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kfern174

How smartphone technology is disrupting the travel industry for the better | TravelDail... - 1 views

    • kfern174
       
      By 2021, 3.8 billion people will use a smart phone, 50% of them will use their smart phones to book and plan their travels, making users want changes in technology in hospitality and travel. Consumers want to be able to have accommodations that can match their own technology. As smart phones become more prevalent, reliance and trustworthiness is growing as evidenced by the increased tasks we use them for such as banking. Smart phones are reducing expenditure and enhancing experiences and saving time for travelers by allowing them better preparation for their trip. Smart phones also aide in safety and security, allowing the user to find their way around affectively with the GPS as well as booking rides. The tourism sector is embracing this and offering mobile check in's and mobile key's for electronic access. Some hotels even offer guests to control heating, lighting, room service and other in room technology via an app on their smart phone. We are also seeing increased interaction with customers via chat or text.
khadija2050

50 Facilities Management Tips and Best Practices - Camcode - 0 views

  • Cut night site lighting. “Depending upon how your site lighting is operated and circuited, you can create an ‘economize mode’ for overnight when the site is at its lowest occupancy. Keep perimeter site lighting on around your property and all entrances and main drives lit.
  •  Replace older lighting with LEDs. “Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center chose LEDs to replace existing lighting in a parking garage open 24/7, halving the garage’s power consumption. Meanwhile, Mediapolis Community Schools in Mediapolis, IA, also embarked on a retrofit of LED exterior lighting.
  • Implement a sustainable facility design plan. “Sustainable design is more attainable and affordable than it’s ever been, especially when you think in terms of years instead of days and weeks. It’s also worth noting that sustainable design is very well favored among the public, which is an extra incentive for companies interested in reinforcing their reputation as socially responsible and environmentally concerned
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  • Know the total cost of all facility work done both directly and indirectly. “To the untrained eye, the facilities maintenance arm of a business appears to be a black hole of cost. The costs of these FM services add up, and unless discrepancies arise, that is where most of the business analysis ends. However, facilities maintenance managers, who are privy to all of the nuances that make up eac
  • h work order, understand the complexities and overhead involved in this sector of business.
  • Consider less obvious improvements that impact facility energy use. “Some energy-related projects will be more or less hidden from the users and primarily pursued to reduce energy demand, such as chiller and fan-unit upgrades. Such projects may end up providing the building users with better temperature control, but this is not the primary goal of the upgrade
  • Operational changes such as reducing the hours of HVAC and lighting operation, and changing setback temperatures, which require very little expenditure (if any at all) do not directly affect user experience, but can produce large reductions in electricity loads. In general, working with the building operations team to reduce energy use can produce impressive reductions in loa
  • his allows building and facility management professionals to determine whether the cost to improve a particular element of a building or a system in it against the cost savings over the same period. If the cost of an upgrade over its lifetime offers an advantage over the building operational costs it will save, then it’s generally considered a good investmen
  • “Finding the right suppliers to maintain your facilities can be difficult and time-consuming. From janitorial services, to groundskeeping and maintenance supplies, ensuring suppliers are providing apples-to-apples quotes, developing contracts with clear service levels, and validating that supplier quality
  • “Boilers today can reach efficiencies of up to 96 percent using condensing technology; however, a typical building, including new buildings, uses atmospheric type boilers which, for all intents and purposes, are only slightly more advanced than a science lab Bunsen burner. This technology is reliable and it works, but it is expensive to operate
  • An energy audit systematically identifies and develops opportunities to help reduce energy use in an institutional or commercial facility and, as a result, decrease building operating costs. Focusing the audit is imperative for maintenance and engineering managers.
  • “Commercial kitchens are high energy users, consuming roughly 2.5 times more energy per square foot than any other commercial space, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).  Of that, as little as 40% is used in the preparation and storage of food, says the UK’s Carbon Trust; much of the wasted energy is dispersed into the kitchen.
  • All commercial buildings are insulated; building codes make it mandatory to insulate up to  a certain level. Unfortunately, because most buildings are put up under strict guidance to budgets, they are usually put up with only the minimal amount of insulation
  • Develop performance measures for your PM process with an emphasis on measuring the amount of PM that is work completed compared to all other work. Total PM hours should be the highest percentage of all the department’s maintenance work. This goal might seem impossible, but over time, it is very achievable
  • “Preventative maintenance is all about planning, plain and simple. Every piece of equipment or machinery at your disposal or under your care should have a schedule of what type of maintenance it requires and when it requires that check-up.
  • “Failure modes are defined as “how something fails.” Let’s use a flat/membrane roof to show an example of what a failure mode is. On a flat/membrane roof, one failure mode may be “penetration of roof membrane,” and the causes of this failure mode could be many. Knowing the failure mode(s) of a specific maintainable item such as a membrane roof and its causes can be key to early detection of roof failure (not meeting the intent of the end user) so the repair can be made before it affects an operatio
  • “Catch small problems now before they become big ones. Addressing small details can add up to huge improvements in appearance and functionality. Ask your facilities services provider, janitorial company
  • You may schedule preventive maintenance based on meter readings on an equipment. However, equipment meters usually do not differentiate between work time and idle time
  • Greasing the rack and pinion of a beam saw, for instance, can cause grease and saw dust to solidify inside the gears over time, eventually preventing them from moving. If you’re unsure which tasks are beneficial to each piece of equipment, ask your equipment representative.”
  • Having spare parts and supplies around the time of a major preventive maintenance schedule is absolutely critical. Asset management software allows you to check the availability of the spare parts for dates when the work orders are due. This report can help you identify parts that are insufficient for the required work orders in the future. If you know which parts you are falling short on, you can order them in advance from suppliers rather than waiting till re-order limits are reached
