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This article introduces five ways about how small hospitality businesses improve information security. Compared to big hospitality companies, small business owner(SBOs) are not fully aware of the importance of security and in turn, they are vulnerable to damage their brand and potentially sink the business. Especially, small business highly depends on word-of-mouth to advertise their brand. If they face the security issue, they might have no resource to recover when we consider their business size and budget. In order to help SBOs strengthen their information security protocols, first, disposal protocol should be kept when they dump or change the computer. In other words, they should remove and safely destroy the hard drive to ensure information is not recovered. Second, training is necessary. Training is one of the easiest ways to protect confidential data and employees should be knowledgeable of handling the information. Third, organizations must understand the responsibilities for data protection and ensure their protocol comply with new laws. Thus, they should keep up with any changes in legislation. Fourth, paper shredding is necessary. Though we pursue paperless office, still paper is being used, so paper shredding is required to avoid the risk of data breach. Lastly, SBOs should use locked storage consoles to protect sensitive data.

Statistically speaking, CIOs don't become CEOs. But it's not because they don't want it. Research shows that nearly half of CIOs aspire to become chief executive, but only four percent actually get there. Much more frequently, CEOs for the world's top companies - about half in fact - come up through C-level financial or operating roles (Vanson Bourne, 2012). Chris Laping, CIO of Red Robin Gourmet Burgers (www.redrobin.com), strongly believes this is because technology executives are too often focused on engineering and IT solutions to embrace their most valuable leadership quality: the ability to manage change. Technology leaders, he believes, possess powerful project management skills that can and should be leveraged across the business for even the most non-IT initiatives, with the particular role of being agents for change. Laping's official role at Red Robin is indicative of that practice: he's the company's senior vice president of business transformation and CIO. In that role, he oversees the company's technology, learning and development, enterprise project management and operations services teams. In this exclusive interview with Hospitality Technology, Laping shares how the technology team has taken on a business transformation role at Red Robin, and describes his overall vision for IT leaders. But it's not something CIOs are handed; they have to drive it, says Laping. Driving this change, perhaps, will also help more CIOs chase down their chief-executive dreams. HT: Let's start with some definitions: "business transformation" and "change agents" are pretty heady buzzwords that get tossed around executive boardrooms. What does business transformation really mean? LAPING: If you look at a classic Wikipedia definition of business transformation, it talks about people, process and technology. So when you push change through people, you usually do that through training. If you want to change business performan

Compared to large hotel chains and airlines, the GDS can play a different role for businesses of smaller sizes. For small hotels, it may be beneficial to make use of a channel manager instead of depending on sales from a GDS. The article suggests to smaller hotels that channel managers, who work directly with travel agents, can mean more profit for your business. Using the GDS and a travel agency, you are technically paying 2 commissions. With a channel manager, you would only be paying one. Having this business relationship will cut out a middle man, and hotels with smaller budget will find this strategy more efficient.

I find this article a little misleading. The GDS are channels, can be managed by a channel manager, or in conjunction with, or separately but usually for smaller hotels require an intermediary. Accessing the GDS(s) are used less by smaller hotels for two main factors: 1. Costs and Fees 2. Scope of demand (driving the right customers). 3. Program Fees The article cites figures which have changed substantially since 2015, as of Q4 North American GDS growth was up 6.4% and ADR was up 4.2% YOY with 18.4% of all bookings coming through GDS. TravelClick, Inc. (2019, March 4) What isn't highlighted in the article was the fact that margin agreements with OTAs for smaller independent hotel range anywhere from 20-35% . If the article had done an actual cost comparison (access through intermediary to GDS instead of OTA) the 10% commission + access and delivery fee may have proven more profitable. It would have been better if they had done a little more comparative cost analysis. TravelClick, Inc. (2019, March 4). GDS Booking and ADR Growth Drive Strong Q4 2018 RevPAR Performance in Hospitality. Retrieved from https://www.hospitalitynet.org/performance/4092226.html

This article from the Little Hotelier talks about what exactly is GDS and the Channel Manager and which on is better for Small Hotels. Small Hotels should opt for the system that gives them what they need, but in their price range and for the size of their business.

