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 In the customer survey the mobile POS requirement is high, and the online payment is also popular among consumers. The trend is obviously and the development of such technology will become beneficial investment for the company.  

This article shows us the result of VSR Magazine's first annual "2012 POS Study". The result indicated some developments and some worries of end users. 28% current POS were not well integrated into other IT systems, the POS is not ready to grow with their company, and it is difficult to add additional modules or functionalities to the current POS. But it also indicated negative perceptions of wireless POS have given way to a more positive outlook. Most of them wanted mobile POS capabilities to be the top technology features for next POS solutions because of three reasons. Firstly, mobile POS is vary from improving the customer experience. Secondly, mobile POS providing associates with better tools. In addition, it speeding up checkout and providing a more mobile workforce. Most of them wanted E-wallet payment in the next POS. some others were interested in near-field communication payment, while very few people want future POS to recognize near-field communication coupons.

The article talks about the results of first annual "2012 POS Study." The study were POS were not well integrated into IT systems 28% that the POS is not ready to grow with their company(26%) and to the additional modules or functionalities to the current POS ( 30%). Secondly, the study also shows the negative perceptions of wireless POS have given way for positive outcomes. For example, they want mobile POS capabilities were the top technology features they want for the next POS solutions. According to reports, restaurant operators have a wish list of anticipated POS platforms that go beyond mobile POS. Finally, E-wallet payment was the most widely recognized new payment option, with 36% of respondents that they want it with their next POS.

This web is about a group named Sothertons  Chartered Accountants. Its major meaning is researching the new hospitality accounting management. They provide experienced accounting services to those in this industry.     It is not like the traditional accounting practices. In this company, everyone in every area, must understand their operation very much. They have some specialist services such as Industry benchmarking and KPI management, working capital management and so on.     They could analyze their competitors when you see clearly relationship between decisions and performance. They could help you to solve the accounting problem and satisfy your business needs. For example, their accounting services could cover many areas like hotel, restaurant, catering and food and wine businesses.     The Sothertons Chartered Accountants have influence for the accounting process and could improve your hospitality business profitability. They have the professional ability to cover clients' profits.

This article discusses how new demand of customers within the hospitality industry is driving current point of sale systems such as micros to re-term their systems to focus more on customers. It includes several factors that are potentially driving POS systems to be revolutionized. The possibility of POS systems becoming more "from the palm of your hand" is growing each day as more POS systems are converging with wireless devices. As other outside factors influence hoteliers to emerge and update their POS systems, the development and progress of having the most profitable POS systems requires close examination of what works best for each company. One example the article touched on was the change from regular cashier systems to IPad based interactive systems and interactive kiosks. In addition, the enhancements of POS systems overall seem to be increasing F&B profit-a section of the financial statement that was historically less profitable. As with all technology, It is best to refrain from making a large capital investment into emerging systems, starting slow and monitoring how the bottom line is increasing and specific areas such as Room revenue or F&B revenue is the ideal choice.

Excellent Article! POS systems are becoming more user friendly than before. The systems allow companies to track revenue and inventory at the same time. The Walt Disney World Resort tested a POS system that allowed hotel guests to simply flash their room key and the charges would go directly into the POS system then PMS. Hotels have added POS systems to spas, recreation locations and retail stores...(http://www.restaurant.org/nra_news_blog/2012/04/pos-systems-must-accommodate-new-secure-payment-technology.cfm).

Theodore your article proves a great point on the benefits of POS technology. Having a POS system adds more value that will cover its initial cost. Handles greater product volumes. Makes complex business logic possible. Provides more management possibilities of your daily operations such as sales tracking, refunds, time clocks, menus, pricing, revenue maximization, etc.Provides advanced functionalities such as reservation and table management for restaurants, hotels, bars, and any business in the food service industry. Realizes enhanced savings with greater efficiency. Delivers better workflow for staff. Improves customer service and increases customer through-put. Easily manage large numbers of customers and groups. Allows restaurant businesses to combine multiple services into a single invoice (hotel room, meals, events, services). Graphical management of store assets such as table, rooms, bar, etc. Delivers superior reporting and analysis features. Streamlines inventory management. Back Office integration. The purpose of POS system is to accommodate your employees and your customers. If you have happy employees this results in customers having a smile. You have to spend money (POS SYSTEM) in order to make money.

