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The Hilton Family of hotels has launched a new feature for event planners to create their own custom web pages for groups of 25 or more. The feature will be called e-Events and will be available at the following brands: Hilton, Conrad, Doubletree, Embassy suites, Hampton Hotels, Hilton Garden Inn, Hilton Grand Vacations, Homewood suites by Hilton, and the Waldorf Astoria Collection. The service is customizable for business groups, special events and sports trips at hotels in North America. Bob Brooks, vice president of eSales feels the service will give more choice and better control to a meeting planner because the service will be available 24/7. One of the features for planners is the Guest List Manager. This feature will give planners real time access to their group's reservation details.

Neon is a new app designed by Eventbrite to be used by Event Planners in order to help organize the events they are coordinating. The app is available for iPod, iPad and the iPhone making it conveniently accessible through one's mobile device. The app allows event organizers to sell tickets in advance to an even as well as provide last minute deals to fill all remaining spots. The app even allows payment to be taken right from the event organizer's mobile device. The app also allows the user to manage guest lists and even helps those who have access to the app to make customer service decisions so that disgruntled guests are not sent to a different location to settle ticket disputes. With all the data the app collects even organizers are able to see important data pertaining to popularity of certain events as well as price variations. The app was designed to be used in dark places. This feature, along with many others makes it user friendly and it is helping event organizers to keep track of important data that will allow them to better assist customers in the future.

I think I'd need to see it in action. The Forbes article sounds a lot like an Eventbrite press release. I like the idea in principal, but it almost sounds like too much to jam into a single app. Tickets sales, venue status, customer service, revenue tracking.,,, Deployed and linked across multiple tablets, each with it's own purpose and/or scattered across the event venue (with users in some sort of identifiable uniform), I can see it being useful. This also seems like a bit of a departure from straight tickets sales. Who else is in the market space? I'd be interested if Ticket Master is also coming online with event software.

It is hard to forget how thousands of Target customers financial information was compromised last year due to a breach in security of the company's POS. Target is not the only company that has been infected with this program that steals credit and debit card information. Actually, there have been more than a thousand businesses affected by this malware that has come to be called "Backoff." The malware targets POS systems and has stolen millions of credit card numbers as well as personal information on millions of customers. A large majority of cybercrime is focused on attacking business's POS systems. The malware attacks systems by going through a list of common passwords until it is able to hack the system. "Backoff" then disguises itself as a compatible Java component and collects credit card information. However, Apple has recently announced Apple Pay and many believe this can diminish a lot of cybercrime.

It is hard to forget how thousands of Target customers financial information was compromised last year due to a breach in security of the company's POS. Target is not the only company that has been infected with this program that steals credit and debit card information. Actually, there have been more than a thousand businesses affected by this malware that has come to be called "Backoff." The malware targets POS systems and has stolen millions of credit card numbers as well as personal information on millions of customers. A large majority of cybercrime is focused on attacking business's POS systems. The malware attacks systems by going through a list of common passwords until it is able to hack the system. "Backoff" then disguises itself as a compatible Java component and collects credit card information. However, Apple has recently announced Apple Pay and many believe this can diminish a lot of cybercrime.

Ever wonder what happens to the little soaps you use at the hotel you recently stayed at? Hyatt Hotels Corp. has become one of the major hotels to start recycling toiletries through the organization called Clean the World. When guests are done using their shampoos or soaps at a hotel, the housekeeping staff collects all of the used and unused products and recycles them or donates them to other countries. The organization has only been around for a few years, however other hotel chains are joining the cause to helping the environment and also humanity. It is not just in the United States that hotels are getting involved but it is expanding globally. Hotels are sending used soaps that has been re-sanitized to battered women's center and also to countries like Africa to local clinics and orphanages.

It looks like the industry is taking notice of what they can do and stepping up to the plate. It all comes down to the front line workers though, in this case housekeeping staff. Turning a room correctly is labor intensive and time consuming. Adding the step of separating the used soap and shampoo does take time. 1 minute per room per day in a 200-room hotel at 90% capacity comes out to 21 man hours per week. At $10/hr that's nearly $11,000 per year. I'm not saying it shouldn't be done. I think it's a great idea. It does many people (including the hoteliers) a lot of good. If we consider this as "goodwill" in our operating costs, it probably works out for everyone.

