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Point of Sale (POS) equipment is the computer-based order-entry technology many restaurants use to capture orders, record data and display or print tickets. Restaurant servers, bartenders and cashiers can all use POS systems to easily enter food and beverage orders.In fact,it has the ability to perform a multitude of functions, including the following: Calculate cash due for every order entered Record the method of payment Keep track of the cash in the cash drawer Create hourly and daily sales reports Allow hourly employees to clock in and out Calculate labor and payroll data Record daily check averages for each worker Keep track of menu items sold Record information on repeat customers Some of them we are familiar, some we are not. And more important, how to choose a right POS for our business is a keyEvery POS system differs based on its software, hardware and application. When looking for a POS system, do some research online and check out several different companies. You can even request a demo from a salesperson. Make sure the POS system you choose is one that fits your restaurant concept, service style and business needs. After all, this software can take a big bite out of your budget. And in this article, the author show us so many aspects should be concern when we decide to buy the POS.

The point of sale (POS) is more commonly used these days with the advancement of technology. Many restaurants use it in restaurants for many reasons. One of the reasons is to organize the orders and sales that are being processes. Not only it helps the employees to gather their information, but it is also accurate to make reports. This machine is efficient in more ways than we think. This article also point out the POS capabilities and how it works. This machine has a description of each item and the amount, it organizes the payments, creates daily financial statement, evaluate payroll, and do the calculations. Now how it works, it keeps track of the credit card payments that have entered the system, creates reports daily, and systematize the cash, etc. It is very easy for employees to access the device. First they have to enter their name, enter the order of the customer, send the order to the kitchen so it can be prepared, then wait till they ask for the check to collect the payment and register it on the POS.

This article indicates the importance of the POS system. It introduces POS system from different aspects, including POS capabilities, how employees use POS system, where to set up the POS, specific POS configurations and what to look for in a POS system. 

The company Aptech Financial Solutions software has been recently chosen by eight different hotel companies. The software is back end accounting software which its investors believe to be the best in the business. The company has brought along over 120 plus new hotels in their recent acquirement including Summit Hotel Properties who has over 80 hotels. The company offers three different solutions to all your back end hospitality industry needs; Profitvue, Targetvue, and Execuvue.

"When you go to SignUpGenius.com, you'll find services catering to the needs of eight different groups. There are schools, looking for help with organizing parent-teacher conferences, class volunteers, and events such as book fairs. Churches and temples can get help with scheduling nursery workers and greeters. Nonprofits can organize donations and fundraisers. Other groups are clubs and groups, sports, business, family and college. The idea is to attract a range of users, from parents organizing car pools to businesses coordinating employee training schedules. "By going broad, we still haven't scratched the surface," said Angel Rutledge, who is married to Dan and is the chief marketing officer. SignUpGenius' users are 78 percent female, and 80 percent are between the ages of 25 and 54. "Our primary user is a mom with kids," says marketing strategist Kate White. "Most people tend to find us through their kids' activities." Monthly fees range from free to $49.99, where users can get additional features such as cloud file storage and access by multiple administrators. These subscription services were significant, Dan Rutledge says, "because we jumped into the organizational level, from coach to league, from teacher to school." While the Rutledges don't disclose specific financial information of the private company, other numbers illustrate its growth. Revenue in August 2015 increased 225 percent over August 2014, according to the company. Between 120,000 and 190,000 events are organized per month, with a groundswell in August and September, when the school year begins. In 2014, SignUpGenius says 1.4 million new sign-up pages were created. Traffic rose 35 percent last year, to 39.9 million visitors. And the company has grown from 13 employees this spring, to 20 now." This article illustrates the idea of on the event planning and I.T. programs working handing in handing. As an example, the article uses the company SignUpGenius wh

http://www.capetown.travel/blog/entry/real-world_e-marketing_implementation_insights_from_global_agencies/ This article is a summary of a roundtable meeting between four top online agency leaders. It introduced their thoughts and insights about e-marketing. These marketing, communications and creative agencies help build brands, find customers, manage reputations and convert awareness into profitable purchases. They discussed the key advantages of online media, difference in marketing tourism products and services compared to those in other industries, how it is different to market to a travel consumer as opposed to other consumers, the primary challenge facing in creating online experiences in tourism, whether branded company websites are on longer the most valuable online presence or not, the relation between video and conversion rates and the ways companies monitor and track their brand appearing in cutting-edge social media.

This article is definition of telecommunication network. It introduces the basic segments of telecommunication network, and lists the types of telecommunication network. At the last, it also offers some example to show the telecommunication network. From this article, I can know the function of terminals, channels, processors, computers and control soft wares. And there are three main components in the structure of telecommunication network. According to the different geographic area, the telecommunication network has different types.

