry, for a fascinating island. This island, St. Helen for, if you don't know, some of the, the connecting points, it was probably most famous for being the, the last home of Napoleon. Napoleon was exiled there. He escaped from another little island in the Mediterranean. In the British not wanting to take any chances. Sent him as far away as they possibly could to a tiny little island, a speck of land in the middle of, the Atlantic Ocean called St. Helen. St. Helen had its history though, and maybe some might see that as being an unfair representation of the island because, being a penal colony is not always the most flattering way of seeing, a, a place, and a sense of its place in sort of the, the broader global village. St. Helen Helen was originally the British East India Company island in the South Atlantic Ocean that made it possible for the British to find all these far flung places over the years. So it was in the 16 hundreds that, St. Helen really took hold, and took traction in the British Empire. And at around that same time, the British were exploring places. in the Far East, they were exploring places in, uh, Australia and New Zealand. and so this is really, I guess, the original claim to fame of St. Helen. the airport experience. imagine 500 years of being only five days away by ship from anywhere. Cape Town, South Africa was like the closest place that you could get to, and it was, five days by ship to get there for. Like most of its 500 year history. and the idea of an airport came along some time ago and it didn't come to fruition. This mega project that was in the works for years didn't come to fruition until, well, really the, uh, early two thousands. And finally, fast forward to 2018, where the first reliable schedule of commercial flights connecting Johannesburg, South Africa to St. Helena, were established. so, I mean, there aren't a lot of people that are fascinated by Napoleon's story, but there are some, there are some people also that might be interested in visiting a place that's relatively untouched, that it's isolated in that isolation. also means that you have a, a very interesting community and culture there. You have interesting flora and fauna that are found there and, and nowhere else. so being able to, to find a connecting point and tapping, I guess my, my education as, with Ivy in, in the business school as a, business advisor and helping to advise, accommodations providers and, transportation providers, folks that can rent cars out, and restaurants. Being able to try and figure out how this private sector can come together in a meaningful way, to sort of tee up for tourism. So my family and I moved there in late 2018, and things were going really, really well. Peter Greenberg, the travel commentator, travel expert, uh, was out there. There were some other interesting personalities that visited the island, and were coming. And then with us, along with everywhere else, the effects of the pandemic came that, that unexpected scenario. So this little tourism project that had been in the works for a long, long time. Was suddenly halted. the one thing that, that I just wanna mention about St. Helena and maybe there are a few small handful of other isolated places, is that Covid actually never got to St. Helen until after my family and I came back, which was in July of 2021. So the ultra isolation actually helped to kind of create a fortification around the island. and finding, I guess way of, dealing with, with the uncertainty and how the community came together and shared things and found ways of being able to get through some of the logistical concerns that were indirect effects of the pandemic for the island. I, I could probably talk for a long time and I, at the risk of rambling on, I was super lucky to be connected with the opportunity, grabbed it in an instant. And in a nutshell, I learned more about hospitality and more about technology in, in the context of the human experience in the nearly three years on the island, uh, did at any other point in my life. And it was life changing. So end of 2022, you became president. Hf, T P, two things. Why did you want the job and what do you do? what is your responsibilities? You know, because people are always curious about that. And certain organizations, the top guy, what do they do? Oh, sure, sure. And, and I appreciate, I appreciate both of those questions. So the leadership role, the seed in my mind was planted in, I think it was 2017 when I first took a run at the executive committee. I'd served for three years on the board term, which is the standard term to serve. Uh, are 11 members of the board of directors, and there's an executive council, which is a subset of the board of directors. comprises of the secretary, treasurer, president, vice President, president, and the immediate past president. So, like with many other organizations, it's important to have a good counterbalance as a governance board, and to be able to have external perspectives and to be able to have. a forum for, not only, the big governance decisions, but also to be able to help and to advise the c e o and the executive team on some of the decisions that they're, considering. So as the president of the board, my role is to, chair meetings. My role is to ideally be able to connect all of these amazing members of the board