The article introduced about the opportunities and challenges if the hotels want to expand their ecommerce in China. As the China Internet Network Information Center said, more than 500 million Internet users reside in China while it is still growing, hotels around the world believe that it is a big opportunities to develop their online distribution in China. However, although this is a big opportunities, there are also many challenges which can influence the effect. As the author said, the challenges are government restriction, language and translation and lack of adequate technology. As many hoteliers said, in china, it is very hard to develop its ecommerce. The key issue is the language, only the companies can find professional staff to translate the system into Chinese, the ecommerce can be used. Also, as Chinese credit limits are very low, most of the overseas travel transactions are completed offline in cash.However, hoteliers are trying to find solutions to beat challenges like hiring local marketing agencies or developing in-house marketing teams. Also working with local partners has been more used in the industry.

This article is talking about current situation of how green concepts influences hospitality industry. Become more and more green and sustainable is the goal of many hotels, they've tried to achieve the goal through many ways in recent years. The hospitality industry is recognizing the compelling need to adopt sustainable operating practices for the sake of efficiency, cost savings and green building requirements. And also they are considering whether green can drive greater returns. Corporate travel executives set the rewards to encourage sustainable purchasing by reward. In fact, different people have different opinions of "green". Mostly, hostels chose to become more sustainable through strategic selection of products and services. Such as they use the conserving energy coverlets, shower, window, toilet and so on. Besides, hospitality managers want a consistent guidelines and performance targets to be used by purchase influencers and decision makers to make solutions for cost saving more effective. Now there are more and more people realize this concept and there already has a preliminary guideline for prioritizing actionable, practical solutions to achieve long-term growth of having a "green forest in hospitality".

This article basically talks about how much technology has changed and what directors of softwares predict technology will be in the near future. The article informs how the Peachtree Plaza hotel like many other hotels replaced the keys to all the rooms with electronic key cards. Which increased security for the guest and cost saving. Hospitality consultants agreed that in the future mobile phones will be the way to open guest room doors and will probably occur through infrared or wirelesss access to rooms. Neil Roodyn the director of software developers informed that he predicts that in the future people will be sitting around touch sensitive table top computer in lobbies where they can searchfor places to go in the area and make their own restaurant reservations. Neil predicts this can also influence more communication and interaction between guest. My thoughts on this article is that the younger generation is far more technology oriented and feel more comfortable with working all these new gadgets, but for the baby boomers and older crowd have the want and need of having that human interaction. Technology seems a bit to advanced for them. The more technology advances the less human interaction will occur. I think that technology advancement is great for everyone, but human interaction needs to remain for those that are not very technology savy.

This is an informative article, and I also understand Mary's opinion. Over decades, technology has rapidly advanced and it seems to be quite hard to catch up with all the new technology released quickly. For example, I stayed in a hotel called Aria, one of the newly built hotels in Las Vegas, and the hotel is equipped with state-of-the-art room technology (not just room but all over the hotel). To get into a room, unlike other hotels, I just put a room key on a sensor instead of inserting a key; as well as, I just touched a button right next to the door for privacy instead of putting the "Do not Disturb" card on a door knob. This is not something really huge, however this is how hotels are technologically changing. As a person studying Hospitality Management, the change was very impressive, but at the same time, it was intimidating. Obviously, our parents generation should have harder time to use new technology and/or to get used it than I do. I totally agree that there should be a balance between technology advancement and human interation.

