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Chris Cardoso

Hotel firm upgrades accounting system - 0 views

  • LBA Hospitality Partners with M3 Accounting + Analytics to Enhance Accounting Processes and Increase Efficiencies July, 31 2013 M3 Accounting + Analytics Seeking to update and streamline accounting processes for its 70-plus Southeast properties, Dothan, Ala.-based Larry Blumberg & Associates, Inc. (LBA Hospitality) recently announced an expanded partnership with M3 Accounting + Analytics, the national leader in hotel-specific accounting software, operations reporting, and business analytics. “If we are to continue to be an industry leader, we must have the ability to meet the requirements of our stakeholders and provide accurate, real-time and relevant information for our management team and owners,” said LBA President Beau Benton.  LBA sought the ability to swiftly handle budgets, forecasts, and reports, and to dissect business data, all while insuring that the back-office accounting platform functionality was state-of-the-art and industry-specific.  In choosing M3, Benton cited how the company integrates accounting, business intelligence, and reporting, while eliminating most redundancy, software investment and annual hardware/software maintenance. In addition, Benton and LBA were looking for continual and automatic upgrades, backup and disaster protection, and minimized downtime.  LBA is implementing the full suite of M3 products: accounting through the AccKnowledge platform, time, attendance and labor management through the newly released RightTime solution and LaborWatch, and payroll services through RightPay. The company will also continue to use M3 Link business intelligence reporting, as LBA will be expanding it to bring financial data, operating stats, Smith Travel feeds and guest satisfaction data (including verbatim responses) into one completely customizable dashboard. LBA, which launched its business by developing a Sheraton Inn in 1973, is rapidly growing its management business and securing more and more agreements from sophisticated owners and investors.   Scott Watson, M3 Vice President of Sales & Marketing, said, “While our core product remains our accounting solution, we’ve continued to evolve and offer new products and services that meet the current and future needs of the hospitality industry. It is truly exciting that our product platform will help Beau and LBA achieve the aggressive growth they are anticipating over the next five years.”  The implementation and training process for all LBA properties is expected to be complete by December 1.  About LBA Hospitality Based in Dothan, Ala., LBA Hospitality is a hospitality management company focused on maximizing return, safeguarding assets and enhancing value. Founded in 1973, the company now manages 70 properties throughout the Southeast, from Texas to Virginia. More information is available at http://www.LBAHospitality.com.  About M3 Accounting + Analytics M3 is the national leader in hotel-specific accounting software, operations reporting, business intelligence and analytics, processing more than $8 billion in financial transactions for more than 3,000 properties. M3’s integrated suite of hospitality accounting products includes: AccKnowledge, Link, payroll and labor management services, and document imaging and retrieval – all designed to help provide hotel operators, owners and managers unsurpassed access to the information they need in the most integrated and cost-effective manner. The company was founded in Gainesville, Ga. in 1998, and also has a base of operations in Tampa, Fla. More information is available at www.M3AS.com. 
  • “If we are to continue to be an industry leader, we must have the ability to meet the requirements of our stakeholders and provide accurate, real-time and relevant information for our management team and owners,” said LBA President Beau Benton.  
  • continue to be an industry leader, we must have the ability to meet the requirements of our stakeholders and provide accurate, real-time and relevant information for our management team and owners,” said LBA President Beau Benton.  
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  • “If we are to continue to be an industry leader, we must have the ability to meet the requirements of our stakeholders and provide accurate, real-time and relevant information for our management team and owners,” said LBA President Beau Benton
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    LBA Hospitality Partners with M3 Accounting plus Analytics to enhance accounting processes and increase efficiencies." As an industry leader LBA's Presidents feels they need to ability to meet requirements of their stakeholders and provide accurate real-time information for management and owners. When choosing M3 LBA's president noted how the company integrated accounting, business intelligence, and reporting while removing redundancy, software investment and annual hardware/software maintenance. Part of the requirements for choosing a company was continuous automatic upgrades, backup, disaster protection and limited downtime. LBA chose to implement a full suite of M3 products: Accounting through the AccKnowlege platform, time, attendance and labor management through RightTime solution and LaborWatch and payroll through RightPay. LBA will be expanding to bring financial data, operating costs, Smith Travel feeds and guest satisfaction data in one customized dashboard using M3 Link business intelligence reporting. LBA continues to grow after developing the Sheraton in 1973. Scott Watson of M3d is happy that M3 can meet the needs of their customers even though their core product is accounting solutions. They continues to help companies as they grow. Through this partnership they hope to continue to grow as meet the needs of their guest, investors and team. While it is important to have a core product to offer, I think it's also important to have additional products that meet the needs of your customer much like S. Watson said about M3 continuing to evolve and meet the needs of the hospitality industry. I feel this would make the company more marketing. It looks as if the President of LBA reviewed what the company's needs were and then chose to partner who leads the company in hotel specific accounting software. The president recognized the need to be able to report numbers accurately and forecast real data to its team, owners and investors. When I m
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    The Larry Blumberg & Associates hospitality firm (LBA Hospitality) partnered with a management company, M3 Accounting & Analytics, to integrate new software in it's 70 properties throughout the southwest, fro Texas to Virginia. The services that will be provided by M3 will range from Accounts Payable, to General Ledger, Daily Sales Report, Labor Cost, Check Writing, Cash Management, Forecast, Budget, etc. M3 provides products and services that will continue to evolve and improve to be cutting edge in hospitality. LBA is using M3 to streamline an aggressive five year growth plan. Other hospitality business will begin to incorporate a service provider that can encompass all accounting needs.
Pierre Gourdet

http://www.rossbackup.com/blog/why-backing-up-is-essential-the-top-five-benefits-to-dat... - 0 views

