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Executive vendor Summit
Strategy, Innovation, Leadership
March 26-28, 2025
Produced by Hospitality Upgrade Magazine
2024
Executive Vendor Summit
PROGRAM AGENDA:
Monday, March 25, 2024
Pre-Conference Dinner - Corner Office Restaurant at the Curtis Hotel
For those arriving Monday, please join us at the Corner Office Restaurant for a casual gathering and casual menu. We'll be hanging out until about 8:30 pm, so swing in for a bite -- Rich will even be there to make recommendations -- or warnings -- about some of the more spicey dishes on the menu.
Tuesday, March 26, 2024
Registration Open – Four Square
Pre-Conference Network Culinary Excursion
An unforgettable culinary challenge!
For the 2024 Executive Vendor Summit preconference activity, Hospitality Upgrade has brought back an attendee favorite that we did at the CIO Summit Seattle in 2018. Along with our host, Sage Hospitality, attendees will endeavor to blend competition with food. In an unforgettable walking tour of Denver’s most notable Sage restaurants, our group will break into teams in search of “must-have” ingredients to prepare a competition-worthy meal. Once our teams return to the designated kitchen they will be paired with a chef and face off to prepare a feast worthy of our coveted top prize.
When we did this activity at the CIO Summit the competition room was filled with non-stop laughter. And we can’t tell you how much fun it was, you’ll just have to experience it for yourself. You won’t want to miss this! Meet at The Corner Office (TCO) next to the lobby at 1pm.
Registration is required for this activity. Click here to register.
Limited spots available.
Registration Open – Four Square
All Attendee Welcome Reception – Four Square Terrace
Icebreaker & Cocktail Reception - Four Square Terrace
A Very Non-Traditional HU Icebreaker!
The Executive Vendor Summit focuses on peer-to-peer interaction. It is important to us that you meet everyone, and we are very creative when it comes to networking. Join us for cocktails and Rich's infamous icebreaker. It can be silly, but we guarantee it is always fun. Please don't be late, you won't want to miss this. Dinner will begin immediately after the icebreaker.
Sponsored by
Welcome Dinner - Marco Polo Ballroom
Wednesday, March 27, 2024
Registration Open – Four Square Prefunction space
Breakfast – Marco Polo Ballroom
EVS Summit Welcome – Rich Siegel, Hospitality Upgrade President - Four Square Ballroom
Educational Session #1 – Celebrating 40 years of Sage - Welcome from our Host – Four Square Ballroom
Walter Isenberg is an award-winning hotelier, restauranteur, and placemaker with a deep understanding of how to create places people go to, not through. As co-founder and CEO of Sage Hospitality Group, Walter directs the efforts of Sage’s four companies – Sage Hotel Management, Sage Restaurant Concepts, Sage Investments, and Sage Studio. Since starting the company in 1984 with Zack Neumeyer, Walter has led Sage with heart and has truly become the embodiment of loving what you do and loving who you do it with. Over the last four decades, Walter’s leadership has helped shape and grow Sage into a company known throughout the industry as a leader in hotel and restaurant operations, real estate investment, development, placemaking, strategic design and brand building. Walter’s career in hospitality includes not only a long history of successfully operating hotels across the country but also dozens of major adaptive reuse projects that have transformed neighborhoods, like the complete renovation of Denver’s historic Union Station.
Speaker – Walter Isenberg, CEO and Co-Founder, Sage Hospitality Group
Educational Session #2 – Cybersecurity and Current Threats – Four Square Ballroom
The local Denver office of the FBI Special Agent will be joining EVS to share some of the current cybersecurity threats facing the nation and the hotel industry specifically.
Speaker – FBI Special Agent
Morning Break - Four Square Pre-function Space
Educational Session #3 – The Investor View of the World Panel – Four Square Ballroom
HU is bringing together a "Money Panel" of companies and investors interested in the hotel technology sector. Our panel will speak to how they identify markets of opportunity in travel and hospitality technology, how they evaluate firms in our industry markets and determine whether or not to invest.
Panelists - Shawn McGowan, Equality Asset Management; Zach Plener, Vertus Group; James Filsinger, Ponterra Business Advisors; Jonathan Weibrecht, AGC Partners
Moderators - Rich Siegel, Hospitality Upgrade and Luis Segredo, Hapi
Educational #4 - A Recipe for Vendor Success in Supporting Hotel ABS - Four Square Ballroom
Modern retailing is finally taking hold in both hospitality and air travel. In air travel, this has taken the form of accelerating adoption of IATA’s New Distribution Capability (NDC). In hospitality this has begun as vendors move toward Activity Based Shopping (ABS). Max Rayner is a leading expert in both topics and will share key insights on what must be done within and across hospitality systems to unlock even greater profitable growth for hoteliers and technology vendors.
