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The travel industry has evolved over the past years. In the article it talks about how travel was limited in years gone by and you had to physically sit in a travel agent office in order to book your vacation. They were the only one who had all the information about travel. Then came the evolution of the travel industry and now everybody can book their vacation online with or without the help of a travel agent.

The article here explains the evolution of how we used Travel Agents back in the day and how we got to a point where we no longer needed travel agents. Back in the old days if anyone wanted to fly to another country or state, we went thru travel agents so we can get a booked flight and car services etc. Now we do everything ourselves. We find out information on our own and book and print our own tickets. Why? because of the internet. The internet will teach you anything and will give you whatever you are looking for. According to the article , people are overwhelmed in all the information provided by the internet that they cant decided where they want to go or where they want to stay at. So business is coming to travel agents. We feel so busy now and days that we give all the work to someone to do everything for us.

The 5 future internet marketing is true. It perfectly explain the 5 trends for the future marketing strategies.

Our Philosophy "We believe that independent hotels and smaller chains deserve the chance to compete with well-established hard brands with massive budgets. With that in mind, we develop smart, innovative and affordable tools to help even the playing field. May the best hotel win!" This company (evolution) looks to distinguish their brand by giving the opportunity to independent or small chain hotels the chance to fight with big chain hotels. Having said that, in this article they (evolution) state that a 40% of a corporate negotiated rate is no visible on the hotels' GDS. As stated previously, this percentage refers to that of a small chain hotel or independent hotels, not big chain hotels. After researching this sector, of corporate customers, they found that the GDS nor the CRS nor the CM (Channel manager) are sufficient for a satisfactorial system. Thus saying that these systems do not work on this specific market because the information provided through them is probably erroneous for many reasons. Such reason are stated by the article as follows: 1. wrong access codes provided by travel agents (miss communication) 2. hotel's rates are visible but not go according with the contract. 3. incorrect access city codes have been supplied (miss communication). 4. availability for those rooms are not applied in time by the hotel (probably because of lower staff). 5. lower rates from other sources (other sites give better rates than corporate GDS). 6. wrong rates loaded for the corporate customers (wrong information and not having glanced at it on time); among other possible reasons. I believe all this can be fixed by taking proper actions (evolution also offers solutions to these problems), but not everyone has a desire or the focus to attack them, thus falling on these situations.

Cloud computing offers a more efficient way for hotels to keep up with data and programs for their company. When a hotel uses cloud computing, they are able to create more of a positive experience for their guests. It also is extremely helpful to use a cloud-based system because hotels could access their cloud-based application on any device. Cloud-based software also gets better with age because the updates can be made at any time so this will get rid of negative depreciation.

The article discusses the hotel industry's adoption of cloud computing. By using cloud computing, you can use programs, upload files, and access data over the internet instead of storing them locally. Cloud computing and local storage are used together in some applications. In addition to hardware, software, training, and maintenance, IBM offered an extensive range of services. Due to Cloudbeds' ability to integrate with other tools, they have experienced rapid growth. Integrations can offer upgrades and analyze reviews, among other things, so you can provide better service and increase revenue. By implementing cloud-based software, hotels can stay ahead of the competition, save time for employees, and give their guests a better experience.

This article describes what cloud computing is, and what it isn't, so people understand how it can be seen in the industry. The storing of data on the internet has been a huge innovation as it expanded storage beyond the typical storage offered on a device. By switching to this new technology, businesses may minimize future investments as the technology tends to work for many years and only requires quick updates. By researching what your business and customers need, you can make the right choices on whether this investment is worth it or not for your property.

The central reservation system plays major role in the hotel industry. It's a system that is used to store and receive information and handle transactions related to air travel, hotels, car rentals and even activities. It all started in the 1950's according to travel tripper by the following decade hotels begun using it world wide. However, with the internet constantly growing and inventing new distribution channels and booking methods. It's making it harder for hotels to keep up with this ever changing market some have left their most profitable booming channel fall behind. In my findings after reading this article, the central reservation system must find ways to evolve to compete with online travel agencies. Because many travelers are using third party distributors that offer better user experience and hotel are seeing a slimmer profit margins as their share of direct bookings shrink.

This article discusses 'E-Tourism Evolution' from tourism initial goal of establishing an online presence (96-99) to acquiring customers (99-03) and then retaining customers (2003-now). E-Tourism started with a focus on getting travel industry members in front of consumers on their computers, then offering attractive travel site features such as direct booking for customer convenience. This course has shown that while travel providers increased online travel options and services, consumers were finding a lack of personalized customer service which prompted increased dissatisfaction with the eMarketing providers. This led to the current focus by the tourism industry seeking to provide exceptional customer service within their eMarketing platform to ensure effective service and enhanced customer satisfaction, thereby ensuring increased customer retention. Whereas eMarketing has greatly increased travel to under developed countries, such countries must gain greater access to information and communication technologies to capture more of the tourism market. Tourism is utilizing a variety of communication channels including social media. Facebook booking engines are utilized by online travel sites, and travel packages and services are auctioned or bought direct on eBay. An online brochure, VBrochure by VFM Leonardo provides virtual tours and marketing content for mobile applications as well.