  • “Appropriate repetition and reinforcement are necessary. The average person is bombarded with more than 300 messages while at work, and multiples of that outside of work, Finney says. Getting a message to land with an audience might take as many as 12 repetitions, in some cases, he says
  • Let’s get together: when you’re designing your facilities, design social spaces for your employees. These might be lunch or break rooms, games rooms, gyms, or even community gardens.
  • While other managers may work to manage clients or staff, your job is to manage facilities and all that occurs in them. Your corporation’s physical assets are just as important as your human resources, and you are the expert in this field. Whether it’s collating data or contributing to the organization’s bottom line, your input is a valuable part of corporate decision-making
  •  “Workplace inclusion has to be clearly defined before any initiatives can be pushed forward. One useful definition of an inclusive office is a workplace in which all staff are treated with respect and have equal access to resources and opportunities. Facility managers should build on this high-level description to create an idea of what concepts like equal access, diversity and fairness look like in their own facilities
  • Space costs money. Knowing that we are moving towards a working environment consisting of virtual or mobile workers, investing time in developing new workplace designs that can suit these new ways of working while increasing space utilization rates can result in impressive cost savings
  • Performing facility maintenance and engineering tasks is like sailing among icebergs. What technicians can’t see will sink them — or their facilities. Thermal imaging technology gives technicians the ability to see the unseen, making it easier to spot failing motors and electrical components,
  • This concept is broadly used to describe our attempt to formally identify in-house talent in many of our labor shops. We identify talent through a competitive selection process based on potential vs. skills and promote our selected personnel to the worker and helper level while training them to achieve appropriate full mechanic level with associated certifications/licenses
  • This directly leads to the client receiving a more fit-for-purpose solution and ultimately receiving greater value which grows a greater relationship.
  • In other words, there has to be a compelling reason based on our mission for why we would submit budgets for anything.” By presenting specific information on how and why you’ve chosen your budget numbers, you can help the C-suite see that your budget is well within reason
  • When you automate the work order process, you remove human error associated with it. Essentially, you’re taking the people out of the process and ensuring nothing gets missed or overlooked
  • “There are many different software options out there than can aid FMs in organizing and streamlining their everyday tasks. This ranges from software designed to help manage all maintenance activities to logging and tracking facility visitors for security purposes. 
  • uch smart sensors, operating costs are dramatically reduced, productivity is enhanced, and occupants’ comfort is improved.
  • “One of the most exciting features of Facilities Management software is the ability to manage heating and cooling remotely, or set a programmable thermostat to move set temperatures up or down throughout the day. Facilities planners love the ability to analyze and explore energy use from heating and cooling systems
  • “Maintenance and facilities administration systems must frequently abide by national and global regulatory requirements. All maintenance administrators face occasional random or audits inspections by regulatory authorities. Maintenance software enables you to prove regulatory conformity and decrease the amount of paperwork and preparation that is needed for an audit.
  • KPIs allude to opportunities and errors in your company. Paired with the Internet of Things (IoT) and energy management systems, KPIs can be used to highlight missed maintenance tasks, greater traffic area of your business or problems with machinery
  • “Closely monitoring energy and water use to reduce building-operating costs is another benefit. By allowing owners to monitor and analyze the performance of multiple systems—air-conditioning levels, lights on automatic dimmers, water usage
  • “A feature that’s gaining a lot of ground is using facial recognition technology to let people in and out of the building. It’s more secure than key fobs or cards, and unlike cards and fobs, you can’t forget your face at home. It’s like batting a triple, or killing three birds with one stone
  • You cannot do your job properly without the correct information. If you don’t have proper records on the state of your facilities, you can’t do your job as a facilities manager.
  • “A surprising number of facilities managers have no true system in place for managing their space.  More than a quarter of everyone interviewed – 28 percent –
  • . It may help significantly with compliance with various industry standards, such as HIPAA in the healthcare industry and Sarbanes-Oxley in the financial field. It can help to document best practices for avoiding accidents, or in the worst case scenario,
  • This method identifies how critical a piece of equipment or maintenance task is to your business and will ultimately show you where it should land in your prioritization process
  • Smartsheet is a spreadsheet that you share with your co-workers, but its features go far beyond Excel. This tool combines the traditional spreadsheet with project management tools, templates, and forms and allows you and your colleagues to access spreadsheets on mobile devices and work on them collaboratively
  • The business world is increasingly embracing a larger remote workforce. Offices are used as areas to collaborate, develop, and design new ideas. The day-to-day work can be, and often is, done from home
  • “Another possibility for cutting costs, say experts, is not just moving staff around, but moving work around also. This means carefully examining all outsourcing contracts to see if they can be scaled back and the work completed by in-house staff
  • “Verify assets from a minimum of two data points, such as the barcode and the item’s serial number.
  • After collecting data and developing a maintenance schedule for your assets, you need to plan for the long-term maintenance of your asset inventory
  • However good asset management and maintenance planning is, there comes a time when an asset reaches the end of its useful life and should be disposed of.
  • “If you’re trying to get a handle of your documents, the first thing you should do is an asset assessment. Detail the condition of all the main equipment and systems, and document those conditions
  • Strategic asset management integrates key relationships between planning and delivery activities.
  • Maximize your use of vertical cubic footage by placing seasonal products or those that move less frequently in harder-to-reach vertical storage areas
  •  
    the article highlights how companies can benefit from sustainable design and gives tips on preventive maintenance
jlewinsky

