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denisedantas

The Growth of e-Commerce and Hospitality Marketing | Smartling - 0 views

  • The growth of e-commerce has had a dramatic effect on travel and hospitality marketing.
  • Today’s travelers rely more on travel apps and websites to conduct their own research and compare prices.
  • E-commerce companies have numerous opportunities to grow in the years ahead. However, smart planning to serve international markets is key.
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  • As consumers increasingly ditch the middleman in favor of conducting their own travel research, it is important to keep up and offer them helpful, localized, translated content that will inspire them to make the leap and confirm their travel plans—with you.
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    The growth of e-commerce has had a dramatic effect on travel and hospitality marketing. While consumers once relied on travel agents and other intermediaries to help book and research trips, a number of developments from the growth of sites, such as Airbnb and Google's high-ranking display of travel results for specific geographic terms, is leading a change in the way consumers buy travel and hospitality services. Therefore, marketing techniques are changing too.
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    This article is very interesting to me and what stood out was when it talked about how today's society, travelers rely more on travel apps and websites to handle their own research and compare prices. The upside for the hospitality technology industry is that there are more companies selling directly to the consumers. Their is an increase in competitive e-commerce environment industries which offers extensive applications to offer everything from owner-listed accommodations to discounted flights. A strategy a company would use is by standing out by offering a wider range of localized content assets in multiple languages. In the article the role of content in e-commerce travel is the research of travelers to conduct an extensive background check and research when creating travel plans and making bookings. In the years to come e-commerce companies plan to grow extensively and serve the International markets . I believe that hospitality sites that offer significant amount of information in the consumers native language and have applications and websites that are responsive on mobile devices are more likely to stand out from their direct competition.
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    This article talks about the importance of electronic business and the new advances that affect the way that business is done; the growth of sites is changing the way consumers buy travel and hospitality services. As a result, marketers are changing strategies to become successful in this very competitive environment, differentiating themselves offering a wider range of localized content assets in many languages to reach consumers globally. Smart planning and optimizing mobile applications to serve the international markets are the keys that lead to success.
jiayi017

How Technology Will Reshape the Hotel Industry Post-COVID-19 Pandemic | TravelPulse - 0 views

  • hotel industry finds itself scrambling to inspire consumer confidence while also working hard to safeguard both guests and employees against COVID-19.
  • accelerated the infusion of new technologies and applications into hotel operations.
  • As we move into the ‘new normal’ and hotels reopen for business, the expectation for customer experience is higher than ever.” He foresees that moving forward, guests will expect enhanced tools like live-agent or AI-powered support channels, and personalized communications, not to mention heightened hygiene standards. “Hotels that cater to these consumers' needs will win brand loyalty as we embrace the new normal and for the long term,”
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  • Tech features that might have originally been intended for introduction as novelties or extra conveniences are suddenly becoming necessities in an era
  • tactics for keeping people apart while continuing to conduct business (i.e., “touch-free” or “contactless” solutions) are the order of the day.
  • Especially as people are increasingly opting for road-trips in the name of social distancing, hotels can benefit from installing geofences that send push notifications to visitors who might arrive within a certain radius
  • Location data can also work to activate touchless check-in upon guests’ arrival on property or prompt them for payment when they present for checkout
  • On-site capacity limits and real-time conditions can also be communicated to visitors when they’re nearing the venue to help avoid high customer densities
  • today's robotic hotel staff members can at least aid important efforts aimed at reducing person-to-person contact amid the pandemic.
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    The article "How technology Will Reshape the Hotel Industry Post COVID 19 Pandemic" talks about how this industry is taking necessary measures in order to promote safety and security within their companies while implementing new technologies. It states that this pandemic has impulsed the implementation of new technologies into hotel operations. Contactless solutions, hotel check ins, mobile room keys, etc.. are just some of the examples hotels are taking in order to minimize contact and enhance customer experiences
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    This article mainly describes how the hotel industry can use technology to help it recover after COVID-19, and how to enhance the confidence of employees and customers. With the development of the epidemic, the hotel industry and even the entire hospitality industry are widely promoting contactless technologies. Therefore, various mobile and self-service AI technologies are integrated with hotel operations. In the future, with the development of this normalization, reasonable monitoring technology, non-contact communication technology, location detection technology, super sterilization, and robotics technology will all become important aspects of the future development of the hotel industry.
emmajeenie

Why Low Season Does Not Need to Mean Low Profits for Hoteliers | - 1 views

  • To maintain a healthy flow of guests throughout the year hoteliers need to get creative, and it all starts with keeping a handle on your data.
  • guest data provides the key that will unlock profitable opportunities during traditionally low periods of the year.
  • Batchbook that allow you to learn more about your clients in one place and build a relationship with them – and that leads on to the all-important client engagement.
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  • many admit that it’s difficult to make data meaningful and find the information unstructured
  • . Personalized email campaigns that can drive bookings and repeat stays, enabling hotels to have better occupancy rates hand-in-hand with brand loyalty.
  • email address
  • It’s an important factor for noticing patterns and touch points related to pre-trip, in-stay and post-trip data
  •   Stay in touch with your clients through text messages and social platforms as well as emails, to maintain brand awareness and generate booking and location excitement throughout the year
  • email marketing is one of the most effective channels for over 5o% of marketers, coming second only to a hotel’s direct website.
  • 80% of hoteliers believe that prioritizing guest personalization and experience would bring the most success to them, followed by branding at 67%.
  • Keep your guests informed. Let them know about your latest deals and offerings. You’ll gain deeper insights into the behaviour of your clients and better understand what motivates them.  You can use this data to send targeted off-season deals.
  • The key here is to keep a dialogue going with your guests and tap into what inspires them to book.
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    This article discusses CRMs and how to make use of data to support a strong CRM system. Batchbook for example is a tool that allows businesses to learn about their clients in one place and build relationships with them. Emails on the other hand can be used to maintain awareness and generate bookings and location excitement . It's an important factor for noticing patterns and touch points related to pre-trip, in-stay and post-trip data.
anonymous

