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Remote check-in with mobile keys will allow guests to go straight to [their] room and improve the hotel’s operational efficiency.”

The mobile technology used with radio frequency ID electronic locks delivers a more personalized and interactive guest experience—from check-in and informing guests of hotel amenities to securely accessing their room, all via their mobile device,

"I think that you will begin to see more hotels going to RFID and smartphone entry before using biosystem recognition," says Wolfe. "These systems are expensive, and there are many consumers who just don't want this information stored somewhere -- for a variety of reasons."

Systems that track the other qualities that make each human unique are in development as well.

Yet more card-free security systems are on the way.

Many industry watchers are keeping an eye on Houston's largest hotel, the vast 1,200-room Hilton Americas–Houston. The hotel has a facial recognition system that can identify and track guests, employees, and even suitcases. With 700 employees and an annual $16 million payroll, the system offers benefits such as employee time-theft monitoring and prevention for the hotel. But travelers aren't that concerned about employees taking an extra cigarette break. What it means for you is that the system includes alerts if unwanted people are on the property and a response time of mere seconds if there's an incident. Customer service is heightened as well: Returning guests will be recognized and greeted by name. And with 1,200 rooms worth of luggage in transit, the system makes it a lot easier to find lost or misdirected bags.

not everyone wants to be on-camera, all the time. With concerns about "snooping" and a Truman Show-like lack of privacy, might guests feel that systems such as this are too intrusive in our hotels? "

Technology is opening new doors to hotel safety, and the way we navigate hotels is set to change in the blink of an eye. Or the swipe of a cellphone. Or the print of a finger. With futuristic systems like scent and iris scanners and digital facial-recognition, hotel security is being taken to the next level. #plain_module { width: 590px; height:170px; border: none; float:left; margin:0px; font-size:12px;} #plain_module img {border:none; width: 13px; height:14; border: 0px; margin:0px; } #plain_module .mini_main { margin: 0px; padding:0px; width:585px; height:220px; repeat scroll 0 0} #plain_module .mini_item_header {padding:10px 0px; margin: 0px 0px; font-size:16px; color: #555555; border-bottom:1px dotted #CCCCCC;} #plain_module .mini_item {padding:5px 0px; margin: 0px 0px;} #plain_module a { color: #49A3CA; text-decoration:none; } #plain_module a:hover { color: #F98419; text-decoration:underline;} span.gray {color:#949494;} .mini_main li{list-style-type: none;background-image: url(http://www.aolcdn.com/travel/bullet);background-repeat: no-repeat;background-position: 0 1px;padding-left: 10px;} Those plastic key cards that once seemed so innovative will soon go the way of the actual key. The new thing is contact-less Smartcards and RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) cards that need just be waved to allow room access. Much like the cruise world's one card system, these cards may soon make hotel stays easier by allowing guests to pay for services, as well as to check-in and check-out, through a single device. Travelers may even be able to save preferences on the cards, from pillow type to floor choice. RFID cards are already in use at New York's Plaza Hotel, and Starwood Hotels are considering introducing them into their hip Aloft and Element properties. But travelers worried they will constantly have to traipse back to reception every time they lose their card need not despair. Security systems in some hotels do away with cards altogether. "In addition to Radio Frequency Identification, there are also systems that use a smartphone, such as an iPhone," says Frank Wolfe, CEO of Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals. "When a guest checks into a hotel and provides their phone number, they get an encrypted sound code via text message." You can then play back the code to unlock your room door.

Systems that track the other qualities that make each human unique are in development as well. Movement-activated video-capture systems were showcased in New Zealand in September 2010. Researchers are at work on devices capable of recognizing an individual's gait or walk and even their DNA. Frank Wolfe says, "If you want to go 'way out there', there are some systems being explored that can allegedly sniff someone, and also systems that can recognize the pattern of blood veins on a human being which are apparently unique to the individual," says Wolfe. Quite common in Japan, vascular-recognition systems such as this are still "several years off," according to Wolfe. "I think that you will begin to see more hotels going to RFID and smartphone entry before using biosystem recognition," says Wolfe. "These systems are expensive, and there are many consumers who just don't want this information stored somewhere -- for a variety of reasons."

Southwest announced on Aug. 5 that it will provide full content in the Amadeus and Travelport systems beginning in mid-2020.

Travel advisors booking Southwest through Amadeus and Travelport will be able to change, cancel or modify reservations directly through the systems. Agents who currently book Southwest through Sabre must call the airline for any ticket modification that is not a cancellation.

