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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.

Property Management System functions are commonly used in the hotel and hospitality management software. These functions are responsible for conserving room inventory, maintaining housekeeping status of rooms, checking out guests, and maintaining guest portfolios. PMS has not only started its new software but has also been establishing great doubt and confusion in the minds of IT managers and the decision makers. In evaluating hotel hospitality software they focus on ROI and Total Cost of Ownership. The ROI provides the cost and motivation for investing into the software and also carries intangible assets associated with such decision. The Total Cost of Ownership is basically used to help businesses assess the direct and indirect costs associated with information technology purchases. Consequently, having a lower TCO and a higher ROI are the true defining criteria for the right software choice, which emphasizes not only the benefits but also the intangible need to be considered before making big IT decisions. With this rapidly changing industry, hoteliers should always look for property management tools that will assist in the operations, automate procedures, reduce the risk of human errors and give hoteliers ample time to attend guests.

This article was about all of the steps hospitality companies have to go through in order to pick the best PMS. Due to the high capacity of Property Management Systems coming from Canada and Europe, decision makers are having a hard time filtering out which ones will be beneficial to the company. Project managers should calculate the ROI and the TCO in order to see how profitable the system will make them.

This article is a result of qualitative research that was conducted in the hospitality industry properties in Ghana. The authors interviewed several hotel HR managers to analyze how HRIS influenced the manpower activities in the company. Among the rationales of using HRIS in the hotels, the following were mentioned: HRIS gives general and holistic knowledge about operations (this information could be shared with other departments); gathers data to improve decision-making process; provides a variety of reports to boost organizational and administrative functions. One of the opportunities that were mentioned was identifying strategically important key staff and preparing successors for them. HRIS also finds the unfilled positions and selects the most appropriate candidacy who is later trained and waits his turn to succeed. Talent management within the company was named the most important part of the system. The advantages of the HRIS include a possibility to fill a position fast with promoting the right trained person to the team. The research identified the challenges of the HRIS in the hospitality field such as forecasting demand and supply of labor, access to information, cost of recruitment and workforce shortage. However, HRIS is extremely important for maintaining the functional waiting list for training programs so that the pipeline of new employees could be implemented and appropriate training for the right persons in the right time would be made. The holistic nature of the HRIS was outlined in the article making it crucial for management and no-management personnel to understand the new working realities.

Interesting article! The author appeals hotel managers to stop, look and listen before investe hotel teches. He point that in-room technology makes provide a good experience for the guests however the hotel owner have to pay much and the ROI decreased. In addition the writer notice that the manager should understand the real demands of travelers instead of installing high-end devices in the guest room.

No matter in what kind of biz, before we make a decision to adopt new technology, it's better to do a SWOT analysis at first. In the hospitality industry, everything related to the relationship with people. What kind of service will accept by customers and what's the best method to provide are the basic questions need to be answered before take a new investment approach. In this artical, it piont out to be wait and see before tacking a new investment. There are some benifits to do this. 1, save money. 2, get the experience from others. 3, lower risk. No matter what kind of method you take, the basic rule is making decision from customer perspective.

This article is talking about the Aptech computer system. Aptech is a all-round system that includes the accounting, forecasting and planning system. The Aptech system costs less money and less maintenance. Customers can easily operate this system for data backup or finance activities. Using this system people do not need to calculate the operation statement, the long-term plan and business budget by hand. They can use the Aptech system to do these conveniently and easily.

Aptech Computer Systems is the leading provider of hospitality software for business intelligence and enterprise financial accounting. On February 25, 2013, 4 hotel companies (Alps Group Inc., Magnolia Hospitality Group, Gemini Real Estate Advisors and the Acqualina Resort and Spa) with a total of 17 properties, chose Aptech's solutions to achieve greater profitability.  With solutions to enable quick and accurate decision-making, Aptech has been distinguished as the only provider of a fully integrated accounting, business intelligence and planning hotel software suite available to the members of the hospitality industry. 

