Group items tagged

The advantage to travel agents is that the GDS not only can show you many fares from multiple airlines, but it also offers a great depth of information about each flight in one place. The carrier, the times, the costs, the class of the seat, aircraft type and so much more. It’s a smorgasbord of options. So if you’re booking a high volume of tickets, it’s great to have access to every minutiae of information from multiple carriers in one go.

In today’s world, the GDSs have a bit of a split personality. There is the old school, traditional GDS commonly called “the green screen.” Then there’s the hip side of the GDSs, which people will call “point and click” or “GUI” (Graphical User Interface). Essentially, it’s a more intuitive and prettier looking version of the GDS.

To learn the GDS green screen takes intense training, and to become proficient takes tons of practice and constant use. That means daily use with a mentor (for at least 6 months to a year), not just booking a ticket for a client every few weeks.

Incident

going green makes good business sense because it cuts costs in many areas.

Many forward-thinking organizations have already developed strategies to incorporate green IT factors into their everyday business decision-making processes. Stretching far beyond just facilities and information technology, leading companies are creating holistic green IT plans that include the Finance, Purchasing, and even Human Resources departments.

Areas USA, a leading provider of food & beverage and retail services in the travel industry, has selected the MICROS Simphony Enterprise Solution as its standard SaaS, cloud-based point-of-sale system across its United States airport and turnpike operations.

which provides the organization with a robust enterprise system, web-based reporting, and business intelligence functionalities with a high level of flexibility. MICROS’s Simphony also seamlessly interfaces to Areas USA’s Corporate Infrastructure systems.

Setting up and categorizing events Connecting the event to a webinar or partner system such as Cisco WebEx® or Salesforce.com® campaigns Cloning an event, including emails, forms and landing pages, to minimize configuration for future events Managing event check-ins with our unique iPad app. Analyzing the effectiveness of the event with easy-to-use flexible reports

The technology works by presenting previous website visitors advertisements on their favorite websites—from the New York Times to YouTube. buuteeq is proud to have a trend-setting retargeting service for hotel marketers, which we explain in detail on our Lead Generation Services page. Call one of our hotel success representatives to learn more.

One of the most notable developments this year is that the terms “mobile marketing” and “mobile technology” really evolved to include not just mobile phones. Tablet devices such as the iPad, Samsung Galaxy and Google Nexus quickly became a significant part of the travel planning and booking process.

Google search statistics also show a dramatic increase in hotel queries in the mobile and tablet channels in 2012:

Tablets Complement Other Screens

"Many hoteliers do not fully realize that the mobile Internet is not wireless access to the conventional Internet," said Starkov." The mobile Internet adheres to different rules than the conventional Web.

nsed subscriptions or hotel services via a single application and WiFi connection.

Usually, mobility involves a handheld device, such as a tablet or a smart phone.

Furthermore, mobile POS technology ensures secure credit card transactions without the hefty fees often incurred with traditional systems.

This allows for instant communication from table to kitchen, and can even allow tableside payment acceptance, as the credit card remains in view of the customer at all times. 

Sentry is a privately-held company that develops and operates business destinations, conference centers, golf club resorts, lifestyle communities, entertainment attractions and next generation learning centers throughout the U.S.

CFO for Sentry Hospitality, said, 'Sentry is rapidly acquiring assets; Aptech's Web-based applications let us bring properties online with standardized Sentry financials as fast as we add them into the group.

'These applications are more than accounting systems; they provide analytical support that lets me judge the productivity of each property daily,

During I/O, the annual developer conference, Google made several announcements that are set to have an impact on how we use technology at events.

Google Glass is the gadget of the moment

Event staff could immediately scan event tickets by wearing Glass or attendees could scan an intelligent code to get clearance. The technology is so event friendly that I anticipate lots of cool apps in this space.

The environmental cost can include the additional cardboard — 35.4 million tons of containerboard were produced in 2014 in the United States, with e-commerce companies among the fastest-growing users — and the emissions from increasingly personalized freight services.

Dr. Sperling said that consumers shared as much responsibility for the environmental cost of the deliveries as the companies that provided the speedy services.

One recent study explored the environmental effect of Internet shopping in Newark, Del., and found that a rise in e-commerce in recent years by local residents corresponded to more trucks on the road and an increase in greenhouse emissions.

3. Enable location-based services and information. A 2014 Ipsos study commissioned by Google showed that 88% of people make local searches on smartphones, while 61% want mobile search results customized to their immediate location. Location-specific offers, driving directions and maps, and localized search results all play a role here. For example, if a person searches “Olive Garden” on mobile, chances are excellent that they are looking for a local restaurant. The brand can win more sales when it ensures that its local stores are in the mobile search results. The quickest way to do this is to buy search terms including location, i.e. “Olive Garden Birmingham AL.” Over the long run, you can boost your local SEO by claiming each location in Google and Bing, and then driving citations and ratings from users. 4. Help people avoid lines. Mobile check-in helps hotels, airlines and car services improve guest satisfaction. The Center for Generational Kinetics conducted a study that found that 40% of millennials prefer purely online customer service, supporting the overall trend that they prefer self-service experiences offered via mobile instead of in person. I recently had a four-day hotel experience in which I checked in, checked out, made requests and ordered room service, all via mobile and without speaking to anyone. It was simply an experiment for me, but self-service is the preferred way of doing business for many. 5. Offer local insight and options. Innovative travel companies now replicate concierge services through their apps. Hotel and airline apps sometimes offer local area guides and activity booking tools. These tools make travel experiences richer and boost loyalty. For example, my team and I recently stayed in a hotel in Philadelphia. We arrived after 10 p.m. and wanted a good nearby restaurant that was serving at that hour. After a few clicks, we had a reservation and walking directions.

Hospitality management is the academic study of the hospitality industry. A degree in Hospitality management is often conferred from either a university college dedicated to the studies of hospitality management or a business school with a department in hospitality management studies. Degrees in hospitality management may also be referred to as hotel management, hotel and tourism management, or hotel administration. Degrees conferred in this academic field include Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Business Administration, Bachelor of Science, Master of Science, Master of Business Administration, and Doctor of Philosophy. Hospitality management studies provides a focus on management of hospitality operations including hotels, restaurants, cruise ships, amusement parks, destination marketing organizations, convention centers, country clubs, and related industries.

A survey of nearly 200 international hotel operators found generally favorable results for those that had offered a daily deal, also known as a flash deal, according to a study posted by the Cornell Center for Hospitality Research.

Piccoli and Dev found that Groupon and LivingSocial were the two sites used most heavily by these respondents, and their top reasons for offering a deal were branding, customer acquisition, and boosting occupancy in shoulder periods. Ironically, the hotels that were avoiding daily deals were especially concerned about compromising brand standards.

David Jerome, senior vice president of corporate responsibility at InterContinental Hotels Group, three critical myths are (1) that "green" is expensive, when in fact sustainable practices save money; (2) guests do not care about sustainability, when in fact many guests and group planners specifically look for "green" practices; and (3) hospitality firms can wait to implement sustainability programs, when in fact waiting is costing them both money and business.