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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 was about the risks in the hospitality and tourism industry when it comes to big data and analytics. Big data is so important in the hospitality industry because it's how companies know who to cater to and with what and how. In addition to the importance of big data, there are risks that come with it. A few risks are data leaks, hackers, etc. Companies invest money in their systems so these things are avoided.

This article was very interesting and it was about how safety security is very important to the hospitality industry. This article also explained how a study shows the safety and security systems work in the hospitality industry. They also said that it is very important to update the emergency plan because you never know when something going to happen in the hotel and you always have to be ready for anything. This study just showed how an effective information system could prevent and being well prepared can definitely help prevent any emergency.

The article is a study that was conducted in regards to the security management within a hotel and how an effective security system can help in preventing accidents or emergencies from occuring. The main priority of a hotel or any establishment, besides the service provided, is having an effective emergency plan set in place to be able to respond and overcome a crisis. International hospitality being a focus over the recent years, has suffered crises, risks, and disasters causing negative impacts on tourism and the community. Hotels should "issue a check-list concerning a hotel's vulnerability to emergencies caused by natural disasters (hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis) or man-made crises (terrorist attacks, explosions, fires, spill, food poisoning)." Another part of the plan is to focus on the loss prevention aspect of a hotel by implementing information technology to secure or improve security. On technology mentioned was biometric to increase the hotel information system and also to help reduce cost and improve the way we recognize criminal activities. With the hospitality industry being one of the most vulnerable industries to crimes and disasters, it is important to recognize, improve and update the plans set into place to ensure accurate information. While it's impossible to say that these preventions are going to stop these problems from happening, it can help other learn about the proper steps to handling these situations. I personally think that as much as employers suggest different way, it's the job of the loss prevention team in every industry to construct a plan that address as many issues and conduct trainings that would help to prepare us for these occasions. Trainings are going to be the best way to properly analyze a problem and improve on the emergency plan set.

This article highlights several important security issues in the hospitality industry, followed by the practice of protecting data from loss. The data structure of the hotel industry is complex, customers mainly use bank cards to pay, and the staff turnover rate is high. There are certain internal threats. In order to solve these problems and avoid data loss, it is not enough to strengthen network security. It is also important that employees are trained and familiar with and comply with relevant regulations.

Hospitality offers an ideal target vector for conducting Cyber crimes such as identity theft and credit card fraud due to the existence of multiple databases and devices containing both Payment Card Information (PCI) and Personally Identifiable Information (PII). Restaurants, hotels, and other companies in the hospitality sector often have complex ownership structures with an individual owner or group of owners, and a management company that acts as the operator. Each of these groups may use different computer systems to store information, and the information can also frequently move across those systems.

In this article, we learn about the top five data security risks as well as best practices to help prevent data breaches. According to the article, the hospitality industry is a prime target since it stores a vast amount of sensitive guest information like names, phone numbers, addresses, and credit card numbers. Some of the five risks included complex ownership structures, reliance on paying by card, and insider threats to name a few. In order to avoid these threats, the article suggest that companies become PCI compliant, use cybersecurity measures like firewalls, and know where exactly their data is stored.

This article highlights the topic of Data Mining and the way in which companies use it to become informed and discover new ways to become more effective. Data Mining can be used to increase revenue, cut costs and identify growing trends. This article will feature key examples from major companies such as Oracle, Wal-Mart and the NBA, all of which use Data Mining to enhance their business performance. 

This article discusses the use of data mining and analytic techniques to create a competitive edge for companies in the hotel industry. Hotel companies are a customer centered business which accumulate large amounts of data on customers from various databases. Implementing a data mining system will improve profits, loyalty and retention and enhance guest experiences by helping the marketing and management teams create focused policies. The article discusses seven guidelines that create appropriate use of data mining technology. These guidelines include synching your IT infrastructure with the right data experts. Also, creating accurate segmentation and predictive models of the customers information or profile. As well as gathering the correct data for use in the system's models. Also utilizing the proper methods to collect and sort relevant data. Another important guideline is to have a speedy turnaround of the data. Also, continuous improvement is important find better ways to implement the processes. The final guideline mentioned is to find the proper IT employees to manage the data. The article proceeds to discuss five categories to utilize the information. These are classification, clustering, deviation detection, association and forecasting. The article predicts that over the next ten years there will be more attention paid to data mining to improve the guest experience and focus marketing initiatives. Data mining will be a critical tool to understand and utilize customers behaviors and patterns.

"Maybe it's easy to ignore the huge percentage of vintage gadgets that wind up torched in dicey scrap heaps in developing countries". This article was written on Feb-27-2020. The problem we saw on the old video is still very much a problem now, only bigger.

This article was super informative in the realm of E-waste. It covered every aspect of the issue and most definitely is relevant in today's world.