In the beginning of this article, it uses a chart to depicts the transformation and evolution of e-tourism over the past 15 years. According to the chart, we can easily find out that the goal and focus has changed as the year changes, from just to establish an online presence to customer retention. Then, it uses the changes of the number of tourists visiting Cambodia, one of the poorest countries in the world, as an example to say how information and communication technologies impact the tourism industry. However, this trend seems put more good impacts on developed countries. So next, the article gives some solutions to reverse this trend. In the end of the article it shows a chart to compare the percentage that people use e-market with the percentage that people use traditional methods.

E-tourism represents the paradigm-shift experienced in the tourism industry as a result of the adoption of ICTs and the Internet. It is evident that all best business practices have been transformed as a result, and that the each stakeholder in the marketplace is going through a redefinition of their role and scope. There are both challenges and opportunities emerging but the competitiveness of all tourism enterprises and destinations has been altered dramatically. It is evident that the "only constant is change." Organisations which compute will be able to compete in the future.

Traveling has a lot of purposes. Some people travel regularly as it is the need of their business or profession while some travels occasionally to enjoy a. When you save sometimes from your busy schedule it allows you to enjoy all the entertaining vacation while exploring different parts of the world. Medical tourism is gaining popularity because of the many benefits that they offer, such as fun of traveling and meeting exotic people and visiting beautiful sites along with obtaining high quality medical treatment .

While food trucks have become extremely popular these days, they have been around as early as the 1800's! Before the gourmet food trucks started to pop up, street vendors selling hot dogs, pretzels and lunch food for office workers have been around for decades. Now with more and more people out of work or people who want the ability to be more creative with their own food with a small budget, food trucks have become more popular.  However some cities have restrictions such as Chicago, where a food truck cannot be parked within 200 feet of a restaurant.  LA, the government limits the number of permits issued for mobile food vendors because of the street congestion it produces.  Permits are also limited because traditional restaurants don't want to compete with the low priced street vendors. 

This article is about upgrading and renovation for upcoming evolution. It uses some industry example to point out people pursue the personalization, mobile-first experience. More and more companies need to use digital tool or upgrade their distribution systems to cater to people needs. Local distribution, global distribution, technology innovation are the sensitive topic related to the business development.

I found this article very interesting because it gives us a walk through of the evolution of POS in the hospitality industry. Since the very beginning hotels and restaurants have relied on keeping record and storing data. Throughout the years there have been great breakthroughs that have made the life of the employees easier as well as lead to greater productivity. It makes me happy and feel very fortunate to live in times where work has been facilitated and has made work for efficient and reliable. I am sure that there is still much work to be done and many adjustments to be made but we are on a good path.

I like your reflection about the article very much because as you mentioned "it walk you through" the different stages of technology through time. Our industry had evolute from the paper record keeper all the way to a very efficient data storage and operating systems. I cannot even imagine what the future will withhold for the lodging industry.

This article highlights the need for technology innovation to be more inclusive within the sector. It focuses on senior level roles but also emphasizes the importance of including all levels within the evolution of the industry. It also highlights that these changes would have occurred with or without the pandemic but was expedited because of it. It speaks about including lower levels of management with invitations to trade shows and other technology exposition in order to include a larger net of point of views and perspectives. It also highlights the need for further automation in order to help with large scale global issues like climate change and continuing touchless actions like check ins to maximize efficiency and the guest experience.

This post helped me better understand cloud computing and the benefits associated with doing so through an industry-focused lens.

Cloud computing continues to transform the hotel industry by providing the opportunity to reduce cost, improve experiences, build responsive infrastructure and personalize guest offers. Cloud-based software can save the industry money and seamlessly implement a new system without the lengthy installation process. A great way to meet hotel objectives and increase guest experience.

Cloud computing contributes to many different factors in hospitality. From the moment the guests arrive cloud computing is already playing a role in providing a better experience. By saving guest information and make it readily available to all members of staff, personalization is provided form the start. Cloud computing will also keep previous stay information which allows employees to see customer preferences. "Predictive maintenance can handle by cloud computing to reduce downtime, especially during peak seasons.The cloud offers a true end-to-end solution for hospitality, restoring the thrill of travel."

This article explains some of the trends most relevant to the topic of cloud computing, as well as explains some of the benefits and disadvantages of cloud computing currently. The top four trends include artificial intelligence, cloud delivery models, security and compliance, and new cloud technologies. The article further explains each of these trends and the impact they will have on the industry. The main concern when it comes to cloud computing is the safety and security, following dependence on the internet. The new and incoming innovations within cloud computing aim to eliminate theses challenges and improve overall efficiency and adoption. Cloud computing is expected to grow over 22% this year alone and adoption rates are expected to remain increasing.

