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I found an interesting article about how the big computer companies can recycle the computers. This can solve some of the main problem about the recycling. The article is referring to idea that computers may become bigger size but easier to recycle. In other words we might wanna make a step back in the past, when we was able to just replace one detail from the computer instead of throwing it away.

The hospitality industry is recognizing how imperative it is to run your hotel in a way where it will not only benefit you and your business but for the environment as well. Many hotels are making an effort to making an effort to become certified by means of having a going green business. In addition to certification, businesses in the hospitality industry are contributing to this go green effort by seeking specific goals and priorities. Hotels for example are focusing on how to save energy and water conservation, solid waste management, land use and indoor air quality. Changing basic hotel equipment such as toilets, solar heating, washing machines/dryers, refrigerators to "green products" can create a big difference in hotel energy costs and help save the environment as well. When a hotel owner applies for certification they are carefully inspected to verify compliance on how well the hotel manages their business efficiently by saving energy, water and disposing wastes properly for example. Even something so small as using the right cleaning supplies can have a positive impact on the environment. Not only does going green lower hotel costs but they also receive tax rebates, zoning permits and other incentives to persuade hotels to go green.

In todays world, where ecoturism is the fastest growing market in the hospitality industry, hotel managers and owners realize the importance of running their properties in an environmentally responsible way. These initiatives usually translate in to greater customer recognition and loyalty. Some of the ways they achieve this is thru certifications, such as LEED which focuses on improvements to buildings and structures in order to maximize operations such as energy performance, conservation of water and other resources.

In an effort to become more environmentally conscious, many hotels and resorts have taken major steps, from pre construction to customer requests, to reduce their "carbon footprint". These establishments understand the value of "going green" not just to increase their long term profits but also to cater to a growing demand for more environmentally friendly recreational outlets. Going green is more than just a fad. Therefore, it is imperative, to stakeholders, within the hospitality and tourism industry to make the necessary changes to maintain a competitive edge.

This article found in Social Hospitality features one of my favorite innovative technologies being utilized in the hospitality industry.  In some cutting edge properties, housekeepers now have the ability to use heat detectors to determine whether a room is occupied or not.  This is a fantastic new addition to most hotels current procedures and would cut down on numerous instances of guest annoyance.  One of the most frustrating things when staying in a hotel is being woken up early by housekeeping knocking on your door, and this technology offers a "21st century do not disturb notice" which would greatly improve the guest experience.  

This is a great article highlighting the cons of of cloud-based PMS. In India, the infrastructure is not developed enough for hotels to rely on a cloud-based PMS. While the hotel industry is slowly adopting things such as mobile check-in, there is great hesitation to adopt the cloud-based PMS. The Internet in India is not reliable therefore it would not be efficient for hotels to send all their data to the cloud. In the event of an outage, the hotels would not be able to operate. There are also many concerns over data security; Indian hotels are worried about transferring secure information to an "unknown" place. Yet, individualized properties are looking forward to centralizing PMS and perhaps embracing cloud-based PMS in the near future. Only time will tell how long it will take the Indian hotel industry to become more technology oriented. 

This article discusses the relationship between airlines and GDS corporations.  Airlines are going a different route to drive customers to book direct by tacking on additional fees to consumers for using the booking sources.  This came as a surprise to the GDS corporations and they have since been trying to work together with certain airlines to have the fee waived for using their site ie: expedia.  With so many add on options when booking flights, such as baggage, seat upgrades, and in flight entertainment, many GDS companies are working with airlines to offer bulk packaging on their sites as well to provide a bump in revenue for both industries.  If both industries continue to maintain a good working relationship the future will be bright for them. 

The article states that the Global Distribution System (GDS) as a link for the buyers and sellers of tourism services. The buyers are travel agents and members of the public while sellers are hotels, airlines and car rentals. The history of GDS as describes in the article is that GDS was created in the 1960's by the airline industry for use in keeping track of flight schedules, availability and prices. The article describes GDS as "a network operated by a company that enables automated transactions between third parties and booking agents in order to provide travel-related services to the end consumers." GDS is also "a global distribution model refers back to the reservation instrument journey sellers use when making an air, lodge, auto or other journey service booking." The article describes some of the GDS companies that include Galileo, Apollo, Worldspan, Amadeus, and Sabre. These companies are owned and operated as joint ventures with the aid of essential airways and inn groups. The advantages of GDS for hotels are giving publicity for the organization, B2B and B2C distribution, and constant online access to a company's inventory.

I think what is stated in this article is very important to travel/tourism and hotel industries and also flight workers because it is good to know this for pricing, availability and flight schedules.

This article is about IATA's (International Air Transport Association) New Distribution Capability (NDC) that will give Airlines GDS systems more flexibility in delivering fares and inventory. Right now, the top 4 GDS systems used by major carriers are Amadeus, Galileo, Sabre, and Worldspan. The airline I work for uses Sabre with a QIK overlay and, based on personal experience, the implementation of NDC is long overdue. It will make it especially easier during irregular operations (cancellations, delays, misconnections) when we need fast and accurate access to other airlines inventory. Since most airline passengers travel only once every few years, the NDC will also emphasize the role of travel agents. They will be provided with enhanced tools to access more accurate inventory, better routing, fares, and packages that may be unnoticeable to non-frequent travelers when they book directly on the airline's website or OTA's. Furthermore, it will allow airlines and travel agents to collect data about passenger's preferences in order to provide future tailored business or leisure packages.

