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The new system allows property managers to easily manage resident billing and utilities through fully automated convergent billing and electronic payments combined with a full suite of utility management products and services.

“Convergent billing is a great solution to providing properties more cash earlier in the month,

Reservations ― features are integrated with other functionality such as profiles, cashiering and deposits. This property management software module provides a complete set of features for creating and updating individual, group and business block reservations, including deposit handling, cancellations, confirmations, wait listing, room blocking and sharing.

Reservations ― features are integrated with other functionality such as profiles, cashiering and deposits. This property management software module provides a complete set of features for creating and updating individual, group and business block reservations, including deposit handling, cancellations, confirmations, wait listing, room blocking and sharing.

Reservations ― features are integrated with other functionality such as profiles, cashiering and deposits. This property management software module provides a complete set of features for creating and updating individual, group and business block reservations, including deposit handling, cancellations, confirmations, wait listing, room blocking and sharing.

Hotels, conference centers and other meeting venues are increasing group business with new technology, and it isn’t just a hotel app. To invest in the property’s overall capital, hoteliers are creating cool technology tools that market venues, increase group business and enhance the guest experience. Technology is just another way hotels are winning group business and marketing a hotel or conference center. What are some of these new hot tools for leisure and business travelers?

Investment in Hotel Technology Pays Off with Increased Group Revenue Tuesday, July 10, 2012 by Sarah Vining Hotels, conference centers and other meeting venues are increasing group business with new technology, and it isn’t just a hotel app. To invest in the property’s overall capital, hoteliers are creating cool technology tools that market venues, increase group business and enhance the guest experience. Technology is just another way hotels are winning group business and marketing a hotel or conference center. What are some of these new hot tools for leisure and business travelers? Virtual concierge service on guest room TVs At Hyatt Hotels with in-room HD TVs by Roomlinx Inc., guests are able make service requests, check email/weather, use the Business Center, print documents, and receive customized messages from meeting planners. Service requests like housekeeping and in-room dining are instantly sent through the system, improving the venue’s departmental efficiency. All of these virtual functions are hoped to appeal to new markets and drive group business. More efficient billing In the article, “Insert IACC blog post title URL” we learn that in 2012, meeting and group planners are prioritizing finance as very important during in their planning process (which made the top 10 list for the first time). Hotels making large investments in revenue management systems are taking advantage of new features that automate and process data to improve efficiency and increase revenue for properties. Virtual business centers Socialization through technology and food and beverage outlets is increasing revenue for TRYP by Wyndham in the NYC Times Square South property. Google TVs and access to Google Chrome laptops near the Gastro Bar in the hotel’s lobby offers guests an opportunity to enjoy a dining experience with the comfort of complimentary technology use. On-staff IT team When planners were surveyed, reliability was listed as a top concern of IT services in the white paper “What Do Planners and Trainers Really Want in Their Meeting Service?” All IACC-certified conference centers are required to have an on-site IT team to ensure technology functions properly. Now, the need for a knowledgeable IT team that really understands technology and can cater to individuals and group business is spreading to other hotel markets.   These impressive technology tools improve the guest experience and lead to a quick return on investment, especially in F&B. As we move beyond the discussion of required hotel Wi-Fi services, there will be a focus on technology amenities that provide the same comforts of home or the office. To increase group business, hoteliers are comfortable with this investment knowing there’s a return on investment with generated buzz/venue marketing and satisfied guests. Want to learn about other ways hotels are using technology to build relationships? Check out Enhancing Your Social Networking Site with a Social Concierge! to maximize social media and connect with guests, attendees and planners!

 Innoviti Payment Solutions announced that after successful pilots, it will now start extending its newly introduced cloud-based reconciliation technology to full-service restaurants, that require payments to be collected at a customer's table with automatic reconciliation with the bill.

The new technology works in a simple way. In a typical restaurant example, the central billing server first uploads every new bill generated to Innoviti's cloud-based integration server. Thus, the Innoviti Integration Server maintains an updated real time list of all pending bills that are yet to be paid. When a patron calls for his check, the waiter assigned to the relevant table simply uses the table's id to 'pull' the correct pending bill from cloud-based integration server on to the portable POS terminal in his hand. Once payment is completed on POS terminal, it generates an on-spot charge slip and updates back the necessary payment details against the specific pending bill on cloud server and then onwards to the restaurant billing server which initiated the bill.

Across India, Innoviti processes over US$ 6.5Bn of payments annually from over 1000+ cities, with a throughput per point of acceptance of 7000$, 2X of India's average (as per RBI data). Innoviti's payment solutions help merchants, banks and brands influence commercial transactions happening in offline commerce more efficiently than possible otherwise, through unconventional use of payment terminals.

