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This will become a big trend for hospitality industry. Since the front desk department or room service is always busy during peek hours, and to be able to get a hold of them is extremely difficult; this technology will cut a lot of tasks for the hotel and make the guests feel much more convenience.

This kind of advanced software provide the hoteliers with a good way to do the marketing research and do the analysis. All the hotels can get benefit. Even more, the customers can improve their experience if the hotels do a good job on marketing.

As I am getting older, I have had the joy of attending many weddings of close friends and family. Currently, I have been helping my best friend plan her wedding and I stumbled upon this. I think this article provides a few interesting pointers for the "big day." The big day doesn't have to use all the electricity in the world, or require you to cut down a bunch of trees. This article highlights ways to make your wedding more eco-friendly. For wedding invitations, use recycled paper. This also goes for thank you notes and name cards. Everything that goes into a wedding is made from something. Try to buy locally- it supports small businesses as well local vendors. When picking a venue, try to think about travel costs for relatives and friends. While having your wedding at the Biltmore may be beautiful, A quiet farm in Homestead or even a small wedding on the beach may be nice. No electricity is needed then. When arriving at your wedding, you may want to think about providing your guests with a shuttle service. This will drastically cut down on the amount of chemical emissions released into the air. Try to use flowers that are in season in order to reduce the amount of chemicals and pesticides used. Fresh flowers smell better and look nicer. Green Weddings: By the Numbers 2.3 million: Number of couples that get married in the US each year. That breaks down to more than 6,300 weddings a day. $20,000: The average budget of a wedding in the U.S.; this number increases to £16,000 ($31,222) in the U.K. and decreases to €12,000 ($15,782) in France. 14.5 tonnes: The amount of CO2 created by the average wedding in the U.K. 80 percent: The percentage of gold minded each year that goes into jewelry, out of 2500 tons. 50 years: Length of time the current amount of already-mined gold could satisfy demand; much of it currently sits in bank vaults and in old, unused jewelry.

Every restaurant manager is highly concerned about guest satisfaction. This article touches on how accounting systems are theoretically used to increase customer satisfaction in the restaurant. The article first points out to focus on the 'four parts of the meal'; these are the food quality, culinary experience, the service experience, and the aesthetic experience. They take these four dimensions and create and accounting system around their expectations which was inspired by activity-based costing. Meaning they value the customer experience more than the cost of making the product. The metaphor the article uses to simplify this theory, "A pinch of salt costs nothing, but may make a large contribution to the experienced value of a bowl of lobster soup". Another important input that an accounting system has is being able to monitor customer expectations and assessment of the meal. This is a great tool for managers to be able to keep track of customer data.

Though essentially an update from one company regarding personnel acquisitions, this article features the next generation of cloud-based property management systems. It also indicates, based on the growth of this company, that properties are willing to invest in cloud-based technologies rather than suffer the constant depreciation and maintenance that goes with traditional, in-house servers. As with other systems, the two most important items will be reliability and security. If both are provided by PAR Springer-Miller while reducing cost for hoteliers, both sides can potentially benefit. This system is also "built for the cloud", so it's not an online adaptation of a previous system. This may again help improve reliability and security.

I found this article of the rise of e-commerce in Kenya very interesting. We have been discussing GDS and e-commerce from an American point of view and it is great to note that African countries are also taking note of the importance of catering to customers through e-commerce.  Kenya's hospitality industry understands that more people travel nowadays than ever before, and the industry also understand that most customers prefer to book online on their own. The author of the article suggests and predicts that hospitality companies in Kenya will be capitalizing on the growth of Internet and mobile penetration in Africa. 

Delphi, by Newmarket Inc., is a Property Management System that continuously improves its ability and popularity year after year. As of November of 2014, Delphi has released its latest version, Delphi 2015. Globally speaking, there are over 100,000 Newmarket technology users that access these systems in over 150 countries daily. Delphi is a PMS system that can collect, distribute and manage RFP distribution within any set of properties. Recently, they adapted StarCite RFP integration and are announcing a partnership with MeetingBroker, another reporting engine. Both StarCite and MeetingBroker allow proposal requests to automatically populate in selected Delphi accounts, bridging the gap between consumer and seller much more quickly and accurately. I have personally used Delphi on a daily basis over the past year at work and I can honestly see the huge benefit these types of systems can have. It's ability to interface with Synxis, Opera and other room reservation systems is crucial in successfully reaching perfect occupancy numbers. On an event management level, it can merge legal-binding documents specific to that event. At the same time, it can hold a certain amount of guestrooms or certain event space for certain prices at certain times. These room holds interface with reservations and front office departments while the space holds interface with catering, banquet, accounting, and convention services departments. Delphi is an incredible tool that is the true foundation to property-wide events. It's ability to manage rooms, space, menus and revenues is a lifeline to the success of many properties.

