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Gipsee announced the new Interactive Allergy Software designed for the restaurant industry especially for non sit-down dining sector in the industry. Most sit-down dining places often maintain eight or more allergy-specific menus.Customers with restrictions have to manually search for items which will be safe for them to eat. This newest offering eliminates the need for restaurants to produce multiple allergy-specific menus and replaces them with an "on-demand" capability based on dynamic user requests. The basic working process is the restaurant staff select and enter food allergies or ingredient restrictions that a customer may have into the software and then instantly produce customized menu choices for the customer. Customer have the flexibility of selecting from hundreds of ingredients and thousands of combinations of restrictions representing a more pragmatic approach to food allergy occurrences. This new software offers advantages including cost-savings and reduces communication errors occurs particularly during busy time slots. Also this new software is available and increasingly used by restaurant such as iPad and other touch-screen display devices

Hotels are jumping on board the hypo allergenic train. Many hotels are transforming some of their rooms to allergy free rooms. Redesigning the rooms from the ground up is difficult, and quite expensive, but many hotels think it will pay off. The air filtration systems are the first to be replaced. The carpet is removed and mattress casings are put on the beds to remove any chance of bed bugs, dust mites, or any other allergy causing agents. At the Hilton in Chicago, one room renovation is about $12,000, and they charge an extra $25 a night. The cost of being healthy may be worth it. The recycled air and dust affect many people daily especially at hotels. If the pillows can be altered and little steps to increase the air quality, then I believe the payoffs will greatly surpass the initial costs.

Following my previous post, here is more technology focused on food allergies. This pod testing tool is called Ally and focuses on lactose.

Within the hospitality industry, there are delicate aspects that need to be taken into consideration especially when it comes to health risks Allergy conscious diners need to be very careful in terms of what they are eating, and if they are able to take matters into their own hands, then I believe liability issues will greatly be reduced. At the moment, it is very important for guests to disclose any allergies or food restrictions so that the restaurant is aware of this. In my opinion, I believe that the staff, including waiters and managers, need to be knowledgeable in terms of everything that is used to prepare and cook the food. This type of technology should be used, in addition to the continuous analysis of allergies, so that diners can have peace of mind. I personally do not think that this technology will substitute the attention and precautions that a chef needs to take, but it will certainly reduce liabilities and make life easier for diners.

This past week I watched a few episodes of the documentary series on Netflix Rotten. There is an entire episode dedicated to food allergies and the increase we have seen over the past few decades in severe reactions. I am going to attach another article following this one, but this article specifically is about the newly developed food scanner named Nima. Nima is a scanner that is sold with pods. Simply crush up some of the food you would like to eat inside the pod; if it is safe to eat Nima would show a happy face, if it contains the allergen Nima would contain a sad face. As someone who has worked in restaurants for quite some time now, extreme steps have to be taken to keep foods completely allergen free, and not all restaurants are 100% committed to taking them. Currently food allergies have increased 50% from 1997-2011 with 200 people per year just in the US dying from allergic reactions. Nima does come with a high price tag though costing an initial $190 and then $3.99 per pod. It can currently test for peanuts, gluten, and lactose; but the Southern California inventors are hoping to create a single pod connected to an app that would allow user to choose the allergen they would like to test for. If I had a family member with an extreme food allergy, I would definitely purchase this product. There is no price on safety, and while I'm sure even with the product users would exercise concern, it could put many people at ease having this as a second wall of defense.

eInsights has written an article discussing the trends of how the hospitality industry has become green. "Over the last decade, guests have looked beyond amenities to decide where they want to stay. Now, they compare a property's sustainable efforts to see if it matches their firmly held beliefs." It has come to the attention of the entire industry that we are leaving a huge footprint on the environment and we are taking strides to fix something that has been ongoing for quite some time. The first topic discussed was that hotels are minimizing their water usage and waste. This is often the most common first step for any hotel to work on their sustainability. Guests are often already privy to saving water in their own homes and will carry this over to their hotel stay. The second topic covered was that hotels are reducing their plastic products. This is a very popular topic within the industry as hotels have many options such as turning their plastic straws or water bottles into reusable items. Within the hospitality industry, sometimes food waste is unpreventable. Hotels have made great efforts to work with each of their departments to see where their waste originates and find the best solutions to reduce it. "Sustainability promotes a healthier environment," which often leads to hotels introducing new allergy-friendly options for their guests. Items such as allergy-friendly flooring or self-sustaining plants are just a few ways that hotels can create a healthier environment for their guests. Finally, the article discusses the importance of monitoring carbon emissions for the entire industry. "The UN recently called attention to hotel emissions, saying they account for 1% of all carbon waste." Hotels will often employ a professional to evaluate their property and make recommendations of how they can reduce their carbon footprint. After a hotel adds a new sustainability effort, it is important that they get guest feedback.

A combination of positive guest feedback and minimizing energy usage will let a hotel know that they are moving in the right direction. It is so important for every hotel to try their best to employ whatever sustainability efforts they can and reduce their impacts on the environment as a whole. The emissions from the industry were overlooked for such a long time and have gotten out of control. With some of the popular industry trends, it is getting easier for hotels to make strides in the right direction.

