Group items tagged

More than half (61%) of operators say that being able to use data to understand guest preferences and behavior is the top driver influencing a POS upgrade.

“Advanced payment types and allowing more payment types to be accepted at the POS will drive the POS of the Future. Pay-at-the-table, as well as mobility in general, are becoming very prevalent as businesses realize that mobility is a key factor in meeting guests where they want to be interacted with.

POS consolidation will continue to impact technology as POS options become more directly tied to payment processing. As the barrier to technology development continues to decrease

“The future POS will be shaped by the proliferation of consumer preferences to order ahead and online and their desire to drive the transaction in-store as well as merchant preferences to manage orders and payments in real-time, whether they are in-store or off-site.”  — Clover

“New forms of payment that eliminate interchange are going to make it difficult for companies to subsidize POS hardware and software with the payment processing revenue.

— Ingenico

The rise of off-premises ordering and digital enablement will mean an increased focus on advanced kitchen production, the enablement of consolidated and centralized menus and order entry across consumer and employee entry points, and automation of delivery orders and services through branded applications and third-party aggregators.

“As restaurants expand their adoption of software and analytic tools, security will be at the forefront of POS discussions. Data vulnerability is directly related to the number of access points in a hardware or software solution. The risk associated with having access to a wide range of value-add software applications is the increase in access points for potential data compromise.” — TableSafe

“We’ll see an increase in omni-channel ordering including via mobile and kiosk, plus more voice assistant-enabled ordering using the Amazon Echo (Alexa) or Google Home APIs.What’s more, because it’s Artificial Intelligence (AI)-driven, the voice assistant ordering system will ‘learn’ and continually improve based on actual orders and spoken language.” — Xenial

With ever-changing customer demographics and demands, like the increase in integrated online ordering and food delivery, your POS software needs to adapt to your customer base and continue to adjust to reflect business efficiencies.

As an example, the movement to cloud POS highlights the limitations and decreasing utility of client server architecture. Also, closed systems are falling out of favor.

As a result, POS suppliers need to think about how this plays out through the system and in to kitchen operations.  Also, in an online ordering and delivery environment, store location may not be as relevant as store capacity and balancing work between sites.

It is crucial for tourism and hospitality practitioners to proactively incorporate new technologies into their businesses as these will improve service quality and differentiate their products and services.

In order to be able to follow the increasing guests' requests for qualitative services, it is mandatory for hotel management to constantly work on improving its functions and operations. For this it is necessary to keep track of innovations in sectors outside the hospitality, like IT sector that works on creating, developing and introducing new technologies

Hospitality is one of targeted sector that is considered appropriate for application of cloud technologies and services. Hotel Management System or widely known as Property Management System (PMS) is one of the system where IT practitioners saw the chance for improvement by ''moving it to the cloud''.

Hotels will be forced to upgrade their current systems so that they can respond to various and changeable guests' habits and requirements. However, until today, there was not enough academic papers related to usage of cloud technology in hospitality industry even though this sector is under continuous changes caused by usage of new technologies which made search, evaluation and payment of the hotel rooms easier than ever.

After comparing the two groups of hotels, from which one was using desktop PMS and other group cloud- based PMS, the results of the research were derived and presented. In conclusion of the paper, challenges with which the hotels are facing and which affect their decision of starting to use cloud- based technology as well as recommendation for future work will be discussed.

As stated by the Sharif (2010), cloud computing is the latest technology that is being introduced by the IT industry as the next (potential) revolution to change how the internet and information systems operate. The term “cloud” was probably inspired by IT text books’ illustrations which depicted remote environments (the Internet) as cloud images in order to conceal the complexity that lies behind them (Sultan,2010).

The goal of a new computing world is to develop software for millions to consume by easily accessing it over a network. Cloud service providers are making profit by charging consumers for accessing these services.

Products offered via this mode include the remote delivery (through the Internet) of a full computer infrastructure (e.g., virtual computers, servers, storage devices, etc.); the building blocks of an IT enterprise.

Services provided in this category include CPU processing on demand, virtual Web hosting, and storage on demand. The most notable vendors are Amazon’s EC2, GoGrid’s Cloud Servers, and Joyent.

With cloud computing, services and applications that were managed locally in the past requiring hardware, operating systems, web servers, as well as teams of network, database and system management experts are now provided remotely by cloud providers under this layer.

Cloud computing services can be adopted by firms in three different forms (Goscinski and Brock, 2010):

Public clouds - online applications that are open to everyone for free, such as Google

Private clouds - involves firms deploying key enabling technologies, such as virtualization and multi-tenant applications, to create their own private cloud database

Hybrid clouds - mix of the previous two types that are emerging with the intention of providing clients with a level of “control” over their resources

The cloud offers enterprises the option of scalability without the financial commitments required for infrastructure purchase and maintenance.

