Past - HFTP

pastIt is important to understand the players thathave paved the way for travel distribution standards as we know them today.The travel and tour industry has long relied on technological innovations to increase market share. Theadvent of train travel in the 1840s inspired ThomasCook to organize the first guided tours.[23] The emergence of commercial aviation in the 1930s revolutionizedtravel around the world, from the creation of rental carcompanies to the emergence of travel agents to help planincreasingly complex travel choices.[23] American Airlinesinvested early in technology and created Sabre, the firstglobal distribution system (GDS), in 1960.[15] CompetingGlobal Distribution Systems (GDS) continued to innovatein the 1980s. European airlines formed the GDS Amadeus, and Sabre allied itself with CompuServe to create thefirst online booking tool for hotels and airlines, EAASYSabre.[23] In 1987, Fidelio launched its first computerizedPMS system.[23]Consumer commercialization of the Internet and personal computers in the early-’90s shifted travel bookingsinto the hands of the consumer.[23] The 1990s also broughtwith it the emergence of the first online travel agenciesand direct booking models.[6] The advent of online travel; however, was slow to catch on with only a 3 percentmarket penetration in 2000.[38] While today we take forgranted easy-to-use graphic user interfaces (GUI) madepossible by application program interfaces (API), thiswas not the case in late-’90s, delaying rapid marketplaceacceptance by the end user. What could the travel industrydo to capitalize on this new technology and make it easierfor all users?Organizing to Develop StandardsThis question led to the formation of industry associations to set standards and capitalize on the opportunitiesFirst Online Travel Agencies1992Travicom combineswith Apollo systemsand eventually becomesGalileo1996Expedia and Travelocity1998Priceline and Travelzoo1994200019952001TravelwebLonelyplanet, Alamo.com,Southwestairlines.com, Ryanair.com and Easyjet.comTripAdvisor and HotwireOrbitzcreated by technology advancements. As the travel andtourism industry continued to increase in complexity,there was a need for organizations to be standards-setters and create an environment to spur along collaboration and innovation.Hospitality Financial and Technology ProfessionalsBefore the advent of the first GDS in the 1960s, the National Association of Hotel Accountants (NAHA), sincerenamed to Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals (HFTP ), was founded in 1952. HFTP was one ofthe first associations which dealt with standards in thehospitality industry and its roots stem from a number ofstate-centered accountant associations who thought itwould be beneficial to create a national network for collaboration. Through the support of both the Texas HotelAccountants Association and the Hotel Accountants ofNew York, the National Association of Hotel Accountantswas formally organized on October 26, 1952 in New YorkCity at the Hotel Lexington.From its inception, one of the primary goals of HFTPwas to set standards in hospitality finance and information systems, including travel distribution. The contributions of this nonprofit association to the hospitality arenaare numerous, including industry-leading conferencesand events, cutting-edge councils and industry research.In 1972, HFTP sponsored the International HospitalityConference to provide a forum for promoting and displaying the latest in hospitality technology. This initialconference focused on topics such as the first renditionsof property management systems, point-of-sale systemsand electronic cash registers. Laying the groundwork forfuture technologies in hospitality: mobile, CRM, APIs andin-room Internet.6

pastThe International Hospitality Conference was the precursor to the Hospitality Industry Technology Expositionand Conference (HITEC ) produced by HFTP, which is theworld’s largest and oldest hospitality technology exposition and conference brand. HITEC offers a unique combination of top-notch technology education, and bringstogether the brightest minds and hottest technologiesfrom across the globe.To further its commitment to hospitality technology, in1994 HFTP began offering a technology certification, theCertified Hospitality Technology Professional (CHTP). Thiscertification was the first technology-specific certificationoffered in the hospitality industry which includes technology standards and integration. In addition to the CHTP,HFTP also offers the Certified Hospitality AccountantExecutive (CHAE). Both certification programs are globallyrecognized for setting industry standards for hospitalityfinance and technology.Hospitality Industry TechnologyIntegration StandardsIn the 2000s, standards like the Hospitality Industry Technology Integration Standards (HITIS), an initiative of theAmerican Hotel and Lodging Association (AH&LA), knownat that time as the American Hotel and Motel Association(AH&MA), played a significant role in connecting differentdistribution systems. HFTP was one of the major supporters of HITIS from its creation, which dates back to 1996.Industry pioneers, such as Frank Wolfe, CEO of HFTP, weresignificant contributors to the HITIS initiative. In July1999, the HITIS Advisory Committee endorsed the recommendation to designate XML as the primary platform forthe HITIS standards. An interface protocol in XML offeredinteroperability without the need for a bridging technology between the two original mappings.