Group items tagged

There are several pros and cons to self-service POS systems. Technology innovations will result in an increase in the amount of service businesses that will utilise self-service kiosks for contactless payments. Every business must evaluate which type of system would work best for the specific type of product or service offering. Retailers, restaurants, ticketing businesses and businesses with appointment checkins are likely to benefit from these systems. There are many solutions that can enhance customer service and business efficiency. Each business must carefully consider the advantages and disadvantages prior to investing in order to identify a system that fits.

China is going to be selling a lot fewer alarm clocks to Marriott as travelers rely more and more on their mobile devices. Since this article was published in July 2021, Marriott has since made it official that alarm clocks are no longer required in guest rooms. The mobile phone has made the alarm clock requirement obsolete. The majority of travelers view this as a positive change as travelers complain about the cleanliness of the alarm clock, being awakened by the previous guest's set alarm that hotel staff does not cancel, needing space on the nightstand for their own mobile devices, and the glare of backlit numerals interfering with their sleep at night. Owners appreciate the cost savings, yet their hotels may experience an influx of wake-up call requests in the absence of the alarm clock; however, most phone systems allow guests to set their own wake-up call through the telephone without operator assistance.

" It is a reasonable argument that the only reason millions of workers have been able to successfully work remotely over the past year is because cloud computing has reached a level of maturity that now makes working without the cloud unthinkable. Microsoft 365 is arguably the most widely used. Cloud computing is no longer a choice, but rather the default position of any organization that wants to remain competitive. The number of ShareGate desktop users performing on-premises SharePoint upgrades decreased by 19.7 percent in 2020. On-premises operations decreased by 60.63 percent. Operations to migrate from on-premises to the cloud increased by 37.2 percent. Cloud-based operations jumped by 50.1 percent. Cloud-to-cloud migrations increased by 67.9 percent and included the transfer of 144 percent more terabytes of data in 2020 versus 2019. Microsoft also made significant investments in industry specific certifications in financial services, energy, health and manufacturing to meet the stringent requirements of these heavily regulated environments, making it an even more attractive option for enterprise clients. He pointed out that companies that need extreme low-latency transactions, have geographical proximity restrictions or highly secure data handling needs should consider traditional methods as well as the cloud While security is improving, some old and new attack vectors remain for cloud-based applications. That threat landscape will continue to grow as the market for cloud and SaaS networks and platforms expands and bad actors follow the money. The cloud service providers are asking businesses to trade off convenience for control. That will never happen. Further, there is only one cross-cloud provider standard, K8. The other area in need of standardization is security notification. Every cloud provider reports security events to customers separately, with different languages and syntax. Cloud consumption is linear but cloud security notification is exponential.

While Covid-19 has caused some major challenges to the hospitality industry, the industry is particulairy known for changing and adapting to an ever evolving world around it. Covid created a big push for hotels and large properties to begin to assess their technology stratagies moving forward and the industry is expected to continue to see a large push for new advances in technology that not only will help to create more sustainable properties but an overall better and more enjoyable guest experience. While this does potentially create an overall more enjoyable guest experience, the upfront capital expenditures for properties could cause potential impacts to the bottom line as well as disrupt the guest experience during renovation times.

This article includes advice from a former intelligence officer when it comes to travel and hotel safety. Today we rarely see guests take these precautions even though it could be the difference between life and death in an emergency. When traveling it is crucial to be aware and knowledgable or your surrounds in the case an incident or emergency does occur.

This article explains how and why hotels went from being in the bottom 13% to the top 3 most targeted industry for cyber attacks. It talks about how the implementation of technology to handle customer date has made the industry vulnerable and also how corporations are battling the issue by using separate third party companies to store data and handle credit card information.

This article explains social media in hospitality and tourism. I really loved the explanation of the SOSTAC method which stands for S-Situation analysis/ Who are we? O-Objectives/ Where do you need to go? S-Strategy/ How you'll meet the objectives T-Tactics/ Details of strategy A-Action/Do your thing C-Control/ How did you do. This method was created by PR. Smith in 1990. It was created for digital strategy, and we still use this method nowadays. This technology helps us define our goals and KPI's as well as understand the buying process, what audience we need to cater to to have a successful following and monetary outcome as well as how to keep that momentum.

This article by Michael Toedt on "Data privacy matters in the hotel industry" speaks on the approaches that can be taken to protect guests' data and their privacy since these practices increase guests' trust and loyalty to companies. Accordingly, it is vital for hotels to securely store guests' information. Thankfully, CDM systems make it much simpler for hotel staff to manage data-related requests from clients, such as updating personal details. They also enable one-click deletions, preventing data disputes.