In December 2018, the FBI warned that unpatched devices on networks were exposed to hackers through an open port used to communicate with control systems.

One last, often-overlooked vulnerability is an aging BMS. Many buildings still have legacy BMSes installed that could be subject to simple attacks, although some of the older systems are analog-based and are not as easy to hack as modern, Ethernet-based systems. Regardless, the old systems may have default passwords that can be found on the internet and that cannot be changed or patched. These old systems may also have open ports that cannot be blocked unless you install a major -- and expensive -- upgrade or retrofit.

Building management system is an intelligent microprocessor-based controller network installed to monitor and control a building's technical systems and services. they can be directly integrated with a broad range of building services, including access control, security, power, lighting, fire systems, elevator and escalator controls, smart whiteboards, and clinical systems. Hackers are becoming more savvy to BMSes. As a resullt, businesses must spend time and resources to patch any vulnerabilities.

This article describes five new trends in information technology for the restaurant industry. This first is Touchscreen Food Vendors, which is a device similar to the e-bar that allows a customer to choose many items from one machine. The second is Tablet Restaurant Management, which allows one to view menu items and manage delivery tickets to the kitchen. The third is Automatic Biodiesel Converters, which allows cars to receive eco-friendly fuel while at a restaurant. The fourth is LED Alert Systems, which allow the kitchen to be alerted to time-sensitive tasks. The fifth is Webcam-Enabled Monitoring, which allows the kitchen and floor to be watched at a remote site. The article also lists the price of these various innovations

Global Distribution System (GDS) is a system operated by an organization that empowers automated exchanges between travel specialist organizations for mainly airlines, lodgings and vehicle rental organizations and travel agencies. Travel agencies generally depended on GDS for administrations, products and rates so as to provision travel related administrations to the end consumers. A GDS can connect services, rates and bookings uniting items and services over every one of the three travel segments: i.e., aircraft reservations, hotel reservations, vehicle rentals. The biggest global distribution framework is Amadeus. GDS is not the same as a PC reservations framework, which is a reservation framework utilized by the specialist organizations also known as vendors. Essential clients of GDS are travel specialists both online and office-based to reserve spot on different reservation frameworks kept running by the sellers. GDS holds no inventory; the inventory is hung on the merchant's reservation framework itself. A GDS framework will have constant connect to the merchant's database. For instance, when a travel office asks for a reservation on the administration of a specific carrier organization, the GDS framework courses the demand to the proper aircraft's PC reservations framework. This empowers a travel specialist with an association with a solitary GDS to pick and book different flights, lodgings, exercises and related administrations on every one of the merchants working in a similar course who are part of that GDS network. There's no uncertainty that global distribution frameworks will have an imperative influence in the travel landscape for a long time to come, yet their conventional job is changing and being tested by every one of the progressions occurring in the travel business. While such changes will affect the future development open doors for global distribution frameworks, there will keep on being a job for them as they advance to address the issue

More and more, hotels are using IoT (the Internet of Things) strategies. Just like we can use our phones to lock/unlock our house's front door, hotels can use different devices in their properties to boost a guest's satisfaction. Currently, some of the top IoT trends are: Guest-room automation, where a guest's room can change the temperature, switch on/off the lights, and do a few more personalizations around the room depending on whether or not a guest is currently in there; Predictive maintenance, where sensor data is used to prevent issues by recognizing dangerous trends and notifying maintenance before it gets worse; Mobile engagement, where guests can use their phones as room keys among other things; and Hyper-personalization, where rooms could remember a guest's room preferences (temp, lighting, tv channels, etc.) and then set up the room the same way the next time they stayed. However, the fact that all of this is internet-enabled means that there is also a significant risk of information being hacked into and stolen.

E commerce has impacted tourism for over 50 years, both business and consumers alike. The introduction of the internet and the world wide web expanded the consumers options to make vacation decisions such as air fare, seating and time of travel. E commerce has enabled consumers use of their tablets, smart mobile devices and emails to access the internet as resource to obtain and gather information about their choice of travel destination. Consumers find using their technology devices to be more accessible and comfortable. These devices are used to collect data about their travel destination through browsing the web on a company destination site. viewing the number of ratings or reviews that the destination has accumulated thus giving the consumer an idea of experiences of travellers who vacationed previously. As a business in the tourism industry ecommerce provides the company an opportunity to display products and services to the world. Businesses are given the opportunity to attract travellers to their world while enticing vacationers to want a experience everything that is available from browsing the other side of a screen through blogging, video clips and photos.Consumers are given more options with use of e-commerce. It is noted that businesses must take advantage and make use of the internet to remain competitive.

