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One good thing that comes from outsourcing is being trendy. Many brands are doing it and it is the trendy thing to do.

Another very negative result of outsourcing the accounting function is brain drain and the resulting challenge it creates in succession planning.

On the positive side, another idea about outsourcing accounting is the creation of a different kind of finance and accounting leader;

If you are thinking of outsourcing your accounting, think again. It is not a good decision. It will cost you dearly and your investment will suffer.

Hotels are a high-volume transaction retail business. Every day a hotel sells hundreds or thousands of rooms to many different customer segments. In addition, it services thousands of food and beverage customers.

When a hotel outsources they typically outsource payables, some parts of purchasing, general accounting, sometimes accounts receivable and almost always the daily audit and revenue functions.

Companies feel compelled to move, to innovate, and sometimes these changes are not in their best interest

These functions in a hotel are like filters, collecting all the errors and working with operations to get them back on track

the costs savings in the short run are completely upside down – in other words – no savings.

The hotel loses track of so many invoices so they start logging the scans and cross referencing these with the outsourced company.

If there are no entry level positions, no revenue auditor and no middle management, then how does a hotel grow controllers and directors of finance?

they are not going to have financial leaders that understand the hotel business and all its insane nuances.

This in theory is exactly what I think hotels should be doing – developing the business skills of the non-financial managers.

The fact is these systems and processes are always in need of constant and diligent attention

Colleagues in the operating departments need constant oversight and this boils down to finding out what is wrong with the data and communicating back to these areas.

hoteliers can also measure the response of their advertisements, and advertising messages can be tailored based on the hotel or advertising partner's needs in real-time

this interactive marketing engagement is the marriage of digital and mobile marketing used to deliver content to guests' mobile devices in a contextually relevant environment

The messages are automatically delivered to the guest's cell phone whenever they approach a certain distance (from 3 to 300 feet) of the TV in their room, or any digital signage in the hotel property,

Proximity marketing has tremendous revenue-producing potential, allowing hotels to deepen their connection with guests, encourage more loyalty and greatly improve the customer experience:

new opportunity for hoteliers to increase revenues by advertising to a captive audience that craves information and interaction

it is clear that the future of hotel marketing is ready to evolve

offering hotels and advertisers increased customer engagement, interaction and exclusivity. B

y adding proximity marketing into the mix, hoteliers can encourage guests to react to an advertisement immediately, create repeat business, and in turn generate larger ROI for hotel advertisers.

allows digital signs to 'talk and interact' with nearby mobile devices, providing mobile users with information and incentives at exactly the time they need them

Proximity marketing provides a tool to reach guests beyond just traditional advertising campaigns by adding to existing digital signage and television advertising

As we move toward 2020, we can expect to see more hotel properties leveraging a variety of smart tech to reduce operational costs, improve guest experience and exploit new sources of revenue.

From operations to guest experience to marketing, smart hotel technology offers a variety of cost savings and revenue opportunities, and it is enabling hotel owners to reach new levels of profitability.

One of the main benefits of smart technology is how it aggregates data and makes it actionable.

Smart Reserved Parking

Smart Roomservice

The potential to improve operating efficiencies.

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.

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.

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.

Property Management System- The Future of Hotel Industry

Property Management System- The Future of Hotel Industry

Property Management System- The Future of Hotel Industry

It is the age of the Internet, the age when many businesses solely run on the Internet. From marketing to reaching new people, there is a lot that can be done with the help of this medium

Central Reservation System: One of the greatest advantages of using an online hotel software is that you do not have any more headaches about reservations.

  Numerous Point of Sale: Keeping a check on the add-on services your hotel provides can easily be done with the help of the numerous points of sales.

Sales and Marketing Console: To help popularize your hotel and make it known to people from across the globe, many PMSs have a dedicated sales and marketing console.

Travel Agents and Corporate Clients:It is also important that you properly deal with travel agents and corporate clients as they play a very important role in bringing in more guests to the hotel.

Connected to 1000s of Travel Portals: These property management systems  help you get connected to many travel portals like Travelocity, Tripadvisor and Expedia helping you reach more people. 

digitalization of hotels also includes introduction of advanced solutions for analytics and security.