As mobile devices become more advanced, particularly cell phones and tablet devices, more pressure to keep up with mobile and social trends is placed on the hospitality industry. People are using their mobile devices more now than they have in the past. So much so, that "two thirds of Americans sleep with their mobile device in range, something we cannot say about desktops". A world of information is at your fingertips because of the capability of mobile devices. Information that can help us make decisions about anything. Even last-minute decisions about hotels and food. More people are using their mobile devices to book rooms and many of the people that do this, are booking a hotel for the same night. The fact most of the people who do this are under 30 means that it is very likely that this trend will increase. People are expecting the technology to be there so that they can pick a hotel and a restaurant to go to if they are unfamiliar with a city. They are expecting a hotel chain to have a mobile site or better yet an "app" that will not only allow them to book a room, but, one that will give them directions from where they are to the hotel. The same can be said for restaurants. Potential customers want to be able to look over the menu and determine if they want to come to the restaurant, all from their mobile device. Mobile guests are also using customer review sites to determine where they will lodge or dine. They are using sites like TripAdvisor which allows you to post comments about your stay. The sight even allows the guests to post pictures. "Customer reviews are also important to the hotel industry, but the jury is still out on exactly how hotels should react with people who post reviews." It is always great when a guest posts a positive review of the hotel, but imagine how one bad stay could tarnish a hotels reputation. And what if there are cleanliness issues that the guest can photograph and upload to the site? Exactly what to do in this type of e

Nowadays, according to the Motorola Solutions 2011 Hospitality Market Barometer, nearly all hospitality decision makers are aware of the importance of mobile and wireless technology and recognize the role that mobility plays. So the hospitality industry begin to invest more money in IT industry. Actually, technology really helps the hospitality industry a lot, it improves sales and productivity, streamlines operations and increases customer satisfaction in the near-term.

This article talk about Intercontinental hotels group is the largest hotel group worldwide by measuring the number of room. IHG produced a mobile-optimised site so visitors could check availability and book rooms at nearby IHG hotels. This hotel brand also uses the mobile to increase the income. IHG's interactive marketing manager, Marco De Rosa says that revenue from mobile search increase by 91% year over year over specially using text aimed at most mobile users. Lately, IHG launched the Priority club reward app for both iOS and Android platforms which offer a easy way to customers to search and book their rooms. IHG takes mobile very seriously, and its "test and learn" approach is providing insights and better decision-making. Mobile technology does bring lots of benefit for hotel organizations. Later, it is a trend for hotel decision maker to invest more money for mobile web and mobile app development.

Coastal Hotel Group implemented the IDeaS Revenue Management System (RMS) to maintain speed and accuracy across revenue strategies. The new system allows the director of revenue management more time for analyzing trends and making more strategic revenue decisions because the revenue management process is simplified and expedited, providing market information quickly and easily. Although the system doesn't replace human insight, its complex algorithms and ability to pull data multiple times a day provides Coastal Hotel Group with a clear vision of hotel data, making it easier to book the right guest at the right time for the right rate. In addition, the IDeaS RMS automatically uploads rate shopping reports from vendors and uses competitors' data to create the best available rate decisions. In today's fast-paced, interconnected business environment, the new automated revenue management system can provide a quick and intelligent reaction to various market conditions in order to capitalize on consumer behavior. That can be a strong competitive edge of the Coastal Hotel Group properties. 

Six of the largest hospitality firms around the world (Hilton Worldwide, InterContinental Hotels Group Choice Hotels International, Hyatt Hotels Corporation, Marriott International, and Wyndham Hotel Group) have joint to create a new online hotel search engine. Roomkey.com is the name of this new search engine and its main purpose is to enhance the hotel booking experience for customers. As it is described in the article Roomkey.com expects to differentiate itself from other search engines by providing accurate information straight from the source. They believe choosing a hotel is a personal decision and the more information customers can feel more confident in there booking decision. In the near future it is intended for this page to be an interactive site where people can comment and plan or compare their vacations with others. At the beginning it will focus only in U.S travelers and then it will expand to English speaking countries.

Summary: This article is about a study done at Ecole Hoteliere de Lausanne on the investment of PMS training and its relationship to a hotels performance. The study resulted in positive correlations between PMS training and revenues. Opinion: Training employees on the PMS seems like common sense but most hotels do not believe it is necessary. This study and its results make perfect sense but I am also a little surprised by the significant increase in revenues that is created from properly training employees on PMS. 

This article is about a current study, in which about 150 mid-scale and up-scale hotels around the world answer the questionnaire. This study analyzes the relationship between PMS training and business performance, and the investment in training in PMS. Although every hotel manager knows the PMS is the key factor for hotels development, not only for getting customer data but also for decision making. The result shows that most of PMS system in hotel have not been made full used, there are many potential abilities can't be exploited. According to the study, most hotels don't have budget on PMS training. And also 32% of hotels don't provide training to all employees on the PMS. Plus, even they have training, it is very short and just in internal, no using the PMS providers. This study also shows us the hotels have a higher level of occupancy when they allocate more budgets on PMS training and have PMS suppliers training. There is also a relationship between PMS training budget and hotel revenues, the more budget on training bring a higher revenues. And the revenues are much higher than budgets. Hotels also need efficient management of PMS training, which means more revenues and full use of PMS.