Is Travel Booking Ready to Fully Embrace Artificial Intelligence? - 1 views

  • Conventional wisdom has been that planning travel, whether for leisure or business, is still too personal and confusing for artificial intelligence (AI) to replace the travel shopping experience.
  • Answers may lie in Natural Language Processing (NLP). NLP is a subfield of artificial intelligence focused on the processing and analysis of both spoken and written languages. An NLP application could provide the mechanism for planning and booking a full travel experience. Only with exceptions and errors being sent to an experienced travel agent for analysis and discussion.
  • With NLP’s prediction modeling capabilities, the conversational chatbot could inspire a unique experience during the travel planning process.
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  • As NLP better understands the requirements and dependencies of travelers, a solution to book a complete trip with your voice assistant will become available.
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    Artificial Intelligence is not widely used for booking travel with multiple complexities such as a hotel, car rental and activities however this is becoming more of a possibility with the advancements of Natural Language Processing (NPL). Over the past year there has been major advancements with NPL due to the pandemic and when combining NPL technology with other AI such as chatbots or voice assistants, these systems become more powerful and will be able to assist in planning more complex travel. These systems can also help a travel agent with more complex bookings by gathering the information needed such as date, locations and points of interest.
dbake008

How to use QR Codes in Hotels as a Marketing or Guest Service tool, also after Covid-19 - 0 views

  • What are QR codes? QR codes (short for Quick Response Code) contain data used to point towards your hotel website or any other form of information you want to provide to your hotel guests.
  • QR Codes have taken the hospitality industry by storm, and can be seen used anywhere from restaurants menus to playing a role in sharing information about health and safety measures
  • Is it just a FAD, or will the use of QR codes stay after the COVID-19 crisis is over? How can hotel managers efficiently use QR as a communication tool as well as creating revenue generating opportunities including creative examples to use QR codes
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  • Providing a quick and easy method to access information, QR codes offer great opportunities for hotels to drive revenue, record guest preferences (read further here on smart tips to capture guests information and emails) as well improving guest experience by providing useful information to guests throughout the property.
  • The key in using QR codes comes down to added value.
  • QR codes in various ways including on: Cards in the rooms Announcements in elevators At the concierge desk and message boards in the lobby (inspiring guests with tips on where to dine or ideas for which activities to do)
  • Upon scanning the QR code, they will be diverted to the hotel website’s blog which contains the latest events, restaurant tips, attractions and activity recommendations, our favorite shops, etc. From here the guest can also navigate to any social media pages.
  • Being creative and thoughtful about the use and placement is important
  • be careful not to make it feel like a generic discount with no boundaries set to time or without a “real” discount that makes it worthwhile.
  • The benefits include: Cost saving and better for the environment with less paper waste More customizable and more frequent updates possible Higher degree of available information with “hover over” effects as a tool to have a clean design. Great for showing allergenic information for example, which usually gathers up quite the list to be able to fully show on a traditional menu.
  • Loyalty programs and call to action for downloading the Hotel App
  • ontactless payment is a hot ticket right now everywhere
  • In summary, it can be said that QR codes offer great ways especially for driving revenue and improving guest experiences. 
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    This article examines all of the highlights that using a QR code for your hotel of business establishment.
lismarycedeno1

What's New for Meetings at Walt Disney World's Swan and Dolphin - 0 views

  • Disney’s Swan and Dolphin makes updates to its property with meeting delegates in mind.
  • 50 percent of the Swan and Dolphin’s business comes from meetings groups, making it one of Marriott’s top meeting hotels.
  • 2,270 guest rooms and over 333,000 square feet of meeting space on site,
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  • The renovation is immediately noticeable in its wow-worthy lobby, inspired by water elements.
  • Swan and Dolphin broke ground on the construction of a new tower on its property, which will add 349 guest rooms and 21,330 square feet of new meeting space, including a 6,000-square-foot rooftop ballroom and terrace from which guests can view Disney’s fireworks.
  • tower will contain 151 executive meeting suites, featuring guest rooms connected to small meeting spaces
  • “The Cove,”
  • “The Caribbean Room” is open for business at the Dolphin. Ideal for breakouts, small meetings and event work rooms
  • the Swan Resort opened a similar restaurant in August, serving coffee, ready-made sandwiches and snacks.
  • Shula’s Steak House recently completed a refresh of the restaurant space and menu as part of a branding update for Shula’s Steak House.
  • rooms are available for group buyouts.
  • transformation includes an expanded bar and lounge featuring a three-sided, wraparound bar for networking and socializing, as well as seven new menu items, including pan seared scallops and a 22-ounce dry-aged ribeye
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    Disney's Swan and Dolphin convention centers breaking ground for "The Cove" which is set to open in 2021 which adds 349 guest rooms and 21,330 square feet of new meeting space. Both resorts are also opening new restaurant space with the ability for group event buyouts in private dining rooms.
aguar024

6 Event Trends You Need to Know for 2019 | ITA Group - 0 views

  • ways to engage attendees differently and encourage innovation and creativity
  • A great way to start is by changing up the facilitation or presentation style
  • some unexpected venues
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  • Private lofts and businesses are starting to rent areas that would previously have been off-limits, which makes attendees feel like they’re getting exclusive access.
  • he popularity of eSports events is influencing event connections.
  • Create policies outlining inappropriate behavior,
  • se of voice and facial recognition will increase and will improve overall experience and engagement.
  • dding areas or just time where attendees can unplug from the event and allow them to process what is happening and reconnect, allows them to come back energized and engaged.
  • Many companies’ risk management plans cover terrorism and communicable illness, but more than ever, tech security and sexual harassment policies need to be included as well
  • 61% say they go to live events and tournaments to connect with friends they’ve met and play with online, and 41% said they attend to forge new relationships.
  • hannels to report issues, and protocol for staff on how to deal with allegations.
  • With the increase in vegan and healthier diets, there is an influx in looking for new ways of clean eating.
  • increase their sustainable operations.
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    In this article the writer mentions different trends and solutions to common situations on the event industry. From sustainability all the way to methodologies to avoid sexual harassment.
jasdhami95

