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This article describes a new website created by TheeDesign Studio, a web design agency in North Carolina that specializes in creating interactive marketing websites for companies located in NC. They recently celebrated the launch of a web design project for a local party planner, Jennifer V, a premier event planning company that provides that provides services for any type and size of party, wedding, corporate event and religious celebrations. The new website was built using WordPress to allow the company to easily manage their events gallery, website content updates, blog posts, and track internet leads; all vital items for companies to be successful in this technologically advanced world. The website serves as a valuable resource for potential clients and business partners to learn about the company's event planning services by featuring an on-site blog, lead generation form, and an easy to update events gallery to showcase their portfolio. It is important for companies to have the latest technologies and techniques in web design programming and internet marketing as well as maintain user-friendliness to be ahead of their competitors. I checked out Jennifer's web page and I found it very user-friendly and inviting.

In Toronto, Eventmobi has created a mobile app for the meetings and events industry. They are launching what they claim to be "the Worlds first smartphone-based gaming app designed exclusively for event professionals". What this app allows event planners to do is build and customizes games in order to provide an experience to the attendees. It allows them to engage in networking, teambuilding and take computerized quizzes and solve challenges and perform task. The attendees can compete with each other and even gain points and virtual badges which will be redeem at the event for prizes. They are able to see the progress in points. Gamify/app has already been implemented to several big brands and associations. Some of these brands are Disney, crocs, and the health care information and management system society. The cost of the Gamify/App can be purchased for $2,500, the cost is extremely high right now since it is still a new technology and will slowly become a high demand. I believe that meeting planners are starting to avoid carrying their 3 inch binders and are more interested in the convenient and efficiency of advanced technology. This new app will definitely benefit the attendees and meeting planners to be more organized and have the convenience of adjusting everything with just the touch of a finger.

The thunderbolt will have high-speed data connection technology that provides a maximum of 10 GBPS transfer rate. This will be the first thunderbolt motherboard to be certified by Intel. By having a motherboard as unique as this one, computers will be able to operate a higher speed, which can optimize work performance. This motherboard will also have six USB ports, 4 PCI Express slots and much more accessories. I believe having a Computer with this hardware can be beneficial to any company, especially when working with various projects and software. How do you feel this motherboard can impact a business on a day to day basis? below i have included the webpage for you to check out the articles on this motherboard.

The county of St. Mary's has just launched their new website that now has features such as an interactive map, trip planner,& events calendar. By making these changes in their website potential tourists can find out what's going on in this town.  Local business owners and attractions are able to upload and edit their own information on the website, this helps to keep their events and pictures all current. With this website change, St. Mary's hopes to drive a lot of new and repeat business to their area.

This article is all about Aptech and their new software. This is a web based software and able to work with just one company or be linked to multiple building or properties if you would like. They really see this software helping out in the hotel industry. This is a big tihng in the industry and will help out a lot of companies.

Aptech Computer Systems, a provider of hospitality software and enterprise financial accounting, has developed a system that has the ability to help a hotel enterprise or the common Innkeeper. The is system is Web-based and was developed by the company Microsoft. The Company Ap tech has been around for 40 years and have been hotels with their performance management tools. Originally, they started working on interstate motel with their technology and from then on have been a huge success. I am sure people will be very sceptical when using this product because it is Web-based, however it does seem to be much easier to use and if something were to happen you have access to 24/7 customer service. For a business just starting out, this seems like a perfect tool.

An advanced hospitality financial accounting system is launched by Aptech Computer Systems, which is a hospitality software and financial accounting company. The system is based on internet and can be used by both individual and multi-property hotel companies. The president of the company thinks that with the help of internet, hospitality staff can access to the tools more easily. Also, he has positive attitude towards using new technology by more hotels. There is also an example for the technology's expanding role in hospitality industry. Smith Travel sent its research reports from two to three weeks a time to once a day. I think a good accounting system is very important for a hotel. In the globalized world, many hotels expand themselves in the world, and this system can bring convenience to multi-property hotels.

With sustainability at the forefront of hotel operators and investors hotels are becoming conscious of the guests needs as more and more travelers are requiring and are staying at properties that are serious about environmental conservation. The article highlighted the fact hotels are big consumers of energy, therefore have construction that are LEED certified will not only benefit the environment but also the bottom line of investors.