I found this interesting interview of Tina Hoang-To by Jeanette Mulvey. Tina describes what led to the creation of Wedding Spot (the stress of her own wedding) and the growth her company is continually experiencing.  Wedding Spot allows couples to browse, price and compare wedding venues around their preferred location, eliminating the stress of having to visit a high number of different places in order to get of quote. As she described it, I realized it was very similar to what Yelp does for restaurants and bars.  I am not currently planning a wedding but I went browsing through the website and in my opinion this can prove to be an invaluable tool for brides and grooms to be as it saves them time and reduces their stress. It also has a feature that allows users to set a budget.  As more venues join Wedding Spot, I am sure it is only a matter of time before it is a necessary first step to planning a wedding and choosing a venue. 

Timing and mobility to conduct business is the key. Mobile devices can make transactions fast and seamless. In the customers point of view, hospitality is all about experience and meeting expectations. Utilization of appropriate technology can create personal service and success.

By reading this article it is clear that customers want mobile POS systems. 69.6% of business drivers that influence the restaurant industry believe that mobile POS systems are needed. Mobile POS system are the hot new item in the restaurant industry. They allow the customers to take control of their experience and make it ask quickly or slow as they would like. We are living in a world of instant gratification and the technology in hospitality is no different. It sounds absurd that we can't wait on a human being to take our order or pay our check but it is true. The rate that people are working in today's time does not allow down time while dining so to add in some extra time we are using the assistance of technology. When asked about the top features in a POS system the highest was mobile phone integration at 45.8%. This comes as no surprise, we now do everything on our mobile devices. They are more than just phones or tablets anymore, they store and control our lives. We can pay bills, order items on the internet, make reservations, check the weather etc… all with a touch of a button so why shouldn't dining be any different. It will be very interesting to see what technology comes about in the next two years and if our way of dining out will be totally transformed.

This article is about how important e-marketing is important to the hotel business. Since technology is evolving hoteliers are marketing their businesses on the internet. Building a brand is important but what is equally important is understanding what the consumer is looking for and their online behavior. Developing a plan on how to catch the attention of a consumer is very essential. The internet have made the distance of reaching new consumers easier. This will help anyone run a successful business because you have a worldwide audience.

Swiss Cruise company is starting to use a virtual assistant to answer passengers' questions.

MSC Cruises is rolling out a virtual assistant in passenger cabins called Zoe that will answer spoken questions. It can improve its answers with continual research based on the interactions it has. Zoe was programmed to answer the 800 most common questions - queries about excursions or onboard restaurants, for example - and variations of those questions in seven languages. The questions were gleaned from staff members and from data collected from the ships' guest services desks.

Professor Susskind said that traditional marketing in the travel industry had evolved: "You run the risk of not being able to compete effectively in the marketplace without these enhanced approaches."

Facial recognition technology is not meant to replace the human factor. Rather, it can boost existing processes by improving efficiency, identification and convenience. Technology such as "face geometry" brings a lot of excitement to the events industry. Zenus facial recognition software allows event planners to identify attendees by searching a database of faces in real-time. The main idea is to make the check-in process faster, provide higher security and receive some feedback in a unique way. Neither attendee's e-mails or names, or any personal information is transferred. Human face emerges as a key to security for distinguishing individuals. The registration platform makes images anonymous and sends them to a cloud-based service, where de-identified images are processed and therefore instantly deleted. All data is also discarded after the event, which gives a peace of mind to the event planners and attendees, because of identity theft concerns. With some adjustments and further developments, Zenus facial recognition software will be able to determine emotions of crowds and extract demographic data such as age or gender. With this cloud-based facial recognition software, event planners will be able to quantify whether your guests were interested in one speaker over another, or whether they were engaged or if they were really a good target market for the event.

