HFTP Virtual Education
Gain valuable knowledge and earn official continuing education credits from the comfort of your screen. Take advantage of this opportunity, free for HFTP members.
HFTP ProLinks webinars offer a full, in-depth education session on a topic of interest led by expert presenters. The webinars cover current information on hospitality finance and technology, human resources, ethics and more.
HFTP Hangouts and HFTP Europe Hangouts are informal programs designed to be interactive. The meetings are led by a moderator who starts with a short topic presentation, then opens up the gathering for a back-and-forth discussion.
Upcoming Virtual Education
Schedule subject to change. Registered participants will be notified if there is an adjustment made.
Note: HFTP Hangouts and HFTP Europe Hangouts are promoted as presentations in an educational, no sales environment. Product promotion or sales pitches are not allowed in chat communications or in Q&A. You must agree to this policy to participate.
HFTP Hangout
Wednesday, May 19
10:00 A.M. CDT | 11:00 A.M. EDT
HFTP Member Orientation
Victoria Schaefer
Senior Membership Manager • HFTP
New to HFTP, or need a refresher on what HFTP offers? Join Victoria Schaefer, HFTP Senior Membership Manager and staff for an overview of the benefits and discount program that HFTP membership offers to you. Victoria will highlight the HFTP website, member portal, and more. There will be plenty of time to ask questions.
HFTP Hangout
Thursday, May 20
10:00 a.m. CDT | 11:00 a.m. EDT
Securing Property Management Systems
Bill Newhouse
Cybersecurity Engineer & Project Lead
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (NCCoE)
A hotel property management system (PMS) is a prime target for cyber criminals. A successful breach could give a criminal access to valuable data resulting in financial loss, operational disruption, reputational harm, and lengthy regulatory investigations and litigation. On March 30, 2021, the NIST NCCoE released Special Publication 1800-27, Securing Property Management Systems. This collaboration with the hospitality community and cybersecurity technology providers demonstrates how hospitality organizations can use a standards-based approach with commercially available technologies to protect property management systems.
YP Chatter
Thursday, May 20
10:30 a.m. CDT | 11:30 a.m. EDT
May YP Chatter
Linden Pohland, CHIA
Accounting Manager
Four Seasons Resort Hualalai
Join young hospitality professionals for an interactive gathering at this fun networking event. The chatter will be led by HFTP YP Council Member Linden Pohland, CHIA.
HFTP Hangout
Tuesday, May 25
2:00 P.M. CDT | 3:00 P.M. EDT
Surveys and More for HFTP Chapter Leaders
Victoria Schaefer, Senior Membership Manager, HFTP
Barbara Semeraro, Chapter Relations Coordinator, HFTP
Join HFTP Board members, along with staff, for a conversation on how surveys benefit chapter membership. HFTP Board members will discuss the purpose of several current surveys and present preliminary results to start the discussion. Chapter leaders are encouraged to attend this session.
HFTP Europe Sessions
Wednesday, May 26
15:00 UK | 16:00 CET | 9:00 US CT
The Four “Rights” for Five Guest Messaging Opportunities
When it comes to communicating with your guests in-house, it is crucial to get the right message to the right individual at the right time via the right channel. If you operate an independent hotel, learn how to successfully capture the attention of your guests during five stages of the guest journey: during accommodations search; booked, pre-arrival; once they have arrived and are in-house; upon departure; and ongoing, post-stay. The tricky part is that there is no one right answer that fits all hotels. Variations arise depending on what your brand and tech stack look like. Come to this discussion to learn how to determine the strategy that fits your property and how to measure its success once it is in place. If you can take away just one thing from this session, it is: what is the RIGHT thing for you?
HITEC Europe Sessions is a five-week educational series, presenting sessions that are designed to inspire creative solutions, continuous learning and building connections among hospitality professionals in Europe and across the globe.
Learning Objectives:
- Understand what the five stages in the guest journey are and the right messaging for each
- Recognize effective methods for guest communication that fit your property
- How to measure the success of the communication strategy
HITEC Europe Sessions
Wednesday, June 2
15:00 UK | 16:00 CET L 9:00 A.M. US CT
Approaching CRM and Personalization with a Light Touch
Customer relationship management (CRM) is more than just technology – it is also a strategy and process to get to know your customers better and develop meaningful relationships with them. Communicating before and after the stay is important as ever, and the message and its reach are only as good as your data. In this session, learn how to translate data into a better understanding of your guests to drive repeat business (and bypass the OTAs); deliver better on-property experiences; and keep the guest engaged pre- and post-arrival.
HITEC Europe Sessions is a five-week educational series, presenting sessions that are designed to inspire creative solutions, continuous learning and building connections among hospitality professionals in Europe and across the globe.
Learning Objectives:
- Compare the 1980s-megalithic CRM of the past to the cloud-based, customer-first CRM app of today
- Learn how to effectively use CRM to build a better understanding of your guests, and drive both repeat and direct bookings, while delivering better guest experiences and increasing engagement
- Translate a better guest experience into increased revenue from personalized upselling
HFTP Meeting
Thursday, June 3
HFTP Mexico City Chapter Charter
Arlene Ramirez, CHAE, CHE, CHIA, CAHTA
Principal, Ascend
HFTP Global Past President
Welcome HFTP's newest chapter: HFTP Mexico City Chapter. HFTP Global Past President Arlene Ramirez will formally charter the chapter and present an update on HFTP Global and its current events and programs.
