MINNEAPOLIS—TraknProtect has claimed the top industry innovation award in this year's Entrepreneur 20X competition at the Hospitality Industry Technology Exhibition and Conference, taking place this week at the Minneapolis Convention Center. Selected by a panel of judges comprised of hotel technology professionals, TraknProtect was honored with the Judges' Choice Award, which recognizes the most innovative hospitality technology startup solution each year.
The 2019 E20X competition featured presentations by eight competing startup companies. TraknProtect was ultimately selected following a presentation by Tim Hansen, the company's chief technology officer, on the advanced suite of location-based services, which includes a comprehensive safety button alert platform, in addition to advanced inventory-tracking technology.
"We couldn't be more honored to have been again singled out by industry experts as the most innovative technology solution this year," TraknProtect CEO/co-founder Parminder Batra said in a statement. "Our primary mission has always been to elevate the level of safety and security for our industry and to provide peace of mind to the hundreds of thousands of hotel staff members serving us worldwide. The recognition we received today is welcome validation that the solution we developed specifically for the hotel environment has the potential to meet those challenges."
The E20X Award comes on the heels of TraknProtect also being named a finalist in the HTNG TechOvation Awards at HT-Next, which was held in New Orleans in April. It also follows a series of announcements by major municipalities requiring hotels to provide safety alert devices for employees. Last week, New Jersey became the first state to announce similar requirements.
As winner of the Judges' Choice Award, TraknProtect will take home a $5,000 prize and has earned a guaranteed spot on HITEC show floors for the next 12 months. In addition, it will compete for the People's Choice Award, for which HITEC attendees will vote for their favorite technology solution, with votes submitted via the HITEC app. The winner of the People's Choice Award will be announced today.
The TraknProtect platform consists of a series of strategically placed hubs designed to interface directly with employee alert buttons and inventory tracking equipment. Using cloud-based technology, TraknProtect is able to triangulate the location of employees when a safety alert is activated and individual items of hotel inventory in real time. From there, the company's intuitive software is able to send immediate signals from active staff alert buttons based on their location or through user activation, which can then be received via desktop, SMS, email or phone calls.