Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals (HFTP®) has just successfully hosted its first CIO Summit EMEA last week in Barcelona. The high-level IT executive event hosted 50+ hospitality industry professionals including hoteliers, consultants and vendors for two days, April 24–25 at the Renaissance Barcelona Hotel, to engage in roundtable discussions on the technologies set to have the biggest industry impact in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. This new event was a branch of The CIO Summit from Hospitality Upgrade, the technology magazine of HFTP, which has been the most successful CIO-level networking event in North America for over 20 years.
“The resounding success of the inaugural CIO Summit EMEA has clearly demonstrated a pronounced demand among hospitality technology leaders for a distinct and strategically focused Summit —a format that fosters meaningful peer engagement while addressing critical challenges shaping the future of the industry,” said Carson Booth, CHTP, HFTP Chief Operating Officer, EMEA. “The Summit would not have been possible without the invaluable support of our sponsors who unanimously affirmed that the Summit is a uniquely effective and informative platform to foster connections with existing and prospective clients.”
Opening the Summit was «Best Practices for AI Adoption in Enterprises,» proudly sponsored by Fourteen IP, the event’s platinum sponsor and a leading provider of AI and cloud telephony solutions for the hospitality industry. True North Advisory managing partner, Michael Tessler, discussed how enterprises can best adopt AI, including techniques and best practices, supported by several actual use case scenarios. Michael drew from his advisory experience where he specializes in helping entrepreneurs scale their businesses in the customer experience domain, focusing on strategy, company positioning, and CEO mentoring.
“The no-sales approach alongside some truly fantastic speakers and sessions led to a highly collaborative environment where hoteliers and vendors were able to discuss various topics at length, could ask questions and provide answers and debate topics in a way that you do not see at other events,” said Neil Tolley, CEO of the Fourteen IP Group. “Fourteen IP are incredibly proud to be a sponsor and grateful to Michael Tessler for giving up his time to share his experiences with everyone not just during his keynote speech but also during the networking sessions, again sharing in a genuinely collaborative environment. We are very much looking forward to CIO summit 2026.”
Capping the first day’s program was “Bridging the Divide Between Commercial and Technology Teams,” presented by seasoned commercial leader, Stuart Mason, SVP, Commercial, Revenue and Distribution, Belmond. Stuart provided attendees with an inside look at what truly matters to their commercial counterparts and how to communicate in a way that fosters collaboration and strategic alignment.
Other topics presented in the program were the hospitality workplace of the future, re-imagining the future of hospitality, choosing best of breed or multi-solution partners, and how AI agents are replacing SaaS solutions.
A photo gallery from the event is now available.
Special thanks go to the 2025 event sponsors whose expertise helped shape the program. These are: Platinum Sponsor — Fourteen IP; Level II Sponsors — Nomadix, Island, apaleo, and Agilysys; and Level III Sponsors — EHL, at-visions, Venza, and Hapi.
This Fall, HFTP will produce the Hospitality Upgrade CIO Summit scheduled for September 3–5, 2025 at the Hyatt Regency Vancouver in Vancouver, B.C., Canada. And keep up with HFTP news for an announcement for the 2026 CIO Summit EMEA.
About HFTP
Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals (HFTP®), established in 1952, is a hospitality nonprofit association headquartered in Austin, Texas USA with an offices in the EU. HFTP is recognized as a group supporting the finance and technology segments of the hospitality industry with an international network of members and stakeholders. HFTP offers expert networks, educational resources, career development programs, research, leadership opportunities and conferences and events. HFTP produces international events throughout the year, including the world’s largest hospitality technology tradeshow and conference brand: HITEC. In addition, it oversees the hospitality-specific Pineapplesearch.com® and the Uniform System of Accounts for the Lodging Industry (USALI), Hotel-Online and Hospitality Upgrade Magazine. For more information about HFTP, visit www.hftp.org.
Carson Booth
COO Europe
HFTP