Facial Recognition Market Expected to Reach $9.6 Billion Worldwide by 2022 | News | Hos... - 0 views

  • According to a new report published by Allied Market Research, titled, World Facial Recognition Market - Opportunities and Forecasts, 2015 - 2022,  the global facial recognition market is expected to generate revenue of $9.6 billion by 2022, growing at a CAGR of 21.3% from 2016 to 2022.
  • North America is expected to dominate the market throughout the forecast period, owing to the high expenditure on security systems by government agencies in the region.
  • Facial recognition technologies include 2D, 3D, and facial analytics. The 3D facial recognition technology segment holds a significant share in the world facial recognition market, owing to its high accuracy in terms of recognizing facial features as compared to the 2D facial recognition technology.
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  • 2D technology is also widely used due to its low installation cost and operational ease as it uses 2D appearance
  • Among the component segments, hardware accounted for the maximum revenue share in 2015, owing to high cost of 2D and 3D cameras. The facial recognition software market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 23.9% during the forecast period. Development of effective and efficient facial recognition software applications is expected to drive this market.
  • In the year 2015, homeland security contributed the highest revenue share, accounting for around 21% of the overall market revenue. From a growth perspective, intelligent signage is likely to be the most prominent application of facial recognition, anticipated to witness the highest CAGR of 25.1% during the forecast period.
  • North America offers lucrative opportunities for market growth, exhibiting a huge demand of facial recognition technology for homeland security and criminal investigation.
  • Some of the leading players in the facial recognition market include Cognitec Systems GmbH, NEC Corporation, FaceFirst, Inc., and 3M amongst others.
  • These players have adopted product development, acquisitions, agreements, and partnerships as their key strategies to strengthen their market position and expand their geographical presence. For instance, in 2015, Cognitec Systems GmbH launched and incorporated a superior version of the face recognition algorithm B9 in FaceVACS-DBScan, one of the its leading facial recognition products.
  •  
    According to this article the technology of facial recognition is expected to grow tremendously by 2022. Also, mentioned industries such as homeland security who has been using this form of technology since 2015. When comparing the 2D and 3D technology, 2D technology is more widely used due to its low cost and ease of use. The use of 3D technology has its place in the industry as well due to its ability to recognize facial features more accurately than 2D technologies.
tcale003

Oracle OPERA: What You Need to Know When Evaluating Hotel Software - 1 views

    • tcale003
       
      The Oracle Opera (formerly Micros) is the biggest Property Management System utilized in the hospitality industry. Oracle OPERA is a cloud-based Property Management System that integrates a variety of functions into one place. While OPERA is used for a single property, it is built with multi-property in mind and, therefore, it is not usually used in very small properties.
  • which types of hotels OPERA is a great fit for and discuss how independent hotels, boutiques and chains all benefit in different ways.  We'll also cover the impact of Oracle Cloud on its hospitality solutions division and whether Oracle's PMS is actually in the cloud.
  • WebRezPro Integrates Tenerum Payment Gateway
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  • WebRezPro Integrates Tenerum Payment Gateway
  • Apr 16,2020
  • WebRezPro Integrates Tenerum Payment Gateway
  • WebRezPro Integrates Tenerum Payment Gateway
  • This article provides a comprehensive resource for hoteliers immersed in the process of vendor evaluation.  Oracle Hospitality's OPERA (formerly Micros) is the largest PMS player in the hospitality industry and in this article we'll review how their hotel management software can improve operational efficiency for your business then point out some areas that every buyer should be aware of as they consider the solution.
  • OPERA has comprehensive guest profiling capability, which allows your staff to keep track of guest preferences. These rich guest profiles can be quickly accessed to better personalize stays. Staff can see useful details, such as stay history, past communications, and previous service requests, to inform their approach to each guest.
  • vendors?
  • Oracle OPERA is a cloud-based property management system that integrates several functionalities into a single platform.
  • In addition to the core property management functionality, such as room assignments, check-in/check-out, and rate management, OPERA includes integrated channel and rate management with group travel functionality to handle more complex requests. 
  • WebRezPro Integrates Tenerum Payment Gateway
  • Since OPERA is an integrated platform, hotels with more complex operations stand to benefit the most. For example, a hotel that uses Oracle POS (point of sale) and kitchen management can integrate full F&B operational functionality into the OPERA property management system. Such deep integration improves outcomes on the customer service front and gives hotel management stronger reports to monitor KPIs and profitability. 
  • The ideal customer segment is a hotel group with many larger properties that offer full service.
  • While OPERA can be used for a single property, it’s built with multi-property in mind.
  • Personalized guest profiles
  • Advanced rate management
  • OPERA has advanced rate and room availability restrictions, as well as enhanced rate-management capability offering a vast number of room pricing options, including best available rate, dynamic rates, daily rates, base rate, and negotiated rates. These rates can then be distributed via OPERA’s integrated channel manager.
  • Intelligent accommodation management
  • Proper allocation of room inventory avoids overbookings of specific room types and ensures that rooms are cleaned and maintained in a timely manner.
  • Mobil
  • OPERA now offers a completely mobile version of its flagship software, called OPERA Mobile Cloud Service. Staff can access the following information via any smartphone or tablet device: Check-in/check-out, reservation management, room status, task sheet, room maintenance, as well as Track It and Post It mobile that can provide real-time status updates on rooms and maintenance requests. 
  • Loyalty support
  • To drive loyalty-based marketing, guest behaviors accrue automatically to profiles, so hotels can build relevant packages and services based on guest history, including the length of stay, expenditure in restaurants and bars, and other preferences. T
mserr078

