Version 2.3 (4 May 2011)

Chartering a New Workgroup

Any HTNG member in good standing, or any group of HTNG members, may propose a new workgroup. New workgroup proposals may be submitted on our website via the Workgroup Interest Form found on the Prospective Workgroup Efforts Page. HTNG staff will contact you regarding your submission and help you through the process of preparing an initial workgroup charter application. Upon completing your charter application, it will be submitted to a subcommittee of the HTNG Board of Directors for review and approval.

Charter Approval and Workgroup Governance

Initial discussions on a proposed workgroup are generally held with HTNG staff and other interested members and prospective members. The goal of the discussions is to produce a formal proposed charter. HTNG staff will help assess what may be needed in order to gain approval of the HTNG board subcommittee. The board subcommittee may accept the proposal, decline it, defer it, or provide recommendations to refine it. Accepted proposals become chartered workgroups, and the subcommittee will decide with which forum(s) your workgroup will be associated.

The HTNG board and subcommittees will prioritize proposed workgroup efforts according to available financial and management resources. The board may consider any factors it deems relevant in prioritizing proposed workgroups, including the breadth and magnitude of anticipated benefit, the level of interest expressed by existing members, the potential for rapid deliverable of meaningful results, and any available sponsorship funding.

Eligibility

Participation in HTNG workgroups is open to (a) companies that hold Corporate memberships in HTNG; (b) hospitality companies who have at least one employee who holds an Individual Hospitality membership in HTNG; (c) consulting companies or independent consultants, where the consultant or at least one employee of the company holds an Individual Industry Partner membership in HTNG. Allied members other than media may participate on a non-voting basis, except that voting rights may be granted at the discretion of HTNG to Association Partners whose specifications are being used by the workgroup. Allied media members may participate on a non-voting basis only if approved by a formal vote of the workgroup, which may attach restrictions on reporting in their discretion. HTNG staff, consultants, board members, and advisors may also participate on a non-voting basis.

Applicants' HTNG membership dues must be fully paid at the date of application, and other accounts with HTNG (whether for the member company itself or for any of its current or former appointed or registered participants for HTNG activities), must be no more than 30 days past due. Applications received from non-members and members whose dues are not current or whose other accounts are more than 30 days past due will not be considered to have been received until all amounts owed have been paid in full, and funds (or pending credit thereof) have been received and verified by HTNG.

Hospitality and individual industry partner (typically consultant) members of HTNG may participate as business advisors to an HTNG workgroup. The business advisor role is intended primarily for participating, on a non-voting basis, in meetings designated as business review meetings. Colleagues of Individual Hospitality Members not holding an HTNG membership may also participate in business review meetings based on the invitation of the workgroup.

Individuals who are not current members of HTNG may be eligible to participate in HTNG workgroups on a limited basis. This policy is intended to allow a workgroup to enlist expert assistance, on a volunteer basis, without requiring that the volunteers pay membership dues. This option requires the approval of HTNG management and a majority vote of the workgroup, which approval shall be for a term of no more than one year. Participation is always on a non-voting basis. Approval may be revoked at any time by HTNG or by majority vote of the workgroup, and expired or expiring approvals may be reinstated or extended by the same process as initial approvals. HTNG will generally not approve, and may revoke, non-member participation opportunities for companies that would expect to realize material commercial benefits, as a provider or consumer of technology products or services, from the workgroup's output.

Applications to Participate in Workgroups

New Workgroups

An open sign-up timetable and instructions will be announced when the workgroup has been chartered. Member companies of the forum with which the workgroup is associated (or of any associated forum, if more than one) who apply prior to the deadline will become initial voting members of the workgroup, provided that all applicable Membership Fees and Forum Fees have been paid no later than the deadline date.

Existing Workgroups

Applications to join active, chartered workgroups are subject to the policies established by each workgroup. Applications to join workgroups currently in maintenance mode are also subject to such policies, but because maintenance workgroups may meet on an as-needed basis, their consideration may be delayed unless you make HTNG aware of a particular issue that you wish to raise that would cause the workgroup to schedule a meeting.

Most active workgroups welcome new participants who have a business interest in their efforts, but occasionally a workgroup may defer new applications until a future date in order to avoid the need to bring new participants up to speed mid-project. All workgroups retain the right, by majority vote, to reject any applicant for any reason.

An application form is submitted to participate in an existing workgroup, and in many cases, admission requires a majority vote of the current voting members of the workgroup.

Forum Participation Fees

For most attendees at face-to-face forum meetings, the cost of participating is included in their annual membership dues. Exceptions apply to individual industry partner members, who must pay for each face-to-face meeting, and also to corporate industry partner members that send multiple participants to face-to-face meetings.

The current fees and policies can be found at our Forum Fees page.

Intellectual Property

All workgroup participants agree that they will contribute only intellectual property that they have the legal right and authorization to contribute. The owner of any contributed intellectual property retains all ownership rights. The Contributor agrees to disclose (in advance of, or at the time of, the contribution) any possible restrictions on the use or modification of contributed intellectual property, as well as any expectations of royalties. Such disclosure shall be made in writing to the workgroup chair or co-chairs, to the workgroup facilitator assigned by HTNG to the effort, and to HTNG's Chief Executive Officer. It shall also be included on the first page, or the first page after the title page, of any documents or artifacts submitted. If posted on HTNG's collaboration site, it shall also be included in the document description (header). In the absence of such written disclosure, it is understood that HTNG, its members, and the general public may use or modify the contributed property in any way authorized by HTNG, and that no royalties may be assessed by the contributor.

