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This article talks about the recent hack of HEI Hotel & Resorts that occurred in June of this year, where 20 HEI-operated hotels were breached via their POS system. The malware had been discovered in June but the company reported that it could have been active since March 1st, 2015 in some systems. The article also talks about how POS systems are common targets for hacking and goes on to mention some of the other recent cybersecurity risks that have occurred in the industry, where their POS systems were the targets of hacking. The American Hotel & Lodging Association met with a group of other associations to discuss the issues of cybersecurity and look for possible solutions. However, the industry has not taken measures to amplify their security, probably due to the history with certain IT standards, the cost of starting over, and potential privacy issues. The article claims that, overall, the industry has not done much to change the inherent security risks with regards to technology.

Maestro reported a 21% increase in online hotel reservations from June 8 to June 15 of this year. This was an increase that was seen at multiple properties that use Maestro. Maestro is also creating many new options for contactless services that the hotels can offer such as mobile key, kiosks, and text messaging.

This article discusses how red lion hotels secured a $45 million loan the 15 year amortization maturing in June 2018 proceeds were used to refinance maturing debt and pay expenses in connection with the transaction. The transaction is being done with Wells Fargo. Red lion hotels Corporation is a hospitality company that is engaged in ownership franchising and operation hotels in 10 states is of May 29 they had 53 hotels system wide

According to the article, Starwood Hotels and Resorts has appointed Martha Poulter as the new Chief of Information Officer. CEO, Frits van Paasschen claims that Martha's significant experience in leading a large global IT organization will be very beneficial to the company. She will help the company stay up to pace with the quickly changing technological habits of Starwood's guests. When she steps into her new position on June 23, 2014, Martha will be responsible for leading a seasoned group of IT specialists that are well integrated in virtually every aspect of the business including all of Starwood's brands and global operations. Starwood is looking forward to what Martha has to provide for the company's future.

Rwanda is seeking to engage the technology industry in a conversation to generate ways that e-commerce can be used to help the Tourism and Hospitality sector recover in the wake of COVID-19. This will be an online conversation on June 4 to find ways the technology already has or could create to help tourism. It notes how digitization has been important to other sectors of the economy during the pandemic including sectors such as education and Healthcare. By leveraging technology it is hoped that ways can be found to stimulate the tourism industry

Hospitality eBusiness Strategies (HeBS), the hospitality industry's leading Internet marketing and distribution consulting firm today announces the firm will present at the Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International (HSMAI) "Revenue Management & Internet Marketing Strategy Conference" in Orlando, FL. HeBS' Chief eBusiness Strategist, Max Starkov, will discuss "Mobile Marketing for Today and Tomorrow" on June 21, 2010 at 9:30 AM at the Orange County Convention Center. 

The FTC filed suit against Wyndham Hotels for millions of dollars worth of fraud in June of this year. Wyndham hotels manages over 7,00 hotels worldwide. Incidents occurred a numerous amount of times over the past three years. The company was hacked into and stole credit card numbers from over 500,000 clients. In the first occurrence the money was wired into an account in Russia. Even after the first incident Wyndham hotels did not fix the security breach allowing the hackers to get in.

This article is based on Novotel Hotels. The company has launched The Virtual Concierge last month in June 2013. I picked this article because I have never heard of a virtual option of using a Concierge before. The Virtual Concierge is located on a screen availble for guest use in the lobby of the hotel. "Guests can use it to browse through information about the brand and the hotel. They can also obtain recommendations on places of interest near the hotel (restaurants, museums, etc.); practical information such as the weather forecast and flight information, and a host of other innovative services including sending virtual postcards." The hotel has even introduced free mobile applications for smartphones that will allow guests to access the virtual concierge's services from anywhere! "The service is unanimously approved by everyone who has used it! " I could definitely see virtual concierges making a strong addition to hotels around the world. Unfortunately I predict it will eliminate several jobs in the market, as it eliminates a key position to hotel staffing.  

Dear friends, i thought that this might be interesting for you to know. Did you know that our favorite Netflix wasn't the first online DVD subscription service? It was a Blockbuster . com :) And the fact that people will mostly shop online? 192 million in the USA! (I' honestly like shopping outside, so this way i can smell, touch, and try; although eBay is doing pretty good job by selling cheap Chinese stuff and having a free shipping. You can not even return the package , because it's 3 times more expensive to return than the original cost! ) What do you think? Thanks