This article is introducing the best practices in the hospitality industry, aiming to saving resources. The hotel in Seattle implements a series of activities to accomplish that. These activities include: Using more efficiency equipment in the kitchen. Those equipments can be food steamers, spray heads, commercial dishwater, commercial ice machine and commercial refrigerator and freezer. Using commercial clothes washer and the water reuse and ozone systems in laundry system. In the guest room, there are also a lot of things can be refresh to save money and resource like low-flow tank, faucet aerators and plumbing. In the office, use both sides of paper and recycled paper can be very effective. Also, shut down the office equipment is also very important. During the meeting, reusable plates, glasses, utensils and other things can be used in the area. Food source from local growers is also helpful. Other area includes cleaning and maintenance, meaning how to occupancy the room with a minimum resources. Heating and cooling area includes check electronic systems in time and install renewable energy bulb. In the wider area like the building, the collect rainwater system and automatic irrigation system can be used. At last, at the point of sales and marketing, the hotel will set the room for Eco room, Pure room and Allergy room. Telling the customers the benefits and purpose of the hotel through the Internet is also a way to enhance the influence.

The Sorell Hotel Ador is a leader in hotel sustainability. In this article they discuss the many different ways the hotel is sustainable. Not only are they installing products that will reduce environmental impact, but they are also working with other programs outside of their hotels. They are also focusing on important factors of sustainability such as economic issues, cultural issues and of course as mentioned before environmental issues.

Awesome technology. I think this type of technology will help ease the minds of those individual with special diets and allergies to feel safe dining out again. More customers= more profit base

This article talks about how hoteliers should be balancing the human touch with technology. Some businesses in the hospitality industry are leaning towards technology, forgetting the human touch is what hospitality is all about. Cutting costs does not outweigh guest experience. Hotels still keep the front desk as a nice touch, yet when we go to the movies we tend to go to the shortest line possible, which is usually the self-service machine. I think this is a trend at the movies because we don't consider it to be hospitality, all we are asking for is a movie ticket and can barely hear the person behind the speaker anyways. Front desk at a hotel is completely different. This is a huge first impression of the hotel itself. Guests are deciding to use mobile apps to check in early or use keyless entry, which means one of the things for front desk: a promotion or getting fired. Hotels are deciding to become more tech friendly to please guests and of course, to cut labor costs. The article mentioned: "The travel industry also needs to rethink its chase of digital tools and services as a proxy to the human experience, and build real social experiences as part of the social spaces it incorporates." This statement was very important to me going back to what I said about human interaction being the face of hospitality. Hotels in China began using mobile check in devices, which seems to be a way to meet in the middle with human experience and technology. These clerks are no longer standing behind a desk. In a way, this seems a bit more personal. Hotel front desks have not changed much within two decades. Of course, certain hotels within Hyatt or Marriott are exceptions. The point here is simply to make checkin and checkout flexible. A hotel can earn customer loyalty this way. It's nice for a guest to feel remembered if they have stayed at the hotel before. Creating loyalty can be very difficult when guests are booking through third parties.When it comes to check

The article is about how technology solutions can be a great investment and reduce capital to face the challenge of "new normal" adapatation and safety demands. Using technology such as as self-check-in, digital key, robots for sanitation of public areas, and social media to promote could result in less payroll costs and maximize revenue.

In this article, BigHospitality describes 12 tech predictions that will take place in the restaurant sector. With advances in AI, robotics, and payment technology, the impact will effect the restaurant space to shift towards adopting these technologies for everyday use. Such technologies are: harnessing AI to provide menu recommendations depending on user, robotic waiters and kitchen equipment, intuitive dining rooms, and using biometrics for payments.

I decided to do further research on Biometrics software in hospitality because we use it at the Four Seasons where I work in the Residences department. Biometrics is a technology that scans your fingerprint and grants you access to areas designated by management. This is useful in residences and hotels because as an owner or guests, only you will have access to your apartment or room. The article mentioned how as technology evolves, there is a debate as to whether guests will want to give their fingerprint. Too much security could be seen as a nuisance but too little security puts guests at risk. Having a Biometrics system in place at a hotel ensures that only hotel guests are patrolling the property or floors with rooms. Another interesting aspect is using Biometrics to remember returning guest preferences such as floor height, food choices, allergies, etc. This system could be put into place at check-in so that right away the front desk knows the guest is returning and can be made aware of their past preferences. Benefits of Biometrics mentioned in the article is not having to deal with room key cards, added security on property, seamless check-ins as well as even paying for items on property. A guest might not even need to take their credit card around because they can just use their fingerprint to pay at the pool, gift shop, etc. Behind the scenes, Biometrics is important as well. A hotel can use Biometrics to track employee attendance, clocking out for meals and to ensure only employees are accessing closed off areas of the property.

Biometrics can be used by companies for employees to clock in and clock out to ensure timesheet accuracy. It can be used by companies as a security measure so that guests are where they are permitted to be. It can be used for easy check in and billing and payment verification if there are issues. Biometrics can also be used as a way to collect guest information for example their preferences.

This article mainly describes the current main trends of artificial intelligence in revenue management, guest experience, and daily operations. AI's concierge service, chat robot translator, ultra-dynamic pricing, forecasting utility, team booking software review data collection, intelligent function charts, and intelligent recruitment are the main manifestations of future technological development. Through these artificial intelligence, the hotel can simplify some service procedures, provide more personalized and improve the guest's staying experience. But at the same time, we must also realize that intelligent technology cannot completely replace employees.

"AI is already changing the guest experience across the travel lifecycle, including the on-property experience."