This article talks about how more and more people in the hospitality industry are using a POS based-cloud instead of hardwire systems. According to some experts in some years most of the hospitality industry would have change into using the cloud. For now most of the users of the cloud are single unit restaurants as it is an easy system to adopt and cost efficient. On the other side for chain restaurants to make this change can be costly; therefore it is believed that it will take some time for them to change. Still some people believe that this can be an unreliable and unsecured system. Some of the reasons for this are: -The lack of privacy; as the data will be in the hands of somebody else. -This system relies on the internet so when a connection problem occurs a downtime would take place creating complications for the restaurant operator. According to experts and users both of these ideas can be debated. Leaving the data handling in the hand of experts can bring advantages and lower the costs. On the other hand when the internet fails if the correct backup measures are taken it has no difference with the hardware system.

This article talks about the benefits of POS in cloud, and eliminates some misunderstanding about its downtime and security concerns. The author start selling POS in cloud by pointing out the trend that it is becoming more accepted. CEO and president of the Retail Solutions Providers Association (RSPA) says it will be mainstream in the next two to five years. Though POS in cloud would be a easy set up and cost saving solution for a starting up single-unit,"Large chains are more likely to turn to cloud applications for business intelligence solutions first because there is not as much investment or change in infrastructure compared to the POS" says Dave Matthews. But since multi-unit chains have already invested lots of money in the old POS, they are going to wait for those POS pay back before they switch to POS in cloud. Then author switched to what concern people most about cloud computing, downtime and security. A cloud based POS can have as reliable backup plan as a hardwired system. Although POS in cloud does not have backup servers in the location which should be provided by vendor, it can have several connection backups, like wireless, 3G or 4G, phone line. And about the security concern, just ask yourself is you have the security system than a technology vendor.

This article is talking about a distribution system called Amadeus. It gives agents easy access to a hotel listing and view its multiple offers from different source, which is similar to Google hotel finder. however, a day after the announcement of this system, HRS announcing to all hotel partners a commission increase from 13% to 15%

This article introduces brief suggestions about how to select a hospitality call accounting system. And the best way is to have a checklist identifying requirements in descending order from mandatory through to "nice to have." Such as, (1). A call accounting software package must be proven and specific to the hospitality industry. (2). Because of the VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) PBX (private branch exchange) has now superseded the TDM (time-division-multiplexing) PBX, so the solution needs to be compatible with hotels' existing PBX and whatever comes along in the future. (3). Hotels should choose different call accounting systems based on Single-site or multi-site businesses they have. (4). And the hospitality call accounting systems should integrate seamlessly with all major accounting software packages. (5). Software updates should be provided regularly (6). Competent 24x7 support is essential to assure hotels cost recovery and protect against revenue loss. (7). Software is easy to use and clearly but succinctly documented due to the high turnover of staff in hotels. And a web interface is a nice to have, but not an essential feature. Of course the best choice can vary because of different operation in hotels.

For hotel managers, there are dozens of hospitality call accounting options to choose from and depending on the nature of a particular operation the best solution will vary. This article offers a checklist for selecting a hospitality call accounting system.

E-marketing is pretty much an enhancer to revenue management, sustainability in tourism specially in development companies. Nonetheless, e- marketing also encourages individuals to do their booking for hotels and flights via the internet and trains bookers to learn about the search engines when booking flights. In essence, e- marketing encourages to learn about different types of search engines that are available to individuals for traveling and it benefits the different advertising companies as well as the travelers.

Hospitality Finance and Technology Professionals (HFTP) is creating an accounting system users guide to create a global resource for the hospitality finance industry. This is going to be a great resource for companies to use as a benchmark when compiling accounts, comparing differences with competitors and defining the value of their operation. Although it will not be used as mandatory protocol that all companies must abide by, it is a great tool to use as guidance. It will consist of a glossary, accounting charts and provide examples.

This article explains how the hospitality industry is taking their own twist on accounting. Similar to GAAP, the hospitality industry will use the Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals' (HFTP) global hospitality accounting system users guide. HFTP is a global professional association dedicated to financial and personal in the industry. It is implementing a benchmark that stakeholders can use to gather accounts, compare regional differences, and set the value of operations. It will have a glossary of inventory terminology, charts, and benchmark specific regions of the world. HFTP plans to create this in 3 steps. The first step is to gather bachelor students at Ecole Hoteliere De Laudanne to gather data from hotel operations and assemble the terms. The second step is to distribute the data to regional teams that will create sample charts of accounts for the local areas. The third step is to discuss similarities and differences in allocations. I think this great for the hotel industry because will have a common accounting principle to reference to. It will allow hotels to better be indexed and compared to one another.

