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Switching to the cloud from a client server platform pays off with a big drop in both the initial capital outlay and the ongoing operating costs for the property management and other systems.

pects of a franchisee’s business, from guest check-ins and housekeeping services to billing and finances. Over time new features have been rolled into the software platform making it more robust and useful for hotel owners—it’s currently distributed in eight countries and available in four languages. And while plenty of cloud-based PMS packages are now available from third-party vendors like Micros, Maestro, and RoomKey, Choice’s internal solution has garnered its fair share of attention. “We had been getting knocks on the door from IT vendors at other hotel companies and individual Choice franchisees that own other brands, saying they were interested in our product,” says Pacious, “So we set up a new division so we could take a look at other opportunities we could develop.” This led the company to launch SkyTouch last year, a new division that develops and markets cloud-based software solutions to hotels inside and outside the Choice system. Pages: 1 2 3 4 2013-06-18 Sean Downey !function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs"); (function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js#xfbml=1"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); }(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk')); (function() { var po = document.createElement('script'); po.type = 'text/javascript'; po.async = true; po.src = 'https://apis.google.com/js/plusone.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(po, s); })(); (function() { var li = document.createElement('script'); li.type = 'text/javascript'; li.async = true; li.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https:' : 'http:') + '//platform.stumbleupon.com/1/widgets.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(li, s); })(); inShare0 Related Articles attachment-3

his led the company to launch SkyTouch last year, a new division that develops and markets cloud-based software solutions to hotels inside and outside the Choice system. Pages: 1 2 3 4 2013-06-18 Sean Downey !function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs"); (function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js#xfbml=1"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); }(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk')); (function() { var po = document.createElement('script'); po.type = 'text/javascript'; po.async = true; po.src = 'https://apis.google.com/js/plusone.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(po, s); })(); (function() { var li = document.createElement('script'); li.type = 'text/javascript'; li.async = true; li.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https:' : 'http:') + '//platform.stumbleupon.com/1/widgets.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(li, s); })(); inShare0 Related Articles Hotel Market Insight: Cleveland a

This led the company to launch SkyTouch last year, a new division that develops and markets cloud-based software solutions to hotels inside and outside the Choice system.

Faster innovation With cloud-based hotel PMS, hotels can bring new properties online more quickly. Each new release brings new capabilities to help deliver great guest experiences, improve operating efficiency, and increase employee productivity. Lower IT complexity and costs With cloud-based hotel PMS, hotels can lower upfront capital expenditure on software and hardware. By going above-property, hotels can also reduce IT complexity and IT costs. Increase in RevPAR and ADR With cloud-based hotel PMS, hotels can effectively manage rates and allocation of rooms to various distribution channels, helping to maximize occupancy, rates, and revenue. Enhanced customer lifetime value With cloud-based hotel PMS, hotels get a single customer master with comprehensive guest profiles that allow them to personalize and differentiate guest experiences.

Until recently, hotel PMS solutions were often managed on premises. On-premises solutions include hardware that can take up a lot of space. Resources were needed to manage the systems and software updates, upgrades, and patches needed to be scheduled and installed manually by onsite staff. Cloud-based, mobile-enabled hotel PMS platforms offer hotels an innovative way to engage with guests while enabling hotels to reduce IT costs and simplify their infrastructure.

ncrease housekeeping efficiency with instant updates on housekeeping mobile devices when customers check out, freeing up rooms for cleaning

is now a critical business operations system

that replaced time-intensive, paper and spreadsheet-heavy processes.

seamless guest experience.

Enhanced customer lifetime value.

Hoteliers are challenged with providing a personalized guest experience

olutions help hoteliers deliver the experience guests want, while efficiently managing their business.

Connect operations and financial processes by leveraging prebuilt integrations

Increase room occupancy and ADR through real-time rate

ster innovation.

Lower IT complexity and costs.

aditionally, a hotel property management system was defined as a platform that enabled a hotel or group of hotels to manage front-office capabilities, such as booking reservations, guest check-in/check-out, room assignment, managing room rates, and billing.

rease in RevPAR and ADR.