together, to find ways of, surfacing the ideas that may be valuable to the executive team and to the association. so certainly over the years, managing the, board duties, generally speaking, have been challenging with the pandemic and some of the unexpected scenarios, but really feeling strongly, and positively about Frank Wolf and about the, performance of the executive team and how stable things were during the period of uncertainty and how we were able to, how the executive team was able to correct course, really well. So, So, yeah. the term is one year as president. Next year, I'll be immediate past president. the experience at, if you've asked any others that have been in the, in the role before on the executive committee or, on the board that the time goes by really, really quickly. I was interested in serving. It's HFTP is an, is a nonprofit organization, so, uh, all of us that serve on the board and all of us that serve on the board serve in a voluntary capacity. And, uh, really it is truly an honor to serve. so now we're gonna get into the last part of, of the podcast here. We're gonna get into your industry thoughts. So kind of like you said earlier, you've been on the road a lot lately. we saw each other at AAHOA, but you know, what have you seen from being on the road that's really exciting you about our industry? Well, let me say Steven, and it was so great to meet you at AAHOA and where we met. I think this was one of the best places. to answer your question, it's that innovation, it's that little seed of change, that seed of positive change that I think is, the part that keeps us all, doing what we do. Certainly HFTP is all about education. It's about connection, it's about finding, ways to, to connect these great ideas with markets. so the AAHOACON really blew me away, and I love the idea that, uh, I love our partnership that, that HFTP has with AAHOA. And, uh, would love to be able to explore that further with our, good friends at oa, to find out other, other areas where, where we can find a meaningful connection. also next month or actually next week, I'm headed to, uh, The Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association meeting which is being held in Barbados. and again to be able to present a little bit of a perspective on technology and its fit within our industry. It's so amazing to see how technology has become this glue that brings all, these different organizations together that bring all of the different functional areas together. Really a connecting point that technology is more of a verb than it is now. what excited me most, and going quickly back to the point on why I wanted to serve as president is I saw that there were a lot of different. Affiliations that HFTP had with other organizations, and really, I love that. I love the idea of being able to float each other's boats and to be able to find ways to uplift each other while maintaining our own individual cultural integrity. That each organization, each association has its own DNA has made impact for members, as I've described in my own journey, and to be able to find these connecting points where there's mutual benefit. That excites me hugely. And so the idea of being able to find other organizations that we can help and that can help us, makes it all worthwhile for me. That's great. So we, you talked about innovation. What innovations are you seeing today that are kind of starting to shape the industry and, and changes that are happening out there? Well, David, I, I feel a little bit, so some of the change for me feels a little bit funny, so I. I talked a little bit earlier about how I, I love the people and I love the people side of the industry and I can't help but feel that if the technology is used for the wrong reasons, that the people side of the industry is, is gonna be the side that suffers. We might already be at the point as an industry where the people's side has taken some collateral damage. The max exodus of people in our industry and the labor shortage might be one indication of that. Now maybe, I guess thinking really simply, I think that, the golden rule, trust, respect, kindness has to happen at every level of the industry. It has to happen between hotel companies and the partners that work with them. So a symbiotic relationship of mutual trust, it has to happen between the employees of the organizations and their employers. And it also has to happen between the guests and, the customers and the organizations. And so maybe this digresses a little bit from the technology question. But I think that wherever technology fits in a space where it enables meaningful and healthy communication between people, between human beings, that that technology has a perfect place in our industry where it doesn't, and where it's all about cost cutting, where, it's looking at, sort of the short term benefit of the technology solution. I feel like this is some of the, these are some of the wrong turns that we may have made as an industry over the years. Yeah, no, I agree. I think you have to. Being an external manager and having to, you know, sit down with owners. you need to invest in your people and in the technology. It can't be one or the other. and I think that's one of the things that maybe coming out of Covid has been a little bit of a wake up call where people are like, yeah, we