Group items tagged

Many HRIS choices are available at different price points providing different levels of functionality. Given the importance of the choice the employer is making, the package selected should meet its current needs and have the flexibility to grow and expand with the organization into the foreseeable future. However, constraints from budgets, hardware and time will affect the choice made.

This article examines the disadvantages of a human resource management system. Employees give all of their personal information from their social security to martial status. One obvious disadvantage to having all of this information is a security breach which could create legal problems if employees choose to take on legal action. Another negative to HRIS that is discussed in the article is the finances involved with using this system. Another cost would be training the staff to learn how to use the HRIS system. Throughout the entire article I thought this negative stood out the most. With so much information in the system, it could be difficult for any owner/manager/ or employee to analyze. It could be hard to generate reports and/or identify patterns, according to the article.

The article describes how the pandemic accelerated the adoption of technology for many people and how it shifted the needs of people looking for short-term/hotel stays. Companies that thrived during the pandemic were the ones that offered things that began trending as people needed to stay away from others and inside for large periods of time: contact-less experiences and apartment settings rather than traditional hotel rooms. As we move forward from the pandemic and travel begins again, hoteliers will need to re-evaluate their technology and invest in guest experience software tools so their hotels can compete with the new trends in hospitality spaces.

This paper mainly discusses the importance of network security in tourism and hotel industry. Due to the characteristics of the industry, it is inevitable for hotels to manage and protect their customers' personal data. Therefore, network security is very important for hotels. Then the author analyzes the reasons of the hotel data breach and puts forward solutions. The main approach is conduct network security training for employees and regularly evaluates the system status.

This article describes accounting software functions within the Hotel industry. The article states that "Accounting software is used to track the profitability of hotel operations and identify trends in the hospitality industry". It is said that when selecting accounting software, you must identify what results you are looking for from the software; and also the functions that you are able to receive. You must also understand the needs of your property, and industry. The article also discusses various decision criteria, which is a part of the selection process. Some of these criteria's that you must look out for are: annual revenue, budget, location, multiple sites, national or international locations, in-house verses outsource operations. I love the fact that this article also discusses the functions of hotel accounting software. Some of those functions that were stated are: account payable, account receivable, and payroll. The article also brought up some trends about hotel and lodging accounting software. One of the trends that stand out to me was the fact that some companies hand over their entire accounting responsibilities to major accounting companies or, accounting firms; this is referred to as outsource. Having a accounting software is a very beneficial asset for a company.

The hospitality industry has had steady growth, with increasing demands for internal controls and financial accountability. Accounting software is crucial in measuring and tracking the hotel's profitability. Accounting software is used to track the profitability of hotel operations and identify trends in the hospitality industry. So it's important for hotel manager to choose the suitable accounting software. This article tells how to select hotel accounting system properly. Including the decision criteria used in selection process, areas of functionality in hotel accounting software and standards used for accounting and auditing in hotel industry, etc.

Hotel managers are often faced a lot of problem to deal with the accounting system. Now hotel manager can manage all of the accounting responsibilities by use hotel accounting technology. Using Web-based hotel accounting software can save your business money . The functions covered in all of the accounting systems.

This article addresses the cybersecurity trends in hospitality for 2022. They talked about the risks for the hospitality industry and how much it can cost the company if there is a breach. It also talks about how bringing third party vendors in can be a risk to your company. It ends by talking about how to protect todays infrastructure by locking down logins, empowering staff, making a plan, and getting insured.

This article will give you the basic skills necessary to evaluate a proposed IT investment.These skills can be used in any industry including hospitality. At the beginning, it explains some basic IT investment analysis terminologies. Then it introduce two IT investment analysis methods: NET PRESENT VALUE; PAYBACK PERIOD. It also contains some link that would teach us how to use EXCEL to calculate data.