HITEC Europe Sessions
Wednesday, June 9
15:00 UK | 16:00 CET | 9:00 A.M. US CT
Why Your PMS May No Longer Be the Center of Your Universe
PMS has many legacy challenges in hotels, and while it is never easy to make a change, maybe now is the time. Before taking the leap, consider what elements are key to making this decision — especially when moving from an on-site, legacy system to a cloud service. Presenters will give an overview of the structure and potential/limitations of new-style PMS systems. Then working from this knowledge, run through best practices for the selection process, including a sample RFP, and how to customize system selection to suit your particular operation.
HITEC Europe Sessions is a five-week educational series, presenting sessions that are designed to inspire creative solutions, continuous learning and building connections among hospitality professionals in Europe and across the globe.
Learning Objectives:
- The pros and cons to switching from a legacy PMS to a cloud service
- Hear the potential and limitations of new-style PMS
- Understand best practices for system selection, including running through a sample RFP
- Learn how to customize system selection to suit your operation
- Register
HITEC Europe Sessions
Wednesday, June 16
15:00 UK | 16:00 CET L 9:00 A.M. US CT
Operational Efficiencies: Doing More with Less, from East to West
What can machine learning (ML) and robotic process automation (RPA) do for a hotelier? This session will explore different practical real-life examples and experiences that have demonstrated high performance for hoteliers. What has changed and what can be done better, and easier, as hotels reopen? There are multiple opportunities for front-of-house and back-office — from chat bots to deep learning or natural language processing — but we have to consider tech to human connection (so, no robots).
HITEC Europe Sessions is a five-week educational series, presenting sessions that are designed to inspire creative solutions, continuous learning and building connections among hospitality professionals in Europe and across the globe.
Learning Objectives:
- Advantages to a hotelier of machine learning (ML) and robotic process automation (RPA)
- Hear about real-world examples where these newer technologies have been implemented
- How these technologies improve performance as hotels reopen; opportunities in front-of-house and back-of-house
- Maintaining a balance between technology and a human connection
HITEC Europe
Wednesday, June 23
15:00 UK | 16:00 CET | 9:00 A.M. US CT
Solutions Nature Provides: The Technological Innovation of Nature in an Urban Context
Bringing nature back in the city is in vogue and hotels offer the perfect stage. It is more than providing green spaces for urban dwellers and travelers. It is about carbon sequestration; improving air quality; absorbing pollutants; improving water management; reducing noise pollution; and increasing thermal comfort — while also conserving energy by reducing the heating or cooling needs. In the urban hotel environment, nature-based solutions (NbS) can play a decisive role in tackling the wellbeing of staff, guests and community while also supporting targets for the global protection and restoration of nature. It adds value to the real estate, anticipates the regulatory risks and future proofs the business while connecting humanity with nature, helping to drive its protection at scale.
In a world increasingly committed to net zero carbon buildings by 2050, NbS offer some tremendous opportunities. How does it work and what does it look like?
HITEC Europe Sessions is a five-week educational series, presenting sessions that are designed to inspire creative solutions, continuous learning and building connections among hospitality professionals in Europe and across the globe.
Learning Objectives:
- Explore sustainable practices in carbon sequestration, improving air quality, reducing pollution, and conserving energy
- Learn how nature-based solutions (NbS) play a supportive role for the wellbeing of your staff, guests and community, how they add value to the real estate, and how they help future-proof your business while connecting humanity with nature.
- Learn about both human technology versus “natural” technology, and what that means
- Understand how technology plays a role in the sustainable practices of today, and what can be expected in the future.
Educational Archives and Resources
Previous webinars, HFTP Hangouts and HFTP Europe Hangouts are available for your viewing, along with supporting documents when available. Click on the buttons below to see the archives.
CPE Accreditation - Group Internet Based – Live Webinars
Participants may obtain 1.2 CPE maintenance points and continuing professional education credit hours (CPEs) for various certification programs by attending certain Live Webinars offered by HFTP.
For those webinars that qualify, individual sessions are presented as an overview of the topics. No advanced preparation is required nor are there prerequisites required for attending any of the group live webinars. Courses presented via HFTP’s live webinars utilize a Group-Internet Based instructional method.
For webinars that qualify, attendees will be required to answer poll questions during the live webinar presentation. The poll questions will be launched during the presentation and attendees will be required to select from the answers available. Poll questions are only used for the purpose monitoring attendance and engagement during the eligible live webinar. If the minimum poll questions are answered by the attendee, a certificate of attendance and CPE verification certificate will be issued to the attendee.
CHAE and CHTP Educational Maintenance Credits
Please note only CHAE and CHTP Educational Maintenance renewal credits will be issued for viewing the archived recordings of the webinars. CHAE and CHTP Designees must self-report their recorded session attendance. Please contact Robin Bogdon, HFTP Certification Manager, at certification@hftp.org for more information.