really gotta take care of our people cuz a lot of them left and we really need to invest in technology cuz we need that technology to help us. So that's kind of my, 2 cents. But I, as we talk about. How things are changing and there's new technologies, new innovations coming out there. How is HFTP positioning itself to support those changes? Well, one of the biggest things that we. really take a lot of pride in is in the E 20 X. competition and encouraging the innovation and finding a foreign form for the innovation. And it's so great to see other organizations like, like oaa and there are others that are looking to do similar, similar things and to be able to find ways of creating more showcases. Now, it's not a zero sum game, just because HFTP is doing it doesn't mean that there aren't other opportunities for other organizations to find ways to highlight and uplift. And so for us, we're the connecting point between hospitality and technology. We have been for 50 years, our association has a 70 year history. There's goodwill, there are relationships, there are connections, there are networks that have built organically over that period of time. And that's one of the things. So if you think about building anything new, that building on a solid foundation, in my view is the important element to consider. Absolutely. And I love that. And now I wanna kind of touch base. You kinda led me a good segue there with, uh, E 20 X, but, you know, we have HITEC tech coming up, uh, which everybody's really excited about. June 26th to the 29th in Toronto. what can we expect for, you know, people may, who have been there before? and for newcomers as well. What are we gonna see? Anything new gonna be there as well? Steve HITEC has been the highlight of the highlight of my professional life since 99, and the first time I attended HITEC, it was Wood Starwood and Bill Oats, I believe was the c e o at the time. It we had our company conference co-located with HITEC and as someone young and green, it was the eye-opening experience, just getting there and seeing the feeling, the energy. a lot of what HITEC is is really that energy, that buzz. in the same way, like you look at, I'm looking at all of you through my monitor, which is all of these little pixels. If I look at any one of those pixels, I'm not really gonna get it, but I take a bit of a step back and it all makes sense. I believe that HITEC really is all about that and taking an even bigger step back and looking at HITEC over the years and how HITEC has evolved, with the different trends that have been apparent. So looking at how wifi was, really important and interesting, and then security and all of that over the years being able to look at HITEC and seeing. The education topics and seeing the prominent exhibitors on the show floor was like putting your finger on the pulse of how did technology, how has technology actually been working in this industry over a period of time. So this year, I mean, we're really excited about this year as we have been, uh, in others. Uh, I'm told that there are more than 320 exhibiting companies. That'll be in Toronto, 81,000 square feet of exhibiting space. We've got a great opening headline speaker, Sean Cango, to talk about strategy in a world of disruption. we've got, uh, all kinds of education around ai, chat bots, guest management, CRM, on the exhibit side. These will be some of the focus, the areas of focus from some of the exhibitors. Data security, of course, a huge topic. So I think it, it's gonna be a really, amazing HITEC this year. The thing that's interesting about this year, of course, is that we're not the only show that's happening over the exact same timeframe, but we are super excited and focused on, uh, on a great show this year. This show is a little close to my heart, to be honest with you. The first HITEC show I went to, and I had that same experience as you. Did your eyes just open up? Right? And it's an amazing experience. My first high tech was in Toronto in like 20 16, 20 17 maybe. So it's good to be back in Toronto, uh, again for HITEC. so Neil's, Steve's just making us feel old because my first high tech was 19 99, 2. He pulls out my first high tech was 2016. It's like, All right. Geez. You know, as people would say, we got underpants that are older than that. But anyway, um, also with HITEC, you don't know what you missed till it's gone. And, you know, 2020 was really that weird. I mean, COVID was weird, but not having HITEC was really made that even weirder having had gone so many years in a row. It really, you know, and I, and I applaud, you know, everyone for trying to pull off the December. HITEC. it really just didn't have the same feel. But, you know, last year was great and we're looking forward to it. my last question and then Steve will segue into maybe another and, and into John, but somebody who's starting out in hospitality right now, what advice would you give them and let us know how, if that person is starting out, how they can get involved in HFTP? Oh, what a great question, David. so just, and, and going back Steve, uh, your first HITEC in Toronto, That had highest number of attendees in our history of HITEC at that time. So that was a really special show. and if HITEC had never been outside of the United States, the main show had never been out of the United