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Interesting article! The author appeals hotel managers to stop, look and listen before investe hotel teches. He point that in-room technology makes provide a good experience for the guests however the hotel owner have to pay much and the ROI decreased. In addition the writer notice that the manager should understand the real demands of travelers instead of installing high-end devices in the guest room.

No matter in what kind of biz, before we make a decision to adopt new technology, it's better to do a SWOT analysis at first. In the hospitality industry, everything related to the relationship with people. What kind of service will accept by customers and what's the best method to provide are the basic questions need to be answered before take a new investment approach. In this artical, it piont out to be wait and see before tacking a new investment. There are some benifits to do this. 1, save money. 2, get the experience from others. 3, lower risk. No matter what kind of method you take, the basic rule is making decision from customer perspective.

The lodging industry has been implementing contact-free check-in way before the pandemic started. Hotel companies saw that as a solution for the long lines at the front desk and the time wasted signing required documents before receiving your key. Contactless check-in has been proven to be more effective and favorable by many travelers. Guests can now check-in through their phones and even have a digital key to unlock their room. Check-in applications will allow you to learn about the guests' interests in your amenities/ outside attractions which can help companies better the experience for the next time that guests books with them. As these contactless check-in apps are implemented into more hotels, it is best to inform the guests of the process atleast a day before their arrival. Since some might not be familiar with the idea, the companies should guide them on how to check-in through their phone and how to access their key. The more that guests will adapt to doing this, the more that they (and your employees) will be happy.

Optima Go Green allows hotels using the Optima Hotel Management Solution property management system to go the extra mile and reduce the total amount of paper used by implementing Optima green solutions. The Optima Go Green solution includes features such as advance up to 24hours before using a smart phone; guest checkout allowing the guest folio to be viewed via an iPad; scanning of IDs to save time and ensure accuracy, managerial reports being able to be directly sent to the appropriate manager without having the need of being printed; allowing managers to check rate strategies and availability online on their smart phones. The maon concept of Optima goGreen is a cost effective solution which is all about managing documents without wasting time and space. This article tied in with the previous weeks discussion about green initiatives. A hotel's priamry office expense is paper and toner. By printing less we are drastically saving money by not having to waste paper. Storage is also cut down because the need of storing paper is eliminated. In such a tech savvy world, this is definitely the way to go.

"Stop, look and listen before investing in hotel tech"

This article first reviewed the technology revolution in hotels. From the telephone, TVs, to today's mini bars and electronic door locks. Why hotels install more and more technology into guestrooms? Because the hotels believe the guest wants it, needs it, and it's become a way to stay competitive. However, the high technology gives brings them competitive advantages and also provides convenience for the guests, at the same time, it also carries a high cost with it. How to select the best technology and how to make best use of the technology? The author suggested the hotels should Stop, Look and Listen before investing in hotel technology. First, the hotels should justify the reasons to set the expensive devices. How to make sure the devices is useful and worth that much money? The hoteliers need to see whether the guests really want and need the technology. Consider very carefully the kind of tech you are deploying. Is it because you feel threatened by what your competitors are doing? Remember they may be on the wrong track. It is important for hotels to understand what the guests really want and need and before investing the new technology, the hotels need to stop, look and listen.

When it comes to investing in technology in hotels, a better approach might be to simplify. In a day and age when most people carry around all their technology needs in their pockets (Cellphones, Tablets, Laptops, etc.) There may not be a need to invest so heavily in gizmos to attract customers and keep them happy. We may want to consider that all the guest wants is to be connected, so offering a super fast, reliable and suitably priced internet access is all the technology they really need. Investing in every new technology, with short lifespans, can end up making a real dent in your ROI.

In the wake of the Marriott International cyberattack, the article presents the issues with the current issues in the methodology of cybersecurity; first explaining the data of how popular they are in the hospitality industry, and what it means for the industry, before going into the process of how a cyberattack happens and the measures taken to prevent it. Traditional cybersecurity is one of an "incident response" which can only be implemented once a cyberattack occurs and can only prevent it temporarily as a hacker can do similar tasks with different IP addresses and new malware. In order to circumvent this failure of cybersecurity, the article offers a new method in which TTPs (tactics, techniques, and procedures), are used to identify certain components of a hacker and identify how they would carry out an attack, before acting on it before the attack would "reach the network".

