OpenTravel Alliance and Industry Experts Present Powerful Use Cases for New Release 2.0 Object Model

Ease-of-use features and speed-to-market benefits highlight HITEC Houston 2018 Tech Talk

Austin, TX, USA – (July 10, 2018) – The OpenTravel Alliance, the not-for-profit responsible for developing and maintaining interoperability for disparate systems in all verticals of the travel industry, hosted a Tech Talk workshop on the release of the 2.0 Object Model for attendees June 21 at the HITEC^® Houston 2018 trade show and conference in Houston.

Tech Talk speakers included technical and business leaders from across the spectrum of travel verticals. Attendees represented developers, technology consultants and business executives seeking more advanced software tools to power their company and client APIs and distribution partnerships.

OpenTravel’s Tech Talk was co-located at HITEC Houston 2018 – a gathering of hospitality technology and financial experts, technology vendors and thought leaders – that is produced by HFTP^® (Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals). HFTP invites a variety of trade organizations and businesses to present new technology products and practices at Tech Talks for HITEC attendees.

Presenting at the OpenTravel session about the 2.0 Object Model were:

• Sandy Angel, Director of Specifications, who provided an overview of 2.0 as a model used to design reusable information objects in libraries housed in a repository to share and reuse libraries of objects; also, the OpenTravel Model-Development Environment (OTM-DE) as a tool to speed development and produce JSON and XML schemas from the 2.0 object model.
• David Velasquez, SVP Technology and Distribution, LinksRez, and a member of OpenTravel, who shared his experience implementing the 2.0 Object Model and building business partnerships with increased speed to market.
• Matt Blackmon, Client Solutions Architect, Switchfly, and board member of OpenTravel, who shared compelling examples of how 2.0 facilitates innovation by rapid deployment of APIs with affiliates.
• Andrew Rubinacci, former SVP, InterContinental Hotels Group, who discussed the importance of standards in product development and marketing new hotel products.
• Buddy Altus, VP Innovation, Avis Budget Group and Vice Chairman of OpenTravel, who shared how standards like 2.0 enable and grow competitive advantage among business partners.
• Gene Quinn, Co-founder and former CEO, Tnooz and former Chairman, Phocuswright, moderated the session.

For more information about OpenTravel’s 2.0 Object Model, email info@opentravel.org or visit www.opentravel.org/join

About OpenTravel Alliance
OpenTravel Alliance is passionate about solving the problems inherent with connecting multiple systems within the complex travel distribution arena. Our mission is to enable the future of travel by driving the evolving digital experience for consumers. OpenTravel Alliance creates, expands and drives adoption of open specifications, including but not limited to the use of XML and JSON, for the electronic exchange of business information among all sectors of the travel industry.

OpenTravel Alliance is comprised of companies representing airlines, car rental firms, hotels, cruise lines, railways, leisure suppliers, service providers, tour operators, travel agencies, solutions providers, technology companies and distributors. Tens of thousands of OpenTravel Alliance message structures are in use, carrying tens of millions of messages between trading partners every day.

OpenTravel Alliance is a not-for-profit trade association, founded in 1999 by travel companies, with a primary focus on the creation of electronic message structures to facilitate communication between the disparate systems in the global travel industry. For more information on OpenTravel Alliance membership, new products, or projects, please visit http://www.opentravel.org or email info@opentravel.org.