5 ways tech can make your hotel more responsible | Green Hotelier - 0 views

  • Managing Director of EPOSability Robbie Francis says employing eco-friendly technology is a great way to show guests that you’re committed to making a difference.
  • Heating energy expenditure makes a big contribution to a hotel’s carbon footprint
  • reduce your energy consumption by up to 10%
    • npate083
       
      A building energy management system can reduce energy consumption by 10 percent.
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  • 600,000 tonnes of compostable food waste each yea
    • npate083
       
      Waste management technology like Lean, can help save on food waste by helping the managers understand how much needs to be ordered.
  • ask guests to consider the environment before requesting new towels each day
  • using 25 kW/h on average in comparison to a Windows-based system with on-site server that consumes 800 kW/h. That’s a 97% saving!
    • npate083
       
      iPad POS systems help save costs and the environment significantly. By using the iPad POS systems you are going paperless, reducing engineering visits and tracking waste.
  • Using technology doesn't just mean computers back of house or modern check-in systems, technology can help create a more efficient kitchen, laundry, bar, housekeeping service or HVAC, it's always worth looking around to see what new systems on the market could help reduce your water, carbon, waste or energy consumption and help make your hotel that little bit more environmentally responsible.
  •  
    Going green is one thing to consider if a hotel wants to save money and conserve the environment. This article discusses 5 tech ways to make some green changes in your hotel. Some points were to change the lighting to energy saving lighting. Using sensor lighting saves you money and shows guests that you care to conserve. Laundry technology and asking guests to only give towels that are unwanted instead of changing towels everyday. A system monitoring the heat and cooling system can regulate temperatures reducing the cost of unnecessary use of the system.
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  •  
    Robbie Francis expresses the importance of helping the environment and helping your guests feel like they are a part of something bigger. Not only does becoming more green and eco-friendly help the environment, but it also allows for many of our wastes to decrease, electricity and water bills are just part of the issues that begin to decrease monetarily. When speaking about green computer technology this article incorporated how it is important to review what new systems are out to help reduce our carbon footprint and ultimately make ourselves just a "little bit more environmentally responsible!"
  •  
    The article is about eco-friendly heating and energy, waste reduction technology, sustainable laundry, lighting technology, and iPad POS systems.
  •  
    Robbie Francis expresses the importance of helping the environment and helping your guests feel like they are a part of something bigger. Not only does becoming more green and eco-friendly help the environment, but it also allows for many of our wastes to decrease, electricity and water bills are just part of the issues that begin to decrease monetarily. When speaking about green computer technology this article incorporated how it is important to review what new systems are out to help reduce our carbon footprint and ultimately make ourselves just a "little bit more environmentally responsible!"
  •  
    This article is about ways for hotels to use green tech to be more responsible.
  •  
    "The latest innovative technology solutions can work to increase energy efficiency, cut down on material waste and even increase profits for your hotel". I remember while working in San Antonio Texas as a hotel AGM, the hotel had an agreement with the city water company for us to send them each week the readings of how much water we had used up to that point from last week, and they would give us rebates if our consumption wouldn't fluctuate certain parameters. We were being environmentally friendly, saving money by not overpaying and receiving rebates for our eco-responsibility.
anonymous

Are customers' reviews creating value in the hospitality industry? Exploring the modera... - 0 views

  • reviews
  • positive effect on hotel revenues
  • outside popular destinations
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  • online visibility
  • user-generated reviews
  • 240 small and medium-sized hotels
  • online retailers have thus been gaining increasing market power in influencing customers’ purchases (i.e., Inversini and Masiero, 2014, Silva, 2015, Yen and Tang, 2015) and have improved market transparency and uncertainty for travellers (Toh, Raven, & DeKay, 2011). For this reason, their role is now considered an infomediary (Chen, Yang, & Wang, 2015) because their capability to add value in transactions depends primarily on collecting and processing information about prices, destinations and travellers’ reviews.
  • positive effect on hotel revenue growth
  • outweighed by a negative effect on gross profit margins.
  • managerial implications discuss how hotels should use social media features according to a strategic view based on pursuing the horizontal and vertical differentiation of their services in an attempt to create more economic value from their online visibility and to protect profit margins from the intermediation in their customer relationships.
    • anonymous
       
      MIS idea of how to actually use the information giving from this style of data mining
  • Online reviews provide additional information for travellers to mitigate the uncertainty about the quality of a hotel and about its fit to their needs and preferences on accommodations and destinations.
  • 50,115 user-generated reviews on TripAdvisor,
  • bargaining power
  • Internet can be a value-destroying mechanism for small businesses and can deter hotels’ capacity to defend profit margins
  • empower buyers
  • ncrease the degree of rivalry among firms that sell and distribute their products/services
  • shake up long-lasting reputations through reviews posted by unmonitored influential opinion makers
  • First, online ratings can have a beneficial effect on the occupancy rate of rooms, which is especially important for larger hotels that bear a greater cost of idle capacity, especially in off-peak periods. Second, visibility on social media can allow hotels to apply a price premium thanks to greater economic value generated by market transparency, the reduction of the search costs for both parties involved in the transaction
    • anonymous
       
