Look for the hospitality industry to take a greater interest in hackathons in the months ahead, writes Richard N. Velotta for the Las Vegas Review-Journal in his article “Las Vegas hospitality industry shows stronger interest in hackathons.”
Tourism technology leaders said in a panel discussion that hackathons have become the new gathering places for programmers and software experts to devise technological solutions to problems in a wide range of industries.
About 100 members of the Las Vegas Hospitality Association learned about hackathons and heard panelists give their views on how technology and automation are changing their industry. One of the underlying messages was how companies on the cutting edge of technology are attracting the millennial audience.
“I’m surrounded by 29 millennials every day and I’m learning as much about them and the way they think as they’re learning from me,” said panelist Robert Rippee, director of the newly formed Hospitality Lab at the International Gaming Institute Division of Research and Economic Development at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. “Change is a natural thing to millennials, and the rate of change is on a rapid pace.”
Read more about the future of hackathons supported by the hospitality industry in the Las Vegas Review-Journal here.