This article explains how important it is to analyze and interpret new forms of IT technology to make the best purchase or investment. The articles starts by describing terms used in IT Investment. The first term is Capital Expenditure, which is any expenditure not for the usual maintenance and upkeep of the hotel or restaurant. For example, a Capital Expenditure would be obtaining a new PMS or renovating your banquet facility. The next term is Depreciation, which everyone should know is the amount of money lost on an investment of the course of its life. The third and fourth terms are Cash Flow and Discount Rate. Cash Flow is "the movement of cash in and out of the business", and Discount Rate is "analysis based on the dollar being worth more today than in 5 years". The second part of the article talks about investment techniques used. Many methods are used to help make sound investment decisions like NPV. NPV is Net Present Value, which is an assessment of long-term profitability of the investment made by adding together all the revenue over its life and deducting the costs involved. Another technique used to evaluate an IT investment is the Payback Period. This helps to evaluate how long it will take to make back your initial investment in the IT. The article goes into grave detail on both of these methods and believe this article can be very helpful for hotel/restaurant managers and owners when determining which investment should be made.

There are a lot of different kinds of event planning technology software nowadays. This article introduced the way to use online event planning software in details. Online event planning software vary in scope and features, but their primary goal is the same, that is, to consolidate all the tasks needed to plan a trade show, conference, or other event, so the process runs more smoothly. According to this article, five tips for audiences to learn in using online event planning software. They are on the parts of creating an event page, sending out Invitations, enabling online registration, getting involved, and evaluating. Firstly, most online event planning software programs allow consumers to create a page. That doesn't mean the consumer has to use their service exclusively to advertise the event. Secondly, planners usually send electronic invitations to people they want to attend. This way can save time, paper, and postage, so they would focus on planning the best possible event. Thirdly, to set up online registration and to collect data in one convenient place so that all the information the planner needed from each registrant are collected and kept. Fourthly, to get involved with other people on the site by spreading the word about other events, chatting with attendees, and sharing useful information. The last but not the least, to evaluate after using online event planning software, determine whether the experience was positive or negative.

Hotels have to comply with Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards, which are constantly updated since technology is developing. Also, 'the hotel industry has unique vulnerabilities to credit card theft', since the cards should be available over the long period of time, and to different 3rd parties as well. The new technology will encrypt credit card information at the point-of-swipe, and the number never gets to any other place in the hotel or other business. The other issue is payments on mobile devices. Where it is advised to encrypt information prior to using the device, and avoid "bring you own device policy'.

This article introduces the Secure Payments Framework in Hotel Technology Next Generation (HTNG) Conference. The Framework applies mobile payment and cloud computing technology to reduce the cost and complexity of satisfying the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards. The credit card security is a big challenge for all hotels, especially for the small hotels, lacking expertise and budget to protect customers' card information. There are many advantages of the new card framework. Firstly, the new Framework can encrypt the credit card information at the point-of-swipe. In this way, the card number can't be stolen by other systems. Secondly, it is scalable for different sizes of hotel. Thirdly, new guidance is made for accepting payments on mobile devices. Before processing payment, the merchant need encrypt cardholder, to make sure more security. What is more, new policy on cloud computing. The cloud service provider and its clients are both responsible for the security of cloud data. The policy also need merchants to evaluate competing cloud services and carefully pay procedures.

This article is about Marriott International partnering with Micros Systems. This company now hosts the PMS used by all Marriott brands worldwide. This company's program will operate all daily functions in the hotels, regardless of size. The Marriott is confident in its decision and that the cloud program being the best solution for their properties. I believe that utilizing this program could indeed be successful for the Marriott. However, I hope that the company did its research on cloud programs before making this decision. Of course, the cloud programs have many advantages and are deemed promising in the future of technology and the companies it may eventually be a part of. However, the Internet is open to experiencing many issues, especially in security that can jeopardize the hotels. Since they implemented a "considerable evaluation", I assume that they are aware of the risks they are taking when utilizing a cloud based program. But, is the security of the company really the best risk to take?

