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Business metrics, including average guest check values, gross revenue and guest counts, are up compared to in 2010; all of this positively affects IT spending.

In 2011, 58% of respondents reported productivity/efficiency to be the top driver for their company’s IT efforts; meanwhile 52% identified cost-saving measures as their top driver.

According to the 2015 Lodging Technology Study, 22% of hotels surveyed said that migrating their on-premises technology to the cloud this year is a top priority. The study shows a dip in on-premise PMS investment (from 17% in 2014 to 14% in 2015) as “more hotels move to a cloud-based PMS.” It is reported that PMS will see the greatest cloud adoption in the coming 18 months.

According to the 2015 Lodging Technology Study, 22% of hotels surveyed said that migrating their on-premises technology to the cloud this year is a top priority. The study shows a dip in on-premise PMS investment (from 17% in 2014 to 14% in 2015) as “more hotels move to a cloud-based PMS.” It is reported that PMS will see the greatest cloud adoption in the coming 18 months.

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The Global Distribution System (GDS) is a primary reservation tool for travel agents. And unless you are brand new to the travel business, you probably have used the GDS many times during each work day. But what is GDS, and why is it important to the travel industry? What do you know about GDS? GDS is a network/platform that enables travel agencies and their clients to access travel data, shop for and compare reservations options, and book travel. GDS networks like the system operated by Travelport generate billions of dollars in global travel sales. 

The importance of GDS to travel agents? Imagine a large room with large round tables. Seated around each table are airline reservation employees. As a ticketing request is called in, a reservationist reaches out toward a very large rotating Lazy Susan placed on each table. The Lazy Susan has cubby holes that house index file cards; each card represents an airline flight. The reservationist pulls a card, marks it to indicate a seat is booked; a ticket is manually written, the phone call is concluded, and the index card is returned to its cubby hole. The process for one reservation takes between 90 minutes and 3 hours. The year is 1953. The modern GDS system evolved from this early labour-intensive manual system, thanks to the collaborative team efforts of American Airlines (AA) and IBM.  The result of that collaboration? The first airline industry mainframe-based system, SABRE.

The success of your search engine optimization efforts is heavily dependent on your hotel’s activity on social media. Google tends to favor social media accounts that frequently post and interact on different channels.

In 2016, we can expect more hotels using social media advertising to receive more engagement and interaction. Therefore, be sure your hotel is allotting a marketing budget for social media advertising.

It is important that in 2016 more than ever before, your hotel integrates a mobile strategy which must include a responsive website and a mobile compatible booking engine.

What should hotels look for in their financial management system then?Handling currency complexityRapid globalisation means that hotels are likely to report in more than one currency. Thus it would be a tremendous help if hotel accounting software can handle multiple currencies. However, it is worth noting that currency translation is not as simple as it looks. Complexity arises when different categories of exchange rates are required depending on circumstances. This is especially problematic when hotels have to follow more than one set of accounting and business rules. Handling multiple languagesEven though English is the default business language globally, it is not necessarily the case that everyone in an organisation grasps all English terminology and statutory reports, especially those that handle day-to-day operations. They are more likely to do the work in their own language. Moreover, different countries have different units of measurements and formats, which need to be reported as well. Hence, it is vital that hotels’ financial management software can handle all of these. Handling multiple entitiesA hotel chain with various branches in different countries or jurisdictions has the extra workload that entails complexity. As a helping tool, a hotel financial management system should be capable of consolidating results from discrete entities for statutory reporting and tax purposes. In other words, it should help the mother company and its subsidiaries keeping track of one another’s financials without interfering with their various legal structures.Supporting multiple charts of accountsAccording to Ventana Research 2011, “maintaining multiple charts of accounts may prove to be both simpler in the long run and more productive” despite some saying that it is best to have one chart of accounts only. The rigid approach of a single chart of accounts is especially unsuitable for companies with different lines of businesses, those in joint-venture arrangements or those acquiring businesses in different countries. Thus, accounting software for hotels should be able to handle simultaneous charts of accounts.Handling multiple calendarsIt is a fact that businesses around the world do not operate on the same fiscal year. To save time from having to recast figures into different calendars, hotels with multinational operations should implement a financial management system that can create local, regional and consolidated reports as needed for management or statutory purposes.Handling tax complexitiesFor hotels operating in various countries, their accounting software should be able to handle the complexities associated with different tax regulations and help defending tax audits. Apart from addressing issues such as multiple entities, charts of accounts, calendars and depreciation schedules, their system should be configured to be tax-aware. In other words, it should provide hotels with automated maintenance of rules and rates.Reporting using multiple accounting standardsGAAP, IFRS and local accounting standards require different accounting treatments. Thus, accounting software for hotels should allow different books for recording transactions under these various accounting rules. Automating the process from closing these books to creating financial statements and reports using multiple accounting standards also helps hotels save time and effort without risks of errors.Supporting different levels of corporate reportingA multinational hotel’s accounting system should be able to create a consolidated headquarters view as well a consolidated statement of several subsidiaries at an intermediate level. Management should be able to view and analyse these reports right at the source.Supporting global accessFinancial management software that allows web-based access can help hotels avoid incurring costs from installing the system individually at all branches or at branches with limited on-premise support. Having a system that can be installed locally, deployed centrally and accessed globally gives hotels a competitive advantage without compromising security and reliability.