[16]In the HITIS Correlation and Interface Standards document, the council provided a combination of interfacespecifications, a data dictionary and a glossary of terms.The interface specifications laid out definitions of the basicdata types, naming conventions and general practices for asuite of 15 individual interface standards.[16] According tocouncil documentation, “The XML mapping is enhanced bythe use of the HITIS models in Unified Modeling Language(UML) and associated object-oriented documentation thatdefines the business scope of each of the standards and descriptions of the individual data elements. The UML modelserves as an electronic description of the HITIS standardsand a basis for developers to use to build applications inan object oriented architecture.”[16] On June 20, 2000, theHITIS initiative and OpenTravel Alliance (OpenTravel)reached an agreement to develop and maintain standardstechnically relevant to their industries.[16]Hospitality Industry TechnologyIntegration Standards (HITIS)Launched in 1996 by the American Hoteland Motel Association (AH&MA), nowAmerican Hotel and Lodging Association(AH&LA), to enable the creation of interface standards focused on CRS and property level systems.Contributions included significant adoption of standardsprescribed by the lodging industry and product vendors.HITIS eventually merged standards with OpenTravel onadoption of ebXML specifications by OpenTravel.The goal of HITIS was to “create computer interfacingstandards that will accelerate the hospitality industry’stechnology usage and lower automation costs. The HITISProject’s mission was to direct a non-proprietary, consensus based process to develop voluntary standards for theintegration of evolving computerized system and sub-system transactions in the hospitality industry.”[16] HFTP wasone of the associations instrumental in the development ofHITIS. Members of HITIS included individuals from majorhospitality related corporations and associations such as:HFTP, AH&MA, National Golf Course Owners Association(NGCOA), Micros-Fidelio Systems, Cyntergy Corpration, IBM Worldwide Travel & Transportation, MicrosoftCorporation, Cornell University, Sabre Travel InformationNetwork, National Retail Federation, National RestaurantAssociation and American Express.[16]OpenTravelIn 1999, when OpenTravel formed, it was to develop agroup capable of finding solutions to the problems uniqueto integrating multiple travel systems.[31] Online travel wasnot yet the seamless experience it is today, and the specifications created by OpenTravel would allow for an increasein market penetration.[31] OpenTravel is an alliance of tourand travel companies who work together to identify howmessages are created and prioritized in tour and traveltechnology.[18] As a not-for-profit trade association, OpenTravel’s primary focus has been on creating specificationsand structures to facilitate messages between differenttravel software.[18] Founding companies included AlaskaAirlines, American Airlines, Continental Airlines, Delta Airlines, Midwest Express, Northwest Airlines, Trans WorldAirlines, United Airlines, Vanguard Airlines, Bass Hotelsand Resorts, Hilton Hotels, Hyatt Corporation, MarriottInternational, Sterling Hotels, Swissotel, Alamo Rent A Car,Avis Rent A Car, Budget Rent A Car, and Dollar Rent A Car.[7]Additional companies included credit card issuers andcentral reservations companies.[38]7

pastIn its early years, OpenTravel emerged with a line ofsuccessful advances in travel communications. In 2002,Worldspan worked closely with OpenTravel to launch twospecifications that helped suppliers and retailers in thetravel industry to better communicate, the specifications2001B and 2001C.[28] One major innovation of this codewas to allow users to move customer profiles from oneGDS to another without having to re-enter the information.[28]These innovations helped to “reduce supply chain cost”and increase global trade.[31] After a shaky start to implementing electronic tickets, the airline industry turned toOpenTravel to develop specifications that allowed for amore seamless travel experience.[27] The specifications created by OpenTravel allowed for the successful creation ofmiddleware to allow Internet technology to speak to GDStechnology[24] and allowed Sabre to create the first Webbased platform for GDS communications in 2003.[39]The creation of IT standards for the tour and travelindustry has created a host of benefits for the industry. Bythe fifth year, OpenTravel had already launched eight of its1.0 set of specifications to facilitate business-to-businesscommunications and, with over 130 companies participating, was striving to increase participation from the tourand travel industry.[30] The code generated by OpenTravelallowed for the first direct connect between Expedia andlodging companies in 2004.[31] It has decreased implementation times, lowered IT costs, increased functionalityfrom travel partner to travel partner and created credibility in the market.[27] OpenTravel messages have facilitatedonline bookings for the cruise industry while loweringthe costs for bookings by 50 percent.