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Facilities management is an area of a hotel, restaurant, or cruise ship guests do not often think about, but they play a huge role in the hospitality experience. Lately facilities management has a huge influence on making hotels energy efficient and greener. The Hyatt Hotel Corporation is working on creating greener properties like the Indian Wells' Hyatt Regency Spa and Resort. The property and Hyatt recently hired Sixto Ramirez a mechanical engineer to become a force behind making the property greener. The focus has been on new dishwashers that will turn off when no trays are being pushed through the system; guest rooms now have sensors to raise the A/C temperature when no one is inside to save energy; soon the property's stoves will have new exhaust hoods that will turn off when it senses no cooking smoke. The property is also updating cooling towers to energy efficient models to eliminate discharge into the sewer system. Facilities management is working on improving the property and becoming energy efficient. Sustainability is an important aspect to facilities management. Improving green technology in facilities management will help the hospitality industry to become sustainable and energy efficient. Large properties like the Hyatt will help improve energy efficiency by bringing in engineers to work on improving facilities on resort and hotel properties. This is an area that can help bring down costs in the future and improve properties. Facilities management plays a huge role in running a hospitality business and without this department a hospitality experience would never be the same. Sustainability is the future of facilities management. I found the article to be interesting with how the Hyatt has chosen to improve the property for the future.

To improve the efficiency of event managing, event managers need several technology. This article introduced GPS techology, which can used to track vehicle and participants. Barcode scanners are also the important tools that can be used in printing the credentials in advance and check it to the event faster. Because most of the staff and volunteers have smartphone, smartphone based technology such as Excel spreadsheets and google Earth can also useful in sharing information and siting address. In addition, supported by cloud technology, staff can access to their event data from anywhere, which bring huge convenience to event managing, and allow managers effectively control the large event.

There are countless forms of technology that can help event professionals do their job better. GPS technology is a huge time- and money-saver. In the old days, we had to print out hundreds of pages with directions to rest stops along our events. Barcode scanners make credentialing and other tasks much easier. Participants can print their credentials in advance and check in to the event faster. Checking participants in and out of rest stops and main sites is faster, too.Another potential lifesaver is the automated external defibrillator (AED), which can restore a normal heart rhythm in cases of sudden cardiac arrest.Besides being free, Google Earth is the most accurate tool for route planning and site scouting that we've tested.

According to WTO more than %60 of the travelers take trip to United States every year. This huge percent though rises interest in the field of Hospitality but makes it a little bit challenging here . It's been quite a while that travelers regardless of their nationality, search for tourism destinations, reserve their hotel and arrange their trip schedule online. That is why the hoteliers should pay close attention how and where they are presenting and advertising their hotel online.This article mentions a number of strategies both short and long term. It is mentioned that you as a hospitality manager  should know that your website plays a very important role in introducing, presenting and encouraging international visitors to your hotel. One other important factor mentioned here is that your website should be user friendly not only as a matter of being simple to figure out what is what but also have different languages to satisfy different nationalities. Besides, it would be very useful for hotels to offer different packages for various tastes.No matter in what sector of travel and tourism you are involved in order to present your business you need to keep online! 

Theft is a huge challenge in the restaurant industry and it's an expensive one. Now the POS system can assist with security by flagging suspicious transactions and identifying theft behaviors and flagging on video. This is an enormous help to the industry. The greatest area of impact is that having a system with this capability deters theft. The second area is that managers do not have to be present in order to catch theft and can do so at any time through device notifications and internet-based cameras. Video is flagged so there is now no need to watch hours of tape in order to find suspicious activity. Simply by the fact that Subway is now recovering $1.6 million in less than 1 year, it is clear that this system has huge value and will continue to positively affect finances in the restaurant industry as technology advances.

Very good post...and interesting one.