This article by Michael Toedt on "Data privacy matters in the hotel industry" speaks on the approaches that can be taken to protect guests' data and their privacy since these practices increase guests' trust and loyalty to companies. Accordingly, it is vital for hotels to securely store guests' information. Thankfully, CDM systems make it much simpler for hotel staff to manage data-related requests from clients, such as updating personal details. They also enable one-click deletions, preventing data disputes.

In Amazon's last quarter, net income dropped by 57 percent from a year ago. Sales for the three months before December 31 came out to $17.4 billion, lower than Wall Street expected over the traditionally busy holidy season. It is predicted that for the next quarter outlook, there could be anywhere from a gain of $100 million to a loss of $200 million. While Amazon continues to profit in sales of its best selling Kindle devices, there were a variety of factors that contirbuted to its losses. The flooding in Thailand slowed down production for many tech companies. Third-party sellers (which give a 13% commission to Amazon as oppsoed to 100% commission when Amazon sells themselves) were used more than usual. Promotions such as the Amazon Prime program which allows the customer to pay a fixed rate and get umlimited two-day shipping hurt the retailer hard over the busy holiday season with shipping costs. Other reasons were lower demand for skimwords

This particular article on hospitality and tourism accounting states that the global travel industry is expanding at an accelerated rate. Although there are high demands in corporate travel and high level of satisfaction in the economy, the ever growing industry is vulnerable to many risks given by its consumers. Just as much as the guests utilizing these hospitality services are becoming more pressing towards great prices and expressing concern in the quality of service they receive, hotel businesses are adamant about increasing awareness in cost and profit. To balance all these exclusive challenges, hotels are insisting on being educated and equipped with the most up-to-date technological advances to keep up with the ever demanding industry. With this in mind, the article states three methods to conquer the challenges faced today. The first method is to utilize a cloud based system to keep track of all the innumerous activities present to keep the business running. Due to the fact that a hotel is run by an overflowing amount of employees, all with different jobs and tasks, all using different systems respective to their departments, and require several types of pay (part-time, full-time, tipped employees) methods, it is a challenge to keep things efficient without a proper system. This is the reason why the article recommends using a cloud based system to keep track of the daily labor costs, overtime management, daily payroll transactions, and incorporate easy accessibility to reporting functions. The cloud based system will be beneficial in keeping everything in record beginning from the moment an employees clocks in to the end where they receive their paycheck, as well as, the ability to manage transactions. The second method is to centralize all the various sources of data. Hotels have a countless amount of data being stored. That can range from guest satisfaction satisfaction survey and comment reports, PMS data, to financial reports. With all these busy ac

The article discusses how hotels can overcome accounting obstacles. Firstly managing payroll is cumbersome, so a cloud-based reporting system can provide an easy way to monitor labour and manage overtime, and daily payroll transactions. Secondly, hotels have a difficult time to read data as data can come from a huge variety of sources: STR reports, PMS data, satisfaction surveys, comments. Hotels need a centralized dashboard which combines all critical accounting and performance data to assist hotels in making better decisions. Lastly, the article talks about hotels needing a back-up accounting team in case of disasters. In-house accounting teams may not be able to tackle on one-time event disasters and there must be a back-up team in place in times of urgency. The author, Scott Watson, executive vice president of sales and marketing at a cloud-based financial platform, sees that hotels are becoming more "cost and profit conscious" and I agree with him. Technology solutions are what hotels are craving right now to increase revenue, minimize costs, and maximize profits without sacrificing service quality.

This article helps guides hotels in how to overcome challenges when it comes to the accounting department in any situation that deals with staff tracking, how to decipher intricate data, and what to do in emergencies. The article details the usefulness of the Cloud and keeping track of staff members that are FOH and BOH that are both hourly and salary. That the accounting department could simply look them up in the cloud rather than searching through paperwork to understand exactly what their role is in the hotel and pay them accordingly. The article also goes over how having multiple centralized data sources can help accountants understand information from reports, guest satisfaction questionnaires, and other forms of reporting to pinpoint exactly what needs to be changed to become more efficient in the company. Lastly, the article covers how having back up accounting teams could be a definite positive just in case of emergencies (i.e. weather) so accounting can still be in progress no matter what situation occurs and the hotel can run smoothly.

The hospitality industry is a major target for cyberattacks, resulting in sensitive guest information being compromised. When these attacks happen it leaves guests restless, because they know or believe their information is not safe. This article discusses this issue and how security can be improved to avoid these attacks.

The article titled, "Improving data security in the hotel industry lets guests sleep peacefully" shows how the breach of data security can be anywhere. As technologies improve, so do ways in which cyber security can become at stake. According to this article, "Hotels are obligated to maintain the physical security of guests and their belongings during their stay-if guests don't feel safe staying in their room or leaving their belongings there, they won't continue to patronize that hotel brand. The same thinking applies to data security: If guests aren't convinced that the hotel is keeping their personal and financial data secure, they will take their business elsewhere". Thus, hotels need to make sure they are safeguarding information such as their payment information as well as other confidential information. Hackers are becoming even more sophisticated, where they can target specific industries, such as hotel industries since guests speak with hotel representatives over the phone to provide payment information. In the even that a hotel's data has been compromised, what is its responsibility? First, they should send the client a letter of apology, and then handle the complete process efficiently, so the client can at least feel they re supported. The avoidance and handling of data breach is becoming even more common nowadays with the rise of technology.

