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This article focused on cybersecurity in hotel casinos. They mention how casinos seem to be a target for a lot of cyber attackers because they tend to not invest as they should on protecting themselves. Casinos hold a TON of financial data; customer info., bank info., and credit card info. I enjoyed the article because they even went as far as giving a few casinos a "security score" in how well/bad they are in staying secure.

This article discussed the pros and cons of mobile proximity marketing and how to possibly overcome the downfalls of the type of marketing.

privacy concerns, complex management, excessive opt-ins, conversion issues

There can be many benefits and negatives to introducing new technology into your company. While it can be interesting to see new marketing methods for a company, these results can also be temporary. A company wanting to integrate these new marketing methods into their business will have to identify if their audience would react well with this new form of marketing and make their choices based on those results.

In the fast pace environment of ingress of guests into an event, life safety is unable to take a back seat. Venues are having to adapt processes to ensure guests do not wait in long lines and go through the antiquated magnetometers and wanding process while keeping a safe environment for the guests.

Cloud computing is proving to be the way to go. It's pros are much more than the cons, this including the financial saving any company can have by implementing cloud computing. "95% of people have used the cloud in some way or the other but are not aware of it." Cloud computing is becoming essential for hospitality, specially hotels and resorts, because of the flexibility it provides the business. Also because people are becoming used to certain services that are only possible because of cloud computing. Benefits of cloud computing can be allowing clients to check-in and out without having the need for a front desk clerk. This alone saves time and money for the business and guest alike.

In this article, there are discussions on many interesting and helpful facts about cloud computing in the hospitality industry. Cloud computing plays a very crucial role in the industry, and has changed the game for the industry in such monstrous ways. It has been extremely helpful for the hospitality industry, making the functionality of a business much simpler. An example of one of fun facts about cloud computing is that it makes taking bookings from guests a breeze. "Hotel businesses now don't need to give away most of their profit to online and offline travel agencies. They can improve their own website and start taking direct bookings". It can eliminate a hotel having to outsource or pay a third party company to take their bookings, meaning that the hotel can take home all the profit and not have to give a cut to someone else. Another fun fact touched on in the article is that by 2021, "Over 50 billion devices would be connected by Cloud". This is beneficial for hospitality companies (and in other industries as well) because data analytics that are found in cloud usage can help build a better customer experience, and that "services are seamlessly integrated". Overall, cloud computing in the hospitality industry has been increasing over the years and will further shape it into a more technologically advanced industry.

This article is showing us that cloud computing is a big innovation in the hospitality industry as well as other industries. It tells us that cloud computing is a mixture of SAAS, PAAS, and IAAS. It shows us a diagram explaining why it is a mixture and it also gives you different opportunity ideas. The article is mostly mentioning hotels and different examples like how cloud computing makes it more convenient to be able to do a faster check-in. Technology really is becoming a major driving source regarding hospitality.

The relationship with OTAs should be about finding the right balance (or mix of business) for your specific hotel. A commonly held point of view is that OTA commissions are exorbitant (in dollars, or as a % of revenue), but shouldn't we be glad if they sold a room we were not going to sell otherwise?

This article focused on some of the new technologies being introduced within the cruise line industry. Many of the ideas and aspects we discussed in the module are included in the article from augmented reality and facial recognition to in room technology. One part of the article that stood out to me explained the wearable being introduced on cruise ships from medallions to bracelets the technology appears to follow the path of Disney's magic bands. In addition mobile apps allowing delivery services and virtual reality offering games and other ways to entertain onboard the ship sound exciting and innovating for this recovering industry.

This article is very interesting because it is about the Vdara Hotel and Spa in Las Vegas and how they use robots for room service. The delivery robots look like dogs, called "Jett" and "Fetch." They are super technology innovative, and they can do different tasks such as; calling for elevators, alerting guests when they arrive at the hotel through an automated phone call, and traveling alone across the lobby to make sure guests have what they need. Other hotels in Las Vegas are also adopting technology to provide excellent guest services and great experiences. For example, a bar name Tipsy Robot has large machines that make drinks for their customers. Adopting robotics in Las Vegas has become a new trend that can make huge changes for the 300,000 people currently working in the gaming and hospitality industry.

Businesses within the hospitality industry are continuously making efforts to strive towards sustainable practices through technology. Being energy efficient is key to most business and has become important. For example, the utilization of automation features in the guest room such as automatic lights on a timer or even automatic climate control systems can contribute to those costs. Also, having a system where changes to reservations or updates can be done electronically which will eliminate the process of having to reprint pages of paperwork. All in all, hotels are now growing with the technology today allowing them to adapt more and more green practices

Green computer technology can bring more benefits to the hospitality industry. The hotel can save more costs and become more energy efficient because of the green computer technology. The hotel can set in-room touchscreen tablets. Energy cost takes 6 percent of operating costs. Hotel use pads or Android tablet devices to benefit both customers and companies. The first benefit is hotel room tablets can be used and managed more flexible. The hotel can monitor lights and air conditioning can be shut down based on guest activity. The second benefit is hotel room tablets can replace all printed materials traditionally in the hotel room. The data showed the hospitality industry already spend over 400 million on printing property. If the hotel can use tablet devices in the hotel room that could save more benefit. For example, InterContinental Hotels replaced print Bibles with digital versions a few years ago. Customers can choose different kinds of the book from digital devices. The hotel doesn't need to update their book again and again. In the future, digital devices will be updated more perfect and bring a fully functional touchscreen in the hospitality industry.

This short article talks about the positive impact of technology in the hospitality industry. It also illustrates some example of technology saving millions of dollars for hoteliers by saving energy.