This article discusses the importance of using social media in the hospitality industry. According to the article, social media increases visibility, increases direct bookings, and increases brand awareness. When done correctly with the right team and right platforms, social media can result in tremendous benefits for hospitality companies. Some of the platforms mentioned were LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. These platforms help companies to communicate with potential and existing customers through ads, stories, reels, videos, as well as customer testimonials. Influencers were also mentioned as these social media stars have a large and/or specific following that can help promote hospitality brands. Overall in this day and age, if you would like your company to succeed, you need to be on social media because it is the best form of marketing and promotion.

With privacy being a concern in the hospitality industry, hotels are incentivizing a customer sharing information with a heightened personalized experience. Customers are willing to share personal data to earn loyalty program benefits, receive special discounts and offers, and will shop more often with those brands that personalize their communications.

Even though we are aware that generally, individuals are more inclined to do things when there are benefits to them, this new exchange of data for access to certain benefits has now placed that transaction at the forefront of my mind. This is because schemes are not being applied to secretly obtain customers' personal data, but rather the customers are willing to share them. This exchange is beneficial to guests since they earn travelers' consent, unlock richer experiences, better service, and high long-term loyalty. In my opinion, this is a fair trade. Thanks for sharing this article on "How Hotels Can Drive Increased Revenue and Loyalty By Offering a Reciprocal Value Exchange with Guests."

Biometrics usage in the hotel sector have been ramping up. Biometrics links a user's I.D. and credit card information with biometrics like a photo or fingerprint and this tech can be used throughout the hotel for things like in-room purchases and access to the gym and pool. Using biometrics allows the hotel staff to focus on being hosts.

This article is about how hospitality and tourism have been reshaped through IT, eMarketing and how it has helped prove sales, information, made destinations more popular and also help travelers plan. eMarketing also is a massive platform for word of mouth. This study also shows what helped eMarketing become what it is. When certain things are typed into search bars, this data is collected and used for eMakreting and to target specific groups of people.

This was about the risks in the hospitality and tourism industry when it comes to big data and analytics. Big data is so important in the hospitality industry because it's how companies know who to cater to and with what and how. In addition to the importance of big data, there are risks that come with it. A few risks are data leaks, hackers, etc. Companies invest money in their systems so these things are avoided.

The article explains how the pandemic offers a "good opportunity for pioneers to act". In a study that was conducted, there was a preference for a robot-staffed hotel. This could be due to, however, the contagious nature of COVID-19.

This article mainly describes the current main trends of artificial intelligence in revenue management, guest experience, and daily operations. AI's concierge service, chat robot translator, ultra-dynamic pricing, forecasting utility, team booking software review data collection, intelligent function charts, and intelligent recruitment are the main manifestations of future technological development. Through these artificial intelligence, the hotel can simplify some service procedures, provide more personalized and improve the guest's staying experience. But at the same time, we must also realize that intelligent technology cannot completely replace employees.

"AI is already changing the guest experience across the travel lifecycle, including the on-property experience."

This article went into explaining how businesses in Palm Springs have experienced a large labor shortage since the pandemic. They have tried advertising, high wages, benefits, etc. however people who left the industry do not have intentions of returning, looking for different career paths. Because of this, business owners have turned to using robots in their facilities. There is a rise of the use of robots and technology in restaurants and hotels, such as delivery food.

LEED certification system is designed by USGBC a non-profit organization. LEED certification mean that a certain standard has been removed in order to build a better environment. The certificate of LEED is shwn to improve worker health and wellbeing

Several states have implemented some form of biometric privacy laws, with the gold standard coming from Illinois. Illinois' BIPA allows for private enforcement, stiff fines, and paying of attorney fees. BIPA prohibits collection, capture, purchasing or receiving a customer's biometric identifier/information. Safeguarding this data is perhaps more important than any other because it cannot be easily changed, if at all. Current lack of federal law and a patchwork of local regulations means that businesses and employees must be knowledgeable of rules and rights that affect them.

It is very important for hotels to provide excellent security. It makes the customers feel safe and enhance their confidence and safety.Security officers patrolling the hotel's grounds can look out for suspicious activity.Security officers can prevent hotels from incurring property damage, particularly if officers are patrolling the hotel's grounds. They can also assist in incidents involving guests damaging their rooms.