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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.

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. 

This article is introducing the new self-serve kiosks on National Restaurant Show. It mentioned some highlights from the shows. there are many different kind of kiosks used for the different restaurants.

The article outlines five tips to use when choosing the right PMS. The benefits of using a PMS assist with the efficiency of staff completing essential tasks quickly. A PMS assist various businesses in keeping a competitive edge to increase revenue. When choosing a PMS it is important to asses the needs of operations and processing in order. Purchasing a PMS within an allotted budget instead of overspending. Using a PMS with a booking engine will increase direct booking instead of paying commission to third parties and increase revenue for the establishment. It is important to conduct research on support services and current customer reviews when selecting the right system.

This article provides 8 tips on how to email marketing. Email marketing which is a part of e-marketing is a great way to reach customers, the service is also cost effective and time efficient. The main ways to optimize emails are to get a an organic list of contacts to make sure they do not end up in the junk bin. Next the emails should be functional they should be mobile friendly and the links should work. In regards to the content it should contain more than just rate specials they can contain events or insider city tips and they should be targeted at the correct audience. Finally the sender should test it out by receiving one first.

This article discusses the reason hotels are shifting their focus on energy management. Hotels are adopting green practices that not only saves money but benefits the environment. One method is by controlling energy output. New technology allows the hotel management to have wireless control of the heating and cooling systems. If rooms are unoccupied they can turn off the cooling system to save energy which in-turn reduces cost. The invention of the "Internet of Things" (IoT), management can control, diagnose and operate AC and other systems from their tablets or computers. This advantage gives the hotels the need for less service calls and disruptions to guests. Also, the trend of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) gives the guest the option to control their room settings from their own phone. Lastly, hotels are building towards LEED certifications from the U.S. Green Building council. The certification is internationally known. It saves the company money and aligns to a lot of guests eco-traveling preferences.

This article is about mobile app technology within the event planning sector of the hospitality industry. It lists and details several apps that event professionals can use to make their job easier. The article discusses the various benefits for event planners who use these specific apps.

Thank you for sharing. It's great that there are free tech applications that are available to to make the planning process more efficient.

The article briefly reviews the digital marketing branch in the hospitality industry. In this modern age, hotels need to have an updated and optimized website running. Most guest or OTA rely on hotel websites to gain information about the hotel and amenities and prices they have to offer. They must be visually appealing and easy to access. Apart from using hotel websites, search engines are also popular amongst bookers. Search engines like google or bing use keywords to narrow their search when finding hotels so having such keywords or phrases in the hotel main page on the website will allow people to access their hotel website quicker. Hotels also rely on advertising on sites like Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Heavy populated social platforms is one of he best ways to have a business advertise themselves to the public. The best part is that social media marketing can be cost-effective.

This article talks about how Airbnb has become more appealing to travelers than hotels. Airbnb has become one of the largest hospitality networks offering cheaper stays and more authentic experiences than hotels. However, hotels are not liking this as people are more likely to turn to Airbnb's. There have been many regulations that hotels are forced to face while Airbnb's have close to no regulations, making it easier to earn an income without any specific regulations. Airbnb's have caused hotels to turn to different methods of gaining more customers while competing against such a strong competition.

Its interesting that hotels and hotel chains have spent so much time effort and money on implementing standards and standardization over the past decade. AirBNB has limited standards other than the provision of accommodation. Standards were introduced as a tactical approach to consumer market by providing standardized and recognizable brand standards so that a traveler will know they staying in a Marriott for example. AirBNB success has turn that assumption on its head as travelers embrace differentiated product more related to finding a personalized choice that suits their personal tastes based on a more varied product offering. Hotel have been discussing personalization as a high level topic for many years now, more related to services and experience. Could it be that the success of AirBNB is actually an oversight of the hotel industry (perhaps explaining the significant increase in "Brands" by the largest hotel companies.) on the desire for travelers for personal spaces that are closer to the desires of the consumer.

Introduction Many Fast Food Restaurants are using the Point of Sales Systems in their food and beverage establishments to take orders from their customers. These systems are being distributed rapidly at a fast pace and has become increasingly popular in the food and beverage industry to improve customer service, operational efficiency and food safety. Food and Beverage entrepneuers are also adapting to these emerging technological systems to remain competitive in their industry and to increase growth of the business. There are diverse Restaurant Management Information System components that are used in the fast food industry. They comprise of Inventory Menu Managements control Systems, Labour Scheduling and Time Management Systems, Reservations and Table Management. . This study reviews the constraints of the existing system used in the restaurants and proposes a potential System solution called Restaurant Customer Self Ordering System. Customer Self-Ordering Systems allows prospective customers to order for food electronically while in the restaurant. This system proposes to limit customers' wait time and improve customer service. However, it may have some challenges that include a high cost to implement the system, the intergration into existing systems and staff adoptability of the proposed system. It was further recommended that a solution to the implementation of the proposed Customer Self-Ordering System could be to implement a web-based system that allows customers to access food menu/beverages and order via the internet with the use of their mobile phones at any time and any where they may be. It is anticipated that this new system feature will attract a wider range of audience and potential customers.