Reallocating information management operational activities to the cloud offers businesses a unique opportunity to focus efforts on innovation and research and development. This allows for business and product growth and may be even more beneficial than the financial advantages offered by the cloud.

These investments and efforts for a new technology to be presented open a new progress circle of technology advancements and it continues in the same way.

When creating software or an application for a hotel, IT personnel have to possess a certain level of flexibility, openness and creativity. On the other hand, hotel employees are expected to have more insightful and openminded approach towards new ways of performing business operations, sometimes take risks and have experiences with using different programs and applications.

A hotel's PMS can gather and keep valuable information about hotel guests by incorporating business intelligence tools which help hoteliers organize and make sense of the gathered data. Regardless of whether room reservations come from Online Travel Agency, Global Distribution Systems or by telephone, all of them are gathered, stored and managed in the PMS.

low investment costs were main reason for hotels from Group B to decide in favor of cloud based version.

Business intelligence options provide hoteliers with a threedimensional view of guest data, which allows easily statistical reporting and increased hotel management efficiency.

The aim of this study was to investigate the difference in practical usage of the two types of PMS systems – cloud based and classical (desktop) ones.

On the question about the reasons for using the current PMS type in hotels, answers of Group A were based on usage of their current PMS for years and on the fact that employees in all hotel departments were used to work on it. As time passed by, hotels upgraded their system to new versions for several times and additional customization was implemented with regard to hotel preferences.

Hotels from Group B were consisted of relatively new boutique hotels that operate for more than a year and from those that were not using any kind of PMS solution (they were using Excel tables and creating reservation records manually). The reason why hotels from this group wanted to use cloud PMS was a desire to try the latest technology used in hospitality industry.

Other reasons for using it were: PMS could be reached from any place where Internet connection is available, simple but effective design with lots of visual solutions, more options to enter the important information and the fact that it is working not only on any PC but also on any mobile device due to its mobile applications.

Simplicity of the cloud based property management system allows it to be productive. Cloud based PMS's can operate on any advice that has a web browser and the companies are putting their efforts to make it even more friendly on smaller devices like tablets and smart phones.

The similar amount of initial investments were confirmed by the Group A. Being considered as great amount of money for newly opened and small sized hotels to invest, management decided to try out the cloud version which allows access to this system based on monthly subscription with very little or no investment cost, depending on the solution provider.

After initial investments in the system implementation, hardware, software and training of employees, every year hotel makes a one-year-based contract for additional support services and, if needed, extra training. Support is provided any time a hotel reports an issue or malfunction by directly connecting to hotel's computer through remote programs.

Changes are made either for each hotel at a time, or after releasing new version, when provider try to convince all the current users to upgrade to it. Upgrade is provided by the extra charge, so these costs should be also considered during planning investments in classical PMS.

Regardless of which type of system they used, all participants were very careful about and interested in the matter of data security.

However, it is totally different situation with cloud based system, which is mainly open system where all authorized users and providers from outside have access to. Of course, it is up to hotel management to whom the authorization rights will be given and being an open system it makes support, development and innovation activities much easier. Cloud based PMS are hosted on some of the world's best known servers so there is no need for additional computers to be used as servers.

Although there are some great differences in functions and way of managing regarding classical and cloud based system, both have their advantages from which hotels do not want to give up.

One of the biggest advantages of cloud based PMS for the Group B is the fact that this system can be directly integrated with hotel online booking engine. This is considered as a great advantage for the hotels that besides having functional web site, wish to maximize use of its online booking engine, receive more online reservations directly from the guests and gain more profit.

Such a functional connection between hotel’s PMS and online reservation system allow hotels to have a social media integration as well. This means that hotels are able to receive online reservation through their Facebook page as well as receive direct links to its page from the biggest review sites such as TripAdvior.com.

In this paper two different approaches and perspectives on usage of cloud based and classical hotel management systems were exposed. Hotels from Group B have shown a tendency for usage of new technologies and readiness to adopt and continuously learn about them.

Among factors, affecting why hotel prefers one system over another, are type and size of hotel, through which channels are guest reservations coming, previous experience with IT stuff and different programs, etc.

Cloud based program can help them in order to update prices and room availability information to hotel's booking engine. This prevents overbooking, provides easily management of CRM functions and information, with no first investment costs or extra expenses which results in revenue increase.

Hotels that use classical PMS pay a great attention to the security issue because they do not want to risk opening their hotel for external intervention. In recent years we can find in media lots of evidence of information linkage from system that had much higher security measures than an average hotel.