With all the reports of cyber-attacks, hackers, and malware in the news these days, it is easy to overlook some of the more conventional physical threats your data faces every day. A fire, flood, o...

started by Pierre Gourdet on 01 Oct 18 no follow-up yet
cmogu001

Identifying 9 Solutions Hotel Security Concerns | 2014-07-22 | Security Magazine - 0 views

  • Business and recreational travelers demand safe and secure hotel accommodations and responsive and friendly customer service.
  • A single act of crime on your property could diminish your brand.
  • Maintain Security-Minded Customer Service
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  • While maintaining friendly, responsive interactions with customers is crucial, it is also important to vigilantly follow all security protocols.
  • Key Card Access Review
  • Hotels need to ensure that their key card access systems are not vulnerable to hacking or unlawful access.
  • Establish Evergreen Background Screening Protocol–
  • Assess Location and Local Crime Statistics–
  • Control After Hours Access– For maximum safety, posting security personnel at front entrances and other access points is vital
  • When your guests feel that they are both welcome and watched-over, they will feel more comfortable.
  • When private security works in partnership with law enforcement to respond to these issues, police officers have more time to focus on solving crimes and enforcing the law.
  • Maintain Emergency Response Plan and Team–
  • Proactive security efforts and emergency planning initiatives should also involve everyone with a vested interest in safety and security.
  • Commitment to Ongoing Training–
  • Security professionals should be able to access training in a way that benefits their lifestyle whether it is online or classroom training. 
  • Ensuring that all public spaces are continually monitored by staff and security personnel is crucial in maintaining a hospitable environment. 
  •  
    This article expounds how hoteliers can ensure that their property provides a secure environment, while maintaining friendly customer service. This article goes into further detail about implementing key card access reviews in order to prevent the possibility for a criminal to gain undetectable entree to millions of keycard-protected hotel rooms. According to this article, establishing evergreen background screening protocols and controlling after hours access was also crucial in Hotels ensuring that their key card access systems are not vulnerable to hacking or unlawful access. Above all else, this article goes into great depth about maintaining an emergency response plan and team that would allow hotels to proactively implement prevention and response plans for everything from workplace violence to natural disasters.
dominiquewalker

The Importance Of Offsite Backup | Monster Technology - 1 views

  • Offsite backup is the use of cloud-based storage systems for data recovery in case of a power failure, fire, tornado, earthquake, flood, or other disaster.
  • Data stored offsite usually involves accessing information using an Internet connection.
  • Physical disasters and human error remain the primary reasons for having offsite backups. For instance, you need an extra copy of your data in case your office floods and external drives become soaked with water.
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  • backups for these reasons:
  • To retrieve lost data after a security breach
  • An extra copy for extra peace of mind
  • To use up less onsite space
  • To take advantage of unlimited storage room
  • To prevent from neglecting to back up your data
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    This article is short and very much to the point. Plainly explaining what is an "offsite backup". Its purpose, and reasons one would utilize the cloud-based application.
jalilahst

What is Network Redundancy and Why Does It Matter? - 0 views

  • Network redundancy is the process of adding additional instances of network devices and lines of communication to help ensure network availability and decrease the risk of failure along the critical data path.
    • jalilahst
       
      Defines Network Redundancy.
  • Redundancy in networks helps to eliminate single points of failure to ensure better network stability and uptime in the face of events that would otherwise take th
  • e network offline
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  • A fault-tolerant redundant system provides full hardware redundancy, mirroring applications across two or more identical systems that run in tandem
    • jalilahst
       
      1 form of redundancy that data centers use.
  • fault-tolerance redundant systems are complex and often expensive to implement.
    • jalilahst
       
      Disadvantage to fault tolerant redundant systems.
  • If something goes wrong with one server, the backup servers take over and restart applications that were running on the failed server.
    • jalilahst
       
      How high availability works, the 2nd form of redundancy that data centers use.
  • it does tolerate a certain amount of downtime in that there is a brief loss of service while the backup servers boot up applications.
    • jalilahst
       
      Disadvantage to high availability software based redundant system.
  • create a network strategy that reviews existing infrastructure.
    • jalilahst
       
      First steps of network redundancy plan.
  •  Well-maintained UPS systems can ensure that servers can switch over from electrical power to backup generator power without losing any data or applications.
  • the best places to replicate and store data so it can be easily accessed in the event that other redundant systems fail and the main network goes down. By using more than one data center, companies can ensure that even if some disaster occurs, they will be able to carry on with minimal disruption.
    • jalilahst
       
      The importance of backing up data offsite.
  • They can test different connections by physically disconnecting hardware to make sure failover occurs as anticipated. If things do not go as planned during testing, data center managers then create an after-action report that lists the items they need to fix as a result of the testing.
  • creating incident response plans that can counter them is crucial for ensuring network resiliency in the face of modern cyber threats. Network redundancy can be a crucial aspect of many cyber incident response plans.
  • attacks are a type of cyberattack where the goal of the attacker is to render a target network or service unusable
    • jalilahst
       
      DDoS definition
  • By blending a variety of ISPs, data centers can leverage their connectivity to help reroute network services when a DDoS attack is underway. vXchnge’s vX\defend, for instance, uses diverse traffic routing options to identify and bypass volumetric attacks without compromising bandwidth or increasing network latency.
    • jalilahst
       
      prevent DDoS attacks by implementing redundant networks with flexible internet access.
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    Network redundancy is the process of enhancing network devices and lines of communication to help safeguard network availability and decrease the risk of failure along the critical data path. Redundancy in networks purpose is to help eliminate specific areas of failure to guarantee better network stability and availability when the network would otherwise be offline. Optimize network redundancy by backing up data offsite and conductions frequent test to measure its durability and maintain it. Protect the network from malicious attacks is also important. By creating plans for when attacks occur by rerouting network services.
yuqiongliang

