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Choice Hotels installed a choiceADVANTAGE Cloud-Based PMS recently, it is a property management system based on the cloud, it is much easier and more convenient to use and manage, and it also reduces some redundant of the traditional PMS, now it will roll out and will be deployed in more and more hotels located in other area of world. As far as I concerned, this is an excellent system which can help hotel to manage different kinds of things in a short time and an easy way, it should be extended to more hotel.

I chose this article because it is an opinion article from the Huffington Post about the balance of luxury and being eco-friendly. Joanna Zelman shares her views on green hotels. She presents the question of whether living luxuriously during your hotel visit means sacrificing our planet. She also shares that hotels are indeed recognizing the major amounts of waste they have been producing. Zelman feels that hotels are trying to be green, but in the end they let the guests decide how green they want to be.

"Some hotels now recognize the astronomical amount of waste they produce daily, and a green hotel movement is underway. The Hilton Americas-Houston generates a reported 675,000 pounds of dirty linens per month. With the purchase of an AquaRecycle water recycling system, they reduced their water usage by 75%, from 630,000 gallons to 157,500 gallons per month."

Some hotels now recognize the astronomical amount of waste they produce daily, and a green hotel movement is underway.Element Times Square West is Starwood's most recent endeavor, an "eco-chic" hotel located on W. 39th street in New York City. The hotel proudly touts recycling bins in every room, complimentary bikes, reusable laundry bags, silverware instead of plastic, dispensable bath products, and an organic on-site pantry.But right next to the reusable laundry bag is a plastic laundry bag, beside the ceramic mugs are paper cups, across from the dispensable soap is an individually wrapped bar, and after consuming your organic food, you can rest your guilt-free head on a bunch of down feather pillows. Someone suggests that guests unplug chargers when not in use, turn lights off, and take advantage of linen reuse policies.

In this article it begins to explain property management systems PMS going mobile in the hotel industry and how beneficial it is for hotel corporations and for customers. The author explained that the most in-demand PMS function for hotels is the ability to have a real time data of room availability, access to guest information such as comments and special request, room/ work order status, and up-to-date pricing. For customers facing mobile apps they would enjoy the guest self-service of booking, self check-in/out, service request, and messaging to staff. However even though mobile devices makes such functionality seem easier mobile-enabling a PMS is not easy at all in fact, making functions available via a browser would be a huge transition for a business.

More and more are properties interested in having a PMS device that they can be accessed at anytime and anywhere. The answer to this challenge is to have PMS functions accessible via mobile devices which can be challenging for some of the systems, especially those that do not reside in cloud. For some smaller properties, the goal is to have no front desk at all and some have been quite successful in making this a reality. As stated in the Property Management Goes Mobile article, the ski resort Tremblant Elysium has been successful with using the cloud-based FrontDesk Anywhere. The guests receive a letter a week prior to check in containing a door code and 30 minutes after their arrival concierge comes to their room to complete their check in and sign the registration card. The CEO of Tremblant Elysium stated: "Guests love it because it is simple and easy and we do not have staff waiting around for people to check in." As stated in the article, guest require for Mobile PMS to include access to room availability and full front desk access including guest profiles and preferences, room/work order status, up-to-date pricing and housekeeping access for rooms statutes. Mobile-enabling PMS can be quite challenging to design, as it can bring difficulties with screen size, performance or choosing which device to use as the code must be re-written for each one. Another major concern for this type of PMS is the synchronization with other system with which PMS is integrated. As hotelier consider implementing mobile-enabling PMS device for their property, there are concerns about security as far as data storage or mobile check-in or the issuing of keys for guests. In my opinion mobile-enabling PMS is the future for smaller properties. Why would a hotel need to have a stand-alone front desk when we can use mobile phones to do the work for us as we are on the go? Eventually, we can have our staff cross trained in smaller properties all equipped with phones, all available to ch

This article discusses the wish-list for hoteliers when they are considering cloud-based systems.Tthe most in-demand mobile PMS functions include GM access to KPIs, CRM and room availability, and front desk staff access to guest information such as comments and special requests, room/work order status and consolidated messaging among staff. It would seem that with all of these personal apps that are appearing on the market, that mobilizing a PMS would be easy, but that is not the case. The code is not universal; i.e. code must be re-written for each one, although there are tools like service-oriented architecture and html5 to help. There will naturally be concerns when considering adopting a mobile PMS across properties. Before investing in a roll-out of new technology, decision-makers must ask the right questions dealing with security, data storage, and functionality.

The PMS can do many things for the hotel, like web reservation, revenue management, front desk management, back office work, housekeeping, preparing invoices and bills, making report, multi currency and language. It involved all parts of the operation of the hotel. It is very useful. 