Measuring the performance of cloud-provided services is another challenge for the hotel management, primarily due to the lack of measurement standards.

While investigating the previous knowledge about the other system solutions, hotels in Group A have claimed lack of information about the cloud technology and its solutions.

Even though IT stuff in these hotels has some basic knowledge about it, it is still not enough to convince the other managers about its benefits. Therefore it may be concluded that, besides trying to overcome the above mentioned challenges, developers of cloud based solutions to hotels should also work hard on training the potential clients about the positive aspects and correct usage of cloud technologies.

Lack of measurement standards for cloud-provided services in general as well as for hotels is another important limitation due to which qualitative research was conducted. Authors’ recommendation is that academicians should focus more on topics of cloud computing, cloud solutions for other business operations and on defining measurements standards for cloud services.

right: © 2016 A

the internet consumer of today assumes all businesses worthy of trade have a website;

E-commerce allows the tourism consumer to purchase tourism products and packages online and act as his or her own travel agent by building personalised travel packages and eliminitaing the need for traditional processes

2B

E-procurement can be defined as a business-to-business (B2B) tool that supports the buying process

Today, e-commerce focuses on profitability.

E-commerce mainly helps in the generation of leads, presenting information about the tourism product to the customers, and facilitating the transaction process electronically

consumers have become the storytellers and are the new brand ambassadors.

studies in the tourism and hospitality arena have indicated that ICT is a tool particularly suited to this industry for a variety of reasons.

“if I can’t find enough information on your hotel it’s probably not a good choice.”

The growing concern over sustainability in the business sector led to developments in innovative environment friendly processes and tools collectively called green technology

Green technology enables the eco-friendly practices of business firms.

The concept of sustainability emerged in the field of natural sciences in recognition of the scarcity of natural resources and the need to rationalize usage to secure sufficient resources for future generations (Kirk, 1995).

The concern of sustainability is ensuring the continuation of the well-being of people and protection of the environment from wasteful use or destructive activities.

The implementation of sustainability plans involves innovative methods and tools accessible to hotels and responsive to the multi-dimensional issues including impact of operations on the environment experienced by hotels. Green technology understood as eco-friendly tools and processes or environment friendly products support the successful implementation of sustainability plans in the hospitality industry.

1.      Minimized pollution and rational energy and water consumption. 2.      Respect for culture and tradition. 3.      Community involvement in the hospitality economy. 4.     Consideration of quality instead of quantity in terms of the visitors to tourist destinations. 5.      Economic benefits redound to the community. (Robertson, 2007)

In relation to environmental sustainability, there are also considerations for inclusion into the sustainability plan of hotels to ensure that they meet environmental compliance (Butler, 2008)

However, even if sustainability planning is a tedious task, the expected outcomes are long-term and compelling because this determines the continuity or viability of hotels, firms whose future survival depends on sustainability (Butler, 2008).

1.      Scale and distribution of operations in a given area. 2.      Hotel demand and means of alleviating the negative effects. 3.      Protection of key assets historic buildings, townscape or coastline. 4.     Contribution to other related areas such as economic development and cultural preservation. (Sharma, 2004)

Since the sustainability of hotels spans multidimensional aspects, the contribution of hotels to other areas such as employment or job creation also supports its sustainability.

Green technology received recognition as an aspect of human society and therefore part of sustainability. In a sustainability panel of representatives from the hospitality industry, sustainability as a strategy meant addressing today’s needs without adversely affecting tomorrow’s needs (Knowles, 2008).

Examples of product enhancement are energy saving appliances and fixtures such as fluorescent instead of incandescent lights or intelligent air conditioning systems that regulate room temperature depending on the presence of its occupant

The extent of reduction of waste varies since this could range from minimal to significant decrease in the volume of waste generated, capacity of landfills, and transportation needs. By benefiting the environment, economic benefits also accrue. (Billatos & Basaly, 1997)

dopting waste management processes and tools accrues financial, economic, and environmental benefits for hotels.

Key to these activities is the ability to harness the full functional value of materials and product components at the least possible additional processing cost for recovery and reuse. (Billatos & Basaly, 1997)

First is design of recycling or the cost-effective manner of recovering and reusing materials. The design provides support during the disposal stage to ensure low added cost for recovery. Second is design for disassembly encompassing the methods enabling the minimization of cost in segregating reusable materials. This leads to savings that accumulate when design interventions are made during the stages of material selection and assembly that already separates reusable materials

Third is toxics management comprised of the activities of controlling and eliminating toxic materials that are innate components of products such as cadmium or lead. Excessive levels of these toxic materials are hazards to health and the environment. (Billatos & Basaly, 1997)

