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Upcoming changes will make POS systems more convenient and easier to use than ever before. More businesses are expected to upgrade as a result of POS systems being able to handle more complex tasks.Sarasota, FL (PRWEB) June 13, 2012 Many restaurant owners are beginning to recognize the significance of restaurant POS systems and how they are utilized on a daily basis.

POS systems are essential in the hospitality industry, moreover in the restaurant industry. These systems are very basic now, but researchers are looking to complicate these tasks. They believe that POS systems should take on more complex tasks and be more customizable for the individual business. One of the changes Westshore is looking to make is giving every employee their own password for logging into the system. This can be an ideal option for tracking what employees are doing and how many sales they are making within a typical day. Owners can easily monitor employee accountability and reduce any risks of errors that are made within the rush of dealing with multiple clients.

Technology is changing the face of retail every day do to new and future POS developments. POS software is utilized at physical locations at which goods are sold to customers. When using POS system you can tell the computer what you're selling, the selling price, and quantity sold. Also, the POS system has an advantage of recording every sale and tracking everything from calculating the total, including tax, and telling you how much change is due.

The goal of any business is increasing and exceeding the bottom line; in other words, profit. Those companies especially within the hospitality industry that have the ability to seek and implement new/ innovative methods to cut costs tend to be the most successful. One way hoteliers, restaurant owners, cruise lines, and other 24/7 operations within the hospitality industry will be able to cut costs is a simple new advancement created by Phillips- The 7 W master GU10 LED lamp with DimTone. This article discusses the the DimTone light, its features and the potential amount of savings it offers users in the hospitality industry. Many hotels, bars, restaurants, cruise lines and other hospitality businesses incur a huge expense from energy use due to the volume and demand of business. The article points out that this new lighting feature will save those within the hospitality industry a large percentage of money each month while still providing an inviting ambiance. The life span of the DimTone light is twenty times more than traditional halogen lights. One hotel that completed a full replacement of all lighting with the new DimTone light has seen costs reduced by 82% and an investment payback of making this change within only two years. If this is true for all hotels that have the ability to invest in this cost efficient change, the only question I have to ask is why aren't we seeing this more frequently? The opportunities for an increase in profit from year to year appear to surpass the amount it would costs to enhance all hospitality businesses and help the environment as well.

The owners of a Culver's franchise decided to install a digital signage to provide more menu information quickly because the menu board couldn't communicate enough with customers for a short time to select menu in the fast food restaurant. The challenge was how the small business owners and franchisee would handle their budget for the investment and added cost.  The problem was solved by selecting EzSign TV from LG Electronics which displays branded messaging and shows broadcast television or input content at the same time. Furthermore, the software offers a choice of more than 50 templates that can be customized with images and text. Therefore, the business can highlight the items with pictures and deliver their daily specials more efficiently.  Installation is easy, and daily specials menus can be replaced by simply clicking. The digital signage looks cleaner than old fashioned menu board, and saves more time to change menus. By implementing a system that requires limited attention from staff, Culver's can focus on customer service and deliver value. That was a good decision adopting a new technology fits in the quick service restaurants.  

Here is something interesting for you Mac users. Did you knew that you are actually being charged more to use websites like Orbitz or Priceline? Don't believe me, well check it out. Over the last year or two Orbitz has been working on what they call "predictive analytics". Meaning they are able to predict where consumers will likely book their reservations based on what computer they are using. The article states that, Mac users are 40% more likely to book a four to five star hotel than PC users. Since companies like Orbitz (who took a 37 million dollar loss in 2011) are taking big hits from the lack of travelling thanks to the economy, they are trying to create any advantage they can in order to turn the market around. One thing to point out, is that Orbitz's competitors like Priceline and Expedia said that they do not base their sales on what computers the consumers are using, Apple had no comment. Orbitz said the effort to incorporate Mac vs. PC distinctions is still in its formative stages and isn't evident across the site. Other factors have more influence over results, Mr. Liew said, including a user's location and history on the site, as well as a hotel's overall popularity and promotions. Still, he said, use of a Mac can influence results.