Going Green is something we all hear about in todays market and the importance of it. Many big business have been finding ways to go green any chance they get. However, with small businesses they have been slower to go green. Embracing sustainability practices for your business is something that should be practiced at any business no matter what size. With small businesses it's much more easy to move towards sustainability versus larger ones. Though their IT department don't have the financial resources of enterprise businesses. Their sizes gives them the ability to change direction quickly something that happens when initiating green practices. There are six reasons why you should embrace sustainability, which are it attracts talent, it's a market differentiator, more efficient, reduce risks, and most importantly customers demand it.

Who doesn't like to "feel good" when choosing to use a product or stay somewhere. Going green makes perfect sense. Companies that adopt green policies and procedures allow their guests to feel better about choosing their goods and services.

To know who your guests are and what they like is definitely a competitive strategy for hotels. From this article, there're tons of Apps working to assist and improve Customer Relationship Management system. According to what I searched, infusionsoft is very time consuming and team initiative to customize properly. It's hard to make each application perfect but the purpose behind them is clear: to communicate with customers as more as we can. Those Apps make teams spread across large distances (and businesses set in one location) to collaborate on leads, contacts, discussions and other items and make this extremely simple to do. So being able to collaborate on more aspects of your daily operations is much more beneficial to overall sales and customer experiences. Some applications bring collaboration to a few narrow aspects of CRM, some bring collaboration to the center of the app, and regardless if you're managing other aspects of your business through software you will need to find ways to collaborate on that as well. Many companies accomplish this by using a variety of applications, but it absolutely brings integration issues and high monthly bills. So a lot of helpful solutions are center collaboration with a feature-consolidating environment across a variety of aspects of business management software. WORKetc is a business management app that combines CRM, PM, Finances (expenses, invoicing, etc) and help desk software into one - and brings collaboration to all of these aspects. Thus, it's essential to collaborate them wisely instead of combining as more as possible.

The article written by Kristine Loretta, details five key benefits of why business owners should launch themselves into the e-business market. 

Due to the growth and advancement of technology, businesses have been able to grow in ways bigger than ever before. As we all know, e-commerce has become more popular today and is taking over many industries now. In this article, it discusses how this trend of e-commerce is extremely innovative and is proven to be a good alternative to the normal ways of business is usually conducted. Just to name a few things, conducting business via the internet saves tons of money. Customers are now able to shop and add items directly into a virtual cart instead of it been a paper trail of the items that are attempted to be purchased. Also, in addition what was mentioned above, e-commerce has opened up new and better channels for communication that can occur faster. Convenience is another key role that e-commerce plays in this. "No longer do people have to wait for stores to open". Patrons can now shop whenever they want to due to online shopping and have the items shipped directly to their home. Which leads me to say that this also is way that reduces cost and save money, especially for small businesses.Last but not least, without a doubt, it is pretty evident that e-commerce create different and many avenues of ways for money to be made. All in all, e-commerce is relevant in today's industry and many other businesses and these are the advantages that allow for it to thrive as it does.

This article gives small businesses insight about the importance of having an efficient accounting software. Many restaurants may do poorly not because of bad food but because of bad account management. Constant transactions may be overwhelming so having a system in place can help alleviate issues that can transpire. This article persuades future restaurant owners to invest in an online accounting software that can be used anywhere and anytime on smart devices or laptops. It also stresses that it must be accurate with information, easy to use, smart (as in to see the business operating in real time, and flexible. It also stresses the importance of having a POS system that works well with the accounting systems. The article states that "it helps update cash flow and predictions daily". There will be records of everything that is bought, returned, wasted, and etc. I believe this is important because it can make or break a restaurant or rather any business. Whether it is for revenue or payroll, accounting systems help with identifying inconsistencies and helps management in determining if the business is healthy, numbers wise. There can not be good management if there is not good measurement. With accounting, everything that goes in and out of the restaurant is accounted for. This in turn helps a business make adjustments to effectively grow and manage a business.