When you have a building of this size and age, energy conservation is critical. With the cost of some of the building management solutions on the market, we couldn't afford to do a property-wide network overhaul. With INNCOM's wireless DMN, however, we were able to quickly add four wireless sensors into each guestroom for each of our four communication points (HVAC, lighting, thermostat and door controls) and a signal sent from each unit travels wirelessly through the building to communicate with the server. It works great."

PAR Technology Corporation (NYSE:PAR - News) and the leading provider of guest-centric hospitality management systems and Personality Hotels, San Francisco’s first boutique hotel company, today announce the successful deployment of the ATRIO™ Guest Experience Management platform at the Hotel Diva in San Francisco, California.

With this deployment, PAR Springer-Miller achieves a significant milestone and emerges as a true innovator in the global hospitality industry. The installation at the Hotel Diva marks the culmination of the initial, twenty-two month, development effort that delivered an extraordinary advancement in the state-of-the-art of technology in the hospitality industry.

The guiding pillars of ATRIO include the industry’s only platform purpose-built for true cloud computing, a highly innovative user experience, modular design, and the use of an Enterprise Service Bus. Overlaying ATRIO rests PAR Springer-Miller’s ongoing commitment to guest-centricity. Among many other benefits, true cloud computing and the “zero training” goal of the user experience brought significant financial benefit to Personality Hotels.

Financials and accounting continues to rank as the most important point-of-sale (POS) function.

Credit card swipes are the most important POS peripheral in 2011, followed by touchscreens, kitchen printers and kitchen display systems.

Twenty-five percent of respondents plan on replacing their POS systems in the next 5-6 years.

The Technology Association of Georgia (TAG)

today announced Proximus Mobility, a hyperlocal proximity marketing software company, as one of the Top 10 Innovative Technology Companies in Georgia.

The coveted Top 10 Innovative Technology Company Awards recognize Georgia-based companies for their innovation, financial impact, and their efforts at spreading awareness of Georgia's technology initiatives throughout the U.S. and beyond.

Pinterest has been all the rage recently, with various news sites and brands sitting up and taking notice

Pinterest.com user base is:

Fairly affluent, with $100k+ avg incomes and 28.1% users “well off” The time (15.8 mins) users spend on the site is significant (more than Facebook and close to YouTube)

In an effort to explore another sustainable technology, I’ve decided to communicate the benefits of hot water technologies and their influence on our industry’s environmental impact.

newer recirculation technologies are a smarter, greener way of ensuring the tap never runs cold.  The premise is simple:  A recirculation system such as D’MandRecirc by Enovative Group is a smart pump system that only operates during peak demand periods.  This can substantially reduce outward costs associated with running a system 24/7 to supply hot water to all of your properties fixtures.  By generating the hot water only when needed, these systems reduce energy expense associated with running a hot water heater, reduce unnecessary pressure on piping systems which can reduce long term maintenance costs. 

This device has specific sensors in place to react to the need for hot water which in turn activates the pump system to satisfy demand.  Consider that people generally utilize hot water only 15% of the time.  This means that you are currently paying to heat water for the unused 85% as well.  A system that runs solely at the point of demand can generate untold utility cost savings!

more than 80% of the participating IT executives were willing to share such applications as guest-room device management, concierge, point of sale, housekeeping, facilities management, and applications for several back-office and human resource functions.”