All of the big three global distribution systems were still expanding as well as increasing productivity and revenue as of June 2014. Amadeus, Sabre and Travelport have each made significant moves in the hospitality industry, although primarily for airlines. Amadeus is by far the largest and currently most successful GDS with the highest profit, booking volume, and market share (air travel). As of 2014 Southwest Airlines was their biggest client, but they provide GDS services and access to over 100 other airlines as well. Sabre is second best to Amadeus. The company elected to go public in 2014 and since then their billable bookings, booking share and growth have all increased modestly. During the same year they gained American Airlines, newly reformed at the time, as a client. Presently, the company expects continued improvement in revenue. Travelport has made the decision not to compete directly with Amadeus or Sabre in that they have chosen not to provide "full passenger services systems to airline on a multi-host basis." However the company is still working closely with Delta Airlines and researching "add-on" features with their main focus being the continued growth of "beyond air" activities. Honestly, I was shocked that Amadeus is the largest and most successful GDS. I truly expected it to be Sabre. This belief was based on what I have personally experienced: every OTA I have used required a link to the Sabre GDS, but I can only recall one that required one to the Amadeus GDS. After reading the chapter 8 of D.V. Tesone's "Hospitality Information Systems and E-Commerce, along with the research report from our discussion forum I have changed my paradigm. Regardless, GDSs are still used widely in the hospitality industry. Different segments of the market prefer to book in different ways: via offline Travel Agents, OTAs, hotel websites or on the phone. Those that use either form of TA are using a GDS.

Leisure guests tend to book for themselves with rare exceptions including some forms of international travel and cruise travel. These guests use OTAs or intermediaries such as Travelocity (Owned by a GDS company) or TravelZoo. In the case of TravelZoo, a guest uses the TravelZoo website to access information such as availability and pricing that TravelZoo pulls from a GDS before making a selection and processing a transaction. On the other hand, business and corporate travelers are more likely to use an offline TA. An offline TA is better equipped to meet the needs of a customer whom is travelling for business. Offline TAs require less information when booking a hotel room then an OTA does, making it simple for a secretary to book the travel arrangements for the guest. In addition, offline TAs can work easily with a hotel to make special accommodations. The hotel receives contact information for the travel agency that booked the stay in case clarifications on requests are needed. In conclusion, as long as either form of TA is in the market, a GDS will be necessary to streamline bookings and ensure that each TA has the correct pertinent information when making a booking or completing a transaction. As a result, as new OTA options or hospitality enterprises enter the market GDSs are continuing to morph, merge and grow.

This articles explaines in 5 different stages or factos how investment actions are taken in the hospitality and tourisim industry. According to Marcus and Milichap on september this year they wrote this article where it is apprecaible all the new trends and changes of how technology have affected positivitly the investment on the hotels and tourism industries this past years in the United States.

Green hotel has become a hot topic recent years since people have more concerns about sustainability of natural resources. This article is talking about sustainable hospitality hardware. It starts right from one kind of hardware material, bronze. Two types of bronze are introduced as the most popular choice for hardware, "silicon bronze" and "white bronze". Considering the long durability, excellent corrosion resistance, better fatigue resistance, lower melting point, easy care and maintenance, bronze, as a material is a dramatically long time and continues to be so today using both time -tested and innovative manufacturing techniques. The article also talks about green characteristics of bronze products. For example, it use life cycle analysis results to show bronze products is better than other materials. Bronze is 100 percent recyclable and make healthier environment. In hospitality industry, the most applications of bronze must be the door hardware, including the lock set. The article gives an example of Pelican Hill Resort which used lot bronze in the resort manufacture. Overall, it's a material choice that can contribute positively to the overall design intent of a given facility and its long-term successful operations.

Here BusinessWire, via The National Post, discusses the Inaugural Conference for the travel industry's leading travel advisors. The conference was hosted by ULTRA Luxury Exchange, which is led by a staff of global travel industry experts with decades of experience in the luxury travel industry and event management. Behind the ULTRA Luxury Exchange, is Questex Hospitality + Travel who developed and curated the conference. Questex Hospitality + Travel is the world's largest multinational media, event and eCommerce company which serves the global and hospitality industry. The multi-day conference brought together the "greatest minds in the luxury travel advisor community," according to Ruthanne Terrero of Questex. New travel trends were discussed through key-note speakers, presentations and moderated panels. Topics included, "Capturing and Capitalizing on the Millenial Luxury Travel", "The Art of Customer Service", and "The Rising Trend for Butler Service in Luxury Hotels." The millenial generation was the main topic for discussion with a growth in buying power in the luxury travel industry. The privileged conference attendees will have exclusive access to the formal research presented in the conference to reference for the future.