Environmental benefits include reduced accumulation of waste and lesser risk of soil, water and air contamination of toxic production. (Billatos & Basaly, 1997)

Pollution prevention involves the elimination of processes in manufacturing that cause pollution. This requires change by redesigning the production process in a manner that prevents the accumulation of harmful by-products or the redesign of the finished products so there would be no use for processes that result in hazardous by-products. The prevention of pollution in production design exacts capital investments but the cost of redesign is deemed less when compared to the cumulative cost of controlling pollution, which would likely increase with new regulations imposing more active methods of pollution control. (Billatos & Basaly, 1997)

Green technology as a process and a collection of tools addresses four objectives, which are a) waste reduction, b) materials management, c) pollution prevention, and d) product enhancement (Billatos & Basaly, 1997). There are processes and tools specifically targeting any one, some or all of these objectives so that the appropriate choice depends on the priority of hotels.

The technological development of product enhancement innovations is escalating and promise greater functions for business establishments. (Billatos & Basaly, 1997)

Utilizing product enhancement technologies influence the sustainability of hotels in terms of savings on operating cost, lesser pollution and waste in the built environment, and value creation for environmental conscious customers (Yaw, 2005).

Overall, green technology supports the sustainability of hotels by decreasing a wide range of economic and non-economic costs to support the financial viability of hotels in the long-term and conserving the natural environment on which the hospitality industry depends for the continuity of business. By adopting green technology, hotels gain processes and tools it can use to secure its sustainability.

A range of energy saving technologies is available to the hotel industry. These technologies could make hotels green buildings by targeting various areas for energy saving.

One is electric heating pumps as alternatives to conventional electric boilers or condensing/non-condensing boilers requiring gas to run. The use of this green technology by a hotel in Hong Kong with a rooftop swimming pool showed a reduction in energy consumption by 26.5-32.5 MWh and a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 12,000 kg. When computed over a ten-year period, using this technology would save the hotel HK$226,400 in energy cost savings. The hotel can earn back the cost of adopting this technology in two years. (Chan & Lam, 2003)

Building designs able to harness alternative sources of energy comprise green technologies that support the sustainability of hotels. Solar panels continue to gain function in energy saving for hotels (“Building in a green edge,” 2008) although the payback period is longer than expected, the energy saving potential extends to the long-term. The use of building designs that harness natural light such as skylight atriums that do not use artificial lighting during the day are also green alternatives for hotels (Kirby, 2009).

Another direction of green technology for the kitchen is the reuse of exhaust heat from the kitchen by harnessing the heat from the exhaust or condensing hot air to produce steam for use in cooking. This is a means of recycling energy. However, this involves the integration of the design in the structure of the kitchen or the building itself, which means greater investment. (Higgins, 2008) Nevertheless, further innovations in this technology could enhance practical value for hotels.

In other areas of hotels such as rooms and bathrooms, e-sensor systems and LED lights comprise green technology options. E-sensor systems apply to different systems such as lighting and air conditioning. The e-sensors have the capability to change automatically the lighting or air conditioning settings depending on the area of the room where there are people or temperature changes in the room. LED lights offer greater energy savings than fluorescent lights so this represents the third generation in lighting technology. (Kirby, 2008) Systems thinking in energy management comprise a promising green technology in saving on energy costs (Sobieski, 2008).These technologies are widely available and accessible to different hotels. The energy saving is experienced in the short term and the payback period is shorted. The problem with this is hotel guests tampering with the system leading to added cost for repairs. This means that awareness and information dissemination are important for the effectiveness of these technologies.

Another green technology for rooms is the biodegradable key cards. These have the same life span as the conventional key cards except that these are biodegradable or recyclable. (Gale, 2009) These require little cost with high environmental impact.

This involves the placement of water treatment plants that recycle water used in baths for flushing in toilets. (Edwards, 2004) These comprise viable and accessible water conservation practices that would contribute savings on the cost of water to rationalize the consumption of water as a scarce resource.

One is the conscious involvement of hotels in the protection of the environment since the nature of the business of the hospitality industry and the closely connected industries such as tourism heavily rely on the soundness of the natural and socio-cultural environment for business

The other is the investment in environment protection in a manner that secures economic and financial as well as a range of non-monetary benefits for hotels in the long-term (Vermillion, 2008).

Energy consumption is also a benchmark of the eco-friendliness of hotels

The water conserving technologies provide the process and tools for hotels to achieve this benchmark.

Waste and pollution management are also benchmarks of the ecological involvement of hotels.

Green technology takes the role as an enabling process and tool for hotels to become sustainable.

With hotels competing to maintain its customer base and pull customers to shift to the hotel’s services, green technology could become an enabler for hotels to become competitive.