      Hypothesis broken into 2 parts
  • brand image of hotels,
    • anonymous
       
      Potential here for bad press. Viral videos of mistakes/ misinformation etc.
  • maller hotels with opportunities for market growth in segments in which they have a limited market presence
  • exploring the relationship between online visibility and the creation of economic value in terms of increase of sales and profitability for a panel of 240 Italian small and medium hotels
  • hotels’ market positioning between their online visibility and profitability.
  • we consider only the profitability (the value appropriation achieved through online visibility) and not the increase in sales (the value generation achieved through online visibility) because hotels’ market positioning affects a hotel’s capability to appropriate the economic value brought by online visibility and influences hotels’ ability to negotiate the infomediation fees, which in turn impact hotels’ profitability.
  • social networking (i.e., the opportunity that users have to connect with people with similar travel interests, needs or experience) and knowledge sharing
  • travellers can more easily find persons who share similar travel preferences and needs. In a similar way, a user consulting travellers’ reviews can see if the reviewer is a member of his/her friends’ social networks on other platforms, such as Facebook.
  • beyond allowing hotels to improve their room occupancy rates, online visibility may allow hotels to apply price premiums.
  • respond strategically to online reviews
  • positive relationship between online visibility and sales
  • three different forms.
  • first is the rating assigned by users, who can express their evaluations on a quantitative scale.
  • rates given by users are distributed over the scale.
    • anonymous
       
      Think amazon review
  • number of reviews that users give to hotels
  • we may expect that online visibility on social media – seen as a composite measure of the three above-mentioned elements – can positively impact hotels’ revenue growth
    • anonymous
       
      hypothesis
  • ive million registered users who visit the platform 30 million times per month on average
  • Online visibility has a negative effect on the gross profit margin of a hotel.
  • Consequently, high star-rating hotels apply price premiums for their superior quality and attract less price sensitive customers, who have a higher willingness to pay for quality
  • we expect that less price sensitive customers are willing to pay more for hotels with higher customer ratings on infomediation platforms because they perceive these hotels to be more valuable
  • The relation between online visibility and sales profitability is stronger for hotels with high star-rating.
  • iche tourism appears to offer a more meaningful set of experiences, given the knowledge that tourists’ needs and wants are being met
  • “what makes a tourism destination truly competitive is its ability to increase tourism expenditure, to increasingly attract visitors while providing them with satisfying, memorable experiences, and to do so in a profitable way” (p. 2).
  • However, a number of studies have reported that online user-generated reviews are perceived as more credible than traditional word-of-mouth when they come from persons with similar attitudes and preferences
    • anonymous
       
      Hate this.
  • Hotels in niche destinations are thus better positioned to extract more economic value from online visibility.
  •  
    This article analyzes how user-generated ratings have a positive impact on hotels revenue growth. It looks at this through three different methods: one, ratings that the uses provide, two at how those ratings are "distributed over the scale," and three, the number of reviews that hotel receives. The article observes 240 small to mid scale hotels in Italy. Some issues we see come up revolve around the subjectivity of user-generated reviews and how that can positively and negatively affect hotel occupancy and interest. Ultimately, it appears that hotels that already have a high star rating will benefit most from these user-generated ratings because they have a stronger bargaining tool. The other benefactor are small, niche hotels whose increase viability and unique qualities help it in encouraging new tourism and high level experiences.
sharline86

This Week in Green Tech: How COVID-19 Will Affect the Renewable Energy Industries > ENG... - 0 views

  • Economic recessions tend to result in lower energy usage as travel and energy consumption decrease.
  • This will create cash flow problems for utilities, which will be exacerbated by the fact that many low-income customers will likely struggle to pay their utility bills for a while.
  • It’s likely that projects already underway will be completed, but concerns about the future may delay some utilities’ plans to increase their renewable energy portfolios.
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  • ome of that funding will undoubtedly be invested in smart grid technology (essential to large-scale sustainable energy) and
  • Some analysts estimate that wind farms, which normally operate at 95 percent capacity, could drop to just 85 percent capacity due to travel issues related to COVID-19. And much like solar, new wind farms could be delayed because of factory shutdowns, travel restrictions, and investor concerns.
  • Economic uncertainty will likely lead many consumers to delay large capital expenditures, causing a temporary downturn in rooftop solar installations.
  • Residential sales and installations will continue, however, which leads to concerns about worker and customer health and safety.
  • microgrids, which frequently make use of renewable energy sources.
  • In general, we can expect the renewable energy industry to experience a slight setback during the next year or two, but it’s already gained enough momentum to keep moving forward, regardless of short-term slowdowns.
  •  
    Engineering.com explores how renewable energy industries will operate post COVID-19. With focus on: Utilities, Solar, & Wind Power.
svail001

Wyndham Signs on for Next-Gen Technology From Oracle Hospitality - Skift - 1 views

