The inaugural CIO Summit EMEA. Hosted by HFTP At the Renaissance Barcelona Hotel. In the heart of Barcelona, this event brought together the hospitality technology leaders to engage in 24 hours of insightful conversations.
Kicking off: Real Conversations. Real Challenges
The pace of the event picked up after Carson Booth’s speech and a luncheon. From the beginning, it was obvious that this summit aimed to tackle real-world issues and explore new opportunities in our industry.
Peer Connection: The Power of Peer Connection
During the entire event, another thing stood out. CIOs emphasized the importance of connecting with other CIOs in similar roles, sharing experiences and exchanging ideas. These rare opportunities in everyday life made the summit even more meaningful. This was because being among peers who were familiar with the challenges and pressures that come along with the CIO role, created an environment of openness and honest discussion.
AI Adoption starts with culture and not code
The first keynote focused on how large organizations, like hotel groups and travel technology firms, can adopt AI successfully within their business operations. Michael Tessler offered insights based on years of experience and refreshingly straight-forward advice. Successful AI projects must start with clear business outcomes. He stressed that cultural barriers are often the greatest obstacles to adoption, and not technical ones. Even the most promising projects can fail without a genuine commitment from leadership. Tessler cited examples of businesses that failed despite having all the necessary tools. AI was not treated as a priority but rather an experiment.
Uber Effect: Rethinking Hospitality
In the late afternoon, there will be a session entitled Uber Effect Frank Pitsikalis, Matthew Prosser and others encouraged hoteliers to reconsider control and ownership. The speakers were inspired by the way Uber redefined transportation without owning cars. They proposed a new model in which hotels would act as orchestrators rather than operators and connect guests to a network curated of external services such as spas, restaurants or wellness providers. The goal is? The goal? It’s about a mental shift that can open up new revenue streams for hotels and improve guest satisfaction.
Enterprise Browser: Streamlining Staff Technology
The conversation in a James Savory & Paul Murgatroyd session focused on the changing expectations of hospitality staff, and how technology can support them. Although the idea of the enterprise web browser was unfamiliar to some, it highlighted a growing issue: tools in the workplace can be too complicated, causing friction instead of removing them. Hoteliers could use a centrally managed, secure browser instead of fragmented systems to improve access, increase security and personalize the digital experience. This would allow seasonal workers to get up-to-speed faster, reduce errors and relieve IT teams of managing outdated systems. The use case for hospitality is not yet fully developed, but the session raised many important questions on how to create a more flexible and intuitive work environment without compromising control or security.
Belmond’s lessons on aligning technology with business
Stuart Mason of Belmond spoke in the late afternoon about how technology and commercial teams can work closer together. He has a background in data science as well as revenue management. Speaking from personal experience, he showed how aligning technology initiatives with business objectives like guest satisfaction or revenue growth can produce real results. Belmond relies on technology to make things easier, from AI-generated suggestions for guests to dashboards that provide sales teams with real-time insight. Stuart’s mantra, “Automate the predictable and humanise exceptional,” The idea was that when IT teams and commercial teams work together from the beginning, technology becomes a value-driver, not just an office function.
Best-of-Breed vs. Single Vendor: Finding Your Fit
After a good dinner and some sleep, the second session was led by Tim Butterworth, Colin Barnett and they delved into the ongoing debate about best-of-breed strategies versus single vendor. There is no single answer that fits everyone. The panelists encouraged each person to examine their own situation critically: What are the IT capabilities of your company? How complex is your current system landscape? What is your integration risk tolerance? What are your strategic long-term goals? Best-of-breed can provide more innovation and flexibility, but requires stronger integration skills. Single vendor solutions, however, can bring greater simplicity and easier upgrades. This is especially valuable when resources are scarce. They gave a simple, yet important advice: don’t blindly follow trends. Instead, choose what works best for your organisation.
AI Agents are the next step beyond SaaS
The session is titled “Thinking about the Future”. SaaS is dead, the future of hospitality belongs to AI agentsUli Pilau and Florian Montag examined how the hotel tech stack is undergoing radical transformations, from monolithic SaaS platform to agile, agent powered ecosystems. The panelists challenged long-term technology procurement strategies by comparing system changes to an open-heart operation. They also stressed the importance of flexibility, interoperability and partnerships that are truly service-centric. Panelists and the audience discussed their real-world experiences in selecting CRM and PMS software, which is often more driven by existing integrations and service quality than product features. The discussion then moved to AI, its potential for reshaping hospitality tech, growing pressure at the board level to define an AI policy, and the emerging idea of intelligent agent that act on business data and context across all systems. Model Context Protocols, or MCPs, were presented as a new way to ensure dynamic and secure interactions between software systems and agents. They also pointed towards a world where business logic is not embedded in the tech stack but rather above it.
Conversations that Continue: Wrapping up
Justin Taillon, Carson Booth and others gave short speeches to conclude the summit after this brave closing session. They thanked all participants for their contributions and spirit of openness. The formal programme was over, but the conversations and ideas that were sparked by the summit in Barcelona will continue long after these two days.
Looking ahead: A promising start for a new tradition
HFTP asked attendees to provide feedback at the end of the summit. This was an excellent inaugural event that was well organized and valued. There was strong support to make it a regular event. The quality of discussion was matched by the calibre of participants, with executives in attendance from a broad mix of leading hospitality groups, including, amongst others, Belmond, Accor, Rocco Forte, The Dorchester, Cheval, InterContinental, Marriott, Marriott Vacations, Mercan, Tanzera, Meliá, Ennismore, and Firmdale.
Thank you team HFTP.
We would like to thank everyone for their support. HFTP Thanks for organizing this valuable event. It was great to be there and I’m already looking forward the next meetup. HITECThe Indiana Convention Center, Indianapolis, USA, will host the CIO Summit from June 16-19. The US-version of the CIO Summit will be taking place September 3 – 5 2025, at the Hyatt Regency Vancouver (click here for more on this event).