Speaker - Max Rayner, Partner Hudson Crossing
Lunch – Marco Polo Ballroom
Educational Session #5 – Digital Disruption & the Economics of Hotels: Commercial Strategy to Manage Turbulent Times – Four Square Ballroom
Just like retail, bookstores, music and entertainment, the hotel industry faces disruption from dominant tech companies in the digital marketplace. Coupled with both access to labor and its high costs; debt service that has doubled; and changing consumer behavior, hoteliers must adapt to new demand profiles with fewer staff to improve profitability and grow asset value.
Key Takeaways:
- What’s shaping the digital disruption, and how this will play out for the economics of hotel owners and operators;
- How are past hotel performance and future trends significant in today’s market with 2024 forecast;
- How can the emerging discipline of Commercial Strategy be deployed for efficient customer acquisition and improved profitability leading to higher asset values;
- What to expect in terms of future disruption in the market, consumer behavior, new technology, the risks and benefits of AI and machine learning, and how this may play out for brands, management companies and owners.
Speaker – Cindy E Green, CEO and Co-Founder, Kalibri Labs
Educational Session #6 – Legal Counsel: AI & Hospitality: Opportunities, Challenges and Practical Tips – Four Square Ballroom
Who doesn't love free legal advice? Our legal counsel from Foster Garvey will provide some answers to real-life challenges and issues such as security and privacy, bias and ethical issues, integration and regulatory landscape (and uncertainty).
Speaker – Erin Snodgrass, Foster Garvey
Surprise Activity - Four Square Ballroom
Group Photo - DO NOT MISS! Location: Stay Tuned - Group photo location to be determined.
Networking Snack Break - Four Square Pre-function Space
Round Table/Summit Sound Off - Marco Polo Ballroom
There were the obvious challenges but what situations did you encounter that totally surprised you? Good or bad? How many approached you trying to acquire your company? How did you deal with interacting with your customers who were struggling? Any regrets? Positive stories to share? The EVS Roundtable is usually the highlight of the summit and with everyone having experienced a year that we never thought was possible there will be many stories to share.
Moderators - Rich Siegel, Hospitality Upgrade and Robert Gilbert, HSMAI
EVS Dinner - The Aquarium Restaurant - please meet in the Curtis lobby at 6 pm to board the bus to the restaurant.
Address: 700 Water St, Denver, CO 80211-5210
Please meet in the Curtis lobby at 6:00 pm to board the bus to the Aquarium Restaurant. The bus will leave the lobby to take our first group to the restaurant at 6:10 pm. The second bus will leave the Curtis at 6:25 pm. Once at the Aquarium we will have a reception hour with many surprises and "cuddly" guests. The Aquarium restaurant offers a variety of seafood specialties, steaks, chicken, salads, pasta dishes and decadent desserts. Your underwater adventure begins as you are seated around the 50,000-gallon centerpiece aquarium, which allows exceptional floor-to-ceiling viewing from all tables. More than 100 species of colorful, tropical fish from the Caribbean Sea, Hawaii, South Pacific and the Indian Ocean – reside in the tank.
A returning bus will leave the Aquarium for the Curtis at 9:30 pm (the last bus departs at 9:45 pm).
Thursday, March 28, 2024
Breakfast: Four Square Ballroom
Annual Customer Insights Onstage/CIO Panel – Marco Polo Ballroom
The always popular CIO panel is where we end our EVS experience with a few tech leaders from hotel companies who will share where they are focusing technology and investment this year. Our CIOs from Aimbridge Hospitality, InnVest Hotels, Omni Hotels, Wyndham Hotels will be joining us. It is always a very interactive session that is more about the state of the industry than the typical hotel tech leaders' session.
2024 CIO PANEL: McLean Xavier, InnVest Hotels; Christine Moffett, Kessler Collection; Gustaaf Schrils, Omni Hotels; Michael Mahar, Wyndham Hotels; Kevin Walters, Zachry Corporation
Moderator: Rich Siegel
That's a Wrap!
Thanks for Attending the 2024 EVS Vendor Summit! EVS attendees will be able to use an exclusive Lyft coupon code to take a Lyft to the airport. Use code EVSDENVER2024 in the Lyft Pass section of the Payment Tab in the app menu. The code will be active from 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM on Thursday, March 28, 2024. Hospitality Upgrade will cover trips up to $50.00 USD*.
*If the fare exceeds $50.00 USD, the remainder will be charged to the card on your Lyft profile.
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