AWS for Industries

Travel and Hospitality at re:Invent 2021 – Industry Attendee Guide

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We have an exciting re:Invent 2021 planned for customers in the travel and hospitality industry. This year, Amazon Web Services (AWS) heads back to Las Vegas to celebrate 10 years of AWS re:Invent with five keynotes, 20+ leadership sessions, and over 1,200 breakout and interactive sessions from November 29 through December 3—including several industry-specific sessions featuring travel and hospitality industry customer stories, solutions, and best practices. If you can’t make the trip, then you can still enjoy re:Invent 2021 virtually with free access to live keynotes and leadership sessions, plus access to on-demand breakout sessions. To get the most out of your re:Invent 2021 experience:

Travel and Hospitality Industry at re:Invent 2021

In the sessions below tailored for the travel and hospitality industry, you can learn directly from AWS customers and our own experts about using AWS for key industry use cases, as well as tips, tricks, and best practices.

Breakout sessions (available in-person and on demand)

AWS re:Invent breakout sessions are lecture-style and one hour long. These sessions take place across the re:Invent campus and cover topics at all levels. For our virtual attendees, breakout sessions will be available on-demand.

TRV201 — How data is driving the future growth of travel and hospitality
Monday, November 29, 1:45 PM – 2:45 PM PT
Location: Venetian
Travel and hospitality companies seek to transform their businesses by enhancing customer experiences and increasing operational efficiency. This requires using the incredible amount of data inherent in modern companies. And it must be done in a flexible, scalable, and cost-effective way that breaks down data silos, allows for the rapid development of microservices, enables self-service, and facilitates experimentation at scale. In this session, learn how Hilton and Starbucks are turning their data into insights and business results with AWS, accelerating recovery, and building what’s next on behalf of their customers.

Featured Speakers: Michael Leidinger, CIO, Hilton; Rajesh Naidu, VP, Starbucks; Steven M. Elinson, Worldwide Head of Restaurants & Food Service, AWS

TRV202 – Building what’s next in air travel
Monday, November 29, 6:15 PM – 7:15 PM PT
Location: Venetian
The COVID-19 pandemic forced air travel companies to innovate in ways that will impact and improve the way people fly for years to come. Whether you’re a travel and hospitality executive looking for practical advice or a curious traveler wondering how your customer experience will be different in the future, join this session to learn how Air Canada and United Airlines are using the power of AWS, including machine learning (ML), data, and analytics, to build what’s next in air travel.

Featured Speakers: Jason Birnbaum, SVP, United Airlines; Mark Nasr, SVP, Air Canada; Massimo Morin, Worldwide Head of Travel & Passenger Airlines, AWS

Interactive sessions (available in-person)

TRV301 – Travel & hospitality data platform for democratizing enterprise data
Tuesday, November 30, 1:15 PM – 2:15 PM PT
Location: Wynn
In this technical chalk talk for architects, engineering leaders, and infrastructure teams, you will learn from AWS industry experts how to use the data mesh methodology to build a data lake/lake house architecture and an operational data store for customer and operations data with the ability to separate compute and storage and implement schema-on-read. Discover how to do this by using NoSQL databases and implementing open standards like Parquet, JSON, and Avro to meet the needs of the agile enterprise. Finally, learn how this method democratizes access to data and accelerates the building of digital applications while reducing the total cost of ownership.

Featured Speakers: Paul Armstrong, Principal Solutions Architect EMEA, AWS; Bib Shukla, Senior Customer Delivery Architect, AWS

TRV302 – Creating 360-degree views for personalized customer experiences
Tuesday, November 30, 7:15 PM – 8:15 PM PT
Location: Wynn
In this technical chalk talk for architects, engineering leaders, and infrastructure teams, you will learn from AWS industry experts how to create a 360-degree view of travelers and guests by leveraging customer data management tools (MDMs) for known customers and customer data platform tools (CDPs) for anonymous customers. Discover how to derive customer insights and use them to provide personalized offers and interactions in the digital channels and contact centers.

