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Ira Vouk

Hospitality technology consultant / Published Author / Speaker / Educator / Founder

2024

Selected as HTNG T100 global hospitality technology leaders

AHLA/HTNG Global Technology 100 is a group of leaders at the forefront of innovation in hospitality

2024

HITEC Advisor at HFTP

HITEC North America Advisory Council; Experts to Design HITEC Program

2023

Originator of Hotel Tech Ecosystem diagram

2022

Speaker

AAHOA, HEDNA, HITEC, ICHRIE

2021

Guest lecturer

San Diego State University, University of Delaware, University of Denver, University of Angers (France), ESSEC business school (France).

2021

Strategic Advisor at Hospitality Technology Next Generation (HTNG)

AI for Hospitality Workgroup and Marketing Pillar

2021

Board member at the Cornell Hotel School

Center for Hospitality Research

2020

Recognized as Top 17 Technology professionals inspiring innovation in the US Hotel Industry

by AHT

2015

The originator of the ARPAR performance indicator

(#ARPAR)

2013

Selected as Top 5 Pricing and Revenue Managers in the country

by HSMAI

2011

Co-founder of iRates LLC

- company that pioneered Pricing and Revenue Management automation for limited-service hotel segment

About

Helping hospitality industry become more efficient and successful through building innovative solutions, consulting and coaching.

Tech innovator, consultant and an educator with nearly 20 years of practical experience in the hospitality industry and a deep passion for automation.


Developed a new index for profit maximization (Adjusted RevPAR, or ARPAR). Built a pioneering automated Revenue Management tool iRates (acquired by iQware Inc. and renamed to IQrates) – the first RMS that adopted Machine Learning algorithms.


Published books on Hospitality Technology and Revenue Management. Brought to market PIE (Pricing Intelligence Engine) by Cloudbeds, the fastest growing RMS in the history of hospitality. Assisted Duetto with their initiatives to innovate in the area of the Hospitality Analytics.


HITEC Advisor @ HFTP, HTNG T100 global leaders member, Advisory board member at Cornell CHR @ School of Hotel Administration, Strategic Advisor @ HTNG, Advisory Board Member @ Fornova, Hospitality & Tourism Alliance Advisory Board Member @ The California State University.


Contributing writer for HSyndicate, HospitalityNet World Panel, HSMAI blog and other online media.


Frequent speaker on the topics of #hospitalitytechnology, #distribution, #revenuemanagement, #profitability and #automation.


Lecturer at SDSU. Guest lecturer at UDEL, DU, SJU, University of Angers (France), ESSEC Business School (France).


Author of the first online learning course on Hospitality Technology.


Originator of the Hotel Tech Ecosystem diagram.

My online learning course

Immersive course designed for hotel operators, owners, vendors, investors, students and lecturers.

This deep dive into how to navigate effectively in the complex environment of travel & hospitality technology is brought to you by Ira Vouk, the author of industry best-seller “Hospitality 2.0”, a lecturer, a speaker, and a founder recently recognized as “top 17 technology professionals inspiring innovation in the US hotel industry”.

The course is designed and built in collaboration with Payne School of Hospitality & Tourism Management (San Diego State University).

Regardless of your role, this course will help you become more successful in the industry by understanding how to navigate in the complex environment of Hospitality 2.0 that has been recently driven by the forces of digital evolution.

You will be able to navigate in the previously confusing mosaic of the hotel and restaurant technology ecosystem: understand its evolution, integration dependencies, hierarchy and what is changing. You will become familiar with the latest disruptions that have transformed hospitality into a whole new realm. You will get a deep dive into the future trends for the next 5-10 years as well as areas of value creation and opportunities for investment, and not only financial investment (though this is the most critical element) but also investment of your talent, time, and resources.

This course will help you become more successful in the hospitality business (be it hotels, vacation rentals, restaurants, cruises, or any other part of our industry).