This article talks about the importance of technology in the hospitality industry and gives introduction of the property management systems and its application in hotels.

The article highlights what Pegasus Solutions can offer their customers, and who those clients are tending to be. Pegasus Solutions offers many different pieces of software for an affordable rate to their customers and this is a large reason as to why customers are using their services. It also touches on a few differences in Western hotel business and Indian hotel business.

Reference customers vs Advocate customer extends on topic posed when organizations consider customer reference program (CRP), and/or customer relationship management (CRM) including those evaluating social media efficiency by way of reference customers. While CRP is classically found used in b2b channel trend is to utilize same concept across market channels. Post includes discussion based on semantic difference/benefit between the two and the concept benefit of customers as brand champions, influencers, and evangelists.

In this article, mobile POS systems are discussed. Popularity of these devices such as iPad and other tablets are constantly growing. Point of sale computers can cost upwards of $20,000 which is a pretty penny for a restaurant. If restaurants were to switch to tablets and mobile POS systems, the cost wouldn't be the only benefit. With the iPads and tablets, owners and managers can track how many guests enter the restaurant on a daily basis. Inventory is kept up-to-date and is easily accessible for corporations. An interesting point made in the article is "In the same way that some customers continue to write checks in an age of online banking, some merchants will continue to use the older point-of-sale systems out of habit." The times are changing and technology is improving every day. The mobile POS systems allow for small businesses especially to use the money saved for something that can benefit the restaurant- perhaps new equipment for the kitchen. This article describes a program that PayPal recently began to offer. PayPal agreed " to waive transaction fees for the remainder of the year if a business replaces its cash register with an iPad operating PayPal's free mobile-payment technology." The top three tablet POS systems are Groupon, Square and NCR. Each of these have their pros and cons, but over all, they are significantly less expensive than the only bulky POS system.

Being a technology kid it is interesting to see how things use to be even just a few short years ago. The different 10 years can make in the POS systems restaurants use is a huge. As times continue to change, most restaurants will be going from POS terminals to POS tablets. Changing to tablets is much more cost effective especially for smaller businesses that need to save wherever possible. Just like when POS terminals came out, there are now a number of tablet POS systems to choose from. Big companies like Groupon and Square have POS systems created for different hospitality segments. Although there are some wonderful creations with the tablets, this form of technology is not made for every business. It gave an example of a company who opened with tablets but within a year forked over much more for the traditional POS system.

Technology has taken a huge toll on society and business now a day. If our business is keeping itself updated with technology, could mean we are at the top of our game. This article briefly  demonstrates how Beacons can help improve your business by providing how, when and where are customers behaving. For example, Beacons allow customers to order-ahead of time. It attracts a different clientele and allows us to gain others because of a shorter or no waiting time. Like an express line. But  it may become a challenge if the business doesn't know how to ensure a time-effective preparation before customers arrive. Beacons also allow customers to know exactly how much people are at that exact time at the restaurant or business, and thus waiting time, if any. Another advantage would be "push-customized notifications". I believe this is one of the most challenging for businesses. Customers (as myself) hate when we get attacked by too much notifications.  If it were useful in any way or if it called my attention every now and then, but companies apparently don't pay attention to how customers may feel.  It is very important to use the access wisely and give out information customers really want. Offer what they are looking for, by personalizing. It also helps to attract customers by promoting events or special offers and notifying via beacons. People like a place they can see as happy and fun. Also, who doesn't like discounts? A fifth advantage, and as I believe to be one of the best ways to retain and gain customers, is to reward the customer who passes by every now and then, with personalized dishes, and reward first time customers by attracting them with discounts specifically for them. And finally, another must consider, is that beacons help keep track of everything (all happening at a specific given time) to better improve employee wages and specifics of customers that are out-and-about.

