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Most crucially, a cybersecurity strategy must include a solid plan for Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery in order to prepare for any worst-case scenarios. In the era of COVID-19, incidents of the worst kind are fast emerging and businesses deserve a fighting chance to succeed.

Today, the systems used for various functions in a hotel’s back and front operations are manned by employees who are not yet well-equipped to pick up on and counter large-scale cyber-attacks until it’s too late.

Mobile phones, tables and laptops connected to open networks become a hunting ground for hackers to harvest banking details through card payments. 

While financial services and the public sector have been forced to endure an endless stream of cybercrime, the hospitality industry has also become a prime contender for hackers in the wake of its rich data-base. 

No matter the size of the business, inefficient cyber support diverts crucial time from business activities and relationships with customers.

With global business fighting relentlessly to survive against the chaotic threat of the Coronavirus, all industries are exposed to criminal cyber-threats, and so the security of highly sensitive data must be handled appropriately.

British Airways and Marriott International are two major hospitality companies to be victims of high-profile breaches in recent memory. They serve as a stark reminder of the heavy costs faced when the safety of customers’ data is compromised. 

No guarantee on data security

In this post, we will look at some of the outdated hotel management practices that make up a perfect recipe for disaster.

#1 – Manually handling operations

Manually handling operations is prone to errors, errors that can cost your hotel dearly. Your staff will have to keep doing mundane and unproductive jobs that don’t add any value. Plus, they will get no or little time to attend to your guests’ needs with a personal touch.

This is because most of the third-party solutions today are on the cloud and their integration with a server-based Hotel PMS will never be seamless oreasy. It would be a forced integration leading inconsistent data flow between them.

With such a flawed practice in place, you won’t be able to efficiently maintain records of your hotel business. You will be forced to sift through numerous files and pages to locate a single piece of information. It would not help you understand how your business fared over Christmas season last year, making it impossible to take measures to do better this season. Yes, we are talking about ‘Data’ here. Today, no hotel business can survive without having timely access to guest data and operational data.

#3 – Using an outdated server-based Hotel Property Management System

An on-premise system is expensive, you need to have dedicated servers and IT team to manage it.

software upgrades. Thus, your cost of software ownership will go up.

#2 – Manual methods of record-keeping

PMSs are quite high and you also need to spend extra to get your staff trained on the same.

Not only that, you can’t view your business data and hotel position from outside your office as you can’t access the Hotel PMS once you are out of your property. Plus, these Hotel PMSs are not mobile optimized.

#4 – Using a free cloud-based hotel software

free application might even help you access the Hotel PMS and hotel data from remote locations. But,

free appli

ocation

ree ap

You still have to deal with many operational issues including –

No guarantee on data security

Time to look at a smart cloud-based Hotel Property Management System

Here’s how our all-in-one Hotel Property Management System, Hotelogix, can help you with your hotel business:

The reality is that while it was widely predicted that the internet was going to kill off travel agents when digital tools were placed at every traveler’s disposal, that just hasn’t happened, for several good reasons.

a good travel advisor can often save you money.

true experts” and “They don’t usually cost extra.”

My tech savviest friends use travel advisors, and so does every major corporation - because it is the smart thing to do.

“Information overload, thousands of new hotels on the scene, all sorts of new cruise ships, passport and visa issues, weather, transit strikes, political unrest, natural disasters, travel insurance, travel providers going out of business, it’s never ending. How does one navigate all of this? To avoid the travel landmines that lay in front of you, you need to get a great travel advisor!

“They’re

good travel agents prefer to be called travel advisors, or sometimes travel consultants, and those are both totally accurate, but since most people still think of the industry in terms of travel agents

“Travel agents are a thing of the past - they primarily booked tickets and beds. Travel advisors have taken on a much more complex role - part psychologist, life coach, executive producer, concierge, fixer, dream maker, and ‘Blink Blink’ genie, with the multitude of services that they provide.”

Emergencies:

Expertise

VIP Connection

Extras

Better Trips

Another option is to have a backup internet service provider (ISP) that can be used when the network running the VOIP phones goes down

A single point of connection could be damaged or inadvertently cut, so having a second point of connection serves as a backup.

Building redundancy into your network and having a network failover plan should help you avoid downtime that could cost your business productivity and money.

Additional backups are necessary if natural or man-made disasters occur.

3. Tax Reporting and Audits

it is important for companies to save financial and accounting data for tax reporting purposes.

4. Client Relationship

Saved information improves client relationship management, which leads to increased marketing and sales

5. Investor Relations

aved information symbolizes a company's due diligence and organization. Without data backup, shareholders cannot make informed decisions or determine a company's value.

6. Archiving

Backed up information streamlines the development of archives

7. Competitive Gain

there are many businesses that fail to data backup important information.

8. Improved Productivity

Archived files lead to comparative studies of the past and present to devise a more effective plan.