Investing in green technology enables hotels to significantly cutback on operating cost. This enables hotels a wider profitability margin and room to offer promotional prices to attract more customers (Jones, 2002).

Green technology has taken a central role in the sustainability of hotels. The concept of sustainability of hotels involves the aspects of environmental protection and business viability.

The use of green technology also contributes to the viability of business firms in terms of financial standing and non-financial competencies in the long-term. Going green attracts the niche market of environment enthusiasts that contribute to sales. Using the range of green technologies available would also result in savings from operating costs in the long-term, which increases the profit of hotels and gives them flexibility to invest in marketing activities.

It is a sound strategy for hotels to consider green technology as a process and a collection of tools in support of sustainability goals.

A web-based chatbot can provide prospective guests with up-to-date booking information, advice on local amenities, estimated prices, and so on.

Content is the lifeblood of ecommerce businesses

A strong content marketing strategy transforms your hotel website into a go-to hub for guests to help them research, prepare, and plan their trip. Consequently, you provide an expansive customer experience that caters to all your guests’ needs in a single space.

A frequent criticism that holidaymakers have about booking hotels online is that the booking system itself is confusing. Too many options, contradictory choices, an arduous process make for such a taxing experience that the traveler needs another holiday to get over it.

The best ecommerce websites are those that provide a streamlined checkout with a simple, linear process and as few choices as possible. Keep your booking process as bare as possible.

Social media is a core component of strong customer experience. It’s rapid, conversational, and works on platforms where your guests are active most, communicating to your target audience with speed and personality.

building a personal rapport between the brand and the customer.

social media serves as a crucial stepping stone towards offline customer experience. The interactions you have with your customers online serve as an incentive to book with you, and form another facet of your brand personality.

Social media is customer service, digitized.

Customer experience is many different things to industries. But inspiration can be found everywhere if you look, and ecommerce is no different.

technology investment decisions are based on affordability and value.

more than half of the chain hotels prioritize technology that seamlessly integrates with their existing systems.

small independent hotels surveyed, 1 in 4 cited complexity as their biggest challenge when adopting technology, with 1 in 3 saying ease of use is a priority when evaluating solutions.

with nearly half of the small independent hotels surveyed i

chain hotels place significant investments in technology

nvest in how best to serve all our partners

prioritize with easy to use filters.

the simplified view streamlines information

new page reduces the number of links

managing rooms and rates easier with modified calendar navigation

view inventory and availability and make real time updates to reduce errors

he page brings the top five countries with the greatest booking opportunity

This personalised experience that enable suppliers to identify certain time-sensitive tasks they should take to accelerate booking potential on Expedia Group's marketplace.

In addition, whilst this may well serve high volume and ‘business’ hotels,

consumers’ increasing desire for personalised experiences is expected to continue for years to come.

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.

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%.

its use in luxury hotels, where the personal touch matters, may well have to be adapted to ensure it is seamless and less impersonal.

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

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

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.

voice assistants could potentially be used by hotels to gather actionable insights and feedback

the data gathered can be analysed and utilised to enhance the hotel offerings

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.

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

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.

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

By making use of cloud computing, as a hotelier, you pay only for what you demand. It specifies that your upfront costs are kept low as you are only paying for the computing power and cloud storage which your hotel actually needs.

The need for hardware overload in your hotel is brought down, because of which your electricity bills are also reduced by a huge margin.

also shortens the project time resulting in costs cutting and higher productivity.

An added advantage of cloud computing is that it frees your staff from their otherwise fixed terminals and lets them work independently and even more efficiently.

increased in the speed at which the guests access the products and services, thus only creating seamless hotel experiences for them.

Also, one of the major benefits is the real-time update — it makes the process much smoother and cheaper, and saves a lot of time.

However, when you put your hotel process and management on the cloud, it provides you with the flexibility to access it and work on it from any part of the world — all you need is a steady internet connection and a smart device (a laptop, or a computer, or mobile phone or tablet.)

When it comes to the benefits of cloud computing in the hospitality industry, the list includes enhanced guest experiences, massive reduction in costs, faster services and their seamless access, software and service security, and more flexibility.

cloud computing has transformed businesses

hospitality industry, cloud computing has done wonders

reshaped the structure of the industry

from increasing operational efficiency to lowering the management costs.

better guest experience and increase the revenue of the property.

ringing down costs like energy, hardware and operations

increasing inclination towards the use of cloud computing in the hospitality industry, they don’t need to always rely on travel agents all the time

hotel check-ins can be done from smartphones or tablets

cloud computing has transformed businesses

cloud-based services are now replacing the old and traditional systems at all levels. Infrastructure as a service (IaaS), Software as a service (SaaS), and platform as a service (PaaS) have all become the first choice of cloud computing services for many hospitality businesses. And they are all charged up with the amazing benefits of cloud computing.