Hotels rely on the information that is accessed through different intermediary systems that give each property information on their customers, as well as insight on their comp set. OTAs play a key role in assisting properties generate revenue, they have different processes in place such as pay per clicks or commissions involved when bookings are made through their websites. Marketing plays a key role in both OTAs and a properties direct website. Websites must be user friendly, easily accessible and have the ability to function on a mobile device. Majority of bookings are made online and and increasing amount are being made through a mobile device. Ensuring that each of these platforms creates a welcoming environment for each potential guest maximizes the chances of them booking.

An effective marketing strategy starts with knowing your customers and your goals. it is important to understand how to attract online shoppers, increase conversion rates, and have data mining tools to understand the customer's preferences and booking patterns to be able to develop a long-lasting relationship.OTAs and GDS remain an essential part of the industry, as they provide marketing exposure to a wider range of market segments.

Anything worth INVESTING in that will assist in building your business is worth researching and looking into. Buying blindly is a very foolish thing to do. By doing your homework and comparing IT investments, you have the ability to see what is the best fit for your business. You can compare and customize what will be most beneficial for you and your company. This will force you to define what you need and see how it will benefit your establishment.

As a full time event planner I have learned that softwares are the best tool to have when working on this industry. The reason why I wanted to share this article is because I learned about so many software that I didnñt knew before and feel that they work great or at least look amazingly well equipt.

This article provides a list of the best event software systems that are used by companies such as Hilton, Marriott, Westin, Johnson & Johnson for event planning. In the case of hotels, some of these event planning tools such as Cvent & Tripleseat can also be used to receive leads that can be turned into bookings should the client accept the rate at which the RFP has been submitted by the venue.

This article is well worth the read. It informs us as to why our credit cards keep getting hacked although our favorite retail stores seems to have secure POS systems. There is actually lots of time and money that needs to be invested in order to have a secure POS. Many of these hacks keep happening because companies wait until it's too late to upgrade to chip reader POS or a higher performance security

With technology evolving and changing at a fast pace it is changing both what consumers expect and how the Hospitality industry responds to these expectations as well as how they do business themselves. The article highlights the many trends in the Hospitality industry. These trends include the improving and overhauling of a Wi-Fi network, conference rooms that offer Audio visual equipment, Smart room keys and many other different trends.

In today's world we are surrounded by technology; however, sometimes we do not realize the extreme of which we are surrounded by until we stop and look around. The Hospitality industry is quickly adapting to the technologically world we live it. I read an article written by Jeff Robinson, Technical Director for Aurecon titled "Technology in the hospitality industry - exploring the very latest trends". This article was beyond interesting because it touched on some on the way technology has already changed the hospitality industry and ways it will be changing it for the future. Robinson tells us in his article that "some of the trends in industry are leading to great improvements and savings for hospitality industry companies; while some are changing how hotel developers plan their buildings, infrastructure, management structure and staffing requirements". This means its not only about the bottom dollar, but the experience of each guest when they stay at the hotel. Robinson also states the obvious fact that travelers these days do not see Wi-Fi as a perk, but more of a must have. Full access to audio-visual is also on the must have list especially for business meetings and conferences. What I found most interesting from Robinson's article was the introduction of the Near Field Communication (NFC) technology. This technology give you the ability to share information from a short-range frequency wireless communication. This technology is also ideal for self check-ins by guests at hotels as well as smart room keys.(Robinson) Hotel room keys have come a long way. From an actual key, key card in which you insert, to a key card you simply pass close to the reader and now the birth of the smart key. "Smart room access system allow guests to unlock their doors by simply swiping their phones across a keyless pad on the door.". (Robinson) Now how awesome is that. Robinson also talks about other new technology just as the future of hotel in room entertainment, hotels offering

It has been well described and defined that technology impacted the hospitality industry in which it has advantage and disadvantages. The update and development of software creates a change in the business. This justifies that better software leads to better customer service. For this development has given most business opportunity to grow as they give them better tools.

As we see more and more venues reopening for in-person events with COVID-19 restrictions being lifted, technology is helping to guide the way to ensure a safe event for guests. Technology firms have developed tools that feature contact tracing, COVID-19 vaccination test results tracking, health surveys, etc. With this technology, there are many reporting tools as well that include making sure their health objectives are being met and contacting those who may have been exposed.

The article addresses 5 common mistakes made when doing I.T. Investments and what to do to prevent these mistakes.