For Southwest, broader entry in the traditional agent channel will serve as a third prong in the airline's distribution offering for business and leisure agency partners, joining its direct channel and the SWAbiz booking tool.

The company projects that it will earn between $10 million and $20 million in additional revenue in the second half of 2020 as a result of the move.

"It's an intelligent compromise on Southwest's part, because to compete with other airlines in the corporate market they have to sell their tickets through the channels that corporate customers want to use,"

Last month, Southwest joined NDC Exchange, an airline product marketplace operated by ATPCO and SITA that facilitates direct-connect capabilities between airlines and agencies using NDC protocols. While NDC is especially useful in enabling airlines to sell ancillary products such as fare bundles and checked bags through the agent channel, Offutt said it's also important as a way to attract ordinary ticket sales through alternative booking paths. 

"I think Southwest realized that as NDC moved from aspirational toward practice, they had to go down that path or be left behind,"

while the increased functionality will make sales-tracking more efficient for agencies, it will also provide greater visibility of Southwest purchases to competing airlines, thereby making it easier for those carriers to monitor whether agencies with which they have corporate contracts are meeting market-share goals.

Southwest's broader entry into the GDSs will result in the legacy carriers boosting the incentives they offer corporate and leisure agencies.

you have to present your passport and the software determines whether the person standing in front of the camera matches that identity.

If guests have RFID-enabled keycard that contain payment information or room-charge information, guests can simply pay with their keycard

Besides granting entry to guestrooms, hoteliers can also use RFID technology to control access to amenities, parking, event spaces, and more

RFID tags on minibar items can alert hotel staff to low stock rather than tasking housekeeping staff with monitoring stock levels.

Most hoteliers have a line item in their budget to account for replacement of stolen items like pillows, hair dryers, and dishes. RFID chips on these frequent “souvenirs” can tell hotel staff when an item has left the building and give them the opportunity to recover the stolen item.

An RFID system is simply a cost- effective technology that uses radio waves to send a signal from a chip to a receiver.  RFID stands for radio-frequency identification, and this type of wireless technology involves two parts: a tag and a receiver.

A biometric powered check-in can give guest the experience they want and deserve. Registering their biometrics (for example, fingerprints) and enabling access to the room in the hotel management software will give them frictionless access to their room and concentrate on the next thing they want to do.

They can also be provided with access to assigned hotel facility in the package like pool or casino, which are also secured with a biometric access method like fingerprint recognition. The underlying system also keeps record of guest’s whereabouts and generate reports when needs, e.g. at the time of billing, checkout or audit.

Managing preferences of returning guests beforehand give them an idyllic experience and more business to the hotel in long run. This can be efficiently achieved with a hotel management system equipped with biometric ability. Preferences of a guest can be associated with their biometric identifiers, which are instantly fetched when they scan their biometrics in future check-ins and hotel staff can surprise them every time they visit.

On the other hand, hotel room access based on guest biometrics provides an integrated solution that is connected with the hotel management systems. Since there is no need to card, keys or any other form of possession, there is no fear of losing them or getting them stolen. Biometrically logged entry exit presents strong proof that only guest entered the room and no one else.

Biometrically secured entry / exit to a service / facility area will require guests or members to scan their fingerprint or face to enter the facility and will log the time spent in the facility area.

It also prevents any outsiders from using hotel facilities such as pool or casino that are reserved only for guests.

At the time of billing, a guest may insist on not availing a service that has actually been availed and forgotten. Biometric based entry and exit records present authentic proof of services availed.

biometrics is not just about customer convenience or security, it can be deployed for in-house applications like employee attendance, time tracking and to improve payroll efficiency. Keeping track of employee in and out timings brings in payroll transparency and managers can make sure that employees are being paid for the hours worked and not for breaks. It also curbs time theft and timesheet manipulation within an organization. Time theft and timesheet manipulation is a disastrous activity, in which an employee misinterprets amount of time she has put to complete an assignment or a project. When done on purpose, the time is spent in personal or other activities unrelated to the work and logged in payroll system, putting burden on company funds. A biometric based clock-in and out system can eliminate the possibility of timesheet fraud as employees have to be present to clock in or out time, they ask someone else to do it for them.

