Joyce Christmas, William Duncan, Ed Hollinshead, Joseph Marko and William Sullivan will be given 2007 Hospitality Technology Awards of Merit at the June 26 opening of the 35th annual Hospitality Industry Technology Exposition and Conference (HITEC) in Orlando.

Created in 2002, the award aims to link the origins of hospitality technology to the present by recognizing people who have made significant contributions to the field.

The award will go to Christmas for her coverage and promotion of hospitality technology in The CKC Report, an industry newsletter published by Chervenak, Keane and Co. The late Larry Chervenak, Christmas's husband, was one of the founders of HITEC. Christmas also is the author of numerous works of fiction.

A pioneer in hotel sales automation, Duncan helped grow Newmarket Software Systems and founded Daylight Software. He also has served as a technical consultant to numerous companies in the computer financial services and health-care industries.

Marko, also involved in sales automation, was director of hotel systems for Sheraton's North American Division, where he developed the industry's first sales office automation project (SOAP). He also introduced Fidelio to the Americas as founder of Fidelio USA.

Sullivan is an expert in hospitality systems design and operations who for 31 years worked at the DuPont Company, largely in hospitality operations. He is employed by the Shaner Hotel Group in partnership with the University of Delaware, where he also is managing director of the Courtyard Newark.

Hollinshead will be honored for his contributions to hospitality automation. As co-founder of Micor, he designed the first automated room status reporting system to use a CRT display — in 1969. He also was a PMS pioneer in the Micor II and Micor III, which were adopted by Marriott and Hyatt in the early 1970s.

The latest HITEC will take place June 25-28 at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando. In addition to showcasing the hotel industry's largest trade show, it will debut the Club Technology Pavilion and showcase, for the second year in a row, Guestroom 2010.