[27] For the airlineindustry, OpenTravel specifications dramatically reducedcosts associated with GDS pricing errors, inventory discrepancies, and billing errors by increasing the efficiencyof business-to-business communications.[27]The OpenTravel Ground Transportation 2.0 is an opensource messaging standard that bridges the distributiongap and creates more opportunities for ground transportation bookings in an industry segment which was valuedglobally at 41.5 billion in 2015.[11] According to SusanneAuinger of Deutsche Bahn, “Ground Transportation 2.0was designed by OpenTravel Alliance members andindustry partners from all over the world with the goal ofimproving travelers’ encounters with ground transportation”.[30] The implementation with CarTrawler, a businessto business travel technology platform, allowed for realtime pricing for the car rental industry and in its firstyear, increased ancillary revenue for the car rental agencyby 31 percent.[37]Standards AdoptionMany companies adopted standards in the travel industry,such as leading industry GDS like Amadeus and Sabre. Inaddition to online travel agencies (Expedia), others participated such as large software companies (Microsoft), andmany established service providers in the airline, lodgingand ground transportation segments. A large part of thesuccess of OpenTravel has been due to its unique approach of creating industry workgroups to develop specifications for business-to-business communication. Thereare four work groups to focus on different segments:transport, hospitality, architecture and travel integration.These workgroups allow travel businesses to focus oncreating cross business solutions by bringing high level ITprofessionals from across the industry to work togetheron writing the code needed for each specifications.[18] Theearly specifications are collectively referred to as the 1.0Message Suite. The codes in the OpenTravel Code Tabletransverse a wide array of travel products from airlinesand lodging to golf and package tours.[34]Although there are a multitude of success stories emerging from these cross-industry work groups, some of thehigh points warrant examination. It was smooth sailingfor the cruise industry when the 2006A specificationswere released and created messages for the multitude ofcomponents associated with the cruise booking cycle.[35]OpenTravel released the 2006B specification, that includedthe hotel event message set, which allows for efficient communications between hotels and meeting planners bookingconventions and meetings.[36] Later, released by HTNG, the2009B certification specifications created standardizedinterfaces between hotel property management systems(PMS) and guest room devices (televisions, telephones,door locks, etc.) to facilitate the integration of new systemson the property level, which increased security proceduresfor credit cards.[42]In 2010, one of the major initiatives set forth by theHospitality Technology Strategic Initiatives Council (HTSIC) was to examine industry standards pertaining to PCIcompliance. HFTP took on a major role in the initiativeby creating a PCI Compliance Task Force and hosting anindustry roundtable. The ultimate goal for HFTP was todevelop a best practices document that both industry professionals and credit card companies could use to betterunderstand how PCI compliance impacted the hospitalityindustry. “HFTP decided to put our resources behind theproject since we are the only global organization in hospitality that represents both finance and technology professionals,” said Terry Price, CHAE, CHTP, CPA, 2009–2010HFTP Global president.[54]The specifications created by OpenTravel allowedfor evolutions of distribution and payments in the tourand travel industry. Nayar and Beldona described howdistribution went from a traditional linear model to atraveler-centric model, where the electronic marketplaceallows for simultaneous distribution of information to8

pasteveryone involved in the travel process (customer, onlinetravel agency, hotel, GDS, etc.).[29] Different specificationshave worked to ease payment acceptance and to evolvenew specifications for new safety and security needs. Forexample, the message modifications released in the 2006Bspecification made it easier to change payment on anexisting reservation.[36]In 2016, HFTP announced that they would assist OpenTravel with an upcoming initiative to develop the new OTA2.0 Object Oriented Platform in the lifestyle and development areas of golf and spa. “Many members of HFTP represent the golf and spa segments,” said HFTP CEO FrankWolfe, CAE. “As a matter of fact, HFTP has won numerousawards and acknowledgments for our contributions tothe club industry and the more support we can provide tomake the industry better for our members, the closer wecome to fulfilling our mission.”