Property management systems should be chosen after a lot of deliberation and research. With many property management systems in the market, it is important that you are not cheated or you don't hastily buy something that doesn't work for you. A quick check on 10 features that you should be looking for in a web based property management system are listed below: 1. Web Reservation: One of the most important things to look for in a web based property management system is its web reservation features. Having a good hotel with great facilities is no longer enough. Letting people know about it is crucial for the success of the business. A hotel management software is the right tool for this purpose nowadays. When you are looking into a PMS, check that its web reservation system is easy to use, not time consuming and is flexible. 2. Revenue Management: Getting your finances sorted is essential so that even in the most testing times, you finances and revenue are well managed. A PMS that has a good revenue management system will see that you can control your rates efficiently and provide easy yet detailed reports of the same to any authorized person as and when required. 3. Front Desk Management: Sorting out the checking in and checking out process, facilitating the guests with whatever they need, and linking the same details with all the concerned departments are some of the things that a front desk console should be doing for you. Check that your hotel management software can efficiently take care of these. 4. Back Office Work: One of the most boring yet very essential departments is the back office. All expenses are doubled checked here; all means of revenue calculated and audited, statistics are prepared as are ledgers. A property management system should be having a console that can look into these things easily and without much human effort. 5. Housekeeping: Hotel management software can be a great help when it comes to taking care of rooms. Fro

This article introduced the top PMS trend of 2012. They are Mobile Booking reservation software tools; hosted solution options for reduced IT investment; and guest loyalty systems. NORTHWIND Maestro is the leader who leads all these trends and innovations. They conclude that the technology is for greater staff productivity, greater communications and profitable business process. The company also develops and implements cloud system to allow the customer to manage several hotels on just one central site. The purpose of that is to centralize audits and maximize revenue. The company also provides maintaining to their PMS network for free. The other one is the Travelers and Operators Go Mobile. From this PMS technology, the mobile usage is already having a huge impact on reservation booking and property operations. The customers are always able to book the hotel from their wireless devices like iPad. The company enables operators to wirelessly connect to their Maestro centralized system. The operators can receive management reports, real-time activity and other features from Marstro. Guest loyalty levels is using by operator to recognize, reward and retain guests. The new system is based on a single-image database and gives independent operators robust functionality. The system will check the errors and considerable cost for operators. Also it is mobile and social media optimized.

This article is introducing the POS Software in Anand Systems Inc. ASI-POS is general purpose point of sale software which can retrieve a great amount of data in a fraction of seconds. This POS software handles the selling process by a salesperson accessible interface. Since with the installation of this POS software, the particulars of customer purchase history, inventory status report and other details can be retrieved in just a few clicks. What is more, ASI-POS can be used to manage the sales outlets at hotels, resorts, restaurants, bars, and so on. As a part of ASI Front Desk, ASI-POS can manage all standard POS task like room service. As an independent application, ASI-POS can be used in any kind of leisure like food service, entertainment. ASI-POS is the windows based rich, featured filled, easy to use and affordable application. It helps enables you to have a total control over the business and improve your sales and profits.

This article describes the forward motion of technology to be used in conference center.  The new technology will allow immense technology improvements in the conference centers like using your smartphone to share photos on TVs screens.  This technology is the first step in working towards integration in conventions.

According to the article, the Red Lion Hotel on the River - Jantzen Beach has implemented the GroupMAX online reservation system in order to streamline and simplify event planning for meeting professionals. Planners that choose Red Lion Hotel on the River for their event will be equipped with a powerful set of tools that include various templates and themes, libraries, bundles and customized event websites. The booking process for each event also includes a dedicated social network, which helps drive attendance and extend the event lifecycle, allowing attendees to connect before, during and after the event. An event-centric social networking option dramatically boosts the perceived value of the event. While guests enjoy the convenience of online booking and networking, meeting planners can track the progress of their events via their own set of online dashboards that provide automated email alerts and other tools helping to mitigate the difficulties of managing room blocks and bookings.

The Red Lion Hotel has implemented the GroupMAX online reservation system to streamline and simplify the event planning. For hosting the events and also using the related facilities, Red Lion has became the convention destination. Now GroupMAX may combine the housing management, communications, booking processes and logistics together and working with the hotel. Red Lion has a lot of powerful tools to guarantee the event. Also, the mobile version of booking website can be accessed from other mobile devices. Booking process for each event is more like a social network. The event will present the value. Meeting planners will track the progress of the events through the dashboards that provide automated email alerts. Those things all make sure the events going smoothly.