4 Ways Cloud Computing Benefits The Hospitality Industry - 1 views

  • you can give yourself a competitive advantage and make your life easier at work.
  • you can give yourself a competitive advantage and make your life easier at work.
    • kaylaabad
       
      Pro of implementing cloud computing in the industry.
  • With cloud computing, you only pay for what you need.
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  • You also cut hardware costs, energy costs, and operational costs with the cloud. Your need for excessive hardware in your hotel is reduced and, as a result, you won’t burn throughout as much electricity. The cloud also cuts project time, which results in cut costs and higher productivity.
    • kaylaabad
       
      "With cloud computing you only pay for what you need." Costs are reduced in many ways with cloud computing - hardware, energy, and operational costs are cut. Also, project time is reduced cutting costs and bringing about higher productivity.
  • you store your data securely and remotely instead of in an on-site physical location.
    • kaylaabad
       
      Pro of cloud computing in the industry - data is stored securely and remotely
  • don’t have to worry about losing all of your data if a natural disaster or security breach occurs at your location
    • kaylaabad
       
      "You don't have to worry about losing all of your data if a natural disaster or security breach occurs at your location"
  • The cloud gives you the flexibility to work from anywhere.
    • kaylaabad
       
      Pro of cloud computing in the industry - cloud gives you the flexibility to work from anywhere
  • The whole world is your office
    • kaylaabad
       
      "The whole world is your office"
  • you can improve staff collaboration immensely.
    • kaylaabad
       
      Pro of cloud computing in the industry - you can improve staff collaboration immensely
  • Cloud Computing Helps Hotels Cut Costs
  • Cloud Computing Solutions Are Reliable And Secure
  • Cloud Computing Gives You The Flexibility To Work Remotely
  • Cloud Computing Helps You Improve The Guest Experience
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    This article outlines four assets that cloud computing can present to the Hospitality Industry. Cloud computing essentially aids the industry in providing the best possible service to its guests - while also simplifying the working lives of employees which is always a big plus. Cloud computing helps cut costs, solutions are secure and remote, gives flexibility to work anywhere at anytime, and improves the guest experience. All in all, the pros outweigh the cons with the cloud computing.
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    Cloud computing is a popular new wave, and not only individual users are its beneficiaries, but also travel companies are promoting the use of cloud computing technology to increase their competitiveness
cleon087

Three Ways to Overcome Hotel Accounting Challenges - 3 views

  • Adopting a cloud-based reporting system can offer seamless labor monitoring and management from clock-in to paycheck while giving hoteliers on-demand management of earnings to manage transactions in real time.
  • Adopting an operations management platform that allows hoteliers to import data into one centralized dashboard combines critical accounting and performance data to aid hoteliers in identifying trends and making more informed decisions.
  • . The global travel industry shows no signs of slowing down any time soon, so hotels must incorporate cutting-edge technology to streamline operations, optimize labor management, and access critical data while preparing for the next unexpected event.
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  • Whether the needs are short-term or necessitate a longer plan, hotel-specific accountants can scale on demand to offer the needed expertise and ramp up quickly.
  • oteliers are turning to robust accounting tools and hotel-specific accounting partners to balance these challenges. Below are three ways that smart accounting solutions can address unique needs of hotels.
  • Most hoteliers have access to an array of data sets, including STR reports, PMS data, guest satisfaction surveys, comments, and financial data from multiple properties.
  • Managing payroll is a constant challenge, so it’s critical for hoteliers to have a way to monitor daily labor costs, manage overtime, oversee daily payroll transactions, and have access to simple reporting functions
  • Hotels live or die on the ebb and flow of fluctuations in their business. In-house accounting teams are regularly affected by a variety of foreseeable events such as seasonality, portfolio turn-over, and one-time events, but also unexpected events such natural disasters.
  • fastest growing sectors in the world
  • to threats from multiple fronts
  • ncreased importance on price, quality, and the level of services
    • cleon087
       
      They're looking for more value for their buck and being more critical.
  • can help increase revenue, minimize costs, and maximize profits without affecting service quality.
  • . One hotel can have part-time, full-time, and tipped employees
    • cleon087
       
      This is what makes our business so unique. Every employee, even IT should be prepared for interacting with a guest.
  • Hoteliers may have a difficult time deciphering what story the data is telling and which levers to pull to remedy an issue or to replicate success.
    • cleon087
       
      Sometimes too much data can also be a negative thing. You want to focus on the numbers that are crucial.
  • Adopting an operations management platform that allows hoteliers to import data into one centralized dashboard combines critical accounting and performance data to aid hoteliers in identifying trends and making more informed decisions.
    • cleon087
       
