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lalle044

The 2014 Daytona 500 will be a Little Quieter and Greener | NJ.com - 0 views

  • he actual truth is NASCAR is the leader, when it comes to the major sports in the United States, in green initiatives. They have partnered with the Department of Energy to explore new ways to promote energy efficiency and reduce NASCAR's environmental footprint. In fact, last year NASCAR Green and the DOE signed a Memorandum of Understanding, which outlined their mission to advance the adoption of clean energy technologies.
  • during the 56th running of the Daytona 500. Four hydrogen fuel cell generators will be powering broadcast cameras at the track. The fuel cells will replace diesel-powered generators as a source of power, which will reduce fuel usage, greenhouse gas emissions, noise, and vibration.
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    NASCAR has many green initiatives to talk about. As the 2014 Daytona 500 was ready to run NASCAR was trying out four hydrogen fuel cell generators to power cameras that take video from different staging areas during the race. These fuel cells replaced diesel-powered generators which reduced greenhouse gas emissions, noise and vibration. NASCAR has teamed up with the Department of Energy to further their use of new green solutions in racing events. They have also added EV charging stations at their corporate office locations in Daytona Beach, Florida, Charlotte, North Carolina and Concord, North Carolina. To show their support of electric automobiles. The NASCAR corporation continues to look for ways to be more environmentally friendly while improving the customer experience at their events.
Alexandra Givner

RaceMenu Launches Mobile Solution for On-Site Event Registration and Payment | iPad on ... - 0 views

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    A technological startup company called RaceMenu recently launched a mobile application to ease the process of onsite registration for running events. The new application allows event managers to focus more on the runners and not so much on finding people to process the paperwork when registering guests onsite. This app benefits both race event managers as well as guests and entrants. It allows for ease of registration and collection of information to run smoothly and easily. Being a runner, I believe this is an incredible app and will really improve how races are run and organized in the future.
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    This seems to be the ideal registration of the future. It bypasses the five page list, saving you printing costs and allows you to search by scanning the QR code, which is in essence anonymously. As a volunteer I would much rather use a mobile device that I am familiar with than risk a paper cut or even worse the impatient people waiting in line. I would be willing to use my own personal device, that is if I had unlimited data. I wonder how many other people would as well...
Kristen Kaminski

Groupon and the race for your POS System - 0 views

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    There is going to be a dramatic change in regards to POS systems. According to the article, "the emergence of mobile and card-linked offers has positioned POS systems as the new gateway for daily deals and digital coupons". Since consumers can shop for great deals using their smartphones and devices, it is imperative for POS systems to evolve. Consumers remain loyal to businesses that provide a great shopping experience. With nearly 180 million Americans carrying credit/debit cards, an efficient POS system will undoubtedly contribute to the overall success of a business. Many retailers and daily deal providers, such as Groupon, are "turning their attention to point of sale as a solution for their own survival". Groupon thrives on a mobile POS. Not only can merchants track and redeem deals more easily, but consumers have the ability to effectively purchase these deals directly from a smart device.
Jessica Schwec

The Hotel Industry's Race To Escape The Dinosaur Age - BuzzFeed News - 0 views

  • “Many companies have made it a philosophy not to be the leader on the tech side. They’d rather see someone else try something, succeed or fail at it, and then learn from that. The thought process is, it’s fine to be the early bird, but you don’t want to be the worm.”
  • As a result, large hotel chains tend to conduct a major overhaul just once every seven years, Meliker said.
  • “If you’re the prototype and it works, over time issues will come along with it,”
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  • “But most people don’t even have that TV at home, most people have better TVs at home,” Bhalla said. “It’s stuff like this that makes a big difference.”
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    There are many difficulties with technology implementation in the hospitality industry. Often, as a result of these difficulties hotels, in particular, are left behind the curve. According to the article, "many companies have made it a philosophy not to be the leader on the tech side" and "large hotel chains tend to conduct major [technology overhauls] just once every seven years." The hope is that by adopting technology later, companies will avoid having to deal with the bugs and flaws that come along with brand new technology. However, as it turns out, due to the constant evolving state of technology bumps and flaws in design become apparent at all stages of the life of various technologies. For example, when the room keycard was introduced, it quickly replaced the traditional key-and-lock set of traditional homes. However, after some time hotels figured out that these keycards can become demagnetized-something the industry still faces today. The quick evolution of the television is another example. Consumers typically have a better TV at home than they experience within a hotel room. This is due to the fact that hotel televisions are still largely the same as the ones implemented in 2007. In conclusion, technology can be part of the getaway experience guests have at hotels, but due to the widely accepted "wait and see" approach the industry is currently pursuing, consumers are often left feeling as if they have to bring their own technology and put up with the minimal technology provided in hotel rooms and suites.
kteme001