OPERA Cloud hotel property management system offers hoteliers capabilities to enhance operating efficiency and deliver exceptional guest experiences. The platform integrates emerging technologies with ease, accelerating innovation to meet ever-changing demands. Hotel PMS Defined

The benefits of cloud-based hotel PMS solutions include:

r

Hotel PMS now integrates to other onsite services that impact the guest's complete experience, including:

T

OPERA Cloud hotel property management system offers hoteliers capabilities to enhance operating efficiency and deliver exceptional guest experiences. The platform integrates emerging technologies with ease, accelerating innovation to meet ever-changing demands.

Provide anytime, anywhere service to your guests using a mobile-enabled cloud-based hotel PMS.

Centralize and secure customer data and improve the quality and accuracy of guest profiles with reporting and analytics.

Empower managers to improve ADR with extensive options for setting rates and advanced rate-management features for manual and semiautomated revenue management.

With a cloud hotel PMS, hotels get a single customer master with comprehensive guest profiles that allow them to personalize and differentiate guest experiences.

Equally as important, when considering whether to invest in new technology within the hospitality sector, is the need to recognize that technology is constantly changing and improving. Decision time frames are shortening. International hoteliers that have a good view on the future, realize that the technology decision they make today will only be relevant for the next 3-5 years at the most and are already planning next generation migrations.

As the wider hospitality industry continues to face a slow recovery, savvy hotel owners and managers should be looking inwards during this time with a view to ensuring that the technology they use to help run their facilities are best suited for the roles they have to perform.

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.

Digital conference facilities Besides being able to offer high density Wi-Fi for conferences and meetings, hotels also need to be able to offer access to audio-visual (AV) and digital facilities for conferences. While the amount of AV and digital equipment that goes into a typical conference room is fairly minimal, staging companies are often hired for various projects in order to equip the facility as required.

Mobile communication and automation In many airports, it’s no longer necessary to stand in a queue to check in and people are expecting the same kind of easy, technology-driven check-ins at hotels. Guests want to be able to do everything from checking in at a venue’s automated kiosk to ordering room service with a digital device instead of standing in queues and moving around the hotel premises to order food.

Cloud services Being able to provide entertainment on tap and mobile content has led to the trend of hotels investing in cloud services. While hotels want to be able to offer digital content, they don’t necessarily want to invest in IT infrastructure and IT staff, making cloud computing the ideal solution.

Feedback on social media Technology has infiltrated almost every aspect of our lives and hotel developers need to realise that almost any person checking in at a hotel, resort, spa or lodge, will have a smartphone in their pockets.

Converged LANs to support multiple services Converged local area networks (LANs) will also help hotels to create more intelligent buildings. A variety of computer-based building services can be automated in order to control lighting, refrigeration, air-conditioning and heating. Besides reducing energy consumption, converged LANs can also be set up to provide a smarter, more personal experience. If a guest is known to prefer his or her room temperature at 18°C with the lights dimmed to 65%, for example, this can be programmed before the guest checks in at the hotel.

Integrated, seamless experiences Technology doesn’t mean that customer experience can only happen online and through devices, check-ins and online comments. All of these experiences need to be part of an integrated, dynamic system so that the guests’ experiences are at the forefront of the marketing and  operational team’s mind.

Marketing, management and hotel developers can no longer work in silos and these technology trends are giving them the opportunities, tools and solutions they need to create memorable experiences that can lead to positive change and growth in the industry.

20,000 properties.

hospitality property owners look to address the challenge of competition from peer-to-peer platforms like Airbnb

focus on improving guest experience and helping travelers have the trip of a lifetime

guest-messaging software

messaging tools to deliver five-star service at scale

provide frictionless guest service and streamline time-consuming interactions, such as check-in.

White labeling has already begun in the hotel industry without hoteliers even knowing it. Property management systems that offer channel management integrations are usually white labelling their channel managers from other vendors

The many tech innovations we see penetrating the market require constant vigilance of cybersecurity best practices, regular updates to security software, and dedication to routine testing and threat assessment.

Most revenue management systems focus on reporting and data visualization; the addition of white label software to the backend of an RMS can improve price optimization, letting hoteliers spend their time on higher value tasks and strategic revenue management.