  • Wyndham is tapping Oracle Hospitality for its full-service brands and Sabre for its select-service
  • Wyndham is the first hotel chain to adopt Oracle’s next-generation cloud-based version of its Opera property management system.
  • Four and a half years ago, Wyndham moved to its first-generation hosted systems — meaning, moved away from having computers sitting under the desk or in the hotel closet.
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  • Between 15 and 30 percent of Wyndham’s portfolio of more than 8,900 hotels will move to Oracle Opera Cloud through 2024
  • Every place outside of North America, regardless of where a property is on the chain scale, Oracle Opera Cloud is now Wyndham’s preferred solution
  • Cost efficiencies drove the decision in the case of Oracle Opera Cloud.
  • “Your cost of entry on Opera in a traditional on-premise model could approach six figures for a full-service hotel, with an upfront commitment that used to be in the five-figures for capital expenditure,” said Scott Strickland, Wyndham’s chief information officer. “We can’t quote specific costs, but this deal offers the cloud-based version at a really accessible price-point for our partners.”
  • “With all of our cloud-based offerings, it’s a subscription model tied to a number of rooms in the hotel on what’s kind of a per-room per-month basis
  • “No upfront costs or licenses or maintenance and upgrade fees. We have packages, commensurate with a property’s needs. Costs can flex up and down in cost with demand shifts, like we saw in the pandemic.”
  • A second motivation for adopting the cloud is the product’s simplicity
  • Staff no longer need to use desktop computers and can instead log in remotely with mobile devices,
  • Another factor driving the hotel’s chain’s decision is the system’s scope. For example, Oracle Opera Cloud includes a housekeeping module
  • Their tablets and phones can connect to the cloud and see their arrival list of guests and judge how they want to adjust their staffing or last-minute rate promotions.
  • Wyndham, one of the first hotel chains to return to profitability in the pandemic, sees this move as the latest step in a four-year digital acceleration.
  • It’s a lot harder to innovate when you have four central reservation systems and three digital systems. We now have one of each globally.”
  • It’s faster when it has only one mobile app platform and only two property management systems, compared with a brand running, say, a dozen different property management systems and four versions of a mobile app.
  • Most security incidents result from one of two things. The first is not keeping up with patching of software or system vulnerabilities
  • The second major driver of security incidents comes from the interaction between systems, such as application, infrastructure, and database
  • “With Oracle Cloud technology, we frequently deploy patches in all of our environments across various applications and systems in our cloud
  • API stands for “application programming interface,” which has been described as “the set of functions and subroutines that an outside party can run to build its third-party services on top of a company’s service.”
  • “We have completely removed all the integration friction of the past, with no compromise on the security or performance of the core system,
  •  
    This article discusses Wyndham's decision to transition its property management into the cloud based services through Oracle Hospitality. Their decision was based on the several advantages offered by Oracle's cloud based system such as cost savings, the simplified application and use of only one central system and the protection from cyber attacks. Wyndham is the first hotel chain to adopt Oracle's new cloud based version of their management system.
krikooo94

What is a Hotel PMS (Property Management System)? | Oracle - 2 views

  • A hotel PMS replaced time consuming, paper-intensive processes.
  • A hotel PMS is now a critical business operations system that enables hoteliers to deliver amazing guest experiences.
  • Today's hotel PMS solutions help hoteliers deliver the experience guests want, while efficiently managing their business.
  • ...15 more annotations...
  • Increase housekeeping efficiency with instant updates on housekeeping mobile devices when customers check out, freeing up rooms for cleaning.
  • improve response time
  • Ensure accurate guest folios for faster, more accurate billing.
  • Increase room occupancy and ADR
  • Boost sales
  • Guests rate their hotel experience in a collective, not piecemeal, fashion. Which means they desire to receive the same level of personalized, exceptional service across the property, whether they’re in the lobby or a restaurant.
  • Understand customer buying patterns so you can define more targeted packages and services.
  • Each new release brings new capabilities to help deliver great guest experiences, improve operating efficiency, and increase employee productivity.
  • hotels can lower upfront capital expenditure on software and hardware.
  • hotels can effectively manage rates and allocation of rooms to various distribution channels, helping to maximize occupancy, rates, and revenue.
  • Hotel PMS delivered a software platform that replaced time-intensive, paper and spreadsheet-heavy processes.
  • Hotel PMS is now a critical business-operations system that enables hoteliers to deliver a seamless and contactless guest experience.
  • Cloud-based, mobile-enabled hotel PMS platforms offer hotels an innovative way to engage with guests while enabling hotels to reduce IT costs and simplify their infrastructure.
  • Such integration also permits restaurant transactions to be posted directly to the folio for better accounting and dispute resolution.
  • Hoteliers' demands for a property management system are many: orchestrate hotel operations, manage guest preferences, manage room inventory and rates, and evolve constantly all while keeping data secure.
  •  
    Hotel property management systems or PMS manage all aspects of hotel business operations, including the delivery of superior guest experiences. PMS started in hotels to replace the paperwork aspect with is time consuming. Since PMS has evolved beyond that. You can now use it to check in and check out, request housekeeping services, storing guest data, a more effective hotel distribution method, etc.
  •  
    Thank you very much for sharing this insightful article on Hotel Property Management Systems (PMS's). It is indeed a very good thing that today's hotel PMS technology has evolved well beyond the front desk as the hotel's PMS is a critical business operations system that is needed to enable hoteliers to deliver amazing guest experiences. The advantage/feature that stood out to me the most about the modernized PMS's is its effective hotel distribution since these systems increase room occupancy and ADR through real-time rate and availability management across distribution channels, thus boosting sales through direct booking channels on brand website.
carine_elie

How Much Should You Spend on Cybersecurity in 2022? by Lynn Goodendorf Spring 2022 - 0 views