I agree with Mary regarding baby boomers may not be as quick to adapt to the advancement of technology, however what is noticeable in resort hotels is that more people are taking family vacation and the kids are the ones driving the technology. It will therefore just be a matter of time where the use of technology within hotels will be just like a regular lifestyle activity.

This article is a good one that demonstrates how GDS are now more often used than times before. The article states that the 2011 Global Travel Agent GDS study demonstrates how important GDS platform and shopping Displays are to the travel agents. They stated the 84 percent of those who took the survey stated that they are using the GDS just as much or even more than they did in the pass and 35 % of these stated that they were using it more than they did in the pass. The article explained how these numbers have greatly increased since 2009 where only 26% agents admitted that they used the GDS systems more than before. This study is 2011 reaffirmed Travel Click's projection, which was that GDS hotel bookings would surpass %50 million in the year 2011. This was far more than that of 2010. The article goes on to explain how the GDS will improve the booking and services of the industry all around. Furthermore, the article went on to explain a worldwide survey conducted for agents who were among the largest GDS in the world and some 495 responses were collected. The survey was conducted by Phoenix Marketing International, which is and independent marketing research firm Travel agents were indicated that promotional messages were effective and prompt during bookings and 66% of these agents request additional information about it. While, 68% of these agents looked into the GDS for more information. After this survey was complete the agents who were aware of promotional messages, 46% of them made North American bookings within 3 months as a result of the promotional messaging and 44% made non- North American bookings. The survey itself shows that promotional messages were and excellent way to get the agents interested. In the article it is quoted how the promotional messages acts in a chain reaction to reach the agent and then the customer, which allows sales all over the world.

GDS provides a perfect virtual marketplace for travel inventory sellers such as hotels, airlines, and car rental systems to showcase their wares to a global Internet travel audience. The GDS is a natural outlet for hotels, resorts, and even smaller inns that want to increase revenue and online marketing exposure. As the GDS channel produces one of the highest average daily rates of any booking channel, there is a huge opportunity for hoteliers to influence travel agents through the GDS at the point-of-sale.

Yes, GDS is of great importance for tourism development. It provides such a huge market of tourism information for customers, airlines, hotels, travel agents and any parts included in the tourism. Someone said that GDS will end travel agent, however, in my opinion; they have their own advantages and will supplement each other in the future.

This article mainly speaks of the positive influences that non-metro cities can have on the income of e-commerce companies. Due to the remoteness of some of these cities, e-commerce is a convenient way for them to purchase some products that would otherwise be unattainable. Although these e-commerce companies see the potential in these smaller cities, they believe that once broadband becomes widely available to the world their sales will increase in all aspects. The convenience of broadband in wide regions would give new locations the potential to buy and sell online.

When Room Key entered the pantheon of metasearch engines, initial reactions varied. While big chains were seemingly excited for this alternative to third-party search engines, independent hoteliers maintained a reserved skepticism, wondering what place, if any, there will be for them on the site. These independent owners are taking a wait-and-see approach when it comes to Room Key's potential influence on independents and hotel search-engine landscape.

Good example of the wait and see method as discussed last week. Be interesting to see how this one plays out for Room-Key as well as the smaller independent chains...

The article is talking about the yield management system for hotel. It first introduced the importance of the yield management in hotel, and by using the proper yield management hotels can maximize their profit. Then the article showed us how a yield management works for a hotel and the regular pattern of the peak days in a week. The author wrote all of these just want to show us what the YM system can do better for the hotel, but I will take it to reconsideration. This system must be based on the data source to do the yield management, however, besides the price, the outside events or economic changes will have a very strong influence on the hotel occupancy. So this system is helpful for the hotels, but the hoteliers should not rely on it.