States, that general exploration to, you know, see, well, what happens if we have it in Toronto? There are questions around customs clearance and all these other constraints. Where some might instantly say, Nope, it's, we can't do it. It's too high risk. That HFTP I think these are ways of, of looking at how the association mirrors what it aspires its members to be. So to be innovative, to be curious, to explore, to try and understand this is. The whole principle of education, the tolerance of ambiguity. And I guess along the same lines, David, with uh, with the virtual format of HITEC, which was the best effort that the association could come up with to still maintain some kind of a touchpoint that the view was that something is better than nothing, than being able to have something that, that was inclusive. And that year it was a hybrid show, I believe, where. There were folks that could attend. It was a much smaller attendance because of all of the covid restrictions and requirements. this was Dallas and I was able to attend that year, and I was very lucky to be there. but yeah, just to say that innovation, and being able to try different things that even if it wasn't, uh, perfect, that isn't that how the human experience is? That we get better by trying, and we try, we fail, we get better at stuff. We learn. not to dive too much into it, but it was kinda like on your point with the technology and the human element, we saw that like you guys did your best, everybody did their best during covid, but that element. Where you couldn't actually go have a drink with somebody and talk to 'em about how your kids this or that. You were kind of confined to this virtual thing, made it difficult. But hey, it makes us even appreciate being back alive more and more excited about HITEC in Toronto. I think you hit the nail on the head, David. So, and just thinking about AAHOACON, I mean, man, that energy was incredible. My huge hats off to Neil Patel and Barat Patel and r Prama and, uh, Laura Lee Blake, and, and all of the others that were instrumental in putting, putting that show together. Um, my goodness, just that celebration of getting together. And as much as I love this medium, this is the next best medium. Imagine if we were sitting in a room together. The dynamic would be incredible. I would love that. And I hope that we can do that when we're all together in Toronto, in June. we'll have to work something out here. so one of the questions on LinkedIn was about your team at Coast Hotels and the impact of the technology that you guys delivered. heard there was some really good guest feedback along this as well. Can you talk about some of the technology that you and the team developed at Coast? Well, I, I guess maybe I can speak a bit more to the sentiment. So I guess in all fairness, uh, my time at Coast was much less than my predecessor, Danny Dang, who did a ton at Coast and really set things up incredibly for the pandemic period. my time really, I guess, was as kind of a crisis leader. At the time, I mean, as with any hotel company walking into, uh, a new job in the throes of covid, it's not so easy. And I guess really my focus was on simplicity, stability, and security. Trying to find, ways of, of being able to keep things on an even keel and to try and understand how to find equilibrium. so I was extremely blessed with a, with a great team, a, a small but, great team in Robert Albert. Marco Edward, uh, Chian, the importance of being able to have a small trusting team can never be underestimated. and in technology, I think the importance of being able to rely on each other and to be able to ensure that when the chips are down, that, you know, if a server crashes or there's an issue. Being able to symbiotically rely on, on other team members, uh, was really a great, benefit of, uh, of having, good team dynamics. So I think one of the challenges though, and, and speaking maybe a little bit more broadly, and this is an industry challenge, I feel, is that the role of technology has changed in, certainly in the 25 years that I've been part of the industry. In 1997, my job title was electronic data processing Manager. What a mouthful. And that was really as a subset of finance, it was about processing transactions. and there wasn't really, there weren't the marketing elements. There weren't the social media elements, there weren't the operational elements. Uh, certainly the way that we know them now. So I think some, some extent the technology function is a little bit misunderstood in the way in which it interacts with other, functional areas. So I think if there's one opportunity, is to find that trust, Trust, respect, kindness. That if we're mirroring all of the values that, that we think are important within hospitality, that if we could do that and find ways of connecting technology in with all of these principles, bring people together with a curious mindset, and to be able to find problems and then identify technology that supports them. Uh, I think that we're able to, uh, to do that a bit with Coast. Speaking really briefly on one thing that we're proud of is the rollout of, the Alice. Operations management platform. it was Edward Lynn and Nicole McDonald, and certainly my other, the other members of the team that were working hard, getting the devices all set up and, uh, shipping