Reservations ― features are integrated with other functionality such as profiles, cashiering and deposits. This property management software module provides a complete set of features for creating and updating individual, group and business block reservations, including deposit handling, cancellations, confirmations, wait listing, room blocking and sharing.
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Opera Property Management System - 0 views
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Reservations ― features are integrated with other functionality such as profiles, cashiering and deposits. This property management software module provides a complete set of features for creating and updating individual, group and business block reservations, including deposit handling, cancellations, confirmations, wait listing, room blocking and sharing.
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Reservations ― features are integrated with other functionality such as profiles, cashiering and deposits. This property management software module provides a complete set of features for creating and updating individual, group and business block reservations, including deposit handling, cancellations, confirmations, wait listing, room blocking and sharing.
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Reservations ― features are integrated with other functionality such as profiles, cashiering and deposits. This property management software module provides a complete set of features for creating and updating individual, group and business block reservations, including deposit handling, cancellations, confirmations, wait listing, room blocking and sharing.
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Profiles ― complete demographic records for guests, business accounts, contacts, groups, agents and sources. Profiles include addresses, phone numbers, membership enrollments, stay and revenue details, guest preferences and additional data that make reservations handling and many other activities faster and more accurate.
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Back Office Interface ― revenue transfers, market statistics transfers, daily statistics transfers, and city ledger transfers can be easily made from OPERA Property Management System to a back office system.
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Rooms Management ― handles all facets of room supervision including availability, housekeeping, maintenance and facility management. The Queue Rooms feature of the property management software coordinates Front Office and Housekeeping efforts when guests are waiting for rooms which are not immediately available for assignment.
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Cashiering ― posting guest and passer-by charges (including taxes and other generates), making posting adjustments, managing advance deposits, settlements, checkout and folio printing are a few of the many activities handled by OPERA Cashiering. Cashiering accommodates multiple payment methods per reservation including cash, check, credit cards and direct bill. In multi-property environments, guest charges can be cross-posted from any property in the hotel complex
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Cashiering ― posting guest and passer-by charges (including taxes and other generates), making posting adjustments, managing advance deposits, settlements, checkout and folio printing are a few of the many activities handled by OPERA Cashiering. Cashiering accommodates multiple payment methods per reservation including cash, check, credit cards and direct bill. In multi-property environments, guest charges can be cross-posted from any property in the hotel complex
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Cashiering ― posting guest and passer-by charges (including taxes and other generates), making posting adjustments, managing advance deposits, settlements, checkout and folio printing are a few of the many activities handled by OPERA Cashiering. Cashiering accommodates multiple payment methods per reservation including cash, check, credit cards and direct bill. In multi-property environments, guest charges can be cross-posted from any property in the hotel complex
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Cashiering ― posting guest and passer-by charges (including taxes and other generates), making posting adjustments, managing advance deposits, settlements, checkout and folio printing are a few of the many activities handled by OPERA Cashiering. Cashiering accommodates multiple payment methods per reservation including cash, check, credit cards and direct bill. In multi-property environments, guest charges can be cross-posted from any property in the hotel complex
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Cashiering ― posting guest and passer-by charges (including taxes and other generates), making posting adjustments, managing advance deposits, settlements, checkout and folio printing are a few of the many activities handled by OPERA Cashiering. Cashiering accommodates multiple payment methods per reservation including cash, check, credit cards and direct bill. In multi-property environments, guest charges can be cross-posted from any property in the hotel complex
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Cashiering ― posting guest and passer-by charges (including taxes and other generates), making posting adjustments, managing advance deposits, settlements, checkout and folio printing are a few of the many activities handled by OPERA Cashiering. Cashiering accommodates multiple payment methods per reservation including cash, check, credit cards and direct bill. In multi-property environments, guest charges can be cross-posted from any property in the hotel complex
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Your front desk often makes the difference between ‘never agains’ and ‘long-term relationships.’ At the core of the OPERA Enterprise Solution is our premier property management software, the OPERA Property Management System (PMS). Designed to meet the varied requirements of any size hotel or hotel chain, OPERA PMS provides all the tools a hotel staff needs for doing their day-to-day jobs – handling reservations, checking guests in and out, assigning rooms and managing room inventory, accommodating the needs of in-house guests, and handling accounting and billing. The property management software is configurable to each property’s specific requirements and operates in either single-property or multi-property mode, with all properties in an enterprise sharing a single database
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SUMMARY OPERA Property Management System is fully integrated with all the OPERA modules and offers the most extensive list of certified interfaces in the industry. FEATURES: Reservation, rate management, profiles, front desk management, back office interface, room management, cashiering, account receivables, commissions, reporting, fully configurable, global perspective, hospitality system interface, opera express, tailored to fit hotel's operational business needs, scalable to suit the size of the hotel, helps operators to become more productive, profitable and professional, and delivers fast, accurate and online information on property
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A lot of hotels use OPERA as their property management system. I have never personally worked in a hotel so I am not familiar with PMS's but from everything that I have read and heard from people is that OPERA is very efficient with everything. This system seems as though it can do everything for your property just the way that you would like it to. OPERA is customizable to your company's needs which seems great. This is a great website that you posted as it informs all of us exactly what this PMS is capable of.
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What's global distribution system? - 5 views
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A global distribution system (GDS) represents a computerized system used for managing different transactions within the air travel and hospitality industry. At first, GDS’ were only meant for the air travel reservations but as years have passed, GDS systems became more and more evolved. As a direct consequence to this fact, GDS’ were also implemented for hospitality industry use.
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At first, GDS’ were only meant for the air travel reservations but as years have passed, GDS systems became more and more evolved.