Digital security systems can not only track the slightest disturbance of the public peace, but also provide additional information.

At present day, it is too early to assess the effectiveness of some recent innovations, that are related mostly to the hotel's image and attract customers.

The main trends in the use of modern technologies in hospitality industry in the conditions of digitalization of the economy are presented in figure 1.

The main disadvantages of traditional technologies include the following: local server requires regular maintenance from the system administrator; access to database is restricted by local network facilities; connection speed is limited by the speed of a local provider and divided among all who are drawn to the sever database

Artificial intelligence plays an equally important role in improving the efficiency of public catering enterprises.

Use of artificial intelligence also allows to analyze the work of the restaurant, and to detect violations of rules by the staff via control of bills, number of the discount card uses, as well as the number of cancellations and deletions of checks.

The issue of privacy that characterizes traditional tourism industry is also addressed through blockchain technology, minimizing exposure to sensitive data in the face of existing problems with cyber attacks and fraud in traditional financial services.

if the concept of hospitality industry enterprise changes, it is possible to change the composition of paid licenses.

Almost all companies in hospitality industry have started to think about using chatbots to solve specific business problems [9].

One of the ways to get competitive advantages for accommodation facilities is to invest and use new technologies. In this regard, augmented reality is the most promising technology for the modern tourism industry. its development and application can increase the competitiveness of destinations.

Augmented reality can be used to interact with guests before, during, and after their stay.

Augmented reality technologies can be used to stimulate travel purchases (the effect of being present in a hotel room, as well as demonstrating the environment and local services using a virtual reality headset). Also, virtual and augmented reality, including those with tactile sensations, can be implemented by digital concierges to issue recommendations to the client on various issues and types of recreation

The API allows one hotel technology system to automatically (i.e., without the participation of hotel employees) interact with another technology system and gain access to its functionality.

The largest companies develop APIs for clients or internal use at some stage.

The main point of switching to outsourcing is to optimize the company's costs while significantly improving the quality of services provided. The main criteria for outsourcing are the lack of competitive advantages and not the strategic position of this operation or function for the company

With the help of speech Analytics tools, specialists can work with 100% of requests. To do this, all dialogues are translated into text and analyzed using a special system.

Based on this analysis, you can develop a change program for existing procedures and processes and optimize self-service systems (personal account, website).

The result of the introduction of innovative speech analytics technologies will be an increase in sales efficiency, an increase in loyalty and customer satisfaction, a reduction in service costs without loss of quality, and behavioral analytics.

Currently, biometrics can already be used to identify and confirm the client's identity. Face scanning technologies when registering with the service.

Analysts predict that the international market for biometric solutions for the hotel sector will grow exponentially in the coming years. Biometrics, as the most reliable and accurate authentication system, can provide real-time information about employees and their use of their working time.

The result of using this technology is payment without wallets and Bank cards, increasing the speed of customer service, and a high level of security.

In 2018, Amazon presented a special version of the voice assistant for hotels — Alexa for Hospitality, which is currently being tested in Marriott hotels.

At the same time, the use of Echo speakers in hotels raises concerns about the privacy of personal data. Amazon claims that audio recordings of the guest's voice commands will be deleted every day, and the hotel administration will not have access to both request records and response records.

IT outsourcing is the transfer to a third-party contractor (outsourcer) of all or part of the functions for servicing the organization's information needs. Currently, this technology is becoming increasingly common in the hospitality industry.

The result of the analysis of cash transactions is a regular analysis and detailing of violations, categorization of violations, development of measures to counter violations, training of personnel [13].

The main problems of implementing information technologies in the hospitality and tourism industry include the high cost of these developments, the duration of staff training processes, and the adaptation of the built system of business processes of enterprises.

The problem is also the difficulty of attracting investment in the hotel business

Another problem with the introduction of information technology in the hotel business is the lack of relevance of regulatory documents and legal barriers to the introduction of innovations

In addition, the introduction of modern information technologies in the hospitality industry is complicated by the level of technical and technological complexity of implementation projects.

nformation technologies are improving at a rapid pace

In the leading Russian hotels that are part of the global hotel chains, the work is fully automated, technological, and has its own computer and Internet services. Such hotels already have a successful experience in implementing modern information technologies.