5 Tips to Activate Your Ecommerce - 1 views

  • Keep Communicating With Your Guests
  • consistent social media updates
  • establish a connection
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  • clearly outline what your property is doing to ensure their safety,
  • Utilize your social media networks to inspire travelers as travel begins to resume
  • Property's can also run promotions and specials
  • keyword rankings have not dropped in kind,
  • Planning for that pent-up travel demand, however, will require a data-first approach.
  • re-birth of the road trip and similar drive market demand.
  • creating your target audiences to deliver relevant messaging
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    This article discusses five ways to stimulate Ecommerce which includes corresponding with guests, remaining active on social media, not letting your SEO go on leave, devising media budgets and targeting, as well as employing the help of an expert. The author emphasized staying in contact with your customers whether it be through your website, social media, or email. The intention is to stay connected with your guest so that when it is time for them to choose a hotel, they will choose yours. Social media can be used as a tool to entice your future guest and keep them interested in your property. Keeping search traffic up for your website will also ensure people continue to look at your property. Keep in mind the kind of travelers that will come to your property, and tailor your advertisements, messaging, and offers to meet the needs of those travelers. And lastly, if needed, do not be afraid to enlist the help of an expert. This article is meant as a guide for getting one's Ecommerce back on track during these hard pandemic times.
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    My opinion on this article is that E-commerce has been a huge hit as of lately and it is time for this type of trend to follow in the hospitality world. There is a huge shift from walk-in business to online bookings and the best way to show guests the improvements to the property would be through email and social media presence. This would give properties a competitive advantage when it comes to OTA bookings.
kuhang

Importance of Sustainability in Hospitality | Dana Communications - 0 views

  • Over the past several decades, hoteliers have turned their focus to the importance of sustainability in the hospitality industry as it relates to hotel development and operations, including the environmental, economic and social impact.
  • In fact, according to Cornell University’s Center for Hospitality Research, the reverse is true for both. Recent advances in technology related to renewable sources of energy (solar, geothermal, wind, etc.) have improved the economics of using these kinds of alternative energies at the property level.
  • Cost is always a driving factor and reducing operating costs provides a compelling incentive for hoteliers. Cost reduction and efficiency strategies can be achieved by investing in better operational procedures and emerging environmental technologies. Many hoteliers now employ a variety of strategies to reduce, reuse, and recycle waste. Other emerging areas include sustainable procurement, indoor environmental quality (focusing on air quality and chemical/cleaning product use), and staff training programs (which can facilitate improved performance and higher levels of employee satisfaction/retention).
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  • Adopting a sustainable corporate culture can provide a distinct advantage in terms of attracting and retaining talent.
  • These statistics make it clear that sustainability—and a company’s commitment to it—is top of mind for employees.
  • Most major hotel brands have incorporated some level of sustainability platform into their brand definition.
  • Having sustainable business practices will lead to an enhanced reputation and brand image, which translates to great hotel profits in the long term.
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    Improving hotel's sustainability with the use of environmentally-friendly materials is now of utmost importance. It is a myth that green operations are more costly to obtain and maintain. In fact, renewable energy sources have improved economically and have now become alternative energy source at property level. Governments are now strongly supporting the use of renewable energy sources by providing tax write-offs and quickly expedited regulatory permitting. There will also be increased recognition for brand image and corporate brand image which creates a positive guests experience and attracting better talent. The savings are exponential by investing in better operational procedures and emerging environmental technologies. The green technology is inspiring and forward-thinking.
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    This paper analyzes and demonstrates the importance of sustainable design in the hotel industry from the perspectives of economy, law, guest experience and corporate responsibility. With the progress of science and technology, sustainable development will become more popular and become a major trend of hotel industry in the future.
marble_bird