  • Many hospitality companies are struggling with the question of how much to spend on cybersecurity especially in the context of revenue losses related to the pandemic.  The challenge is that the risk of cyberattacks is rapidly escalating.  There are several drivers of this alarming trend.  First, ransomware is growing in severity both in the scope and the scale of attacks as well as the amount of the ransom demand. Next is the increase in remote work during the global pandemic and the rush to facilitate at home working. And finally, small companies are increasingly targeted because they are “easy” victims and typically more vulnerable. As you might expect, the cost of cybercrime increased more than 50% from 2019 through 2020. According to a report by McAfee¹, the global cost is estimated to be more than $1 trillion and monetary losses are estimated at $945 billion.  Examples of hidden or intangible costs that are difficult to measure include system downtime, reduced efficiency, brand damage and loss of trust.  Expenses that are direct and easier to measure are consultant services, legal fees and cyber risk insurance premiums. Below is a chart published in the McAfee report that illustrates this trend.
  • Ransomware - a Denial of Service/Operations and often includes a data breach Business Email Compromise (BEC) - often involves Funds Transfer Fraud Computer Data Breach - theft of personal data such as cardholder data, social security numbers, driver’s license numbers, passport numbers and details, etc.   What is the best way to go about budgeting for cyber security risk?  As a starting point, be sure that you have a qualified information security professional managing your program of work. Regardless of the amount you spend, a knowledgeable and experienced cybersecurity professional can make well informed judgments about priorities in expenditures.   There are three well established strategies that can work together in combination.   Each strategy has advantages and drawbacks and it is not recommended to rely on a single approach. Below is a description of each way to go forward.
  • STRATEGY A:  Key Ratios of Spend
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • STRATEGY B:  Gap assessment
  • STRATEGY C:  Focus on Compliance
  •  
    The writer of this article is Hospitality Upgrade. It includes the expanding worries of the hotel sector.  The key ratio of spend, gap analysis, and a focus on compliance are the top three main strategies being used by the hotel sector. In addition, the other measures are made by businesses to aid in preventing such breaches and the financial repercussions that result from them.
ariellesmall

What is cloud computing services, features and benefits, types? - 0 views

  • From the perspective of service users, cloud computing services have these main features: Hosted and maintained by the provider. The cloud hosting provider purchases, hosts, and maintains the necessary hardware and software in their own facility. Service users avoid the capital expenditures and maintenance headaches that they would have if they developed the service themselves on-premise. Self-service through a web interface. Service users can initiate specific service functions, and increase or decrease their service usage level, though a web interface with little or no interaction with the service provider. Pay for use. Service users pay only for the amount of service that they use. This can result in substantial cost savings compared to the traditional approach of developing on-site IT capacities geared toward maximum usage scenarios, and then having that capacity be under-utilized much of the time. Near-limitless scalability. Cloud computing services providers typically have the infrastructure to deliver their service at massive scale. For cloud service users, that means that the cloud can easily accommodate business growth or periodic spikes in service usage.
  • The wide range of services offered by cloud computing companies can be categorized into three basic types: Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). IaaS provides users access to raw computing resources such processing power, data storage capacity, and networking, in the context of a secure data center. Platform as a Service (PaaS). Geared toward software development teams, PaaS offerings provide computing and storage infrastructure and also a development platform layer, with components such as web servers, database management systems, and software development kits (SDKs) for various programming languages. Software as a Service (SaaS). SaaS providers offer application-level services tailored to a wide variety of business needs, such as customer relationship management (CRM), marketing automation, or business analytics.
  • In support of mobile cloud computing, we also offer services for automated content transformation and optimization, so your end users can tap into the cloud from any device, from anywhere, at any time.
  •  
    The positive of cloud computing have it's benefits as it helps to establish business for what they are today by maintaining by the provider, self-service through web, pay for service use only and near limitless scalability. The could computing services can be divided into 3 types: Infrastructure, Platform and Software.
kjeewan

Controlling Telecommunication Costs | CBRE Hotels - 0 views

  • Although telecom accounts for a small percentage of expenses, data during 2015 through 2019 revealed a significant upward trend in telecom related expenditures.  At the same time, the data also revealed a steep decline in revenue generation from charges for phone calls and internet access.
  • To manage costs more efficiently, organizations within the industry are undergoing IT audits and consolidating telecom vendors across portfolios.  At the same time, competitive organizations are recognizing the need to upgrade certain technologies.
  •  The emphasis of connectivity within the hotel industry is unquestionably going to grow in the coming years, ultimately placing headwinds on balance sheets.  Owners and operators across all segments of the industry are tasked with better managing and creating efficiencies with their property portfolios.  Additionally, as portfolios become larger through acquisition across the globe, being able to limit disruption and deploy the best technology becomes even more important.
  •  
    There is a significant increasing cost of phone and internet service in hotels. In order to survive this changing landscape organizations are undergoing IT audits, consolidating telecom vendors and upgrading certain technologies. Another concern would be to limit disruptions in service.
naxiang2001

The disruptive mobile wallet in the hospitality industry: An extended mobile technology... - 1 views

shared by naxiang2001 on 14 Mar 22 - No Cached
  • Just like a physical wallet, a m-wallet can store credit card numbers, electronic cash, owner identity, information of contact, billing or shipping details and other information
  • Also, owing to the COVID-19 pandemic that demands everyone to practice a “new normal”, m-wallet is encouraged over cash in making payments to avoid infection [
  • . Under this sampling technique and similar to the past literature on m-payment, only participants who have used a m-wallet in the past 12 months were selected
  •  
    This paper discusses the increasing usage of the mobile wallet in restaurants and how this technology is changing how restaurants operate. The main disruption the mobile wallet is causing are challenges for smaller restaurants to remain competitive without offering mobile payment options. Larger franchises have easier access to funds necessary to make the switch while smaller operations struggle to fund needed technological upgrades. In addition to this, while many find offering mobile payment options to be a competitive advantage, this paper has shown that people rarely exclusively use mobile payment methods as most continue to also use physical cards and even cash. This makes it difficult for many managers to justify the expenditure on mobile payment systems because while lacking them may make your competitors that do more appealing, acquiring mobile payment methods may not actually increase your customer base at all.
cleon087