Customers of the hospitality industry already have a lot of experience in using mobile devices.

Digital marketing is becoming a key channel of communication between the hotel and the network. At the same time, only the implementation of continuous data collection, processing, analysis and aggregation tasks will allow the management of hospitality enterprises to achieve one of their main goals - to better understand their customers and interact with them.

It can be difficult and expensive to hire and retain an IT security team

One way to implement these advanced toolsets includes outsourcing to a managed security firm specializing in this type of service

POS systems are a weak security point for many networks because they are constantly in use — and aren’t always patched, updated or protected from vulnerabilities as frequently as required.

personal details for hotel guests are frequently stored in a variety of locations, including billing, facilities, restaurants, etc.

otels are made even more vulnerable thanks to POS system provider breaches

  Phishing remains a particularly popular tactic used by hackers everywhere, including those that are targeting the hotel industry to trick both prospective guests, who give up credit card and personal details, and insiders, who then give up valuable login credentials.

File Integrity Monitoring (FIM), Unified Threat Management (UTM), and Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) should also be considered

Other hotels are doing similar things (and even more). An example of a newly-developed energy efficient amenity:

And the conference also talked a lot about putting solar panels on hotel roofs with government subsidies.

Hospitality Industry Technology Exposition and Conference in New Orleans.

We're geeky enough to love new hotel technology, but we've got our green side too;

The system will remember how lights are set and if the fireplace is on and will shut down 20 minutes after the guest leaves and come back to the same setting when guest returns.

Hospitality Industry Technology Exposition and Conference in New Orleans.

Most of the new green tech developments are focused on reducing energy use, and it seems like there are some killer new innovations coming to hotels at the moment

For example, at Hotel 1000 in Seattle,  they control what gets switched on and off using the system that tells them when

a guest comes and goes.

Other hotels are doing similar things (and even more). An example of a newly-developed energy efficient amenity

The system will remember how lights are set and if the fireplace is on and will shut down 20 minutes after the guest leaves and come back to the same setting when guest returns.

And the conference also talked a lot about putting solar panels on hotel roofs with government subsidies.

where 26 percent of travel agents stated that they used their GDS platform more often than in the past and 19 percent said they used the GDS Shopping Displays more often than before.

"Travel agents are increasing GDS hotel use, and have once again confirmed their confidence in GDS Shopping and Booking Displays,"

Travel agents in 25 countries across the Americas, EMEA (Europe/Middle East/Africa) and Asia/Pacific regions who subscribe to one of the four major GDS systems were asked to participate.

n the survey, travel agents worldwide also indicated that promotional messages are effective and often prompt bookings: 66 percent of all travel agents surveyed who were aware of promotional messages requested additional information by looking at the screen attached to the promotional message.

"This survey definitively shows that promotional messages are not only an excellent way to reach travel agents, but also a valuable sales catalyst,

s the leading provider of revenue generating solutions for hoteliers across the globe. TravelClick offers hotels world-class reservation solutions, business intelligence products and comprehensive media and marketing solutions to help hotels grow their business.

is one of the fastest growing marketing research firms in the United States. With offices across the country and in Europe and partnerships with many of the largest companies in the financial services, consumer package goods, automotive, healthcare, media, technology and travel and leisure industries worldwide, PMI also offers advanced advertising and brand measurement along with direct marketing expertise.

About Hotel Concepts – Brilliant

About 3CX

Hotels are defined primarily by the services and amenities that they offer.

Full-Service

Limited-Service

Budget

Extended Stay

OTAs have had a major impact on how hotels are booked since their inception some twenty years ago

ADR = Room Revenue / Rooms Sold

RevPar = Occupancy Rate x ADR

The two core customer groups that fuel demand for hotel rooms are tourism and business travelers

Hotels have unique industry standard metrics to track performance and growth, which include average daily rates (ADR) and revenue per available room (RevPar)

Demand drivers can change as a metro grows.