This article discusses one of the largest fears of most hospitality firms, and that is keeping their client's personal information private. Most large companies in this industry have become giant data centers for the personal information of millions of people. Breaches of this type of information place the lives of many people at stake. For example, Marriott International had a security breach of over half a billion of its clients which began in 2014 and was not detected until September of this year. Keeping an individual's information away from malignant forces is just plain business sense and any more attacks of this manner will severely hurt the reputation of the business experiencing it.

This article talks about the hotel industry and the inside scoop on their efforts to getting back out their and marketing themselves after COVID-19. There are a few things they need to consider while they are beginning to strategize their plan. One of them is timing. If the company remained staff, then they may begin marketing faster than those that furloughed employees. In that case, they may need to get that together before they invest in marketing. Another item to consider are their goals. Companies must think about what they can afford. They need to think about if they are able to have some leeway and able to take things slower, even if it means breaking even for a while or does your company absolutely need to be at the same profitability level pre-pandemic? Another consideration would be regions. Certain regions were hit harder than others. Therefore, recovery will be by a case by case basis. Some regions will be able to market and get back to business faster than others. Yet another consideration is channels. This refers to social media and other types of media in order to market. Travelers follow many travel pages on social media, therefore this should be a priority when trying to ramp up customer traffic again. All-in-all, the travel and hotel industry will make a comeback. Although it will be a slow comeback, the industry will prevail just as it has before.

Virtual Reality is enhancing the way travelers can decide if they want to book their hotels, by allowing them to take virtual tours of the hotel or experience local attractions via virtual trials, some of these examples include checking out local beaches, even simulated scuba diving. Some of these 36o videos are truly remarkable and I can see how this can encourage guests into booking their trips because it certainly makes me want to try all of these activities.

Virtual reality is a computer technology, which utilizes images, sounds, and physical sensations to make users feel as though they are physically present in a virtual world. For those in the hospitality industry, virtual reality has particular appeal because it can transport potential customers to a hotel or travel destination. The full potential of virtual reality within the hotel industry is only just being recognized.

This article goes over how VR/AR is currently impacting the hospitality and tourism world. The main reasons for its big impact on the industry and how the technology is being applied. It mentions examples and touches a little bit on the metaverse topic. It also has a separate article that explains further on AR & AI in the hospitality industry.

In this article talk about hospitality industry has to upgrade to make more benefit for making more profit than now. There is more telecommunication technical solution that is able to hospitality telecommunication problem entities. Notrhwind, the inventor of the PMS software system in hospitality industry since 1987. Northwind offers PMS (Property Management System) in hotel software. Maestro PMS is a storage and backup system based on the cloud computing system and replace from their old data to in hotel server. Tim Belcher assitant general manger of Legacy Hotel and Conferences, one of the telecommunication companies, said that the problem of the telecommunication system could replace duties of their IT staff since maintain and resolve problems with storage provider. Business that are looking to improve their own telecommunication system, the company should contact a professional technology consulting agency before set up the implementation planning process.

More and more companies in hospitality industry are focusing on telecommunication, for telecommunication system could help them better manage the company and enhance customer service. Before choosing the right system, companies have to consult a professional company and conduct lots of development and research work. Then they can find a right one for the company. A right telecommunication solution, like PMS in the article, could help reduce cost and time, as well as providing great customer service.

This article is indicating that hospitality industry can benefit from upgraded telecommunication technology and hospitality serviced need to have particularly efficient telecommunication process if they want achieve success among their competitors.  A new system is introduced in this article: Maestro PMS. It is a cloud-based hosted storage and backup system that business can integrate their old physical, in-house servers. And the system backups and upgrades in secure network operation hosting facility, which could let operators focus their attention on guest service and revenue generating activities. This article also suggest that if company looking to improve their own telecom systems, it is better to contact a professional technology consulting agency before beginning implementation planning process.

This article is about how TSA begins to security check. The goal of TSA is to simplify security procedures to all low risk passengers, so it is likely to that TSA searches through database which is provided by government and others even before the passengers arrive at the airport. In order to do thorough security check, there should be more authority of the government. Actually TSA did not undisclose the information that are using to identify the low risk passengers. However, it can be predicted such as follows; Tax identification numbers, car registrations, employment information,past travel itineraries, property records, physical characteristics, law enforcement information and intelligence information.