      Receiving the information in one place can really impact the business for the better in order to make better decisions.
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    This article jumps into some challenges facing the hotel industry with respects to accounting. It touches on various topics we have gone through as a course, and ends with an emphasis on technology.
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    Thank you for sharing. I found it a good read as it gives a brief description on some of the different platforms that are out there.
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    The article goes into detail about ways to overcome accounting challenges in the hotel industry, ranging from Cloud based programs to report labor, to having back-up accounting teams as workloads can increase due to seasonality and holiday stays.
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    Due to the changes in the industry the accounting branch of hospitality has had to encounter several changes. They are turning to robust accounting tools and hotel-specific accounting partners in order to figure out all aspects. Accounting information is now mostly online and all digital therefore changes need to be made since the common way of keeping records was papers.
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    Hospitality businesses are becoming more and more profit-focused and guests are thinking that higher prices mean higher level of service. This simply isnt so. Perhaps not all hotels have the same amenities and activities, however, all hotels and resorts should have more or less the same exemplary service so that prices become less of an issue in the future.
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    This article is about the hospitality businesses are becoming more cost- and profit-conscious and guests are placing increased importance on price, quality, and the level of services they receive. These unique challenges require hotels to be nimble, educated, and equipped with the latest technology to streamline processes and drive financial performance. Owners rely more and more on financial benchmarking data to ensure they are getting the most out of each asset and each management contract. Hoteliers are turning to robust accounting tools and hotel-specific accounting partners to balance these challenges.
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    Accounting for hotel properties is the backbone that holds the property to its up filling standard in the hospitality industry. These departments are often faced with major setbacks on a daily bases that require special attention, whether its to balance book, handle unexpected turn overs and natural disasters. However due to many technology advances many properties are installing software that easily and better assists the accounting department from constant overwhelming situations. Systems that allow other department to help with monitoring overtime, payroll and transactions.
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    This article talks about the need for hoteliers to be up to date with technology. By having systems that have all the data in one place, helps owners make better decisions. Also having an accounting system that helps with making decisions and offer the proper tools is imperative. When it comes to accounting it is important to be prepared for the worst case scenario.
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    Although I'm not a 100 percent fan on the cloud base systems, technology is ever changing and i somewhat believe that we should keep up with it providing that it is in out best benefit personally or from a business security point of view. We see how this article reveal to us challenges and how technology helps alleviate some of them.
nelson1oliva

https://media.defense.gov/2019/Jul/16/2002158046/-1/-1/0/CSI-NSAS-TOP10-CYBERSECURITY-M... - 1 views

  •  
    This is exactly what I have been discussing pertaining to the importance of having an update and recovery strategy. Update and Upgrade Software Immediately Apply all available software updates, automate the process to the extent possible, and use an update service provided directly from the vendor.. . Exercise a System Recovery Plan Create, review, and exercise a system recovery plan to ensure the restoration of data as part of a comprehensive disaster recovery strategy. The plan must protect critical data, configurations, and logs to ensure continuity of operations due to unexpected events.
bbalthaser

Cybersecurity Budgets Increase for Retail & Hospitality Industry - 1 views

  • 70% of CISOs expect their budgets to increase again this year, while 60% also expect more FTEs, according to the CISO Benchmark Report released today from the Retail & Hospitality Information Sharing and Analysis Center (RH-ISAC).
  • This year, business disruption emerged as a top 10 (No. 7) risk that organizations currently face, up seven spots from No. 14 in 2021. Similarly, 50% of CISOs now have business continuity/disaster recovery as part of their core responsibilities, an increase of 11 percentage points since last year.
  • very few CISOs have fraud as part of their core responsibilities, according to the report.  
  •  
    Chief of Information Security officers (CISO) report summarizes that hospitality and retail industries will be spending more accounting for 70% more providers. The report looks at a variety of benchmarks to assess like budgets and personnel. Fraud is not as prioritized as one might think and this time the focus is on business disruption. One core of responsibility seen by at least 70% of CISOs is of continuity and disaster recovery. They are also examining a new benchmark which is staff function priorities. The evolving of the industries is why cybersecurity threats are so complex. The report provides vital information to benefit CISOs on trends. The report in question is very interesting in how it examines what people are spending on their IT security budgets and breaks down where that money is being utilized and staffing. This would be a useful tool for hospitality providers looking to increase their budget because they can analyze other providers and what is currently trending in terms of threats and how to allocate assets whether money or personnel. If the biggest threat to providers is disruption then having an emergency action plan in place would highly benefit providers under underbudgeting. This would be a great tool for any organization to plan their IT strategy with security in mind.
Siyu Ma

Why Investing in Hospitality Technology is Investing in Good Business - 1 views

  • In consideration of how investment in hospitality technology can support business growth, rather than being an added cost, or unnecessary financial burden, to a hotel – it is important to look at what operational efficiencies the technology can bring, including any improvements in staff activities and morale that can be delivered and how the technology will ultimately benefit the hotels revenue performance.
  • In consideration of how investment in hospitality technology can support business growth, rather than being an added cost, or unnecessary financial burden, to a hotel – it is important to look at what operational efficiencies the technology can bring, including any improvements in staff activities and morale that can be delivered and how the technology will ultimately benefit the hotels revenue performance.
  • Those hotel groups that fail to recognize the speed of change in technology and what this can bring to the business will find themselves significantly under prepared when the market starts to strengthen. While “its never too late” to act – there is a significant opportunity cost in doing nothing or worse still, cutting technology out of the day to day operations. For a hotel to effectively operate and ensure it is maximizing its incoming revenue, the right technologies needs to be in place. Through investing in the right technology at the right time, savvy hoteliers will be ensuring that their facility(s) are able to effectively maximize their ongoing revenue capability now and into the future.
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  • Equally as important, when considering whether to invest in new technology within the hospitality sector, is the need to recognize that technology is constantly changing and improving. Decision time frames are shortening. International hoteliers that have a good view on the future, realize that the technology decision they make today will only be relevant for the next 3-5 years at the most and are already planning next generation migrations.
  • In consideration of how investment in hospitality technology can support business growth, rather than being an added cost, or unnecessary financial burden, to a hotel – it is important to look at what operational efficiencies the technology can bring, including any improvements in staff activities and morale that can be delivered and how the technology will ultimately benefit the hotels revenue performance.
  • Whilst many international hotel organisations have used the economic downturn to adequately plan for the future through improved levels of technology and staff investment, many others are not heeding the warning signs and are instead shedding costs wherever possible – which can lead to disastrous consequences.
  • Importantly, hoteliers also need to realize that the hospitality industry is constantly changing and a lack of up-to-date technology and older strategies will not always be applicable to new, unique situations.
  • Whilst many international hotel organisations have used the economic downturn to adequately plan for the future through improved levels of technology and staff investme
  • Consider Revenue Management Technology: This technology is u
  • sed in a wide variety of industries.
  • IDeaS experience in many regions to date is that there are many technology vendors in hospitality that fail to acknowledge the above reality.
  • There are many technologies that tick all of the above boxes, including: Energy Management Systems Revenue Management Systems Property Management Systems In-Room Technology Sophisticated Telco Systems
    • Juan Du
       