Yield management is the way of influencing consumer and getting more profit by manipulating the prices according to what season, month or weekday. The price of the room and the value of night is zero if this date passes. The owner must be very careful when changes the prices when its time to populate empty rooms, rates cannot be dropped dramatically. Customer can learn it and will always book at the very last day when the prices are the lowest but if your hotel focus on business travel weekdays make more revenue, if its more a leisure travel hotel holidays and weekends should bring more profit. The prices can be higher in peak season and holidays. The software for yield management might be afforded in order to get best results in price management, bookkeeping, human resources, customer service and what not. If you don't have enough resources you should subscribe this software and not risk with creating your own software for same purposes.

The reason for my choice is to show that GDS is still preferred in this age. No matter what evolution takes place with direct booking, GDS would never fade away. It is proven that via GDS, the occupancy in hotels are greater than direct booking, once again due to the fact that people have used this before and are comfortable with it and will not want to change.

Hotel booking transactions have increased by 8.8% since April which is the highest year increase through GDS since August 2011 setting a new record. Previously January lead with the strongest growth at 7.9% over 2012. Bookings are primarily business travel and have helped set an increase of 4% with rates .1% ahead of last years. When reported in 2011 it was said that the hotel industry is heavily influenced by the economy verses today reporting positive economic indicators which is definitely welcoming business and leisure travelers to book their travel plans using GDS. Not only did business travel increase so did leisure travel increasing by 6.2% from April 2012. This year in April growth reached its highest growth pace thus far at 5.4% with an increase in rates by 1.2%. Seems like people can always find money in their budget to travel. For the "condition" of the economy I am happy to see that leisure travel is still increasing and people are still using GDS to book. As we discussed in our discussion board, GDS should continue to be used. It is obviously growing and people have not stopped using it. All ages are using GDS and are finding it to work for them. As far as business travel, my company requires us to use our online travel agent even when booking through Expedia or another site is cheaper. They say it's the way they track our expenses for the year. I think businesses have started hiring less people and are requiring their employees to work remotely and then travel when needed. This could be where some of the increase in business travel is coming from.

This article says about the right mobile solution to maximize bookings. It is apparent that having a mobile site is critical to having a successful hotel marketing campaign. Most hoteliers have to design a mobile-friendly site, it's not an option. The more positive user experience created, the more bookings expected. User friendly application surely influence the users' purchasing decision. Thus, the hoteliers need to optimize various devices in order to keep users engaged from the moment of searching to researching and to booking. Two kinds of solution was introduced. One is Responsive design solution which enables one site to fits all kinds of device from desk top, lap top to smart phone or tablets. It is not necessary to optimize teh contents for each device so easy to manage the contents and images on the site. Second type is Multiple site solution or traditional mobile site. This solution is ideal for hotel sites that have many pages within the site. Building a seperate site in order to cater to mobile users who are interested in specific information. It is important to acknowledge that which device the guest is using to optimize the contents. To be short, providing an optimum user experience is very important to convert visitors into guests.

Hotels are starting to find new ways to use social networking to enhance customer satisfaction. One hotel, The Pod Hotel in New York, has found a way to increase guests' experiences while increasing revenue centers. By creating the 'Pod Culture' guests' are able to share their experiences in a forum that is available only to others throughout the hotel. At the time of check-in, one will receive an account name and login information. Within the privacy of the forum customers are able to comment and suggest attractions, shops, and restaurants in the hotel and locally in the community. "A study featured in Forbes cited that '81% of US respondents indicated posts from their friends directly influence their purchase decisions'". In this case, the other hotel guests' are the "friends" influencing others to upgrade their experience. The forum at The Pod Hotel inspires more transactions in the hotel and increased customer services. Other hotels may find this beneficial and include similar networking amenities.

This article takes a look at the positive and negative sides of online hotel reviews. Although online reviews play a large part in guests decision to stay at a property they are not always fair or accurate. This article takes a look at the factors influencing these negative reviews.