Today's many hotels have been trying to innovate their hotel technology to keep pace with their competitors. However, it seemed like that they're too much depend on the unnecessary and expensive technology. Thus, before investing the hotel technology, stop and look and listen people and what the travelers really want and need. Instead of adding Blu-ray players or IP-TV systems with video-on-demand, or putting an expensive dedicated shaver socket into the bathroom, hotels need to rethink and downsize. Here are some simple and short lists. 1. Super-fast, reliable and suitably priced Internet access 2. A well-lit room with simple controls. 3. Power sockets, power sockets and more power sockets. 4.Temperatures that can be easily controlled, both up and down. 5. A place to work 6. And as for the TV, include 24-hour news channels, sports channels and some entertaining TV channels. From the lists, what guests want from a hotel room with three Cs: 1. Clean 2. Comfortable 3. Connected For conclusion, too many investment on expensive and unnecessary technology would lead a fail in ROI. Rather than just spend money on the technology, hotels should rethink and research what the guests really want while they're staying.

This article, though dated back a couple years ago, I found really interesting because the author made certain predictions about what he believed would happen in the future with travelers and what channels they use to search for/book their room nights at hotels. The article touched on how important social media marketing "will be" (in real time, it is!). He also pointed out how "travelers visit 38 websites on average before purchasing their online travel package" and how the real challenge here is to get customers to use direct bookings to cut out or lower some of those expensive channel costs. Lastly, he also included mobile marketing, meta-search, and the growing importance of Google+. As I stated before, the article caught my attention because the digital marketing trends predictions made in the article have all came true!

This article talks about how ecommerce has impacted the way business is done online within the hospotality industry with enhanced customer service, automated marketing, customer-specific advertising.

As the hospitality industry continue to grow we should urge to monitor the current trends of consumer needs. Anticipation of what they may look for such as discount codes and personalized experiences are big pluses when it comes to satisfaction. An additional feature that customers are now being attached to is the virtual trend of placing furniture or items that you may purchase online in space of your home to see if it fits your look.

This article introduce four ways that E-commerce impact on hospitality industry. Ecommerce is opening up new avenues for businesses all over the world across a variety of industries. Hospitality has a lot to gain from adopting new technology and ecommerce innovations. In Hospitality and Tourism industry, hardware, software, information management, and telecommunications systems have allowed for the processing and information flow amongst organizations. We consider the importance of the trend of Information Technology by implementing an effective IT system for advertising, distribution, encouragement and co-ordination of the industry. It is important that Hotel Industry take the lead of the emerging technologies to improve management abilities and develop business plans focusing on the most efficient income of delivering value added products to clients.

This article takes you through why your restaurant may want to switch to a Cloud-Based POS. There are many positive attributes associated with making the switch, such as; data accessibility, cheaper operating costs, easier upgrades, less frequent downtimes, increased security, and adaptability. If you are a growing business, the Cloud would grow with you.

Cloud based POS systems can be apprehensive at first, but we are always satisfied once we are able to se the technology work to keep the business safe, effiecient and also more profitable. Cloud based POS systems are speedy and saves a lot of time which frees up staff to do other things in the establishment.

This article discussed the benefits of switching from a localized POS system to a cloud-based restaurant POS. The article touched on how cloud-based systems provide real-time data and how that instant data could provide a management team real-time solutions. You can save so much time and money by identifying issues before they even arrive. I found it very interesting that with cloud-based systems you have the "ability to add on a mobile POS unit that provides a number of benefits." With this option, your servers do not have to run back and forth to a POS station. They simply have the option in the palm of their hands. It also decreases the time spent waiting for a check or credit card to return to the table. This not only increases guest satisfaction, but helps with table turnover. The article also touched on how cloud-based POS systems are "better enabled to grow with you." They are super adaptable and the article mentioned that restaurants can update their menu whenever, launch new loyalty programs, and help with more precise inventory tracking. This article also touched on setup, increased security, staff accountability, and the ability to make better business decisions due to the cloud software being able to provide extensive business insights. Finally, the article touched on POS cost and how " upfront costs are kept to a minimum and monthly subscription fees are lower." It also ended with a case study about Homegrown Hospitality Group and their switch from Aloha to Upserve Cloud-based POS. It was very interesting and I'd recommend everyone read the brief two paragraphs about how the switch changed their business trajectory.

The article discuss different usages of virtual reality in hotels, and how it has benefited hotels by increasing the number of hotel bookings and level of satisfaction.

In Today's Society digital is the new engineer and operational tasks in regard to how we book flights before touring, interactive experiences through the media, and memorable expressions. The hospitality and travel industry has realized the potential of Virtual Reality to attracts incoming guests and increase bookings rates.