Green IT | Green Hotelier - 2 views

  • Reducing energy, emissions and waste are concepts that have been around for many years, but one area that is often overlooked is information technology (IT).
  • it was estimated that 360 million computers were manufactured.
  • quiring over 10 times its weight in fossil fuels to make.
    • cleon087
       
      Computers waste a lot of energy and parts
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  • 22kg of toxic chemicals, 240kg of fossil fuels and 1,500 kg of water.
  • consuming 15% of the total electricity used in offices
  • 50 million tons of e-waste was generated worldwide, but only 13% was recycled. US Environmental Protection Agency
  • Reusing working computers is up to 20 times more energy-efficient than recycling them
  • hich utilises the naturally cool environment below ground to reduce power consumption, and increase energy efficiency.
  • o date, more than 28,761 IT assets have been recycled (waiting for latest stats), which equates to 629,408lbs of e-waste diverted from landfill.
    • cleon087
       
      I wonder where is the recycling actually taking pace
  • Big hotel companies have wised up to the costs involved in operating inefficient hardware and are driving system changes to cut wasteful expenditure.
  • nt. A data centre’s life expectancy is relatively long so it is imperative it is built to the highest standards in terms of efficiency as any excess energy use will lead to significant cost implications over the years.
  • most energy-efficient data centre possible.
  • Get the right equipment.
  • Only get the data storage capacity that is currently required and forecast for the lifespan. Many d
  • Don’t have servers or equipment that will not be used.
  • , such as water cooling.
  • Data centres last 30-odd years and you can’t go back in and fix them, so they need to be efficient. Over time, this saves money as they run efficiently. Servers have to be Energy Star-compliant or I won’t even talk to vendors.”
  • cloud computing
    • cleon087
       
      We discussed this in class about the benefits of it.
  • e. Once you know what’s using the power, focus on why and whether it’s possible to reduce consumption. Spotlight on Fairmont Hotels & Resorts - T
  • into account not only the initial outlay cost of hardware, but also the running costs.
    • cleon087
       
      It's not only important to know the start up cost but what it cost to maintain it.
  • e up to 30% more energy, making it significantly more expensive when looking at the total cost of running that appliance during its lifespan.
    • cleon087
       
      It doesn't seem obvious but getting something cheaper will cost heavy in the long term.
  • investigate options to upgrade with the latest energy-efficient components to extend appliances’ working life and efficiency
  • Green labels
  • allows a single user to access several physical devices on one terminal. A computing device dedicated to an individual member of staff or allocated for one software application is highly inefficient and expensive. Virtualisation consolidates resources, requiring less power and cooling.
  • is to reuse, not recycle
  • and flat screens often being replaced well before the end of their shelf life and ending up in landfill, it’s imperative that the most is made of these materials by reusing them productively.
    • cleon087
       
      Normally people just upgrade because something new came out instead of using it until it stops working.
  • Dumping e-waste on developing countries was until recently commonplace, and it has caused huge environmental problems and harm to human health in countries such as Ghana and China. But new legislation, including the EU WEEE Directive and the 2010 US Responsible Electronics Recycling Act, has stopped countries from being able to export e-waste.
  • dopted a scheme where the cost of recycling an electronic item is included in the purchase price. In Switzerland, they’ve been able to return all electronic waste to their place of purchase since 2005, and in the European Union, Taiwan, South Korea and Japan manufacturers must by law recycle 75% of the e-waste they produce.
  • Smaller, more efficient processors.
  • which have greater memory storage capacity while requiring less energy and space. They are due to be on the shelf in about three years.
  • pecialist data centre design.
  • all sizes are starting to view IT outsourcing as a viable option to gain flexibility and reduce short-term costs and increase transparency of cost structures and processes.
  • 6. Water cooling
  •  
    Green IT is an aspect of technology that many people do even consider when thinking about sustainability. According to Computer Aid International, "The production of a computer requires 22kg of toxic chemicals, 240kg of fossil fuels and 1,500 kg of water. 80% of life-cycle energy use is accounted for before we even switch a PC on for the first time." This statistic alone should be enough for us to take action. Marriott has started taking action, however. They created an underground data center where the power consumption goes down and efficiency goes up. Cloud computing is also a massive help due to the fact that the physical software wont be on the desktop computers or laptops being operated so the power consumption will be lowered there as well.
  •  
    Green IT is an aspect of technology that many people do even consider when thinking about sustainability. According to Computer Aid International, "The production of a computer requires 22kg of toxic chemicals, 240kg of fossil fuels and 1,500 kg of water. 80% of life-cycle energy use is accounted for before we even switch a PC on for the first time." This statistic alone should be enough for us to take action. Marriott has started taking action, however. They created an underground data center where the power consumption goes down and efficiency goes up. Cloud computing is also a massive help due to the fact that the physical software wont be on the desktop computers or laptops being operated so the power consumption will be lowered there as well.
  •  
    This article focuses on the importance of having green IT in business. It shows example of other hotels that have already adopted green IT. Not only this but it offers tips for businesses that are looking to adopt green it. It highlights the issue of recycling computers instead of reusing it . They recommend to use the appliance until it doesn't work.
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