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To many consumers, the future of being able to walk into a store, pull something off of a shelf and leave without the hassle of the checkout process sounds like Jetsons-futuristic-type stuff

For example, Uber lets consumers get a ride to wherever they want to go without ever having to pull out their wallet to pay.

Because customers enrolled in your loyalty program may permit you to acquire data about their purchases, you can personalize your customer's shopping experiences even more while they’re right there in the store with specific offers that complement their buying preferences.

One of the most basic needs of any business is the ability to accurately track sales and other vital transactions.

POS (Point Of Sale) systems provide automatic record keeping solutions along with many other advantages that can help small businesses succeed in a competitive economy.

A POS system typically consists of software installed on a cash register terminal that communicates with another standard computer that stores transaction data and other vital information that is vital to maintaining a business’s bottom line.

Automating daily operations and administrative tasks is an important part of achieving customer satisfaction as it helps provide reliable and quality service time after time. A hotel is a complex system that encompasses the activities of many departments, and every operation must be tracked. For this purpose, hoteliers utilise various tools including spreadsheets, paper forms, and unified property management systems. In this article, we’ll talk about property management systems (PMSs) that handle reservations, front- and back-office operations, channel management, and more. You’ll learn about the main functions of PMSs, compare products available from different providers, and receive recommendations on how to choose the most suitable system for your hospitality business.

A property management system (PMS) is software that facilitates a hotel’s reservation management and administrative tasks. The most important functions include front-desk operations, reservations, channel management, housekeeping, rate and occupancy management, and payment processing.

Technologies in the hospitality industry constantly develop, offering new functions and modules to optimise daily operations. A well-chosen PMS can improve service by making check-in and check-out processes smoother, automating housekeeping, and supporting the creation of a guest profile to provide guests with special offers and further information about the hotel.

a central reservation system that allows travel agencies and their clients to access travel knowledge, buy and compare reservations choices and book travel

connects the travel service suppliers or vendors to the travel agencies in real-time, by providing a centralized service that covers the bookings of airline tickets and more.

The leading global distribution systems are Amadeus, Sabre, Galileo, and Worldspan.

The pandemic has sparked a surge in mobile apps’ usage, prompting users to go online to complete any kind of transaction

Google and Apple, two technology giants, announced a COVID-19 contact tracing framework that uses Bluetooth to help governments and health officials reduce the virus’s spread.

Contact tracing with the aid of beacons works only with a corresponding app to track and curb the spread of the virus. 

Many small businesses are swapping out traditional cash registers for iPads and credit card processors like Square.

Revel Systems hopes to be the go-to iPad-powered, comprehensive POS platform for restaurants.

Along with the iPad-friendly cash register, Revel Systems can be completely customized for payroll, inventory tracking, web ordering, email receipts and more.

The beauty of the cloud-based POS format is how scalable and customizable it is—it can work for single-location full service and quick service restaurants, multi-location restaurants, and restaurant groups alike.

Most cloud-based POS systems also update with new features as technology improves across the industry—something you’re unlikely to get with a legacy POS system.

Cloud solutions facilitate faster, easier, and more extensive business insights, which can help you make strategic decisions. By connecting what’s happening in the back of the house to the front, restaurant operators get a holistic picture of how the business is running

One benefit is that since it keeps track of the company's existing inventory, it automatically generates orders when the stock reaches a certain level. No one has to remember to check those levels manually, because that is done for them and thus it prevents inventory levels of crtical items from running out.

Another important benefit of purchasing software is that it simply speeds up the purchasing process.

Furthermore, the software eliminates confusion that sometimes occurs when orders are received.

According to a release, customers will initially be able to pay with Square Wallet at Blue Bottle’s Oakland, Brooklyn, and San Francisco Mint Plaza locations, with the company rolling out Square to its remaining stores in the coming months.

Blue Bottle will use Square Register as its full point-of-sale system (Starbucks does not use Square Register) to accept cash and credit card payments, track inventory, and monitor daily reports. Customers will also be able to use Square Wallet to make purchases just by saying their names.

While Blue Bottle is certainly not at the same scale as Starbucks, small to mid size chains still represent a huge opportunity for Square. A number of small, regional chains are using Square Register and payments including, Pitango Gelato in DC and Baltimore (5 locations), Cafe Grumpy in NYC (4 locations) Amy’s Ice Cream (13 locations) and Cartel Coffee Lab in Phoenix and Tucson (5 locations).

restaurateurs are struggling to find streamlined solutions that can keep them engaged, and keep profits on the rise

use technology to create and maintain a loyal customer base.

compatible technology

A point-of-sale (POS) transaction is what takes place between a merchant and a customer when a product or service is purchased, commonly using a point of sale system to complete the transaction.

In its most basic definition, a POS system is a combination of POS hardware and POS software to create a POS machine for processing a transaction and payment.

a POS terminal is the electronic equipment performing the sales transaction and processing the credit card payments. Used in most storefront businesses, a computer terminal combined with the POS software helps to manage everyday sales transactions and operations.

Many restaurants have turned to tech in the last couple of years, even if reluctantly, to adapt to a new reality.

1. Online ordering systems and delivery apps

he food delivery market is now worth more than $150 billion globally, which has more than tripled since 2017 largely attributed to the pandemic, according to statistics from McKinsey.

As was mentioned above, the retail POS systems help in the sales transactions processes. The POS systems are one of the simplest and they are created in a way to operate with the purchase processes in ease and efficient way. Hence, the software has options for entering data which could possibly represent the whole inventory in the shop, for example. Additionally, when the purchase is made, the system automatically counts down the item from the inventory list and helps in that way contributes for improved inventory management. Also, regarding the customer relationship management and providing sales reports, there are other settings that could additionally be set in the particular POS software and all that for the purpose business operations to be more productive. Apart of the retail businesses, hotels and restaurants should have more complex POS systems. This is due to the fact that in such businesses which are service orientated, the POS software applied should be able, for example, to customize various orders from different tables and in alignment with that to keep track on price variations. The fact is that the POS systems that apply to service sector businesses such as restaurants, hotels and fast food businesses should be able to customize and manage multiple orders. Either the example is for fast food business, or dining out restaurant or even a hotel, POS software should operate with various orders made during the service process, and still providing the right bill for the right table, or the right bill for the right room order if the hotel business is taken into consideration. Clearly, when starting a business it is important to take the industry specific POS system into account. Therefore one should not just trying and finding the best deal, but rather invest in the system that will work best to make the everyday businesses activities more effective. Understanding why each system is unique will help when trying to make the decision for what type of POS system to purchase.

The advantage to travel agents is that the GDS not only can show you many fares from multiple airlines, but it also offers a great depth of information about each flight in one place. The carrier, the times, the costs, the class of the seat, aircraft type and so much more. It’s a smorgasbord of options. So if you’re booking a high volume of tickets, it’s great to have access to every minutiae of information from multiple carriers in one go.

In today’s world, the GDSs have a bit of a split personality. There is the old school, traditional GDS commonly called “the green screen.” Then there’s the hip side of the GDSs, which people will call “point and click” or “GUI” (Graphical User Interface). Essentially, it’s a more intuitive and prettier looking version of the GDS.

To learn the GDS green screen takes intense training, and to become proficient takes tons of practice and constant use. That means daily use with a mentor (for at least 6 months to a year), not just booking a ticket for a client every few weeks.