      With the increase in the number of hotel, the technology in hospitality is more and more important. It is a good investment in this field. Because many of the facilities in hotel need the help of technology. Such as the energy management systems, revenue management systems, property management systems , In-room technology. To invest these technologies, it can increase the management level and increase the competition.
  • As the wider hospitality industry continues to face a slow recovery, savvy hotel owners and managers should be looking inwards during this time with a view to ensuring that the technology they use to help run their facilities are best suited for the roles they have to perform.
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    In this weeks reading, the article, "Why Investing in Hospitality Technology is Investing in Good Business", mentions how due to the economic downturn hotels have turn to cutting technology and staff levels as a method to minimize costs, yet this is a recipe for disaster, if not conducted adequately. Technology is continuously evolving, it is important to make decisions regards IT investment that will be useful in the coming 3-5 years. Technological infrastructures should operate to facilitate a process or procedure for the overall benefit of the hotel, rather than take a day-by-day approach. In an ever-demanding industry, it is critical for hoteliers to be adequately prepared with automated systems, reducing if not eliminating important manually conducted tasks which are damaging the operations of the hotel due to the lack of real time information which will help revenue maximization. In moments of recessions, companies minimize their cost reducing what is foreseen as unnecessary such as IT investment, yet is important to maintain a level of preparation and not losing the opportunities presented by the market.
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    This article mainly talk about the benefit of investing in Hospitality Technology to hotel business.The author emphasizes the importance of looking at what operational effciencies the technology can bring ,including any improvements in staff activities and morale that can be delivered and how the technology will ultimately benefit the hotel revenue performance. We can conclude from the passage that in order to keep competitive in the hospitality industry, the managers should be aware of the dynamic market and technology changing and update the techonlogy in an efficient way.
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    The hospitality industry is developing faster and faster. The hoteliers should be with a view to ensuring that the technology they use to help run their facilities and best suited for the roles. They lead to a rapid economic recovery but they also need improve their marketing. The hospitality organizations have taken the time to update or invest in the right technology and training. In consideration of how investment in hospitality technology can support business growth, It is important to look at what operational efficiencies the technology can bring. As the hotel industry continues to move towards a more dynamic and inter-connected environment it is vital that the correct technology infrastructure is in place to meet this challenge. The revenue management technology itself can be maximized by educating staff in the most effective ways to use it. The hotel groups should recognize the speed of change in technology. And they will be ensuring that their facilities are able to effectively maximize their ongoing revenue capability.
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    As hospitality industry is now under recovery, many owners and managers are preparing using technology to help them run the facilities. Nowadays, there is a big requirement for investing the right technology and training to operate business in the market of 2010, 2011 later. Actually, hospitality technology investment can bring operational efficiencies instead of added cost to a hotel. Then the author takes revenue management technology as an example and points that a seamless flow of process of technology is a trend. All in all, in order for a hotel to adapt to the future trend, the right technology needs to be equipped.
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    with the increase in the number of hotel, the technology in hospitality is more and more important. It is a good investment in this field. Because many of the facilities in hotel need the help of technology. Such as the energy management systems, revenue management systems, property management systems , In-room technology. To invest these technologies, it can increase the management level and increase the competition.
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    This article is explaining why investing in hospitality technology is a good idea. Market changes from year to year, therefore it is important to know what the technology operations can offer to the business. It is vital to know how efficient it is in the workplace, and in what ways in can help the staff. The interest cost of having all this money invested should benefit the hotels revenue activity. Especially in hotels, there has to be a strict decision making, because of how technology is advancing so fast and how efficient the technology will be for the hotel. The correct technology is a challenge. Training the staff with the system is also a test because how fast can they learn and be connected to the operations. It is crucial that hotels manage systematically all information with the technology; instead of having the staffs do all the work by hand. Hotels need to invest in the correct technology so that they can collect their ideal revenue-for the future of the business and to ease the work flow inside the hospitality industry.
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    "Equally as important, when considering whether to invest in new technology within the hospitality sector, is the need to recognize that technology is constantly changing and improving. Decision time frames are shortening. International hoteliers that have a good view on the future, realize that the technology decision they make today will only be relevant for the next 3-5 years at the most and are already planning next generation migrations. There is an onus on the vendors to also re-invent themselves and re-invent their technologie"
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    Hotel owners and managers are putting eyes on technology in the hospitality industry slow recovery period. All pundits agree this method can bring some recovery. The international hotel organizations have made many plans of improving investment in technology and staff. Progressive hospitality organizations have updated and invested in new technology and training, change the industry requirements and market. Before investment, the most important is to look at what operational efficiencies the technology can bring and how the technology will benefit the hotels. There are many technologies are good choices for investment, such as Revenue Management Systems. This technology is efficient and can help hotels track historic data, forecast future demand and so on. We also need to technology is changing all the time. So this is a big challenge of managers to make decisions for a long development. We also need to realize that the hospitality industry is changing, strategies will not always be applicable to new, unique situations. It is important for hotels to increase advantages in the competition.
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    Those hotel groups that fail to recognize the speed of change in technology and what this can bring to the business will find themselves significantly under prepared when the market starts to strengthen. While "its never too late" to act - there is a significant opportunity cost in doing nothing or worse still, cutting technology out of the day to day operations. For a hotel to effectively operate and ensure it is maximizing its incoming revenue, the right technologies needs to be in place. Through investing in the right technology at the right time, savvy hoteliers will be ensuring that their facility(s) are able to effectively maximize their ongoing revenue capability now and into the future.
Kevona Richardson

