Testbed Vegas began as a discussion over a beverage between Cheyne Cole and Mark Fancourt.
Having lived and worked in travel and hospitality technology in Las Vegas for seven years, we wondered why the city was not more prominent on a global scale for the production of technology for industry.
Something needed to be done to raise the profile as a location and destination. We decided to take on the challenge.
The idea began around four key pillars. Community – creating an across industry community of interested parties and industry talent in Las Vegas. Dialogue – facilitating discussion locally and globally about travel and hospitality technology and Las Vegas. Education – addressing subjects that are topical to travel and hospitality and specifically to Las Vegas, with Las Vegas talent providing perspectives. Exhibition – exposing Las Vegas travel and hospitality technology talent and technology locally and around the world.
Underpinning Testbed Vegas’ pillars is the core mission of industry creation. The establishment of Las Vegas as a premier destination and location for the production of industry technology. The city of Las Vegas and the state of Nevada are looking to grow the technology industry. The major talent of the Las Vegas workforce is travel and hospitality. The largest consolidated destination for travel and hospitality in the world is Las Vegas.
We look back on a year;
By the numbers
- 25 events. On average one every two weeks.
- Vegas Travel & Hospitality Tech discussions prompted the consumption of 500 Beers, 150 Bottles of Wine, Lots of Desert Winds Coffee Roasters Coffee, 60 Pizzas from Dom de Marco.
- More than 1000 industry people have joined various forums.
- Testbed Vegas has authored dozens of articles and contributed expertise to industry media, panels, competitions, organisations and industry company and personal mentoring.
- We’ve highlighted scores of industry professionals from Las Vegas that contribute to Testbed Vegas and the industry at large.
- 21 industry tech speakers – More than 20 individuals have contributed their expertise to the dialogue. Many from Las Vegas – Chelsea Pashnick, Beth Wi, Kent Gilson, Patrick Flautt, Thomas Pfitzer, Stefan Thomascheutz, Jeff Johns, Ted Brandes, Michael Kurcab, Tina Tasaka, Matt Koetting, Tom Gherke, Scot Hastings, Mukund Mohan, Ian Cumming, Pedro Andersen, Conner Torres, Leon Pashnick, Londell Triche, Marina Levy and Dean Lan.
- 20+ organisations – More than 20 companies have contributed to the dialogue at Testbed Vegas events including AAA, Keolis, Winding Tree, Travel Massive, Trip Planning Master, Dotware Games, Aqua, Bonotel Exclusive Travel, Travel Tech Con, Infor, 365 Cannabis, Invictus International, Equilibrium Audio, Interel, NextGen, EXP360, eHotelier, UNLV, Haddington Dynamics and Levy Restaurants.
- More than 400 individuals – Participants from Las Vegas and around the world representing more than 60 companies from media, to software, to investment, to operators, travel, distribution, startups, airlines, gaming tech, hospitality and casinos attended Vegas Travel & Hospitality Tech.
- 12 industry hot topics – including the state of Las Vegas Travel Market, Guest Trip Planning, Autonomous Vehicles, Blockchain, Robotics, Future of Tech, Future of Jobs, Virtual Reality, Building Tech, Cannabis Tech, Gaming Tech, Hospitality Operations.
- 5 Brands – Vegas Travel & Hospitality Tech, Hospitality Technology Hacks & Pundits, Hi Society, 12 Midnight and TECHconvo with unique communities and dialogue.
- 1 Travel Massive Chapter – We established the Las Vegas chapter of Travel Massive. A 50’000 strong global community for travel professionals. We’ve reached number 47 on the top 50 chapters in 9 months.
- 1000+ Digital Followers, 100,000+ read Testbed Vegas information from Las Vegas to Berlin, Bangalore and Brasilia.
- 6 global locations – Beyond Las Vegas we’ve conducted Testbed Vegas events in Houston, Minneapolis, Palma de Mallorca, London and Cologne.
- Countless connections – Through the various Testbed Vegas events we’ve facilitated business connections and seen organisations form partnerships, launch businesses and products, and commence their very own initiatives in travel and hospitality tech in Las Vegas.
Sponsors and Volunteers
We’ve learnt that without the generous support of people and organisations it’s tough to get an industry community off the ground. We’re grateful for their support and guidance.
- Pam and Joe Mason’s generous support from Desert Wind Coffee Roasters has allowed us to establish a great venue and hub.
- Initially Alex Sargent and then Adrian Silvas from Desert Winds Coffee Roasters have looked after our guests needs.
- Martin S Fuentes has been tireless in his support of our various ventures ensuring that the digital journey is recorded for posterity and to grow the audience.
- Cindy Covarrubias from Cindy Management has provided her expertise in venue and event planing.
- Charlotte Somers from Somers Communications has collaborated to provide memorable event experiences and valuable advice and guidance.
Key Supporters
Most importantly without an interested and engaged community there’s no need for any dialogue.
We thank our most regular supporters, Michael Caruso, Tedd Brandes and JJ Skerbit from the Las Vegas community.
Internationally we recognise Andre Baljeu at Techtalk Travel, Bill Healey from Gaming & Lesiure, Matthew Stephens from EHotelier, Henri Roelings and the team from HospitalityNET, Rich Siegel from Hospitality Upgrade, Michel & Lukas from insighti, Ian Cumming from Travel Massive, Mel Sheldon from Nevada Government Office of Economic Development, Tim Kinsella from Amadeus, Mukund Mohan from Infor, Matthew White at McLaren Technologies and Paul Margailian at Space for your guidance, physical, digital and spiritual encouragement and support.
If you have not yet been involved in Testbed Vegas, now is a great time to start. If you are part of the Las Vegas travel & hospitality tech community then you are a natural fit for Testbed Vegas.
Get in touch and get involved!
COMMUNITY | DIALOGUE | EDUCATION | EXHIBITION
Desert Wind Coffee Roasters
7772 W Sahara Ave, Las Vegas, NV 89117
June 26th 2019 6.30pm-8.30pm
Brought to you by
Desert Wind Coffee Roasters – Desert Wind Coffee was created with true passion and a mission to provide our customers with the very best coffee possible, and freshness is the key to that mission.
Martin S Fuentes – Fine Art Documentarian – Bringing 20 years of global photo-journalism experience, Martin aspires to capture the genuine beauty that surrounds everyday life using visual scenery and unpredictable light to show perspective.
TRAVHOTECH – Knowledge | Experience | Execution | Realization – Utilizing 30 years of global current and practical experience TRAVHOTECH is a travel & hospitality technology consultancy with a focus on mentoring and advising technology vendors, leaders and the industry operator community.
FareStar Travel Club – The club with discounts normally reserved for travel industry insiders – exclusive travel pricing and premier lifestyle deals. FareStar Travel Club will reimburse 110% of the difference if you find a better deal* .