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So, for the consumers that are used to booking their vacations by themselves, I don't think this article applies to you. For the ones that are trying to save money by not going through a travel agent, I think thesis the article for you. A study conducted by AH&LA shows early signs that almost 2.5 million bookings for hotel properties made online through "fake websites" are being accounted for. This is a huge security issue. Consumers are booking their travel thinking that they are getting certain room types, ample amenities, amazing discounts, and good deals, but turns out they are just getting scammed. Other then not making the clients happy, this also hurts the reputation of the hotel property because when things don't go our way or something happens, we tend to blame the property. And in today's society, most take to the internet to voice their opinions in addition to speaking with the hotel; and bad word-of-mouth is the last thing our industry needs. Also, this can lead to loss of revenue. The survey stated that 56% of customers prefer to book directly with the hotel. It is always recommended to book directly through the property themselves, but for the new guys, how are they supposed to differentiate the difference between real and fake websites? 

With the rapid growth and increased use of the Internet over the past 2 decades, industry professional Andrey Smirnov gives 7 tips to other industry leaders on maximizing their presence in e-commerce and in consumer minds: (1) make your website quick to download and easy to find; (2) organize content by prioritizing information; (3) when offering promotions, clearly reflect it with a call to action; (4) distribute 'fresh' content on different channels (i.e., photo galleries, press releases, etc.); (5) maximize on mobile marketing; (6) embrace social media; and (7) continually improve by testing new things.

The internet is constantly changing, the way we communicate and they way we do business. The hospitality industry is always quick to capitalize on new technologies. However, the e-commerce growth in the hospitality industry has created an urgent need for simple changes to companies' presence online. So when every hotel is involved in e-commerce, why is it so important today? It is simple. Today, the internet is the lowest cost hotel-booking channel. As well as now, most travelers are searching and making hotel reservations online. Lastly, social media and online hotel reviews are increasing and have made an important decision factor. Now, hoteliers need to keep focus on what information customers are seeking and what they are looking for online. There are a few basic strategies that will help drive usage from the internet world. Some of those are: vave a search-friendly website, focus on usability and conversation taking a holistic approach and prioritize information, and lastly make websites compatible for mobile phones. If hoteliers can use the full potential of the internet, they will maximize their return on investment in e-commerce. The hospitality industry needs to constantly learn and look for ways to use the new developments and trends.

Andrey Smirnov in his article "E-Commerce for the Hospitality Industry highlights how the internet has changed the way business is done not only in the hospitality industry but as a whole. He stresses the importance of e-commerce in the hospitatlity industry and why hoteliers must utilise strategies to ensure they make the most of the marketing and sales opportunties the internet provides. There are a few things that hoteliers must do to make the most of what the internet provides. They include: (1) Search Friendly Website Design - "site download speed is one of the most important ranking factors in organic search" says Smirnov therfore hoteliers must ensure that their site is properly designed and compatible across any browser, any items that causes the site to perform poorly shoud be eliminated as internet users similar to hotel guests tend to only visit sites where they can receive the best experience yet. (2) Improve conversion and Usability - content on website must be properly organised and users must not be bombaded by information. (3)Search - Hoteliers must focus on Paid searches as well as Real time search to increase traffic. Paid searches ensure that your targeted traffic are directed right to you. Whereas with a great web design with strong content that is also timely the natural ranking of the oranisation website can be increased thus increasing tracffic to it. (4)Mobile - Mobile devices have become a popular means of conducting e-business related activities for consumers therefore the hotel that ensures that their online services are accessible from mobile devices will be putting themselves ahead of the game. (5) Embracing Social Media - According to Smirnov 93 percent of social media users expect companies to have a social presence and 85 percent of social media users want companies to interact with them on social sites. With this being said one can see why a social media presence is one that cannot be overlooked. It is important that co

This article explains cloud computing and the difference between consumers using the cloud and business' using the cloud. It first off explains that the cloud stored information using the Internet rather than using hardware that is an external use for storage. The article states that for consumers or small business' they regularly rely on just the basic Internet to keep track of their information. Larger companies go through an application, which is what they use to store their information. It is still a cloud, but not accessed by millions. The article states that McKinsey & Company survey companies in North America and collected data stating that 80% of large companies are looking to start using the cloud. It continues to say that the cloud market is on its way to generating $100 billion a year. Because companies only pay for what they use, shows consumers that there are more consumers and companies using the cloud then originally thought about.