APIs allow your various hotel technology tools and programs to work together, conne

streaming, voice activation, guest-room tablets, and food ordering tech.

2nd Kitchen is a godsend for hotels without a kitchen on-site: guests can order room service from restaurants near your hotel,

Numerous high-profile malware attacks on the hotel industry have led to hundreds of millions of guests’ data being compromised and millions of dollars in damage.

forced to get smart about security

do their research in selecting tech tools

regularly host training to their staff

all-in-one suite of tools, including a property management system, channel manager, booking engine, and revenue manager, growing revenue and automating workflows at more than

There are two factors outside Coronavirus that are impacting OTAs. First, hotels are getting better at capturing direct bookings.

Secondly, Google has entered the travel market in a big way.

for property owners, WiFi 6 is much more relevant

beyond the guest experience, hotels can take advantage of faster WiFi

Smart thermostats, smart speakers, and smart locks

data has become the world’s most valuable resource.

Data can fuel smarter marketing campaigns, inform your pricing, and help you capture a higher market share

Hoteliers are just starting to realize the potential of its guest data.

put a dollar figure on just how much hotel industry data is worth. The Group purchased STR for $450 million in cas

New competitors are challenging old management companies that haven’t innovated enough

These next-gen properties are sometimes called hometels (home+hotel), or more generally, alternative lodging

Technology in hotels goes far beyond guestroom TVs and phone

smart locks

ast WiF

NFC technology for contactless payments

kiosks or mobile apps for digital check-in,

robots that deliver room service.

Smart hotel rooms use technology to allow guests to personalize their stay experiences.

The most important software in the hotel industry is the property management system

hoteliers must focus on data security and continued training

White labeling is a practice in which a product – in this case, hotel software – is manufactured by a third party and uses branding by the purchaser, or marketer, so that the end product appears to have been produced by the purchaser. “The advantage is that a single company does not need to do it all: one firm can concentrate on producing the product; another on marketing it; and another can focus on selling it, each according to its expertise and preference,”

Interest in investing in hotel technology has slowly ramped up in recent years.

Hotels that are comfortable using APIs can automate tasks that take up much of their employee’s time with manual data entry.

Why is data so valuable? “Data are now part of every sector and function of the global economy and, like other essential factors of production such as hard assets and human capital, much of modern economic activity simply could not take place without them

Hotels use technology to provide better service, streamline communication, allow guests to personalize their experiences, and offer more convenient processes, like checking in or ordering room service.

deliver increasingly high value for hoteliers and guests. For hotel managers, technology specifically designed to manage hotel operations, reservations, housekeeping, and more can enable greater efficiency and fewer human errors

Despite being one of the largest and most dynamic segments of the US and global economy, penetration of cloud-based technologies in the segment remains incredibly low, and the vendor landscape remains tremendously fragmented on a global basis,” says Matt Melymuka, co-founder and partner at PeakSpan Capital.

Hotels use Zingle’s messaging tools to deliver five-star service at scale; Medallia’s investment in Zingle gives hotels the opportunity to provide frictionless guest service and streamline time-consuming interactions, such as check-in.

Life House, a tech-first hotel experience, shows proof-of-concept: that hotels that invest in technology drive higher revenue, better guest reviews, and a higher star-rating.

Hotels are catching on, adding convenience through streaming, voice activation, guest-room tablets, and food ordering tech.

White labeling is a practice in which a product – in this case, hotel software – is manufactured by a third party and uses branding by the purchaser, or marketer, so that the end product appears to have been produced by the purchaser.

Oaky, one of the industry’s leading upselling tools, raised a Series A funding round of $9.5 million led by PeakScan Capital. Oaky’s appeal to investors stems from the app’s data-driven approach to driving incremental revenue. Their deep understanding of customer behavior makes Oaky one of the top-rated upselling tools on the market today.

For instance, feeding data from your PMS into a business intelligence tool leads to real, operational data to analyze trends and provide recommendations for better marketing campaigns, smarter staffing decisions, seasonal trends, and market competition. Hotels that are comfortable using APIs can automate tasks that take up much of their employee’s time with manual data entry.