Technology has taken a huge toll on society and business now a day. If our business is keeping itself updated with technology, could mean we are at the top of our game. This article briefly demonstrates how Beacons can help improve your business by providing how, when and where are customers behaving. For example, Beacons allow customers to order-ahead of time. It attracts a different clientele and allows us to gain others because of a shorter or no waiting time. Like an express line. But it may become a challenge if the business doesn't know how to ensure a time-effective preparation before customers arrive. Beacons also allow customers to know exactly how much people are at that exact time at the restaurant or business, and thus waiting time, if any. Another advantage would be "push-customized notifications". I believe this is one of the most challenging for businesses. Customers (as myself) hate when we get attacked by too much notifications. If it were useful in any way or if it called my attention every now and then, but companies apparently don't pay attention to how customers may feel. It is very important to use the access wisely and give out information customers really want. Offer what they are looking for, by personalizing. It also helps to attract customers by promoting events or special offers and notifying via beacons. People like a place they can see as happy and fun. Also, who doesn't like discounts? A fifth advantage, and as I believe to be one of the best ways to retain and gain customers, is to reward the customer who passes by every now and then, with personalized dishes, and reward first time customers by attracting them with discounts specifically for them. And finally, another must consider, is that beacons help keep track of everything (all happening at a specific given time) to better improve employee wages and specifics of customers that are out-and-about.

Creative and a bit scary application of existing technologies. Much like Facebook Messenger, when do we cross the line between convenience and forfeiture of privacy? As part of the industry, the responsibility falls to us to manage the line in favor of our guests. They will know when it has become too much, and we will know very soon after when business evaporates. Provide friendly, targeted service without being too invasive. Remembering orders and having them ready on time is fine. Sending a pop-up message every time the guest passes by in a cab may be a bit much. Consider how many Starbucks messages you could receive in any major metropolitan area. Without proper care, we could be giving a whole new meaning to the word Spam.

All of the big three global distribution systems were still expanding as well as increasing productivity and revenue as of June 2014. Amadeus, Sabre and Travelport have each made significant moves in the hospitality industry, although primarily for airlines. Amadeus is by far the largest and currently most successful GDS with the highest profit, booking volume, and market share (air travel). As of 2014 Southwest Airlines was their biggest client, but they provide GDS services and access to over 100 other airlines as well. Sabre is second best to Amadeus. The company elected to go public in 2014 and since then their billable bookings, booking share and growth have all increased modestly. During the same year they gained American Airlines, newly reformed at the time, as a client. Presently, the company expects continued improvement in revenue. Travelport has made the decision not to compete directly with Amadeus or Sabre in that they have chosen not to provide "full passenger services systems to airline on a multi-host basis." However the company is still working closely with Delta Airlines and researching "add-on" features with their main focus being the continued growth of "beyond air" activities. Honestly, I was shocked that Amadeus is the largest and most successful GDS. I truly expected it to be Sabre. This belief was based on what I have personally experienced: every OTA I have used required a link to the Sabre GDS, but I can only recall one that required one to the Amadeus GDS. After reading the chapter 8 of D.V. Tesone's "Hospitality Information Systems and E-Commerce, along with the research report from our discussion forum I have changed my paradigm. Regardless, GDSs are still used widely in the hospitality industry. Different segments of the market prefer to book in different ways: via offline Travel Agents, OTAs, hotel websites or on the phone. Those that use either form of TA are using a GDS.

Leisure guests tend to book for themselves with rare exceptions including some forms of international travel and cruise travel. These guests use OTAs or intermediaries such as Travelocity (Owned by a GDS company) or TravelZoo. In the case of TravelZoo, a guest uses the TravelZoo website to access information such as availability and pricing that TravelZoo pulls from a GDS before making a selection and processing a transaction. On the other hand, business and corporate travelers are more likely to use an offline TA. An offline TA is better equipped to meet the needs of a customer whom is travelling for business. Offline TAs require less information when booking a hotel room then an OTA does, making it simple for a secretary to book the travel arrangements for the guest. In addition, offline TAs can work easily with a hotel to make special accommodations. The hotel receives contact information for the travel agency that booked the stay in case clarifications on requests are needed. In conclusion, as long as either form of TA is in the market, a GDS will be necessary to streamline bookings and ensure that each TA has the correct pertinent information when making a booking or completing a transaction. As a result, as new OTA options or hospitality enterprises enter the market GDSs are continuing to morph, merge and grow.

Security has different meanings in different countries and is extremely important in creating and maintaining international leisure travel. In the United States this means technology: security cameras and monitoring, rapid communication and response technology. In developing countries such as Nigeria, the security conversation centers around much more primitive ideas. "A hospitality and tourism consultant, Emeka Attamah, has made a case for the establishment of 'Local Tourist Security'…in Nigeria." This idea centers on the belief that locals should be involved in the policing of public places because they are well versed in the terrain and the criminals that operate in these areas and are therefore in the best position to fish them out. After all, the success or failure of a tourism destination depends largely in part on how safe tourists perceive the destination to be. The idea of a Local Tourist Security in countries such as Nigeria means recruiting indigenous youth to provide surveillance and security near tourist sites. There are benefits and disadvantages to this proposal. These individuals will be well versed in the region and the people who live there. Many of them will have lived in the area for generations and have insider knowledge on who's who and where's where of the town in which they are operating. However, these youth would be more malleable and perceptive to outside influence. More than likely they would be easier to pressure into certain ways of thinking or actions than their adult counterparts. In addition, initiatives such as Local Tourist Security seem to potentially promote child labor (although potentially milder than the stigma would have us believe), which is looked down upon internationally. In conclusion, Local Tourist Security groups may be the best answer for areas such as Nigeria at the current time, but security in these countries is still miles behind the developed world. As a result these measure may attra