Factors Affecting the E-Commerce Adoption by Small Hotels Introduction In today's world, ICT's are absolutely necessary for just about every facet of life. More and more people around the world are finding themselves increasing their use of the internet to assist them in almost everything they do. Computers and the use of the internet have become daily tools in the lives of people, changing the way we live, communicate with each other and educate ourselves. The use of the internet for commercial purposes has also increased significantly. Many businesses depend on computers and internet for their daily operations. The internet serves helps small businesses by bringing their customers together in one setting to conduct business transactions and discuss pertinent matters. It is also a very inexpensive way to conduct business transactions and still maximize profits for small businesses. The use of computer and Internet has affected many industries, however, the one most impacted is the hospitality industry. Despite this, small hospitality business owners still do not use the internet and the web to its full advantage. As a matter of fact, only a small number of these businesses use a secure server for online bookings (Hudson & Gilbert, 2006). If the small businesses expect to remain competitive and sustain their businesses, they need to adapt to the revolving technological environment. Conclusion After examining a small percentage of small hotels to ascertain what some of the factors are affecting small hotel's adoption of e-commerce it was determined that the implementation process was not as easy and straight forward. They also found that it was not a uniformed process for everyone. Finally, despite some of the hotels adopting the implementation process quickly, it took longer for others to adopt the e-commerce applications. Further, the study also highlighted the perceived benefits and complexity as the most important factors affecting the adopt

Capterra is a webiste that offers the proper research for businesses to look for a software that works best for them. The article discusses the most popular software solutions that works best for small hotels. The list of the software's discussed already included what reviewers loved, their advice for improvement, and cost. This is a great article for small hotels to look at because it is an easier way for them to select a software that suits them best.

These are the most popular software that are used by small hotels specifically

Smaller hotels run with tighter profit margins. This article discusses the 7 top softwares that are available to a small hotel that have many features i.e. front desk, bookings, food and beverage - all in one software application.

Despite women leading the way in scholarship and culinary education, they are suspiciously vacant at the top of the leadership ladder. According to Bloomberg, only about 7% of executive chefs are woman, and "67% of executive women are in support roles...as opposed to running their own line of business." This doesn't appear to be because of a lack of entrepreneurial spirt, as "405 of restaurants are women-owned businesses or WOB, and startups by women are growing much faster than the industry overall." This made me reflect on my own city, as I do see women in executive positions, such as Stephanie Izard, Sarah Grunenberg, and Mindy Segal, they all got to their positions in very different ways. Probably the most successful, with currently 7-8 restaurants, is Izard, she got her start by winning a reality tv show and then joining forces with two male business owners (BOKA). Grunenberg also started visa vi the reality TV route, and now eventually owns and runs a very successful restaurant downtown. Mindy Segal is the only woman executive in this group that has built her business, her cookbooks, her brand, and now her cannibis retail, mostly by herself. It is interesting to relate these women to this article because while they are all three incredibly successful, only one was able to pull herself there through the three points mentioned in this article. In order for women to break the glass ceiling in restaurants and culinary, they will need to accomplish three main goals: 1. Gain confidence, 2. Increase their aspirations, and 3. Learn and Maintain Financial literacy. The "grim reality (is) that 96% of WOB do not cross the $1 million in revenue...(and) fewer than 8% seek external financing. Women "receive less than 4% of Small Business Administration loan dollars and less than 2% of venture capital dollars. For confidence, this article recommends to women to learn how to advocate for yourself. Use coaches, practices public speaking, and learn how to pitch your business

EMarketing is the ability to market your products or services with Internet capabilities. In other words, it includes emailing, websites, follow-up, and every other marketing approach. Through computer/Internet capabilities, small business owners that embrace eMarketing will save themselves hours of time. With eMarketing, business owners can automate nearly all of their business management functions. That means that eMarketing capabilities are taking care of the day-to-day tasks small business owners and their employees would normally be engaged in. eMarekting also has some other benefits. E-marketing eliminates the printing and postage costs of direct mail and is substantially less expensive than other traditional forms of advertising. Customers opt in to receive your news via email. E-marketing is affordable, so you can advertise more often.

EMarketing is the ability to market your products or services with Internet capabilities. In other words, it includes emailing, websites, follow-up, and every other marketing approach. Through computer/Internet capabilities, small business owners that embrace eMarketing will save themselves hours of time. With eMarketing, business owners can automate nearly all of their business management functions. That means that eMarketing capabilities are taking care of the day-to-day tasks small business owners and their employees would normally be engaged in. eMarekting also has some other benefits. E-marketing eliminates the printing and postage costs of direct mail and is substantially less expensive than other traditional forms of advertising. Customers opt in to receive your news via email. E-marketing is affordable, so you can advertise more often.