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At first, GDS’ were only meant for the air travel reservations but as years have passed, GDS systems became more and more evolved. As a direct consequence to this fact, GDS’ were also implemented for hospitality industry use.
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At first, GDS’ were only meant for the air travel reservations but as years have passed, GDS systems became more and more evolved. As a direct consequence to this fact, GDS’ were also implemented for hospitality industry use.
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At first, GDS’ were only meant for the air travel reservations but as years have passed, GDS systems became more and more evolved. As a direct consequence to this fact, GDS’ were also implemented for hospitality industry use.
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At first, GDS’ were only meant for the air travel reservations but as years have passed, GDS systems became more and more evolved. As a direct consequence to this fact, GDS’ were also implemented for hospitality industry use.
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At first, GDS’ were only meant for the air travel reservations but as years have passed, GDS systems became more and more evolved. As a direct consequence to this fact, GDS’ were also implemented for hospitality industry use.
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However, due to the fact that GDS’ were originally created to distribute plane tickets, their database structure was specifically designed to store information about this product.
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At first, GDS’ were only meant for the air travel reservations but as years have passed, GDS systems became more and more evolved.
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At first, GDS’ were only meant for the air travel reservations but as years have passed, GDS systems became more and more evolved.
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At first, GDS’ were only meant for the air travel reservations but as years have passed, GDS systems became more and mor
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At first, GDS’ were only meant for the air travel reservations but as years have passed, GDS systems became more and more evolved.
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At first, GDS’ were only meant for the air travel reservations but as years have passed, GDS systems became more and more evolved.
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However, due to the fact that GDS’ were originally created to distribute plane tickets, their database structure was specifically designed to store information about this product.
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At first, GDS’ were only meant for the air travel reservations but as years have passed, GDS systems became more and more evolved. As a direct consequence to this fact, GDS’ were also implemented for hospitality industry use.
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The first major impact that GDS had on the travel market was that the number of flights was increased. This led to an increase of competition and therefore travel industry prices fell. Travel agencies were accustomed with receiving a fixed fee (usually 10%) from everything they managed to sell, so once the prices started to fall, they felt threatened with the loss of their earnings. In order to counter this, travel agencies began to offer complimentary products such as car rental, hotel and other related forms of accommodation, bus tickets, vacation packages, yacht rides and even flowers and champagne. This was the first major step towards GDS’ being used within the hospitality industry.
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As mentioned before, one of the first products distributed by GDS was hotel accommodation. Hotels have loaded the information related to their different types of rooms, description and price categories within the airline reservation system database. When this information became available online, thousand of clients started making bookings all around the world. This fact was advantageous for each participant. Hotels benefited from distributing their products to a larger audience, travel agencies had the opportunity of booking more products through their computerized system and GDS benefited from a growth in booking volume, which helped them to lower operating costs.
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The first major impact that GDS had on the travel market was that the number of flights was increased. This led to an increase of competition and therefore travel industry prices fell. Travel agencies were accustomed with receiving a fixed fee (usually 10%) from everything they managed to sell, so once the prices started to fall, they felt threatened with the loss of their earnings. In order to counter this, travel agencies began to offer complimentary products such as car rental, hotel and other related forms of accommodation, bus tickets, vacation packages, yacht rides and even flowers and champagne. This was the first major step towards GDS’ being used within the hospitality industry.
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The first major impact that GDS had on the travel market was that the number of flights was increased. This led to an increase of competition and therefore travel industry prices fell. Travel agencies were accustomed with receiving a fixed fee (usually 10%) from everything they managed to sell, so once the prices started to fall, they felt threatened with the loss of their earnings. In order to counter this, travel agencies began to offer complimentary products such as car rental, hotel and other related forms of accommodation, bus tickets, vacation packages, yacht rides and even flowers and champagne. This was the first major step towards GDS’ being used within the hospitality industry.
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The first major impact that GDS had on the travel market was that the number of flights was increased. This led to an increase of competition and therefore travel industry prices fell. Travel agencies were accustomed with receiving a fixed fee (usually 10%) from everything they managed to sell, so once the prices started to fall, they felt threatened with the loss of their earnings. In order to counter this, travel agencies began to offer complimentary products such as car rental, hotel and other related forms of accommodation, bus tickets, vacation packages, yacht rides and even flowers and champagne. This was the first major step towards GDS’ being used within the hospitality industry.
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The first major impact that GDS had on the travel market was that the number of flights was increased. This led to an increase of competition and therefore travel industry prices fell. Travel agencies were accustomed with receiving a fixed fee (usually 10%) from everything they managed to sell, so once the prices started to fall, they felt threatened with the loss of their earnings. In order to counter this, travel agencies began to offer complimentary products such as car rental, hotel and other related forms of accommodation, bus tickets, vacation packages, yacht rides and even flowers and champagne. This was the first major step towards GDS’ being used within the hospitality industry.
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The first major impact that GDS had on the travel market was that the number of flights was increased. This led to an increase of competition and therefore travel industry prices fell. Travel agencies were accustomed with receiving a fixed fee (usually 10%) from everything they managed to sell, so once the prices started to fall, they felt threatened with the loss of their earnings. In order to counter this, travel agencies began to offer complimentary products such as car rental, hotel and other related forms of accommodation, bus tickets, vacation packages, yacht rides and even flowers and champagne. This was the first major step towards GDS’ being used within the hospitality industry.
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Nowadays global distribution systems interconnect almost everything within the hospitality industry, from hotels to car rental companies and travel agencies. There are four major GDS available: Amadeus, Galileo, Sabre and WorldSpan. Some of the advantages provided by GDS are their availability (99,9% of the time), their response times (up to a fraction of a second), their multiple booking capability, as well as their top of the line architecture. On any given day, a GDS will be capable of accessing over 50000 hotels and approximately 1000 airlines. Through GDS systems, people are able to book various hotel rooms, tours, airline seats, cruises and even limousines.
