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This article tells about the perspectives of Hotspot 2.0, the new standard for public WiFi, in the hotel industry. The WiFi Alliance has been working on designing this new standard which is supposed to be much friendlier to the users while making Wi-Fi usage more akin to cellular. It allows automatic WiFi network detection and eliminates the public Wi-Fi log-ins, providing automatic access to secure Wi-Fi networks using a Passpoint profile stored on a device. For hotel guests, this means they would be able to go from using their mobile devices on their personal mobile networks to the hotel's Wi-Fi without having to re-enter their authentication credentials every time. This feature, in my point of view, would be very useful, especially for the business travelers who value every second of their time. Another major benefit of Hotspot 2.0 is improved security by means of enterprise-grade WPA2 encryption, which makes it safer than open public networks. This also will be appreciated by the travelers who often use hotel's WiFi networks for booking different travel services and insert security sensitive data. However, the cost of implementation of this new standard in the hotels is rather high. Thus, hoteliers do not wish to force its realization until they are sure that there is demand from the customers. The polls show that the guests are still unaware of the benefits of Hotspot 2.0 and don't consider it as a key point while choosing a hotel. Yet some hotels try to be before the competition and become early adopters of this technology. They believe that quality of internet connection, as well as additional options, will be a differentiating point for hotels in the future. However, in my opinion, it would be wise to conduct appropriate research and wait until this technology will be close to becoming the industry standard before making significant investments. There is always a chance that the trend will go another way.

Like the tittle said, this article introduced some basic methods to keep data safe when connecting to public wireless hotspots. The author pointed out that whenever we connect to public Wi-Fi hotspots, most single piece of data can be picked up by anyone within range of the same network. It is very important to keep our data safety especially in the public place. The author introduced ten methods to protect data safety. It included turn off "auto connect", don't share files on computer, get a 3G or 4G adapter, create your own secure connection with a VPN, connect securely to your home PC, then connect to sites you need, firewall your computer and so on. During introducing the methods to protect the data, the author also told basic knowledge about how the data will be picked up by others.  In the part of don't share files on computer, the author pointed out that many people choose home network when they are connecting into public Wi-Fi which can let other people stole the sharing files. Also the firewall for the computer is really necessary to protect the data in the computer. Finally, the author told an easiest implementation which is restrict what you do on Wi-Fi. People should not do anything on Wi-Fi that you wouldn't want to share with anyone else like bill payments. It can let other people know your account and password when you make payments through public Wi-Fi.

Follow this link to learn how a jammer works: http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/cell-phone-jammer1.htm Recently, Marriott was found to be noncompliant with FCC regulations that ban the use of any "Jammer"-to include cell, radio, Wi-Fi and others-by any individual or entity that is not an approved federal agent. The result? A $600,000 fine and removal of the jamming equipment from any Marriott property currently participating in the illegal activity. In a regular Wi-Fi network, a user connects to the Internet by connecting to the ISP, which could be a wired modem and separate Wi-Fi router or a combined wireless modem/router that will connect the computer to the ISP server and allow the user to launch their browser where they can search the web or access a particular URL. In Marriott's case, the company utilized a Jammer to prevent users from accessing their chosen ISP-their personal Wi-Fi networks, typically provided via cell phone companies. The jammer functioned by interrupting Wi-Fi signals that operated on a particular frequency. By placing their own Wi-Fi on a different frequency, Marriott's service was the only signal capable of connecting a user to an ISP service and the Internet and was therefore offered at a premium price. The management decision to utilize this technology was short sighted and over all a very poor decision. The decision was made based on the greed of money. By jamming competitors' signals, Marriott was attempting to force patrons into paying premium prices for Wi-Fi service during their stay, including large business accounts (meetings and events). What Marriott either failed to research or decided to ignore was the legality of such a decision. According to the FCC, Jammers of all types are strictly illegal except by approved Federal Entities and Agents. The Marriott management team made their own bed by making a poorly evaluated decision that has since come back to bite them in the rear.

A new method on how to gather consumer data in hotels or long-term traveling sites in order to capitalize on the amount of consumer spending. There are new loyalty reward offers that are being displayed to those consumers with "specials" and discounts, so that the hotel and store can benefit together off a collaborative marketing effort. This reminds me of the way Uber is able to use VISA in the offers portion to give cash back in Uber credits if its customers were to spend money with the same credit card that is linked to the account. The best of both worlds.