On-demand convenience dominates our lives, and guests expect this level of ease from their hotel experience as well.

An API, application programming interface, is simply a messenger of data between applications. APIs allow your various hotel technology tools and programs to work together, connecting your RMS to a PMS, or your PMS to your upsell software, or your business intelligence software to your PMS. An API makes your technology user-friendly and efficient; when your tools work together, you capture each platform’s full capabilities.

Hilton is taking a different approach, partnering with Netflix to allow guests to control their streaming straight from the Hilton Honors mobile app.

As far as voice-activation, Volara is leading the way in providing a thoughtful, Alexa-esque guest-room solution. Volara integrates with the most popular work order management systems so that guests can make requests and get confirmation when the item or service they need will be delivered.

And for savvy marketing managers, tablets provide a new channel through which to send targeted, automated messages generating $5,000 per month in additional revenue.

2nd Kitchen is a godsend for hotels without a kitchen on-site: guests can order room service from restaurants near your hotel, taking care of care of orders, menus, payment, fulfillment, and customer support for your property.

Hotels are a prime target for hackers. “Only about 25% of all U.S. businesses, including hotel operators, are fully compliant with current data security best practices. That means that three out of four are not and are potential disasters waiting to happen,” reported one cybersecurity expert.

Numerous high-profile malware attacks on the hotel industry have led to hundreds of millions of guests’ data being compromised and millions of dollars in damage. Just this February, MGM Resorts revealed they were the target of a massive data breach that compromised personal information for more than 10.6 million guests. Files leaked in the MGM attack included information on celebrities, chief executives of technology companies, reporters and government officials, according to Skift.

Expedia and Booking have taken some pretty big hits in recent months.

Why the dive in stock price? There are two factors outside Coronavirus that are impacting OTAs. First, hotels are getting better at capturing direct bookings. Hotel tech like direct booking platforms, metasearch ad managers, and messaging integrations help properties draw more visitors to their site and convert more direct bookings, circumventing the high OTA commissions in the process.

Secondly, Google has entered the travel market in a big way. Google has expanded from traditional AdWords to include hotels everywhere via its Hotel Ads product.

5G may be getting all the buzz, but for property owners, WiFi 6 is much more relevant. WiFi 6 is the term used to describe the next iteration of Wifi, a faster, more efficient connection enabled through new technologies. WiFi 6 is about 30% faster than our current WiFi.

With WiFi 6, your property can leverage in-room technology to provide better service, driving positive guest reviews and repeat business. Smart thermostats, smart speakers, and smart locks will all perform better with the adoption of WiFi 6 over the next five years.

Investors in Oaky already recognize this next insight: data has become the world’s most valuable resource. The sooner you start to mine guest data for better customer insights, the better positioned your property will be against your competition.

Data can fuel smarter marketing campaigns, inform your pricing, and help you capture a higher market share than your competitors by knowing your guests on a deeper level.

Earlier this year, Revinate launched the hotel industry's first Guest Data Platform to aggregate, clean and deliver rich guest profiles for hotels and property groups of all sizes. The platform combines data from multiple sources to provide a complete picture of a hotel’s guests, delivering the information needed to increase guest satisfaction scores, direct bookings, and ultimately, profit.

Brands in the alternative lodging sector include Stay Alfred, Sonder, The Guild Hotels and to some extent groups such as Selina and OYO. 

The biggest distraction or barrier these next-gen hotels face is that they’re taking the wrong approach to tech. The companies that win will be the ones who stop acting like tech companies – using buzzwords like AI and virtual concierge – and focus on being more innovative and agile real estate businesses than traditional market players today. Those that succeed will be tech-enabled businesses; not tech businesses.

Smart hotel rooms use technology to allow guests to personalize their stay experiences.

Technology is becoming more important to hotel operations because it can deliver increasingly high value for hoteliers and guests.

The most important software in the hotel industry is the property management system, which acts as “mission control” for hotel operations. Hoteliers use a PMS to manage reservations, check guests in and out, and handle billing.

While exciting technologies present new options for hoteliers to enhance their offerings, these new innovations also mean hoteliers must focus on data security and continued training when implementing the technology that guests expect.

