Choice Hotels' 11th Mastery Tech Summit: AI, CTFs, and Make-a-Thons

Choice Hotels kicks off 11th Mastery Tech Summit

Choice Hotels International launched its 11th annual Mastery Tech Summit in Scottsdale on Feb 27, 2026, with over 800 associates in a week-long push to bake tech into hospitality. Some attendees call it a smart investment in staff skills and product-led growth, while others grumble it’s a splashy internal event that risks being more PR than pipeline.

Hot take interlude: sounds like every conference ever — lots of energy, a little ego, and snacks.

AWS AI League competitions: building real-world models

The summit hosted an AWS AI League where teams raced to build AI solutions aimed at guest experiences and operations. Fans argue these contests accelerate practical AI adoption and surface deployable prototypes quickly; skeptics warn that hackathon-style timelines encourage brittle models, shortcut evaluation, and can mask long-term maintenance costs.

Capture the Flag cybersecurity challenge

Security got its Gladiator moment with a Capture the Flag exercise. Proponents say hands-on CTFs are the best way to upskill staff and simulate attack thinking, while critics note that gamified scenarios may not mirror the messy, persistent attacks production systems face and can give a false sense of readiness.

Quick palate cleanser: yes, it’s educational. No, finding a flag doesn’t mean your firewalls are magical.

Make-a-Thon: prototypes that might go live

Engineers spent sprint sessions in a Make-a-Thon building software aimed at hotel ops — booking tweaks, staff tools, and guest-facing features. Optimists point out that winning projects could be rolled out company-wide, turning prototypes into real value. Pessimists counter that rapid builds often lack integration planning, user testing, and the security hygiene needed for a production push.

Final quip: if your MVP ships with duct tape and optimism, remember both can fail quietly and loudly.

Bottom line: Choice Hotels’ summit turned up the volume on in-house innovation — fun, useful, and full of the usual trade-offs between speed and robustness.

Sources:

• techcrunch.com
• finviz.com