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The working idea behind a GDS is this: any GDS provides services to an electronic shop for all information related to travel and reservation-related needs. In other words, the GDS has become a very important distribution channel for any product sold through travel agencies. Basically, if a vendor wants to be sold through travel agents, he must be listed on a GDS
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The first products distributed by GDS was hotel lodging reservation system, such as different types of rooms, description and price categories with the airline system. GDS has been increased on the travel market, such as number of flights. Travel Agencies (TA) also use GDS to offer complimentary products, such as car rental, hotel and other related forms of accommodation, bus tickets, vacation tickets, yacht rides and even flowers and champagne,That means, GDS has become more important distribution channel for nay product through TA. Also TA had more opportunity of more products their own system and GDS system from increase number of booking volume with lower operating costs. It was the first and major goals of GDS being used in the hospitality industry. Even though hopitality ingustry use GDS system, there are few problems, such as show only simple structure. For example, there are 4 different kinds od room and 3 categories od comfort, it means they have 12 different kinds of combination. Because of the GDS database structure, only there 12 combination could be displayed. It took a while to fit all the multiple types of comport rates, rooms and services in GDS standard database structure. Instead of choosing GDS system, they cans choose other alternative system with develop several computerized system to make a database structure closer to product specification. Nowadays, GDS using all of the hospitality industry from reservation hotel rooms to car rentals and Travel Agencies. Through GDS as globally, people are able to to book different kinds of hotel rooms in different destination all around the world, tours, airline seats, cruises and eeve limousines.
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Global Distribution System were develop and meant only for the airline reservations. The impact of the GDS on the travel industry is that it increase competition, more flights were available and this reduce cost. With the increase and cost reduction travel agents start to see decrease in their earnings they received from airline sales, so with the GDS they were able to book other services such as hotels and car rentals with airline reservations. With GDS it is much easier and convenient to make a reservation from flight, hotel and car rental because everything is link together.
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Summary of a global distribution system (GDS) A global distribution system (GDS) represents a computerized system used for managing different transactions within the air travel and hospitality industry. Historically, GDS' were only meant for the air travel reservations but as years have passed, GDS systems became more and more evolved. As a result, GDS' are now implemented for hospitality industry as whole. The first major impact that GDS had on the travel market was that the number of flights increased which led to increase competition among the players and this brought down the overall prices. The main purpose of a GDS is to provide services to an electronic shop for all information related to travel and reservation-related needs and one of the first products distributed by GDS was hotel accommodation. Hotels throughout the market uploaded the information related to their different types of rooms, description and price categories within the airline reservation system database. When this information became available online, thousands of clients started making bookings all around the world. This fact was advantageous for each participant. Hotels provided GDS with a challenge of fitting all the different sizes, styles, amenities, and etc. It took a while to fit all the multiple types of comfort rates, rooms and services in a GDS standardized database structure. A general strategy was therefore needed. Rather than loading hotel products inside the GDS, the accepted solution was to develop several computerized systems with a database structure closer to product specifications. Nowadays global distribution systems interconnect almost everything within the hospitality industry, from hotels to car rental companies and travel agencies. There are four major GDS available: Amadeus, Galileo, Sabre and WorldSpan.
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Looking at these numbers it becomes very clear how important GDS are to the hospitality industry, more rooms booked means increased revenues and more jobs for hospitality professionals. I am sure that this technology will evolve and transform so it is important to stay current and understand how to get the most out of it.
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What's global distribution system? This question is kind of cliché in our group, but this article gives a very good introduction about GDS and it's quite easy to understand comparing to many other articles introducing GDS. This article tells us: How GDS develops from being used only in airline industry to being generally adopted in hospitality industry; What is the working idea behind the GDS; Four major GDS including Amadeus, Galileo, Sabre and Worldspan; Advantages provided by GDS.
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Bringing on content and the network effect for GDS hotel platforms | PhocusWire - 1 views
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It’s an understatement to say that the global distribution companies have evolved away from their traditional airline focus to bring accommodation into the mix.
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Sabre had developed the platform in response to demand for more content and functionality from both the supply and demand side.
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“We have increased our beach, resort and leisure content which allows us to be a much more attractive content sourcing partner to retail agencies and other online channels so it has expanded our customer base enormously.”
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GDSs are investing in their lodging content but with travel distribution it’s rarely a case of just integrating content.
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Waters says Amadeus has five million representations of hotels on its system but over a million unique hotels.
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normalizes the data so it is only displayed once and travel sellers can see the same room, hotel and date and then compare prices and see what margin or commission they might make from a booking.
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Sabre, which cites a similar figure for properties available via its new lodging distribution technology, has also worked on normalizing the data
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Waters says the ambition is to continue growth and “become the default hotel platform for B2B channels.”
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biggest, professional metasearch with bookability platform in the industry.” AmadeusBooking.comSabre
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GDSs continue to lose market share so they need to step up their game to pick it back up again. With airlines and hotels constantly trying to get bookings direct they are losing out. They need to try and get their networks in sync. Companies like Sabre are trying to improve their platform to make it more user friendly and better content. The GDSs are trying to get on board as many accommodations as possible to increase the customers choosing their networks to use to book. The more bookings they get the more attractive they look to providers.
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Sabre Travel Network, a large GDS company is responding to loss in lodging distribution. Sabre is accomplishing this by competing with rival GDS platforms who have made deals with booking.com. The deals have afforded rival companies such as Amadeus 30% more in accommodation traffic. Amadeus increased their market visibility by expanding their customer base for those looking for beach, resort, and leisure content. Sabre is looking to stretch their lodging distribution by normalizing data with usability studies which is help agents make faster booking decisions. The belief is that the decision will eventually expand Sabre as the default GDS platform.