The property management system is a tool not only is customer data but it can also help strategic and operational decision making. The study undertaken investigates the investments in training in PMS and the relationship between training and business performance. A big majority has no training or offer a very little training. There is a support that underutilization of the PMS is due to the lack of training. There is a higher occupancy level when hotels allocate higher budgets to PMS trainings. There is a significant positive correlation that shows a relationship between PMS budget and the gross operating revenues of hotels.

As the topic suggests information is the key for decision making in any business. Computerized modern information technology should make this process much quicker and more efficient. But, of course, as the old saying goes "Garbage in Garbage out." So it is a combination of the Right People and the Right System that makes a business successful. Computers cannot replace men. Good people along with a good computerized system is necessary. The software used for any hospitality business needs to be tailored to the specific needs of that organization depending on whether they primarily sell just room service or whether they offer a lot of food and beverage service or other services. Good I.T personnel should have good knowledge of all three components: System (flow of each activity), Software (that translate the activity in measurable terms both quantitatively and qualitatively) and Hardware (media through which we can see these activities) To achieve this at least two months of training should be done, of which one month must be on the job training. Once an appropriate mix of competent people and a good system is set up this should reflect in guest satisfaction, staff satisfaction, management satisfaction and owner satisfaction.

This article talks about how important software is in the hospitality management industry and the different types of software that particularly businesses may use to best serve their needs. Property Management Systems provide a whole host of functions for hotels, including keeping track of guests checking in and out, monitoring room charges, and supervising the housekeeping of rooms. Because this software is so vital to the hospitality industry, there has been an upsurge by software companies trying to make their mark in the industry, which has led to a market fragmentation due to the numerous options available. This also puts a strain on managers, as there is much confusion about which software is best and the most cost-effective. There is a system to determining which management software best suits any particular company. Two key features in this process are the ROI, Return on Investment, and TCO, Total Cost of Ownership. ROI provides a cost-benefit analysis of a particular software with regards to the speed with which a company will make the money back that they invested in it, as well as the numerous features that a company would need from the software. TCO is an analysis that companies use to accurately ascertain the costs of the software. Companies should seek a lower TCO and a higher ROI when making any software purchase decisions. Because the technology market is ever changing, companies must stay up-to-date with the newest software in order to provide the best service for, and to keep up with the demands of, their guests. This can be exemplified with the recent trend in cloud-based PMS.

This journal article looks at MIS systems in hotels. The author's purport that the hotel industry is growing exponentially and that if management teams are to remain competitive, they must have information available, in real time, to support their decisions. Additionally, they believe information regarding individuals who book rooms for business or pleasure, often enable managers to offer personal services to their travelers. Companies who are able to afford software or MIS managers can see a gain in repeat business and travelers based on their ability to deliver gold standard service and amenities that will differentiate them from their competition.

According to 2020 Cybersecurity Trends to Watch, organizations that are attacked by ransomware are frequently impacted to a degree where operations may completely come to halt. Cytelligence has handled a significant number of cases where recovering from a ransomware attack is a very long process and getting data back and systems operational is only one step in the process. In addition, the increase in scammers presents a problem as there are several organizations making promises that cannot technically be true, but during the time of crisis, some of the structured decision-making processes are thrown out the window.These same decision-making processes are not structured to remove emotional decisions which are very prevalent during a ransomware event and may result in a decision that is not business focused and support sound economic outcomes. For example, if a company is suffering $100,000 in losses for every hour of being unable to operate, then a ransom demand of $200,000 which is equivalent to 2 hours of an outage should be considered in terms of costs and possible future business impact.

GDSs continue to lose market share so they need to step up their game to pick it back up again. With airlines and hotels constantly trying to get bookings direct they are losing out. They need to try and get their networks in sync. Companies like Sabre are trying to improve their platform to make it more user friendly and better content. The GDSs are trying to get on board as many accommodations as possible to increase the customers choosing their networks to use to book. The more bookings they get the more attractive they look to providers.