The following Press Release describes the Marriott La Jolla was showcased by a tour by the Department of Energy of its Better Building Challenge participants. The three-day tour took place in California and highlights the energy-efficient and energy savings practices and technologies in which the hotel offers.  The Marriott La Jolla-is owned by HEI Hotels & Resorts and recently was selected by President Obama to the Dept. of Energy Better Building Challenge as a part of the initiative to reduce energy consumption by 20 percent. HEI's commitment has led to enhancing its properties by energy efficiency upgrades and renovations-HEI has installed Energy Looking Glass (ELG), as well as the Energy Set-Point (ESP) program which defines optimum settings for key systems (domestic hot water, chilled water, etc.). Additionally, the hotel's BUZZ Committee gets all hotel associates engaged in conservation efforts. Core energy upgrades such as lighting and HVAC are proven technologies that were adopted and implemented years ago by the Marriott La Jolla and other properties in the HEI portfolio.

This article primarily discusses HEI Hotels & Resorts' Marriott La Jolla and their past showcase during "Tour of Department of Energy's Better Buildings Challenge Participant Facilities". Fundamentally, this hotel is using and produced an energy efficiently program which will allow the hotel to annually save $200,000 each year. That is an incredible savings that will keep the hotel tremendously environmentally friendly, while hopefully starting a trend for other hotels to do the same. This hotel is now facing great benefits with their energy saving initiatives and great operational systems such as HVAC, ELG, and ESP which will overall save water, the consumption of energy, and reduce waste.

San Diego, CA - August 30, 2012 -The Marriott La Jolla, owned and operated by HEI Hotels & Resorts, was showcased on Tuesday by the Department of Energy during a tour of the facilities of its Better Buildings Challenge participants. The visit was part of a three-day tour in California to highlight the energy-efficient and energy saving practices and technologies implemented by the participants.

There are few processes about how to select a HRIS technology. What is the degree of flexibility and scalability that the HR information technology software provides? HR professionals should determine if the software can import data from multiple Excel spreadsheets, databases, and paper documents and the level with which it can interface with all kinds of systems and data. Will the HR information technology be able to grow and scale with the organization? Is the HR information technology software able to integrate with other systems? HR can obtain greater efficiencies when data and other employee information entered into one system can be shared with another system. Who is responsible for implementing, or building, the solution? What level of training is involved? HR should have a clear understanding of the level of training and technical expertise that will be required and the amount of time expected. If training is involved, is there a charge? What types of maintenance and upkeep are required? What security measures are built into the HR information technology? If the software is available online, through an ASP or SaaS model, the provider should offer daily backups, backup servers, and added protective layers. Will employees be able to enroll in benefits plans and make changes in real-time to their personal data and plan choices? The system should clearly present the plans available and enable employees to make selections at their convenience, simplifying these actions throughout the process with wizards.

Engergy always be the top cost generator in hotel expense. Hundreds of new technology is developed to control the cost of energy consume and provent guests' oversmart on wasting. Zenros Smart Engergy is a new energy management system for hotels. It is predicted that the system can save at least 35% in HLP cost.

Solar Powered Energy Management for Hotels "Hotels consume massive amounts of energy and use 50% more energy than a similar sized residential building despite having only 55% occupancy rates on average. " "Energy costs are the ghighest fixed expenses for hotels fafter salaries. It is very important for hotels to save energy  The article started by mentioning the most widely used sensor system. And smart energy management solutions are quite expensive and sometimes even impossible to be retrofit old hotels.  ZENROS is a new solar powered energy management system. It is believed  to be able to save at least 35% in HLP costs. It is connected to the room controller and use Zigbee Smart Energy, a panel wireless communication system to control all the electrical devices. This combination of solar energy and wireless enables restoration in most hotels, even the ones without electrical grid nearby. 

This website shows a meeting room app which is very helpful for hotel meetings and events. Planning meetings and events is not a easy task. Conference managers or sales directors have to introduce their meeting space and explain how they are going to hold an event or a meeting.  By using this application, managers can show the meeting rooms' features by 3D images or videos directly to clients, which is absolutely much easier for them. What's more, the usage of smartphone and tablets like iPad is increasing very fast. More and more people are owning their wireless devices and are drenched in IT persons.  Therefore, I think using different kind of APPs will be a good way for hotels to sell rooms and services. 

Nowadays, with the development of hospitality industry, more and more hoteliers start to pay attention to going green. Green hotels are becoming a popular topic in recent years. However, how the going green can be realized? it will be through the green infrastructure installed in the hotels. In this article, there are two california hotels installing ilumisys LED Light Tubes, That's is only one example of the going green project. LED light will be a cost-saving thing which will be efficient to the hotel. One of the main benefits to LED lighting is that it is more efficient, which can lead to enormous energy and cost savings. In the future, I believe more and more hotels will going green and use these kinds of green physical plants to make best use of the energy and save cost and resources.