Travel agents know something you don't - CNN.com - 0 views

  • In an age where travelers of all ages turn to the Internet to book flight and hotel reservations, modern travel agents are offering expert advice on cruises and tour packages to far-flung locales, advice on the best a particular city has to offer, exclusive perks, hidden discount prices and the security of an adviser in case of inconvenience or disaster.
  • Successful agents know that their customers have access to lots of travel information -- often too much -- and want time-saving guidance, exclusivity and security in a complicated world.
  • It's true that there are fewer U.S. travel agents today: 105,910 in 2010 versus 111,000 in 2006, according to the American Society of Travel Agents. And there are fewer agencies: 14,800 agencies in 2010, compared with 18,850 in 2006, according to ASTA.
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    Arthur & Alex Beach were onboard the Costa Concordia when it began to sink. They were taken from one place to another on bus and train, until they go to an airport outside of Rome where they were able to call their son to call their Travel Agent, Jackie Berube, where she helped them book a flight out the next day. Many people these days have access to the internet where they can look at the information themselves. There are also many people that would like to save the trouble and call a Travel Agency to help them find specific information. Although when the Economy isnt doing so well, they begin to drop Financially because people are traveling less. Travel agents used to rely heavily on a percentage of the price of an airline ticket, now they often charge flat fees for airline ticket purchases or creating a custom trip package.
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    Some travel agents has made a shift in the way they do business. Since most agencies have went out of business after airlines took away their commissions and consumers started to shop online, they had to start offering more service than the internet can provide.
Jiaqi Xu

IT investment proves a help to struggling Station Casinos - 2 views

  • Station Casinos, which runs 18 casinos and hotels that are located off the Vegas Strip and primarily serve residents of the Las Vegas area rather than tourists, is seeing major benefits from the heavy investment in unified communications, unified computing and wireless technology, said company officials accompanying journalists on a tour of the Red Rock Casino and Resort here during the Cisco Live conference this week.
  • Cisco's Call Manager software.
  • Unified Computing System (UCS
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  • wireless IPICS,
  • The UCS and related technologies that Station Casinos has installed have made the network more adaptable and resilient,
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    Unified Computing System (UCS) technology is widely used byStation Casinos Inc., which is a one of high-tech Station Casinos Inc. invested and do a good implement in their properties. It not only help this company do a good business and also help the it employees keep their jobs.
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    I see that about 80% of our revenue comes from slot machines, I think that's why IT investment means a lot and so helpful for them.
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    Station Casinos Inc. was struggling to reorganize under bankruptcy protection. And the last, company decided to increase the IT investment to solve this problem. Station Casinos, which runs 18 casinos and hotels that are located off the Vegas Strip and primarily serve residents of the Las Vegas area rather than tourists, is seeing major benefits from the heavy investment in unified communications, unified computing and wireless technology recent network installations include a variety of Cisco Systems Inc. technologies, according to Baltz and Bryan Miles, director of networking and telecommunications. The company has deployed 3,000 of 9,000 Internet Protocol phones so far, and it is using Cisco's new Unified Computing System (UCS) technology to consolidate data center operations. Miles said UCS allowed the company to cut the number of data center server racks from 12 to one. Cisco officials noted that IPICS systems are normally used by emergency personnel to communicate across various wireless bands while responding to fires or other disasters. The updates to the Station Casinos network have helped the company connect 15,000 different devices, including some of the 23,000 newer slot machines installed at its various casinos.
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    Hotel guests are a captive audience and are often looking for the convenience factor when making their purchasing decisions, such as where to eat that night. If hoteliers take the initiative with their WiFi solution, they could be soon be reaping the financial rewards.
  •  
    Implementing the right technology can bring a company back to business therefore it is really important to Know what technology is the best for the organization in order to improve productivity and attract potential clients.
diana morales

Editors Weblog - Immediacy v accuracy: the challenges of information validation - 0 views

  • Twitter is the world news wire of the twenty-first century;
  • Everyone knows exactly how useful microblogging can be when reporting on everything from major world events, such as natural disasters and social upheaval, to local happenings - but the challenge of real-time reporting is not gaining access to information, but rather verifying it.
  • It is not necessary to choose between accuracy and immediacy; the future of quality journalism, which at the current times seems so marred by unethical practice, lies in a successful combination of the two.
  •  
    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.
Alyssa Westmeyer

Futuristic, sustainable hotels the next frontier for hospitality | News | Eco-Business ... - 1 views