In class we spoke about how the internet has an impact on small businesses and how small businesses are having a hard time being compared to the bigger businesses. This article talks about how they are being ranked in the search engines. When a consumer goes online to search for a product, he or she will like at what the article refers to as an established brand such as hp or dell in computers oppose to smaller brand names which although theyre known theyre being bypassed by these big brand names. The article talks about the "bid per click" bases that business advertisers use to promote on google. This makes it hard for a smaller business to compete with a bigger business because of their promotion level. It is very expensive.

This article summarizes the findings taken from research done within the Expedia Group's global hotelier panel consisting of 1,215 hotelier participants that used a choice-based study to compare technology investments between defined hotel chains and small independent hotels. In summary, chain hotels were likely to invest twice as much in technology when compared to small independent hotels. Conversely, small independent hotels were likely to invest more in rooms reservations than chain hotels. The I.T investment strategy varied among the two hotel segments. Small independent hotels choose technology based on affordability, value, and complexity of technology, whereas chain hotels bought technology based on its ability to integrate into their existing systems, the price was not mentioned.

My opinion on this article surrounds my personal experience in the way I have been able to experience third party extranet portals and because of these enhancements that Expedia has developed for hotel partners, I have seen a tremendous amount of return on investment that goes into technology development. Many consumers have been influenced by these third party sites because they offer a type of experience that is different from traditional booking methods and often times consumers are able to snag cheaper rates than they would with booking hotel direct. I would like to see how this trend goes on in future years because I have seen more third party bookings in recent months and it should follow that trend for years to come.

The article focuses on applying technology in the hospitality industry, based on the study conducted by Expedia Group (Big Think). The article summarized the research study conducted on 1215 hoteliers worldwide, assessing the focus and prioritization of technology investments by these businesses. The study provides that Chain of hotels are twice as likely to invest in technology than SME in the hospitality industries, with these SMEs being 1.5 times more likely to invest in renovations. In the year 2019, approximately 54% of hotels focused on increasing their technology investments, with only 8% focusing on reducing the same. This provided that more hoteliers were willing to "stay ahead of the curve" than those that focused on adopting the "wait and see" approach. In this respect, hoteliers identified that their main technology investments were influenced by the value and affordability of the same and the capacity to integrate them with existing technologies. On the other hand, the main challenges associated with the technologies were complexity, affecting 25% of the respondents, and ease of use, affecting 33.33% of the respondents (Big Think). In focusing on technological advancement, the Expedia Group focused on technological elements such as Partner Central Mobile Application improvements, new "rooms and rate," page improvements, new "marketing" improved pages, new homepages adaptive, as well as multiple-property portfolio dashboards. With regard to the market perspective, digital marketing/website optimization, smart room, reputation management, revenue management, guest check-ins, and payment solutions were the main technological focuses for the hoteliers. Focusing on the reasons hoteliers were motivated to invest in technology, the study established that improving productivity, improving loyalty and repeat visits, improving guest experiences and reviews, reducing costs, and improving revenue generation topped the list.  

This article is to emphasize the importance of point of sales system, including the advantages that help restaurant operating business every. For instance, counting is the simplest approach to checking your inventory on the shelves in a small business and this is called stocktaking, especially, for small businesses, like a small toyshop, stocktaking is a thoroughly practical approach. However, most of the time stock management is not that simple, and sometimes the practical option is not the best option. There can be discrepancies between the physical and the stock records, especially when it concerns annual stock management. This is why it is advisable for every business owner to use computerized POS systems in stock management. The best thing about having a computerized POS System in the retail business is: as new stocks arrives and as it is sold, it keeps the stock levels current and updated, hence making it is easier to identify which items are selling and which items are not. A POS System is also good in checking for any obsolete or out of date stock that needs to be disposed. For the managers, if they are still counting the inventory manually on the shelves or in the warehouse, something should be thought twice about the lacking of efficiency method, for there are many advantages in using a POS System mentioned in this article. One advantage of a POS System is its ability to help the business achieve detailed real-time stock level information. In addition, a POS System can also give some information such as weather forecasts, public holidays and major sporting events, which can be of great help in determining the stock level of seasonal products. Managers can now efficiently and effectively handle their stock management accurately.

