HFTP inducts 2 into Technology Hall of Fame

Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals inducted Jeff Bzdawka and Jeff Edwards into the HFTP International Hospitality Technology Hall of Fame during Hospitality Industry Technology Exposition and Conference this week in Orlando. 

Both industry veterans are recognized for their experience and leadership in promoting hospitality innovation and technology. Bzdawka serves as CEO at Knowland. Edwards is senior vice president of property, owner and enterprise products and platforms at IHG Hotels & Resorts. 

Since 1989, 51 individuals have received this award as a reflection of their contributions to the hospitality industry. 

Bzdawka’s hospitality journey began as a corporate management trainee at Hyatt Hotels Corp., where he spent 20 years across two stints with the brand. In his years at Hyatt, Bzdawka identified a need to improve occupancy forecasting to support labor scheduling. This initiative led to the development of a program used by multiple Hyatt properties to streamline processing and improve operational efficiencies. Later, as senior vice president of global technology at Hyatt, he orchestrated the successful self-hosting model for Opera PMS, introducing digital experiences that simplified the front-office environment.

Bzdawka has also served as head of Pegasus Financial Services and senior vice president of service delivery at Pegasus Solutions. While at Pegasus, he introduced an electronic reconciliation and tracking product to reduce friction points between supply-and-demand channels, improving supply chain experience and reducing time to market substantially.

Today, Bzdawka holds the role of CEO at Knowland, where he leads the company to enable faster, smarter decisions and stronger performance for hospitality’s group business through its data insights.

“I am honored to be inducted into the Hall of Fame, amongst so many accomplished leaders in our industry,” Bzdawka said. “This recognition goes beyond me to the many mentors, peers, colleagues and organizations who have influenced me and supported me along this journey. As a lifelong learner, I strive to continuously grow, and I am thankful to HFTP for giving me a platform to do that as well as help others along the way.”

Edwards has worked across the board for vendors, consumer brands and major hotel brands. Throughout these roles, Edwards has championed the use of technology to advance the industry and create lasting change. His contributions to distribution and reservation technology, as well as hotel brand and owner technology, have been legacies to the hospitality industry, according to HFTP.

During his time as president of Amadeus’ hotel division, Edwards led a team that developed a next-generation approach to a cloud-based reservation system. This new approach established greater flexibility in managing hotel inventory and enabled greater visibility into consumer options compared to the legacy tools of the past. Edwards has more recently been focused on advancing IHG Concerto, IHG’s proprietary hotel operating platform. Previous to his roles at IHG and Amadeus, Edwards served as CIO for Wyndham Hotel Group, president and CEO of OpenTable, and president at Micros-Fidelio.

“Being inducted to the Hall of Fame is a true career honor, as it is a recognition by my industry peers,” Edwards said. “I am pleased to be alongside a group of outstanding professionals, each with their own specialties all culminating in the excellence and progress of the hospitality technology industry.”