The hotel industry has seen substantial change both in terms of how hotels are developed and used as well as how they are marketed. Most changes in use are rooted in the adoption of technology.

Hotels also can benefit from locations adjacent to or near convention centers.

illenials are driving changes in use of practically everything they touch and hotels are no exception. Through their desire for affordable yet “cool” hotels in urban locations, hotel brands have been rapidly evolving to deliver concepts that cater to their tastes

While some pundits argue that the Millenial hotel is a fad, it is nonetheless changing the industry landscape and bringing a new breed of hotel to a magnitude of urban destinations.

nother way in which technology is changing the use of hotels is by enabling guests to redefine the period of the traditional night stay.

These apps are yet another example of how technology can be used to generate efficiencies – in this case to fill intraday hotel vacancies that would otherwise go unused.

Anyone who has traveled for either business or pleasure can grasp the basic building blocks of a successful hotel investment, which include: product offering, service, location, and competitiveness.

It also doesn’t require an industry veteran to appreciate that investing in a five-star hotel doesn’t necessarily correlate to earning five-star returns.

The takeaway is that hotels across all categories and price points have their own market segments, competitive sets and corresponding metrics. The key is to conduct a comparative analysis amongst similar hotels in order to determine whether or not the subject asset stands to win greater than, equal to or less than its fair share of its market demand.

There are a variety of entry points into hospitality real estate investments with a host of strategies

Hoteliers have to consider investing in the latest advancements in identification technology to ensure the safety of their guests, business and reputation.

One of the latest innovations to be launched in the customer security market within the hospitality industry is non-contact Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology

Radio Frequency Identification is currently at the forefront of hotel security throughout the world

Most hotels are seeing a major percentage of their bookings come from smartphone and internet users, and the usage of integrated pricing and distribution systems has become even more important to maximize revenues and minimize efforts.

The use of AI and ML in determining optimum rates for hotel rooms that are then pushed to all marketing channels, can increase the potential to maximize revenues and ARRs (Average Room Rates)  for the hotel, and reduce operational inefficiencies and manual costs.

In terms of guest experience and operations, hotels have seen a fast adoption of cloud-based and integrated technology in Property Management Systems and hotel ERPs.

with smartphone and tablet usage in in-room guest services and basic services like checkin, checkout, and usage of hotel facilities with further enhancements like augmented reality.

The use of kiosk for self-service checkins using biometric authentications and facial recognition can make the entire checkin and checkout experience fast and seamless.

The back of the house services like housekeeping, room cleaning, and food preparation are also digitally tracked using cloud-based integrated technology which can reduce delivery time and wastages, while increasing efficiency and guest satisfaction.

In terms of guest relationships and CRM, hotels have started storing the digital profiles of guests which can increase the personalization of service and guest preferences.

Every interaction of the guest in the hotel is stored and advanced systems use AI to predict and deliver ‘wow’ experiences to the guest.

increasing competition makes it even more important for hotels to differentiate themselves, and technology is turning out to be a big USP for hotels. Those who are quick to embrace the modern trends of technology and automation can stay ahead of their competition in terms of both superior service and higher profitability.

Investment required in technology has in-fact reduced as technology has evolved.

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

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

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.

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

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.

Augmented reality is often compared to virtual reality (VR), but while VR replaces the real-world environment with a completely virtual one, augmented reality enhances the real-world environment in real-time.

The technology itself can be deployed in a number of ways, including through smartphones, tablet devices or headsets.

(i.e. their hotel and its rooms), or enhance the experience of exploring the surrounding area.

Augmented reality technology can make a lot of this information readily available to customers at all times of the day, improving their entire experience.

Today, millennials are the dominant consumer generation and they are also more likely than previous generations to utilise digital technology and buy things like virtual reality and augmented reality devices.

1. Interactive Hotel Rooms

An example of this is seen with The Hub Hotel from Premier Inn in the United Kingdom, which has started using AR in conjunction with wall maps placed in its hotel rooms.