This is an article that compares the new form of cloud property management systems versus the original installed in the property PMS. It compares the features missing from both ends such as the fact the installed PMS can not get free upgrades but it does not require IT expertise. The article makes a great point in stating that both systems can be great for a small business, where as most people assume only an installed PMS works for a small business because it is the more affordable option but because of the fact that one person is usually running the small business they can benefit from having access to the PMS from anywhere which is only capable from a cloud PMS. It is also important to remember that when moving to a new system it can not be assumed to be exactly like the previous system.

This article examines how internet marketing is affecting the success rates and occupancy of bed and breakfast establishments in Canada. Though implementation of technologies and by various methods such as Search Engine Optimization, it enables small businesses to drive brand awareness, increase customer base and accelerate lead generation. By the use of internet based technology the success and efficiency rates can be tracked through various analytics tools, helping marketers adjust their strategy accordingly. Internet marketing is recognized as a cost-efficient tool to boost customer awareness quickly, and can be used by large and small businesses alike. Through implementing internet based technology, business owners are also able to receive instant feedback about their products and services from customers and gives them a chance to take corrective action in any areas that need improvement.

Great article on the rise of mobile payment systems and how businesses who in the past may have been cash only or otherwise are seeing increased sales as the ability to take credit card payments with little hardware and software infrastructure costs. Down the street from me is probably my favorite Rib joint in town, Uncle Rodney's House of Ribs is the name. I love that place, but rarely go because they are a cash only business due in large part to the fact that the owner does not wish to pay for wireless or otherwise internet related services to make his business able to accept credit cards. What are everyone's thought to the increased use of mobile payment systems for restaurants and other businesses?

This is an interesting article, and it is quite amazing to see how the way of payment is drastically shifting with new technological devices such as smartphones, card readers. Just a couple of years ago, if I wanted to buy something online, I had to start my computer then go on whatever website I bought something from which took some time. Now, however, I don't even have to turn on my computer to purchase something on the web because I can buy many things through my smartphone whenever and wherever I want. It is a lot easier and faster than what it used to be.

Spasibo bolshoe za interesting article! Ona mne ochen pomozhet v moem research!

The term known as a Point of Sale (POS) has evolved greatly in the past couple decades. From an actual human being in a ticket window, to instant mobile ticket sales, we've come quite a long way. Technology has given us the ability to purchase things on both a leisure and business level instantly. From a business standpoint, POS helps optimize inventory, cash flow, expenses, and revenue. And from a leisure standpoint, it just gets consumers what they want faster. This article focuses on the importance of today's POS in small businesses. Stripe, Venmo, and Square are just a few POS applications that help small businesses. This allows the company user-friendly access to invoices, billing, taxes, inventory, payroll, purchase history, etc, etc. Venmo, for example, allows instant payments to either individuals or companies with a few touches of a mobile device, without the presence of the actual card. This third-party POS system verifies and then stores your account information. Prior to these tools, many companies had to resort to only taking cash, or incurring overwhelming credit-card transaction fees. Although evolving POS systems are an asset to small business, there is still a risk of compromising confidential information. For example, WingStop had four locations' POS systems compromised. This results in a lot of bad press and a lot of upset customers.

According to the article, a survey sponsored by SAP suggests that businesses are looking to make investments in IT and effective use of technology is seen as a key priority in achieving growth. When it comes to technology, becoming more efficient and using IT more effectively over the next year is among the top three priorities of those surveyed, with 46 percent saying using technology more effectively was a top business priority. The survey indicated this was especially important in emerging countries, including India (72 percent), Brazil (75 percent), Russia (33 percent), China (44 percent) and Mexico (33 percent). In addition, 60 percent of respondents said they are automating more tasks and functions now than three years ago.

According to an Economist Intelligence Unit survey, the survey of more than 1,000 SMEs included businesses from the developed economies of France, Germany, Japan, the UK, and the United States. 53 percent of those in developed markets said growth were a top business priority. Effective use of technology was seen as a key priority in achieving growth, and according to respondents, the three main internal obstacles to growth were finding and keeping new customers, hiring and retaining people with the right skills and operating the business efficiently. When it comes to technology, becoming more efficient and using IT more effectively over the next year is among the top three priorities of those surveyed, with 46 percent saying using technology more effectively was a top business priority. The hotel industry usually does not invest enough to grow compared to other industries. I believe it is because they consider being a technological leader in this industry does not bring more profit than they invest. Investing on technology might not bring instant profits but it can be one of ways to become a top business priority.