This article talks about the agreement made between Double Tree Hilton hotel and Google in creating a new You Tube channel that will let travelers share their travel pictures, experiences and other details of their trip. The DTour will allow travelers to upload and post videos from any social network. They can locate the area the website map and then they can add comments, photos and videos. John Greenleaf, global head of DoubleTree by Hilton says "We're really giving people the opportunity not to talk about a specific hotel or airline but about the destinations themselves." D Tour will show all different locations of Double Tree Hotels. According to Megan Danielson, head of the industry travel at Google, hotels should be taking advantage of the increasingly numbers of users of You Tube to advertise their brand. "A Google/Ipsos study last year found that 61% of business travelers used video to help them pick hotels, and 41% of leisure travelers used video to plan or book a trip." The Double Tree hotels can use this tool to build a relationship with customers and people can use this tool to share their travel experiences with other travelers.

This article introduces Revel System's new Ipad Point of Sale System designed specifically for food trucks. The system includes Revel Router, which allows customers to connect to the internet by using their iPad's built-in 3G or 4G connection. Another highlight of the system is that it intergrates with Twitter, allowing food truck owners to instantly send out location/price/sales updates to their followers. I immediately found this article to be interesting, because my research for this class will center around effective POS systems in food trucks. I feel it was an excellent move on Revel's part to create a system for this unique group. I think they really had food truck owners' best interest in mind, especially in intergrating Twitter with the system. This allows food trucks to communicate easily with their followers, and provides opportunites to boost sales and revenue. I look forward to seeing if any of the food trucks I visit are using this system.

Ipads changing our life is absolute. In fact, if there is no ipad, something electronic products can also bring revolution in hotel Wi-Fi networks. To tell the truth, free hotel Wi-Fi is too slow.....last year, I had a internship in Holiday Inn Central Plaza Beijing. There had two kinds of Wi-Fi networks. Free network was cover the whole hotel but the speed was slow. The other that must be paid was faster. Some people had video session prefered the faster one. In addtion, hotels should upload their Wi-Fi networks. It can be an attraction of the hotels.

For a hotel the WiFi system is really important because guests prefer the hotel with WiFi system. The guests even willing to pay a small premium to stay at a WiFi equipped lodgings. As the rise of smart phones and ultra-lightweight laptops case the bandwidth problems. I think the hotel can deal with this problems by create various account levels for guests, stuff and visitors. The hotel can allow the visitors to use free WiFi and provide high level account to overnight guests.

I personally prefer to use WIFI in my own room when I visit a hotel because I have more privacy. Some hotels they may offer free/complimentary WIFI in the public area, for example, the lobby, the lounge, etc. At the same time, to limit the overuse of public WIFI, the WIFI in the guests' room are charged by different time period and the length of using the WIFI. It seems to be not fair to those business people who require internet all day long. However, it lowers the expense of the WIFI service and improves the guests' satisfaction of the internet service.

The cloud based PMS technology can affect a bottom line with a 2.5% increase in revenue. This is because there in not a need for equipment and installation expenses. Nor are there expenses on updates and reinstallation. Because the PMS is cloud based, storage occurs in a virtual vacuum not on the premises, creating savings on costs. During internet down times, the cloud is faster because it is easier to find another network or mobile hotspot than to wait for the original network to be fixed and running.

This article found in Social Hospitality features one of my favorite innovative technologies being utilized in the hospitality industry.  In some cutting edge properties, housekeepers now have the ability to use heat detectors to determine whether a room is occupied or not.  This is a fantastic new addition to most hotels current procedures and would cut down on numerous instances of guest annoyance.  One of the most frustrating things when staying in a hotel is being woken up early by housekeeping knocking on your door, and this technology offers a "21st century do not disturb notice" which would greatly improve the guest experience.  

Food Trucks no longer have to worry about internet connections, cables and loss of power. This system is on the go and perfect for them and even has a way for them to reach out to customers when they are in a slow time. If food trucks are having a slow day they can just tweet to all of their followers special deals or locations even to attract more business.

Having the iPad POS system in the food trucks is a great idea because the owners no longer have to worry about lots of hardware in the truck just to be able to take payment from customers.

Technology continues to advance in every aspect of the hospitality field even for food trucks businesses. The Revel System has released a new iPad-based restaurant POS system. This system is very convenient for food truck employees. There is no longer need to worry about the hustle and bustle of loose cables and poor router connection. As social media plays an important role in today's day and age the new POS system is equip with Twitter. Food trucks owners can send a tweet out about promotions, discounts, and their current location. This is very much an innovation for food truck businesses.

