Real Talk from HITEC

We're back from Indianapolis, and HITEC 2025 didn't hold back. We even dodged a few tornadoes. It was another busy and insightful week at hospitality’s biggest tech event, and we’ve rounded up the highlights for you. In this edition:

• Wi-Fi > AI? – Solving real problems > fancy buzzwords.
• The Real Talk from HITEC – Outcome-driven thinking is taking over.

Let's get started.

Turns out, the real MVP is still good Wi-Fi. 

At HITEC, we expected to hear about AI in every conversation. To our surprise, that wasn't the case at all. Here’s what actually dominated the floor:

- “How do I speed up deployments?”
- “How can I expand services and actually make money?”
- “Help me solve real-world customer issues.”

It wasn’t about innovation for innovation’s sake. It was about getting efficient, getting healthy, and making things work—today, not in the distant future.

“I’ve got 1,000 problems, and none of them are AI.”

It Wasn't About Buzzwords

Sure, you saw the words AI, ML, LLM, etc., but they weren’t the center of the conversation. People didn’t come to be dazzled. They came to get help.

Real issues came first:

- Supply chain friction
- Deployment delays
- Cost pressures
- Fragmented outcomes

MSPs, ownership groups, and brands weren’t shopping for hype. They wanted solutions, and solutions that work now.

Solving problems, not selling promises.

For us, HITEC was about meeting with MSPs, hotel brands, and property owners, and helping them all move forward. Everyone was chasing better outcomes, and the real insights came from everywhere: the hallway, the dinner table, the dessert line. What we heard:

- Consistency matters (a lot).
- Ownership groups want to deliver a uniform experience across every property.
- Open, cost-effective, and easy-to-deploy solutions are winning hearts.
- "I don’t want to be locked in" was a common refrain.

A New AP? Built in Real Time

One of our favorite moments was a meeting with a customer and a hardware partner that turned into a live product session. The customer shared a challenge. We shared ideas. The supplier asked, “How many would you buy?” Just like that, a brand-new AP concept was born. You might even see it in the wild sooner than you think. 

Outcomes > Hardware

The conversations weren’t about specs, they were about results:
- Better guest experience
- Faster installs
- Shorter project timelines
- Happier MSPs (and customers)

The takeaway: people are craving consistency, simplicity, and efficiency. Saving over 50% on install time per AP? That’s not a footnote. That’s a huge business advantage, especially when you’re managing hundreds of properties.

Let’s Keep the Conversation Going 

 What did you see at HITEC? Any surprises?

Let us know your thoughts! We want to hear from you. 👇

Oh, and if you want one of our new Shasta hats (because of course you do), send us a message or tell us where you'd wear it. 🎩 

Thanks for Reading The Shasta Summit!

Stay tuned for more from the Shasta Cloud team, and thanks to those that spoke with us at HITEC. We're looking forward to next year already.

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