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shared by Carolina Ferrer on 27 Aug 14
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Handling Reservations Calls Effectively | Hotel Industry Magazine - 1 views
www.hotel-industry.co.uk/...reservations-calls-effectively
reservations calls hotel software hardware hospitality
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So a good starting point is to quantify how many calls are actually being handled on the front desk and more importantly how many are being lost due to under-staffing, poor training and/or non-existent technology.
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Technology which supports – rather than prevents – sales may seem an obvious starter for 10 but the reality is that again most hotels are at best challenged by IT due to under-investment.
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From answering incoming phone calls, checking out guests, taking payments, and processing reports for management, a front desk agent can't do it all. Today, many hotels can come to the conclusion that a high number of guests are booking through online channels, but they cannot lose sight of to business that can be made over the phone. If hotels do not accommodate to guests calling in, it may lead to lack of trust from potential and loyal guests. In order to solve this issue, Collins refers to a mantra: hotels must need to recognize that what get measured, gets managed. This can be done by measuring how many calls are actually being handled and measuring those that are being ignored by a front desk agent on a typical day. When calls get ignored or are rushed, any investment that a hotel put into advertising or content production could turn up to be a loss. If incoming calls aren't being measured now, eventually hotels will be in for a rude awakening. Collins mentions that technology can help solve this issue, but most hotels find it difficult to handle scenarios with IT due to a lack of investment. Collins stresses how important it is to have the appropriate software and hardware for employees to perform at their best for the hotel to reach it's goals. In order to better navigate and keep track of call volume, Collins states that the PMS provider may not be able to accommodate a hotels request; therefore, hotels may need to invest in additional hardware and software. In addition to this, hotels may need to find an additional information technology partner to help reach their monitoring and service needs. In my opinion, although smaller hotels may have an issue with having to invest in sufficient hardware and software, the benefits would lead to better business practices and a more efficient front desk staff. The benefits of a more efficient front desk are endless, especially when it comes to effective multi-tasting and creating memorable customer relationships
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Trends and New Technology in Hospitality for 2014. - Tuesday, 8th July 2014 at 4Hoteliers - 2 views
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A survey reports that 72 percent of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations; in 2014, review sites like TripAdvisor and Yelp will continue to become more influential as users look for ways to make their world a bit smaller and more personalized.
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As members of the general leisure industry, hospitality businesses must therefore cater to the early adopters, the tech-savvy, and the novices in one fell swoop—and staying ahead of the curve requires an inexhaustible spirit and a knowledge of industry trends.
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As members of the general leisure industry, hospitality businesses must therefore cater to the early adopters, the tech-savvy, and the novices in one fell swoop—and staying ahead of the curve requires an inexhaustible spirit and a knowledge of industry trends.
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Like any industry, the field of tourism and hospitality must be competitive and technologically advanced. The article addresses six technological trends within the hospitality industry. 1. Virtual reservations - A significant number of patrons reserve their hotels via a computer or mobile device. Thus travel booking websites have become more popular. 2. Virtual check-in and ordering - Check-in kiosks cut down on customer wait time (long lines, short staff, etc.). More hotels and restaurants will be making use of these technologies. As technology advances, consumers shouldn't be surprised to see more futuristic options such as voice recognition, fingerprint and retina ID. 3. Travelers with multiple devices - Hotels have to be conscientious of this fact in terms of room design, public (hotel) space and structure. Customers want to feel secure that they (and their devices) can be properly accommodated. 4. Hospitality staff with multiple devices - This trend is a win-win for employees and customers. Employees can better meet the needs of their customers no matter their location (poolside, bar, lobby, etc.). Also, by collecting data, businesses have a better understanding of customer needs and preferences. Customers have the freedom to be more mobile (in any area of the hotel) without feeling disconnected or not being able to have their needs met. 5. High tech meeting and public space - Hotel meeting rooms and lobbies are receiving technological make-overs to accommodate users who rely on multiple devices. This is great for business as it creates an environment that is conducive to conducting technologically advanced meetings and conferences in a comfortable setting. 6. Online reviews - These reviews are crucial to businesses as well as consumers. On the business end, companies will be able to gauge their effectiveness in all areas via honest customer feedback. Consumers have the opportunity to make better choices after reading reviews based on ot
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shared by kteme001 on 19 Feb 18
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Restaurant POS System Benefits - How POS Systems Help - 0 views
www.possystemrestaurant.com/...pos-restaurant-benefits
IT technology Hospitality software solution tech
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The restaurant business is highly competitive, and one of the keys to success in the industry is customer service.
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But if you limit your restaurant to cash only payments you are routinely turning away customers from your doors,
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The answer to the problem is simple. The introduction of a POS system with simplified credit card payment can dramatically boost daily sales in both full service and quick service establishments.
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A restaurant that sticks to a cash only concept is cutting themselves off from a potential increase in traffic.
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With the addition of the necessary software, your POS system can also be set up to accommodate a variety of digital payment platforms such as Apple Pay, Bitcoin, and PayPal.
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eliminating potentially costly mistakes and misunderstandings that are so common to handwritten tickets.
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Hand splitting a ticket, especially for larger parties, can take valuable time away from other customers.
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Bad handwriting, unfamiliar abbreviations, and messy tickets can lead to unnecessary errors in the kitchen, resulting in mistakes on the line and delays in service
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Restaurant specific POS systems allow for the real time tracking of inventory, with the dedicated software recording the projected usage of all ingredients as each order comes in and is prepared by the kitchen.