My books

Hospitality 2.0: Digital Revolution in the Hotel Industry’ (2022)
"This book is really practical and money making/saving in its inception. Congratulations to the author for exposing much of what is needed in the lodging distribution world. I consider this a 'must read' for everyone in this profession!"
Carl Winston
Founding Director, School of Hospitality & Tourism Management, SDSU
"Anyone entering our industry simply must read ‘Hospitality 2.0’ as there is no book that can even get close to the comprehensiveness this book provides. I also recommend it to experienced executives in all travel companies that use technology (which doesn’t?) as I haven’t yet found a book with the same level of depth to give context and sufficient understanding on such a large array of hotel technology subjects."
‘Revenue Management Made Easy’ (2018)
"The best you can find, if you're interested in Revenue Management 101 in Tourism and Hospitality. Solid, profound, practical. Read it, open an excel sheet and start."
Dr. Hans Vettiger
Senior Lecturer at Swiss Universities
"Hands down this should be a must read for every hotelier. At less than 100 pages, it does an incredible job describing high level concepts AND providing actionable recommendations. Unless you have formal training I guarantee this will open your eyes to all the faulty assumptions that you have been making when managing your inventory/rates."
BJP
Amazon Customer

Experience

August 2024

Top 100 Global Technology leaders. AHLA/HTNG

January 2024

Top Hospitality Leaders to follow in 2024, by Diego De Ponga

January 2020

Top 17 Technology professionals inspiring innovation in the US Hotel Industry. AHT

June 2013

Top 5 Revenue Managers in the US award. HSMAI

Certifications: MBA, MA, CHA, CHSP, CRME, CSPO, Pragmatic Certified Product Manager

July 2014 - Present

Hospitality Technology & Revenue Management Consultant

I provide consulting services for hospitality organizations (on the topic of hospitality technology, distribution, revenue management and profit maximization) as well as technology vendors.

October 2022 - Present

Author of hosptech online learning courses

Immersive course on how to navigate and scale products in our industry , specifically tailored to technology companies.

January 2022 - Present

Professor at San Diego State University

Teaching Hospitality Technology

August 2020 - Present

Advisory Board Member

Cornell Hotel School - Center for Hospitality Research; The California State University - Hospitality & Tourism Alliance; Hospitality Technology Next Generation; Fornova

August 2020 - September 2021

Senior Director of Product Management, Data & Analytics

Duetto - Hospitality Revenue Management software company

January 2020

Revenue Management Training

Wyndham Hotels and Resorts - US Operations Team

February 2018 - May 2020

Senior Product Strategist

CloudBeds - Hospitality software company

November 2012 - December 2016

Director of Technology - board member

HSMAI - Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association

November 2011 - December 2017

Co-founder, VP of Business Development

iRates RMS - Revenue Management SaaS company

September 2006 - November 2011

Director of Revenue Management

Gaslamp Hotel Management - Hotel Management company

Online presence and published work

Ira's presentations, interviews, podcast episodes, educational articles, and publications.

August 26, 2024 | AHLA

Ira Vouk has been added to AHLA/HTNG T100 – a group of 100 top global hospitality technology leaders who serve as the chief driver of innovation throughout the industry.

July 5, 2024 | hertelier

Ira Vouk, Founder of Hospitality 2.0 Consulting, delivered an impressive productivity workshop presentation on the tools available to harness the power of ChatGPT. Ira commanded the stage of a packed room providing first-hand experience to the free tools available (i.e. ChatPDF, Midjourney, Perplexity) for use to enhance the prompts for better AI results.

July 2, 2024 | HospitalityNet

During HITEC 2024, Hospitality Net’s Simone Puorto sat down with Ira Vouk, a multifaceted leader in the hospitality industry, to discuss the transformative potential of artificial intelligence (AI) in hospitality. Vouk, an educator, consultant, author, and tech entrepreneur, shared her insights on AI’s evolving role and its future implications for the industry. This interview is part of our HITEC 2024 series, where industry leaders share their predictions for the future of hospitality technology.

June 24, 2024 | HFTP

Ira Vouk led her renowned AI workshop for HITEC attendees (standing room only) and moderated an insightful discussion on AI adoption in hospitality with other industry leaders.

June 24, 2024 | Tech Fin Hospitality Magazine by HFTP

An article written by Ira Vouk for the inaugural issue of the Fin Tech magazine produced by HFTP and distributed during HITEC Charlotte. The author presents a guide to all possible use cases of AI adoption in the hospitality industry that is based on thorough industry research conducted by her in May 2024. The use cases are grouped into five categories of technology.

For the full list of publications and interviews, please access the PUBLISHED WORK page.

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