9. No Wasted Time

10. Peace of Mind

data backup is necessary to save the business from losing investors and customers and closing down.

The PCI Security Standards Council claims that since March, malicious virus-related reports are up 475%. The reason for the uptick is that cybercriminals are trying to take advantage of rapid changes to the payment-card data environment. In addition, 41% of small businesses have said they’ve suffered breaches costing more than $50,000 to fix.

Contactless payment is one of the big changes within the payment data environment. Several restaurant companies – from chains to independents – are offering it because it reduces customers' physical interaction with the restaurant's POS system. As part of this move, some businesses have eliminated credit-card PIN numbers.

Eliot says malicious email is usually the easiest way for cybercriminals to access your networks. The emails typically show up as urgent requests for sensitive information, often pretending to be from the Small Business Administration or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. When the intended victim types in his or her credentials and clicks on a specific link or downloads an attachment, criminals are in.

Anyone looking for easy-to-implement security tips can try these six to start. Reduce areas where payment-card data is stored. The best way to protect against a data breach is to avoid storing any card information at all. With many small operators offering curbside pickup and accepting payment over the phone instead of through face-to-face transactions, it’s important they train employees not to write down payment card details. Instead, have them enter numbers directly into a secure terminal. Use strong passwords. Using weak and default passwords is one of the leading causes of payment data breaches among businesses. Effective passwords must be strong and updated regularly. The most recent guidance is: the longer, the better. Think of it almost as a “passphrase” rather than a password. Use it in the form of a sentence, but mix in different characters within the phrase. It’s much harder to break a long passphrase than it is a short, complex password. Weak and vendor default passwords often result in small business data breaches. Also, don’t repeat your passwords. Update your software often. Criminals look for outdated software to exploit flaws in unpatched systems. Timely installations of security patches are crucial to minimizing the risk of a breach. Whenever updates are available, use them. They will improve performance and close out some of the vulnerabilities cybercriminals are searching for. Enable two-factor authentication. It's so important for restaurateurs, especially where their POS systems or any of their sensitive databases are concerned, to have two-factor or multi-factor authentication enabled. If an instance where credentials are stolen occurs, there will be a second layer of verification the operator can rely on to potentially reduce the chances that information will be breached. Segment your networks. If you are going to store payment data, make sure your POS system has its own separate, secure network. Do not store sensitive documents on public cloud services such as Google Docs or DropBox. If you’re going to store sensitive documents, house them in an encrypted, locked down location.   Be hyper-vigilant. Criminals are going to try to take advantage of this pandemic situation as much as possible. You can protect yourself by not giving out sensitive information, especially within unsolicited emails. Don’t click on links you’re not expecting and do everything in your power to protect all sensitive information.

Then, ask yourself, “What does our company have in place to mitigate our exposures?”

Do we have an effective privacy policy?

Do we have an effective privacy-breach response plan?

Do we continuously test our disaster-response and business-continuity plans?

Franchise concerns

Franchise agreements should address several important data-security concerns, cyber-insurance, breach notification and PCI (payment card industry) compliance.

Franchise agreements should require franchisees to purchase a specified amount of cyber insurance coverage in the event of a data breach.

In addition, the franchisee should be required to promptly notify the franchisor of all breaches in security and immediately notify the franchisor of all breaches of sensitive information.

The franchisor may also want to consider being notified of any impermissible uses or disclosures

Cyber attack realities The ramifications of a cyber breach could be both financially and operationally catastrophic to any hospitality company. Losses could include costs associated with litigation expenses and fines as well as defense. The cost of business interruption and loss of income could be debilitating.

people forgot about the other side of the hospitality industry, from the flight attendant and travel advisor to the [hotel] housekeeper,” Griscavage said. “It impacted our industry in a really bad way.”

Using the internet cut out “the middleman” — i.e., the travel advisor, who was paid a commission by airlines, hotel chains and tour operators — so suppliers could offer seeming bargains at their own self-service sites or at online travel agencies. Problems arose, however, with unforeseen bumps in the road — natural disasters, political crises, industry strikes — and then travelers largely had to fend for themselves.

“The future is bright,” Kerby said. “If you didn’t understand the value of a travel advisor before, you certainly do now because you realize how thin the response mechanisms are for some [travel] suppliers.”

Travel agents are a thing of the past - they primarily booked tickets and beds. Travel advisors have taken on a much more complex role - part psychologist, life coach, executive producer, concierge, fixer, dream maker, and ‘Blink Blink’ genie, with the multitude of services that they provide.

Anything that causes cancelled flights (or cruises, etc.) means hassles, but the people who get through this process the most smoothly and the ones who get rebooked first and get the few available seats out of Dodge are usually the ones who used a travel agent. It’s that simple. First off, you actually have someone to call, versus long lines at banks of airport phones masquerading as “help desks.” But good agencies are constantly monitoring their clients’ flights and they usually know about your problem before you do - and often have a resolution before you even call them.