CHECK THIS OUT MAC USERS

The best part of the article is how it states a good POS system is one that doesn't let you waste time with the POS. Instead your attention can be turned to your customers and staff. The system will do everything for you just by a touch of buttons from the screen. All you would have to do is print out the information and it will tell you everything you need to run a sucessfull establishment.

This article is a case about how digital menu helps the restaurant increase sales. There are several benefits by using digital menu. The most important one is that digital menu enable customers to better know the dishes. The restaurant could use full-motion video to show more details. Another advantage is the easier way to control the updating and changing of the menu. 

Smart Web PMS is a web-based PMS. It do not need hotel to install complex software, all you need is a computer with an internet connection. The dashboard displays the new reservations, recent check-in and check-outs, available units and urgent tasks on one screen. Once the information update the change will immediately show to all the users in real time. The reservation board show all the rooms states. Make reservation is simple, all you need to do is click the free unit. It also makes the online booking become more convenient. This PMS connect with most popular reservation platforms. Once the price or the availability of the hotel is changed the information on the reservation platforms will change. Once the platforms generate a booking the information will update immediately on the dashboard and reservation board. The workorder management system will report the existing repair task and problems in real time. It can send notification to the appropriate employees to deal with these problems. With the help of powerful system and filters we can find the information about the client quickly. It protects the data security by set access levels. Employees with different access levels have different aspect of the system can be viewed and edited. You don't need to worry about the security problems by use this system. This system back up the database in two separate servers in order to avoids damage of hardware failure. This system use https to transfer data which is the safest way to handle sensitive data. The servers who store the data are protecting by complex firewalls. I think this PMS is a good choose for hotels especially for the hotel that just start their business because this system charge base on the real number of units in the systems. It cost less than the traditional PMS.

I like the Web-based PMS. If i was the owner of a hotel, I would like to use the Web-based. It would save my money on installation of several softwares and require less IT managers to maintain the system. All changes about rate, status and workorder would be updated to all users in real time.

Yes, compare with the cloud-based PMS. I prefer the web-based PMS, because it keep the data more safe and the monthly cost is lower.

This article is about GDS and cruise industry. What this article talks about is that UK's cruise market leader P&O Cruises, Cunard and Princess Cruises, will end its distribution through Amadeus, which is one of the largest GDSs in the world, in November 2011. The reason behind this is because these cruise lines figured out that almost 95 percent of its cruises are sold via its own website so they think GDS is no longer necessary for them. However, other major cruise lines such as Carnival Cruises, Royal Caribbean Cruises, and Norweigian Cruises will still continue to feature on the GDS. According to a spokesman of Amadeus, the company keeps investing in distribution solutions, easier and more secure cruise booking application for cruise lines. This article shows how cruise distribution in the UK is shifting. This change would probably affect not only cruise lines but other sectors such as hotels, airlines, etc. Yet, it is still uncertain if the impact of the change on cruise industry worldwide will be significant. Still, most of cruise lines including the three major cruise operators which have large market share in the cruise industry use GDS; as well as, it is doubtful if cruisers are willing to go on a same cruise ship over and over. Cruisers look for various cruise options while booking online so they will be more likely to visit GDS-based website where they can search for various cruise ships throughout the world; rather than to visit website where there are much less cruise options. Everything will be clear after we see if the UK's cruise operator is successful.

This article is very interesting because it does not focus solely on one type of technology, but rather summarizes several technologies and discusses the importance of their uses. Green technologies in hotels can vary from anything affecting the water heating system to air ventilation and even plumbing systems in hotels. As stated in the article, it is extremely important for hoteliers to be aware of these changes that are occurring. Hoteliers may not have to immediately alter their current systems but they should definitely be aware and in tuned to the ever-changing "green" technologies - for if they don't they may be putting their hotels at risk.