I have never pay attention to where the leftover of the toiletries would go, and it's nice to know that they are going to the charity. This is a great way to recycle, help reduce waste, and help support the people in struggle. Knowing such information doesn't help making the booking decision, but it sure does increase the hotel's reputation.

H.I.S., a Japanese travel agency, cut the amount of human workers at its Huis Ten Bosch amusement park, and its neighboring hotel, Henn na Hotel, significantly wherein only 1,200 workers still labor at the park while the others will be reassigned to other branches within the group. Instead of human workers, H.I.S. has replaced with with robots that handle a wide variety of tasks severely limiting the amount of employees that have to work there. Among the tasks that they accomplish, there is a program which collects garbage in the park, as well as cleaning and landscaping. H.I.S. also plans to add customer service robots, an electronic payment system (hoping to go "cashless" in the future), as well as a new wing to the hotel, that will be an energy-independent generator made from film-like solar cells and plant-based storage batteries.

Nowadays, we can say each hotel must have the accounting department. Every successful goal needs a perfect financial management to consolidate it. In the hotel, accounting need to budget preparation, need to do the business planning, creating financial statements and payroll. Hotel needs to pay the salaries for employees and reporting sales and analyzing the profits. This is a huge process. A hotel must manage it efficiently. And owners can make decisions and improve their company. When you report the financial activities, you need to do the real report. A report can give you a chance to take the best decisions and make more profit. As a staff, you need to track cash flows and record transactions. If you have some trouble, you can let the expert help you to solve problems. They can help you to control your cash flows and maximize earnings.

For all businesses, including hospitality businesses, it is essential to have a properly organized accounting system. Every business needs solid financial management to achieve growth without which every business withers and dies. Proper accounting is at the heart of solid financial management. Hospitality accounting includes: preparing a precise collection of month end accounts, a trial balance, budget preparation, business planning, creating financial statements and balance sheets, and payroll. Not only does it enable you to track cash flows and record transactions, but it provides deep insights into the financial status of the business enabling owners to make proactive decisions and improve profits. So to excel in the dynamic hospitality industry seek professional help from expert accounting companies to set up proper accounting to have solid financial management. In my opinion, I believe that to have a successful business you need to have an up to date, accurate way to record your accounting transactions so getting professional help from experts would be wise.

Marriott's data breach in 2018 exposed the information of over 500,000 guests including names, addresses, and passport numbers - leading to a class-action lawsuit and falling share values. The California Consumer Privacy Act, taking effect in 2020, gives Californians the right to know what information is collected about them and where this information goes. Amazon, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Twitter, Uber, AT&T and Verizon are lobbying against the CCPA, but data-security regulations are being enacted regardless to protect customers against these breaches.

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.

This article introduces the 2016 Smart Decision Guide to Hotel Property Management Systems, which analyzes imperical data collected to determine the best PMS system to use to ensure a successful hotel business.

This article takes a look at 3 to 5 star hotels in Zimbabwe and South Africa and their environmentally friendly practices. Research shows that the hotel industry has a huge impact on the environment and the use of natural resources. The hotel industry has been negatively impacting the environment by consuming large amount of energy and water, and by producing large amounts of waste. The government has been demanding that hotels implement green practices, these are methods and products that do not negatively impact the environment. The results from the data collected from these two countries showed that none of the hotels had a written green management policy. Even though some of the hotels insisted that there is a green management policy in effect, it was not written down. It is important for policies like this to be written so there is a clear understanding of what is expected.

It seems the main motivation to implement more eco-friendly practices would be legislation/regulation but I wonder how that would be received? Outside the hotel industry,. I wonder how much focus is generally given to environmental concerns? Interesting research.

Not only are PMSs valuable for hotel management, but also for commercial and residential properties. The ability to predictively prepare for any issues that may occur allows for less onsite staffing at any given moment aside from the already lowered costs of using these online systems allows. These systems can also track energy usage to allow for better property management across the board.