CloudBasedvsDesktopBased_PMSHotels.pdf - 0 views

shared by marble_bird on 09 Jul 20 - No Cached
  • Even though keeping up with the modern developments in IT sector is crucial for the success and competitiveness of a hotel, it is usually very hard for new technologies to be accepted and implemented.
  • On the example of hotel property management system (PMS) and comparison between features of its older desktop-version and new web-based programs, this research aims at finding out at which stage and how effective is usage of cloud technology in hotels.
  • Constant innovation in hardware, software, and network developments and applications means that only dynamic organizations that can respond efficiently and effectively to these innovations, will be able to outperform their competitors and maintain their long-term prosperity.
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  • It is crucial for tourism and hospitality practitioners to proactively incorporate new technologies into their businesses as these will improve service quality and differentiate their products and services.
  • In order to be able to follow the increasing guests' requests for qualitative services, it is mandatory for hotel management to constantly work on improving its functions and operations. For this it is necessary to keep track of innovations in sectors outside the hospitality, like IT sector that works on creating, developing and introducing new technologies
  • Hospitality is one of targeted sector that is considered appropriate for application of cloud technologies and services. Hotel Management System or widely known as Property Management System (PMS) is one of the system where IT practitioners saw the chance for improvement by ''moving it to the cloud''.
  • Hotels will be forced to upgrade their current systems so that they can respond to various and changeable guests' habits and requirements. However, until today, there was not enough academic papers related to usage of cloud technology in hospitality industry even though this sector is under continuous changes caused by usage of new technologies which made search, evaluation and payment of the hotel rooms easier than ever.
  • After comparing the two groups of hotels, from which one was using desktop PMS and other group cloud- based PMS, the results of the research were derived and presented. In conclusion of the paper, challenges with which the hotels are facing and which affect their decision of starting to use cloud- based technology as well as recommendation for future work will be discussed.
  • As stated by the Sharif (2010), cloud computing is the latest technology that is being introduced by the IT industry as the next (potential) revolution to change how the internet and information systems operate. The term “cloud” was probably inspired by IT text books’ illustrations which depicted remote environments (the Internet) as cloud images in order to conceal the complexity that lies behind them (Sultan,2010).
  • The goal of a new computing world is to develop software for millions to consume by easily accessing it over a network. Cloud service providers are making profit by charging consumers for accessing these services.
  • Products offered via this mode include the remote delivery (through the Internet) of a full computer infrastructure (e.g., virtual computers, servers, storage devices, etc.); the building blocks of an IT enterprise.
  • Services provided in this category include CPU processing on demand, virtual Web hosting, and storage on demand. The most notable vendors are Amazon’s EC2, GoGrid’s Cloud Servers, and Joyent.
  • With cloud computing, services and applications that were managed locally in the past requiring hardware, operating systems, web servers, as well as teams of network, database and system management experts are now provided remotely by cloud providers under this layer.
  • Cloud computing services can be adopted by firms in three different forms (Goscinski and Brock, 2010):
  • Public clouds - online applications that are open to everyone for free, such as Google
  • Private clouds - involves firms deploying key enabling technologies, such as virtualization and multi-tenant applications, to create their own private cloud database
  • Hybrid clouds - mix of the previous two types that are emerging with the intention of providing clients with a level of “control” over their resources
  • The cloud offers enterprises the option of scalability without the financial commitments required for infrastructure purchase and maintenance.
  • Reallocating information management operational activities to the cloud offers businesses a unique opportunity to focus efforts on innovation and research and development. This allows for business and product growth and may be even more beneficial than the financial advantages offered by the cloud.
  • These investments and efforts for a new technology to be presented open a new progress circle of technology advancements and it continues in the same way.
  • When creating software or an application for a hotel, IT personnel have to possess a certain level of flexibility, openness and creativity. On the other hand, hotel employees are expected to have more insightful and openminded approach towards new ways of performing business operations, sometimes take risks and have experiences with using different programs and applications.
  • A hotel's PMS can gather and keep valuable information about hotel guests by incorporating business intelligence tools which help hoteliers organize and make sense of the gathered data. Regardless of whether room reservations come from Online Travel Agency, Global Distribution Systems or by telephone, all of them are gathered, stored and managed in the PMS.
  • low investment costs were main reason for hotels from Group B to decide in favor of cloud based version.
  • Business intelligence options provide hoteliers with a threedimensional view of guest data, which allows easily statistical reporting and increased hotel management efficiency.
  • The aim of this study was to investigate the difference in practical usage of the two types of PMS systems – cloud based and classical (desktop) ones.
  • On the question about the reasons for using the current PMS type in hotels, answers of Group A were based on usage of their current PMS for years and on the fact that employees in all hotel departments were used to work on it. As time passed by, hotels upgraded their system to new versions for several times and additional customization was implemented with regard to hotel preferences.
  • Hotels from Group B were consisted of relatively new boutique hotels that operate for more than a year and from those that were not using any kind of PMS solution (they were using Excel tables and creating reservation records manually). The reason why hotels from this group wanted to use cloud PMS was a desire to try the latest technology used in hospitality industry.
  • Other reasons for using it were: PMS could be reached from any place where Internet connection is available, simple but effective design with lots of visual solutions, more options to enter the important information and the fact that it is working not only on any PC but also on any mobile device due to its mobile applications.
  • Simplicity of the cloud based property management system allows it to be productive. Cloud based PMS's can operate on any advice that has a web browser and the companies are putting their efforts to make it even more friendly on smaller devices like tablets and smart phones.
  • The similar amount of initial investments were confirmed by the Group A. Being considered as great amount of money for newly opened and small sized hotels to invest, management decided to try out the cloud version which allows access to this system based on monthly subscription with very little or no investment cost, depending on the solution provider.
  • After initial investments in the system implementation, hardware, software and training of employees, every year hotel makes a one-year-based contract for additional support services and, if needed, extra training. Support is provided any time a hotel reports an issue or malfunction by directly connecting to hotel's computer through remote programs.
  • Changes are made either for each hotel at a time, or after releasing new version, when provider try to convince all the current users to upgrade to it. Upgrade is provided by the extra charge, so these costs should be also considered during planning investments in classical PMS.
  • Regardless of which type of system they used, all participants were very careful about and interested in the matter of data security.
  • However, it is totally different situation with cloud based system, which is mainly open system where all authorized users and providers from outside have access to. Of course, it is up to hotel management to whom the authorization rights will be given and being an open system it makes support, development and innovation activities much easier. Cloud based PMS are hosted on some of the world's best known servers so there is no need for additional computers to be used as servers.
  • Although there are some great differences in functions and way of managing regarding classical and cloud based system, both have their advantages from which hotels do not want to give up.
  • One of the biggest advantages of cloud based PMS for the Group B is the fact that this system can be directly integrated with hotel online booking engine. This is considered as a great advantage for the hotels that besides having functional web site, wish to maximize use of its online booking engine, receive more online reservations directly from the guests and gain more profit.
  • Such a functional connection between hotel’s PMS and online reservation system allow hotels to have a social media integration as well. This means that hotels are able to receive online reservation through their Facebook page as well as receive direct links to its page from the biggest review sites such as TripAdvior.com.
  • In this paper two different approaches and perspectives on usage of cloud based and classical hotel management systems were exposed. Hotels from Group B have shown a tendency for usage of new technologies and readiness to adopt and continuously learn about them.
  • Among factors, affecting why hotel prefers one system over another, are type and size of hotel, through which channels are guest reservations coming, previous experience with IT stuff and different programs, etc.
  • Cloud based program can help them in order to update prices and room availability information to hotel's booking engine. This prevents overbooking, provides easily management of CRM functions and information, with no first investment costs or extra expenses which results in revenue increase.
  • Hotels that use classical PMS pay a great attention to the security issue because they do not want to risk opening their hotel for external intervention. In recent years we can find in media lots of evidence of information linkage from system that had much higher security measures than an average hotel.
  • Measuring the performance of cloud-provided services is another challenge for the hotel management, primarily due to the lack of measurement standards.
  • While investigating the previous knowledge about the other system solutions, hotels in Group A have claimed lack of information about the cloud technology and its solutions.
  • Even though IT stuff in these hotels has some basic knowledge about it, it is still not enough to convince the other managers about its benefits. Therefore it may be concluded that, besides trying to overcome the above mentioned challenges, developers of cloud based solutions to hotels should also work hard on training the potential clients about the positive aspects and correct usage of cloud technologies.
  • Lack of measurement standards for cloud-provided services in general as well as for hotels is another important limitation due to which qualitative research was conducted. Authors’ recommendation is that academicians should focus more on topics of cloud computing, cloud solutions for other business operations and on defining measurements standards for cloud services.
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    This article, published in 2015, covers a study performed in Turkey to analyze factors in hotels that lead management to prefer desktop-based PMS over cloud-based PMS or vice versa. The study uses qualitative research to determine the reasons for the usage of PMS and the advantages and disadvantage of either system. The study found that, among others, significant factors that contribute to the form of PMS implemented by mangement may include the size of the property, reservation channels, and prior level of IT experience.
Jennifer Beatriz Hernandez