This article is basically talking about the different green ways that a hotel can operate. For instance in Denmark they have stations set up where a guest can pedal stationary bikes to produce energy which in exchange they receive a free meal from the restaurant. To make hotels more green the hotels are using higher technological systems like changing the ventilation systems that provide fresh air indoors and have timers on the exhaust in the bathrooms. These technological advances to the properties will be more pricey than normal systems but in the long run they will save these hotels money and help them be more earth friendly.

Having worked in the meetings industry for 5 years now, we have also seen the increase of the more eco friendly traveler/meeting planner/attendee. Our accommodations have taken an active stance to incorporate more of the green friendly features to meet the needs of this traveler, but also to cut costs and increase operations efficiency.

The compeat restaurant management system is a cloud based highly configurable system which is developed by Compeat and the founder of ReMACS. By utilized this system, the restaurant managers can operate the business more effectively than before. It provides real-time "Deshboards" and "Alerts". The employees can simply access the internet through "myworkforce" to view the work schedules even pick up or change the schedule which save the time of the manager to communicate with each of the employees to comfire the scehdule. Meanwhile it provide a new channel for the employee to communicate to the managers. Especially for the chain restaurants, this system offers inventory control, food cost analysis, cash and sales management, forecasting, time& attendance.

According to the article,  Compeat Enterprise is a targeted solution for restaurant chains looking for a highly configurable system that can be tailored to their specific operations and easily integrated with their existing systems. Compeat Enterprise is centrally hosted (a cloud based application) requiring only Internet connectivity and a browser in the restaurant. Compeat Enterprise will provide chain restaurants with inventory control, food cost analysis, cash and sales management, forecasting, time & attendance and labor scheduling. Enterprise includes real-time "Dashboards" and "Alerts" for managers in the restaurants as well as executives above the restaurants. Enterprise also includes a Portal (myWorkforce) that employees access via the Internet (desktop or mobile) to view their schedules, pick up shifts, request schedule changes, and communicate with their manager.

This article describes one person's point of view on how travel agencies have changed  drastically through out the years. How travel agents used to do it all, and throughout all the change the travel agents have moved to online systems for everything. 

This article discusses 'E-Tourism Evolution' from tourism initial goal of establishing an online presence (96-99) to acquiring customers (99-03) and then retaining customers (2003-now). E-Tourism started with a focus on getting travel industry members in front of consumers on their computers, then offering attractive travel site features such as direct booking for customer convenience. This course has shown that while travel providers increased online travel options and services, consumers were finding a lack of personalized customer service which prompted increased dissatisfaction with the eMarketing providers. This led to the current focus by the tourism industry seeking to provide exceptional customer service within their eMarketing platform to ensure effective service and enhanced customer satisfaction, thereby ensuring increased customer retention. Whereas eMarketing has greatly increased travel to under developed countries, such countries must gain greater access to information and communication technologies to capture more of the tourism market. Tourism is utilizing a variety of communication channels including social media. Facebook booking engines are utilized by online travel sites, and travel packages and services are auctioned or bought direct on eBay. An online brochure, VBrochure by VFM Leonardo provides virtual tours and marketing content for mobile applications as well.

In the beginning of this article, it uses a chart to depicts the transformation and evolution of e-tourism over the past 15 years. According to the chart, we can easily find out that the goal and focus has changed as the year changes, from just to establish an online presence to customer retention. Then, it uses the changes of the number of tourists visiting Cambodia, one of the poorest countries in the world, as an example to say how information and communication technologies impact the tourism industry. However, this trend seems put more good impacts on developed countries. So next, the article gives some solutions to reverse this trend. In the end of the article it shows a chart to compare the percentage that people use e-market with the percentage that people use traditional methods.

E-tourism represents the paradigm-shift experienced in the tourism industry as a result of the adoption of ICTs and the Internet. It is evident that all best business practices have been transformed as a result, and that the each stakeholder in the marketplace is going through a redefinition of their role and scope. There are both challenges and opportunities emerging but the competitiveness of all tourism enterprises and destinations has been altered dramatically. It is evident that the "only constant is change." Organisations which compute will be able to compete in the future.