Since few hotel chains can afford a professional staff to monitor the entire computer network and their guests have little tolerance for slow internet services, remote monitoring technology coming out to allow specialists to evaluate every network component and make changes. Reports are provided from the remote monitoring services at regular intervals. Changes made to the configuration and traffic routing will allow the hotel executives to see the many services that are required to run the network at optimal levels. Recommended upgrades can be conducted before the network performance degrades. 

This article points out that there is a big growing of mobile bookings in the hotel property management system market. Leading the way, mobile apps play a major role of making the successful business. So integration with major social media channels and customized marketing strategies will be more focused and improved. As the top two ranking in the vendor landscape report, Infor and MICROS both are doing such a great job for this. Other hotel property management vendors keep on an eye in this report as well and try to evaluate this to share the markets.

This article is talking about the cooperation between the TTI technologies international and the Roosevelt Hotel. In order to provide a better customer service and hotel solutions, the Roosevelt Hotel chooses TTI company to help the hotel build a business center in the lobby. Why was the Roosevelt Hotel selected this company? TTI technologies has its special applications. The application has effectively implementing technology that can search and collect information from hotels, resorts, hostels, airports, retailers, and more by the internet. After installing the application in the PC and Mac, the hotel makes the guest more convenient to get the information about the flight information. This application has solutions to expedite guest check-in, improve operational efficiencies, and protect assets from false charge claims and erroneous personal identification.Also with the help of this application you can gain your guest satisfaction. Meanwhile because of the function of this application, people are willing to stay in your hotel longer. This can gain your reputation and profits. TTI system is a wonderful and useful application. It is a good choice for the hotel which wants to have a better customer service.

Email marketing is a crucial component of the hotel eMarketing and online distribution strategy. The website is a key to establish interactive relationship with customers and capture client email profiles by the company. In hospitality industry, especially the travel agency frequently use the emarketing to retain the loyalty, and offer accurate communication. The permission-based email marketing is very useful and practical for sending the promotional emails. And the precision e-mail marketing used by the airlines has generated up to a fivefold increase in response rates and tenfold lower conversion costs than direct mail. The email marketing provides some benefits for hoteliers, such as low cost, accessibility, protecting brands integrity, hommization, timeliness, good visual sense and positive results. The consumers, travel intermediaries and corporate clients are the significant customers for email marketing. The hotel can stratify the customer list by specific characteristics, communicate and offer value in the message. Hotels must employ new strategies to take advantage of these opportunities to capture this Internet market.

As this class teaches us, along with this article, " the marketing power of the Internet in terms of reach and frequency." This article in particular speaks about the advantages of email marketing. With the low cost for companies in the hospitality industry, email marketing can produce positive results form the masses. The article goes on to explain how and why email marketing have been seen to be so efficient as a marketing tool. One obvious pro for instance is that everyone uses emails in today's society. After reading this article I can agree that email marketing is a very good way to put the internet to use when it comes to marketing. My concern, however, as mentioned in the article is the control the receiver has with the emails. For instance, how many emails are too much, too frequent or just not relevant? Features today have given the consumer the opportunity to now have a bit of control over this issue as I have mentioned. I believe this may be one of, if not the best form of marketing online because it gets directly to the customer, usually requires interaction whether to the main website or further clicking for deals, and sets up a format in which sufficient information can be given.

Many hospitality managers choose email for its low cost, rapid spread, and measurability. There is an incline to online purchasing, which means that Internet is the place to establish relationships with your customer, through email for instance. Email can be easily personalized, include only relevant promotions, and be a tool to keep in touch with your regular and new customers. Permission-based email is sent only to customers who have allowed to be emailed, thus, you are targeting people who gave you permission and who most likely are interested in your product/service. Email is also a better tool because it is cheaper and faster than regular mail. Also, it is easier to track the results, using the tools to see who opened the email, clicked on the link, etc. There are key factors to remember in order to be successful: -interactive relationships -frequency -personalize and relevance -permission-based The article provides a rationale for implementing total email marketing strategy.