To summarize, the article talks about how cloud use has been increasing for over a decade, forcing many employees to embrace digital and adapt to the work-from-home concept. For continuity and expansion, the workforce transformation strongly relies on the cloud model. Given the extensive development, acceptance, and cloud deployment in corporate IT in recent years, the anticipation of stronger and more robust automation and AI has grown and should expect cloud delivery strategies to shape the cloud ecosystem in 2022 and beyond. Also, the demand for cybersecurity is rising, as is the desire for cloud-native programs that are quick, efficient, and robust.

This article is appropriate for those who want to gain historical knowledge of the evolution of Global Distribution Systems (GDS) over the last few decades. The whole history of airlines' creation of the system and how they adapted to insert the computerized reservation system in the 70s. The article offers, through didactic illustrations, the evolution of the system and future perspectives that have been implemented today. Furthermore, offering a brief description of the analog era, the implementation of electronic booking, and how travel agents adapted to new technologies. Overall, it is an excellent source of information that serves as a basis for a better understanding the system's evolution today.

ARTICLE SUMMARY Introduction and evolution of Internet has revolutionized the way hotel operators and business in general approach daily activities and strategic planning. Internet is to modern business what electricity was to the industrial revolution. Internet has become a very important tool in generating revenues, lowering costs, increasing productivity, and increasing online visibility and therefore hotel and tourism operators need to utilize this tool to compete and be successful. The future of eMarketing in hospitality and tourism industries is bright and will serve the industry well for many years to come.

This article talks about e-marketing and how it is going to take over the industry. It mentions that the number of people on the interent is increasing and rapidly. E-marketing need to "create interesst, excitement and buy-ins at their hotels". Now with social media, e-marketing is becoming more accessible. "The level of emphasis and extent of experimentation varies greatly by hotel group and location, but growing importance, both for generating revenues, lower costs adn online visibility, is indisputable".

Are you a hotel eMarketer looking for ways to better communicate, educate and develop the role at your property/ies? This article explores some of the issues surrounding these efforts, complemented by a dose of perspective and a generous helping of best practices, all garnished, hopefully, by your own ideas and experiences. By Jitendra Jain

There are few processes about how to select a HRIS technology. What is the degree of flexibility and scalability that the HR information technology software provides? HR professionals should determine if the software can import data from multiple Excel spreadsheets, databases, and paper documents and the level with which it can interface with all kinds of systems and data. Will the HR information technology be able to grow and scale with the organization? Is the HR information technology software able to integrate with other systems? HR can obtain greater efficiencies when data and other employee information entered into one system can be shared with another system. Who is responsible for implementing, or building, the solution? What level of training is involved? HR should have a clear understanding of the level of training and technical expertise that will be required and the amount of time expected. If training is involved, is there a charge? What types of maintenance and upkeep are required? What security measures are built into the HR information technology? If the software is available online, through an ASP or SaaS model, the provider should offer daily backups, backup servers, and added protective layers. Will employees be able to enroll in benefits plans and make changes in real-time to their personal data and plan choices? The system should clearly present the plans available and enable employees to make selections at their convenience, simplifying these actions throughout the process with wizards.

With smartphones evlving and getting smarter, smaller and speedier it is allowing for advances in mobile point-of-sale technology especially in the restaurant industr. There are now numerous POS platforms that support both iPhone as well as android. Tablets and iPads are also supported so that restaurants can process payments in the field with a credit card reader. Traditionally POS have been very costly and structured; now with mobile technology the flexibility is convenient, fast and user friendly. New applications allow restaurants to store customer spending patterns without retaining their personal credit card information. the use of smartphones also opens up very exciting opportunities when it comes to business-consumer communication. Restaurants can send text messages containg discounted coupons to their establishments. The key is to not over do it as customers may become annoyed with too many text messages. This article delat mainly with the restaurant industry but did mention the evolution of technological advances with the use of smart phones. Form personal experience I have used my iphone and ipad to conduct credit card transactions utilzing squareD which provides free of charge a mobile credit card swiper that is connected to the microphone port of either the iphone or Ipad. there is not monthly contract or fee. The only charge is 2.5% per settled credit card transaction and the amount is automatically deducted from the batched amount and within 1-2 business days the funds are deposited directly into ones checking/savings account. This is convenient, fast, and easy. I have been able to secure payment right on the spot instead of either handling cash which is always a ahzard or the risk of accepting checks. the use of smartphones and tbalets have revolutionozed the way business is being conducted making it fast, easy, and convenient to both cutomer and busoness owner alike.

"The Future of Social Media Series is supported by Gist. Gist provides a full view of the contacts in your professional network by creating a rich business profile for each one that includes the most news, status updates, and work details. See how it works here." This article is about the evolution of event planning and how it is taking over in the hospitality industry.Now it is all about having the right network and making a difference in planning an event. Event planning is becoming the next big evolution in the hospitality industry and revenue is becoming higher and higher in this industry.