Technology has taken a huge toll on society and business now a day. If our business is keeping itself updated with technology, could mean we are at the top of our game. This article briefly  demonstrates how Beacons can help improve your business by providing how, when and where are customers behaving. For example, Beacons allow customers to order-ahead of time. It attracts a different clientele and allows us to gain others because of a shorter or no waiting time. Like an express line. But  it may become a challenge if the business doesn't know how to ensure a time-effective preparation before customers arrive. Beacons also allow customers to know exactly how much people are at that exact time at the restaurant or business, and thus waiting time, if any. Another advantage would be "push-customized notifications". I believe this is one of the most challenging for businesses. Customers (as myself) hate when we get attacked by too much notifications.  If it were useful in any way or if it called my attention every now and then, but companies apparently don't pay attention to how customers may feel.  It is very important to use the access wisely and give out information customers really want. Offer what they are looking for, by personalizing. It also helps to attract customers by promoting events or special offers and notifying via beacons. People like a place they can see as happy and fun. Also, who doesn't like discounts? A fifth advantage, and as I believe to be one of the best ways to retain and gain customers, is to reward the customer who passes by every now and then, with personalized dishes, and reward first time customers by attracting them with discounts specifically for them. And finally, another must consider, is that beacons help keep track of everything (all happening at a specific given time) to better improve employee wages and specifics of customers that are out-and-about.

Technology has taken a huge toll on society and business now a day. If our business is keeping itself updated with technology, could mean we are at the top of our game. This article briefly demonstrates how Beacons can help improve your business by providing how, when and where are customers behaving. For example, Beacons allow customers to order-ahead of time. It attracts a different clientele and allows us to gain others because of a shorter or no waiting time. Like an express line. But it may become a challenge if the business doesn't know how to ensure a time-effective preparation before customers arrive. Beacons also allow customers to know exactly how much people are at that exact time at the restaurant or business, and thus waiting time, if any. Another advantage would be "push-customized notifications". I believe this is one of the most challenging for businesses. Customers (as myself) hate when we get attacked by too much notifications. If it were useful in any way or if it called my attention every now and then, but companies apparently don't pay attention to how customers may feel. It is very important to use the access wisely and give out information customers really want. Offer what they are looking for, by personalizing. It also helps to attract customers by promoting events or special offers and notifying via beacons. People like a place they can see as happy and fun. Also, who doesn't like discounts? A fifth advantage, and as I believe to be one of the best ways to retain and gain customers, is to reward the customer who passes by every now and then, with personalized dishes, and reward first time customers by attracting them with discounts specifically for them. And finally, another must consider, is that beacons help keep track of everything (all happening at a specific given time) to better improve employee wages and specifics of customers that are out-and-about.

Creative and a bit scary application of existing technologies. Much like Facebook Messenger, when do we cross the line between convenience and forfeiture of privacy? As part of the industry, the responsibility falls to us to manage the line in favor of our guests. They will know when it has become too much, and we will know very soon after when business evaporates. Provide friendly, targeted service without being too invasive. Remembering orders and having them ready on time is fine. Sending a pop-up message every time the guest passes by in a cab may be a bit much. Consider how many Starbucks messages you could receive in any major metropolitan area. Without proper care, we could be giving a whole new meaning to the word Spam.

I believe every business, especially if it is a huge corporation, should protect and control their company's data. A company's data falling into the wrong hands can be a huge drawback for the company, especially if it comes into contact with a competitor. This article explains how IBM have introduced a new security tool with Big Data to identify any suspicious internal and external security threats as well as flag any company secrets from displease employee's emails and their social medias. The new system can alert any frauds and risks from decade worth of emails, financial transactions, and websites. CIOs will be able to conduct a sentiment analysis on employees to see which worker is the most likely to expose company's information. Some can argue that employees have the right to post anything on their social media's accounts but if an employee still is employed by the company then it should be all bets off. The company should have all rights in making sure their information does not get leaked out by an employee who is simply having a bad day.

The article briefly talks about the MyMagic+ wrist bands that Disney introduced a while back! I decided to use this since I had used this example in our discussion board. The articles explains that with Disneys BILLION dollar technology investments income rose 22% to 1.4 billion. The article identifies that Disney's risks in technology is a huge reason why their business continues to grow (and probably wont decline anytime soon- but thats just my opinion). Another huge investment, which might not seem like a lot is the projections newly introduced in the new fireworks show. By introducing projections inside the park, it allows the nightly entertainment to keep up with new characters and keep the show extremely relevant, for example, Anna and Elsa were just added from the Disney movie, "Frozen". By investing in technology like this Disney will always stay relevant and ahead of the game.