This article talks about how there is a serious concern in the hotel industry when it comes to credit card and identity theft. They talk about how all the major brands in the hotel industry were all victims of highly publicized, major breaches in the last year alone. Also, including airline and banks, hotels maintain a wealthy amount of database of personal and financial data. For example, with new technology systems being created, POS systems are a weak security point for many networks because they are constantly in use and are not always updated or even protected from vulnerabilities. The article talks about personal details for hotel guests are frequently stored in a variety of locations including restaurants, facilities, and government buildings, so hackers have a greater possibility to access your personal information. The bigger hotels are in more danger because of the volume of guests that come in and out of the location. Smaller hotels should be concerned not just about their security but also by ransomware, an increasingly favorable tactic to extort hoteliers by hackers who encrypt the hotels data making it inaccessible until ransom is paid for. I believe hotels need a toolbelt of various securtiy technologies that can be used to prevent future malicious attacks. I think by managing and implementing a firewall is essential which helps get rid of dangerous traffic from coming onto the network and preventing sensitive data from being hacked.

MOD 10: This article discusses the main tactics of cyber hackers that target hotels. Point of sale (POS) systems are easy targets for hackers due to their constant use during operation hours and because of that their security measures aren't always up to date. Hotels have large data banks since they're storing consumer profile information such as home addresses, phone numbers and credit card numbers. There's a large risk when it comes to security breaches within franchises because they have access to their parent company's regional, national and global systems. If their systems are hacked and breached, then that puts the whole system of the brand at risk. Security breaches within a system can also damage a brands reputation with the public. According to the article, "Recent major breaches at Fortune 500 companies and household names across the retail, restaurant and hotel sectors demonstrate that anti-virus, anti-malware and firewalls alone are not enough to secure businesses from the ever-evolving threat landscape." Smaller properties are even at a greater risk because not only do they have to monitor their compliance with PCI but also monitoring their security systems for their database and PMS system. Some of the recommended software's that should be used by hotels looking to be proactive with their company's cyber security is File Integrity Monitoring(FIM), Unified Threat Management(UTM), and Security Information and Event Management(SIEM).

This article explores the different tactics hotels should use after a cyber attack. The article mentions several different type of attacks such as Phishing when hackers trick customers into giving up their login credentials. Ransomware, when hackers encrypt data making it unusable and inaccessible for the hotel. Not one solution but rather companies should be equipped with a series of technologies from firewalls to file monitoring programs. Some of these technologies, like SIEM requires an intelligent IT team to have the capabilities of analyzing and monitoring the reports produced. This may be more difficult for smaller businesses to implement and maintain.

The following article does a great job outlining different aspects of cyber security within the hospitality industry. Security is one of the main departments that need attention and an additional budget in order meet todays security requirements. After doing some research, it is clear to see that all employees must have the same focus in order to provide the best security for their guest. Hotel security can provide things like: facility protection and control, guest and visitor monitoring and assistance, security command center monitoring (cameras, alarms systems and surveillances), maintain emergency response plan, etc. "Security has a difficult job of enforcing the rules and regulations of the establishment while making the guest feel welcome." The article goes over different security systems and what differentiates them, I thought that it gave a lot of insightful information into various cyber security systems.

The article discusses different ways that events can maximize the use of their data pre, during and post event. Using their registration software analytics, you should pay attention to which channels are most successful and monitor abandonments, which can be followed up on individually. Skipping a lengthy registration questionnaire at the beginning makes it easier for guests to sign up and then its recommended to follow up with an invitation to 'join the community' where you can dig deeper into their details and find out what they are really interested in. Utilizing a social component allows guests to promote different activities to each other and those not yet signed up. I think the most important take away from the article is to have software that can be compatible with other functions that are taking place around the event including payment, sponsor management, merchandise sales, early bird and walk up registrations. Having all of this data in one place allows an event organizer to analyze and share it with internal stakeholders on the sales and marketing teams but also sponsors that want detailed guest information to show the ROI on their sponsorship.