Today, the vast majority of hoteliers are primarily focused on and investing in Guest Services Technology, while underinvesting in Guest Engagement, Acquisition and Retention Technology.

Guest Services Technology

Guest Engagement, Acquisition and Retention Technology

Today’s hoteliers must create and manage a robust digital presence and engage, acquire, service and retain travel consumers in this increasingly mobile-first world.

In other words, hoteliers’ technology focus and investments end where the OTA focus and investment begin.

With nearly 59% of online travelers now visiting the hotel website from mobile devices,

a mobile-first website design is a must.

Mobile-first responsive website with

cloud hosting and CDN (Content Delivery Network) provides far better server response times and faster download speeds.

Quite often different teams at the property use different sets of data in their day-to-day operations, creating a total “data integrity mess,” which directly affects the property’s guest acquisition and retention efforts.

They must understand and invest in digital technology and marketing that enables the best possible user experience, provides the best customer service, increases efficiencies and boosts revenues.

From a technology perspective, the challenge to hoteliers is to create a hotel and room environment that at least matches but preferably exceeds their guests’ home environment. In other words, hotel and room technology, amenities, and features should be the same or better than what guests already enjoy at home. These include:

The future of this technology is the Smart Guestroom which will be completely personalized to guest preferences and loyalty member profile.

“Imagine a world where the room knows you, and you know your room.”

Hoteliers are overwhelmed by the amount of technology, data, and digital marketing silos and the need to work with multitude of vendors in their guest acquisition and services efforts.

Each team has its own technology tools, databases, and vendors which are not in communication with the other teams.

Unlike hoteliers, the OTAs are focused exclusively and investing only in Guest Engagement, Acquisition and Retention Technology since they do not have to worry about on-property technology and guest experiences.

Reluctance to invest in digital technology:

Antiquated accounting in hospitality:

The technology and data fragmentation in hospitality

These are the major impediments to the industry becoming a digital technology-driven and technology-savvy industry:

Recently, an independent hotel introduced room service delivery robots, which would have been great if the rest of the hotel tech stack were in order, and if it weren’t for the 6-year old property website, and absence of any CRM technology.

Hotels should first focus on the fundamentals of the technology stack before implementing more advanced things.

The U.S. hospitality industry is a $155 billion industry. This provides endless opportunities for smart technology vendors to thrive and service the industry with state-of-the-art solutions.

The industry needs fewer, as opposed to more, technology vendors servicing the industry.

The industry has a “vendor deficit disorder” in the sense of being overwhelmed by the number of tech vendors and solutions out there.

Hoteliers need to monitor, proactively inquire about and familiarize themselves with the Next Generation Technologies that are already making their way into hospitality, including Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), Voice Assistants, Chat Bots, Robotics, and Blockchain.

Over the next 3-5 years we will witness wider adoption and implementation of the following next gen technologies:

Unlike hoteliers, the OTAs are focused exclusively and investing only in Guest Engagement, Acquisition and Retention Technology.

Hoteliers must wake up to the fact that by being primarily focused on and investing in Guest Services Technology, while underinvesting in Guest Engagement, Acquisition and Retention Technology, they are allowing the OTAs more visibility to engage, acquire and retain the online travel consumer.

Digital technology is making its way into every aspect of the industry: hotel operations, guest services and communications, revenue management, distribution, CRM and marketing.

Today’s hotelier must understand, know and use digital tech solutions in their everyday environment, and be able to assess, evaluate, recommend and acquire technology solutions to improve guest satisfaction, operational efficiencies and productivity, customer service and revenue.

Website Technology: The property or hotel brand website has become the gravitational center of all hotelier’s efforts to engage, acquire and retain the customer. Any marketing efforts of the hotel today lead the potential customers to the hotel website. Today’s website technology includes cloud-based Content Management System (CMS), comprehensive merchandising suites, reservation abandonment tools, personalization pricing and content, technical SEO, cloud hosting, and robust analytics suite

The goal here is very clear: bridge the guest data and technology silos in hospitality and create an end-to-end solution, empowering hotels to acquire new guests, engage current guests, and retain past guests by combining digital marketing, website, and CRM data into one cohesive marketing and personalization platform.