Jack Li, of Datassential, says safety is the main thing consumers want and that restaurants must provide as more and more of the country reopens. He also stresses that discounts and other promotional methods should be limited and used for a short time only. Consumers are looking for foods they could not cook themselves while locked in their homes. Lastly, eating out is something that most people associate with providing a sense of normalcy and most liken it to visiting friends and relatives.

This article addresses what proximity marketing is and how it can be beneficial to marketers and consumers if done right. It talks about how companies throw hundreds of pages of legalese when downloading new apps that people never read. They recommend to include displaying in store signage notifying shoppers that their location data is being collected, letting consumers opt out of analytic services and limiting how data is used without selling personal identifiable data to third party. I believe if companies make it easier for us to trust them with our data more people will use this style of marketing.

Opt-In Requirements When learning about location based marketing, I immediately thought about the opt-in requirements that many shoppers would not agree to. Because our phones are sued for everything, allowing such access can pose concern for privacy threats.

L'Oreal Canada is now utilizing OSF Global Service's eCommerce solutions to further their luxury skin-care brand, Biotherm. Their new e-boutique is based on the Demandware Commence cloud-based platform. This new solution will offer their target consumer a personalized shopping experience with the "integration of responsive designed webpages, comprehensive analytics and a new product reviews platform." With online shopping behavior constantly changing, integrating the appropriate platform is key for store and web-based companies. With added control over the products consumers view and purchase, shoppers are provided with deeper insight into Biotherm. I believe that L'Oreal Canada's advance approach to consumer shopping will bring added success to their products while enhancing their 30 brand portfolio. While meeting their customers' expectations, they are able to evolve their image.

This article talks about one of the negative impacts of the current state of e-commerce: the detrimental impact on the environment. The article discusses how consumers have a need for their goods to be delivered quickly and conveniently. E-commerce ventures such as Amazon, Google Express, and Postmates provide customers with goods and services at the click of a button that can be delivered in as little as 10 minutes. However, these businesses have a heavy environmental cost, with an increasing use of cardboard being used in shipments and an increase in personalized freight services, which can lead to more greenhouse gas emissions. While some argue that these e-commerce services might lead to less consumers going out and shopping in physical stores, research shows that this is not the case, with consumers still going out and shopping even if they also shop online through these e-commerce businesses. Although much of the cardboard that is being used in these services is recyclable, recycling comes with its own downsides, as the process of taking things to the recycling centers uses a lot of water and energy. Overall, the new wave of e-commerce has spurred questions about its environmental impact.

The article, Impact of Individual Differences and Consumers' Readiness on Likelihood of Using Self Service Technologies at Hospitality Settings states that the use of self-service technology is a rising trend across the board. Major hotel chains, resorts, casinos are implementing software that can remember customers, their information, and go beyond current human levels of service performance. However, not everyone is ready for this new age of self-service technology. In their study, the authors explored influential factors related to individual differences and customer readiness on the likelihood of using self-service technologies. Findings supported technologies such as pay-at-the-pump, online travel purchase, ATMS, and other services that have been around for years were highly accepted. On the contrary, new services such as ordering food over the phone and Internet kiosks in bars were preferred by less than thirty percent of respondents. Within the hospitality industry, customers may perceive new self-service technologies as positive but may choose not to use them if they do not understand it or see no clear benefit from it.  To summarize the results, people may just not be ready for the self-service take over. Especially in the early stages, hospitality companies would need to have an employee standing by the new self-service technology to assist customers with their needs. Although a well used self-service system could generate a new revenue stream, particularly when concerning the younger generation, it is essential that managers take into mind the overall level of consumer motivation and readiness to embrace it,

Google Transit, which uses data from over 500 global markets' transportation systems, is partnering up with Google Hotel Finder to make tourists' stays more time efficient. Google Hotel Finder added a new filter that shows consumers the maximum travel time from any point of interest to their hotel. It has placed a 20 minute default distance from point to point. Tourists can type a specific attraction, like Buckingham Palace, and it will show you hotels within 20 minutes of it. Google also allows you to choose the transit time; the smaller the time the smaller number of hotels within the range. Moreover, Google Hotel Finder can also search for hotels in selected areas for popular city locations. Prior to this, Google had Google Calendar, which allowed business consumers to choose hotels based on travel distance to their business meetings. Overall, Google's Hotel Finder targets both the leisure and business consumers. As a consumer searching for hotels in unfamiliar areas, this feature would be really beneficial because it allows me to plan my stay more accordingly. Usually, consumers choose a hotel based on travel time from the main points of interests, whether they are attractions or business meetings. Google Hotel Finder will now share this information with consumers before they actually even choose a hotel. I have a strong inclination that this type of consumer technology will drive hotels to use travel times as advertising tools when they use Google as an advertising medium.