The article highlights the benefits that companies around the world are deriving through the use of web 2.0. This was done through a survey from a range of industries that has used web2.0 and has seen tremendous value of the technology in dealing with both internal and external customers. According to the report 69 percent of respondents report that web 2.0 has impacted their businesses in a positive way. They are able to market products more effectively, reduce the cost of doing business and better able to communicate with customers, suppliers and of course the ability to collaborate with business partners and experts in a dynamic way; something that was not possible using the static web pages of web 1.0 The article was written four years ago and this goes to show that the technological capabilities of web 2.0, one that revolutionizes the way business has been conducted online, has been around for quite a long time and has been creating tremendous benefits for many businesses such as increase revenues. As the technology continues to increase and expand, and the public's acceptance continues to grow, going beyond web 2.0 is what we are presently experiencing using tools such as semantic web and augmented reality with the launch of web 3.0. The report uses exhibits to highlights areas that companies have gain measurable benefits using web 2.0, how companies have tie other technologies into web 2.0 and regions of the world such as North American and China that have experience tremendous benefits from web 2.0 interaction with both customers and business partners.

IHRIM conferences offer the "perfect blend of networking, education, and technological solutions to issues facing HR and HR systems professionals". IHRIM, the world's leading clearinghouse for the HRIM (Human resource Information Management) industry, announced that the Disney Institute Program will be a key speaker in the HRMS Strategies Conference and Technology Exposition in Lake Buena Vista, FL held on June 5, 2013. The Disney Institute Program will teach conference attendees the method of "Building a Business Through Storytelling".

The multi-billion-dollar ecommerce industry is a part of our everyday lives, but many don't realize the numbers and history behind it, so we collected 16 things you probably don't know about ecommerce. 1. By connecting a modified domestic television with a phone line, Michael Aldrich invented online shopping in 1979. 2. Although Amazon launched in 1995, the first yearly profit wasn't until 2003, and as of June 2012, the average order value was $47.31. 3. Because of forced account registration, online users abandon their shopping carts 26% of the time. 4. Netflix wasn't the first online DVD subscription service - Blockbuster announced Blockbuster.com in 2004, but it's unclear whether services such as Netflix and Redbox led to its ultimate bankruptcy. 5. During the third quarter of 2012, $4,423 was transacted per second via PayPal. 6. Zappos' referrals from social media per order yield $0.75 from Pinterest, $2.08 from Facebook and $33.66 from Twitter. 7. Approximately 46% of online users count on social media when making a purchase decision. 8. 71% of shoppers believe they'll get a better deal online than in stores. 9. In 2010, Groupon turned down Google's $6 billion offer and became an IPO the following year. 10. Pizza Hut began offering online ordering on its website in 1994. 11. India is home to the fastest growing ecommerce market, and France is home to the slowest ecommerce growth. 12. Ecommerce sales are expected to surpass $200 billion in 2012. 13. Consumers spend between $1,200 and $1,300 on online shopping per year. 14. E-retail will grow to 9% in 2016, up from 7% today. 15. Online sales from social networks will grow 93% percent per year within the next four years, according to consulting firm Booz & Company. 16. From 2011 to 2016, 15% more people will shop online, taking the number to 192 million in the U.S. 17. Analysts say that an explosion in the mobile payments market is just around the

As GDS technology has taken place in the past 2 decades in hospitality in dustry, a branch of it, mobile technology, is also showing its great potencial. Now more and more people can not live without mobile and mobile could be very useful when people are on their vacation like planning and booking hotel or airlines. Besides "pure" mobile devices, tablets also generately damatical revenue for hotel industry. As a result, hoteliers should notice those trends in customers purchasing habits and make a new maketing plan in a SoLoMo(Social, Local, Mobile) world, considering how to best utilize SoLoMo to engage their guests and generate incremental revenues.

According to the article The Role of the GDS in How Today's Travel Agents Look and Book, the technology has evolved in the past years and even though GDS system are still used, they do not take place in all circumstances. We need to divide travel agents into two groups: corporate travel agencies and leisure travel agencies. Leisure agencies have been moving their focus towards multi-component itineraries that account for more than half of their sales. This leads to the need for more information that has been traditionally available through the GDSs. As states in the article, travel agents use online sources outside the GDS to obtain information, which include supplier websites. Leisure agents are more prone in their search to use variety of online services (as for example travel bogs and reviews) when they research the products where as GDS remains the main booking system for corporate agents. Due to the shift of booking using direct channels, it has been though that GDS will soon disappear. But GDS still remain the main booking platform for airfare shopping. There is an interesting trend that this described in the article, that grabbed my attention. There are new systems in the market such as graphical user interfaces that are available for travel agents to use but veteran agents who have been in the business 10 years an more are resistant to use this system and prefer the old legacy screens. Younger agents on the other hand find this technology easier to use and are more likely to use GUI for their booking system. I enjoyed reading this article as it was connected to our discussion board this week and assured me in my opinion that GDS systems are still a main part of travel bookings and will probably continue to be a predominant booking channel for quite a while.

Blackline has created Financial Close Suite , which is accounting software specialized for the hospitality industry. The software standardizes processes and templates throughout the organization, which takes away from the manual tasks. It makes it easier to process the large volume of transaction on a daily basis faster by streamlining the data.