I found this article to be extremely interesting since I have been wanting to travel to Tulum for a while now. I was also aware that many of the hotels are focused on preserving their natural resources and maintaning their beautiful town, but I did not know to what extent. One thing I found to be so important was how many hotels are vegan or vegetarian. At first it doesnt seem like a huge deal, but when one realizes how the consumption of meat is bad for the environment, it really makes a huge difference. I think it is really cool that Tulum is trying to create menus that are better for the environment and healthy for their guests. Another thing that the article examines is how the new hotels in Tulum are staying true to their town and keeping things natural. For one example the hotel called Be Tulum is using materials that are 100% natural with wood that is 100% recycled. With having every detail of the hotel with purpose, it really changes the atmosphere of the hotel for the better. The idea here which the article explains is that hotel and shop owners are trying their best to keep Tulum safe and sustainable. The owner of Be Tulum said he was implementing sustainability intiatives and finding new and better ways to approach energy, water and food, which I think is what they are doing by being vegetarian. Overall there seems to be a movement of green initiatives in place for the future for Tulum.

This article describes how technology will affect accounting system, and the reason to adapt new technology. The world has been dramatically changed over 20years. Paper was dominant back in 1990' but now most jobs are done by computer and Internet, and furthermore, the monthly fee for the Internet has been going down a lot. Everyone in the world enjoys the advantages of the Internet, and job efficiency increases. Especially, this article said technology will impact accounting profession a lot in the future. When we consider the current technology development in accounting area, the Web, mobile and social media have had a huge impact on company's operation. This article introduces that artificial intelligence(AI), cognitive computing/machine learning, natural language processing and blockchain will be adapted highly in next 20 years. For example, tax systems will guide us through the calculations and highlighting review section, and provide advice. A Huge amount of data will be collected and generate real meaning about the data and guide the business. Furthermore, continuous and real-time audit will be available. Fraud detection also will be faster and easier. As can be seen here, the profession will evolve very rapidly in next 20 years, which means it will be completely different from what we see today. This disruption challenges us to catch up with the fast pace of change but the potential of new technology provides opportunity, so adjustment for new pace is needed.

Cloud computing makes sense to work business in a cloud setting. The article states that Cloud computing has "transformed businesses" throughout the world. We learned that a disadvantage of Cloud is the dependence of Internet connection. With Cloud computing, you can share and store data. This can be a better way to run business. We have learned that Cloud computing is more scalable, secure, and reliable. Cloud computing cost less, and you can pay for what you need. Cloud you can customize what you need, to your specific needs. The article even mentions it "lowers management costs." Unlike unintended PMS, which can require maintenance, and be highly costly. We discussed in our video lecture from this past week, how hotel check-ins are being done from smart phones- as this article includes. This is beneficial for enhancing guest experience, and increasing the speed of check-ins. Travel agents have their own way of how they conduct themselves, their business, and the services he or she provides. However, the article shows how with Cloud computing, you would not need to depend on travel agents. Furthermore, Cloud computing can increase sales and revenue for a hotel property. Cloud computing is replacing traditional PMS system's and have a multitude of benefits.

Hoteliers today are joining in on the trend of the use of cloud computing. Some benefits of cloud computing include the increase of operational efficiency, lowering management costs since the hotelier only pays for what they demand. Energy costs and hardware operation costs are also decreased. It allows for hotel check ins to be done via smart phones and tablets and not just at the front desk upon arrival, and it also allows for hotels to not have to rely on travel agents all the time for bookings which saves them having to pay commission to travel companies.

No matter the industry, cloud computing has changed organizations all around the world in recent years. Today's need for access at any time and from any location has soared, and cloud computing is supplying it. All you want is a reliable internet connection. Businesses might choose a cloud service that would store their data in safe data centers rather than burdening themselves with traditional in-house servers to store data. At all levels, cloud-based services are now taking the place of outdated and conventional technologies. Many hospitality firms now use cloud computing services offered by infrastructure as a service (IaaS), software as a service (SaaS), and platform as a service (PaaS). And they are all fired up with the incredible benefits of cloud computing. Cloud computing can benefit hoteliers by driving down costs like energy, hardware, and operations. Your hotel's requirement for hardware overload is decreased, which significantly lowers your electricity costs. The hotel sector uses cloud computing to speed up projects, which reduces costs and increases efficiency. An efficient and effective hotel PMS will help you to ensure that your guests receive a first-rate experience and will provide the hotel employees with the best set of management capabilities. Another benefit of cloud computing is that it frees your personnel from stationary terminals, allowing them to work more independently and productively. Due to the cloud, guests may now check in at hotels using their smartphones or tablets as well as the front desk. Working remotely is possible thanks to cloud computing in the hospitality sector. Managing the business becomes a little more challenging when you, the hotelier, are not on the premises. However, putting your hotel management and operations in the cloud gives you the flexibility to access and operate on them from any location in the world.