Travel Weekly takes a look at hotels taking real initiatives to their commitment to going green, especially in Sin City. Hotel groups are looking not to save money through transparent initiatives asking guests to simply reuse their towels, rather the article looks at "hotel owner-developers to invest in systems that cut energy usage, save water, and reduce waste". It seems in addition to other environmentally conscious west coast cities, Vegas has set a standard by setting goals for increased recycling, decreased energy consumption, switching over to LED bulbs, composting food waste, reducing overall carbon footprint and emissions. In light of continuing green development, Sabre Holdings has launched an Eco-Certified Hotel Program taking the lead out of the other four major GDS's to tip their hat to eco-friendly hotels. As travelers, GDS's, hotels, travel websites, and developers alike place greater emphasis on the preference for environmentally conscious lodgings, the more likely the industry is going to continue adopting these measures.

Hotels are becoming more green world wide. MGM hotels is on board with a green initiative. Hotels electricity and water add up because they have to cool a building , clean and maintain the hotel. IT costs about 800 per room annually in electricity and water costs. MGM hotels reduced the electrivity they use which can help power 12, 000 houses. HOtels are also trying to reduce its carbon emissions. Although as the article states " its very difficult fot hotels to be trully green by their nature" every little bit helps.

Sabre's AgentStream has now surpassed 10,000 members and launched in the Asia Pacific region. AgentStream allows agents to collaborate with other travel agents around the world and obtain useful tips from a global community; talk virtually with other global AgentStream users or communicate exclusively with members of its own private sub-community; gain and share insights on suppliers, destinations and properties. These power can all help agents provide the very best service to their customers. 

This article gave us a five new online travel trends.Because travel is a hyper-competitive industry, the most pertinent emerging themes in onine travel are considered and experts insights and predictions are provided in the Las Vegas TDS North America event. First trend is the travel industry need be ready for a mobile-only world. Researches indicates that the mobile sales will increase extremely. Because it is expensive to develop mobile app, so traditional travel companies and online travel companies do not such into launching a mobile app in a short term. Convergence, commerce, content and how these impact customer behavior will be an ongoing theme. There is a risk of firms focus too much on one channel, Customers are using a range of different devices to plan, research, book and review their travel experiences.  Revenue management became essential for the business. It needs to integrate with sales, marketing, channel optimization, loyalty marketing , and operations. Think new markets and new customers like China, India, Brazil and Russia. Firms need to be actively targeting this market and make adjustment such as develop local website etc. Last trend is that there are lots of new development in the industry. Facebook start to monetize travel. Google and Apple are also developing their travel related products. This social travel planning tools become successful. Technology develops and standards emerge, mobile bookings may not just be for the last minute.

In this article, Hyatt has launched a global sustainability program. And also Hyatt has green teams and employee volunteers to do efforts on the sustainability.  When talked about the progress of the sustainability program, Hyatt said they had three steps: First, Hyatt Thrive is supported by 80,000 associates in over 450 hotels in the world, which will give a lot to help. Second, this global framework has a singular goal to help thrive. Third and finally, Hyatt is very committed to measuring and tracking the progress. They were very accountable. I think more hotels need to develop a sustainability program like Hyatt to help the world go green.

This is a great article and not to mention an amazing initiative. A program that is fueled by it's associates will certainly have a positive impact on the community and a lasting effect.

This article is talking about Bookt, the leader in cloud-based solutions for lodging industry, announced to launch mobile websites for all InsraManager FLEX clients. Nowadays, more and more people would prefer to use mobile devices to check emails, search information and visit websites. The mobile web will be the top two travel touchpoints in 2013. That means mobile websites will be a large platform to search and share information. And that is also the reason to launch mobile websites for InsraManager FLEX to make it convenient for client's booking success. Mobile web would help customers search, check availability, book, and get confirmation via their Smartphone. People could check their room status anywhere and get any room confirmation number whenever. The mobile web is designed to be faster load and built exactly for the smaller screens.

This article showed more foreign brands like Adidas and Gap are expanding their reach into China's market by tapping the user base of the country's largest online retailer Taobao.com for e-commerce. A majority of domestic and well-known international brands have set up their own online stores on Taobao Mall for brand expanding and sales. Presence on Taobao Mall is complementary to their own e-commerce site, which is doing well, along with their stores. Through Taobao, international brands can reach millions of customers in a very direct way and Chinese customers are increasingly turning to the internet to do their shopping. But there are challenges with opportunities. They have to fight with counterfeit goods. Counterfeit goods are low price in Chinese e-commerce market. Taobao also launched actions to penalize selling counterfeit goods. In a word, e-commerce in China is not mature, it has a long way to be improved.

