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The article tells us 7 ways to make hotel smarter. 1. Enhanced Connectivity to Guest Services and Staff Members. Hotel should pay attention to online visitor reviews on websites. Many smart hotel systems have adopted bespoke technology to provide faster and more targeted guest selection capabilities without sacrificing quality. 2. Intelligent Environmental and Entertainment Controls. Guests will often rate their experiences in direct relation to the amenities that they are provided with. It therefore makes a great deal of sense that many hotels have adopted the same smart systems that can be found within homes. 3. The Inclusion of Voice-Ready Technology. Voice-controlled technology provides guests with a convenient means to control basic aspects within their rooms. Voice commands can control options. Voice-ready technology has made great progress in recent years. 4. Smart and Interactive Maps. The real-time interactive mapping not only can these items be used to orientate the guests themselves, but such maps are just as capable of displaying important information, like nearby attractions and places of interest to visit. 5. Personalised Forms of Entertainment. Many hotels are now beginning to provide guests with even more intuitive ways to access personal entertainment accounts, like voice control, access to audio books and customized music playlists. 6. The Concept of Sustainability. Guests are now appreciating their relationship with the natural environment. And a smart hotel room is known for its energy-saving qualities. Therefore, smart hotel systems also can improve sustainability. 7. Adopting Smart and Targeted Forms of Data Collection. In smart hotel, data can be collected without violating the privacy of patrons to make important policy changes as well as to cater to the needs of a certain demographic.

Sam Colt wrote an article for Business Insider titled Tablets Are Making Waiters Obsolete - An Chilli's Is Leading The Way. This article bothered me a bit, because knowing what I know about Hospitality we build our brand around customer service and customer satisfaction and how can we do that if we are eliminating the person to person interaction. In his article Colt mentioned Chili's "has recently introduced tablets in dining rooms nationwide that customers can use to place orders, browse the menu, and entertain otherwise noisy children". I understand the thought behind keeping your guests entertain while they wait for service; however, I believe it should be just that, entertainment not self-service. Dine in restaurants should not be treated like a fast food restaurant and guests should expect a reasonable wait time. Having that person to person interaction makes a dining experience more enjoyable. E la Carte co-founder and CEO Rajat Suri argued "if someone does not want to spend time with a server, they're going to ignore the server anyways." My thoughts are why would you dine in a restaurant if you do not want to be severed, why not go to a fast food restaurant. Chili's states the tablets are solely for increasing customer satisfaction and increase revenue and suggests the tablets are making the life of waiters better.

The article discusses how music is becoming a bigger source of in-room entertainment in hotel rooms second only to video. The number of people listening to music daily is constantly growing and while most people listen with headphones, at a home setting people are used to using their TVs or speakers, these gadgets and habits have become expectations for their lodging accommodations. Companies have traditionally responded to this with Bluetooth speakers in the rooms, while companies like Hilton and SBE have decided to reduce the investment in hardware that would inevitably be outdated and replaced, as it happened with radios, VCR, and DVD players; and instead have recently opted to strike partnership with streaming services, such as, IHeartRadio and Tidal respectively to satisfy their guest desire for their music preferences. While a company like Hard Rock hotels has done the opposite and invested more in hardware and added soundbars to the rooms and the optional offering of turntables and guitars for guest use. Music streaming and casting isn't going anywhere any time soon, so hotels have to find the best balance between hardware and software to stand out and be competitive.

This article talks about the new up and coming form of in-room hotel entertainment. According to Statista, 68% of Americans between the ages of 18-34 listen to music on a daily basis. A senior project manager at Hilton said, "residential trends become hospitality expectations." I think that is so true because you want your guests to feel at home and comfortable when they are away from home and choosing to stay at your hotel during their time away. It was also very interesting to learn that hotels shy away from putting hardware in their rooms. For instance, DVD players. It's so much more practical to have a steaming service connected to the television.

In terms of in-room hotel entertainment, this is redefining the behavior and preference of the modern-day hotel guest. Points of Consideration As hotel operators seek technology solutions to elevate the in-room entertainment experience, there are three areas they need to consider: Installation and Networks: Hotels should consider the implications that advanced entertainment experiences will have on their existing networks, and the potential need to rewire and upgrade network equipment to support the increased connectivity demands of a new entertainment platform.

