Objective

ITH is the hotel sector’s response to the challenges that technological advances suppose for entrepreneurs in the tourism industry.

With more than twenty years of history, this innovation center, attached to the Spanish Confederation of Hotels and Tourist Accommodation (CEHAT), has the mission to promote the use of new technologies and management systems, which contribute to improving the competitiveness, profitability, quality, efficiency and sustainability of companies linked to the hotel and tourism industry.

ITH in figures

  • More than 342 innovative projects
  • More than 1,290 own events, and presence in more than 1,400 national and international events
  • More than 40,000 attendees at ITH’s own conferences and events
  • More than 10,000 professionals enrolled in ITH’s training programs
  • More than 23 million euros destined to promote tourism innovation in Spain

Contribution

ITH works for and in the interests of hoteliers, seeking practical and simple solutions that optimize their management in four strategic lines: New Technologies, Hotel Operations, Energy Efficiency and Environment and Innovation.

 

Projects

National Projects

  • Thinktur: ITH is a sectoral benchmark in Innovation and New Technologies at the national level, participating in the launch of the Digital Tourism Platform initiated by the European Commission and funded by the Ministry of Science and Innovation. ITH coordinates the Thinktur working groups.
  • The Alliance of Sun and Beach Tourism Municipalities (AMT): ITH manages the technical secretariat of AMT. This alliance is a national entity made up of 8 pioneering tourist municipalities in the sun and beach segment: Adeje, Arona, Benidorm, Calvià, Lloret de Mar, Salou, San Bartolomé de Tirajana, and Torremolinos. Its objectives include promoting and developing new knowledge aimed at destinations; fostering research and the use of new technologies; developing joint projects to obtain supra-municipal funding; promoting cooperation between administrations, companies, and sector stakeholders; enabling integration into similar national and international entities; boosting collective strategies to increase competitiveness; and developing synergies and joint urban innovation strategies.
  • ITH Model of Tourism Sustainability and Improvement Plans: Funded by the State Secretariat for Tourism and developed by ITH, this multi-year project aims to implement initiatives and actions to help hotels identify the most relevant aspects for working towards sustainability. It includes variables such as energy efficiency, water use, waste management, thermal envelope systems, accessibility, policies, and CSR, among others.
  • Hotel Sustainability Self-Assessment Test: Part of the ITH Model of Tourism Sustainability and Improvement Plans, this free, accessible, and user-friendly tool allows hotels to evaluate their economic, social, and environmental sustainability. It provides information on the Sustainable Development Goals, sustainability analysis, and measures to reduce food waste, as well as a template for preparing the establishment’s sustainability report. Through questionnaires, it determines the degree of implementation of mandatory measures and recommendations, generating downloadable reports with improvement suggestions. It also allows comparisons with similar establishments and updates as new actions are implemented.
  • Study on Best Practices in Sustainability in Spanish Tourist Accommodations: This study, framed within the ITH Model of Tourism Sustainability and Improvement Plans, aims to progressively encourage the adoption of measures that enhance the economic, social, and environmental sustainability of Spanish tourist accommodations. It highlights potential future recovery scenarios, understanding sustainability as a fundamental pillar. Additionally, it compiles initiatives that tourist accommodations can adopt to ensure compliance with environmental, CSR, and good governance commitments, including various successful case studies in sustainability practices.

  • Practical Guide to Prevent and Reduce Food Loss and Waste in Hotels: This guide presents initiatives and recommendations to minimize Food Loss and Waste (FLW) at every stage of the hotel food chain. The goal is for the sector to find solutions, motivations, and tools to implement plans and initiatives that contribute to preventing and drastically reducing food waste in the industry.

  • ITHSaveHotel Energy Retrofit Program for Tourist Establishments: Through this program, all hotels are offered comprehensive technical and energy consultancy, including a free audit of their facilities. An energy improvement plan for the building is also provided, evaluating the necessary actions and implementing them with the support of our technology partners. These actions are prioritized according to investment volume and corresponding payback periods.

  • Check In Jobs: Automation of Talent Selection and Management: This nationwide project implements a tool that automates the process of searching and selecting profiles for the hotel sector. Using AI algorithms, it aligns with sector needs and demands, including geographic and category segmentations, among others.

  • Biontrend: Applying Competitive Intelligence to the Hotel Sector: This nationwide project deploys a competitive intelligence tool that enables more accurate demand forecasting, based on real hotel data shared on reservations, markets, channels, client segmentation, and more, through PMS interconnection. It is especially focused on SME hotels.

  • Collective Purchasing Group: Cyber Insurance Policies for Hotels and Tourist Accommodations: ITH and GARCÍA ALAMÁN have created a collective purchasing group open to the hotel sector to provide an insurance solution that protects tourist establishments in the digital environment. Hotel chains, independent hotels, aparthotels, hostels, rural accommodations, and campsites can join. The larger the group, the better the conditions available for cyber insurance policies.

  • UNE Standard to Promote Smart Tourism Norms: SEGITTUR and the Spanish Standardization Association (UNE) have signed a collaboration agreement to promote standardization in the tourism sector, especially in smart tourism. This agreement is a driving force in maintaining Spain’s leadership in tourism. The update of UNE Standard 178504, led by the Hotel Technology Institute (ITH), contributes to hotel digitalization and enhances their connectivity.

  • BIGreen AEHM: Energy Efficiency Platform for the Hotel Sector in Madrid: The BIGreen project, launched by the Madrid Hotel Business Association (AEHM) with the support of the Directorate General of Tourism and Hospitality of the Community of Madrid, aims to digitize and analyze the main consumption data of participating hotels, all of which are AEHM members. BIGreen proposes a collaborative data intelligence tool for energy efficiency 4.0, scalable with the objective of future integration into a comprehensive collaborative management platform for the hotel sector.