I.T and E Commerce of Hospitality Industry - The WritePass Journal : The WritePass Journal - 0 views

  • There is a great demand for information from customers and hospitality service provider so hotel industry stared adopting computer based IT facilities to enhance its operational efficiency, control and reduce costs, and improve service quality
  • A new Internet-based procurement system which is considered flexible and user friendly has been implemented by IHG group. 
  • Problems with Micros 1)       When the systems crashes down then the checks has to be manually posted which is like duplication of work and time, there are even discrepancies sometimes and in that the company loses the revenue. 2)      If there is a crash, it needs to be done by the help of a main server computer. But if the problem prevails there is a need to contact the vendor for his service. 3)      The micros system sometimes get frozen which affect the overall performance of the server and the team.
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  • One of the key elements of this research involves the “user friendliness” of the system.
  • Technologies used at Marriott Hotel Company website Point Of Sale-Micros Property Management System-Opera Central Reservation System-Marsha SAP for accounting and Payroll Fire Panel Door locks CCTV Blue Cube -Time Clock (Employee attendance) Cetral Reservation System
  • Professionals want the latest technology at their fingertips, from fax machines to Internet services
  • The new system has enabled the IHG group for excellent quality control.  In this respect, IHG claims that they are able to obtain high quality products at low costs via the Internet.
  • Marriott’s early commitment to high-performance processing, scalable storage and business continuity made the transition to an integrated reservations/Web solution error-free.
  • Now is the time for hospitality companies to take advantage of the opportunities available in creating a new value added customized online travel shopping experience for customers.
  • This travel bot will create a custom experience that suits the particular customer needs offering a range of services including hotel rooms, restaurant tables, airline seats, and rental cars.
  • However, there is still much room for improvement in speed, reliability, and adaptation to new technologies
  • If data is managed properly, the technology can assist hoteliers and restaurateurs in projecting the lifetime value of guests, creating increased loyalty, resulting in an increase in market share. 
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    This article helps us to better understand the information systems being utilized, why they are important and what difficulties they bring about. In the Hospitality Industry, customer service is put at the top of the list of must haves. With customer service comes knowing information about your customer and without Information Technology services put in place, these expectations will never be met. Having a computer based IT is crucial because it allows the employees to work more proficiently which in turn creates a better experience for the guest. Multiple hospitality leaders have been applying fully Internet based technological systems within their organizations. IHG group has implemented an easy to use system so it is simple for every position within the hotel. For a company like IHG with over 500 hotels, it was imperative they eliminated the manual system to provide better quality control. Because of this system they can get better quality products at lower costs. Although this new system is much more user friendly, the overall cost involved is still not confirmed but this system is still predicted to have positive impacts long term. For example at Marriott Hotels, they use a company website, POS Micros, Property Management System and Central reservation system just to name a few. On top of stellar service and quick/ easy information submissions, guests are looking to have the best technology at their disposal to use. Things like computers with full internet access, printers and fax machines to make sure they can still be functional while displaced. An advanced system called MARSHA is being used as a reservation system and stores the rewards system information for Marriot guests. Micros-Opera is a popular property based system provider and has become common within the hotel industry. Vendors usually use this since it gives them the ability to connect to other vendor's applications. MICROS 9700 HMS is the most popularly used point of sale system. There are some
glope143

Can Disney's Magic Bands be Hacked? - MouseChat.net - Orlando News & Reviews | Disney W... - 0 views

  • While it is still certainly possible to potentially clone a MagicBand (and thereby gain access to protected resources by impersonating the original band holder), the fact that the band operates on the 2.4 GHZ frequency inherently presents some challenges to any would-be malicious users. Admission to the parks is fairly expensive (Fig. 5) and the cost of the hardware required to conduct such a cloning attack far exceeds the cost of a legitimate day pass. For the attack to even be considered economical, the malicious user must clone many passes over time.
    • glope143
       
      This paragraph brings up an interesting point when it comes to the security of Disney's RFID MagicBands. The primary information on the Band itself that could be most "easily" accessed if cloned is a ticketed theme park entrance. The author believes the chances of this happening are slim to none given the amount of theme park entrances that would needed to be stolen in order to justify the cost of expensive RFID cloning hardware. For arguments sake, should a hacker clone a MagicBands individual RFID code there are still a variety of hurdles to cross before being able to walk away unnoticed. Since every RFID code is individualized, should the Band that was hacked enter the the theme park prior to the duplicate, the duplicate will be stopped and questioned by security. There are also bio-metric scanners in the front of each entrance that require the scanned fingerprint to match that on file. Should the fingerprint scanner fail, a cast member with access to the original MagicBand owner's photograph will deem the duplicate band a fraud.
  • Part of the MagicBand system allows guests to make purchases with the band at specific registers provided they have tied a credit/debit card to their account via an external process. This can be seen as a very big convenience to guests who do not wish to continually use their cards to make purchases while in the parks, or for those who find themselves wishing to buy merchandise when they had not initially anticipated in doing so and do not have their wallet/purse/money clip in their possession. Yet in order to make purchases, a user must first swipe their band against a specially designed reader (Fig. 6) and subsequently enter a matching PIN number. Even if our malicious user had an RFID token that was a working clone of a legitimate one, it is somewhat unlikely he would be able to successfully guess the matching PIN number within a reasonable number of tries in one sitting before the cashier would begin to get suspicious.
    • glope143
       
      One of Disney's star features for their MagicBands is the ability to go hands-free throughout their vacation by having everything necessary stored on one device, including credit card information. This gives guests the ability to make purchases across the Resort without the additional moral barrier of having to remove their wallet from their purse or pocket. Should a MagicBand be misplaced, or duplicated as in the context of this article, a four digit code is still required to make purchases with the credit card on file. This code is not available for viewing on the band and cannot be changed though any means besides visiting the front desk with property identification.
  • While multifactor authentication certainly adds to the security of the system in a significant way, biometric  hardware is not flawlessly reliable. Florida is a rather humid place [5] which inevitably affects the performance of sensitive electronic hardware like fingerprint readers. To address this issue and counteract the likelihood of the system presenting users with false negatives, it would be fair to assume that the fingerprint readers themselves are configured to fail open (ie, when in doubt, allow entry). This gives malicious users the potential benefit of knowing that they merely need to intentionally cause the reader to malfunction to be granted access. Social engineering could also potentially play a factor in the exploitation of the MagicBand system by using Disney’s own customer-service policy against itself. Suppose our malicious user is successfully stopped dead in his tracks at the gate. He has been beaten to the entry gate by his victims and has lost the calibration race; there is no hope the machine will accept his cloned band. Yet he scans it anyway, and is denied access immediately. He knows he will not gain entry, but he continues to scan it. The employees at the gate attempt to help him, scanning his band for him, fiddling with the machine, etc, all to no avail. Yet a large line is beginning to form behind him.
    • glope143
       
      This article does a great job at playing devil's advocate in the situation of MagicBand cloning and creates a sound argument at what could happen should a hacker attempt to enter a Disney park with a previously used RFID code. As someone to frequently visit's the Disney theme parks, I would not be surprised if a cast member simply waved a guest through in order to avoid a line back up, especially during peak season times.
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  • Despite the inherent arms-race between malicious users and system security mechanisms, overall the MagicBand system seems to hold up under scrutiny and is fairly well designed. The high cost of the hardware required to compromise the system via an RFID cloning attack combined with the multifactor authentication process provides sufficient layers of systematic defenses; even the most judicious adversaries may still fail to successfully thwart system security.
shanegmark

Do job seekers' social media profiles affect hospitality managers' hiring decisions? A ... - 0 views

  • Social media plays an ever-increasing role in recruitment and selection
  • Likewise, many hospitality businesses are now using social media as a powerful recruitment tool, which is believed to be cost-effective and can quickly generate candidates for vacancies
  • Although SMPs could provide additional valuable information to hiring managers, they found that Facebook ratings actually did not do a better job in predicting job candidates' future performance, such as supervisor ratings of job performance, turnover intentions, and their actual turnover than the more traditional predictors, including personality, cognitive ability, and self-efficacy.
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  • Moreover, they disclosed that recruiters using Facebook ratings tended to favour female and white applications, raising cautions of whether organizations can legally justify using SMPs in screening candidates.
  • According to their findings, job candidates' SMPs can also reveal personal information prohibited by the U.S. employment law.
  • Contradicting other studies that suggest social media has been widely used in employee screening (e.g., Kluemper et al., 2012; Sameen & Cornelius, 2015), the informants in this study hold reservations of such practices due to privacy concerns
  • LinkedIn was used by 45% of the informants (M2, M3, M5, M6, & M9) in screening candidates, but nearly all (10 out of 11) of the informants said they did not screen candidates' profiles on other social media networks than LinkedIn.
  • While most informants did not admit they screen candidates based on their SMPs, they showed favour to the following posts shared by the candidates: pictures about food, catering, and events (M1, M2, M3, M9, & M11), news articles (M4, M6, M7, & M10), organizational social activities (M3, M6, M7, M8).
  • Specifically, the informants looked for extroversion (M1, M3, M6, & M10), professionalism (M2, M5, & M6), good match (M6, M8, & M10), conscientiousness (M5 & M7), and agreeableness (M1 & M8), supporting the hospitality literature about the Big Five personality traits
  • Contrary to the business reports that suggests social media plays an increasingly important role in recruitment and selection (e.g., Becton et al., 2019; Evuleocha & Ugbah, 2018; Kwok, 2011; Ladkin & Buhalis, 2016), our findings suggest that hiring managers in the hospitality industry are screening candidates' SMPs with caution primarily due to the concerns of legal compliance.
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    This research article looks at how social media has been used in recruitment for the hospitality industry. It highlights that while it has become common practice, there are many layers of concerns including it violating certain legal rights of potential employees, generating biased decisions based on gender and race, and the practice not producing demonstrably better results than hirings done without reviewing potential employee Social Media Profiles (SMPs).
georgemacintyre

How Digital Transformation Can Reshape Guest Experience In The New Pandemic Era - 0 views

  • For half a decade, the travel and hospitality industry has been trying to incorporate technology to enhance the way it interacts with its customers. Perhaps, the pandemic has been the major catalyst to accelerate digital transformation initiatives in the hospitality industry
  • But what exactly is digital transformation? Digital transformation is the implementation of the latest digital technology into a company’s business operations, processes and people to improve and optimize the customer experience.
  • The modern, tech-savvy traveler is more informed, empowered and wants to feel valued. Now, there is a demand for a frictionless, intuitive, hyper-personalized experience at every touchpoint in their travel journey. And digital transformation technologies such as AI, robotics, big data, IoT, cloud, mobile and AR/VR underpin a successful personalized guest experience.
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  • The things that power this disruptive technology — smartphones, on-demand apps, social media — are powering the change in guest behaviors.
  • 1. Leverage customer data to increase subscriptions: 
  • 2. Implement an agile leadership mindset:
  • 3. Omnichannel experience:
  • Brands must observe and compare the existing guest experience with what they prefer. With insightful data in hand, decision-makers need to modernize products and offerings, deliver innovative solutions and implement agile models in their business culture and operations.
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    The hospitality industry has needed to dive all in on technology for a while now. The pandemic kickstarted the industry to really go all in. Many of todays guests really want a very personalized experience. Hospitality companies are using technology to provide guests with a very unique experience personalized exactly for them. The use of new technology from some companies is just going to have to make other companies try and keep up with them. An arms race of technology is likely to happen in the industry.
Dongyun Oh

Mobile Pay and Cloud Top POS Headlines from February - 0 views

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    From lodging to foodservice, the point of service is the premiere place for customers to get their first - and hopefully not last - impression of an establishment. Streamlining and fine-tuning the service that occurs at the POS is of utmost important and operators are always seeking out the latest technologies to make this possible. The move to mobile payment is always top-of-mind as well, but lingering confusion and trepidation still remains for many customers. Owners and operators must seek out ways to implement the technology without intimidating customers. Last month's POS headlines proved this as stories ranged from a study tracking the public perception of mobile payment to improving drive-thru functionality and reducing maintenance costs with cloud-based systems. Study Shows Interest and Confusion Over Mobile Payments At Mobile World Congress, MasterCard in partnership with Prime Research, has released the first global Mobile Payments Social Media Study tracking 85,000 related social media comments across Twitter, Facebook, Online Blogs and Forums from around the world. The study shows a high volume of conversation and consumer interest in adopting mobile payments but cites security, customer support and confusion over the array of options available today as barriers to entry. Taco Bell Streamlines Drive-Thru Experience Across Franchises Desert de Oro Foods' Taco Bell locations had a range of drive-thru communications systems that were deployed over the last five years. However, restaurants were experiencing poor sound quality due to a limited range of wireless capabilities with the current systems. Poor audio quality led to increased wait times for customers as a result of miscommunications and mistakes. In addition, Desert de Oro Foods knew it needed to move to a digital system as the analog bandwidth of its current systems would be ruled out by the FCC at the end of 2012. Panasonic's Attune® drive-thru communications system offered the o
Xinghe Hu

Meeting Event Technology - Royal Sonesta Hotel New Orleans - 1 views

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    From concept to completion our design team... comprised of designers, artists, carpenters, CAD engineers, audio and visual experts as well as logistical staff... interpret your imagination and create a reality just for you. We've taken our clients "Off to the Races" and guided others "through the jungle" out there. Whether your taste runs from elegance and sophistication to fun and whimsical-fantasy - let the Royal Productions team of professionals create the illusion just for you.
Yi Sun

5 Future Internet trends that will change Hotel Internet Marketing « The Hote... - 0 views

  • 5 Future Developments that will revolutionize Online Hotel Marketing: “For tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today”, says a famous proverb…and what better fit to apply this than in the world of technology and marketing?
  • The breakneck speed of tech evolution is inspiring (and often scary) but the two keywords that will set winning developments apart from the ‘also ran’ are ‘love’ and ‘simplicity’. It doesn’t take a degree to understand that people adopt technologies that fuel their imagination & passions…and the rate of adoption is in close sync to the simplicity of its interface and operation. Great technology needs to adapt to the needs of the user and future breakthroughs will bear testament to this.
  • 1. Choice is king.The clear winners of the online distribution race will be suppliers and 3rd parties that provide the most choice to the customer. “Experience building” will become key to the looking and booking process online.
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  • 2. Search rankings become irrelevant.Currently, with the heavy emphasis on search rankings and generic paid search, this statement may come as a bit of a shock…but surely, this is the natural evolution of search. The days of pure search are already on the way out. Try a search on Google today and the evidence is there…a mashup of text, images and video results.
  • 3. The evolution of online form.Just as the separation of form and content on the Web allowed normal people like us to publish and create websites easily without having to learn web design, the next step will be the evolution of online “form” itself. The end purpose? To allow ‘web-sites’ to become “omni-sites” that can adapt and display content automatically in any shape or form, be it on web browsers, mobile devices, televisions, holographic displays or billboards.
  • 4. From content to meaning. From interaction to relationship. The lines between supplier and user generated content are increasingly going to blur.With ever increasing amounts of information and users on the Internet, our online social circles will become more specific and exclusive. Users will rely on a personalized, time-bound ‘zeitgeist’ of the Web and their social networks to read the news, express opinions and aid their buying decisions. The ability to interact with hotel content and staff online will become the rule, not the exception.
  • 5. The real world and the virtual world collide…visually. Increasing customer discontent with hotel photography due to outdated shots, limited views and image doctoring, combined with emerging technology will make reliance on supplier visuals a thing of the past. As the ability to go beyond linking text to hyperlinking images and video on the Web becomes easier, users will be able to experience augmented reality through their computers.
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    The 5 future internet marketing is true. It perfectly explain the 5 trends for the future marketing strategies.
Jenan Williams

Going Green - 2 views

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    "Going Green" is no longer the standard, it is now how to greener than your last innovated green project. Why is the guest/ consumer not made more aware of these green accomplishment? They may notice the ones that directly effect their stay, however the indirect ones i.e, cloud computing to monitor solar power panels, removal of big box TV's and computer monitors are having a greener impact on technology in the hospitality. The energy savings are impressive, the continued effort made by these companies has a huge on the environment. "It is the collective consciousness of the whole human race that has to make people aware that this is important."
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    I am all about going green...hotels are adding sensors for when guests leave slidding door open to shot down A/C units as well as when the room is not occupied, the A/C with a sensor will rise the temperature. The technology is so amazing, that engineering staff can simply reset temperatures with a handle from outside the room. Beside A/C temperature control, hotels continue improve electricity savings by utilizing new light bulb and re-designing lighting around the hotel. At the company that I work at, we have light sensors in the offices, if you are not in your office after a certain amount of time the light goes off.
Donald Wojciechowski

GDSs are still strong in the US hotel market | Tnooz - 0 views

  • In the US hotel market, global distribution systems (GDSs) are as strong as ever, when the data is looked at in a certain light.
  • The resilience of GDSs flies in the face of a decade’s worth of industry chatter that GDSs are experiencing rapid decline
  • GDSs have a cost advantage over OTAs. That’s partly because of the higher value of the transactions they typically process at volume, compared with the typical bookings that come through central reservation offices
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  • The major GDSs are racing with each other to become more dynamic and allow hoteliers to connect to travel agents at the point of sale and increase upsells of guests on amenities
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    This article discusses how GDS's are still going strong in US Hotel industry. 55 million hotel reservations made last year through GDS according to Travelclick in e-commerce service provider. PhoCusWright estimates that GDS is represent 10% of all hotel revenue. Furthermore according to a study by the American Hotel and lodging Association 1.3 billion in fees were paid by hotels on base revenue of about 100 billion. The article states that these fees are usually passed on to the travel agents. Comparably bookings made through online travel agencies is nearly double that figure at approximately 2.5 billion on the same 100 billion of base revenue. The article concludes by saying that business travelers tend to stay at properties with higher average daily rates pushing up the average chance action on the GDS bookings.
meag_mccracken

Travel Agent Use of GDS Growing More Than Any Other Booking Channel - 1 views

    • fotan001
       
      I found this article so interesting as we continue our discussions on GDS and Travel Agents. As reported in the article by Danielle DeVoren/ Taylor McGrann on TravelClick, "a study of more than 650 agents from 34 countries found that travel agents are using Global Distribution Systems more than ever before". GDS has managed to maintain a rate parity, added with more benefits, have added incredible value  to booking with GDS. So much so, that GDS is one of two channels TA's are using more of with a 14 percent increase. The other channel, which was hotel/chain websites, paled in comparison at 3% increase. Promotional messages play a big role as well, as GDS helps Agents find the best rate with the best added amenities. I think this clearly shows that GDS is still a powerful tool for Travel Agents and has continued to deliver to TA's needs by keeping up with the rate race and adding other values in amenities (such as upgrades, complimentary breakfast, etc.). 
  • “With more agents using the GDS, there is an increased emphasis on ensuring rate parity so that agents can maintain credibility with their clients. There is nothing worse for an agent than offering a rate to clients only to learn that they could find a better rate by themselves on a different channel,” said Mr. Ewell.
  • Negotiated rates aren’t the only option for travel agents using a GDS. Travel agents put a premium on booking the best available rate for clients and promotional messaging help agents find the best rate whether negotiated or not. Agents affirmed that promotional messages from GDS Advertising influence bookings,” said Mr. Ewell. 
shoss003

Hilton Books Upgraded Technology - WSJ - 0 views

  • The company plans to announce this week new technology intended for its 4,200 properties world-wide. Targeting younger travelers, Hilton is aiming to leapfrog competitors that already have rolled out new services like turning mobile phones into room keys.
  • Guests already can check in and check out with a few punches on a smartphone or tablet-computer screen at all of Hilton's hotels in the U.S., the company said. By the end of summer, travelers will be able to see the location of and select their own rooms by mobile phone at six brands, from the midscale Hilton Garden Inn to the luxury Waldorf Astoria.
  • "We are giving customers unprecedented choice and control at scale, and in the palm of their hands," says Christopher Nassetta, Hilton's chief executive.
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  • Hotel companies view being the dominant competitor in these mobile-phone services as crucial to winning over millennials, often defined as people born between 1980 and 2000. But there are potential risks, too, if money invested today is allocated to technology that goes out-of-date faster than expected.
  • "It's a race for loyalty," says Guy Langford, head of Deloitte LLP's U.S. hospitality and leisure practice.
  • On a recent day in July, for example, a guest booking a standard room at the Hilton Miami Downtown on a mobile phone was offered the opportunity to upgrade to a junior suite for an additional $25 a night, saving $40 from the original website price, depending on availability.
  • In the long run, hotel companies are also betting that if their customers can use a phone for multiple functions that have been traditionally performed by front-desk staff, they can run a leaner operation that is likely to reap savings. "I think over time there is the opportunity to gain efficiencies," Mr. Nassetta says.
  • Mr. Nassetta says that while Hilton is picking up the bulk of the costs for the mobile rollout, owners of Hilton-franchised hotels would be required to make a "modest" investment in their properties to upgrade them for the new mobile technology.
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    Great article! I might biased but I love Hilton Chain. In the article they go on to say how they are taking the mobile frenzy to the hotels! They will be implementing not only apps but allowing guests to checkin/out with their phones, and use their phone to open the door. 
tgore002

E Commerce - Changing Business Trends - 0 views

  • Organisations were traditionally product oriented. With times and changing environment they grew to understand and appreciate the need to be Customer centric and Customer relationship management became a key focus area.
  • Business Managers of today are living in challenging times. Business targets had never been stiffer, work pressure and managing the complexities of competition is keeping them on their toes all the time. Today, success or failure of a business and the Organisation is dependent wholly upon the Organisation’s ability to be flexible and to respond to the external changing environment. Only those who are able to adapt to the changes and those who are able to assimilate and learn from tomorrow’s technology are able to run the race. Digital technology has changed the rules of business game.
richardkutch

Trade in Sentimentality for a Future Proof PMS | By Kevin McCarthy - Hospitality Net - 0 views

  • Not unlike todays PMS systems, why on earth would you need to upgrade to a more expensive system that has a pile of bells and whistles and a technology roadmap for something that has no concern to you today. The answer is simple, you need to get ready…
  • The Cloud PMS developers today are daydreaming in hyper speed to anticpate what will come next.
  • you need your core functionality of check in and check out, but for how long will check in be done from behind a desk, or even in the actual hotel building itself? Hospitality is re-inviting itself at a fast pace and technology needs to not only keep up it needs to be ahead.
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  • The race for future proof technology is here, let's be honest, how comforting is it to know that when the latest and greatest technology is released you will have it automatically.
  • Sustainability, a trendy word in hospitality. What are the carbon emissions on your current PMS system?
  • We only calculate like for like on costs of the servers, the cooling systems in the server room, the electricity to power it but what's the cost to the environment for building it and sustaining it? Why can't your IT systems be green too?
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    This fellow has an interesting argument for switching the hotel's PMS to a cloud-based version. He is specifically referring to Opera Cloud PMS. He believes that if you don't switch from a license to a subscription model, your hotel will be left behind and unable to take advantage of new features that are likely to become the norm in hospitality. And without those capabilities, the hotel becomes disadvantaged competitively which leads to waning revenues, which leads to cost cutting measures, which leads to more lost revenue and so on; the death spiral. Is my hotel PMS ready for the future? Is it easily adaptable to meet the unexpected wishes of the traveler? The author is calling it "future proof technology". It's a gamble if your business isn't ready for it and I suspect when owners review their P&L's, they are willing to take the risk of waiting to see what happens. The author also makes reference to the sustainability benefits of transitioning to a cloud-based PMS. However, if moving to a cloud-based PMS is more expensive than the hotels current PMS solution, spending more money to be environmentally responsible, while noble, is a tough sell to most owners.
herzencortes

Don't Lag Behind: Emerging Hotel Technology Trends for Hospitality Industry | By Berta ... - 1 views

  • Not so long ago, all the hotels had the same checking procedures, the same TV channels, and delivered the same experience in general. However, it couldn't last forever and the age of digital technologies introduced new standards of service
  • They want to make reservations from their smartphones, they are looking for a stable network and convenient minimalistic design.
  • A great example is Hilton Worldwide. This company introduced an AI-driven concierge in 2016. They called this robot Connie. It's based on a powerful IBM computer Watson.
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  • The more it interacts with the customers, the smarter it becomes, and the more useful its suggestions.
  • Smart Guest Rooms
  • More Data
  • Energy Conservation
  • Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality
  • Mobile Technologies
  • People are looking for customization and automated solutions. One-third of all hotel guests in the world are millennials, and experts predict that they will make up over 50% of clients in two years
    • herzencortes
       
      The millennial market is quickly changing the tourism market, from the way reservations are made to the destinations that are chosen. In my opinion the tourism industry needs to evolve or fall behind.
  • Hotels that don't want to lag behind have already started using it.
    • herzencortes
       
      Hotels are beginning to involve AI technologies such as Alexa and Siri in their rooms, though these may not have the capability of doing hotel reservations and research them yet, these are now able to make restaurant reservations and recommend ac tivities acting in many ways like a concierge.
  • "focused on reimagining the entire travel experience to make it smarter, easier and more enjoyable for guests."
    • herzencortes
       
      As the market evolves companies need to evolve along with it, by making rooms smart it adds a differentiator and in doing so a n aspirational destination for millennials.
  • Obviously, hotels also need to re-think design, including accessible plugs in every part of the room so that their guests could easily charge all their devices.
    • herzencortes
       
      The change towards more technology friendly rooms is evident by the ever increasing number of outlets and USB ports found in hotels.
  • Almost 50% of resorts and hotels are now looking for new ways of collecting data from their guests.
    • herzencortes
       
      Data is gold for many reasons from building accommodations that are more adequate for the demographics of a hotel to the commercialization of a hotel, through AI technologies the mining of this information becomes easier with more data than ever before available to marketing professionals.
  • VR technologies allow guests to navigate through a hotel before they decide whether or not they're going to stay there.
    • herzencortes
       
      VR is going to be very important to marketing in the future. Hotels are now starting to use it more and more every day.
  • Today's hotels are focusing on customization, local experiences, and inspiration. Modern travelers put these factors above all, and the hospitality industry changes to meet their expectations
    • herzencortes
       
      Customization is going to be king in the future to come and a great way of reaching new markets.
  • Energy Conservation
    • herzencortes
       
      Green hotels and destinations are becoming more and more prevalent, energy conservation raises the bottom line by lowering costs.
  •  
    Before hotels had the same number of tv channels, but now it's a race to see what hotel can bring more technological advances to the table to increase ROI. Hilton worldwide has adopted an AI-driven concierge in 2016 at a property which is powered by IBM Watson. The article also talks about 5 top emerging hotel technology trends. The first one is Smart guest rooms, the second one is obtaining more data, third is energy conservation. The fourth one is VR and AR which can show people special maps of guest rooms, while the fifth one would be mobile technologies, such as mobile key, room service request.
rroll027

5 Trends to Watch in Computer Networking - 0 views

  • consumers increasingly buy digital licenses and download (or stream) their content over the internet.
  • he difficulty faced by service providers (including Google) in expanding residential fiber optic cable internet service due to installation costs and increased competition from other broadband providers.
  • Some fear the privacy risks that accompany IoT.
  • ...8 more annotations...
  • IPv6 will one day replace the traditional Internet Protocol addressing system we are familiar with (called IPv4
  • Digital fatigue also threatens to dampen interest in IoT
  • With inside access to a person's home and their health or other personal data, these devices provide an attractive target for online attackers.
  • By expanding the available IP address space to accommodate an almost unlimited number of devices, managing subscriber accounts becomes easier for Internet providers.
  • Look for the prices to come down in the next year as vendor competition increases.
  • Things (IoT) gateway support will prove more interesting to the average consumer. Eventually, home gateways that combine Wi-Fi together with 4G or 5G connectivity options could also become very popular
  • telligence. When world-renowned scientist Steven Hawking (in late 2014) said "The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race,
  • One key barrier to more general-purpose artificial intelligence has been the limits on the ability of AI systems to communicate and interact with the outside world
  •  
    Newer trends in computer technology bring increased vulnerabilities in security and privacy. Wearables will extend from wristwatches to eyeglasses, headphones, kitchen gadgets, energy-efficient furnishings, to home equipment Bluetooth systems. As vendor competition increases, prices will decrease and artificial intelligence development will accelerate.
cleon087

Cybersecurity at Hotels: 6 Threats For Hotels to Manage - 0 views

  • hishing att
  • Ransomware
  • Point of sale/ payment card attacks
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  • DarkHotel hacking
  • Customer data/ identity theft 
  • Over that past few years, the industry’s most well-known brands have all been victims of cybercrime.
    • kaylaabad
       
      The hospitality industry is a huge target for cybersecurity breaches
  • Cybersecurity for hotels should always include a process to mitigate any compromised systems should they go down in a DDoS attack.
    • kaylaabad
       
      distributed denial of service attack
  • intends to convince the recipient that he/she should share information
    • kaylaabad
       
      Goal of phishing: to be information from recipients
  • In recent years, this threat has become increasingly sophisticated, with attacks targeting those in authority. The aim is to take over a user’s email account to send bogus emails to colleagues. These emails often attempt to persuade recipients to authorize transactions, which are ordered from above.
    • kaylaabad
       
      Phishing example in the industry: In recent years, this threat has become increasingly sophisticated, with attacks targeting those in authority. The aim is to take over a user's email account to send bogus emails to colleagues. These emails often attempt to persuade recipients to authorize transactions, which are ordered from above.
  • Hotels that have fallen foul to this crime have in the past paid more than $17,000 to be able to let guests into their rooms and create electronic keys.
    • kaylaabad
       
      Ransomware - Hotels that have fallen foul to this crime have in the past paid more than $17,000 to be able to let guests into their rooms and create electronic keys.
  • Phishing refers to the sending/receiving of emails that appear to be from a genuine source.
    • kaylaabad
       
      Phishing: Phishing refers to the sending/receiving of emails that appear to be from a genuine source.
    • cleon087
       
      It is important to know about what this means
  • Cybersecurity issues of this nature, often result in customers being out of pocket, and the media getting involved. Which, of course, means bad press for a hotel. Furthermore, there could be financial implications for the business.
    • kaylaabad
       
      POS attacks: Cybersecurity issues of this nature, often result in customers being out of pocket, and the media getting involved. Which, of course, means bad press for a hotel. Furthermore, there could be financial implications for the business.
  • Protecting the identity and information of a customer is paramount to the success of any business and hotels ar eno exception.
    • kaylaabad
       
      Protecting the identity and information of a customer is paramount to the success of any business and hotels ar eno exception.
  • The attacks use forged digital certificates to convince victims that a software download is safe.
    • kaylaabad
       
      DarkHotel hacking: The attacks use forged digital certificates to convince victims that a software download is safe.
  • That is often passwords and financial information; this scam is one of the oldest on the internet.
    • cleon087
       
      It is important to be informed of this type of attack as a hotel owner because your holding sensitive information.
  • taking information and certain systems hostage. The purpose of this attack was to gain financially from those who paid the demanded figure to free their data/systems.
    • cleon087
       
      A lot of times that ask for a ransom and you pay and still you don't get access back to your computer. Also they can take credit card information and use guest credit cards.
  • Every day regular items such as sprinkler systems to security cameras are vulnerable to hijack. After which, entire computer systems can be made to come crashing down.
    • cleon087
       
      Having access to cameras is concerning because this is sensitive information. They can get access to private areas of the hotel and use it to their advantage.
  • And that means somewhere there is a weakness in the system which has been revealed by human error.
    • cleon087
       
      This is why it is important to invest in the security because you don't want your guest to experience this.
  • criminals use a hotels Wi-Fi to target business guests.
    • cleon087
       
      This is scary because people go to hotels to get a vacation and they trust the hotel.
  • ncourage guests to use virtual private networks (VPN) if they plan on conducting business with sensitive data.
  • Especially when there are criminals from all over the world trying to steal identities, and credit card data.
  • his crime is forever changing.
  • for hotels, an almost perpetual arms-race to secure both data and networks.
    • cleon087
       
      This is why it is important to be up to date.
  • Phishing refers to the sending/receiving of emails that appear to be from a genuine source
  •  
    This article lists of some common security breaches that hoteliers need to be aware of and prepare the hotel system for.
  •  
    This article talks about how cybersecurity can critically affect hospitality businesses if they are not careful about what ways could attack their business.
  •  
    As the article states, "Protecting the identity and information of a customer is paramount to the success of any business and hotels are no exceptions." Quite unfortunately, cybersecurity issues are some of the biggest obstacles that hotels are experiencing nowadays. With hacking attacks such as phishing and ransomware, hotels need to invest in increasing their cybersecurity as any breach can lead to a downfall in business loyalty and brand.
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