11 Ways Mobile Technology Could Change Hotel Experience - 7 views

  • It is opening a variety of delivery mechanisms for personal guest services that are affordable, efficient and easy to use.
  • Hotel Room Keys - Technologies already exist that allow guests to safely use their mobile device as a room key by sending an encrypted signal to the guest's cell phone that is unique to each user.
  • Room Service – With the use of apps, you won't be tethered to your room in order to get room service
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  • Thermostats, Light Switches and more – All-in-one systems already exist, allowing guests to have central control of media, lighting, temperatures and more
  • Loss of revenue from one mobile device inspired change might lead to new and creative ways to reach the hotel's bottom line because of another change
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    Great article summarizing various elements a mobile device can be used for in a hotel. Mobile devices are becoming a priority in younger generations & are often used not just for phone calls, but also text messaging, web searching & games. It's no surprise they are now being used to check in at hotels, pay bills & order room service. Cell phones provide guests a unique customer service that is inexpensive, quick & simple to use. Using mobile devices as room keys is an example that will save the hotel money in not having to purchase thousands of room keys & having to deal with replacement cards for guests. There are several benefits to utilizing mobile devices in the hospitality industry, but there are also drawbacks. Guests may choose to play games on their phone or watch movies on their phone's screens instead of paying to watch a movie on the hotel's television or attending activities offered by staff. This reduces the face-to-face customer service that many hotels are recognized for. It may take away from the hotel's superior guest service if a request does not go through the mobile device or it malfunctions when a guest is trying to enter their room. Whether or not hotel managers like it, mobile devices are becoming popular among guests & should be implemented.
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    Great article, and it will be interesting to see how over time, the industry evolves to adapt mobile technology on property. While it creates opportunities for hotels and guests respectively it will also create opportunities for hackers and those who have malicious intent with the sensitive types of data. As soon as hotels figure out ways to make this work, hackers will figure out ways to crack the system. I think the industry would have to work with cell phone network providers as well as hardware providers to ensure that these devices and transactions can remain secure.
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    This article discusses how technology is changing the experience you have while staying at a hotel, by making it much easier for the guest. The article specifically address 11 areas in which technology is changing the whole experience. First is a mobile wallet, which will make paying the bill a breeze, by wirelessly sending credit card information directly to the hotels computer. Next, how about using your smart phone as a room key, as well as using it as the in room phone, connecting you to the front desk anytime any place. Or using it to order room service, and having it delivered to you anywhere on the property by using your phones location services. Next the article discusses virtual concierge desk, which can be scattered around the property, making it easy to make dinner reservations without having to wait in line. And the last main points that are discussed are controlling the temperature, lighting, and in room entertainment from an app on your smart phone, letting you turn off and on lights from bed, and changing the temperature before you even get back to the room. And one day when you forget your smart phones power cord and think your taking a step back in time, because you cant use any of the new technology, no worries their will be one in the room.
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    Mobile technology is constantly changing the way we do everything. Smart mobile devices dictate how we live our lives and how we travel. Here is a sampling of eleven items that may be drastically different in some hotels of the near future: 1. Currency 2. Hotel Room Keys 3. In-Room Phone 4. Concierge Desk 5. Room Service 6. Front Desk Attendant 7. Printed Hotel Promotional Material 8. Alarm Clocks 9. In-Room Entertainment 10. Thermostats, Light Switches and more 11. Power Cords
xiaoyuzhang

Staying ahead of the curve | Stretch For Growth - 0 views

  • Address negativity and remove barriers swiftly to send a strong message of behaviour expectations.
  • Use the 80/20 Principles to guide you to faster decision–making (gather 80% of the relevant bits of information in the first 20% of available time. The remaining 20% of the data (which would take the remaining 80% of your time to obtain) typically does not substantially improve the quality of your decision.
  • Look for learning in post-project reviews, customer meetings, changes in priorities and mistakes. Learn from these experiences to build flexibility into future approaches.
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  • regardless of rapidly changing circumstances, continue strengthening your team’s core competencies – what they are best at doing.
  • committed to your values, your staff, your customers, etc., but uncommitted preferably to anything that may tie you down or impede agility
  • do what you do well (or better than the rest), but focus your thinking on what your product and services are going to look like within the next five years.
  • Check out industry trends, ensure that mobile technology is being fully utilised in every way in your business and get teams involved in planning a creative future for their respective functions.
  • Staying ahead of the curve in our “disrupted” world requires the combined creativity of everyone in the company – all applying positive energy to generate ideas, inspire change and chart an exciting path towards a sustainable future.
  •  
    This article shows a few important steps to make companies staying ahead of the curve. Leaders can create an environment of trust, tap into the creative energy of their people, master characteristics of agility (speed, flexibility, strengths), stay committed to values, staff, and customers, stay uncommitted to anything that may tie you down, master the short-term, but think future.
akallison93

How social media marketing is helping in hospitality recovery, Hospitality News, ET Hos... - 0 views