The “digital way of life” adopted by today’s tech-savvy travel consumer is forcing the hospitality industry to accelerate the adoption of digital technologies and become a 100% digital technology-enabled industry.

"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."

For smaller hotels, you may think you’re getting more bang for your buck with a solution designed for enterprise hotels, but in reality you might need some tailoring. You may be paying for a bunch of extra features you’ll never use, or perhaps you run tours as well and need a feature for managing that aspect of your business.

you’re wasting time and money—

you’re wasting time and money

you’re wasting time and money

For smaller hotels, you may think you’re getting more bang for your buck with a solution designed for enterprise hotels, but in reality you might need some tailoring. You may be paying for a bunch of extra features you’ll never use, or perhaps you run tours as well and need a feature for managing that aspect of your business.

For smaller hotels, you may think you’re getting more bang for your buck with a solution designed for enterprise hotels, but in reality you might need some tailoring. You may be paying for a bunch of extra features you’ll never use, or perhaps you run t

Cloudbeds serves as an all-in-one hotel management system that can also connect your property to hundreds of channels (such as Booking.com and Orbitz) with real-time, two-way integration

Rate management to maximize revenue through seasonal rates Mobile application to receive reports on smartphone/tablet Event management Self-service check-in kiosk

After 3 years of researching over 1,000 hotels and resorts across several countries

Our joint research with these thousand hotels was conclusive – 73% of inquiries to the front desk, bell staff or concierge were related to hotel services and local information and recommendations.

Hotels and guests want an easier way to stay connected with one another, and local information from trusted sources via technology.

Freeing-up staff time, yet delivering the guest experience desired. Reception by guest-users and the hospitality industry has been overwhelmingly positive.”

Digital postcards are also available through the app, which carry the client hotel branding.

Trip-planning functionality is built into the app for travelers to plan their customized experience virtually anywhere they stay.

recycled water

ozone

in the form of card key switches for electricity and air conditioning, linen cards for re-using towels and sheets and motion sensors for electricity in public areas

over recent years are installing energy efficient fixtures and fittings for bathroom taps, shower heads and sanitary ware.

Of course green measures don’t have to cost the earth.

Further cost effective measures can be applied when it comes to guest activities

So even if you’re operating on a much smaller scale than the big chains, it’s worth adopting a green technology policy to suit your budget.

The traditional vendor RFP process is not suited for evaluating and choosing a digital technology and marketing partner who will be entrusted to guide the hotel in maximizing revenues from the most important distribution and marketing channel in hospitality: the direct online channel (i.e. the property website). Such an RFP process is typically riddled with contradictions and self-selecting biases, and also represents an antiquated method unsuitable for a fast-paced digital world

The traditional vendor RFP process cannot provide answers to crucial questions concerning familiarity with industry's best practices, strategic approach to digital marketing technology and marketing, digital technology innovativeness, quality and depth of direct online channel consulting services, etc

Common observations on the RFP experience: It serves as a tool to fulfill administrative requirements or to simply "shop around" when in fact the digital marketing/technology firm has already been privately selected. On paper, every digital technology and marketing firm can present itself at its best and can creatively diminish any weaknesses or embellish any strength. The hotel does not know what questions to ask to get to the heart of what the hotel needs. Digital marketing and technology firms can easily make promises and fall short on delivery and meeting expectations. Over-promising and under-delivering has become modus operandi for a number of players in the industry. Properties can get carried away and request proprietary information like methodologies, access to code, and design work as part of the vendor RFP.

Some hotel companies never follow up and leave the evaluated vendors in limbo. Oftentimes hotel companies do not give the digital marketing firm adequate time for proposal development, which demands further use of resources or the delay of other key projects. When management changes, the hotel company is more likely to go into a vendor RFP without evaluating the results and contributions of their current vendor, which can disrupt existing relationships and potentially impede the successes to date. Given the arduous process of the vendor RFP process, there could be a sense of entitlement on both sides that could result in a mutually caustic relationship from the onset.