Not everyone may not familiar with the accounting journal entries that happened in restaurants and hotels since food sales and staying at a hotel are not quite the same as normal goods being sold in a retail sore. In this article, the author has introduced the accounting records and record journal entries which restaurants and hotels set to keep track of business transactions. The whole process includes four main parts: recording revenue, costs of sales, operating expenses, and capital purchases.

This article focuses on millennial's and how dependent they are on technology when traveling and/or exploring places to eat. It is highly encouraged by travel agencies and the food/entertainment indusrty to promote their services through apps and current technological trends. Millennial's like the ability to check themselves in the hotel, book reservations, pay bills, ect. at their convenience. More hotels are implementing radio frequency identification (RFID) key card, which only allows the electricity to be turned on once the key is inserted. This helps in decreasing hotel electricity cost. Not only does it reduce electricity cost, but it also saves energy from our planet. Hotels are targeting business travelers, millenial's, and leisure travelers due to proper mobile strategy in place, a study in 2016 showed that 75% from search and 51% of revenue come from mobile devices. SaaS is increasing in demand, especially from hotels and hospitality companies. Hotels are able to cut down on operating costs since SaaS is cheaper with no initial hardware costs and no need to hire full time IT staff to maintain the system, Hotels and restaurants are going paperless practicing sustainability and going green. Technology is helping elevate the hospitality and tourism world by providing more accessibility and exposure targeted to the specific demands of today's world.

This article emphasizes the fact that Chinese consumers is thriving in outbound travel. The number of people in China traveling is expected to increase from the current number of 150 million trips to 700 millions trips in the upcoming five years. With its significant growth, Marriott is taking extra measures to capture the eye of the interest of Chinese travelers. The Chinese e-commerce giant, Alibaba Group and Marriott declared a joint venture with their main purpose of building guest loyalty and uplifting the traveling experience for the Chinese market. With the increased income for the average Chinese middle class, traveling to the United States and Europe has become popular. Therefore, enabling "Alipay" through Fliggy (which is Alibaba's travel service platform) assists Chinese consumers to conveniently access digital pay for their trips. This particular venture was a huge stepping stone in forming the relationship with the known e-commerce company. Particular information pertaining to Chinese travelers, such as favored promotions, programs, and content also became more accessible to Marriott as this venture launched. Marriott's owners as well as franchisees are expecting to grasp these information to seize an ever growing Chinese travel market. Although Alipay is only available in certain Asia-Pacific hotels, it is expected to expand to the U.S. markets as well as the European market. Easy to use technology will aid in all steps of the booking process, starting from planning, booking, to paying and even managing a particular trip. Additionally, for Chinese consumers, Alipay, as mentioned above, is the main method of payment for Alibaba. 80% of e-commerce is made in Alibaba. Finally, this joint venture also enhances a crossover loyalty program feature. Through Marriott and Alibaba's loyalty program, point will be exchangeable and redeemable to further enhance consumer satisfaction.

This article is about the fast casual restaurant chain Vita Mojo and how they have incorporated software that has enabled them to provide a fully customizable meal service to their guests. With over 9 billion possible meal combinations, Vita Mojo uses iPads at their three locations to help customers create a fully customizable meal. The average lunch costs between $6.50 and $9.50 which is on average with most fast casual restaurants in London. Customer's are also able to create their meals based on the nutritional information of each ingredient and offering, and the average meal takes about 3 to 5 minutes to create. This software also enables Vita Mojo to track POS data and aids them with predicting future sales, reducing food waste, and staying on top of trends. Being a restaurant manager myself, I found this incorporation of softwares into the restaurant industry very fascinating. I can see how the POS tracking software would be extremely beneficial in menu planning and managing cost of goods, as well as continuously being able to adapt and stay on top of new dining trends. So much of what makes restaurants successful is the ability to evolve and adapt with consumer needs and expectations. Also, the ability to customize your own meal accompanied with nutritional information seems very appealing from a consumer's point of view. Our generation has become more interested in expressing themselves uniquely and creatively, while also being more health conscious, and Vita Mojo has found away to appeal to both senses. The incorporation of iPad ordering and the minimizing of labor costs has also enabled Vita Mojo to price itself competitively, while offering higher quality ingredients, while also providing their goods in a timely fashion.