In this article the food and beverage POS systems are described and discussed. The author explains why POS systems are important for the restaurants and entertainment centers, how to build those systems, how much would it cost to the businesses and what POS is exactly. Other than that, the benefits of installing POS systems are pointed.

This article introduces the hospitality industry's first Mobile Management device solution. MVI, an Asia-focused hotel technology provider, partnered with IBM to develop the new enterprise class MDM solution. The MDM solution provides effective management of smart mobile devices to support interactive, live and on-demand video services in hotels. The usage of this new device was recently incorporated at the L'Hotel`elan in Hong Kong. An iPad is provided for guest use in all the hotel's rooms, and it serves as an entertainment device, offering eGuest services such as TV channels and interactive guest services including in-room dining. The MDM solution is fully integrated with hotel PMS and POS systems, which allows the device to become a part of a hotel's overall management ecosystem. This device not only provides the features of an entertainment device for guests, but it also offers hotels unique management features. A few of the features include customized workflow to streamline the installation of hotels' managed apps on mobile device, comprehensive push-based notification management, availability for all Apple mobile devices, and effective protection of guests' own data and personal information for apps that required login. I recently went on a site visit at Turnberry Isles Resort with one of my classes. While on the tour, the lady conducting the tour mentioned that with the rate technology is advancing in the near future many of the hotel procedures will be completed via Ipad (such as checking in and out of the hotel). After reading this article, it seems as if the near future has already arrived!!!

I really liked this article. Personally, I do not have a good experience dealing with people at the front desk. Many people do not want to deal with employees and would find this method a lot easier and stress free. Now you can check in and out from both your TV in your room and also the iPad device. Great article Nicole!

This article is about an application developed by Big Night Entertainment Group called Tabbedout. This application is a secure mobile application that allows customer to view their account and pay it through their smart phone as the application is integrated with the Micros POS system. The application will be used in four of the company's venues. The application is a secure payment method as well as a marketing tool. The payment information of the customer is saved in the phone and not on a host server. This application gives customers a whole new customer service experience. Customers can close off their tab by simply paying from their smart phone, without having to wait for their server to come back with the bill, only to come back again after the customer has given away their credit card. Also, the server doesn't need to worry as their system has the customer credit card information to close the tab off in the event a customer walked out without paying.

This application is incredible. As technology advances, it makes our lives easier and simpler. Customers who pay through this application should feel more secure because identity theft is less likely to occur. As you said, the application gives customers new experience, and the advantages can result in enhancing customer satisfaction.

A Swedish hotel intelligence organization has chosen Dubai as the location to use a new software product called Hoteligence. This software is about offering guests specific content and services at the specific time. It is a cloud-based software platform that can be operated through TV, iphone, ipad, Android, etc. It offers room entertainment: customers can play Angry Birds, listen to music and connect to social media platforms such as facebook and twitter. This software is also a useful marketing tool which can track and analyze guests' buying behavior. The feedback until now is very good, so I think it is possible to implement Hoteligence to a bigger market and more levels of hotels as this software not only increases the added benefits for guests, but also gives hoteliers a good marketing tool.

Forget about whether there is free wifi in room or not when travelling. Hyatt Hotels Corporation has introduced the internet accessed In-Room television where basically your In-Room TV not only performs the normal functions, but everything you can possibily imagine with your laptop, mobile phone, etc... from browsing websites, ordering room service, dinner reservations to receiving customized messages from meeting and group planners and much more! With this new service, I would simply see it as an electornic bulter where every guest could enjoy whenever they stay with such properties.

" Quadriga's new Personal Media Network™ has been awarded the prestigious Equip'Innov Award for the most innovative product in the technology category at this year's Equip' Hotel Industry Conference and Exhibition in Paris."