Reference customers vs Advocate customer extends on topic posed when organizations consider customer reference program (CRP), and/or customer relationship management (CRM) including those evaluating social media efficiency by way of reference customers. While CRP is classically found used in b2b channel trend is to utilize same concept across market channels. Post includes discussion based on semantic difference/benefit between the two and the concept benefit of customers as brand champions, influencers, and evangelists.

"There's no denying that technology has touched and transformed every aspect of the event industry in the past 15 years, influencing the planning, production, execution, and follow-through. And yet, despite all of this change, the core functions and values of events remain the same: to bring people together to learn, to conduct business, to network, to support a cause, to be entertained."

This is a FANTASTIC article about how different things in event planning have changed since the year 2000 and boy have they. I found it interesting as my research paper is on this exact topic also and it's crazy to think how much has changed! Enjoy!

Timing and mobility to conduct business is the key. Mobile devices can make transactions fast and seamless. In the customers point of view, hospitality is all about experience and meeting expectations. Utilization of appropriate technology can create personal service and success.

By reading this article it is clear that customers want mobile POS systems. 69.6% of business drivers that influence the restaurant industry believe that mobile POS systems are needed. Mobile POS system are the hot new item in the restaurant industry. They allow the customers to take control of their experience and make it ask quickly or slow as they would like. We are living in a world of instant gratification and the technology in hospitality is no different. It sounds absurd that we can't wait on a human being to take our order or pay our check but it is true. The rate that people are working in today's time does not allow down time while dining so to add in some extra time we are using the assistance of technology. When asked about the top features in a POS system the highest was mobile phone integration at 45.8%. This comes as no surprise, we now do everything on our mobile devices. They are more than just phones or tablets anymore, they store and control our lives. We can pay bills, order items on the internet, make reservations, check the weather etc… all with a touch of a button so why shouldn't dining be any different. It will be very interesting to see what technology comes about in the next two years and if our way of dining out will be totally transformed.

Security has different meanings in different countries and is extremely important in creating and maintaining international leisure travel. In the United States this means technology: security cameras and monitoring, rapid communication and response technology. In developing countries such as Nigeria, the security conversation centers around much more primitive ideas. "A hospitality and tourism consultant, Emeka Attamah, has made a case for the establishment of 'Local Tourist Security'…in Nigeria." This idea centers on the belief that locals should be involved in the policing of public places because they are well versed in the terrain and the criminals that operate in these areas and are therefore in the best position to fish them out. After all, the success or failure of a tourism destination depends largely in part on how safe tourists perceive the destination to be. The idea of a Local Tourist Security in countries such as Nigeria means recruiting indigenous youth to provide surveillance and security near tourist sites. There are benefits and disadvantages to this proposal. These individuals will be well versed in the region and the people who live there. Many of them will have lived in the area for generations and have insider knowledge on who's who and where's where of the town in which they are operating. However, these youth would be more malleable and perceptive to outside influence. More than likely they would be easier to pressure into certain ways of thinking or actions than their adult counterparts. In addition, initiatives such as Local Tourist Security seem to potentially promote child labor (although potentially milder than the stigma would have us believe), which is looked down upon internationally. In conclusion, Local Tourist Security groups may be the best answer for areas such as Nigeria at the current time, but security in these countries is still miles behind the developed world. As a result these measure may attra

This article reviews the newest technological investments that are being made within the lodging industry. The article outlines the industries greatest opportunities and accomplishments  concerning IT development. 

This article brings up some great points on building your Brand on a mobile App. As a whole, we are attached to our cell phones and using apps for everything. Creating a Brand for your Mobile App is a must have in our industry and it is the direction most hotels, cruise ships, and resorts are taking when you are on property/ship. Personalization and Onboarding is important to the user as they want to be able view their interests/preferences/needs. By providing a personalized experience (interactive maps, videos, etc.) via App we hope to provide the most positive guest experience. As the article states, providing a positive user experience creates happy users which results in Brand loyalty. The end result is always to capture repeat business and Brand loyalty.