  • Instagram started as a photo posting site and would have never imagined the impact it would have on driving travel inspiration and building a relationship between the guest and hotels.
  • BCV, one of the leaders in helping hotels leverage social media, started on this journey ten years ago to help hotels realize the value of social media and the role it can play in driving engagement and, eventually, revenue.
  • Before we entered 2020, in Asia, 55% of millennials were basing their booking decisions on social media
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  • In 2019, 63% of social media marketers confirmed that social listening would be crucial in 2020 to continue to engage the traveler
  • over 40% of social media users are now asking questions on Property and Destination Opening instead of asking for cancellations, showing a highly engaged potential guest.
  • organizations that respond well to a crisis and continue communications see a 20% increase in brand value as opposed to those companies that respond poorly see a 30% decrease
  • she owes the success of the campaign on turning the focus from the brand to the guest and their needs during the quarantine.
  • BCV’s RoI focussed strategy that micro-targeted source markets and personas created tailored content for Cinnamon hotels to deliver more than 200 room nights worth of revenue and an RoI that exceeded 200.
  • mitigating negative reviews is critical for driving demand in the future.
  • encouraging guests to share photos and awarding a two-week stay voucher and promoting the health standards and safety measures taken by the brand.
  • Building trust is critical for a brand, however sustained engagement to drive bookings and revenue from social media is the key success metric for most marketing leaders.
  • Brands need to understand who their target audience is, what they care about, and how they manage their time to capture their attention.
  • Instagram now has a shopping feature, which allows users to check out new products from brands in a few swipes. This shows that visual content is more crucial than ever—you can literally put a price tag on your photos on Instagram now.
  • Every Digital Platform has its own metrics and today, Digital Marketers can track close to 50 metrics to show success such as followers, traffic, share of voice and many more however as hospitality marketers emerge from this pandemic
  •  
    An excellent article that discusses how companies have changed their social media approach during Covid. Instead of selling the destination or the experience itself, hotels are trying to sell the concept of safety and security. Also, the article goes into detail about flexible date plans and more, all being advertised through their social media accounts. Overall, social media is still as important as ever, but the way companies approach it has changed drastically.
blevi022

Rwanda's Tourism Seeks Innovative Minds to Recover from Covid-19 Shock - KT PRESS - 1 views

  • Rwandans with tech or innovative business solutions will this June have an opportunity to pitch their business ideas that could help the country’s tourism and hospitality sector recover from the coronavirus (Covid-19) crisis.
  • Rwanda Development Board (RDB), Private Sector Federation (PSF) ICT and Tourism Chambers will this June 4, host an online conversation and workshop to identify innovations and solutions the technology sector currently has, or could build to support the recovery process.
  • The digitalisation of tourism will play a big role in leading the needed recovery for the economy just like it is helping in other sectors like trade, education and healthcare as global economies face-off the Covid-19 pandemic,”
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  • focus on digitalisation of the tourism sector as the new driver of the economic recovery for tourism businesses, which have been one of hardest hit in the country as a result of closed travel for local and international visitors.
  • We want to be inspired with new ideas. Not only digital way to also expose more ideas, answering the potential challenges that we have, not locked to one way (digitalisation) but many more alternatives of improving the sector going forward,” Kariza told KTPress today. 
  • session will expose the sector to listen into new concepts and ideas that they (participants) have, so as to tackle different challenges emerging from Covid19 but also for the overall sector.
  • government has embarked on starting up a Rwf100billion Covid-19 economy recovery fund, which will largely support the tourism and hospitality, industry, and water, electricity, road infrastructure projects among other income-generating activities.
  • online workshop aims at opening up new opportunities for technology companies to better understand the need in the tourism sector and in doing so develop solutions fit for driving the sector’s growth.
  • largely focus on strategies that could leverage technology to encourage domestic tourism covering but not limited to travel and hospitality sectors.
  • ICT Chamber has been working with the Chamber of Tourism to promote digitalization of the industry, by supporting companies that are serving in the industry through incubation programs at the ICT Innovation Center in Kicukiro district.
  • accelerate digitalization of the tourism sector through public private dialogue. 
  • RDB’s intent is to leverage technology and the solutions we have to stimulate domestic tourism and help the sector’s recovery. Taking lessons from what has been done with e-commerce and the online e-learning platforms. RDB will also present to us their challenges that tech companies can turn into monetize-able opportunities
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    Rwanda is seeking to engage the technology industry in a conversation to generate ways that e-commerce can be used to help the Tourism and Hospitality sector recover in the wake of COVID-19. This will be an online conversation on June 4 to find ways the technology already has or could create to help tourism. It notes how digitization has been important to other sectors of the economy during the pandemic including sectors such as education and Healthcare. By leveraging technology it is hoped that ways can be found to stimulate the tourism industry
mmilian

1 Hotels makes its Asia debut with a huge eco-luxury resort at Haitang Bay - 2 views

  • If your preferred holiday destination is somewhere in Europe or Southeast Asia, you could be forgiven for not having heard of 1 Hotels. Launched in 2015 with two properties in Miami and New York, it has since become a fixture among eco-conscious travellers across
  • In the mould of brands like The Sukhothai or Six Senses, the newly opened 1 Hotels Haitang Bay proposes a vision of luxury accommodation that is big on environmental and cultural sustainability. The property “draws inspiration from the rugged beauty of [Hainan Island]”, going beyond the now rather typical shtick of filtered water and fewer linen changes to give guests a tangible eco-conscious experience.
  • just some of the culinary destinations guests are invited to sample; all making use of the an off-site organic farm that supplies the hotel with Hainan’s best seasonal produce.
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    An article about an Eco Friendly luxury hotel. Its nice to see a company that focuses on green initiatives in their entire property, not just in the lobby, or in the public areas. The property in Miami Beach is amazing.
jwilc019