Over the past few years, cloud computing has transformed businesses from across the world, irrespective of their industry. Today, the demand anytime, anywhere access has skyrocketed, and cloud computing is delivering just that — all you need is an internet connection with good bandwidth.

businesses don’t have to burden themselves by storing data in traditional in-house servers; rather, they can opt for a cloud service that would store their data in secured data centres.

There are several benefits of using the cloud and they have helped several hotels across the world to strengthen up their business — from increasing operational efficiency to lowering the management costs.

Advantages Of Cloud Computing For Hotel Industry

In the hospitality industry, Cloud Computing is a mixture of PaaS, SaaS and IaaS. It operates on the model of Use, Builds, and Migrate.

By making use of cloud computing, as a hotelier, you pay only for what you demand. It specifies that your upfront costs are kept low as you are only paying for the computing power and cloud storage which your hotel actually needs.

Hoteliers Can Cut Huge Business Costs With Cloud Computing

cloud computing can benefit hoteliers by bringing down costs like energy, hardware and operations. The need for hardware overload in your hotel is brought down, because of which your electricity bills are also reduced by a huge margin. Cloud computing in the hospitality industry also shortens the project time resulting in costs cutting and higher productivity. Hence, if you shift your software services to the cloud, your hotel business would witness a significant number of opportunities.

Cloud Computing Leads To Improved & Enhanced Guest Experiences

The two main purposes of an efficient and effective hotel PMS are: offer the hotel staff the best set of management tools assist you to ensure the top-notch guest experience

An added advantage of cloud computing is that it frees your staff from their otherwise fixed terminals and lets them work independently and even more efficiently.

Being on the cloud also means that hotel check-ins can be done from smartphones or tablets and not only through the hotel front desk.

Direct Bookings Are Made Easy With Cloud Computing

There was a time when hotels used to payout huge commissions for bookings to the online as well as offline travel agencies. However, with the increasing inclination towards the use of cloud computing in the hospitality industry, they don’t need to always rely on travel agents all the time. Hotels can upgrade their hotel website with cloud-powered services such as web booking engine that can be integrated to the hotel PMS. Also, one of the major benefits is the real-time update — it makes the process much smoother and cheaper, and saves a lot of time.

Cloud Computing In Hospitality Industry Makes Working Remotely Possible When you as a hotelier is not present in the property, managing the operations gets a little tougher. However, when you put your hotel process and management on the cloud, it provides you with the flexibility to access it and work on it from any part of the world — all you need is a steady internet connection and a smart device (a laptop, or a computer, or mobile phone or tablet.)

"I think that you will begin to see more hotels going to RFID and smartphone entry before using biosystem recognition," says Wolfe. "These systems are expensive, and there are many consumers who just don't want this information stored somewhere -- for a variety of reasons."

Systems that track the other qualities that make each human unique are in development as well.

Yet more card-free security systems are on the way.

Many industry watchers are keeping an eye on Houston's largest hotel, the vast 1,200-room Hilton Americas–Houston. The hotel has a facial recognition system that can identify and track guests, employees, and even suitcases. With 700 employees and an annual $16 million payroll, the system offers benefits such as employee time-theft monitoring and prevention for the hotel. But travelers aren't that concerned about employees taking an extra cigarette break. What it means for you is that the system includes alerts if unwanted people are on the property and a response time of mere seconds if there's an incident. Customer service is heightened as well: Returning guests will be recognized and greeted by name. And with 1,200 rooms worth of luggage in transit, the system makes it a lot easier to find lost or misdirected bags.

not everyone wants to be on-camera, all the time. With concerns about "snooping" and a Truman Show-like lack of privacy, might guests feel that systems such as this are too intrusive in our hotels? "

