The number of exhibits at HITEC has increased significantly from 252 booths in 1993 to the expected 667 booths for HITEC 2000. HITEC attendance has also greatly increased from its small beginning with approximately 20 attendees for its 1972 debut, to 1,825 in 1993, to a planned attendance of more than 5, 500 for this year's show in Dallas on June 20-22, 2000.

2000 Conference Program Highlights

HITEC® attendees will have access to a 667 booth exposition and more than 50 educational opportunities at the 28th annual HITEC (Hospitality Industry Technology Exposition and Conference), June 20-22 at the Dallas Convention Center in Dallas, Texas. Program highlights include keynote speaker Jay Walker, founder and vice chairman of priceline.com, who will present a session titled "Opportunities in the New Economy" on Tuesday, June 20.

Cutting-edge audience response technology will be used in one of this year's concurrent sessions, "Designing the Hotel Room of the Future," to instantly gather the opinions from session attendees. Attendees will use wireless keypads to input their answers to approximately 50 questions dealing with future trends for property and guest room amenities. Responses will be announced during the session and a post-session report will be produced and published. The audience response technology will also be used for a short survey during Thursday's general session, "High Speed Into the Future."

Also on board for 2000 is a distinguished panel of CIOs representing the luxury hotel market, mid-price and economy hotel markets, and the cruise line industry - Danny Hudson of Starwood Hotels and Resorts, Mike Kistner of Cendant Corp., and Thomas H. Murphy of Royal Caribbean Cruises, Ltd. In a general session, this panel will highlight their recent
accomplishments, mistakes they have made, and where the industry is lacking when it comes to implementing state-of-the-art technology. Richard Siegel, president and publisher of Hospitality Upgrade, will moderate the interactive session.

HITEC has become an icon in the hospitality industry by providing education and technology solutions. Besides the exposition, the three-day conference will offer more than 50 educational opportunities - 25 concurrent sessions, 10 pre-conference workshops, a half-day Executive Briefing geared to non-technical, senior hospitality management-level executives, and 26 exhibitor tutorial sessions.

Sessions will cover a wide variety of topics that are imperative to creating and maintaining a successful operation in today's fast-paced industry. Topics include: e-commerce, web site development, and human resources.

In addition to a HITIS update and a session on HFTP's joint research project Hospitality 2000: The Capital, the concurrent sessions include:

• Educational Issues for the Millennium
• Audiovisual Update
• Telecommuting: The Virtual Office
• E-Commerce
• Systems Integration: Myth or Reality
• The Changing Way of Justifying Technology
• Data Security
• Strike up the Bandwidth - Communications 2000
• Giving Away E-Commerce Rights and How to Negotiate Them
• ERP & ASP: The Next Generation of Enterprise-Wide Computing
• Designing the Hotel Room of the Future
• High-Tech vs. High-Touch Marketing
• Remote Sales Force Automation
• Maximizing Meeting Room Revenues
• E-Procurement/Supply Chain
• The Wireless Revolution
• Virtual Training and Online Education
• IT Recruiting and Staffing
• The Technical Infrastructure - Walk Before You Run
• Technology for the Guest Room Decision Support I Executive Information Systems
• Property Technology Case Study
• Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

Complete conference information is available at www.hitecshow.org and www.hftp.org . Companies interested in attending or exhibiting should contact the HITEC Exposition Department at 800-448-3239 or 1-512-249-5333.

HITEC®, produced by Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals (HFTP®), is the most comprehensive meeting of its kind in the hospitality industry. It addresses the use of technology in the industry and brings together buyers and sellers of technology under one roof More than 5,500 hospitality executives and exhibitors from around the world are expected to attend this three-day conference and exposition. In addition to hearing the industry's leading speakers, attendees receive practical information at Monday's "nuts-and-bolts" training sessions. The 650-plus booth exposition includes companies providing technical services and products in the hospitality industry.

Based in Austin, Texas, HFTP is the professional association for financial and IS personnel working in hotels, resorts, clubs, casinos, restaurants, and other hospitality-related businesses. The association provides continuing education and networking opportunities to more than 4,300 members around the world. HFTP also administers the examination and awards the certification for the Certified Hospitality Accountant Executive (CHAE) and the Certified Hospitality Technology Professional (CHTP) designations. HFTP was founded in 1952 as the National Association of Hospitality Accountants.

HFTP® and HITEC® are registered service marks of Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals.