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Beginning in 2018 the financial accounting standards for hotel business are changing. One of the changes is the way OTAs charge for the rooms. Typically the OTAs operate under two methods the retail model and merchant model. The retail model uses the OTA to reserve the room but the final payment is made to the hotel. The hotel then gives a commission back to the OTA. Under The merchant model the payment is made to the OTA. Then the OTA takes the commission off and sends the remaining payment to the hotel for the price of the room. This comes out as a net transaction. The new standard is saying that the company that controls the transaction for the room has to mark the transaction or sale as a gross transaction. The new model forces the hotels to record the transaction on a gross basis. This can be a big difference for hotels because now they will have to increase the amount of costs and reduce the hotels bottom line.

Depends on the worst killer in the restaurant profit, in my opinion is the financial analyzing only in the tax day. This managing decision that not summary the financial statement everyday will lead to the confuse cost management and missing the chance for the maximize profit margin. Especially, cost is the most important part for the daily financial analysis. This article talks about how to manage the cost under effective way and make the property working for more net income. For instance, this article introduce about how to pricing the menu depends on the historical selling data and how to make some development and promotion encouragement for the guests loyal consuming behavior under the low-season.

Alice, a relatively new start-up which sells operations software to hotels, had a significant investment from Expedia in the previous round of funding. Alice has become a software that provides "the first unified platform for a hotel to run its entire back end operations, such as housekeeping and customer service communication". The system allows guests to send a text message with a request for more pillows or towels, for example, which will be directed to the proper the hotel employee department. Customers can track their requests and both the front and back of house staff can receive communications from guest requests. This IT platform has seen 5 times the amount of requests being generated. Also, the platform has partnered with double the number of hotels and they project more than two million requests will be communicated through this software in a year. Expedia is the largest shareholder in Alice currently. Alice suggests that this is because Expedia could be more interested in "more back-end software services for the hotels that use it to market and distribute their inventory globally." Expedia currently markets tools such as revenue management under the name Expedia Powered Technology to hoteliers. Expedia also offers meetings and events booking tools for hotels. Priceline, which is a competitor to Expedia, also has invested in tools and services that include revenue management software for their hotel partners. Trivago is also offering these services. Alice believes that the size of the market will allow for many other companies to work in this space, and is even open to partnering with other firms to expand. Alice also plans to expand their own business and add personnel with the new funds.

As mobile devices become more advanced, particularly cell phones and tablet devices, more pressure to keep up with mobile and social trends is placed on the hospitality industry. People are using their mobile devices more now than they have in the past. So much so, that "two thirds of Americans sleep with their mobile device in range, something we cannot say about desktops". A world of information is at your fingertips because of the capability of mobile devices. Information that can help us make decisions about anything. Even last-minute decisions about hotels and food. More people are using their mobile devices to book rooms and many of the people that do this, are booking a hotel for the same night. The fact most of the people who do this are under 30 means that it is very likely that this trend will increase. People are expecting the technology to be there so that they can pick a hotel and a restaurant to go to if they are unfamiliar with a city. They are expecting a hotel chain to have a mobile site or better yet an "app" that will not only allow them to book a room, but, one that will give them directions from where they are to the hotel. The same can be said for restaurants. Potential customers want to be able to look over the menu and determine if they want to come to the restaurant, all from their mobile device. Mobile guests are also using customer review sites to determine where they will lodge or dine. They are using sites like TripAdvisor which allows you to post comments about your stay. The sight even allows the guests to post pictures. "Customer reviews are also important to the hotel industry, but the jury is still out on exactly how hotels should react with people who post reviews." It is always great when a guest posts a positive review of the hotel, but imagine how one bad stay could tarnish a hotels reputation. And what if there are cleanliness issues that the guest can photograph and upload to the site? Exactly what to do in this type of e

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. and Sabre Travel Network have signed a multi-year distribution contract that will distribute all Royal Caribbean, Azamara, and Celebrity cruise schedules and fares on the Sabre GDS system. With the Sabre system travel agents in Mexico can now make bookings on Royal Caribbean cruises and associated lines. This system. This system will allow travel agents in Mexico to increase productivity when booking Royal Caribbean cruises. I think this is an interesting step by Royal Caribbean to expand their relationship with Sabre Travel Network and a new region for booking. The impression I get from this agreement is Royal Caribbean is looking at opening their cruises to a new consumer market. This focus is aimed more on making sales and entering a new market. Now Royal Caribbean will be focusing on Mexican consumers. This system will allow travel agents in Mexico to have an easier time at booking a cruise with Royal Caribbean, Azamara, and Celebrity.

Nowadays, most hotels are using PMS as their key technology in property management, which referred as the single most important IT application for hotels. PMS works as the central data infrastructure of the hotel, handling the administration of all the guests, their profiles and bookings, as well as the revenues generated. Besides PMS, hotels also use CRS and EPOS to fully maximise the benefits of the system. To obtain the maximum function of PMS, we came up with some ways to solve the problem. Firstly, there are already many PMS providers available on the market that provide various solutions with a large number of functions based on the changing needs of hotels. Many hotels today do not use all the functions of PMS, which will lead to low return on investment of the PMS software. Secondly, hotels are lack of awareness and exploitation of the full range of PMS functionality. This under-utilisation inevitably costs hotel operators in financial terms, as they are paying for functions that they do not use. 

In the article "Investing in Hotel Technology- Guest Needs Versus Franchise Demands" it talks about how hotel owners follow brand standards while managing potential conflict with guests and are making sure they are getting their moneys worth on this investment. Technology is a huge part of hotels today, everything is done from the Internet and it even helps employees organize all of their information in an easy, user friendly way. Over the past years many hotel owners have opted to become franchisees of big name industries. "By joining a major hotel chain, these individual owners benefit from the brand association they get from being under such a well-known corporate umbrella, broader consumer recognition, plus access to well-established centralized reservation and booking systems." When hotel owners opt to become franchises of these bigger hotels they also give up their right to make certain decisions for their own hotel. Although this could be a downfall for the owner, "these investments have a negligible impact on the ability of the hotelier to bring in additional revenue," which is something that the hotel needs help with. Overall, when small hotels opt out and decide to become franchisees of big name hotels like the Hilton, it has both its advantages and disadvantages.

"Jonas Project Management (PM) helps you steer away from traditional methods of project management like pen, paper and multiple spreadsheets. Our project management system is fully integrated with all aspects of the Jonas core system and is used to manage the workflow of a project from start to finish. Project Management tracks items that must be fulfilled under a contract, including RFIs, transmittals, submittals and change order requests."

Jonas management system is a high efficient system i have been using in my working place. Jonas Software is the leading provider of enterprise management software solutions to the Club, Foodservice, Construction, Leisure Fitness & Sports, Attractions, Metal Service Centers, Moving & Storage, Education, and Radiology/Laboratory Information Systems industries. Within these nine vertical markets, Jonas boasts 28 distinct brands, all of which are respected and longstanding leaders within their own domain. Jonas' vision is to be the branded global leader across the aforementioned nine vertical markets and to be recognized by customers and respective industry stakeholders as the trusted provider of Software For Life and as an ambassador for technology, product innovation, quality, and customer service. Jonas Software is the valued technology partner of over 10,000 customers worldwide in more than 15 countries. Jonas employs hundreds of skilled individuals consisting of a cross-section of industry experts and technology professionals. Jonas is headquartered in Canada and also operates offices throughout North America, the United Kingdom, Australia and the Caribbean. With the talents of Jonas employees spanning the globe, Jonas is proud to avail cost-effective training and consulting services to our entire client base.

This article deals with the theft that happens on a daily basis in the hospitality field. It happens when credit cards are used to pay for something, like a reservation, and thieves want the information, so they can use your credit card number for whatever intentions they may have. As the article states, "our data is under attack". I can relate to those people that have had credit card numbers stolen, because it has happened to my husband and me, and it is a horrible feeling trying to get your life back on track and recover your money.  I think it would be a great idea, with some research, to get the point to point encryption technology in a field where credit cards are used so often, not only to cover the business (hotel), but also to protect the guest, so they feel at easy when they travel on vacation or business.  The overall point of this technology is to encrypt the information as close to the point of entry, i.e. the swiping of the credit card, as possible. This would in turn "significantly reduce a merchant's card data environment", as the program would encrypt the information so that hackers cannot access the customer's information. As I mentioned earlier, questions should be asked before buying this technology, as there is always something new on the market that may be better. Credit cards are not always swiped, but can also be manually placed in the system, so you want to make sure, that both transactions are protected. Overall, the establishment should always be concerned about the customer and their safety, whether physical or mental and always be prepared for the worse.

Great article! Personally after being a victim of credit card fraud, I'm very apprehensive of where I shop, who handles my card and how long it takes them to return it. I recently cancelled a large purchased after the cashier insisted on rubbing my card number on the reciept after the transactions had be approved. In my mind, I was thinking "If I let you do that, then I've open the door for anyone to charge thousand of dollars. I don't think so." As a manager, who hands credit card numbers for manual input, I'm very cautious of them and want to insure that they don't get into the wrong hand. Aftern each transactions is approved, that number is shredded and the credit card machine is batched out. Companies don't realize how important it is to PCI compliant. The risk in exposing sensitive information of our clients and customers can cost thousand of dolllars in fines and fee, in addition to the lost of that customer/client.

Marilyn, Great Article...as a Front Desk Manager, it is my responsibility to randomly check our computers to ensure employees are not placing USB driver to collect data from our system. Our company has taking this a step further by putting metal locked case around the PC to avoid possible fraudulent activity. If we have to open a PC, we must log it to show proof why a PC became unlock. Companies should adopt similar procedures to protect the consumers/guests. Nelson

In this weeks reading, the article, "Why Investing in Hospitality Technology is Investing in Good Business", mentions how due to the economic downturn hotels have turn to cutting technology and staff levels as a method to minimize costs, yet this is a recipe for disaster, if not conducted adequately. Technology is continuously evolving, it is important to make decisions regards IT investment that will be useful in the coming 3-5 years. Technological infrastructures should operate to facilitate a process or procedure for the overall benefit of the hotel, rather than take a day-by-day approach. In an ever-demanding industry, it is critical for hoteliers to be adequately prepared with automated systems, reducing if not eliminating important manually conducted tasks which are damaging the operations of the hotel due to the lack of real time information which will help revenue maximization. In moments of recessions, companies minimize their cost reducing what is foreseen as unnecessary such as IT investment, yet is important to maintain a level of preparation and not losing the opportunities presented by the market.

Hotel owners and managers are putting eyes on technology in the hospitality industry slow recovery period. All pundits agree this method can bring some recovery. The international hotel organizations have made many plans of improving investment in technology and staff. Progressive hospitality organizations have updated and invested in new technology and training, change the industry requirements and market. Before investment, the most important is to look at what operational efficiencies the technology can bring and how the technology will benefit the hotels. There are many technologies are good choices for investment, such as Revenue Management Systems. This technology is efficient and can help hotels track historic data, forecast future demand and so on. We also need to technology is changing all the time. So this is a big challenge of managers to make decisions for a long development. We also need to realize that the hospitality industry is changing, strategies will not always be applicable to new, unique situations. It is important for hotels to increase advantages in the competition.

Those hotel groups that fail to recognize the speed of change in technology and what this can bring to the business will find themselves significantly under prepared when the market starts to strengthen. While "its never too late" to act - there is a significant opportunity cost in doing nothing or worse still, cutting technology out of the day to day operations. For a hotel to effectively operate and ensure it is maximizing its incoming revenue, the right technologies needs to be in place. Through investing in the right technology at the right time, savvy hoteliers will be ensuring that their facility(s) are able to effectively maximize their ongoing revenue capability now and into the future.

In today's fiercely competitive market adopting technology to grow your hotel business is essential, to avoid facing operational bottlenecks like Hotel A, unlike Hotel B who uses the latest technology to do smart hoteliering. This means getting a cloud based Hotel PMS which can easily integrate with a POS system that is also on the cloud. This translates into having all your hotel-related data under one umbrella in one single system, on one dashboard, giving you automation, accuracy, time and most importantly convenience. So during the stay, guests can order food from the restaurant, use the spa, the gym, the travel desk or the gift shop and pay for everything during checkout without being over or undercharged so both the hotel and guests remain happy and guests have a pleasant guest experience. In my opinion Hotel A needs to upgrade their technology to integrate the cloud PMS with the POS system also on the cloud and add other facilities to supplement revenue for the hotel when room occupancy might be down.

This article sheds light on an under-developed and growing section of the hospitality industry: short-term rentals. Focusing in on an emerging software company, the article reviews the need for pricing and revenue management software not only in hotels but also in short-term rental listings. "Beyond Pricing", an emerging revenue and pricing software, is currently creating tools for this specific market to increase revenue through strategic pricing

This article is about the different keys available for hotels to use for their rooms. Metal keys which are like what we use everyday for our homes is an outdated form of security key in the world of technology. The key card system is a plastic card with electronic access. Hole cards seen rarely today is a plastic card with a series of holes to correspond to a specific door in the hotel. Bar code cards is exactly that a card with a bar code, like you see at the supermarket, which is placed under an electronic reader. This type of key has been fazed out due to easily being fooled. The magnetic strip key card are widely used in the hotel industry. They look like a credit card with a metallic strip on the back. It has extra protection unlike other types of keys. The newest system is the RFID key card system, which has a radio sensor chip embedded inside. It works with a programmed reader and when the key is brought in close range the door unlocks and opens. This article was about the security keys being used in hotels.

Marilyn, This is an interesting article because I never knew the progression of hotel key cards. I do not think anyone did and we just assume they started somewhere simple and got to where they are at now. Key Cards with RFID seem as though they are the best type of key but also very expensive for the hotels, especially if it is a large property. We only see the one kind of key card now in hotels and to me it seems secure but who knows what information is actually stored on that card. Great article !

This article is about the different keys available for hotels to use for their rooms. Metal keys which are like what we use everyday for our homes is an outdated form of security key in the world of technology. The key card system is a plastic card with electronic access. Hole cards seen rarely today is a plastic card with a series of holes to correspond to a specific door in the hotel. Bar code cards is exactly that a card with a bar code, like you see at the supermarket, which is placed under an electronic reader. This type of key has been fazed out due to easily being fooled. The magnetic strip key card are widely used in the hotel industry. They look like a credit card with a metallic strip on the back. It has extra protection unlike other types of keys. The newest system is the RFID key card system, which has a radio sensor chip embedded inside. It works with a programmed reader and when the key is brought in close range the door unlocks and opens. This article was about the security keys being used in hotels.

The article show us that when planning a convention, meeting planners consider how to incorporate a range of emerging new technologies for the program. MPI used a fog screen. The imagined possibilities for fogscreen technology, an emerging new technology, include the projection of corporate logos, messages and other images. Event and meeting planners should know about future technologies and how/when to use them in various programs. As part of the MPI WEC 2008 opening reception sponsored by Meetings by Harrah's at Caesar's Palace, Las Vegas, attendees walked through a fogscreen of the MPI logo as they entered the opening cocktail reception. Caesar's Palace's objective was to showcase how they can change the environment of a static room, explained Reina Herschdorfer, executive director of catering/conventions and events for Caesar's Palace. Fogscreen technology is an emerging technology that is dry, so attendees and guest will not walk through the fog and get wet.

The FogScreen is an extraordinary display option that offers a seamless projection area made, as the name suggests, of dry fog. Using ordinary water, a flat thin layer of mist is created, onto which you can make high-quality projections - that you can walk through. The fog feels cool and dry to touch and, by varying the density of the fog, different effects can be created to suit the venue and your purpose.  The screen is created by using a suspended fog generating device with no frame around, and works with video projectors. The fog they use is dry, so it doesn't make you wet even if you stay under the Fog Screen device for a long time.  The fog is made of ordinary water with no chemicals what so ever. With two projectors, you can project different images on both sides of the screen. It is a display device which is the application of computer graphics. With Fogscreen, planners are able to make better visual effect and encourage more participation and engagement of attendees. However, Fogscreen hasn't been widely used in terms of high prices. 

This article is about the disadvantages of the point of sales system, which is including the cost of web access, system updates, and the security risks. Firstly, the POS that allows the user to connect a single register to a larger network of information that would otherwise be unavailable or inconvenient to access, thus, some companies decide to go with a web-based system rather than a software-based system, which direct bring additional cost. What is more, if the companies decided to undertake the software-based point of sale system, they need to continue updating the system with new versions from the manufacturer or software company, which means addition cost/fee. Moreover, customers who use the debit cards with POS system, that will face the security risks problem, If the companies use the web-based system, the customer will under the security and privacy risks that come with doing business on the Internet.

"E-proDirect takes an important step in uniting the company by launching a new common brand identity. It reflects a combination of the company's innovative product line, as well as their success as one of the true pioneers in the hospitality industry."

Almost everyone has a smart phone now and days. Apps are used for almost anything and this article gives evidence to how much you can do with an app. The article focuses on Las Vegas and how many hotels have different apps for every occasion. Vegas Mate caught my attention from how it has things such as "a listing of resort fees, top suites, information for travelers on getting around, conventions, gambling and more" that other Vegas apps don't have. I believe it takes great time and money for these companies to keep up with the ever changing schedules for each hotel. I'm a planner and I was really intrigued on how this certain app pulls up the latest update and weather from around the city and even "keep all those show tickets, dinner reservations and hotel bookings in order." I mean who can beat that? There's no excuse to why hotels and many other tourism spots don't have an app for all the amenities that are offered. It'll surprise guests and make them really pleased with their stay.

Advanced technologies have always been tested or applied in large airports for operational effciency and better travel experience. This is an interesting article about the latest technology that will be used in major airports. The Transportation Security Administration gave reasons that why they want to relocate backscatter advance imaging technology units to smaller airports. Firstly, it allows the use of advance imaging technology units in some smaller airports. Secondly the newly introduced millimeter wave units can work faster in saving time and perform better in protecting the privacy of travelers since it just shows the outline of the passenger's body, while not a specific one. Thirdly under the economical consideration, it is better to use one type of machine in the same airport so they don't need different training and maintenance.  So larger airports can just use the latest technology for their large amount of work while smaller airports can benefit from the one with backscatter technology because of the smaller workload. Both sides will be satisfied if this transfer can be done successfully. 

HP has released two new POS systems, which can be found in Australia. The two systems released are: HP RP3 Retail System, Model 3100, and the HP RP7 7100, Model 7100. One system can be used in higher temperatures up to 40 degrees Celsius. This enables it to be placed outdoors, in a building with no air conditioning, at a serving counter, or closer to a kitchen. The RP3 model can be placed under a counter or above a cash drawer. This particular model does not need external cooling and is geared towards hotter locations. The RP7 can be wall mounted if there is no counter space. It is also dust, splash, and smoke resistant. The ability to not have to worry about external cooling for the one system is extremely important. Even today some technology can become overheated and malfunction. With the ability to place the one POS system outdoors or near a kitchen is a great convenience. This would help business owners not having to worry about temperatures or where the POS system is located. The POS system can be in 40 degree Celsius temperature (104 degrees Fahrenheit). I especially feel this would be useful in South Florida where it can be warm and muggy outdoors. Also on the RP7 system I found the splash resistant feature to be useful, especially for a bar where drinks can easily be splashed. Both systems I feel have some advantages in the POS world.

Both Auntie Anne's and Carvel have begun to utilize the MICROS POS systems. Auntie Anne's has extended its existing MICROS e7 preferred vender agreement to help run all 1,000 franchised locations in the US. Likewise, Carvel has entered into a new agreement with MICROS for the MICROS e7 all-in-one-point-of-sale system. This will be their preferred POS system for their 450 international outlets.  Due to Auntie Anne's long standing history with MICROS and the MICROS e7 system, both Carvel and Auntie Annes, both operating under the FOCUS Brands portfolio, will continue to be clients of MICROS. The MICROS e7 performs the following: management of guest transactions, staff productivity, menu offerings and restaurant operations.