Nowadays, there is an abundance in advanced in-room features making their way into the world's most modern hotel rooms. Some of those inventions, integrated recently in some hotels in the U.S., are explained below. Sheraton Imperial Hotel Raleigh-Durham Airport at Research Triangle Park, in North Carolina, offer its guests a better hotel experience through a TV with fast reboot time. This TV provides a top-notch television content and delivery, and has the latest high-resolution options and features. Due to its level of delivery that guests are accustomed to have in their own homes, it is expected for guests to feel more comfortable and homey during their stay. Hotel rooms in Loews Hotel 1000 in Downtown Seattle are equipped with heat-detecting sensors, which scans the room for body heat so that housekeepers don't accidentally enter the room. This high-end technology with an infrared signal scans the room to detect body heat and notes 'do not disturb' when occupied. It is particularly useful when guests forget to leave a sign when entering the rooms at night. Seems like the world's most advanced hotels are getting very creative with their in-room technology. Another example for that is the beds of Four Seasons Hotels which are customizable to guests' preferences, designed to support better sleep. Recently, numerous Aloft Hotels and Element Hotels across the United States feature their own robot butlers. With help of Botir, items can be easily delivered to the guests rooms within minutes. The purpose of using robotic assistants is to send a robot to deliver shampoo, toothbrush, toothpaste or so by the front desk. This way, the human hotel staff can serve customers personally when necessary. In my view, in the customer-driven hospitality industry, the use of in-room technology can make guests feel more comfortable and feel "at home". These new technologies have been helping the hospitality industry grow in innovative and tech-enhanced ways to deliv

This article is talking about wireless internet becomes more and more important in the hotel industry. They provide some of the key considerations for the hoteliers that help the hotel to ensure they can meet the demands of their customers. There's a big demand for wireless access to hotels. Every customer would like to choose a hotel with a Wi-Fi service. Wireless become very necessary in the hospitality industry. The best wireless service that can help the hotel create the loyalty customers. Wi-Fi has become a standard amenity, therefore, the hotel has to find affordable and non-disruptive solutions to meet customers wants and needs. Currently, customers would like to use the smart phone and their computer to watch videos rather than watch TV. They are not just sending email and web surfing anymore. There have a strong needs of the best internet from the hotels. The articles showed us couple challenge of wireless in the hotel. First of all, weak cellular signal strength. In many hotels, for guests, it's not always can find the signal of their cell phone, especially in urban area. The customers can't have a good voice communication with others. Maybe because the location of that room in the corner and there have something will disturb the signals or building construction that will interrupt the signal as well. The solution of the cellular signal strength is "Make provision for both voice and data signals to be amplified." To installing that equipment that always needs the hotel to run a new cable in order to provide the good signals for the guest used. The second challenge for the hotels is "Cellular Network Capacity Issue". Since cellular companies continue selling the device for many years without expanding their network to meet their demand. For example, AT&T is the first company that realized this issues when there are sell iPhone and another cellular. Thus, it's very important that each device support connection to the internet by use Wi-Fi withou

The almighty smartphone. Worldwide study, spanning different continents shows a commonality between peoples, and the importance of a smart-device i.e. phone, tablet etc. in their travels.

This short but sweet article gets straight to the point. It discusses a world wide study that was carried out spanning different continents shows a commonality between peoples, and the importance of a smart-device i.e. phone, tablet etc. in their travels. Demographics included; Chinese, Japanese, American, British and Mexican to name a few. The mobile smart phone was found to be "the single most indispensable item [travellers] carry with them, ahead of their toothbrush, deodorant and driver's license."

the article gives examples of retail stores and how they use proximity marketing to promote their products

Meeting and event planners spend extensive amounts of time researching for the services and locations that meet the needs of the customer they are serving. Venues must provide planners with realistic expectations. Event planners also pay special attention to user-generated reviews, so companies must also pay close attention to their online presence. Direct communication is also essential between event planners and hotels as having a reliable point of contact is important. Event planners also look for unconventional spaces that allow for a change of scenery. Reliable wireless Internet is also a must for event planners as this is essential for their planning needs but also for the guests that will be utilizing the space. Lastly, the staff at the venue must be flexible and trained for various types of events. The wow factor is what event planners really look for when evaluating spaces. They want venues that are different than the rest of the competition and will make their event really stand out.

Event Planning serves as the most critical part in making the event a memorable and special one. While taking care of the perfect venue and place settings its also important for them for keep contact with their venue and updated options. Event planners feed from user reviews to gain more awareness and generate more business so in order for them to accomplish this they go over and beyond to satisfy the needs of the customers.