[54]How do these specifications facilitate travel andtourism bookings? The illustration at right details howspecifications fit into the distribution cycle in hospitality.Travel distribution specifications cover every part of thecustomer cycle, from viewing tour and travel generatedcontent for travel planning to the reservations process,the interfaces the guests use during their stay, and finallypost-travel behavior.Travel industry leaders look to OpenTravel as an important leader in the travel and tourism industry. Executives atRezgo stated that they are a part of the OpenTravel becausethey believe it is “important to the long-term growth of thehow specifications fit into thehospitality distribution cycleTravelInspirationShoppingand PriceComparisonPost-travelReviews airlines, carsand cruises)Check-outandDepartureCheck-inand TravelVacation Stay(golf, tours,excursions)Hospitality Technology Strategic Initiatives Council (HTSIC)The HTSIC, was a group spearheaded in 2009 by HFTP andHospitality Technology Next Generation (HTNG) to addresspressing industry needs as they relate to hospitality technology. The council worked to identify industry initiativesand determine processes for these initiatives in order toreduce duplicated efforts.ROI to the industry from our members’efforts, and with less duplication.”“Technological evolution is broad and wide-ranging, makingit difficult to direct changes in a way that benefits thehospitality industry as a whole,” said Frank Wolfe, CAE, CEOof HFTP. “The council hopes to consolidate efforts and feedback from multiple resources so that we can address thesechanges in an organized fashion that benefits the industry.” American Resort Development Association (ARDA)“The associations represented on the council rely entirelyon voluntary contributions of time and expertise from ourmembers,” said Douglas Rice, CEO of HTNG. “Coordinatingthrough the council will help us ensure that all of the associations can leverage each others’ efforts, providing a greater Hotel Electronic Distribution Network Association(HEDNA)Council members included representatives from the following organizations: American Hotel and Lodging Association (AH&LA) Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals (HFTP) Hospitality Information Technology Association (HITA) Hospitality Sales and Marketing AssociationInternational (HSMAI) Hotel Technology Next Generation (HTNG) OpenTravel Alliance (OpenTravel)9

pasttravel industry.”[21] When OpenTravel Golf 2.0 was launchedin 2017, Paul Armitage, director of Le Golf National inFrance stated, “Leading France’s national golf facility andplacing it at the forefront of incoming travel to Paris, Francefor golfers, but also as a former executive with a Europeanmulti course company we fully support the OpenTravelGolf 2.0 specifications and are actively implementing themto connect consumers and travel providers and increaseaccess to our golf course globally.”[44] Susanne Auinger ofDeutsche Banh said of the Ground Travel specificationslaunched in June 2017, “Ground Transportation 2.0 wasdesigned by OpenTravel Alliance members and industrypartners from all over the world with the goal of improving travelers encounters with ground transportation.”[30]An academic study found that travel executives agree thatOpenTravel specifications are easy to use, highly useful andcost effective.[29] In fact, this study found that one of the benefits of OpenTravel specifications are the economics of scaleachieved when implementing them globally.[29]Additional ContributorsThe increased reliance on technology and changing travelindustry led to the creation of other industry organizations, councils and associations which oversee andprovide guidance in various facets of travel distribution.These organizations have all played a role in advancing thehospitality experience by enabling disparate technologysystems to communicate with each other. Some organizations like HFTP, have a broad scope and encompass standards for multiple segments of the travel industry such aslodging, clubs, restaurants and other verticals. Additionalassociations, like the International Air Transport Association (IATA) or Gaming Standards Association (GSA), focuson a very specific segment of the hospitality industry. Thefollowing organizations have all made significant contributions in travel technology; and, specifically, in traveldistribution.International Air Transport Association(IATA) www.iata.orgIATA was founded in 1945 and is the trade association for the world’s airlines, representing some 275airlines or 83 percent of total air traffic. The IATA supportsmany areas of aviation activity and helps formulate industry policy on critical aviation issues. In 2017, distributionand payment transformation is one of the major prioritiesfor IATA which consists of the following three major pillars:New Distribution Capability (NDC)NDC is an IATA-led initiative that provides passengers with personalized choice of products and services. This is done through the definition of a messaging standard that enables retailing opportunitiesthrough the indirect (GDS/travel agent) channel.ONE OrderONE Order is the concept of a single customer orderrecord, holding all data elements obtained and required for order fulfillment across the air travel cycle— such as customer data, order items, payment andbilling information, fulfillment data and status.New Generation Industry Settlement Systems(NewGen ISS)NewGen ISS aims at transforming the current ISSbusiness model, which facilitates the distributionand settlement

TripAdvisor and Hotwire 2001 Orbitz. 7 past The International Hospitality Conference was the pre-cursor to the Hospitality Industry Technology Exposition and Conference (HITEC ) produced by HFTP, which is the world's largest and oldest hospitality technology exposi-tion and conference brand. HITEC offers a unique com-past The . past Travel and