Expertise: No one knows everything about travel, no matter how deeply they are involved in the industry.

Emergencies: This is the one most applicable to the average occasional travel.

It is important to remember that these advantages are not just for luxury travelers. Good travel advisors do not just know what the best hotel is, they know what the best hotel is for you and your budget and can help you find the right fit.

Connections: Whether you are trying to book space at a coveted 8-villa safari lodge in Africa or get a room in a top Paris hotel during Fashion Week, most hoteliers keep emergency inventory and guess who gets it? The travel advisors they have known for years who book a lot of guests and send them a lot of business.

“Travel advisors provide our clients with access: access to people, places, and experiences that could never be replicated, much less imagined. A great travel advisor has invested time and relationships in creating their ‘black book’ of contacts and relationships, so that when their clients travel, they are treated as a VIPs, not just a credit card number.” In my experience, everyone likes being treated like a VIP.

“Information overload, thousands of new hotels on the scene, all sorts of new cruise ships, passport and visa issues, weather, transit strikes, political unrest, natural disasters, travel insurance, travel providers going out of business, it’s never ending. How does one navigate all of this? To avoid the travel landmines that lay in front of you, you need to get a great travel advisor!

Extras: When you get more than you expected for the same price, that’s a great deal, and with travel advisors this happens all the time.

“The millennial generation specifically may have seen their parents use a travel advisor, but don’t feel like they need one - until they are deep in the spiral of research. By shifting gears to planning with an expert, they feel liberated from the immense pressure of choosing the ‘best’ resort - because we’re cutting through the noise of all the conflicting opinions they’re seeing online.

Air: If you are trying to buy the cheapest round-trip economy ticket from New York to Dallas, even the best advisors probably can’t get it for less than you can buy it online, though you still have to deal with all the pitfalls of the online travel sites and you will lose the safety net advisors provide when things go wrong. But in a couple of other cases, buying your air through an agent can actually save you money, or miles, or both.

It just doesn’t seem possible, but it is, real tickets, same airline, better seats, less money. I don’t know how they do it, and frankly I don’t care, but if you know who to call this happens all the time (if you are not a client of SmartFlyer booking your vacation or business trip, they will charge you a fee to do the legwork and find you great deals on premium and mileage tickets, but in almost every case I’ve seen, it still saves you money).

Better Trips! At the end of the day this is the bottom line, the big win you get with a good travel advisor. They know more than you do, they are better connected, they have access to benefits you can’t get yourself, and they can match and often beat any prices you find. They plan a better trip and then provide a safety net.

Travel advisors take the overwhelming amount of information out there and distill it into the key points that apply to you - the best hotel/destination/tour for your interests, your budget, and your time frame.

5 Reasons Why You Need A Travel Agent - More Than Ever

Despite being one of the largest and most dynamic segments of the US and global economy, penetration of cloud-based technologies in the segment remains incredibly low, and the vendor landscape remains tremendously fragmented on a global basis,” says Matt Melymuka, co-founder and partner at PeakSpan Capital.

Life House, a tech-first hotel experience, shows proof-of-concept: that hotels that invest in technology drive higher revenue, better guest reviews, and a higher star-rating.

Hotels use Zingle’s messaging tools to deliver five-star service at scale; Medallia’s investment in Zingle gives hotels the opportunity to provide frictionless guest service and streamline time-consuming interactions, such as check-in.

Hotels are catching on, adding convenience through streaming, voice activation, guest-room tablets, and food ordering tech.

White labeling is a practice in which a product – in this case, hotel software – is manufactured by a third party and uses branding by the purchaser, or marketer, so that the end product appears to have been produced by the purchaser.

An API, application programming interface, is simply a messenger of data between applications. APIs allow your various hotel technology tools and programs to work together, connecting your RMS to a PMS, or your PMS to your upsell software, or your business intelligence software to your PMS. An API makes your technology user-friendly and efficient; when your tools work together, you capture each platform’s full capabilities.

For instance, feeding data from your PMS into a business intelligence tool leads to real, operational data to analyze trends and provide recommendations for better marketing campaigns, smarter staffing decisions, seasonal trends, and market competition. Hotels that are comfortable using APIs can automate tasks that take up much of their employee’s time with manual data entry.

On-demand convenience dominates our lives, and guests expect this level of ease from their hotel experience as well.

Oaky, one of the industry’s leading upselling tools, raised a Series A funding round of $9.5 million led by PeakScan Capital. Oaky’s appeal to investors stems from the app’s data-driven approach to driving incremental revenue. Their deep understanding of customer behavior makes Oaky one of the top-rated upselling tools on the market today.

Hilton is taking a different approach, partnering with Netflix to allow guests to control their streaming straight from the Hilton Honors mobile app.