Sabre Travel Network, a large GDS company is responding to loss in lodging distribution. Sabre is accomplishing this by competing with rival GDS platforms who have made deals with booking.com. The deals have afforded rival companies such as Amadeus 30% more in accommodation traffic. Amadeus increased their market visibility by expanding their customer base for those looking for beach, resort, and leisure content. Sabre is looking to stretch their lodging distribution by normalizing data with usability studies which is help agents make faster booking decisions. The belief is that the decision will eventually expand Sabre as the default GDS platform.

When well-intentioned plans go awry, you must be able to rebound and redirect your plans and goals in a new way.

We see that this article shares with us three ways in which we can stay ahead of the curve. they broke it down by saying we need to 1. Anticipate- not only whats coming next, but also the play. 2.Capture-Taking action, understanding the new thing, idea or concept. 3. Lead- with decisive leadership you are not going to succeed in moving your team forward,

It is a smart article that linked baseball with business moves. It mentioned 3 things needed to stay ahead of the curve of business. The things were 1. Anticipate: know the transitions ahead and try to respond to them. 2. Capture: realize what needed to do and try to fulfill the needs. In business, customers are barometers. Businessmen need to capture the needs of customers and satisfy them. 3. Lead: to be a leader and make bold decisions to move the team forward in the business. Leaders also need to find out the best path. It sounds like "no guts, no glory."

The article outlines the importance of the management information systems. The significances, functions, types, considerations and misconceptions are discussed. The first sentence of the article which is highlighted in yellow is the most crucial part of the article. MIS does not function as one entity, MIS works to service the entire set of business processes and resources within an organization. As MIS combines information from multiple system it gathers an array of information. The more suitable information, the more data that is available to be retrieved in order to assist with positive decision making. The data gathered by MIS is critical for managers. As MIS offers a full circle approach the manager has all the tools available to make a final decision. As noted in the article the primary function of MIS is to help managers take action and answer questions. The article notes MIS is created based on business needs. As no two businesses are 100 percent alike there would be differences in MIS depending on the needs of your organization. MIS should only be used and put into action if it makes business sense for the organization. If the costs will not return positive numbers MIS may not be the option for our organization. If MIS is suitable and has the ability to assist with your daily activities it may be a positive solution for your business. The article ends its overview with misconceptions. One misconception revolving around MIS is that for success to be driven all data must to be used. While it is positive to have an array of information it should always be the manager's role to take in the information and use it as necessary.

This is a different kind of "SmartBar" then the "SmartBartender" discussed this week. SmartBar LT is a software based solutions for bar owners to allow them to make better decisions managing their bar. It allows bar managers to track real time store performance as well as the latest trends regionally, nationally or globally. Mangers can use this data to make intelligent orders directly within the platform. One particularly useful feature in COVID-19 era is that allows for "Contactless Menus" to be generated that are up to date, sanitary for customers and staff, and reduce printing costs.

This article takes you through why your restaurant may want to switch to a Cloud-Based POS. There are many positive attributes associated with making the switch, such as; data accessibility, cheaper operating costs, easier upgrades, less frequent downtimes, increased security, and adaptability. If you are a growing business, the Cloud would grow with you.

Cloud based POS systems can be apprehensive at first, but we are always satisfied once we are able to se the technology work to keep the business safe, effiecient and also more profitable. Cloud based POS systems are speedy and saves a lot of time which frees up staff to do other things in the establishment.

This article discussed the benefits of switching from a localized POS system to a cloud-based restaurant POS. The article touched on how cloud-based systems provide real-time data and how that instant data could provide a management team real-time solutions. You can save so much time and money by identifying issues before they even arrive. I found it very interesting that with cloud-based systems you have the "ability to add on a mobile POS unit that provides a number of benefits." With this option, your servers do not have to run back and forth to a POS station. They simply have the option in the palm of their hands. It also decreases the time spent waiting for a check or credit card to return to the table. This not only increases guest satisfaction, but helps with table turnover. The article also touched on how cloud-based POS systems are "better enabled to grow with you." They are super adaptable and the article mentioned that restaurants can update their menu whenever, launch new loyalty programs, and help with more precise inventory tracking. This article also touched on setup, increased security, staff accountability, and the ability to make better business decisions due to the cloud software being able to provide extensive business insights. Finally, the article touched on POS cost and how " upfront costs are kept to a minimum and monthly subscription fees are lower." It also ended with a case study about Homegrown Hospitality Group and their switch from Aloha to Upserve Cloud-based POS. It was very interesting and I'd recommend everyone read the brief two paragraphs about how the switch changed their business trajectory.