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Whether it’s a casual dining establishment or a corner cafe, we can deliver the POS system you need to increase traffic, enhance your customer service, and boost your bottom line.
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The article talks about how restaurants can use a POS system and reviews the pros and cons of whether a system like this is beneficial to an establishment. It states that customer service plays a huge role in the success of a business and having a well operational POS system aids in the success of the customer service offered. One example of being more successful is to be sure you can accommodate as many customers as possible… so offering the payment option of just cash limits your projected revenue whereas accepting credit cards broadens your horizon as a business owner. Saving on merchant fees may be hurting income all together. This article goes over the benefits of a POS system and how it can improve daily sales. These benefits include a quicker processing of payments, more accurate payments, splitting orders, opening the door to more customers, preventing errors and tracking inventory. All of these things assist in the accuracy and smooth running of an establishment.
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Hello, This article is very insightful with regards to how a POS system can become beneficial. Indeed, customer service plays a major role on the business and having a well-positioned POS system. Therefore, as a hotel or a restaurant needs to focus on service, a POS system can complement this objective. Being able to accommodate as many clients as possible through great customer service and organization can be obtained through a POS system. Additionally, I think this system helps maximize time and optimize processes. I'm sure a wide array of companies are appealed to this, it is a matter of finding which type of POS system would be most suitable for them.
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Online Marketing Strategy for Hotel, Tourism & Accommodation Businesses - 1 views
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This article pertains more to small accommodations providers, boutiques, and small private hotels. This article provides information on how to increase the traffic follow on websites for these particular entities. The article emphasis how photograph and the outline of a website can effect the response of the consumer viewing. It provides points that would enhance the layout of a website, and how to in-trig the consumer to view and book directly on a businesses site. Third parties are mentioned if direct contact can not be accessed from the businesses site, which comes with a cost for convenience. This article implements the various resources available to small business in order to enhance their websites and web searches. I would highly recommend this article to be read by those who are just starting with online marketing or would want to increase their customer viewing.
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I find very interesting this article as well some of the point you mentioned really made sense in terms of marketing. Pictures are huge , huge tool for marketing. Often lodging firms failed to realize how much is important for the prospective customer to has good pictures and not deceiving ones. You want to picture the reality of your business , of course you make it look the best but it needs to be in concordance with the reality as well.
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GDS vs. Channel Manager: What's Better for Small Hotels? - 1 views
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Small accommodation providers have two options when it comes to distributing their online inventory. They can either do it via a global distribution system (GDS) or via a channel manager.
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GDS acts as a middle-man that connects your small hotel to a network of travel agency professionals, including corporate travel bookers. You connect to the GDS, giving you access to all of the travel agents your GDS is connected with. Those travel agents then sell your rooms to their customers (a mix of corporates and leisure travelers), and any bookings made are automatic.
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Retail model This is the traditional model, ie. how you would work with a retail or traditional travel agent.
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Merchant model This model applies to third party service providers that connect you to retail travel agents (by integrating with a GDS) and online travel agents.
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Opaque model In this model, your guests don’t know they’re staying at your specific property until after they’ve made the booking.
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Small accommodation providers can benefit greatly from using a GDS to connect to retail travel agents and corporate buyers. However, we highly recommend that you steer clear of the merchant model, because you would be paying commission to both the third party service provider and the OTA.
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In this kind of business relationship, it’s much better to retain full control of your rates and inventory
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In the distribution landscape, Global Distribution Systems (GDS) are just one of the many players involved in selling your rooms to a world of travelers. They are one of the oldest kinds of distributors in the industry, so it’s important that you understand how you can work with them effectively.
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A GDS doesn’t work exclusively for accommodation providers – it does the same for airlines, activities, and car rental companies.
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Your rooms are sold through all channels connected through the GDS e.g. traditional travel agents. Whoever sells your room earns a standard commission. Your guest pays you, then you pay your agent. An easy way to understand this model is if you think about how you would work with your local brick and mortar travel agency, that caters to walk-in customers. This is the default model used upon connecting with a GDS.
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In this model, you would work with online travel agents (OTAs) like Booking.com via the third party service provider. An OTA sells rooms on your behalf, allowing your guests to find and select your hotel, check your availability, and make a booking.
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However, this is very costly. As they are a third party provider of GDS services, you would not only pay commission to the OTA (a percentage of each booking), but you would also be paying the third party service provider a commission for use of the system (usually $10-$12 per reservation).
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The only difference is, they won’t guarantee it (there is less of an incentive to sell you because there is no additional commission for them), and they will de-emphasise your listing (by placing it at the end of the list, hiding images, hiding room rate, and other strategies).
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You set up several rates (usually 25%-45% less than retail rate), selling your rooms based on bids that guests make based on location, star rating, and other attributes. For example, Priceline uses a bidding system, and Hotwire allows guests to make bookings based on discounted rates.
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GDSes are great for tapping into the corporate travel market – however, it is being used more for other types of travel than for accommodation.
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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.
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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
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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.
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Hotel Industry Adopts Solar to Save Energy · Environmental Management & Energ... - 0 views
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As consumers demand more eco-friendly vacation choices, the tourism industry is responding with energy-efficient and carbon friendly resorts and hotels.
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solar power system uses SunPower’s high-efficiency solar panels with its patented PowerGuard roof tile technology.
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the system will help reduce New Jersey’s CO2 emissions by 10,000 tons over the next 30 years, and will help lessen oil dependence by at least 749 barrels annually,
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The energy savings guidance for design of new hotels provides a first step toward achieving a net-zero-energy building, reports Green Lodging News.
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more businesses moving to solar energy and this is just one of the opportunities to make hotels and other accommodation type operations more environmentally friendly.
