Announcing the Winners of the Hotel & Resort Innovation Awards 2022!

At Hotel & Resort Innovation Expo 2022, we paid a special tribute to the most creative solutions across the industry and celebrated those that are putting innovation at the forefront of their company. 

Held to recognise the companies transforming the sector, Hotel & Resort Innovation Expo presented four industry awards, a celebration of the innovations, services, and solutions that have made a great impact on the world of hotels over the past 12 months.

Sustainability Award - The award is for those demonstrating products and systems that promise to revolutionise hotel sustainability through incredible innovation, development and industry-shaking solutions.

The 2022 edition of the expo is aimed to highlight precisely what changes can be made to create a more sustainable future. In a constantly evolving world, it has never been more important to recognise what businesses can do to help make a positive, lasting difference for the planet. 

ClearVUE’s on-stand presentation convinced the judges of their ability to address the climate crisis through technology. Their solution informs and guides businesses to completely measure their climate impact and use data-driven insights to take action in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and improving energy efficiencies. David Bootle, Head of Strategic Partnerships within the company spoke of their success, ‘Seeing the ClearVUE platform is believing. The power of the system is in the proof of the data and how it helps businesses identify ways to cut consumption, costs and carbon.’ 

Tasked with making the difficult decision was the Head of Sustainability and Architectural Director at Ryder Architecture, David Jarratt, whose 20+ year career has given him huge insights into sustainable design and the key elements of what makes a proposal feasible. By David’s side was the Founder and Director of TerraVerde Sustainability, Patrick Richards. Patrick is a  highly experienced travel industry executive, with a 30+ year track record of achievement at C-suite and Board level, at sector-leading companies.

Hotel & Resort Innovation Award - The following is awarded to a product or service demonstrating outstanding quality, functionality and innovation in the hotel sector. It celebrates those bringing new life to the everyday running of hotels and whose products or services will serve hotels for years to come.

Innovation has the capacity to transform the hotel industry, but sometimes it is hard to keep up with new trends and tech. Helping the hospitality industry drive forward into the future is our list of nominees. 

Taking the winning spot was PowReady, a company revolutionising access to power by providing an innovative, modern and greener solution to solve a large and growing consumer problem. Their network of IoT charging hubs allow visitors to find, rent and return portable chargers across all their points of service, giving guests the freedom to charge on their terms. Offered free to hospitality venues, PowReady's charging hubs help deliver an enhanced guest experience, market partner venues to their users, and earn venues passive income from the service.

The judging for this prestigious award was conducted by Dries Gadeyne from GLH Hotels, Sophie Shrubsole, the CEO of Westminster Business Council, and Yvonne Halling, The B&B Coach. Yvonne quoted, ‘What myself and the other judges really loved about PowReady is their huge network of charging stations worldwide.  Plus your ability as a user to pick up a charging pack in London and deposit it in Paris!  And they’re not just in hotels  They’re in all kinds of places like cafes, stores, restaurants etc. We loved that concept.  Great tech innovation – well done to the PowReady team.’

Guest Experience of the Year Award - This award celebrates those who are putting guest experience at the forefront of their innovations. 

As the leading indicator of quality service, an exceptional guest experience encourages your visitors to return and entices new ones to come and see what you have to offer. 

Innovative technology is key to progressing in the industry but how does that impact guest experience? Award winner Duve provides a holistic guest management platform that boosts hotel revenues, including contactless check-in, a multi-channel communication hub, a guest app with an integrated upselling system, and much more. Duve posted online, ‘We are honoured to be awarded as the 2022 winner for Guest Experience and to celebrate our achievement. We’re excited to continue to change the lives of millions around the world and create smart digital solutions for the hospitality industry while helping more hoteliers create personalized and easy journeys for their guests!’

Judging this award was the CEO of the Institute of Hospitality, Robert Richardson FIH. The IoH is the world’s leading, award-winning, professional membership body for hospitality professionals around the globe. Providing their insight was also the Head of Hotels at Greene King, Lauren Goodwin. Greene King Inns is a collection of over 130 inns across the UK that draw on a heritage that stretches back to a bygone age, and as an established household name, Lauren knows all there is about how to make a lasting impression on visitors.

Tech Innovation of the Year Award - This award celebrates transformative technology that is revolutionising the future of the hotel scene, be it through streamlining operations, enhancing the customer experience or optimising profitability.

Technological transformation has dominated the hospitality industry since the pandemic, with contactless being a necessity, booking going virtual, guest communications moving to mobile, and self-service becoming standard. It is time to innovate and adopt new, creative technologies in the industry.

Helping guests experience the hotel before they even arrive is The Virtual Tour Experts they combine the highest quality 360° photography with world-class technology to increase sales and enquiry. This is not the first win for the company, and their tours cover the globe and include many of the world’s leading brands. Judge Berengere Brohan provided insight into why The Virtual Tour Experts were selected. ‘While all competitors showed some very interesting innovations with tech, we believed that The Virtual Tour Experts deserved the prize. Their approach to using technology to be able to offer a virtual experience to all user groups, and fulfil the special needs of an impaired guest, people with anxiety or any handicap, etc. is a great example that technology can help improve hospitality services and that vendors need to keep on innovating.’  

Berengere is a Hospitality Specialist at Planet. Planet provides integrated software, payment and technology solutions for its customers in the Hospitality and Retail sectors and worldwide via a global Financial Services Partners network. Alongside her, was Joey Ceunen, the CTO at Carefree. This charity uses digital innovation to transform vacant accommodation into vital breaks for unpaid carers. Over the years, they have won awards including Breakthrough Charity of the Year 2019 at the Third Sector Awards, and in November 2020, the charity gained further recognition by winning the Sustainability prize at the Skift Innovation, Design and Experience Awards, which celebrates “the big ideas defining the future of travel.”

These awards are an invaluable opportunity for exhibitors to get their names out there and be recognised for their achievements. We want to congratulate ClearVUE, PowReady, Duve and The Virtual Tour Experts for their contributions to enhancing the hotel sector.

We cannot wait to see what the 2023 nominees will be showcasing at the next edition of the show on the 10th & 11th of October 2023! 

For all exhibiting enquiries please contact: Gary Hall, Managing Director | Tel: +44 (0)117 929 6080 |  Email: gary.hall@fortem-international.com