  • built on one common principle - climate resilience
  • designed to withstand the future threat of worsening climate change such as sea level rises
  • Both projects integrate sustainable energy sources and systems, and are
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  • contain several hotel amenities as well as a wind farm, desalination plant, and ocean waste facility among others
  • offshore marine platform that will enable the Mexican city to address their energy problems and reduce their fossil fuels dependency
  • alleviates water scarcity, minimises overdevelopment on the coast and helps control marine pollution
  • avoid damaging the underwater ecosystem
  • covered with solar panels
  • Rainwater and wastewater will also be collected and respectively reused and purified through recycling facilities
  • underwater energy farm that will harvest 47MW of tidal, current and wave energy
  • can extract, clean and purify waste gathered from the ocean
  • contains wind turbines that can generate 40MW/h of renewable energy
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    The Grand Cancun has been designed to anticipate natural disasters climate change, as well as incorporated amenities that will make it self-sustaining and even beneficial to the city in which it resides. Including a wind and underwater energy farm, desalination plant, ocean waste facility, wind turbines and solar panels. Not only this but its design will avoid destruction of the underwater ecosystem during development and construction. This is not only a hotel but also it incorporates a facility for marine research. The design appears expensive but it has the opportunity to recapture its investment through the building's own energy savings, the sale of the energy it generates to external users, its ability to remain largely unaffected by rising sea levels or other climate change and the incremental business related to the research laboratories.
asant318

Ransomware: One of Hospitality's Biggest Threats in 2017 | News | Hospitality Magazine ... - 0 views

  • attack made headlines for locking guests out for their rooms
  • discuss how ransomware can affect the hospitality industry and what hotels and restaurants should consider to protect themselves from future cyber attacks.
  • Travelers may be annoyed, but for the hotel, ransomware can be a major business disruption.
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  • The cyber threat has been used to target a variety of businesses from hospitals to retailers and now the hospitality industry
  • , businesses need to always be ready for a breach. Every business should have an action plan in place to prevent their company from being the next victim of ransomware or any other cyber security threat.
  • pirated software, file attachments, web links, and suspicious emails.
  • keep additional devices from being infected.
  • best practices for any company to employ are regular backups and a tested disaster recovery plan
  • Using anti-malware software is a necessary start, but it will not stop everything – especially rogue software downloaded by employees
  • important to act quickly by segmenting portions of the infected network and removing devices to try and prevent the problem from spreading.
  • install ransomware protection
  • malicious software will continue to rise as businesses and consumers become more dependent on the internet for everyday needs.
  • it’s important that businesses take proactive steps to protect not only company data, but the overall integrity of the company network from hackers.
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    The article discusses ransomware attacks on hospitality properties. A 2016 attack left guests locked out of their rooms but the threat could affect different areas of a hospitality business and cause significant disruption to their business. Properties need to be prepared for a security breach with an action plan to prevent cyber-attack. The article points out that it's important to act quickly to segment the network and try to prevent any new devices from being infected. Best practice recommends regular backups and a recovery plan, using anti malware software and being cautious with employee installed software. The most important thing a company can do is to be proactive and prepared for an attack.
kdomi006

The Ins and Outs for Travel Agents in Planning Billionaires' Honeymoons – Skift - 1 views

  •  
    Summer is wedding season. Celebrities aren't the only one spending a ton of money willing to spend on their honeymoons. Billionaires have honeymoons almost as extravagant as their wedding itself. With all that money, but tends to be complicated. Ovation Vacations have become experts at planning honeymoons for billionaires. This company is known for planning leisure travel consulting for 'ultra-high net worth' people. This team consists of 30 employees which plan nearly 200 honeymoons per year, averaging about $50,000 each trip. This results in $1 million in revenue per month. The CEO is considered to be the Olivia Pope of the travel industry. An interesting request of travelers who book with Ovation is that they like specific cuts of meat during traveling. It's very common to have meat sent from the U.S. to where ever they are vacationing. This is very interesting to me because you would expect one of the main attractions of traveling is to try new cuisines. Seems a little over the top. It gets a little more extreme -- one guest even requested an al dente pasta cooked for a certain amount of minutes. A celebrity requested dragon fruit for their "pink smoothie". This gets tricky when other countries have rules when it comes to importation. JLo wanted Ovation to pick our green M&Ms for her. In addition, another guest wanted a crate of Fiji water bottles delivered nightly. It gets even better, one guest paid $40,000 for her 5-night stay in order to have her sink filled 7 inches in order to not bend over to wash their face. Another husband spent $80,000 to have a yacht carpeted so his wife can wear her stilettos instead of being barefoot. Sometimes inevitable things happen such as natural disasters. Not a problem for Ovation. They spend $50,000 for one couple to still enjoy the beach, which had been destroyed due to weather. What they did was hire a truck to move sand from one part of the island to the other for them to enjoy a private beach. Something simple, yet
lin081989

Hospitality, event management and tourism | Education | The Guardian - 0 views

  •  
    Courses in this field teach you about event bidding, finance and accounting, project management and much more. Hospitality, events and tourism students often sit within one department and, understandably, they gain many of the same professional skills. Hospitality students tend to focus more specifically on the running of hotels, restaurants, catering businesses and events. They have lectures on quality control, the latest food and drink, front of house and housekeeping skills. On event management courses, an emphasis is place on the broader picture, for example, how do you plan, promote and run events? And the term events is incredibly diverse, including anything from a small wedding to a big corporate meeting or the American super bowl. Tourism students will learn all about how to manage the movement of people around the planet, and think about what the economic, environmental and social impacts of this movement are. Our national heritage, forests, coastlines and culture are dependent on tourism, and need to be managed by professionals who understand who travels, how they travel and why they travel. When natural and manmade disasters strike, tourism professionals need to know how to respond and how to help companies and destinations recover.
sliu043