This article shows us Quadriga's new Personal Media Network, which is one of the most innovative products at this year's Equip' Hotel Industry Conference and Exhibition in Paris. PMN™ is a new technology in in-room entertainment environment. This new technology will help the hotel in developing a 360-degree relationship with guests, before, during and after their stay. PMN integrates various forms of and the various forms of content into a single application to create a unified network of services. PMN bases on flexible building blocks, providing a new platform for hotel. With PMN, guests can access and shift content subscriptions from their own mobile device to in-room television for play. Everything from videos, movies, etc. can be get anywhere via hotel Wi-Fi on any device at any time. There are also PMN, FTG can be used in WIFI area. It makes hotels has more opportunities to increase revenue from meetings and event communication. This new technology creates differentiation in marketplace, and meets guests' demanding of WIFI and devices. Quadriga is the single partner to the global hospitality industry, integrating TV and Mobile communications platforms, Internet, Network. The company aims to create the latest technologies and meet every customer needs and guest expectations.

The article gives a relative brief intorduction of how BlackLine's accounting software worke well in many brands hotels and casinoes.The Account Reconciliations and Transaction enables lots  of hotels such as Four Seasons, Royal Carriebean, Venetian Casino Resort and so forth can streamline the financial close and process the immense bolume of transactions they receive on a daily basis in a timely manner-especially credit cards, which will reduce more risk of credit cards frauds and maintian security  of cusotmers' consideration. One of good applications is SaaS delivery model. BlackLine enhances the application with a more unify  and complete structure and segregation, which prevents others from seeing its data. Another good example is Kempinski has greatly reduce their excess paper and simplified their account reconciliation process via BlackLine's tehcnology. The web-based application enhable hoteliers access to all stakeholders anywhere at any time, which makes hoteliers gain more valuable effiencies reducing time with audits.

This week's article elaborates on BlackLines Systems, a financial software provider is presenting to MGM Resorts, Las Vegas Sands and Caesars Entertainment the first conference called, Shared Services for Hospitality. The conference is focused on providing information about the advances in their new efficient software to evaluate performance, make better decisions making and external reporting for the hospitality industry. The BlackLine Systems wants to demonstrate the hospitality companies how errors can be minimized with the elimination of today's manual accounting spreadsheets towards better accounting software, which will automate the accounting/financial processes and increase accuracy associated with real time information. This type of technology is essential within the hospitality industry for every type of business to incorporate within their structures for greater efficiency and performance.

BlackLine has helped businesses like MGM Resorts, Las Vegas Sands and more to move from the archaic way of manual accounting on spreadsheets. With a new automated system, users have a better way to reconcile accounts and evaluate performance. 

In this article, it talks about all the new ways hotels are using technology to bring in more customers. They are trying to make everyone's stay as pleasant as possible, one example that they talked about is using in iPads to keep their guests entertained while waiting. The Royal Mansour in Marrakech has now set up every room with touch screen walls that allow guests to control the temperature and the lighting in the room. Another resort in Nantucket offers their guests Flip video Camcorders that they can use at their property, the guest can record all the different things that they have done throughout the week, they can record everything from the crazy storms to a beautiful hike that they did with their family! The last hotel that they talked about in the article was the Andaz 5th Avenue, this hotel allows guest to skip the front check out and they can just check in from the elevator with their credit card on the way to their room. This article really opened up my eyes and see that technology really is changing the way that we live!

Travelport, one of the world's largest GDS companies reported about corporate travellers' preference and expectation. Visa informations is the top information followed by immunisations, weather, city maps, restaurants, and entertainment information. More customers, expecially corporate travellers want to book with ancillaries. The most commonly authorised ancillaries are extra baggage and hotel wifi. I've learned that the range of destination services and ancillary options grow increasingly and more complex. Because travellers' needs are evolving and yonger generations now expect customised content, intelligent itineraries and easily bookable ancillary content.

