Objective

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

With more than nineteen 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 135 innovative projects
  • More than 715 own events, and presence in more than 940 national and international events
  • More than 20,000 attendees at ITH’s own conferences and events
  • More than 6,000 professionals enrolled in ITH’s training programs
  • More than 16 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

In diferents areas:

  • New Technologies: 18 projects, completed or underway, on blockchain, design of self-diagnostic tools, geolocation, connectivity, measurement of the degree of digitalization of hotels in Spain, measurement of online hotel reputation and customer satisfaction, complementary offer and analysis of consumption habits of the technological traveler, tourism marketing, email marketing, use of social networks for hotel management, integration of new technologies through a prototype of a connected, sustainable and efficient hotel room.
  • Hotel Operations: 16 projects completed or under development on process automation, predictive models through artificial intelligence, specialized management of facilities and services, monitoring and control of consumption, customer service, operational management, restoration, new management models, optimization of cleaning and maintenance processes.
  • Energy Efficiency, Sustainability and Environment: 16 projects carried out through the implementation of technological solutions aimed at energy saving and the implementation of tools and pilot projects that support the hotelier in planning these investments, both in the field of energy management and in the area of sustainability.
  • Innovation: 28 projects, executed or under development, on the digital transformation of the hotel sector, innovation management, implementation of intelligent tourist destinations, tourism intelligence, development of new innovative products and services, cyber security, open and collaborative innovation, and promotion of entrepreneurship.

International Projects

  • 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 the third consecutive year, 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