Featured Speakers: Jorge Alfaro, Enterprise Solutions Architect, AWS; Mike Gomez, Enterprise Support Lead, AWS

TRV303 – Travel and hospitality cloud migration approaches that work
Thursday, December 2, 3:15 PM – 4:15 PM PT
Location: Wynn
Join this technical chalk talk to learn about the common characteristics of successful cloud migrations. These have been compiled from the experiences of and lessons learned by AWS customers and Partners around the world over the last few years in countless successful travel and hospitality (T&H) cloud migration projects.

Featured Speakers: Jorge Fonesca, Senior Solutions Architect, AWS; SriHari Thotapalli, Worldwide Technology Leader, AWS

TRV304 – Build brand loyalty with guest experience transformation
Wednesday, December 1, 9:15 AM – 10:15 AM PT
Location: Wynn
Airlines and hotels are experts at delivering guest experiences with the charm of traditional hospitality. They are now realizing the potential of cutting-edge technology to deliver transformative guest experiences and drive brand loyalty. In this technical chalk talk, learn how to use the possibilities of the AWS Cloud to create seamless, elevated, and memorable experiences throughout the guest journey: before they book, during their stay or flight, and after they depart. Join this technical chalk talk to learn about building technology solutions for use cases such as messaging platforms, experience automation, and contactless experience.

Featured Speakers: SriHari Thotapalli, Worldwide Technology Leader, AWS; Nicola Pietroluongo, Senior Solutions Architect, AWS

TRV401 – Third-party ordering with AWS serverless
Wednesday, December 1, 6:15 PM – 7:15 PM PT
Location: Wynn
Third-party online ordering aggregators and delivery marketplaces have changed the way people order from restaurants. Last year, the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the adoption of these services. Restaurants with existing connections to third parties bolstered integrations, while restaurants without them scrambled to integrate with partners such as DoorDash, GrubHub, Olo, Postmates, and Slice. Customers expect high levels of service from restaurants, and the differences between third-party and first-party channels mean that new technology approaches are required. In this technical chalk talk, learn how AWS’s serverless computing provides ways for restaurants to quickly build and integrate with online ordering partners while improving scalability and reliability and reducing operating costs as compared to traditional approaches.

Featured Speakers: Eric Tobin, Solutions Architect, AWS; Leland Johnson, Solutions Architect, AWS

Join us in the Consumer Lounge

If you are attending in-person, then stop by, relax, and chat with our experts. Ask questions and review demonstrations about how you can build what’s next for travel and hospitality with AWS solutions. So stop by, take a break, and network with AWS industry subject matter experts, partners, and other customers to get the most out of your re:Invent experience.

Connected Consumer Lounge
Location: Caesars Forum

Monday, November 29, 10AM – 7PM
Tuesday, November 30, 10AM – 6:30PM
Wednesday, December 1, 8AM – 6:30PM
Thursday, December 2, 10AM – 5PM
Friday, December 3, 8AM – 12PM

Travel and Hospitality Industry Attendee Guide

Download the full Travel and Hospitality Industry Attendee Guide to get further information on industry sessions, activities, and “how to re:Invent.”

Travel Hospitality Attendee Guide 2021

We can’t wait to see you there!

Looking to learn more about how digital transformation is accelerating in the travel and hospitality industry due to COVID-19? AWS partnered with SKIFT on a survey exploring the industry’s progress. Hear from over 1,000 travel industry executives who oversee technology decisions at their organizations: reserve your copy of the 2021 Digital Transformation Report.

David Peller

David Peller

David Peller serves as Managing Director, Travel and Hospitality for AWS, the global industry practice with a charter to support customers as they accelerate cloud adoption. Before joining AWS, David held various leadership roles in Singapore, Australia, the Netherlands, the United States and the United Kingdom, in travel and hospitality technology businesses. He has been both an entrepreneur and founder, as well as being part of the launch team of a restaurant business in the UK. He is a qualified Solicitor in the UK, holds a Bachelor in Legal Studies from King’s College, University of London, and a Postgraduate Diploma in Legal Studies from the London College of Law.