Technology is opening new doors to hotel safety, and the way we navigate hotels is set to change in the blink of an eye. Or the swipe of a cellphone. Or the print of a finger. With futuristic systems like scent and iris scanners and digital facial-recognition, hotel security is being taken to the next level. #plain_module { width: 590px; height:170px; border: none; float:left; margin:0px; font-size:12px;} #plain_module img {border:none; width: 13px; height:14; border: 0px; margin:0px; } #plain_module .mini_main { margin: 0px; padding:0px; width:585px; height:220px; repeat scroll 0 0} #plain_module .mini_item_header {padding:10px 0px; margin: 0px 0px; font-size:16px; color: #555555; border-bottom:1px dotted #CCCCCC;} #plain_module .mini_item {padding:5px 0px; margin: 0px 0px;} #plain_module a { color: #49A3CA; text-decoration:none; } #plain_module a:hover { color: #F98419; text-decoration:underline;} span.gray {color:#949494;} .mini_main li{list-style-type: none;background-image: url(http://www.aolcdn.com/travel/bullet);background-repeat: no-repeat;background-position: 0 1px;padding-left: 10px;} Those plastic key cards that once seemed so innovative will soon go the way of the actual key. The new thing is contact-less Smartcards and RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) cards that need just be waved to allow room access. Much like the cruise world's one card system, these cards may soon make hotel stays easier by allowing guests to pay for services, as well as to check-in and check-out, through a single device. Travelers may even be able to save preferences on the cards, from pillow type to floor choice. RFID cards are already in use at New York's Plaza Hotel, and Starwood Hotels are considering introducing them into their hip Aloft and Element properties. But travelers worried they will constantly have to traipse back to reception every time they lose their card need not despair. Security systems in some hotels do away with cards altogether. "In addition to Radio Frequency Identification, there are also systems that use a smartphone, such as an iPhone," says Frank Wolfe, CEO of Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals. "When a guest checks into a hotel and provides their phone number, they get an encrypted sound code via text message." You can then play back the code to unlock your room door.

Systems that track the other qualities that make each human unique are in development as well. Movement-activated video-capture systems were showcased in New Zealand in September 2010. Researchers are at work on devices capable of recognizing an individual's gait or walk and even their DNA. Frank Wolfe says, "If you want to go 'way out there', there are some systems being explored that can allegedly sniff someone, and also systems that can recognize the pattern of blood veins on a human being which are apparently unique to the individual," says Wolfe. Quite common in Japan, vascular-recognition systems such as this are still "several years off," according to Wolfe. "I think that you will begin to see more hotels going to RFID and smartphone entry before using biosystem recognition," says Wolfe. "These systems are expensive, and there are many consumers who just don't want this information stored somewhere -- for a variety of reasons."

With the market continuing to be extremely competitive, revenue management and channel optimization remain key focal areas of investment for publicly traded companies as well as independently owned organizations alike.

Enhancements to CRM and loyalty programs are also on the list of investment directives.  A number of responses (almost 70 percent) indicated that they were targeting business intelligence (BI) initiatives for the coming year as part of their technical focus and in an effort to become more strategic in managing the business and targeted revenue focus. 

The investment in guest experience technology continues to be strong as hotels attract guests to hotels. There continues to be increased expenditures on key drivers such as improved Wi-Fi service, self-service mobility applications and expanding the in-room offerings.

With a number of breaches within the hospitality industry this past year, and other large corporate breaches such as Yahoo headlining the news, this continues to be an area of concern. 

With the sophistication of the threats and the possibility of breaches increasing, companies are looking to outsource their information security/cybersecurity requirements to third-party service partners that specialize in countering these risks.

in recent years corporations are beginning to understand that investment in human resources is one of the most important assets they have.  A recent Forbes article referenced the Deloitte Global Human Capital Trends Research analysis, which said, 78 percent of business leaders rate retention and engagement as being urgent or important. 

While managing Big Data has long been an Achilles heel for most companies, most would agree that there are significant competitive advantages that can be gained from being able to effectively manage the information.  With a number of respondents targeting CRM projects for the coming year, the promise of being able to effectively target individual guest preferences becomes more obtainable.

A significant number of companies are continuing to look at transitioning to cloud-based applications for some of their applications.  However, more than 80 percent indicated that they are not ready to transition all of their applications to the cloud. 

With more than 70 percent of respondents reporting that they expect an increase in their IT spend this coming year and only 10 percent expecting a decrease, 2017 promises to be a good year for the hospitality technology industry.  Most respondents indicated that their primary reason for investing in new technology was to improve their customer engagement and experience.  This was closely followed by their directive to make operations more streamlined and efficient.

VingCard Elsafe provides comprehensive training on the technology for the hotel staff and encourages everyone who will have interaction with the locks to participate

, preventing

As hotel locks become increasingly automated, preventing them from becoming vulnerable to security concerns has become a top priority for hoteliers

As hotel locks become increasingly automated, preventing them from becoming vulnerable to security

“  Our Classic magstripe locks do not store critical security information within individual locks, such as master key information, and any service device must authenticate itself through diversified encryption methods to gain access to the lock software ,” Shea said. “  When VingCard Elsafe moved the industry towards RFID technology, security was one key driver, and our primary focus was to add additional security to the RFID card to prevent cloning. To that end, VingCard Elsafe hotel locking systems do not work with cards that have no anti-cloning capability.”