This article is how to be successful in entering the event planning industry. It has tips from insiders on things they did to become successful. It states that networking is key. Volunteer and get to know people in all types of events from school functions to jazz festivals. People interested in the event planning field should join one or more associations in this field. Research should be done, for example read books, articles and learn what you can. If you want to be an event planner in the hotel industry then you should also learn the terminology, sales concepts, and gain a basic understanding into the the hotel/convention business. Last be realistic, this is not a 9 - 5, it is hectic and your schedule will fluctuate from event to event.

In the article, "How to Select Human Resources Information Technology," it talks about how they are essential for companies to manage their benefits plans and their employee history. One question that they felt was important before purchasing an HRIS was, what is the degree of flexibility and scalability that it provides? Their answer was that HR professional should determine if the software could import data from paper documents, and excel sheets. "Many online enrollment solutions require that data be manually manipulated before it can go to a carrier to update their systems. Automation of the update format, transmission schedule and delivery method can help to eliminate billing and eligibility issues." This will save the company a lot of time just by investing in this system. The Human Resources Organization is group that owns this data and companies should be able to transport their data to any application service. In addition to enabling HR to approve transactions it also provides capabilities for HR to serve as the gatekeeper in auditing carrier billings. Overall, this article shows many benefits to having an HRIS, the question is if the company is willing to invest in one.

This article focuses on sustainability and methods in which technology is utilized to conserve energy and waste, while also not hindering the guest experience. Hotels, similar to the Salvatore Grand Hotel, have began implementing systems such as the Verve Living System, by Zeno Controls, LLC, that provide wireless connections to the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system, as well as the lighting in the guest room. It utilizes sensors to activate such amenities, and enables the guest to enter the room, place their key card into a slot, and it will begin to adjust to the preferred temperature and the preferred lighting levels. Once the key card is removed, such as when the guest is leaving the room, after a very short delay, it sends a signal that verifies the room is unoccupied, and turns off these energy-consuming items in the room. Many guests, when staying in hotels, do not consider turning off their lights or air conditioning when they leave the room, and simply leave everything running. They do not realize the impact this has not only on costs for the hotel itself, but also the impact that it has on energy consumption and sustainability. With the growing awareness of being "green", guests are focusing more and more on conservation, however, they may still be slacking in these areas, leaving things on, being absent minded. This system will allow guests to not have to worry about such tasks, and controls the system of turning these items off for them, adding convenience for the guest who is environmentally conscious. I have personally seen a similar system being used in a hotel room, and thought it was a great idea, and an amazing way to control costs and eliminate waste of resources. It is also very surprising to read that the Verve Living System detects low battery levels, constant occupancy, problems with room connectivity, and rooms that are not communicating with the hotel PMS or other systems. This enables the maintenance team of a hotel to fun

This article is about a new and advanced malware called Dexter that is targeting POS systems. The article reports that 30% of the infections are in the US (world wide). When the virus attacts the POS it steals credit card information that can be used to make duplicate credit cards to be used. There is software to help fight off the virus however people have never seen this kind of virus because of the power it was to attack the system, so this is something to be on the look out for.

Mr. Watt, a customer who was spending his weekend at the Courtyard Marriott in Midtown Manhattan was browsing the website. He realized that there was a strange drawing appeared on the top of the web page, which did not exist before. At first, he did not pay too much attention to it, but he still determined to check source codes to see if there was anything wrong with the computer or the Internet. After checking the source codes, he found lines of code which include references to"EXG". He thought it was a hacker attack, but his IT background enabled him quickly figured out that lines of code that include EXG had nothing to do with a hacker attack, but was a service named Revenue Extraction Gateway used by RG Nets company to inject advertisement secretly without the knowledge of the users, which aims at generating revenue from the Internet access points. Mr. Matt claimed that although this service will not bring harm to the users, but the principle of the thing that upset the users most. The hotel then apologized to Mr. Watt, and promised not to use this service anymore. What I feel interesting is that I also had such problems before, and after I interviewed some of my classmates and friends, I realized that this is a pervasive problem. However, what surprised me the most is the truth that most of the hotels do not know that their hotels' internets are exposed to secret ads injection because this kind of secret service is not on the contracts that the hotels signed with the internet company. In my opinion, it is an unethical service. Customers who use the internet feels that he/she is being spied on, and for the web content creators, they could not get a cut of the revenue from this.