This article highlight what different hotel chains are doing in order to "go green" It looks at different sections of the hotel and explains what the hotel chosen is doing to go green in the different areas. The first are is the Guest Room. The article explains the the Kimton Hotels have recycling bins for bottles, cans and paper and this increase there recycling rate to 75% over 3 years. The second area the article touches on is the Kitchen. It explains how the Fairmont Hotels and Resorts are encouraging their kitchens all over the world to use organic foods. The third area the article explains in the Bathroom. Apparently, the Aloft group has installed refillable shampoo and body wash dispenser at its locations and plan to do it for the future locations they are opening. As it relates to the outdoors, Asia's Six Senses is protecting the seascapes with chlorine fee pool sanitation system in order to protect the coral and marine life. The article also explained that the RockResorts have changed chemical cleaners to cleaners that were more natural. The article also states that changes are being made in shops and boutiques. The Swedish Scandic hotels stopped selling bottle water at 147 of their hotels and Banyan Tree resorts has partnered with local vendors to sell in their boutiques. I feel that all of these hotels and resorts are going in the right direction in order to save the environment in which they operate.

According to the article, Colorado College did the survey on some state to looking for the swing voters minds of the November election. This survey asked some questions such as what the U.S. would be like in 30 years if it remains dependent on fossil fuels? And what the U.S. would be like in 30 years if clean energy is developed. Swing voters answers were discussed in this news. As the survey showed, the majority of swing voters in those states agreed with the statement that renewable energy will create jobs in the future. 80% interviewees believe the possibility of improving economy and protecting the environment. Besides, the climate change didn't resonated with those voters; however, they worried about the economic competition from China.

The companies have to do a drastic changes in order to stop destroying the planet and today there are materials or sources that can be substitute the fossil fuels, but they have invested so much money in their infractstructure that they do not want to loose it. The corpotates know that making this changes means invest a lot of money and I think they do not want to do so unless we as society force them to make these changes.

Immediacy vs Accuracy, which would you go with? The media is rushing everyday to deal with the two and make up a news report that consists of the two. Whoever has it broadcasting first is the winner. This article speaks on how twitter has changed the way we find about information now and days. Although Twitter will have a news shooting around the world in less than a minute. How accurate is the information? Stars have been killed by twitters power to spread the news of the stars death faster than the news station can get it on the tv screens. Is the information accurate? unfortunately not. This is where twitter as well as other media sites should manage what gets put out there before it gets publish. Just like what tv stations do. They verify and then they broadcast. As well as wikipedia. Someone should verify the information on each page and should not allow users to change or input information into that webpage.

Marriott Corporation set up an eco friendly program, which is called LEED volume program. Towneplace Suites is the main leader of this program and they created it because of they would like to teach and tell about what it really means to be social responsible. The goal of the program is to provide a pre-certified hotel design as green hotels. More than $100,000 can be saved per project and company will do all the work with owners pre-opening and post-opening. They usually focus on lighting and towel. They prefer to use motion sensors rather than regular light bulb and try not to change sheets and towels too often. They are some hotels trying to be green hotels but it is very rare that big corporation hotels try to be the one and lead industry. I believe it will bring positive effects to whole tourism and hospitality industry.

This article is about the strong focus on the development of facilities management in Europe. It is regarded that facility manager as an experts for the influence of the building environment on people. The facility management system is a way of integrating people, planet, and profit with technology as a linchpin. The article said that facility management is not any more limited just a caretaker's job. Facility managers need to have a leadership, which means that focus on educational programs. The global facility management trend report identifies that four megatrends: factor megatrends (economic growth, globalization, demographic trends); social megatrends (individualization, social media, growing focus on health); knowledge megatrends (technological development, increased knowledge); and industry megatrends (accelerated pace of change, new ways of working). Sustainability and technology would be the two main streams. The technology would be an enabler for sustainability and comprising smart infrastructure, robotics and knowledge.