This article is related to IT security in hotels. Around six months back a panel of IT executives from Starwood Hotels, Hilton and other lodgings operators met at the LodgeNet's Customer Technology Symposium in Chicago to discuss on how protecting customer data is becoming their top priority. This type of situation was brought to a head earlier this year when marketing services giant Epsilon experienced a massive breach to its email systems. According to a SecurityWeek report, among those impacted by the breach were several hotel operators, including Hilton, Ritz-Carlton and Marriott. According to a 2010 Wall Street Journal report, the most common security vulnerability in hotels is point-of-sale software. Often, hotels do not require employees to change the default names and passwords of these programs, making it easier for hackers to break in and steal customer information. To overcome some of these and other concerns, McBeth said hotel operators are applying the best practices detailed by the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), which aims to address data security for businesses that handle payment cards. However, he admitted that the task of ensuring protection throughout an organization is difficult, given the number of channels where vulnerabilities could be uncovered. This being the case, it is encouraging to see some hotels are making moves to lock down their data security practices. There is clearly a great deal of work that needs to be done, but if a hotel can demonstrate it is capable of protecting customer information, it may be more likely to inspire confidence in consumers, which, in turn, could afford the hotel a competitive edge.

Its a tough task to monitor this, because at the end of the day, the responsibility is at the property level to ensure that data is secure across the board. So training employees on the importance of data security and what a breach means could go along way.

Accounting trends in the hospitality industry are always evolving with technology. Hotels are looking for technology that will catch their data and analyze it all while delivering it in a more user friendly app. Apps, Automation & Analytics are the A's of hotel accounting and technology.

Accounting cannot be without data. In my opinion it is mainly about data analysis. With automation and analytics, it will be more reliable and descriptive. Apps helps mainly in its portability and time efficiency.

The article talks about three future trends called A's - apps, automation, and analytics. It makes examples of their function and works. In my opinion, the A's can use in any industry, not only in hospitality. They can help us work more efficiently and shorter working hours.

Article explores the uses of data mining in hospitality. How when used effectively data mining can result in the creation of strategic sales and marketing plans that improve customer satisfaction and retention. Author also discusses the importance of data security and warehousing throughout the phases of executing a "big data strategy."

I believe every business, especially if it is a huge corporation, should protect and control their company's data. A company's data falling into the wrong hands can be a huge drawback for the company, especially if it comes into contact with a competitor. This article explains how IBM have introduced a new security tool with Big Data to identify any suspicious internal and external security threats as well as flag any company secrets from displease employee's emails and their social medias. The new system can alert any frauds and risks from decade worth of emails, financial transactions, and websites. CIOs will be able to conduct a sentiment analysis on employees to see which worker is the most likely to expose company's information. Some can argue that employees have the right to post anything on their social media's accounts but if an employee still is employed by the company then it should be all bets off. The company should have all rights in making sure their information does not get leaked out by an employee who is simply having a bad day.

The article talks deeply in NDC from the past to now and is very clear about how it works. NDC can help airlines to know the need for customs and without the commission. I think one day, NDC can instead of GDS, but it still needs to take such a long time.

This article covers the research behind and design of software implemented in the Czech Republic to monitor visitor activity in protected areas. The software is designed to act as a "tour guide" and keeps track of visitors through satellite positioning. The article discusses the process by which this software would be developed, rationale for its implementation, and consumer data that may be collected through this process that would benefit National Parks and other protected areas. Theoretical questions in regard to human interaction, privacy concerns, and effectiveness of the application in low-service areas are discussed. Though the application requires more research and strict attention to variables, its implementation worldwide could change how sustainable tourism is managed and would provide important information on consumer habits in protected areas.

Visit Florida has announced they are coming out with a new, free certificate and training for hospitality employees. Due to the increase in Florida tourism, they will launch this new program to hopefully keep more tourists coming back because of the remarkable hospitality they received. Tourism is up from 2012 and they feel 2014 will surpass 2013, which the state welcomed 93.7 million visitors. That being said, this is a great opportunity for our industry. This will open so many doors for event planners and other hotel positions to help with the increasing tourism and being able to cater to their needs.

Backup and recovery describes the process of creating and storing copies of data that can be used to protect organizations against data loss. This is sometimes referred to as operational recovery. The purpose of the backup is to create a copy of data that can be recovered in the event of a primary data failure. Primary data failures can be the result of hardware or software failure, data corruption, or a human-caused event. Storing the copy of the data on separate medium is critical to protect against primary data loss or corruption. This additional medium can be as simple as an external drive or USB stick. The possibility of weather-related events may justify having copies of data at remote locations. For best results, backup copies are made on a consistent, regular basis to minimize the amount data lost between backups.