I'm not quite sure what the website will look like or how it will communicate with micros (PMS) but it sounds like its a step in the direction of web  based PMS system. I thinking in the near future we will be seeing front desk agents checking in customers with iPads and not standing behind big front desk.Micros Ecommerce sounds like the platform that will provide this move to mobile front desk agents with web based PMS systems.

This article is about an application developed by Big Night Entertainment Group called Tabbedout. This application is a secure mobile application that allows customer to view their account and pay it through their smart phone as the application is integrated with the Micros POS system. The application will be used in four of the company's venues. The application is a secure payment method as well as a marketing tool. The payment information of the customer is saved in the phone and not on a host server. This application gives customers a whole new customer service experience. Customers can close off their tab by simply paying from their smart phone, without having to wait for their server to come back with the bill, only to come back again after the customer has given away their credit card. Also, the server doesn't need to worry as their system has the customer credit card information to close the tab off in the event a customer walked out without paying.

This application is incredible. As technology advances, it makes our lives easier and simpler. Customers who pay through this application should feel more secure because identity theft is less likely to occur. As you said, the application gives customers new experience, and the advantages can result in enhancing customer satisfaction.

The Peninsula Hong Kong has launched a $58 million dollar renovation to get up to date with their in-room technology.  They have chosen to add touch screen tablets to each room.  These tablets will control all functions of the room.   They have also added a dvd library of 3D movies that you can watch on their new in-room HDTVs.  You can switch room modes at the click of a button.  They have added VOIP calling from the rooms as well.  This is a huge upgrade and they have become relevant in the tech world.

Ebookers.com has a new rewards program being introduced called Bonus+, with a focus on mobile use. They have done research and developed a program that allows travelers to earn rewards on hotel bookings, packaged trips and flight bookings. Bonus+ offers a membership which has three tiers to their program. If customers reach gold or platinum status, they offer a 24-hr support for hotel bookings and free upgrades at participating hotels. If customers are to book through their mobile app, they receive more discounts on bookings. This concept is very interesting and I'd like to see how much it will effect the status of travel agents. It will be interesting to see how many more companies will try to come out with rewards programs like Bonus+.

M3 is a leading provider of accounting and analytic software, business intelligence and operations reporting. The company has been providing accounting assistance to customers for 15 years and has relied heavily on the feedback of their customers to improve their services. As a result of their customers wanting to outsource their accounting functions M3 has developed a customizable software that allows customers to choose from basic accounting functions to a complete accounting cycle depending on their business needs. By using M3PS and outsourcing accounting needs customers will be able to focus more on management functions as well as guest experience. M3PS launched operations on August 1st and since then has expanded its services to over 100 hotels as well as other businesses. M3PS is providing customers with outsourced accounting assistance from a team of CPAs and business professionals that have years of hotel accounting experience. Also, M3PS is saving customers from having to invest a large amount of time and money on IT infrastructure costs.

Where the article I posted emphasizes a total PMS solution, this company focuses primarily on back office functions. This doesn't make it wrong. On the contrary, if the firm is able to conduct all the back office functions and remain integrated with the existing PMS, it could be beneficial. That is of course, if the money being saved by exporting these functions to external CPAs outweighs the costs of keep the functions in-house.

Actually, I don't think RFID is a quite high-end technology in hospitality industry. But using this technology in lifts to limit customers access to certain floors in a new idea. This method can not only enhance the security of the hotel, but also can enhance customers' experience. Because customers may get a sense of safety. But the staffs should be trained to know how to explain to customers and make them get a positive experience.

Maestro is an Diamond star hospitality software started in 1978. The software has kept up with all the growing trends in the industry and has finally introduced an integrated system support. Some of the features of this new upgrade include direct help on each screen of Maestro's property software and also the ability to perform screen captures. They have real-time help available with 24/7 tech support with chat feature and screen sharing options. The new upgrade also enables users to request support or training online. These features enable Maestro to optimize it's response times for incidents. These new features give users personalized support and makes them more productive since they don't lose time waiting for tech support to show up. This is a great step forward in PMS technology.