MultiBrief: How hospitality will become more sustainable in 2020 - 1 views

  • It seems that hotel sustainability is going to top all hospitality trends in 2020.
  • creating innovations to contain the current wasteful way of living. The development and deployment of green technology will help proactive businesses drive change.
  • Preventing waste will be a predominant theme across all sub-sectors.
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  • “three-zero-concept” approach, which entails prioritizing energy management and lower emissions; using local construction materials and skills; and introducing life-cycle management into the building process.
  • According to research, hotels must reduce their carbon emissions by 66% by 2030 to ensure that growth in the sector is sustainable
  • Heat exchangers that use the exhaust heat to preheat water — an innovative way to achieve waste heat recovery — will grow in number.
  • To achieve the goal of reducing resource use, pollution, and waste hotels are installing high-resolution resource monitoring. They are also coming up with more apps that can engage staff and guests in sustainability and food waste reduction.
  • Eco-friendliness is no longer a nice-to-have concept. It has now evolved into a must-have
  • According to the U.N. World Tourism Organization, the number of eco-inspired trips taken by the end of this year will be close to 1.6 billion worldwide.
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    This article was pre-COVID and budgetary restraints I fear will force many initiatives to be placed on the back burner for a while. What I really liked about this article is that it shows the hospitality industry being a driving force in sustainability technologies and taking accountability for amount of resources it uses and waste it produces. I found the "three-zero-concept" particularly interesting for new builds, since it takes a ground-up approach to sustainability. It talks about education and training for staff, which is extremely important for sustainability initiatives to be successful. The article highlights different protocols being used to lower waste, emissions, pollution, and natural resources used.
mannypjr

The Best HR Practices in the Hospitality Industry - 0 views

  • the quality of your customer services and staff responsiveness has a direct impact on the image and reputation of your hotel
  • Hotel executives need to devise a well-managed and robust talent management strategy that creates a culture of ongoing development, high performance, and organization-wide commitment to providing top-notch service in a practical way.
  • recruiting, hiring, and retaining skilled and experienced employees
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  • Many hotels are incorporating web-based solutions to optimize their key management functions in order for managers, HR executives, and employees to shift their focus to other high value activities.
  • Within just a year, the hotel experienced significant positive results in terms of better alignment and lower turnover.
  • scale, magnitude, duration, and strategic importance
  • hotels are cultivating talent pools internally and preparing their employees to assume leadership roles whenever the time comes.
  • The senior management needs to outline such customer service values of their hotel, and ensure that their staff at all levels has clear understanding of how their individual actions contribute to providing these values.
  • senior executives also need to empower employees to ensure they deliver them in a way that adds values to the customer experience.
  • experience and knowledge must be readily available to employees, and must be proactively delivered to the right person at the right time.
  • they need to reinforce core messages through timely advice, which should be both practical and inspirational.
  • Each employee needs to know this change is going to affect their work, what they are expected during and after the transformation process, on what basis their performance will be measured, and what is the altered definition of success and failure.
  •  
    This article outlines some best practices in the hospitality industry. These include: Talent Mgmt. & High Levels of Customer Centricity, Executing Enterprise-Wide Transformation, and Lessons from Industry Leaders.
kuhang

How hotels can attract and cater to meeting and event planners - 1 views

  • The latest event food trends include a desire for farm-to-table menus, pop-ups, healthy snacks, and hometown dishes and specialties.
  • On a more practical level, hotels also need to help planners accommodate an increasing array of dietary requests from attendees.
  • Increasingly, meeting attendees want a unique, local experience when they travel for an event. So to become a more attractive option to planners, you need to showcase the top sights, attractions, and activities in your destination — and then make them easy to arrange and book.
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  • So make sure that your hotel website has a dedicated Events page full of inspiring content and helpful, up-to-date information.
  • the ‘design thinking’ trend will become especially important for planners looking to capture the attention of Generation Z attendees — a demographic likely to be engaged by more immersive, engaging, and shareable meeting content.
  • To appeal to younger tech-savvy planners, hotels need to invest in up-to-date technologies to cater to attendees and enhance the event experience.
  • More broadly, planners need to consider a growing range of threats both in terms of data security and physical safety. As such, hotels that invest in key event security measures, such as having robust cybersecurity plans, ensuring that staff receive regular security training, and offering comprehensive site security can help quell the fears of corporate clients.
  •  
    In this article, we got some constructive suggestions for meeting and event planning. At the same time, this article also analyzes the future trend and relevant policies of the industry, and puts forward corresponding solutions.
kmill139