2. Gamification

3. Augmented Hotel Environments

For example, Holiday Inn created an augmented reality hotel experience, which allowed guests to point their smartphone and see realistic virtual depictions of famous celebrities in the hotel.

Meanwhile, Best Western experimented with augmented reality and Disney stars, allowing children to see themselves alongside characters from Disney films, and other hotels have used AR apps to allow guests to virtually redecorate.

4. Beacon Technology

Virtual Reality & Artificial Intelligence

The Hub Hotel from Premier Inn in the United Kingdom, which has started using AR in conjunction with wall maps placed in its hotel rooms.

allows hotels and other related businesses to enhance the physical environment they are selling

ugmented reality is often compared to virtual reality (VR), but while VR replaces the real-world environment with a completely virtual one, augmented reality enhances the real-world environment in real-time.

Holiday Inn created an augmented reality hotel experience, which allowed guests to point their smartphone and see realistic virtual depictions of famous celebrities in the hotel

Starwood Hotels, for instance, used the technology to send a virtual key to guests, allowing them to unlock their door through their phone. Others have used beacons to send maps and other information at opportune moments.

Lights and air conditioning can be shut off based on guest activity, and overall property energy use can be better monitored.

Hotel room tablets are also capable of replacing all printed materials traditionally housed in rooms by providing a digital storehouse of information that can be immediately updated or edited. Considering that the hospitality industry spent over $400 million on printing property directories and marketing collateral for guests in 2015, this is a tremendous opportunity.

InterContinental Hotels completely replaced print Bibles with digital versions loaded on Kindle e-readers

By having orders and requests placed by guests through the in-room tablets and automatically filtered into a back-end system for staff review, hotel management can improve staff productivity

all housekeeping staff to carry a panic button device on them at all times

low-quality versions of the technology that pose significant privacy and security risks to the people who carry them. Weak password protections and a lack of encryption leave users vulnerable to cyberattacks, which could render the devices unusable—or, worse, be used to invade hotel employees’ privacy

58% of hotel workers and 77% of casino workers have been sexually harassed by a guest. Nearly half have had guests answer the door naked or expose themselves, and nearly 15% have been cornered.

casino giants MGM Resorts International and Caesars Entertainment agreed to equip nearly 38,000 hotel staff with safety devices during contract negotiations

the CEOs of a number of major hotel chains—including Hilton, Hyatt, IHG, Marriott, and Wyndham—joined the pledge

Safe but insecureThe discovery of vulnerabilities in certain versions of this technology may pose a potential challenge

lack of encryption that compromised the device’s security

the software powering the tracker was hosted on a cloud-based service, which it used to communicate with a mobile application. But the cloud software didn’t require any authorization. A hacker could connect to the service and “instruct any tracker in the world to do things,” he explains.

Among the vulnerabilities a hacker could exploit are the ability to see the real-time location of users and to gain access to built-in microphones and cameras

That poses a problem for the hotel industry, Hron believes, because establishments not  bound by union or legislative requirements may buy inferior devices without vetting them properly, merely to satisfy new regulations. “Each hotel is buying these devices themselves—it’s not like some central authority is giving these devices to hotels,” he says. “My guess is [some are] going to buy a cheap device, and in this case, it’s pretty reasonable to think that there aren’t any analysts doing security checks on them.”

The lack of clear legislation also leaves workers vulnerable in jurisdictions that don’t explicitly ban employers using the devices to track the movements of hotel staff

technology isn’t capable of real-time tracking because it runs on WiFi and Bluetooth Low Energy, or BLE, and only transmits a signal when activated. Other devices that utilize GPS or WiFi connectivity, however, have the ability to transmit real-time location data on an ongoing basis

“The technology has to work every time, but the product only works if the right policies, procedures, and personnel are put in place that allow the system to function as a system

While the initial reason for the solution was to address sexual assault, there are other things that happen to housekeepers in hotel rooms as well,” says Ogle. “We’ve had team members that have had medical issues themselves, or found guests in rooms with medical conditions that were asking for assistance

Providing precise location data to first responders in the event of an emergency actually has the potential to save lives, but the technology will only be adopted if users believe it is being used appropriately