This article is very interesting. I happened to find this article when I was searching for a hospitality accounting related article. This article tells us about the top 5 items making biggest profit for a restaurant. We should be aware of these items and become wiser consumers.

One of the 4 major GDS systems-Amadeus has begun offering a cloud service on the Google Compute infrastructure as a service platform to prevent overloading by internet requests. It helps to scale Amadeus service to support internet flight searches. The cloud-based system can help airlines to cope with the huge increase in search and consumer can receive 100% accurate results of the airline's availability.

This article is a good one that demonstrates how GDS are now more often used than times before. The article states that the 2011 Global Travel Agent GDS study demonstrates how important GDS platform and shopping Displays are to the travel agents. They stated the 84 percent of those who took the survey stated that they are using the GDS just as much or even more than they did in the pass and 35 % of these stated that they were using it more than they did in the pass. The article explained how these numbers have greatly increased since 2009 where only 26% agents admitted that they used the GDS systems more than before. This study is 2011 reaffirmed Travel Click's projection, which was that GDS hotel bookings would surpass %50 million in the year 2011. This was far more than that of 2010. The article goes on to explain how the GDS will improve the booking and services of the industry all around. Furthermore, the article went on to explain a worldwide survey conducted for agents who were among the largest GDS in the world and some 495 responses were collected. The survey was conducted by Phoenix Marketing International, which is and independent marketing research firm Travel agents were indicated that promotional messages were effective and prompt during bookings and 66% of these agents request additional information about it. While, 68% of these agents looked into the GDS for more information. After this survey was complete the agents who were aware of promotional messages, 46% of them made North American bookings within 3 months as a result of the promotional messaging and 44% made non- North American bookings. The survey itself shows that promotional messages were and excellent way to get the agents interested. In the article it is quoted how the promotional messages acts in a chain reaction to reach the agent and then the customer, which allows sales all over the world.

GDS provides a perfect virtual marketplace for travel inventory sellers such as hotels, airlines, and car rental systems to showcase their wares to a global Internet travel audience. The GDS is a natural outlet for hotels, resorts, and even smaller inns that want to increase revenue and online marketing exposure. As the GDS channel produces one of the highest average daily rates of any booking channel, there is a huge opportunity for hoteliers to influence travel agents through the GDS at the point-of-sale.

Yes, GDS is of great importance for tourism development. It provides such a huge market of tourism information for customers, airlines, hotels, travel agents and any parts included in the tourism. Someone said that GDS will end travel agent, however, in my opinion; they have their own advantages and will supplement each other in the future.

This article greatly described the importance and significance event management has for the tourism industry. Special events definitely draws individuals in to multiple destinations, which delivers a huge boost for the tourism industry.

This article talks about how different types of events are important for tourism. Events such as mega, hallmark, major and local events attract more tourists such as the olympic games or the Superbowl. Some destinations are visited only for special events, driving more tourism to that destination. As tourism has become very dependent on effective event management, small events such as arranging tours in a destination have led to an increase in tourism. The development of tourism and the introduction of new destinations reveals the huge perspectives for the growth of event management. The majority of most social activities, such as festivals, and other recreational events have become possible due to the successful event management and the travelers that they attract.

Event Management can be both local and global, it is the management of various activities including conventions, meeting and other major activities. Tourism is not considered a part of event management; it is classified as a set of tourism related activities. Tourism is thus divided into various niche activities. No matter what tourism type you choose, event management will always be a part of the activity. There are various types of classifications. Events may be condsidered Mega, Hallmark, Major or local. It is necessary to recognize the importance of events to the tourism product, and as such, you should never take for granted the need for proper and effective coordination. It is also important to note that events such as cultural activities also aid in destination development. A key factor in having these events is to promote the destination and attract more visitors, particularly at times in the season when things are slow. The introduction of events can serve to stimulate local economies and draw attention to unseen parts of the destination, as well as aid in the building of infrastructure in those communities. It is also important to note any event requires significant planning, the who, what, where and how allows a better understanding of how a proposed event may impact a destination's image and can help with building a stronger global brand. The significance of tourism in event management is centered around possible offshoot activities such as tours and entertainment or any other economic benefits that maybe be derived beyond the event itself. By creating such signature activities, it is likely that you broker relationships with visitors, which could likely create loyalty to your brand.