This article covers the effects e-waste has on not only the people working with these hazardous materials everyday, but what long term effects it could have on the environment. The article concentrates on the region India, and how the e-waste is currently effecting it. The limitations this kind of work is having on the people associated with this form of disposing everyday. How even children are infected with led and it is now in their bloodstreams. The article goes in deeper with predictions of contamination of animals and plants in near by areas and what could become of them. The article sums up, however, that at the the end of the day it will always come back to us and the whole world could be contaminated by these toxins. That there needs to be a solution soon to this problem or what seems to be just the begging can grow even further, and faster than we could ever want.

With the demand for sustainability initiatives by consumers, hotel are having to make major changes in order to oblige. Sustainability has become a major concern for many consumers and businesses have taken notice. As a result, major hotel chains across country have begun to put in order plans to make changes to their daily operations. As noted in the article by L.A. Times, changes have been made to features such as water usage, machinery operations and even landscaping design . These changes and updates are in the hopes to attract a wider consumer market which now includes Eco-friendly travelers.

The LA Times article, "More hotels are going green, and not just to save water or money" highlights how an "earth-friendly image" is important to many corporate travel managers. Research suggests that having an environmentally friendly hotel not only aids in decreasing operational cost and avoiding city or county fines but may also be a way to differentiate a firm's brand and compete more effectively in the market. With travelers specifically seeking out eco-friendly choices and demonstrating a willingness to pay extra to accommodate a hotels ability to provide these services; going green could be a strategic solution implemented in a manner that allows for increasing market share while reducing operational cost.

Good Afternoon, It good to see hotels are being proactive about being environmentally friendly. It also great they mentioned that corporate travelers are looking for Eco-friendly hotels. I know a lot of companies require corporate travelers to seek out hotels that meet certain green levels and along with there corporate rates. Hotels are demonstrating that they are willing to invest in green technology not only for money but because it the right thing to.

The connected hotel is here. Gearing towards millennials will be a fact of survival by 2025. Even though some of the technology listed has been used for some time, we can see here examples of the expansion of some of it. The most fascinating technology from this article is the RFID floor sensors placed under rugs. This is a new concept to be, but one that makes total sense and is used in two applications in the article.

I thought that my article was very interesting and it provided the 3 most popular opera PMS alternatives for hotels. In the hotel industry, Oracle's OPERA Hotel PMS remains the most used in the field but there are other property management that are available and sometimes they even offer cheaper prices. The first alternative is Hotello, which offers some features like front desk management, marketing and all the essential features to run a hotel. The second alternative is Hotelware PMS is used by hotels and hotels chain all sizes which is great for hotels that may expand in the future. The third alternative is Protel Air which is a cloud-based system which is great for small hotels because cost of IT and hardware could be avoided. All 3 alternatives are great options that hotels should look into because they have more pros than cons and can be asset for saving money.

GDSs are updating their systems to meet the growing demands of travel agents and still are popular today. They are a complicated system that require months of usage and training to become proficient. There can be mistakes when using GDSs that most travel agents try to avoid making because a mistake could lead to a debit memo r fine. The good news is unless you are booking corporate travel, complicated itineraries, or air only travel, you do not need to use GDS. Most leisure travel agents can use a host agent. These systems are like the point and click booking that are used by online travel agencies. GDSs have their place and are beneficial for certain types of agents; however, most agents that do not want to take months to learn to use GDSs have alternatives.

Nowadays, there is an abundance in advanced in-room features making their way into the world's most modern hotel rooms. Some of those inventions, integrated recently in some hotels in the U.S., are explained below. Sheraton Imperial Hotel Raleigh-Durham Airport at Research Triangle Park, in North Carolina, offer its guests a better hotel experience through a TV with fast reboot time. This TV provides a top-notch television content and delivery, and has the latest high-resolution options and features. Due to its level of delivery that guests are accustomed to have in their own homes, it is expected for guests to feel more comfortable and homey during their stay. Hotel rooms in Loews Hotel 1000 in Downtown Seattle are equipped with heat-detecting sensors, which scans the room for body heat so that housekeepers don't accidentally enter the room. This high-end technology with an infrared signal scans the room to detect body heat and notes 'do not disturb' when occupied. It is particularly useful when guests forget to leave a sign when entering the rooms at night. Seems like the world's most advanced hotels are getting very creative with their in-room technology. Another example for that is the beds of Four Seasons Hotels which are customizable to guests' preferences, designed to support better sleep. Recently, numerous Aloft Hotels and Element Hotels across the United States feature their own robot butlers. With help of Botir, items can be easily delivered to the guests rooms within minutes. The purpose of using robotic assistants is to send a robot to deliver shampoo, toothbrush, toothpaste or so by the front desk. This way, the human hotel staff can serve customers personally when necessary. In my view, in the customer-driven hospitality industry, the use of in-room technology can make guests feel more comfortable and feel "at home". These new technologies have been helping the hospitality industry grow in innovative and tech-enhanced ways to deliv

This article discusses an Eco-Friendly Greek hotel. The hotel uses smart technology, as well as solar panels, and other green methods.