July 17th, 2026
Hospitality technology continues to advance, but meaningful innovation requires more than just new products and ambitious ideas. It requires open communication between manufacturers and the organizations that sell, deploy, integrate, and support technology within real hotel environments.
The Hospitality Technology Advisory Board (HTAB) was created to strengthen that connection.
Powered by Samsung and Transworld Distributors, HTAB is an invitation-only advisory board that brings together influential hospitality technology integrators, distributors, and resellers. Its purpose is to identify the industry’s most pressing challenges, establish practical priorities, and help shape the technologies and support systems that will define the next generation of hotel experiences.
In short, HTAB gives the partners closest to hotel customers a meaningful voice in what comes next.
Hotels depend on a growing ecosystem of technology to serve guests and manage their properties. Hospitality TVs, content management platforms, casting solutions, digital signage, connectivity infrastructure, and other systems must work together reliably and efficiently.
However, the success of these technologies isn’t determined by specifications alone. It is also shaped by how easily products can be sold, ordered, installed, configured, serviced, replaced, and supported throughout their lifecycle.
HTAB brings together the companies that encounter these realities firsthand. Board members contribute insights from direct conversations with hotel owners, management companies, purchasing teams, developers, and property-level personnel. These perspectives allow the board to identify friction that may not always be visible during product development.
Rather than discussing technology in the abstract, HTAB is built around practical questions:
What do hotels need?
What obstacles are partners encountering?
Where can processes be improved?
Which changes would create the greatest impact for the hospitality industry?
HTAB follows a straightforward, accountable process.
Board members begin by sharing challenges they are seeing across sales, deployment, service, and support. The group then evaluates those challenges to determine which issues are most important and where collective action can make a measurable difference. Priorities are assigned, progress is monitored, and participating partners receive written responses.
The board meets in person twice each year, with quarterly and ad hoc check-ins between sessions. Regular briefings are intended to document which initiatives are progressing and keep the board’s priorities visible.
This structure helps ensure that HTAB is more than a discussion forum. It creates a working relationship in which field experience can be translated into actionable improvements.
HTAB is co-chaired by Brendan Gephart of Eleven Hospitality and Todd Frankenhoff of SONIFI. Together, they help guide a board representing a range of perspectives from across the hospitality technology channel.
Participating companies include:
The board’s membership includes professionals from distribution, resale, and systems integration. While their organizations serve the hospitality market in different ways, they share an understanding of what it takes to deliver technology successfully from the initial sale through installation and ongoing service.
That variety is central to HTAB’s value. By bringing different sides of the technology channel to one table, the board can examine challenges across the full customer journey instead of viewing them from a single perspective.
HTAB held its inaugural meeting in Napa in May 2026, marking the beginning of its collaborative work. The first session gave board members an opportunity to identify shared challenges, establish priorities, and create a framework for tracking progress.
The next in-person meeting is scheduled for November 2026 in New York City. The session will allow members to review the progress made since Napa, evaluate current initiatives, and determine which new priorities should guide the board moving forward.
The hospitality industry benefits when manufacturers, distributors, integrators, and resellers communicate openly about the needs of hotels and their guests. HTAB provides a dedicated environment for that collaboration.
By combining Samsung’s hospitality technology leadership, Transworld Distributors’ channel and logistics expertise, and the real-world knowledge of its board members, HTAB is positioned to help turn industry feedback into practical action.
As hotel technology continues to evolve, the organizations responsible for bringing it into properties should have a voice in shaping its direction. HTAB gives those partners a seat at the table, and a structured way to help build what comes next.
Learn more about the board, its members, and its latest priorities at the HTAB website.
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