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More businesses moving to solar energy and this is just one of the opportunities to make hotels and other accommodation type operations more environmentally friendly. Technologies best use is when a totally new development is engineered for the lowest environment impact but excellent results are achieved by refurbishing existing hotels. As consumers demand more eco-friendly vacation choices, the tourism industry is responding with energy-efficient and carbon friendly resorts and hotels. The hotel says the output from the system will help reduce New Jersey's CO2 emissions by 10,000 tons over the next 30 years, and will help lessen oil dependence by at least 749 barrels annually.
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Airbnb's New Events Tool Is a Major Missed Opportunity – Skift - 0 views
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MOD 11: This article is about Airbnb starting to penetrate the events and meetings sector of the hospitality industry. While their involvement is very minimal, Airbnb has offered booking accommodations for events nearby. Recently, Airbnb released a booking tool for meeting planners to showcase some of the Airbnb properties that would be nearby the event space. Airbnb's involvement in this new release would only be to provide economical accommodations for nearby events, the website wouldn't be used to provide specific details about the event. This new release of technology with Airbnb is very easy to use and almost anyone can look up potential trips using the tab Airbnb for Events on their website. There are some challenges that can occur with this new release, some being that meeting planners won't be able to negotiate discounts, nor will they be receiving commissions for people who book with Airbnb for Events. Also these Airbnb accommodations may not meet the expectations of the attendees for the event since they're use to staying in a clean-cut hotel room.
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shared by lkastwood on 24 Sep 17
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The importance of a Property Management System in the Hotel industry - Preno HQ - 0 views
prenohq.com/...t-system-in-the-hotel-industry
hospitality technology business hotel property management system PMS software
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The right property management system (PMS) is a key factor in hotel success. Having a system that makes frontdesk workflows easy, will create a seamless guest experience. With the abundance of new technology in the property management systems industry, there is no time like the present to upgrade your PMS.
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Having streamlined and easy check in and checkout processes is important for both the guest experience and hotel efficiency. A property management system will help you perform these tasks with ease, increasing productivity and delivering that exceptional guest experience.
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A PMS that connects to a channel manager means all your availability is constantly being updated. This means no double bookings, saving you and your team time by eliminating double bookings.
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The guest experience is such an important aspect of your accommodation, and is the key to returning guests. Using a streamlined and intuitive PMS will save you time on your day-to-day processes.
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A Property Management System (PMS) is essentially a company's accounting system. In an article written by Preno a Property Management System company they talked about the importance of a Property Management System in the Hotel industry. The right property management system plays a key role in the success of a hotel. The right PMS is not only good from an accounting stand point, but also for building the guest experience. The article covered 5 benefits of having the right PMS in your hotel. First, guest's first impression Preno states "having a system that makes front desk workflows easy, will create a seamless guest experience". How frustrating would it be to finally getting to your hotel after hours of traveling only to have the person at the front desk unable to find your reservation in their system? This would definitely paint a bad picture for the guest; however, it would be a much better feeling if upon your arrival your information is already printed and your guest preferences are already noted and your room keys already printed. Secondly, streamlined check-in and check-out. This is important because the hotel industry has made the process so easy by making applications available for your phone or ipads in the rooms or hotel lobby. Third, clear communication. "Having clear lines of communication between all departments of your property and with the guest is integral to a successful accommodation." This is very important especially between house keeping and front desk. Having an effective PMS allows house keeping to clearly communicate what rooms are clean and available for check-in and upon check-out the front desk is able to change that room status allowing house keeping to see the room is ready to be clean. This also work well for room service and room repairs. Fourth, and one of the most important is no double booking. With clear communication from each department the system will be constantly updating, this saves the hotel time and decrease or eli
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shared by wenjieyang on 04 Nov 21
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8 POS Trends & Technologies Shaping the Future of Retail - 0 views
fitsmallbusiness.com/pos-trends-technologies
Technology Hotel business hospitality Software Restaurant POS
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A POS—or point-of-sale—system is an invaluable business tool that has replaced the traditional cash register with constantly evolving, tech-driven solutions.
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Cloud-based POS technology: Today’s POS software is often cloud-based, meaning you can access your POS software and all of its data from any compatible device at any time.
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POS technology makes it possible for small businesses to accommodate these complex buying behaviors, letting them compete with larger companies with bigger budgets.
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POS technologies continue to empower retailers to create a more seamless customer experience across all touchpoints.
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mPOS systems: Many cloud POS options also have a mobile component, or an mPOS, so associates can meet customers where they are and make sales on the floor.
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When you accommodate additional payment methods with a flexible, tech-forward POS, you can accommodate more customers—and encourage more sales in turn.
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While credit and debit cards remain popular, usage is expected to decrease gradually as consumers access ever-expanding payment options
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POS software captures valuable information with every transaction, so you can build customer profiles that help you learn more about your clientele. Over time, you can personalize automated campaigns through your POS, enabling your associates to access customer profiles at checkout or on an mPOS.
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POS data is valuable for more than just getting to know your customers and their communication preferences. The metrics from your POS can also reveal information about your business’ staff, products, store layout, foot traffic, and returns rate—among other metrics.
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Choosing a POS system that lets your customers subscribe to products or services makes it easy for them to keep their favorite products in stock while effortlessly maintaining brand loyalty.
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many of the best loyalty program software options integrate with POS systems and make it easy for customers to sign up for rewards.
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With increased mobility, data analysis, and security, POS technologies are becoming an integral part of every retail business.