Digital agencies may propose lower costs to win the contract and introduce additional fees later only leading to resentment and regret. Hotels will often push needs beyond the original scope in the vendor RFP and use the proposal as leverage to get more services without paying. Not all digital agencies are the same but as mentioned, any agency can demonstrate on paper its superiority to solve any problem and deliver any service. Behind the scenes an agency can outsource and end up costing the hotel twice what is originally proposed in additional fees.

Not all digital agencies are the same but as mentioned, any agency can demonstrate on paper its superiority to solve any problem and deliver any service. Behind the scenes an agency can outsource and end up costing the hotel twice what is originally proposed in additional fees.

A key part of Alice’s system is its ability to let guests, front-of-house workers, and back-of-house staff communicate and track requests. For instance, a guest request via a text message for, say, more linens, can be conveyed to the right worker using Alice, the company said.

It now processes more than 50,000 requests a week, up from the 10,000-a-week pace it had a year ago. The company anticipates hotels will handle more than two million requests on its platform over the next year.

Alice has more than doubled its count of hotel clients this year.

It has since evolved into software that aims to provide the first unified platform for a hotel to run its entire back-end operations, such as housekeeping and customer service communication.

Expedia officially began to market a series of new tools for hoteliers that it has been adding to its extranet for suppliers since 2015 under the name Expedia Powered Technology. Tools include help with revenue management and messaging with guests.

There are other hotel tech brands that offer software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions that overlap with what Alice’s platform provides, such as the housekeeping-focused services of Amadeus Hospitality’s HotSOS. Other potential players in the market include Sabre Hospitality Solutions and Oracle Hospitality.

Expedia’s suite of data analytics tools includes a free service that aims to help hotels set their rates to command the most revenue and Expedia’s first meetings-and-events booking tool to help hotels automate requests for proposals — which today is still, largely, a manual process.

Priceline Group has, since 2015, been investing in business services for its hotel partners under the BookingSuite brand. The tools include revenue management software and digital marketing help for a property’s own branded website.

Trivago, the hotel metasearch brand that is backed by Expedia (but operates independently), is also offering hotel services, such as for revenue management and hotel management (like Base7booking).

An Earth-friendly image i

The best thing hotels can do is say 'look at what we are doing'" to help the environment, said Patricia Griffin, founder of the Green Hotels Assn., a Houston-based group that promotes green policies for hotels.

ow-flow shower heads and other in-room measures are common in hotels because local utilities and government agencies offer rebates for water-saving equipment.

Bathrooms are the biggest drain, accounting for about 30% of hotel water use, followed by landscaping and laundry, each with 16%, and kitchens with 14%, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Typical water-saving measures can reduce operating costs at hotels by as much 11%,

The water saved from the drained fountains was "insignificant," but it sent a message about the hotel's environmental efforts, said Kathleen Corchran, the hotel's general manager.

The group hopes to use the system to cut water use by 12% over the next three years in water-starved areas like California.

The Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel plans to install a system to recycle about 70% of the water used for its laundry operation. The project, which is expected to be installed by mid-December, will cost about $96,000, after water and gas rebates,

Hotel officials expect the investment will pay for itself in 17 months.

Since then, hotel officials say they have avoided additional fines by putting an end to washing down sidewalks and parking lots, installing low-flow shower heads and limiting landscape irrigation to evening hours, among other water-saving measures.

With California in the worst drought in state history, some hotels have gone beyond simply installing low-flow shower heads and urging guests to reuse towels. The goal is not just to save water or money. It's about creating an eco-friendly image to appeal to environmentally minded guests.

Optimally, hotel organizations should be able to reduce IT costs, leverage investments in PCs and improve staff productivity. In addition, client server technology sets the stage for the still more sophisticated technologies of the next decade in which guests will have greater access to in-room technologies, and fully integrated systems using a common database will be the norm.

client server technology. This technology will bring no less than the dismantling of the management information system (MIS) paradigm as we have known it, more completely democratizing access to information than at any time in the past.

Client server technology is probably the most viable strategic option for medium to large multi-property owners and operators as technology upgrades are made.

The potential to improve operating efficiencies.