Like any industry, the field of tourism and hospitality must be competitive and technologically advanced. The article addresses six technological trends within the hospitality industry. 1. Virtual reservations - A significant number of patrons reserve their hotels via a computer or mobile device. Thus travel booking websites have become more popular. 2. Virtual check-in and ordering - Check-in kiosks cut down on customer wait time (long lines, short staff, etc.). More hotels and restaurants will be making use of these technologies. As technology advances, consumers shouldn't be surprised to see more futuristic options such as voice recognition, fingerprint and retina ID. 3. Travelers with multiple devices - Hotels have to be conscientious of this fact in terms of room design, public (hotel) space and structure. Customers want to feel secure that they (and their devices) can be properly accommodated. 4. Hospitality staff with multiple devices - This trend is a win-win for employees and customers. Employees can better meet the needs of their customers no matter their location (poolside, bar, lobby, etc.). Also, by collecting data, businesses have a better understanding of customer needs and preferences. Customers have the freedom to be more mobile (in any area of the hotel) without feeling disconnected or not being able to have their needs met. 5. High tech meeting and public space - Hotel meeting rooms and lobbies are receiving technological make-overs to accommodate users who rely on multiple devices. This is great for business as it creates an environment that is conducive to conducting technologically advanced meetings and conferences in a comfortable setting. 6. Online reviews - These reviews are crucial to businesses as well as consumers. On the business end, companies will be able to gauge their effectiveness in all areas via honest customer feedback. Consumers have the opportunity to make better choices after reading reviews based on ot

This weekend at the National Restaurant Association conference Coca-Cola has unveiled a Bluetooth enabled fountain drink machine. The beverage market is highly competitive and Coke thinks that Smartphone ordering could give them an advantage. The previous version of this machine which is installed in 50,000 locations used an app and QR codes for ordering. The new Freestyle 9100 relies on Bluetooth and has other capabilities that are not yet activated including a microphone for voice ordering. This machine will allow guests to customize their beverages and is expected to build more meaningful customer relationships between them and the brand. A stronger relationship could lead to more purchases. Coca-cola will also gain valuable insight on their consumers drinking habits, the original iteration of the machine reported a popular combination of sprite and cherry soda, Coke has now introduced this mix in packaged form. I think that this technology has so far proven that it brings Coke closer to their consumers and simplifying the use process by going from an app to Bluetooth will only make it more accessible to consumers.

Even though the wine industry was once considered more of a "boy's club", woman are now leading the way in the growing Natural Wine Movement as a market dedicated to organic ingredients and sustainable practices continues to emerge. This is largely due to the fact that women outnumber men as the lead consumer of wine in both retail and restaurant bottle purchases, as well as several studies that suggest that woman eat/drink more nutritiously than their male counterparts. This has led to organic and biodynamic wines growing at rates between 10 percent and 20 percent per year in volume from 2013 to 2016, and organic vineyards almost tripling word wide over the last decade. Being in charge of the Beverage Ordering and Menu Creation at my restaurant, I have seen first hand the increase demand for organic and biodynamic wines. It has become so prevalent that I have begun printing menus with asterisks to highlight which of our wines fall into either of these categories. According to a Mintel Study, 60 percent of millennials and 55 percent of Gen-Xers are concerned about harmful ingredients in their food and groceries. With millennials constituting for 36 percent of wine consumers, according to a report by Beverage Dynamics, it is a essential that both the restaurant and wine industries continue to cater and adept to our consumers wants and needs. It would only make sense that Women are the ones leading this growing trend, as they constitute the majority of the market for it as well.

This article talks about the various ways virtual reality can be used in the hotel industry. VR can be used to entice consumers to increase their amount of travel, by immersing them in VR versions of almost any travel destination. The article also briefly touches on the use of VR for hotel booking and even training employees.

Very interesting read. I have always had mixed emotions as it relates to the use of virtual reality in the hospitality and tourism sector. On one hand, it is my opinion that virtual reality can add to the guest and consumer experience. Virtual reality can allow consumers to experience multiple levels of travel with the purchase of one ticket or hotel booking. While on the other hand, I am also of the view that virtual reality can limit the amount of travel and hotel bookings that can actually occur. Why would consumers travel to a specific location when they can travel virtually? The article highlights various ways that virtual reality can be used in the hotel industry. Technology is changing and the industry must continue to adapt and make use of the new trends and technological advances. I look forward to the future with virtual reality.