As far as voice-activation, Volara is leading the way in providing a thoughtful, Alexa-esque guest-room solution. Volara integrates with the most popular work order management systems so that guests can make requests and get confirmation when the item or service they need will be delivered.

And for savvy marketing managers, tablets provide a new channel through which to send targeted, automated messages generating $5,000 per month in additional revenue.

2nd Kitchen is a godsend for hotels without a kitchen on-site: guests can order room service from restaurants near your hotel, taking care of care of orders, menus, payment, fulfillment, and customer support for your property.

Hotels are a prime target for hackers. “Only about 25% of all U.S. businesses, including hotel operators, are fully compliant with current data security best practices. That means that three out of four are not and are potential disasters waiting to happen,” reported one cybersecurity expert.

Numerous high-profile malware attacks on the hotel industry have led to hundreds of millions of guests’ data being compromised and millions of dollars in damage. Just this February, MGM Resorts revealed they were the target of a massive data breach that compromised personal information for more than 10.6 million guests. Files leaked in the MGM attack included information on celebrities, chief executives of technology companies, reporters and government officials, according to Skift.

Expedia and Booking have taken some pretty big hits in recent months.

Why the dive in stock price? There are two factors outside Coronavirus that are impacting OTAs. First, hotels are getting better at capturing direct bookings. Hotel tech like direct booking platforms, metasearch ad managers, and messaging integrations help properties draw more visitors to their site and convert more direct bookings, circumventing the high OTA commissions in the process.

Secondly, Google has entered the travel market in a big way. Google has expanded from traditional AdWords to include hotels everywhere via its Hotel Ads product.

5G may be getting all the buzz, but for property owners, WiFi 6 is much more relevant. WiFi 6 is the term used to describe the next iteration of Wifi, a faster, more efficient connection enabled through new technologies. WiFi 6 is about 30% faster than our current WiFi.

With WiFi 6, your property can leverage in-room technology to provide better service, driving positive guest reviews and repeat business. Smart thermostats, smart speakers, and smart locks will all perform better with the adoption of WiFi 6 over the next five years.

Investors in Oaky already recognize this next insight: data has become the world’s most valuable resource. The sooner you start to mine guest data for better customer insights, the better positioned your property will be against your competition.

Data can fuel smarter marketing campaigns, inform your pricing, and help you capture a higher market share than your competitors by knowing your guests on a deeper level.

Earlier this year, Revinate launched the hotel industry's first Guest Data Platform to aggregate, clean and deliver rich guest profiles for hotels and property groups of all sizes. The platform combines data from multiple sources to provide a complete picture of a hotel’s guests, delivering the information needed to increase guest satisfaction scores, direct bookings, and ultimately, profit.

Brands in the alternative lodging sector include Stay Alfred, Sonder, The Guild Hotels and to some extent groups such as Selina and OYO. 

The biggest distraction or barrier these next-gen hotels face is that they’re taking the wrong approach to tech. The companies that win will be the ones who stop acting like tech companies – using buzzwords like AI and virtual concierge – and focus on being more innovative and agile real estate businesses than traditional market players today. Those that succeed will be tech-enabled businesses; not tech businesses.

Smart hotel rooms use technology to allow guests to personalize their stay experiences.

Technology is becoming more important to hotel operations because it can deliver increasingly high value for hoteliers and guests.

The most important software in the hotel industry is the property management system, which acts as “mission control” for hotel operations. Hoteliers use a PMS to manage reservations, check guests in and out, and handle billing.

While exciting technologies present new options for hoteliers to enhance their offerings, these new innovations also mean hoteliers must focus on data security and continued training when implementing the technology that guests expect.

If delays happen too many times, they're likely to take their business elsewhere.

US small businesses are projected to lose $40 billion in productivity because of internet outages in 2020

the brunt of the loss will be felt by the smallest businesses that overwhelmingly do not have internet backup solutions in place. These businesses will lose $22 billion in productivity – the equivalent of just over $4,500 per year per business establishment.

Redundant internet is a connection that kicks in automatically when your primary internet connection goes down, which means you never lose connectivity. It's like having a backup generator that can keep a home running after a storm knocks out the neighborhood's power.

66% of small businesses saying that an internet outage would be critical or extreme, Independence Research found that the majority have no internet backup plan, with many likely not having a business continuity and disaster recovery (BCDR) plan.

Just 2% of companies with 1 to 20 employees — vulnerable businesses that could suffer significant losses after one significant outage — have redundancies in place.

Use of Multiple Clouds

more efficiency, faster automation, and a higher level of personal responsiveness.

many companies will strive to increase their ability to store, process, analyze, and secure essential healthcare data. As a result, instead of using various cloud providers for multiple applications or disaster recovery, such cohesive approaches will become more common.

there will be a greater need for security, privacy, and compliance