According to this article, the IRS is considering changing the way Automatic gratuities are processed in restaurants. Often when gratuity is included, more than one issue arises. Parties tend to not leave additional tips and there is also an issue with what if a customer wants to leave less than the automatic 15 or 18 percent tip? Bennet Ackerman, owner of a Melting Pot in Indianapolis, says that "some servers tend to get a little lazy when they know they already have that automatic gratuity." If a large party is given a check of $200, some parties will tip $20. If gratuity was included, they would receive anywhere from 30-40. After tip out to the bartender, hosts and other support staff, the server is actually making about a 6% tip off of that table. I agree that with large parties, the reward sometimes does not pay off, no pun intended. More money can be made off of smaller parties, and the turn over rate is faster. Some restaurants are doing away with automatic gratuity, and instead, they are adding suggested tip amounts at the bottom of the check. This, will at the very least, give the guests dining, a reference guide. The issue at hand here is whether or not to consider the automatic gratuity as a tip for a server, or as a service charge. This will greatly affect taxes at the end of the year and budgeting for the employees. With the economy the way it is, servers and other tipped workers are seeing less tips. The issue is of great concern for restaurants and come January 1st, there may be some very unhappy employees as well as restaurant owners.

The article talking maining about the issues that companies have in investing into technology without having a set plan. Mr. Estis-Green, among others, stated that they see an industry that is very innovative but lacking direction in its approach to investing in the correct technology. The main issue is seems to follow throughout the article is that these companies are following trends instead of figuring out if said technology would mix well with the brand vision. A first, the implementation of technology within a business was used more as a tactic but it has become more popular that is has changed the way the guest experiences service at a hotel, from POS systems to a front desk check in. It's driving the way hotels run their business. I think that the biggest issue with investing in technology is controlling the way its used within a hotel. With technology becoming bigger and being implemented within larger hotel brands, it is changing the service experience which affects the loyalty of a guests. Taking that into consideration, I think that it causes internal competition within the vision that a hotel original sets out to provide and what other hoteliers are doing to gain that loyalty. As mentioned in the article, i think that the best way to have a vision and trend coincide is to find a way to personalize it to its convenience and effectiveness.

This article provides an overview of the importance for hotels to have a centralized function and not outsourcing the hotel accounting, meaning that hotels should not use a third party provider. Companies are compelled to change, to innovate, and in need to keep up with the competition. It says that some hoteliers are choosing to outsource because is trendy, but not always function in their best interest. This article emphasizes the pros and cons, but mostly all the negative results of outsourcing, using other companies to do the work that should be centralized.

https://www.hospitalitynet.org/opinion/4083889.html My article highlights the cons of outsourcing a hotel's accounting system from a third party provider. The author mentions that in the hotel industry, technology is constantly changing and every hotel is trying to stay on trend and "keep up with Jones'". The main issue with outsourcing is the reduced level of service. "In a full-service hotel, the accounting department provides a long list of services: receivables, payables, payroll, revenue control, cash management, systems oversight, audit, food and beverage controls, purchasing, receiving, general accounting and budget/forecasting to name but a few." When you outsource, there is reduced attention to these details. If a hotel's own accounting department handles these daily operation segments, there is less likelihood for error and they will be able to work with the various departments to correct the issues. It also saves tons of money to handle accounting in-house. Another important issue that was raised is that if accounting is outsourced then there is no room for development for an accounting department; no growth, no promotions. A pro is that outsourcing gives a financial manager the ability to focus on the bigger picture and see where changes can be made. If they are bogged down with little details, they might not be able to be the leader the hotel needs.

The article discussions the pros and cons of whether a Hotel should out source their accounting to a third party. The author of this article strongly agrees that Hotels should not out source their accounting. The author finds it "unintelligent move". Many Hotel owners believe it's "trendy" and necessary to out source their accounting to keep up with their competitors. I agree with the author, that Hotel should do their accounting on site. Management would have better control over functions and departments such as; payroll, auditing, food and beverage management.