VingCard Elsafe’s locks can also detect tampering and work to alert hotel security staff using the company’s VISIONLINE system. “[The VISIONLINE system] incudes alarms to alert the hotel front desk if someone attempts to tamper with a door lock as well as providing real time alerts to the hotel’s security staff

VingCard Elsafe’s locks can also detect tampering and work to alert hotel security staff using the company’s VISIONLINE system. “[The VISIONLINE system] incudes alarms to alert the hotel front desk if someone attempts to tamper with a door lock as well as providing real time alerts to the hotel’s security staff when activity is detected that a card is being misused,”

For instance, a ‘wandering intruder alert’ warns hotel security personnel when a card is presented to a number of different doors.  Other alarms include detecting that a door is forced open, left open, or ‘mule tool’ intrusions when a door is opened from the inside handle without an occupant in the room.”

After installation, hotels must work to keep their staff trained and their system upgraded to keep pace with the latest security issues.  

VingCard Elsafe provides comprehensive training on the technology for the hotel staff and encourages everyone who will have interaction with the locks to participate ,”

As with any hotel upgrade, hoteliers understand that renovation and upgrades are a regular part of running their business

Looking past RFID solutions for instance, VingCard Elsafe has made our RFID locks compatible with next generation technologies, like Near Field Communications (NFC), providing our customers with an easy upgrade path at reasonable cost.”  

As further described below, the hospitality industry possesses a number of factors that make them attractive to hackers: large volumes of valuable information, multiple vectors for accessing information, large workforces and dependence on vendors, to name a few.

First, the increasing incorporation of technology into hotel operations can lead to more breaches.

Predicting the future is a difficult and fraught task, but in this case, it is straightforward – there is no reason to expect that the number of cyberattacks will drop

Integrating partner technology relationships into our sales and marketing immediately increases our value in the eyes of potential business partners and ensures them that we understand their overall event goals and objectives."

She adds by highlighting that bringing new technologies to the table also helps with the sales process.

First is the opportunity to engage and educate potential clients (event organizers) looking to book meeting space and in the process forming a new relationship. The other is adding value to the overall hotel offering and building a stronger brand as well as increasing revenue.

Organizers benefit greatly when a destination offers additional marketing and event execution tools, which assist when positioning the experience to event stakeholders and decision makers. In addition having a technology relationship in place, saves the organizer time and money, by having pre-populated destination details and potential purchaser discounts."

It gives them an opportunity to experiment how audience response with smartphones work or how they can send conference updates and alerts to delegates faster and easier with mobile event apps.

If possible it would also be extremely beneficial to offer a demo or a free basic version of the technology to allow event planners experience and try a simple mobile event app before exposing or upselling them to the more advanced features.

Mixing technology promotion by Hotels is not a usual practice but it is becoming more mainstream.

It is also important to closely measure the ROI for any technology strategy such as offering mobile event apps as part of the experience at a hotel. The key measurement factors will be feedback from attendees and event planners as well as tracking how many event planners opt-in to use this technology for their events.

This technology is also ideal for self check-ins by guests at hotels as well as the next trend in this article: smart room keys.

Hotels will increasingly install smart room access systems that allow guests to unlock their doors by simply swiping their phones across a keyless pad on the door. Starwood (owner of the Sheraton, Weston and “W” hotel chains) has already upgraded 30,000 room locks across 150 hotels with this system and Hilton will be implementing a similar system at 10 of their US properties this year. In 2016, they will be deploying the smart room key technology globally. This technology will mean that guests don’t have to worry about picking up keys and front desk staff won’t have to issue new keys in the event that a guest loses their room key. Another innovative way to offer a keyless experience is through fingerprint-activated room entry systems and retina scanning devices. Retina scanning is even more accurate and secure than fingerprint scans and hotels like the Nine Zero Hotel in Boston have already installed an iris scan system in place of key cards to control access to the hotel’s presidential suite.

Some hotels are already offering more futuristic experiences, with robots delivering any items ordered through room service to a guest’s door. A boutique hotel that is nestled between Apple’s headquarters and other tech companies, called Aloft Cupertino, has a robot butler called Botlr that is able to move between the various floors of the hotel in order to take items such as toothbrushes, chargers and snacks to guests. These types of digital systems not only make it easy for hotel staff to deliver items to guests, but it also offers a forward-facing digital experience to people who stay at the hotel. Infrared scanners are now also used to minimise disruptions relating to housekeeping (which is a common complaint from customers). Instead of hanging a ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign on doors or having cleaning staff wake up traveling guests with knocks and phone calls, hotel staff can take a more innovative approach by using infrared scanners that will detect body heat within a room and tell cleaning staff that they should rather come back later if the room is currently occupied.