Adjara Group has signed a deal with Cendyn to power CRM across all of their hotels in Georgia which will help them utilize data collected from multiple sources to provide an accurate, single source of truth of each guest. Cendyn is a tool used to provide marketing automation and guest intelligence sitting on top of a hotel's property management system or call center application.

This article is strongly opinion based by an event manager's perspective on the "new" technology that is being presented for event management. Though the opinion seems negative at times, the author mentions that many of the mobile and web based technologies are helpful in simplifying the event management process. She mentions technologies like Eventasaurus. "which gives the event manager one single tool from which to run all event related event listings across multiple platforms". Nevertheless, the author still believes that the technology being used for event management can be improved. The mobile apps are better for event management because there is not a separate technology that the event manager has to use. The mobile app must work well with the purpose of the event. In all, the author states that event management is a time-consuming hands on profession, however, technology can help a few aspects of the process. In my opinion, I believe that all technology needs to be tested. When it comes to event management technology, it needs to be fast and efficient. It must be able to make the planning process easier. It must also make the collecting of information effective. The author talks about the mobile apps as being better and innovative for the event manager, which is the overall purpose of technology.

Innoviti Payment Solutions announced that it will start extending its cloud-based reconciliation technology to full-service restaurants, that need payments to be collected at a customer's table with automatic reconciliation with the bill. Innoviti processes over US$ 6.5Bn of payments annually from over 1000+ cities in India and is backed by major financial investers like Catamaran, India, Bessemer Venture Partners, USA, and SBI Venture Capital, Singapore.

There was a huge data breach at THSuite which exposed 85,000 files, some of those files being personal identification information. Dispensaries usually collect a lot of information to comply with U.S State laws. The files that were retrieved by the hackers means they can take advantage of those profiles. THSuite is looking at fines of up to $50,000 PER record or jail time.

This article pretty much just explains the new development done in Brickell, which we all know BCC (Brickell City Center). But, I wanted to share this article because many people have not noticed the ceiling's design. Or many have noticed it, but just think it's "artsy". Well, in reality it was created to create more air flow in the building to save up on having ac or fans. Since it's an open mall, they had to develop a design that would eliminate the hot sun, collect the rain, channel the wind and anchored to the earth. It captures sea breezes to regulate air flow and temperature, collects rainwater for reuse, and allows visitors to enjoy natural light in an open air environment. composed of steel, fabric and a continuous glass surface, the 'climate ribbon' is the project's flagship sustainability feature, demonstrating an awareness of its environmental responsibilities. This is a great example of sustainable design.

This article describes how technology will affect accounting system, and the reason to adapt new technology. The world has been dramatically changed over 20years. Paper was dominant back in 1990' but now most jobs are done by computer and Internet, and furthermore, the monthly fee for the Internet has been going down a lot. Everyone in the world enjoys the advantages of the Internet, and job efficiency increases. Especially, this article said technology will impact accounting profession a lot in the future. When we consider the current technology development in accounting area, the Web, mobile and social media have had a huge impact on company's operation. This article introduces that artificial intelligence(AI), cognitive computing/machine learning, natural language processing and blockchain will be adapted highly in next 20 years. For example, tax systems will guide us through the calculations and highlighting review section, and provide advice. A Huge amount of data will be collected and generate real meaning about the data and guide the business. Furthermore, continuous and real-time audit will be available. Fraud detection also will be faster and easier. As can be seen here, the profession will evolve very rapidly in next 20 years, which means it will be completely different from what we see today. This disruption challenges us to catch up with the fast pace of change but the potential of new technology provides opportunity, so adjustment for new pace is needed.

This article offers insight into extreme tracking and using patterns and data to customize the guest service experiences. It also provides data on ho to best keep a guest engaged whether it be through virtual or even physical means that can be activated by a certain data set collection. A good example of this is how Disney can monitor wait times at the park and then dispatch live entertainers to the area as a means of distraction and simultaneous product placement and marketing.