Using HRIS for Employee Scheduling - HRIS Payroll Software - 1 views

  • Labor is the number one expense for most companies, so it is important to manage labor in the most efficient way possible. HRIS can synchronize scheduling with sales and productivity forecasts to help manage labor as you schedule,
  • Using HRIS for scheduling can be of particular benefit to workplaces in industries such as retail, medical, food service, and hospitality where shifts may vary widely.
  • Makes Scheduling Communication Instantaneous
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  • Provides Labor Management Tools
  • This can help you to optimize scheduling on a minute to minute basis so that your company is making the best use of every labor dollar spent.
  • Alerts You to Uncovered Shifts
  • HRIS can be configured to alert you to uncovered shifts or shifts where more coverage is needed based on forecasts. This can divert potential disasters and help you avoid ever being short staffed.
  • Using HRIS for scheduling can be of particular benefit to workplaces in industries such as retail, medical, food service, and hospitality where shifts may vary widely.
  • Allows You to Strategically Gear Scheduling
  • Communicating schedules instantly through HRIS can help to reduce headaches and scheduling mishaps.
  • Provides a Template
  • HRIS usually provide scheduling templates and may even make it a snap to copy over the schedule from the previous week or month and make changes to accommodate current business needs. This can save time from penciling in shifts that will stay the same. Templates can also help you to easily utilize feedback from previous scheduling issues to improve future shifts.
  • Can Increase Employee Contentment
  • Depending on the available features, employees may be able to submit feedback regarding preferences in regards to scheduling. Knowing which employees prefer the late shifts, which prefer the early morning shifts, and which employees would like to pick up available additional shifts can simultaneously make scheduling easier and make employees happier.
  • Having scheduling information in advance regularly can quickly and dramatically increase employee contentment.
  • HRIS can help you to identify times when it may be possible to assign certain employees training tasks or simply take employees aside and teach them new skills. This can help your company to increase the value of labor hours and invest in employees without breaking the bank.
  •  
    This article talks about how companies use HRIS for implementing employee scheduling and how it provides key labor management tools. Using HRIS for scheduling can be of particular benefit to workplaces in industries such as retail, medical, food service, and hospitality where shifts may vary widely. Labor is the number one expense for most companies, so it is important to manage labor in the most efficient way possible. This can help you to optimize scheduling on a minute to minute basis so that your company is making the best use of every labor dollar spent.This can help you to optimize scheduling on a minute to minute basis so that your company is making the best use of every labor dollar spent. However, having to communicate with each individual employee as they move through varying shifts to relay schedules can be disruptive to work and difficult. Communicating schedules instantly through HRIS can help to reduce headaches and scheduling mishaps. Depending on the available features, employees may be able to submit feedback regarding preferences in regards to scheduling. The article talks about when scheduling is made easy, it is possible to focus on scheduling strategically so that employees can be cross trained through various departments or otherwise receive instruction that helps them to grow within the organization.
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    I believe the hospitality industry can benefit greatly from the implementation of the HRI Software. This article in particular focus in an important part of the human resource which is scheduling employees. One of the biggest reasons of the high employment turn over in the industry has to do with the scheduling. The hospitality employees work very long shifts and on the days that the rest of the people rest like weekends and holidays. To have a program that will take care of the scheduling is very beneficial because all the employees get a chance to have off to to work on the requested days if possible. It makes it more equal for everybody and make it look less personal so that the employees do not think that the manager has any sort preferences among them. Overall makes thing more easy to handle and optimize the time of the human resources department because they do not need to put time aside for scheduling.
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    As we all know, the company can't be truly beneficial from using HRIS for scheduling if it operates on a 9-5 schedule. But in the hospitality industry, the company operates over a long period of time, having the different degree of complexity with scheduling. So, HRIS will help the companies to make scheduling easier. In this article, the author introduces several advantages that HRIS offers to the industry. HRIS provides hotels with labor management tools and alerts them to uncovered shifts. Moreover, it makes scheduling communication instantaneous and increase employee contentment. Most importantly, HRIS enables hotels to save time and money for providing a template, which allows hotels to strategically gear scheduling.
alexsolano36

15 Business Problems That Can Be Solved By Moving to the Cloud - Leaseweb Blog - 0 views

  • Your business should have a clear concept of the value (and sensitive nature) of the data that is critical for operations.
  • Businesses have access to more data than ever, but storing it can be tricky. While some businesses choose to only store their data on local servers, using a hybrid approach (using both bare metal servers as well as cloud services) can provide a more flexible option for storing data.
  • A hybrid cloud portfolio can support locally hosted options in either the UK or elsewhere in the EU
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  • mitigate the risks
  • Global adoption of cloud is likely to increase. 
  • they are unlikely to happen.
  • Leaseweb provides access to our partners industry leading solutions, companies that specialize in these areas, so for backup solutions on Dedicated servers, VPS, Apache CloudStack we have partnered together with Acronis & to offer backup solutions for VMware & Private Cloud offerings, Leaseweb have partnered together with Veeam.
  • Using this hybrid approach of combining cloud services and local dedicated servers, you can ensure you’re not paying for more storage than you need.
  • significant savings
  • It also eliminates the need for major upfront capital expenditures
  • To CIOs, moving to the cloud is a chance to overcome previous internal limitations and improve their value proposition.
  • With the cloud, however, users can bring their data with them wherever they go.
  • Promotes collaboration
  • employees can all work together in real time,
  • making it easier to meet demand as your company grows.
  • hybrid
  • This risk is reduced in the cloud because you’ll have the built-in support of experienced professionals, and you won’t have to rely on anyone with minimal experience.
  •  
    This article talks about how cloud computing can solve many problems for an organization, such as protecting sensitive data and reduced the costs and risks associated with storing it. Some of the advantages include increased security (though many think otherwise), protected data in natural disasters (the cloud provides many back up solutions for data), flexible payment options for storing and protecting data, cost efficiency, creating unique platforms for businesses based on cloud applications, increased mobility of data and operations, increased collaboration capabilities with other employees and sectors of your industry, and increased technical support from cloud professionals.
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