Events are a tremendous piece of the cordiality business, and are proceeding to develop. Regardless of whether it be centered around music, sport or an extravagance mark, occasions far and wide are creating billions of income and changing the way organizations, neighborliness associations and resorts work. It is very important because not only it is an advantage to the company but it also brings in more customers and it advertises and exposes the company to other people and from there it brings more business.

Events are an important part of promoting the development of the hotel industry and have brought huge revenue to the tourism and hotel industry.

Event management (EM) is complex. As a marketing tool, it helps companies to get profit from conducting promotional events and communicate with audiences and current customers. Fields of EM include personal, leisure, organizational, and culture events. An event manager is a professional who takes the responsibilities of planning and executing the events with creative, entertainment, technical, and logistical elements. For event hosts, it will be vital to choose the professional event management company that provides whole services.

In this article it begins to explain property management systems PMS going mobile in the hotel industry and how beneficial it is for hotel corporations and for customers. The author explained that the most in-demand PMS function for hotels is the ability to have a real time data of room availability, access to guest information such as comments and special request, room/ work order status, and up-to-date pricing. For customers facing mobile apps they would enjoy the guest self-service of booking, self check-in/out, service request, and messaging to staff. However even though mobile devices makes such functionality seem easier mobile-enabling a PMS is not easy at all in fact, making functions available via a browser would be a huge transition for a business.

More and more are properties interested in having a PMS device that they can be accessed at anytime and anywhere. The answer to this challenge is to have PMS functions accessible via mobile devices which can be challenging for some of the systems, especially those that do not reside in cloud. For some smaller properties, the goal is to have no front desk at all and some have been quite successful in making this a reality. As stated in the Property Management Goes Mobile article, the ski resort Tremblant Elysium has been successful with using the cloud-based FrontDesk Anywhere. The guests receive a letter a week prior to check in containing a door code and 30 minutes after their arrival concierge comes to their room to complete their check in and sign the registration card. The CEO of Tremblant Elysium stated: "Guests love it because it is simple and easy and we do not have staff waiting around for people to check in." As stated in the article, guest require for Mobile PMS to include access to room availability and full front desk access including guest profiles and preferences, room/work order status, up-to-date pricing and housekeeping access for rooms statutes. Mobile-enabling PMS can be quite challenging to design, as it can bring difficulties with screen size, performance or choosing which device to use as the code must be re-written for each one. Another major concern for this type of PMS is the synchronization with other system with which PMS is integrated. As hotelier consider implementing mobile-enabling PMS device for their property, there are concerns about security as far as data storage or mobile check-in or the issuing of keys for guests. In my opinion mobile-enabling PMS is the future for smaller properties. Why would a hotel need to have a stand-alone front desk when we can use mobile phones to do the work for us as we are on the go? Eventually, we can have our staff cross trained in smaller properties all equipped with phones, all available to ch

This article discusses the wish-list for hoteliers when they are considering cloud-based systems.Tthe most in-demand mobile PMS functions include GM access to KPIs, CRM and room availability, and front desk staff access to guest information such as comments and special requests, room/work order status and consolidated messaging among staff. It would seem that with all of these personal apps that are appearing on the market, that mobilizing a PMS would be easy, but that is not the case. The code is not universal; i.e. code must be re-written for each one, although there are tools like service-oriented architecture and html5 to help. There will naturally be concerns when considering adopting a mobile PMS across properties. Before investing in a roll-out of new technology, decision-makers must ask the right questions dealing with security, data storage, and functionality.

Customers' comments and reviews on the website have a huge influence on business in hospitality industry. This article outlines five key trends that hotel marketers should be aware of as they approach online reputation management. First, customers would like to trust other customers' comments rather than companies' advertisements. Remarkable experiences and consistently extraordinary service can make customers satisfied, which encourage guests to share experience. Second, overwhelming volume of data and information can make customers paralyzed and confused. Hotel marketers should create position-specific reporting and make insights simple. Third, consumers may change their decisions in the last-minute because of online reviews. Listening to guest feedback, making changes, and improving service can keep customers' reviews positive. Forth, companies' revenue can be influenced directly by negative reviews. Firth, real-time web may have a ineffective result du to delayed responses.