them out to the hotels and allowing, the operation to help to determine the, benefit or the value of the technology. A shout out also to Leon DeLuca. Who is the, uh, the local Alice representative, who helped really, effectively helped to connect the operation, with this amazing tool and his background with engineering and housekeeping, A huge outlier and just such an amazing man, such an amazing guy and connector. And so if that technology was a success, it was because of people like him. It was because of folks in the operation that worked hard to adopt it. and if technology on, on our side, I'm proud of the team for being able to deliver. Awesome. That was great. Appreciate that. And uh, I'm sure Michael will too, who asked that, but, John has been John, our producer, has been sitting in this whole time. I'm gonna kick it over to him for, for the final question here. So Neil, you mentioned at the very beginning you grew up in a probably small, flat, cold town that someone consider boring. I'm wondering if you picked up any hobbies or anything that you like to do at that point in your life that you still like to do today? Another great question, and I'm trying to, trying to think how to, how to answer this. And I just, before I do answer this, it was interesting to know where, where each of you came from. So, uh, Steve, uh, your early beginnings in Wisconsin. David, growing up in Pennsylvania and John, I believe it was Michigan. So I'm sure all of us have different stories to tell. And, uh, having been to all of these places, I had a, a long road trip driving from nearly Toronto to Winnipeg, and I passed through many different places in Wisconsin, Eau Claire and, Madison, and, all these different places that really being able to feel, how things are like in different communities. I guess you can see how some of the, the habits, the interests, A little bit out of the box here, but I had an early interest in Iceland, as you might have seen with my background, having worked as the Canadian rep with Iceland travel that experience was, was the result of learning about Iceland as a kid in school and learning about how Iceland had a volcanic eruption in the 18 hundreds. And to learn that all of these Icelanders, they randomly settled in Manitoba near Winnipeg where I grew up. So you have this little island community. You have this place that's as far from islands as you can imagine. I mean, you're right in the middle of the North American continent, far from ocean on I on any side. And so my curiosity started with, Trying to sort of understand how, how this culture came to to Manitoba, how they came to adapt. and so I guess I developed sort of a passion for, little passion for Iceland. I traveled there for the first time in 2002. All my friends and family said, are you nuts? Go to going to a place like Iceland. What a crazy thing to do. So I went for the first time and I was able to visit. Greenland and the Pharaoh Islands subsequently met a lady named, Yako, Goodman's daughter, who was the, the head of, marketing for Iceland Travel. And we eventually met years later, at different points. So, uh, well in, in Canada, when they were introducing the direct flight from Vancouver to, uh, Keflavik, uh, she had me in mind. And because of my interest in Iceland and connecting the two places together, that she thought that I was a perfect person for, uh, selling the, the new flight and traveled Iceland. And for me it was like shooting fish in a barrel. Best job ever. But I attribute that only to growing up in Winnipeg and being able to be exposed to something that, uh, you know, I would've been like anybody else saying, are you nuts going to Iceland if I didn't really understand and, and want to connect with the community? And by the way, I'll, I will say this, that Iceland is a magical place. I'm so happy to see how well it's been received in the recent years, certainly since my first trip there, how tourism has really boomed and skyrocketed. and if any of of you have had the inclination to go, you should definitely go. It's a special magical place that helps with curiosity. I mean, if you're curious, you're interested in poetry, writing, music, best place ever for that. Yeah, that's great. Well, Neil, we're at the end. it was great talking to you. right now we'd like you to, to tell us what exciting things, uh, we know HITEC coming up, what else is going on with, uh, HFTP? How can people find out more about the organization and get involved? So David, the best place besides sending me a note or reaching out to me personally or anyone on the executive team or on. On the board, is at HFTP.org. That's our website with all the events, all the different opportunities. I highly recommend anybody in the, in the industry to get involved, volunteer to be part of a council, apply to be part of the, the board of directors, get involved with your local chapters. I can't emphasize this enough that as a connecting point to get new ideas that this is where it's all at. So HFTP.org or reach out to me or anyone else. Happy to answer your questions. Well, that does it for another episode of The Modern. Hotelier. Thank you, Neil, for joining us. We appreciate your time. Thank you, John. David, Steve, really appreciated. What an honor to be on your show. Thank you. Thank you, Neil. Great to have you.