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shared by armanyleblanc767 on 26 Aug 21
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Disruptors in the hotel industry | Colliers - 2 views
www.colliers.com/...y-disruptors-in-hotel-industry
Hospitality hotel software business tech travel solution mobile green
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Underpinning this is an intermeshing of technology development, shifts in demographics, and globalisation which has also brought about rapid urbanisation
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Although disruptions are commonly perceived by incumbent players as threats to their businesses, disruptors could also be sources of significant opportunities for incumbent players to create newer and better services as well as experiences for their guests, hence entrenching themselves even more within the industry.
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its use in luxury hotels, where the personal touch matters, may well have to be adapted to ensure it is seamless and less impersonal.
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consumers’ increasing desire for personalised experiences is expected to continue for years to come.
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use of biometric technology such as the facial recognition technology to speed up guests’ check‐in time and thereby improve the customer experience, make processes more efficient and enhance security.
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By eliminating the process of performing manual checks on travel documents, the amount of check‐in time is expected to be reduced by up to 70%.
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use of hotel robots may yield operational and cost efficiencies to hotels, it is however critical that a balanced approach is adopted by hoteliers to ensure that automation does not supplant quality service hence alienating hotel guests as a consequence
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Voice assistants ‐ such as Amazon Alexa, Siri and Google Assistant – are one of the fastest growing technological fields today, becoming commonplace as a feature of the internet of things
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According to Hospitality Technology’s 2019 Lodging Technology Study, nearly eight in 10 respondents named voice‐enabled technology as the top choice when asked to identify technology that has the most potential in the near‐future, and 62% of the respondents listed voice technology as a transformative technology that makes an impact.
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pop‐up hotels have the agility of providing on‐demand accommodation in locations that traditional hotels could not and/or travelers would not necessarily have access or ease of access to alongside customisable accommodation settings, thereby delivering an entire bespoke guest experience.
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Separately, hotels could potentially streamline operations processes and thereby improve operational efficiency and achieve cost‐savings through automating some of the daily hotel operations via the voice assistant.
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The use of robots within the hotel industry is a form of automation that is becoming more prevalent as hotel chains and individual hotels have become increasingly cognizant that the concept of automation and self‐service is playing an increasingly vital role in the customer experience
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New technologies, online platforms and markets are seen manifesting in new initiatives of all sorts ranging from metasearch engines evolving into one‐stop reservation options, chatbots, and robots providing butler services to alternative accommodation options.
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In Asia, Singapore had its first shipping container hotel in operation in January 2020. Targeting millennials as its primary consumers who are more adventurous and looking for an experience
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Key players of the pop‐up space are predominantly boutique groups although major brands such as Marriot and Accor have started to experiment with pop‐ups
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it is imperative that hotels recognise and make it a top priority to address these privacy concerns and adhere to the applicable regulations concurrent to ensuring the quality of the stored data and system
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Check‐in and check‐out services; provision of tourist information; butler service to deliver amenities such as towels; transport luggage; and meal deliveries.
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This article discusses some of the technological disruptors in the hospitality industry and provides a couple examples specific to hotels. Some of these examples include pop-up hotels, facial recognition, and robots. The article provides a couple reasons why each of these innovative technologies could be beneficial or negative for hotels. Overall, the article provides some good insight into the future of technology in hotels.
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This article covered various disruptors in the hotel industry from the check in process down to automation & self service for guests. Implementing facial recognition to speed up check ins for guest, using voice assistants to substitute daily hotel operations, & using robots for automation are all things that can become more prevalant amongst the hotel industry as it may seem more cost efficient.
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Every year, technological advances are made in each industry, including the hospitality industry. These advances are often seen as threats according to this article, however, they might also pose as great opportunities for the industry and its stakeholders. The article highlights some of the major disruptors in the hospitality industry. Trends such as facial recognition and robots were among those mentioned. I found that both of these trends have negative and positive aspects to them. Facial recognition would reduce the time spent checking in significantly, however guests would still be concerned with the storage of their personal data. Additionally in regards to robots, they aid in operational efficiency in check in and check out services also but they could possibly omit the human touch factor of certain roles that guests appreciate.
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shared by Camila Calcines on 23 May 13
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Smartphone VS Tablet: Prep Your Hotel For a Mobile Future | Top Stories | | Hospitality... - 0 views
hospitalitytechnology.edgl.com/...Hotel-For-a-Mobile-Future86086
smartphone tablet hotel mobile future hospitality magazine tourism
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In 2011, mobile was responsible for $2.6 billion in travel bookings. By 2013, the number is projected to be $8 billion
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tablet users are much more likely to purchase something (62% versus 47%) or book travel (41% versus 29%) on their devices than smartphone users.
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Sixteen percent of mobile users will not return or wait for a website to load if it takes too long and 6% will go to a competitor’s website
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Understanding that the tablet and smartphone experience can be vastly different is important to the way you may want to market to your target audience.
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Time and delivery is very important for mobile guests and the capability to manage reservations through mobile devices provides increased mobility to the modern day traveler,
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Regular testing and monitoring of your mobile site can ensure that customers are getting the best experience.
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In this era of technology I think the hotel industry should of accommodated their customers with an excellent mobile site experience. As read in the article, "In 2011, mobile was responsible for $2.6 billion in travel bookings," and the numbers are increasing exponentially by year. Mobile devices are becoming so popular to book travel because todays customer lives a high-paced life and is always on the go. So I think it is extremely important that travel industries understand the customer and targets them accordingly in order to form that customer loyalty. With the popularity of tablets, the smartphone is gaining harsh competition because a tablet user has a smartphone and when it comes to booking travel they would most likely use their tablet because it is more accessible and the screen is bigger and easier to read. The smartphone and tablet experience is completely different because in essence you are targeting different audiences. The tablet user wants to see bigger icons and more visibility on the bigger screen, while the smartphone user wants to have a quick information session where she/he can view everything on the go. I think the travel industry should focus on execution in order to give the tablet and smartphone user the best mobile experience. With that said, the only way to ensure that positive feedback is through "regular testing and monitoring of your mobile site…"
Fulfill Planned Vacation to Loosen Up - 2 views
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How Green Is My Hotel? - NYTimes.com - 0 views
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As interest in sustainabilty rises and as more and more people travel, the market for genuinely eco-friendly accommodation is growing.