The form of the disclosure must be substantially as follows:

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY CLAIM

By providing this document to HTNG, I certify that I and/or [XYZ company] own or have the right to use any intellectual property contained within and that I am empowered to, and do, grant the rights to use and/or distribute and/or modify the information as presented, subject only to any limitations listed below. Additionally, neither I nor my company will seek any royalties or impose restrictions on such use, except to the extent that we have listed the specific intellectual property(ies), and the rights retained or restrictions imposed, below.

Limitations and reserved rights:

(list here, or state "None")

Without limitation, this section applies to contributions made (a) by posting to the HTNG collaboration website; (b) by electronic dissemination using workgroup mailing lists; (c) by electronic or nonelectronic dissemination to individual workgroup members, if those members could reasonably interpret said dissemination to be related to the workgroup effort; (d) by presentation before a meeting of the workgroup or other HTNG members, whether or not physically distributed; and (e) by requesting that HTNG staff or other HTNG members or workgroup participants effect the contribution on behalf of the Contributor.

Self-Governance

Each workgroup may set policies, which must be nondiscriminatory within any class of HTNG members, for qualification of new members, disqualification of existing members, provisional memberships, and similar items. Such policies may be established in the workgroup charter or by vote of the workgroup members. In the absence of workgroup-specific policies, HTNG may establish default policies, which shall be applied to all subsequently chartered or re-chartered workgroups unless and until they establish different policies.

Ongoing Participation Requirements

Workgroups may establish policies to remove members automatically based on failure to actively participate over an extended period of time. Workgroups may opt to remove a member from the workgroup roster after four months of non-activity (attendance and voting). The workgroup must have met for a minimum of three meetings in the four month period. Once removed, a member must reapply as a new applicant unless the workgroup provides an alternative procedure. Workgroups may also establish policies that revoke voting privileges based on repeated failures to vote; if they do so, they must also provide a means for regaining voting membership status. HTNG may also remove workgroup members who fail to pay ongoing membership or forum participation fees, or to pay other amounts due to HTNG.

Voting Policies

In order to ensure consistent application of the "one company, one vote" policy, the following rules cover situations where multiple individuals at one company might otherwise be eligible to vote. In this section, "corporate HTNG member" refers to the company holding a corporate membership in HTNG and also to any other affiliated companies that are covered by that membership (meaning that HTNG's membership policies permit them to use the membership, and they have explicitly or implicitly elected to do so rather than to hold a separate membership).

For each forum and workgroup of which they are a member, corporate HTNG members may designate one person as the voting representative. In case of disagreement as to who should be the voting representative, the designated owner of the HTNG membership will decide. A designated voting member may only vote on behalf of his/her employer OR, if he or she has been designated as a third-party voter by a member, may ONLY vote on behalf of that member. In other words, if you are covered by multiple memberships, you cannot vote twice.

If you hold an individual HTNG membership and are (or become) employed by a company that holds a corporate HTNG membership, then you may only vote on behalf of your employer, and only if you are designated to vote on your employer's behalf. For example, if you have an individual membership at one hotel company or as a consultant, and you become employed by a corporate HTNG member while your individual membership is still active, then your individual membership will lose its voting rights in all workgroups and forums, unless and until you terminate your employment.

If you and one or more other persons in your company (or in the same group of related companies) holds an individual HTNG membership, and if the company (and any affiliate) holds no corporate membership, then each individual member is entitled to vote, but if multiple such individuals vote on the same matter, each vote will count fractionally based on the number of such individuals voting.

Miscellaneous

By participating in a workgroup, you agree, individually and on behalf of your employer, to be bound by these policies.

By participating in a workgroup, you agree that workgroup meetings may be recorded for the benefit of members unable to attend. Notice of the intent to record a meeting will be provided in a notification of the meeting to members by e-mail at least 24 hours prior to the meeting. As a convenience, it will also be announced by the facilitator at the start of the meeting, but if you arrive late, you may not hear this announcement. Access to recorded meetings may only be provided on a nondiscriminatory basis to all members of the workgroup, to all members of the forum(s) with which it is associated, or to all members of HTNG.

Issues or objections to charter or workgroup formation process will be settled by the governing subcommittee. The subcommittee is authorized to speak on behalf of the HTNG board and membership.

These rules may be changed by HTNG at any time by publication on this website. The rules in effect at the time your application is submitted will govern your application. The rules in effect at any point in time govern ongoing participation.

Version History.

Contact HTNG for unlinked archived versions

Version 1.0 - 14 July 2004
Version 1.1 - 24 September 2004
Version 1.2 - 2 December 2004
Version 1.3 - 29 September 2005
Version 1.4 - 06 February 2006
Version 1.5 - 02 August 2006
Version 1.6 - 08 February 2007
Version 1.7 - 27 March 2007
Version 1.8 - 14 May 2009
Version 1.9 - 13 June 2009
Version 2.0 - 25 August 2009

Version 2.1 - 24 November 2009
Version 2.2 - 06 April 2011
Version 2.3 - 04 May 2011 - Current version  (Added Voting Policies section)