SCOTTSDALE, Arizona—Choice Hotels International, Inc. kicked off MasteryX, its 10th annual tech summit, on April 9. Over the course of the week, over 650 associates will explore and learn about the latest technologies and solve real-world challenges through hands-on workshops, competitions, and knowledge-sharing sessions to help hotel owners drive more revenue, reduce costs, and find efficiencies. This year, Choice Hotels technologists will explore how Artificial Intelligence (AI), quantum computing and other technologies can help improve business intelligence, enhance cyber security, improve on-property operations, and scale Choice’s proprietary tools and systems.
“MasteryX is more than just a conference — it’s a launchpad for the future of hospitality technology,” said Brian Kirkland, chief information officer, Choice Hotels International. “By upskilling our engineers in AI and emerging tech, we’re ensuring that Choice Hotels remains a leader in innovation, continuously delivering smarter, more efficient solutions for our franchisees and guests. Mastery is part of our innovation culture, enabling us to provide reliable, cutting-edge tools designed to help owners generate strong returns on their investments and help them run their businesses with the ease, control and flexibility they seek.”
At MasteryX, interactive challenges such as “Capture the Flag” (with a data-hacking twist) and AWS DeepRacer, a machine-learning-powered racing competition, will test participants’ problem-solving and AI capabilities. During the summit’s Hack-a-Thon competitions, engineers will develop and present new software products designed to enhance company and hotel operations and guest experiences. Winning teams will earn cash prizes, with top innovations considered for company-wide deployment.
A winning project from last year’s Mastery helped drive occupancy by automating the manual process of creating special rates and promotions for repeat hotel guests and packages for local businesses. This reduced time from 2.5 weeks to instant processing, driving more revenue for hotels and providing faster service to guests. Over 600 hotels have leveraged the program and nearly 6,000 rate packages have been created, resulting in almost 450,000 room nights booked totaling over $31 million in sales.
History of Innovation
“Choice Hotels has a decades-long legacy of innovation, from introducing the first hotel website with real time rates and availability, deploying the first hotel app for iPhone, to building the first mobile-friendly rate management tool for operators, and being the first hotel company to migrate our platforms fully into the cloud,” said Anna Scozzafava, chief strategy officer and senior vice president of technology, Choice Hotels International. “Mastery is one of the ways we keep the spirit of innovation alive, so we can continue leveraging technology that can enhance our competitive edge in the market by providing tools designed to make running a hotel easier so that owners can focus on providing a great experience for guests.”
Choice Hotels has built and introduced industry-first owner-facing technologies, including:
- In 1995, Choice launched the first hotel website with real-time rate and availability information.
- In 2003, Choice launched the first cloud-based property management system (PMS), choiceADVANTAGE.
- In 2009, Choice released the first hotel app for iOS.
- In 2014, Choice became the first hotel company to offer instant booking on TripAdvisor. That same year, Choice was the only hotel company listed on Forbes’ Top 100 Most Innovative Growth Companies.
- In 2016, Choice became the first hotel company to offer immediate in-app gift card downloads.
- In 2018, Choice launched choiceEDGE, the industry’s first cloud-based central reservation system (CRS).
- In 2019, Choice became the first hotel company to commit to being 100% on AWS (Amazon Web Services) Cloud.
- In 2021, Choice launched ChoiceMAX, an award-winning AI mobile-first revenue management solution.
- In 2024, Choice announced the closure of its last data center, making it the first major hotel company to migrate its entire system infrastructure to AWS.
MasteryX includes a two-hour service event where attendees will assemble care kits and tie-dye items for patients at Phoenix Children’s Hospital.
