HTNG TEAMS WITH JAPAN HOSPITALITY TECHNOLOGY ASSOCIATION ON INTEROPERABILITY STANDARDS

Alliance Will Help Enhance Guest Experiences by Bringing Latest Technologies to Japan’s Hospitality Industry

BANGKOK, THAILAND (April 9, 2025) – The American Hotel and Lodging Association (AHLA) today announced a collaboration between Hospitality Technology Next Generation (HTNG), its hotel technology network, and the newly formed Japan Hospitality Technology Association (JHTA). This alliance will allow Japanese hotels to use HTNG’s standardized interfaces to improve efficiency and make guest experiences more seamless and consistent.

JHTA was created in March 2025 to promote data standardization in Japan, advance the use of industry data, and support implementation of new technology, among other goals. Under the agreement announced today, JHTA will translate HTNG’s globally adopted technology interoperability standards from English to Japanese for use in Japan. JHTA plans to create its own standard extensions to better support the specific needs of Japanese businesses.

“HTNG’s mission is to put the collective wisdom of hospitality technology leaders to work in solving common problems and unlocking global business potential,” said David Sjolander, CAE, Vice President of AHLA for HTNG Operations. “Our collaboration with JHTA represents a major advance in that mission.”

“Our collaboration with AHLA, representing Hotel & Lodging industry in the United States, will enhance our interoperability with global standards.” said Yuuki Kameoka, Director of JHTA. “We are thrilled to reinforce the international competitiveness of the Japanese Lodging and Tourism industry.”

The collaboration was announced at the HTNG Connect: Asia-Pacific 2025 meeting in Bangkok, which brought hospitality technology professionals together from around the world to hear from top experts about trends in the sector.

About Hospitality Technology Next Generation (HTNG), a network of The American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA)
 
HTNG, within the American Hotel and Lodging Association (AHLA), is the preeminent community addressing technology solutions in the hospitality industry. HTNG comprises participants from hospitality companies, technology vendors to hospitality, consultants, and academic experts. HTNG’s members participate in focused workgroups to bring to market open solution sets addressing specific business problems. HTNG fosters the selection and adoption of existing open standards and also develops new open standards to meet the needs of the global hospitality industry. HTNG publishes workgroup proceedings, drafts and specifications for all HTNG members as soon as they are created, encouraging rapid and broad adoption. HTNG releases specifications into the public domain as soon as they are ratified by the workgroups. For more information, visit https://www.ahla.com/htng.

About AHLA

The American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA) is the largest hotel association in America, representing more than 30,000 members from all segments of the industry nationwide – including iconic global brands, 80% of all franchised hotels, and the 16 largest hotel companies in the U.S. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., AHLA focuses on strategic advocacy, communications support, and workforce development programs to move the industry forward. Learn more at www.ahla.com.

About Japan Hospitality Technology Association (JHTA)

JHTA is an organization created in March 2025 to strengthen the industry’s international competitiveness by accelerating digital technology and digital transformation in the Japanese lodging industry and by increasing productivity in Japan’s tourism industry. For more information, visit https://j-hta.org/ (Japanese only).