Today's many hotels have been trying to innovate their hotel technology to keep pace with their competitors. However, it seemed like that they're too much depend on the unnecessary and expensive technology. Thus, before investing the hotel technology, stop and look and listen people and what the travelers really want and need. Instead of adding Blu-ray players or IP-TV systems with video-on-demand, or putting an expensive dedicated shaver socket into the bathroom, hotels need to rethink and downsize. Here are some simple and short lists. 1. Super-fast, reliable and suitably priced Internet access 2. A well-lit room with simple controls. 3. Power sockets, power sockets and more power sockets. 4.Temperatures that can be easily controlled, both up and down. 5. A place to work 6. And as for the TV, include 24-hour news channels, sports channels and some entertaining TV channels. From the lists, what guests want from a hotel room with three Cs: 1. Clean 2. Comfortable 3. Connected For conclusion, too many investment on expensive and unnecessary technology would lead a fail in ROI. Rather than just spend money on the technology, hotels should rethink and research what the guests really want while they're staying.

SocialTables is one of the latest and most successful hospitality start-ups. It is essentially a hospitality SaaS. It was founded by Dan Berger, an event-planner turned programmer. Founded in 2012 and based in Washington D.C., one of the premier corporate hospitality locations in the US, the start-up has recently raised $8 million in Series A funding. The round was led by Bessemer Venture Partners, and followed by Thayer Ventures. This funding adds to the previous $1.6 million the company raised, which helped them streamline their event planning tools. According to its website, SocialTables is a cloud-based solution that offers event diagramming, seating, and check-in tools for event planners. The software can make room layouts that event planners can use to show clients, compose detailed seating charts and arrangements, and it offers a fast check-in app. All of this is done on a colorful, intuitive, cloud-based site with mobile integration. In two years, SocialTables has grown considerably. It has over 2,500 customers and 30,000 users. Additionally, two-thirds of its customer base is actually composed of venue-owners, including major corporations like Hyatt Hotels and Caesar's Entertainment. Academic institutions like Harvard Business School and The Ohio State University also subscribe to SocialTables. Additionally, one-third of its customers are private party planners. SocialTables is becoming an affordable, customizable, tech-progressive solution for event planners of all levels. Industry leaders like Hyatt and Caesar's already subscribe to its services. In the future, I think that the start-up should focus on increasing its ability to provide affordable and capable solutions for private event planners, particularly in the wedding category. While that is an extremely competitive and saturated market, SocialTables could provide an industry-leading software solution and use its credibility to entice private planners into its cloud-based ecosystem.

This article is about how e-commerce is being new opportunities to global and tourism travel. America are the biggest group online buyers. With internet being the prime source of shopping, in no way will it tourism portion will be left behind. It has been reported that 1.5 billions passengers has travel with computers and this is an extreme market to capitalize on. Adding inflight internet will replace the tradition means of entertainment like, magazines and newspaper in which will create a bridge between travels and travel service providers. With this new technology passengers will be allowed to make purchases and have it waiting at the gate at arrivals or even at the hotel. The passenger can also visit a site before they reach their destination and explore activities and places to go. Going electronic is not cheap, but it is a necessary investment. And as technology advances so will it in the tourism industry.

Cirque de Soleil has signed a 5 year contract with Openbravo POS system. With this new partnership, Cirque seeks to provide their guests with better purchase experiences. The POS system is expected to cut guest wait times for F&B and merchandise purchases. The POS is cloud-based and accessible through a computer, tablet, or phone. This system will also merge with Cirque de Soleil's customer database to provide better business analytics.

In order to stay in market, hotels should present competitive services and keep up with the latest technology. Computerized and online systems are becoming more and more popular. A vital section in any hotel is front desk because this is almost the only channel through which the guests could be connected to the hotel. As technology improved the form of a front desk is going to be changed in near future though the importance of front desk would be the same. We may no more see any agent at the front desk and instead there are a couple of computers and machines which help you with your check-in and other stuff. Hotel front desk technology would help the hoteliers to take care of financial matters and costumer service in a much more accurate and convenient way.  

Today I have chosen an article based on technology evolving the hospitality industry. Today we have technology helping and advancing with guest experience and in house book keeping. Technology has helped with guests check in via mobile phone, key less entry to your room, as well as entertainment platforms connecting your phone and personalized liking to your room. Technology helps and benefits hotel oweners the tools to most effectivley serve guests and increase revenue. benefits include customer service, more efficient internal operations and control over financial data. The future holds interesting evolution of more technological advances including facial recognition, and cellular check in and room reservations.