This article introduced the importance of HRIS. Having HRIS in the hotel could aid the human resource team to become more organized and practice being practical in the workplace. Since this converts all the information digitally, the use of paper will definitely decrease. Having this kind of attitude towards employees will make them feel confident and secure. This in turn makes them more productive and will become happy at work. By having a clearer view of what is presently happening in the hotel, top management can also predict what could happen in the future. Some HR-related expenses that can be monitored through this system are the training costs of newly-hired employees, and the benefits given to the employees and their reported dependents. In addition, attendance can also be monitored here. Since being frequently absent or tardy could decrease the company's productivity, it is important that the hotel have a system where in top management can easily observe if there is an abuse of the company's system.

This article tells us How to Select Human Resources Information Technology. The need for HR information technology systems is increasing. With HR staff finding a vast array of options in HR information technology systems, it is increasingly important to analyze and weigh all options available. Choosing an HR information technology system should be looked at as an investment that will grow with the department and company's needs.  Here are 18 questions that a HR manager should ask when selecting a HRIS.

Human Resources information technology (HRIS) is essential for companies to manage their benefits plans and their employee information. Benefits management technology is no longer a nice to have, but a necessity to help HR manage both a sea of information and the money spent on benefits plans, as HR faces limited resources and constantly changing data. But how do HR and other executives know they are selecting the best HR information technology to manage all of the details, and that the solution they select will stand the test of time?

Email marketing, is quite old school but efficient way to provide more information to customers.  This kind of email marketing is about "Trigger-based" email, it would send to customers when customers had some specific demand and click at the link, then it would email some more rewarding information back to the customers' email address. From my opinion, this is really good and time saving, not so high-end but quite effective. But the problem is whether the information is complete or correct for customers. I would like to have the email that something I am interested in because it is easy to organize and check about it. Especially when you are not so interested at it first but then you want to figure what it is like but need to google it. 

This article is introducted about wedding planning technology in today's hospitality industry. In 2011, the global wedding industry was valued at $320 billion, a large slice of which was money spent on hotels as a wedding venue. And many large hotel brands have wedding planners on hand to help couples organize their big day. Generally, it's natural for consumers to look for digital information. And hotels provide touchscreen technology. It would be served content of your own design from a PC or laptop in the hotel. What is more, it invites couples to explore the hotel as a wedding venue, and offers content that engages minds with the possibilities, such as wedding checklists, a space calculator and availability calendar. And installing a touchscreen system is not complicated. Content is controlled and published to the screen using digital signage software, which can be downloaded from reputable providers for free. In a word, this new wedding planning technology is good for both hotels and consumers.

Summary This article is talking about a new software "Monscierge I connect", which launched by the company Monscierge, Dec 6, 2012. Monscierge | Connect is a new tool harness smartphone technology to keep guest constantly connected with hotel service. This is first phase of mobile applications complementing the product line designed to enhance hotels' connections to their guests, which allowing guests access to the full array of a hotel or brand's services in a way that suits the needs of today's tech-savvy consumer. Guests can communicate their needs via chat or voice, quickly putting them in contact with valet, housekeeping, or any department the hotel provides. Monscierge | Connect wraps itself in the approved brand voice for each hotel, and makes that hotel and brand's specific content available at their fingertips.  Monscierge | Connect also allows for a hotel to deliver real-time information to their guests as well. For instance, some hotels have utilized Connect to alert guests of parking availability, discounts in the bar or spa, or when a room is ready for early check-in.        I think it's a great mobile app, it could keep guest constantly connected with hotel service, and it not only provide more convenience for customers and hotels, but also improved service's quality and work efficiency. Forrester Research predicts by 2015 eighty-two million people will rely on mobile devices as a primary reference tool. So I think this new software and other mobile applications will widely used in hospitality industry. 

In order to meet the expectation of convenience Internet access for customers, Holiday Inn Resort in Goa has upgraded their WIFI system to be more consistant and turned to IDS-NEXT, which can imporve he existing WiFi facility and develop it as a revenue generating avenue. Several advantages of IDS-NEXT could be like reducing external dependencies, cost efficient and additional revenue channel.

This article mainly talks about a new free software called Globa.li for small hotels. For the smaller establishments, they can not only get a sustainable rate, but also it is hard to manage the relationship with their customers. Globa.li can help these kind of hotels to have a good situation when they compare with big corporates for online bookings. This software can manager the rates, availability and bookings online, even from smart phones. It even can book online for properties.