In 2023 HTR introduced a new type of award into the HotelTechAwards in addition to the standard category awards to recognize companies that are building holistic platforms that enable hoteliers perform and execute essential use cases and work flows across e-commerce, operations and guest experience.

Definitions & Criteria

PLATFORM	CRITERIA
🛒 E-commerce Platforms Companies that provide an all-in-1 solution covering the essential capabilities that hotels need to establish an online web presence and generate direct and indirect online bookings.	Critical workflows, capabilities and use cases include: Ability to have a web presence (categories: website builder or digital agency) Ability to take online bookings (categories: booking engine) Ability to sell indirectly (categories: channel manager or CRS)
🏨 Operations Platforms Companies that provide all-in-1 solution that covers the critical capabilities needed to digitally manage the day-to-day operations of a hotel.	Critical workflows, capabilities and use cases include: Ability to communicate and manage tasks (staff collaboration) Ability to manage housekeeping workflows (housekeeping) Ability to monitor and preserve property (preventative maintenance)
🧳 Guest Experience Platforms Companies that provide an all-in-1 solution that encompasses the critical workflows and use cases for a hotel to communicate with and engage guests during their stay.	Critical workflows, capabilities and use cases include: Ability to perform self-check in (contactless check-in) Ability to communicate with hotel on own device (Guest Messaging or Guest App) Ability to purchase/reserve ancillaries (upselling, mobile ordering or Guest App)

Purpose

In the wake of the SaaS revolution came an explosion of point solutions. Over a decade later the buying journey has now evolved beyond point solutions where hoteliers are increasingly looking for partners who can serve more than a single use case or function which has caused vendors to continue extending product functionality to provide more comprehensive solutions for hoteliers. The platform awards are the first step in recognizing the companies who are addressing these needs for hoteliers to provide a simplified and comprehensive suite of solutions that enable hoteliers to manage a critical business unit within their hotel. Over the coming months HotelTechReport.com will begin evolving to meet the new buying journey based on our latest research and proprietary HTStack Framework.

Eligibility Requirements

In order to be eligible to compete in the platform awards, companies must meet the following criteria across each of the relevant categories:

Profiles. Must have a product profile in each of the essential platform categories (see below)
Registration. Must be registered into the HotelTechAwards in each of the relevant platform categories
Minimum Eligibility Criteria. Must meet the minimum eligibility requirement across each of the essential platform categories

Scoring

Companies competing in the HotelTechAwards for specific categories to try to become top rated in their relative category as a point solution won't have to do anything different to compete in the platform awards. Scoring variables for the platform awards include:

Average HTScores of the individual products within the platform
Cumulative customer ratings & reviews for all products within the platform
Platform PMS compatibility & interoperability (i.e. quantity and quality of verified PMS integrations using HTScore as a proxy for quality)