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2012 marked a milestone in travel and tourism: for the first time, international arrivals topped one billion. There were 39 million more international travelers than in 2011,
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accommodation and activities are estimated to make up 25 percent of all the CO12 emitted by the tourism industry, or roughly 1 percent of the world’s total, according to the Untwo.
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The building has no air conditioning, but relies on a heat pump and triple pane windows to keep the rooms cool, or as is more often needed in southern Holland, warm.
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Motion detectors, daylight sensors and key card readers ensure that electricity for lights and appliances is only on when needed.
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Besides the proper certification, these niche hotels also rely on the eco-conscious travelers to find them. BookDifferent.com, a hotel search engine that donates part of its commission to charity has started listing environmentally friendly hotels.
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European green movement is the fastest in the world. Through some green certifications and people's awareness, green hotel market is increasing. Hence, the green hotel can not only save utility cost but also extend the market by reputation. LEED, GSTC or blue flag are the trends for hospitality. Sustainable tourism can be the only future direction for this industry.
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Homework Help: Maths, Physics, Chemistry | Online Tutoring: English, Science, Statistic... - 2 views
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Long term financing in hospitality is often done for a period of more than one year. Such financing will have good impacts on hospitality industry like renewing its equipments and meeting operating costs with smooth cash flow. Therefore it is a cost-effective way to help hotels during their tough times in accounting and cash problems. Like we learned in accounting and financing classes, ratio analysis is the best method to analyze finance in a hotel, which compares the current ratio with the past in order to make feasible investments in the future. What's more, long term financing in hotel industry gives lots of investment potentials. For example, by investing new sectors in F&B as well as accommodation, the job opportunity has also been increased. Besides the investments in hotels, hospitality investment also includes in airlines, cruise lines and tourism bureaus which can also bring profits. So long term financing help hospitality industry make a successful goal with experience and cost effective strategic plan in order to attract more and more tourists as well as guests.
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I didn't agree with the pricing method of examining the past and the prices. What for? Prices, consumers wants and needs along with products constantly change. It's an unpredictable market at times. So examining the history would be a waste of time, the only thing you could possibly get from this would be to see how much your costs have gone up in recent years and plain your profit margins accordingly. But you can do this with out having to manage your previous records and histroy. You could just look at any expense report and go from there
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Starwood Hotels Accommodates HR Users With Global Reporting System | Information Builders - 2 views
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WebFOCUS has let our users around the world access current information via the Web with accurate results and easy-to-use functionality
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Having a consolidated reporting system and a single interface to manage HR data has increased our productivity at all levels
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personnel information is extracted from SAP production data many times daily to refresh an Oracle data warehouse. WebFOCUS is used to generate custom reports from the Oracle data on demand.
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SAP delivered the capabilities Starwood lacked in its HR processes, but when it came to having comprehensive technology for company-wide reporting, the "vacancy" sign was still flashing.
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a secure business intelligence environment that allows users to access selected reports based on their roles and security access rights to particular data. WebFOCUS also interfaces with Starwood's own data-level security via the company portal.
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The WebFOCUS Managed Reporting environment made it easy to develop standard reports, set up domains for various properties and divisions, and manage the reporting infrastructure from a central location.
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Additionally, through the dashboard, developers can set up a different interface for different people
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Currently, four people manage the HR reporting activities for 750 properties in 80 countries. Based on its success in HR, Starwood is examining the possibility of expanding the use of WebFOCUS to other departments within the organization.
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These technical and business attributes make WebFOCUS ideal for calculating occupancy percentages, booking rates, customer preferences, guest satisfaction levels, and a host of other factors.
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With 110,000 employees in more than 750 properties, it has been a challenge for Starwood of making current data accessible to authorized users. So Starwood recently deployed Information Builders' WebFOCUS to augment their SAP suite of applications, and the results are accommodating HR professionals worldwide. This system boosts the productivity and reduce manual labor. The WebFOCUS Managed Reporting environment made it easy to develop standard reports, set up domains for various properties and divisions, and manage the reporting infrastructure from a central location.
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This article describes the system that Starwood has implemented in regards to their HR department and the benefits of the system. The Webfocus system which is a customizable reporting system that can give a myriad of data to the HR managers.
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Travel and Hospitality: Delivering Safety, Service, Sustainability and Security | SGS - 0 views
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What are the four fundamental principles that can help you deliver unforgettable experiences for every guest, every time?
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The importance of delivering safety, security, sustainability, and service in the hospitality industry is becoming an important aspect of our society. This article discusses each principle and addresses essential information that can help deliver legendary experiences to guests. As social media and review sites become a way to engage costumers in expressing their overall experiences it is important that you ensure the up most excellent experience in every aspect to create consumer loyalty. * Safety - must be the number one priority in any hospitality business. Any issue that violates the duty of care of any guest should be addressed and taken very seriously to avoid negative affects to the brand. * Service - Excellent and hospitable accommodations is the reason why frequent travelers return to the same establishments. Training your staff to be diligent and welcoming will help promote the brand values. * Sustainability - one of the latest trends is environmental sustainability within the industry. Guests are conscious of the importance of sustainability and want to feel like they are part of the movement by booking hotels that are "Green". * Security - due to the large risks of security breaches any business is susceptible to be a victim of cyber attacks. It is important to promote security by having a proactive and preventive plan in case of a security breach.