Call accounting has been around for decades to track, manage and bill or allocate phone calls. By the mid-1980s, call accounting was a necessary and very profitable tool for almost all hotels/motels. Some properties made thousands of dollars each month with call accounting

Call accounting products allow hotels/motels to bill guests for all phone calls that the property will have to pay for, recovering costs (plus fair mark-ups and/or surcharges for amortized equipment/service costs, profits, etc., too, if desired)

Managers can also detect phone misuse or abuse, optimize phone system performance, allocate telecom costs by department or extension, set special rates for VIP guests, and decrease billing errors

TouchBistro is one of the most cost-effective POS systems for restaurants, especially for small businesses.

TouchBistro is an affordable and easy-to-use POS system that focuses solely on your unique needs. 

With TouchBistro, you don't need to invest in a lot of hardware, as you do with traditional restaurant POS systems. At the minimum, all you need is an iPad or iPad mini and a cash register to get started.

. The patented digital bill folder enables restaurant customers to self-swipe credit or debit cards at the table.

The basic RAIL system includes POS integration, the BaseStation, a secure wireless system, a set of RAIL devices (generally 1 device per every 3 tables), and monthly maintenance.

Many mobile payment systems tailored for restaurants and other food vendors were introduced in 2011. Restaurant-industry insiders say 2012 will be the year of widespread adoption – and possibly a shakeout. A brief overview of the main contenders and considerations follows:

Traditionally, a hotel property management system (PMS) was defined as a platform that enabled a hotel or group of hotels to manage front-office capabilities, such as booking reservations, guest check-in/check-out, room assignment, managing room rates, and billing

Traditionally, a hotel property management system (PMS) was defined as a platform that enabled a hotel or group of hotels to manage front-office capabilities, such as booking reservations, guest check-in/check-out, room assignment, managing room rates, and billing.

Hotel PMS is now a critical business operations system that enables hoteliers to deliver a seamless guest experience. Hotel PMS now integrates to other onsite services that impact the guest's complete experience, including: Food and beverage operations Housekeeping and maintenance management Sales and catering execution for group bookings and event management Revenue management Distribution across multiple channels Spa management

Giving guests the ability to view, split and pay their bills at the table using their smartphones saves them time and improves table turns and productivity. Additional features can be on-the-spot satisfaction surveys, text messaging and more. Mobile platform app developer Split offers a great example.

It works with a variety of amenities such as restaurants, travel desks, spas, minibars and much more. It comes with unlimited built-in POS System terminals.

Hotelogix lets you settle payments through different modes. It accepts multiple currencies, processes credit cards or generates bills directly to the company.

Allowing management to gain greater control of all departments by merging operations together, like Housekeeping POS, Front Desk POS, etc.

Those who believe that business will resume under the same rules and rituals from before COVID-19 are not reading the social and emotional cues that have taken place over the last few weeks.

Our conventional payment models of cash and plastic credit cards are a petri dish of germs and potentially contagious agents. According to factmonster.com, a $1 bill is in circulation for 18 months; $5 bill, two years; $10 bill, three years; $20 bill, four years; and $50 and $100 bills, nine years. The number of hands that this currency will go through during the life of the currency presents a clear concern in the minds of a new germ-conscious consumer who emerging from the COVID-19 crisis will be better informed and educated about contagion.

The new awareness and concern over contagion will be a major driver for existing technologies to be fully implemented; this includes EMV, contactless, tap and pay, and mobile wallets. In each of these cases, there is no person-to-person transfer and the chance of passing any germs is greatly mitigated. All of these technologies have existed in the restaurant industry for years, and for the most part have been slowly and often begrudgingly adopted. 

Biometric applications are particularly useful at the places where a lot of customers, members or visitors enters or exits a facility, or require identification or verification.

A hotel guard may not force guests to prove their identity, but what when there is a no guard and just a fingerprint scanner, where you need to put your finger to open the door?

Since hospitality employees are not expected to be too rigid, this part can be shouldered on biometric technology. Customer issues at hospitality outfits may sometimes be ego-driven, but showing ego to a machine is of no use and customers understand that.

A quick check on 10 features that you should be looking for in a web based property management system are listed below

1. Web Reservation

. Revenue Management:

Will the technology provide Human Resources with the authority to decide who will be allowed access and to what degree? Along the same vein of providing employee access, the technology should give HR the final say.

What types of reporting capabilities are available from the HR information technology? Reporting technology should offer multiple views and formats (spreadsheet, PDF, html), big picture assessment and the ability to drill down to enhance decision-making.

Does the HR information technology system provide a means of checks and balances?

most people don't think about energy savings when staying in a hotel.

key-card energy management is a simple and effective way to conserve energy

link the heating, cooling and lighting in a room to an illuminated key-card slot near the entrance.

HVAC energy consumption drives over 60% of most hotel energy bills each month

Renaissance Hotel discovered that by implementing Pelican Wireless Systems wireless HVAC Energy Management solution, they could substantially reduce energy consumption, decrease their monthly energy bill, and at the same time increase their overall customer satisfaction.

previous room configuration had basic thermostats installed in the rooms which were left running even when the rooms had no checked in guests.  They also had no way to monitor the health of their existing HVAC units, and their facilities department was being called upon by the front desk regularly to resolve guest complaints about uncomfortable room temperatures