Why the U.S. is Terrible at Recycling Electronics | Digital Trends - 0 views

  • E-waste in the United States is out of control.
  • You may assume America has to at least be on par with the rest of the first world when finding a forever home for computers, phones, and printers, but you’d be wrong.
  • Those millions of old motherboards and TVs consoles rotting in landfills and warehouses aren’t just eyesores. They amount to a massive health hazard. While electronics waste comprises only 2-3 percent of America’s solid waste stream, the lead, cadmium, chromium, and other materials in aging circuitry account for 70 percent of the hazardous material in landfills, according to an EPA report.
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  • Others go belly up, leaving behind millions of pounds of old gadgets piled in mountainous heaps atop land which has lead levels many times normal.
  • You’re probably not screaming into a paper bag about the $20 billion or so of gold that’s trashed in electronics every year worldwide. Precious metals come and go. But if you care about the soil that comprises the land of the brave, you should start thinking about what happened to last year’s smartphone (even if it’s just sitting in the garage).
  • This list of reasons isn’t exhaustive, but serves as a solid starting point for understanding the United States’ e-waste dilemma and what can be done.
  • U.S. e-waste recycling laws are often outdated or nonexistent
  • Only 25 states (plus Washington, D.C.) have legislation that addresses e-waste recycling. The other 25 don’t have comprehensive programs, and don’t report what happens to the electronics beyond occasional voluntary numbers, says Jason Linnell, head of the National Center for Electronics Recycling (NCER). Federal laws don’t explicitly address e-waste recycling.
  • The U.S. isn’t good at recycling
  • The current level and effectiveness of e-waste recycling depends on which state you live in and whether or not you trust locals to “do the right thing.” The hope for improvement sits with congressional reps, state lawmakers, manufacturers, and gadget freaks (yes, you).
  • Single-stream recycling hasn’t helped
  • Between 2005 and 2014, single stream recycling programs increased from 29 to 80 percent in American towns and cities. During that same time period, material contamination rates increased from 7 to 25 percent.
  • E-waste legislation regularly disappears in Congress
  • This is not the first Congressional session in which similar bills have been introduced and allowed to die like a first grade classroom goldfish on summer break. SEERA currently sits with the house’s Foreign Affairs Committee. Why is it so tough to pass e-waste legislation?
  • The U.S. is an environmental rogue
  • As of late 2018, 186 states and the European Union have ratified it and follow its legal framework. The United States has signed the Basel Convention, indicating an intent to ratify, but is the only developed nation that hasn’t actually done so, which
  • After the initial Basel Convention was adopted in 1989, many organizations said the treaty didn’t do enough to address the disposal of waste from first world countries into the developing world, and pressed for an update, which eventually became 1995’s Basel Ban Amendment. The tweak — which was attacked by many industrial powers, including the U.S., Canada, and Japan — needed three decades before it was accepted by enough countries to go into effect. In August 2019, Croatia became the 97th country to ratify it, which transformed the updated stipulations into international law in December 2019.
  • EPA regulations are incomplete
  • Federal attempts at regulation have stalled, been killed
  • U.S. pushes back against international efforts
  • As a part of the 2003 Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE Directive), the public was guaranteed free recycling services, and conveniently located collection centers. Around the same time, the EU also passed the Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive (RoHS), aka the “lead-free directive,” which restricts the use of several toxic materials in the manufacture of circuitry and electronic products.
  • In Japan, the Association for Electric Home Appliances requires consumers to help pay for the processing of their goods and manufacturers to set up recycling programs. Electronics recycling has been promoted as such a point of national pride — because Japan is both a huge consumer of gadgets and the country has few indigenous precious metals — that there’s serious talk of making the 2020 Tokyo Olympic metals out of recycled materials. An estimated 80,000 cell phones need to be pulled apart and picked over to complete the plan.
  • State-level e-cycling programs are uneven
  • Certified e-cycling programs are important, but also confusing
  • If you’re the compliance officer who has to make sure the company’s used servers don’t wind up getting tossed in an Indonesian landfill, and you won’t have to nervously answer questions in a “60 Minutes” exposé, you probably want to get that e-waste removed by a disposal team with one of these
  • That all sounds great until you listen to Puckett, who helped create the e-Stewards protocols. He’s one of several people who took part in the development of R2 for over two years and then refused to continue when the proposed guidelines seemed to be too tainted by lobbyists, including ones at the Institute of Scrap Recycling (ISRI), an organization that favors a free market approach over regulation. Puckett and 13 recyclers created e-Stewards, which describes itself as the “the cleanest, most globally responsible standard for e-waste recycling.” He points out that the R2 certification still allows recyclers to export to developing countries. E-Stewards’ doesn’t. R2 recyclers can drop toxic e-waste in landfills or incinerators in the event of “circumstances beyond their
  • Scrap recycling lobby doesn’t like regulations
  • The announcer proudly explains e-cycling is a vibrant industry that adds 20.6 billion to the U.S. economy and supports 45,000 jobs domestically, “safeguarding our environment,” along the way.
  • Can anything be done? Possibly
  • Recycling isn’t the only answer for fewer landfills filled with decaying circuits. Chris Wellise, Chief Sustainability Officer for Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), which installs and recovers tech, emphasizes the importance of designing products for longevity, disassembly, and reuse.
  • “On average, 85 percent of the environmental impacts can be addressed in the design phase,” estimates Wellise.
  • Similar challenges exist for smartphones. Review IFixit’s guide for repairability and you can expect the phones that are easy to disassemble are also easier to refurbish or scrap. In an unusual display of transparency, eco-minded electronics company Fairphone sells spare parts on its site and has visual cues printed on the pieces to help novices figure out where everything goes. In case you’re wondering, it’s possible to make a Fairphone work in America, but most of the company’s sales are in Europe.
  • In 2018, Apple gave birth to Daisy, a robot that can disassemble 200 of the company’s phones in an hour — 1.2 million a year. The company has an installation of the machine in Austin, Texas, and another in the Netherlands. Daisy’s supply chain of used products comes from the company’s in-store trade-in program and a partnership with Best Buy.
  • Pretty awe-inspiring, right? Keep in mind that Apple sold over 217 million phones just in 2018 and has moved 2.2 billion iPhone units since the product line launched in 2007. The two Daisy divisions aren’t even working at capacity. Apple is willing to license the robot technology so any company can use it to disassemble phones, but none have approached them yet.
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    "Maybe it's easy to ignore the huge percentage of vintage gadgets that wind up torched in dicey scrap heaps in developing countries". This article was written on Feb-27-2020. The problem we saw on the old video is still very much a problem now, only bigger.
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    This article was super informative in the realm of E-waste. It covered every aspect of the issue and most definitely is relevant in today's world.
teallemejia

Coronavirus: Is virtual reality tourism about to take off? - BBC News - 0 views

  • In the absence of travellers, tourism boards, hotels and destinations have turned to virtual reality (VR) - a technology still in its relative infancy - to keep would-be visitors interested and prepare for the long road to recovery.
  • Iata predicts that travel will not resume to pre-pandemic levels until 2024.
  • "The impact of Covid-19 may have allowed VR to somewhat shake off its image of being a gimmick in tourism,"
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  • Digital applications cannot, and are not intended to, replace the experience of real-world travel
  • But VR and AR (augmented reality) applications are essential elements in keeping interest in Destination Germany alive during travel restrictions, getting potential customers excited about our product and providing inspiration for real-world travel."
  • With travel still largely at a standstill, it remains too early for Ireland and Germany to gauge their return on investment: that is, the number of people who, having seen a destination virtually, actually book tickets and visit.
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    Technology has been present in the travel and hospitality industry for years but only until the pandemic has it really blossomed. Technology is changing the way we travel and it's going to accelerate with VR in a post-pandemic environment. Countries like Germany and Ireland are turning to VR to capture visitors virtually and this results in them actually booking tickets with the goal of one day visiting the country. VR technologies are a cost-effective method to help people feel more comfortable and more willing to travel.
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