  • National and Regional Consultancy on the Deployment of Next Generation Funds and Component 14: ITH is working on various proposals to enhance the sector’s competitiveness in the fields of sustainability and digital transformation.

International Projects

  • HOTREC Hospitality Europe: Founded nearly four decades ago, HOTREC is the European association representing hotels, restaurants, bars, cafés, and similar establishments in the EU. It brings together 45 national associations across 33 countries and serves as the voice of the hospitality industry in Europe. HOTREC represents 1.7 million businesses, primarily SMEs, generating 9.5 million jobs (4.4% of total employment in Europe). Spain’s presence in this European body is essential to ensure ongoing dialogue with Member States and active participation in the development of European legislation and its national transposition.
  • Pantour: The NTG (Next Tourism Generation) project was the first European alliance to strengthen productive collaboration between education and the tourism sector. It has since evolved into a second phase known as Pantour. The objective is to address the gap between the skills required by the industry and the training provided by educational institutions. The alliance will offer employees, employers, entrepreneurs, teachers, trainers, and students a set of modules in digital, green, and social skills.
  • PacTS4ALL: The Pact for Skills in Tourism (PfST) is a knowledge-sharing platform without the capacity to directly implement actions. PacTS4ALL operationalizes the PfST by coordinating, harmonizing, and implementing the results of its projects. Its goal is to give practical application to the various project outcomes under the PfST framework, testing their viability in real environments, while creating a collaborative ecosystem to work on different areas of interest among PfST members.
  • TOURISMlink: ITH leads the technological area of the European consortium, which develops the European standard for online tourism distribution, which will connect European tourism supply and demand in a single platform
  • European Standard for Innovation Management: The general director of ITH coordinates the group responsible for the elaboration of the Innovation Management System, CEN/TS 16555-1, developed by the European Committee for Standardization (CEN), which offers a practical guide for organizations to identify and promote the factors that trigger innovation, develop the processes for its correct management, and evaluate and improve the efficiency of the Innovation Management System.
  • Elaboration of the book «Experiencing Success» – Packaging of tourism experiences (2013), developed in collaboration with the Institute of Tourism Studies (IET) and Turespaña.
  • HITEC: This is the oldest conference and exhibition space for hotel technology in the world. The event offers attendees essential education, and access to hear from industry experts.
  • Next Tourism Generation Alliance (NTG): NTG is the first European alliance to improve the productive collaboration between education and the sector. The objective is to look for the gap between the skills required by the sector and the training offered by educational entities. The NTG Alliance will provide employees, employers, businessmen, teachers, trainers, and students with a set of modules in digital, ecological and social skills.

Dissemination

Studies, conferences, and sectorial training

  • ITH has carried out more than 715 sectorial, national, and international events, and has produced more than 20 studies on technology and sustainability in tourism. In addition, it has participated in more than 940 conferences, congresses, and national and international meetings.
  • At the moment, several conferences organized by ITH are taking place at a national level:
    • The Hotel Data Game: a cycle of training sessions specialized in the use of data intelligence in different areas of the hotel business: benchmarking, operational management, online reputation and positioning, distribution, revenue management and customer experience are some of the points that will be discussed in these technical sessions aimed exclusively at hoteliers.
    • ITH Hotel Energy Meetings: Conferences designed to help hotel establishments to find the most appropriate solutions to maximize energy savings in their facilities. Different technologies are proposed and the keys to adapting them to the specific needs of each establishment profile with a guarantee of results and a reduction in operating and maintenance costs. The use and application of renewable energies and their profitability are analyzed according to the profiles of the establishment.
    • Digital security conferences in hotels and tourist accommodations: ITH, aware of the importance of the digital transformation in the sector and fulfilling its mission as a promoter of innovation in the sector, is organizing its third cycle of digital security conferences in hotels at a national level, with the aim of raising awareness in the sector of the current risks and the formulas for prevention and mitigation of digital attacks at a business and organizational level.
    • Jornadas ITH de Rehabilitación para hoteles: The aim of these days is to inform all attendees of new trends, options, designs, technologies and the most innovative materials on the market, all with the sustainability of the building and the processes that are developed within and outside it, to achieve a fundamental balance between economic, social and environmental. In addition, different financing options are analyzed that are available for those who are faced with a rehabilitation of a hotel establishment.
  • ITH Innovation Summit, for eight consecutive years, ITH Innovation Summit is the reference event in the hotel field that presents the latest news on innovation and technology applied to the sector.
  • ITH organizes, in collaboration with Fitur, FiturtechY, the most important forum of technology, innovation, sustainability and tourism in Spain, which in 2020 reached its thirteenth edition.

Leadership

  • ITH has led Intelitur’s Sustainability area, a project of the Superior Council of Chambers of Commerce, and defines and designs an energy efficiency model for tourist facilities
  • ITH directs and is a founding member of the Thinktur Tourism Technology Platform, and coordinates the Accommodation and Sustainability working groups.
  • ITH has partners and collaborators among the main technological players worldwide, such as Google, Amadeus, Oracle, HP, Schneider Electric, HOTREC, ECTAA, CISCO, among others.
  • Since 2010, ITH has been constituted as an Innovative Business Group (AEI), with a strategic plan qualified as Excellent, and registered in the DGPYME with the number REAEI 00134.
  • In 2016, ITH has been recognized with the Innovative SME stamp, according to a resolution of the General Direction of Innovation and Competitiveness.
  • In 2021 ITH becomes a member of the Smart Destinations Network, Red DTI.

AEI