Guest services accessed by the guest typically involve the use of the in-room television remote control to select from a suite of interactive programs and services. Guests can navigate easily through multi-media video and audio, and be automatically connected by phone to outside services.

involve a PC running a front-end application that allows access to outside services, as well as access to guest-specific information maintained in a central repository or database. In either case, the method employed is driven by the guest familiarity and comfort in using technology.

better target a hotel's customer base.

Client server technology now permits a hotel chain to maintain one single customer database which can be accessed by all of the properties connected to the server over the network. In addition, far more data can be collected about the customer and his spending, making the database much more powerful as a focused marketing tool.

Technological advances thus have the potential to generate a range of benefits critical to remaining competitive, and ultimately driving expanded market share and profitability. Nevertheless, the barriers to increased investments in technology by hotel owners and operators can be daunting. These include general resistance to change, lack of available funds or manpower to invest in technology, and a perceived inability to quantify benefits.

investments in technologies and effective application of these technologies in hotel operations and services will become one of the most decisive factors differentiating successful hotel organizations globally in the years ahead.

first database management systems

The hospitality industry is at “a tipping point in terms of cloud adoption”, with hoteliers expected to invest 7 – 8% more in cloud technology over the next 2 to 3 years.

Cloud-based hotel management systems

hosted by the vendor’s server rather than the hotel’s

On-site hotel management software, managed by the hotel’s IT team, comes with considerable upfront, maintenance and running costs.

business can save 50% with cloud computing solutions

limitless flexibility to work with the vendors of their choice

cost of general operational and maintenance fees,

are part of the package and covered by the vendor

personalized experiences with the help of captured customer information

With traditional software, hoteliers are limited to standalone software packages

Cloud-based applications are offered as software as a service (SaaS)

cloud-based hotel management systems are entirely scalable – they have an unlimited capacity to expand

One of the biggest strengths of a cloud-based hotel management system is that it can be easily connected to other software applications, even if these applications don’t share the same provider.

The reality is that with traditional hotel management software, adding and removing resources is difficult and hoteliers are essentially stuck with one system until the license expiry date

The hospitality industry is at “a tipping point in terms of cloud adoption”, with hoteliers expected to invest 7 – 8% more in cloud technology over the next 2 to 3 years.

Cloud-based hotel management systems – or, simply put, systems hosted by the vendor’s server rather than the hotel’s – give hoteliers a single, scalable system from which to manage every aspect of their hotel business.

A Frost & Sullivan study showed that business can save 50% with cloud computing solutions. The apparition of the cloud and its flexible pricing has slashed businesses’ hardware costs, making it possible for even hotels with small budgets to run an advanced management system.

SaaS hotel management systems are pay-as-you-go. Therefore, rather than having to pay a large sum for a long-term commitment, hoteliers can pay smaller amounts on a regular basis.

The cloud lets hoteliers record this data – their preferences, transactions and behavior – every time the customer interacts in some way with their hotel, such as ordering room service, eating in the hotel restaurant or even booking a day trip or spa session.They can then use this data to make suggestions based on the customer’s preferences and behavior.

Secondly, they enable you to provide guests with the convenience and seamless experience they expect, even before they step into the hotel reception. Armed with a cloud-based system, you can give your guests the convenience they now expect from a hotel stay, such as booking rooms on their mobile phones or accessing their room from an app, to name a few examples.

with traditional hotel management software, adding and removing resources is difficult and hoteliers are essentially stuck with one system until the license expiry date. You’re in a contract, with very little wiggle room.

Cloud-based software gives hoteliers a hotel management system that facilitates rather than restricts business operations. Unlike their on-site predecessors, cloud-based hotel management systems are entirely scalable – they have an unlimited capacity to expand. They give hoteliers the agility and freedom to add or remove resources in line with their growth and scale their hotel management systems to the services they offer.

One of the biggest strengths of a cloud-based hotel management system is that it can be easily connected to other software applications, even if these applications don’t share the same provider.For hoteliers, this capacity and the possibilities that it brings are revolutionary. They now have limitless flexibility to work with the vendors of their choice and can bundle applications together thereby creating a truly customized management suite that meets their needs.

Cloud-based technology gives hoteliers the key to run smart businesses that are in tune with modern-day travelers, and more profitable.