This article discussed different ways to make your hotel an ideal match for an event planner. Based on the seven ways described by the author, one would be more likely to be able to have event planners pick their hotel to host their events. The seven ways described were: making sure your website gives an event planner real authentic details about your space; allowing all user reviews to be available including any negative ones (you can always show how you plan to improve for any negative experiences); having someone available to speak directly with the planner whenever needed; having an outdoor space for events; making sure your wireless internet is reliable and of an adequate speed; having staff who are trained to work any kind of event (i.e birthday parties, bar mitzvahs, corporate events); and having a venue that stands out in a unique way.

Events and event planning are evolving into new, dynamic formats. Old models are falling away and technology is giving both planners and event participants an opportunity to grow and revisit the underlying ideas about how event spaces work. "It's been fascinating watching just how fast things have changed," said Brian Solis, principal at Altimeter Group, at a New York conference this year.

This article talks about the ways that technology is changing event planning and events themselves. Event attendees are now looking for more engaged experiences, rather than the old way of merely attending an event passively. Social media plays a huge role in how attendees interact with and even plan an event. Participants can interact with and engage with event speakers now more than ever, with participants sending questions to the speaker via social media or other technology that allows for the speaker to answer audience questions in real time. Data personalization allows for event attendees to receive information about the event, allowing them to be involved in the planning process and during the event itself, whether it's through Bluetooth or geofencing technology. Event attendees can take advantage of augmented reality technology to engage in activities. Wearable technology is becoming increasingly popular, as it allows attendees to get information quickly and easily without any real input on the attendee's part. Mobile apps are now becoming more commonplace for events, as it's easy, efficient, and convenient. Drone technology is now being used at events, whether to take pictures or to stream the event to people who could not attend.

As the world has moved forward with technology, so to has the world of events and event planning. Planners are able to connect with the guests on a whole different level and events have the technology to be able to keep the attendees engaged and interacted. From flying drones to social media, technology has helped selling events a much easier process.

This article discusses what is proximity marketing is used for and the different ways it can be done. The article then also goes to highlight its importance as to why ot should be implemented.

Proximity marketing and geofencing can benefit hospitality businesses in streamlining and automating operations with reviews, the increase in sales revenue will assist with marketing room-service order. This system improve guest experiences such as room service, wait times.

This article talks about all of the positive benefits of proximity marketing system for the hospitality Industry. How the Industry can benefit from the tools that will bring increase in revenue and improvement of customer services and work. It explains also how geofencing and beacon system will offer benefits to certain business in the industry.

wifi, QR codes, NFC, BLE, GPS

This article discusses how marketing technology is utilized for proximity marketing. By targeting recipients with marketing communications based on their proximity, proximity marketing is a marketing strategy. It uses many technologies, like WiFi, BLE, NFC, or GPS, and can be done for a variety of reasons, including advertising, feedback, and customer service, to deliver advertisements to individuals who are nearby your location. An illustration would be if you scanned a QR code at an event to download promotional materials, or if you entered a business and received a push notification on your phone with a discount for your purchases. One of the simplest and most adaptable methods to use proximity marketing in your venue is through WiFi. You gather information about a customer's device when they sign into your guest WiFi network. Although a fairly outdated technique, QR codes have several advantages. It is incredibly simple, affordable, and quick to install. This compromises its effectiveness, although, for some applications, it will be adequate. The user is directed to a certain website by these scannable barcodes. At numerous conferences and events, the QR code solution has generated a lot of buzzes. Exhibitors utilize it to provide background information about their brand that cannot otherwise be given in the booth because it is so subtle and affordable. You can use your phone or smartwatch to make a purchase at the store using near-field communication (NFC) technology. NFC is less adaptable than the other technologies since it demands close contact and is not as widely used as WiFi or QR code readers. Although it's a less well-known technology, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) access points perform similarly to WiFi access points. Although the majority of individuals can enable Bluetooth on their devices, they don't always do so. However, you need a medium, such as an app that they have downloaded, and you need to put BLE beacons at your location to communicate with g

This article explains what proximity marketing is and five different ways it is used through. Proximity marketing is used through WIFI, QR Codes, NFC (near field communication), BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) Beacons, and GPS. In addition to going in detail about all those, this article also explains how proximity marketing helps the company. It can help by boosting sales, retargeting, building loyalty, behavior analysis, indoor navigation and gamification.