The use of VR as an augmentative tool in Hospitality and Tourism is virtually a non-sequitur. In an industry that is built on experiences its use and value is almost limitless. In of itself, no doubt we will see "Virtual Tourism" become an actual industry. I do believe the timelines being pushed forth by the article represent fairly conservative estimates even with the current limitations of the technology. Oddly it leaves out augmented reality, which is already seeing heavy increases in usage from previewing venues to experiencing the product before you try. With the current rapid progress and access of the technology to the general end user growing, we will see consumer driven adoption outpacing industry delivered implementations quite soon. Once driven by the desires of the consumer, not unlike the advent of the OTA, we will see the industry adopt much more quickly than I think this article presents.

The role of GDSs in the travel industry has a major impact on revenue, competition, and reservations. In this article, Sabre, one of the largest known GDSs was sued by US Airways for failing to provide a fair contract to the airline. The lawyers from US Airways claimed that Sabre threatened to "cut off the airlines from a network of thousands of travel agents worldwide who depend on inventory that the tech giant provides via desktop software". The jury concluded that Sabre indeed violated antitrust law. Sabre, apparently, charged US Airways increased fees though their cost per transaction decreased because of the advances in technology. According to the article, Sabre argued that the fees were justified relative to the cost that an airline would incur to distribute its fares by other methods. This helped the agents have access to a plethora of information regarding price comparison. In my opinion, this is just a messy situation. However, it goes to show how important and how much of an impact that GDSs have on airline companies. They determine what consumers or agents readily see on the site. They determine how much of a presence a company has. The GDSs provide company information to a worldwide network that markets to consumers. Having a GDS system hold back or increase fees has proved to be detrimental. Ethical issues have come into play. The fact cannot be ignored that the technology being used by Sabre is helping lower cost for transactions. This decrease in cost should have resulted in a decrease in fees for the airlines. Nevertheless, the key to this article is that GDSs have the power (though Sabre did illegally) to determine which avenue a company goes through in regards to apparent competition and markets. The advancement of GDSs is resulting in lower cost transactions and giving agents and consumers "more bang for their buck". So it is important that the relationship between GDSs and airline companies remain ethical in all ways, especially dealing with

This article focuses on current packaging trends along with the diversification of brand management. Additionally, how companies, through smart packaging with QR Codes and NFC tags, can keep up with the below-mentioned trends and achieve higher ROI for their business. Successful incorporation of these technologies will help companies achieve product transparency and authenticity, supply chain visibility, elevated consumer experience, and many more positive outcomes.

This article talks about the 5 technologies hotels should be investing into for 2020 in order to stay competitive. The technologies are website simplicity, upselling tech to boost profitability, secure payment systems to increase consumer confidence & credibility, self service and automated check-in, and an omni platform which centralises operations.

Hotels are taking new major steps into tech integration as more and more developments are constantly being requested by guest and made by property owners. These I.T investments can help these properties majorly and help increase guest satisfaction. One advantage that many companies can use is it up selling aspect to help push sales. Investing in secure payment options helps with data security and gives the hotel credibility.

-Website simplicity -Upselling technology to boost profitability -Secure payment systems to increase consumer confidence and credibility -Self service and automated check in -An omni platform which centralizes operations -In a 2,000 people study, a quarter of people take into high consideration the quality and detail of a hotel's website before making a direct booking online. -Website simplicity acquires traffic, increases conversion rates and drives more people to book direct. -Upselling can happen subsequently through nudge marketing via emails, push notifications of even on arrival at the hotel. -Investment in secure payment gateways protects the data of hotel guests and the hotels credibility. -Also checks in advance whether the credit card exists and is covered which could reduce chargebacks. -In a survey of 2,654 consumers, 78% of respondents said they would like to see self-service kiosks more widely available for check in. -Self check in is faster service, more privacy, and waiting time/lines are much shorter. -Omni channel platforms enable you to centralize operational systems, take back control of your revenue flow and transparency of guest data, so hotel management can focus on creating the best experience for customers.

This article talks about where the internet has brought us in the business world and where it is taking us. There are other articles included to support the idea that hospitality businesses need the internet inorder to successfully reach out to and market toward customers. Along with the idea that if a business does not have an online presence,that, is an untapped stream of revenue. As well as the combined business efforts that go into delivering a flawless product to its customers via the web. There were two case studies that took place in order to understand the role e-commerce has played and will potentially play in the hospitality industry.

Mobile booking channel is a huge opportunity for travel business. Businesses need to pay a lot for this potential development opportunities. However, due to the different considerations of business and consumers, this kind of payment may can not get the return they expect, but they seem to have no choice because of the whole big trend.