Network computing has enormous implications for marketing to customers on a global basis, as well as hotel operations. Consider the potential for the industry to connect with vendors worldwide for electronic purchasing, potentially achieving economies of scale and leveraging not yet possible. World purchasing functions will allow companies to customize their own catalogs. Virtual channels of distribution using computer networking capabilities will also allow hotel companies to market products and services - some traditional to our industry, others not - to customers whether they are in the hotel, at work, or at home. This will require a migration from today's central reservation systems to tomorrow's customer information systems using network-centric solutions. Development of customer profiles and guest recognition will make it possible for hotel organizations to interact in entirely new ways with customers, regardless of their physical location. Clearly, the large hotel companies will need to be the first to address questions raised by global networking capabilities and what this will mean in terms of technology investment. But for many hospitality companies presently struggling with the high cost of technology and the confusing state of our industry's technology affairs, this will not be an easy task. And the decisions will ultimately become further complicated by the opportunity to outsource certain functions into subscription-based networks. It is unlikely that the hospitality industry will be forced to bear the entire burden for networking infrastructure. Strategic alliances with major technology companies will be the catalysts in building this capability as they become strategic providers of networking capabilities to hospitality and other industries. And as network-centric computing comes of age and a company's proprietary information is stored in cyberspace, security will become an ever-more important issue requiring solutions. Whether it is an e-mail gateway through an internal network or customer access via the Internet, network fire walls and encryption systems will be required to mitigate the concern many will have with system security.

Network computing has enormous implications for marketing to customers on a global basis, as well as hotel operations. Consider the potential for the industry to connect with vendors worldwide for electronic purchasing, potentially achieving economies of scale and leveraging not yet possible. World purchasing functions will allow companies to customize their own catalogs. Virtual channels of distribution using computer networking capabilities will also allow hotel companies to market products and services - some traditional to our industry, others not - to customers whether they are in the hotel, at work, or at home. This will require a migration from today's central reservation systems to tomorrow's customer information systems using network-centric solutions. Development of customer profiles and guest recognition will make it possible for hotel organizations to interact in entirely new ways with customers, regardless of their physical location. Clearly, the large hotel companies will need to be the first to address questions raised by global networking capabilities and what this will mean in terms of technology investment. But for many hospitality companies presently struggling with the high cost of technology and the confusing state of our industry's technology affairs, this will not be an easy task. And the decisions will ultimately become further complicated by the opportunity to outsource certain functions into subscription-based networks. It is unlikely that the hospitality industry will be forced to bear the entire burden for networking infrastructure. Strategic alliances with major technology companies will be the catalysts in building this capability as they become strategic providers of networking capabilities to hospitality and other industries. And as network-centric computing comes of age and a company's proprietary information is stored in cyberspace, security will become an ever-more important issue requiring solutions. Whether it is an e-mail gateway through an internal network or customer access via the Internet, network fire walls and encryption systems will be required to mitigate the concern many will have with system security. In the final analysis, networking solutions will drive down the cost of technology investment "on-property" where hotel real estate and business interests merge. The solutions that hotel organizations will be able to choose from in terms of networking should also be less expensive than the current profile of technology spending. And we can expect that change to occur sooner rather than later, given the present rate of investment in Internet-based technologies.

Hotels that haven’t properly invested in updated technologies can find themselves under-prepared for the increased workload that comes with having to manually update rates according to information being received from multiple channels. In light of an increasingly technologically dependant operating environment, hotels that still manually alter room rates and various revenue strategies rather than having the right technology in place to do this for the, can find themselves lagging behind the competition - both in terms of meeting their revenue potential but also in their ability to deal with different periods of patronage.

As the hotel industry continues to move towards a more dynamic and inter-connected environment it is vital that the correct technology infrastructure is in place to meet this challenge. Technology must enable a seamless flow of process and procedure and decisions through all aspects of the business, thereby enabling a philosophy of managing by exception rather than on a day to day tactical basis.

Importantly, hoteliers also need to realize that the hospitality industry is constantly changing and a lack of up-to-date technology and older strategies will not always be applicable to new, unique situations.