This article discusses how self-service POS systems are now under fire from the ADA for not being accessible to people with disabilities. Most of the lawsuits have claimed that the problems with these systems are 1) they are mounted too high or at angles that are inaccessible for people in wheelchairs, 2) they do provide captions for those with hearing disabilities, and 3) they do not provide tactile feedback for those with visual disabilities. The ADA provides guidance for different types of technology, such as ATMs and vending machines, but has not provided such guidelines for these new POS systems. Because of this, the courts are having difficulty determining how to better enable these POS devices to work for those with disabilities, having to determine what to do for each individual device. Furthermore, these lawsuits pose a big risk to these companies. Businesses need to better evaluate their POS devices in order to make them more user-friendly for all individuals.

This article expounds how customers demand more from their e-commerce web sites and how their preference for consistency while shopping online must be satisfied in order for any business to remain successful. The article points out and elaborates on how e-commerce is really an all encompassing strategy that companies could use to sell their products and services, both online and offline to potential customers. The article also mentions how consumers are more likely to purchase any products or services from companies that leave them feeling more informed and secure in their purchase decisions. Most e-commerce platforms facilitate the integration of multiple applications such as online storefronts, POS systems, real-time inventory tracking and customer analytics into a single management platform. Lastly, because online shoppers are empowered with an abundance of competitive advantages it is important for retailers and other hospitality businesses to strive to improve data integration processes by centralizing databases and sharing information throughout their company.

This article explain the importance of have the evaluation team to value the property management system before purchase.  A good property management system could help the hoteliers operate their property efficiently and make better business decisions. However, some hoteliers don't ever see the demonstration of the product, or purchase just based on price. 

According to the article, independent operators are taking advantage of vendor-mandated property management system upgrades to review alternative systems that offer more value for their investment. Rather than defaulting to a system upgrade, many independents are evaluating solutions that provide greater mobile versatility, loyalty functionality, and social media marketing capability. Maestro Enterprise Property Management hotel software is developed to provide a suite of business tools and services to meet the needs of independent hotels, resorts and multi-property groups. Maestro's Diamond Plus Service reduces operating costs, keeps staff productive and generates revenue. Diamond Plus Service also includes on-demand training, live webinars, PCI assistance, lifetime version upgrades, management strategies, property productivity audits and online marketing services to increase profitability.  Moreover, Maestro offers mobile-capable ResWave Booking Engine that enables guests to book reservations from virtually any directly from social media sites like Facebook to increase revenue and lower reservation costs. 

Cloud computing is becoming more and more popular in today's business world. What are the main advantages that cloud computing can bring to Hospitality industry? Through the article I found the answer which are also the concerns of hoteliers that are a lower cost and a higher security environment. For instance hotel companies can be access to the latest version of what they are using without paying too much to buy related software. Secondly since the cloud is being used by federal government and financial institution which have higher level of regulatory requirements than most hotels, hotel companies can feel more safety in applying this high-tech in their business. But nothing is perfect. The author mentioned in this article that before we choose cloud service, we should get to know some information about the hospitality software suppliers. As for me I concerned about whether they have an offline mode which can continue the business activities for a while when the internet disconnection happens. For example how could hotels make sure the check-in, check-out, and reservation activities go on successfully when something wrong with the internet. The second concern for me is how could I get my data back if I discontinue my service in certain provider. Hoteliers should have ways to protect their data and other business activities. Cloud computing is developing very quickly and it will benefit us a lot only when we get to know the right way to use it. 

Expand paid search beyond traditional channel such as Google - Running paid search campaigns on Google is a 'must do' for all businesses. It is the best method to instantly drive targeted, qualified traffic to your website and increase conversions. In addition to Google, there are other channels that are now available to hoteliers which are not only effective but sometimes can be more affordable on a cost-per-click basis. It is highly recommended for hotels to evaluate alternative channels such as mobile, display, Bing/Yahoo, Facebook, etc.