The biometric guest ID and preference tracking system facilitates keyless entry for guest rooms, eliminating the need for cards or keys. It facilitates automated check in fingerprints kiosks, whereby guests can check in with a simple touch of their finger. Billing becomes dramatically easy and reliable and customers can be reliably charged with biometrically authenticated logs of their entry and exit to facility area.

biometrics involves granting access and identifying a person by his physical traits, a thumbprint or iris scan, for instance.

ing a person by his physical traits, a thumbprint or iris scan, for instance.

With the face recognition capabilities, a hotel, casino, or restaurant can keep track of suspicious customers—or slacking employees—to make sure they don’t cause any trouble.

Switching to the cloud from a client server platform pays off with a big drop in both the initial capital outlay and the ongoing operating costs for the property management and other systems.

pects of a franchisee’s business, from guest check-ins and housekeeping services to billing and finances. Over time new features have been rolled into the software platform making it more robust and useful for hotel owners—it’s currently distributed in eight countries and available in four languages. And while plenty of cloud-based PMS packages are now available from third-party vendors like Micros, Maestro, and RoomKey, Choice’s internal solution has garnered its fair share of attention. “We had been getting knocks on the door from IT vendors at other hotel companies and individual Choice franchisees that own other brands, saying they were interested in our product,” says Pacious, “So we set up a new division so we could take a look at other opportunities we could develop.” This led the company to launch SkyTouch last year, a new division that develops and markets cloud-based software solutions to hotels inside and outside the Choice system. Pages: 1 2 3 4 2013-06-18 Sean Downey !function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs"); (function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js#xfbml=1"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); }(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk')); (function() { var po = document.createElement('script'); po.type = 'text/javascript'; po.async = true; po.src = 'https://apis.google.com/js/plusone.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(po, s); })(); (function() { var li = document.createElement('script'); li.type = 'text/javascript'; li.async = true; li.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https:' : 'http:') + '//platform.stumbleupon.com/1/widgets.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(li, s); })(); inShare0 Related Articles attachment-3

his led the company to launch SkyTouch last year, a new division that develops and markets cloud-based software solutions to hotels inside and outside the Choice system. Pages: 1 2 3 4 2013-06-18 Sean Downey !function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs"); (function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js#xfbml=1"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); }(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk')); (function() { var po = document.createElement('script'); po.type = 'text/javascript'; po.async = true; po.src = 'https://apis.google.com/js/plusone.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(po, s); })(); (function() { var li = document.createElement('script'); li.type = 'text/javascript'; li.async = true; li.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https:' : 'http:') + '//platform.stumbleupon.com/1/widgets.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(li, s); })(); inShare0 Related Articles Hotel Market Insight: Cleveland a

This led the company to launch SkyTouch last year, a new division that develops and markets cloud-based software solutions to hotels inside and outside the Choice system.

2. Integrating wearable technology and sensors:

3. Providing rich travel related multimedia content:

4. Leveraging social media:

5. Artificial Intelligence:

A 2017 study of more than 900 travel agents located throughout 52 countries revealed that travel agents are continuing to report a record use of the GDS for hotel reservations.

It’s important to note also that GDS corporate business typically delivers a quality customer that usually augments hotel F&B/C&B revenue using his employer expenses to wine and dine in the hotel, in contrast to leisure travellers who tend to spend outside the hotel.

Because of the fixed transaction fee element, calculation of the CPA of a GDS booking will depend on the hotel sale rate achieved and the length of stay.

For the individual hotelier, the requirements for applying to consortia or account managing their property on the GDS can be onerous.

RFP is “request for proposal”, where companies make the market aware of the volume of bednights they expect to need for the upcoming year.

GDS business can be a significant source of incremental bookings and increased margin.

It’s time to make sure that you are open for business on the GDS.

Costs of Sales

Common operating expenses in the hospitality industry are rent, insurance and non-client service salary expenses.

Operating Expenses

Non-guest and patron costs of the company are reflected in the company's operating expense accounts.

Major costs in the hospitality industry include costs of food and labor. Food costs, depending on the type of restaurant or resort, can be nearly half of a company's expenses. Costs of sales should be recorded in line with revenue recognized.

Capital Purchases

Industrial linen washers, stove tops, mixers and computers are all viewed as capital expenditures. These items, which benefit more than one accounting period, are recorded with a debit to fixed assets and a credit to cash at the time of purchase. Over the useful life of the equipment the item is depreciated.

The accumulated depreciation and the fixed asset account offset each other on the company's financial statements, so the equipments' value is always reported as cost less accumulated depreciation.