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This article describes the forward motion of technology to be used in conference center.  The new technology will allow immense technology improvements in the conference centers like using your smartphone to share photos on TVs screens.  This technology is the first step in working towards integration in conventions.

This article talks about a group of New York City hotels that have pledged to become greener. Seventeen hotels have joined the NYC Carbon Challenge, an initiative originally created to get the city's universities to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. These hotels have pledged to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by at least 30% in the next ten years, which can significantly reduce the amount of greenhouse gases produced by the city's buildings. This is all in an effort to reduce the city's overall greenhouse gas emissions 80% by the year 2050. The Office of Sustainability worked with the Hotel Association of New York City, a coalition of hotels in the city, to get this first group of hotels involved with this green initiative. The hotels that have already started working towards making their property greener are already on the right track to meeting their goals and these implementations will involve minor construction and little hindrance to guests. The article talks about some of the changes that these hotels are making, such as changing to LED light bulbs, installing more energy-efficient elevators, implementing sensors that turn off bathroom lights after a certain period of inactivity, and using an energy-conserving air-conditioning system. Although these changes will cost the hotels a hefty sum of front, they also know that these changes will save them money in the long run. Most of these changes will not be visible or known to guests, but people who want to stay someplace that is environmentally-conscious can educate themselves about what these hotels are doing.

As Heidi Richards states there are 21 tips to hosting a successful event. No matter what the event is there are certain components that when properly executed will keep people talking about the event long after it is over. Even the simplest of events require some planning and preparation. Some of the tips include: One If you are planning to host an event with more than 20 people its best to hire an assistants to help you out with the minor details, Second you can craft custom-made invitation to invite guests to your event. Follow up with the guest who registered and provide details, such as location, time and dress code, Third encourage your guests to bring plenty of business cards to exchange with other guests, Fourth reflect on inviting your customers, suppliers or prospects, when creating your invitation list, Fifth create targeted emails to these groups to let them know what you are offering, and to Sixth design a postcard Invitation to send via email or a free online invitations such as Yahoo Invites. Heidi provides knowledge and expertise into a making this list of constructing a successful and unforgettable event.

I love those tips~ It is so helpful. I like the tip that If you are planning to host an event with more than 20 people its best to hire an assistants to help you out with the minor details.

This article talks about the fingerprint entry system in hotel. Yet more card-free security systems are on the way. They may still be minor blips on the greater hotel horizon, but biometric systems that seem right out of Mission Impossible have been introduced in the U.S. If you want to get into your room at New York's SoHo Loft, you're going to have to lift a finger. The seven-room hotel has a fingerprint entry system. Guests touch the door pad then enter a code for extra security. Kimpton's 190-room Nine Zero Hotel in Boston was the first hotel to install a biometric iris scanner back in 2004, but only guests of the 1,065-square-foot Cloud Nine penthouse suite have to bat their eyelashes. The uses for biometrics don't have to stop at the guestroom door, either. The Nine Zero also uses the technology to make the property safer all round, as it has installed the LG IrisAccess 3000 at the employee and delivery entries to the hotel, as well, meaning that non-staff members and intruders can't access the property.

Cloud computing has come a long way. The hospitality industry is quickly incorporating cloud computing services for guest satisfaction and productivity of employees. The article shares several real life examples where cloud computing were beneficial.

Cloud computing is the future whether businesses want it to be or not. With the growth of technology, we need to embrace one tool that is become very developed, cloud computing. It gives more efficiency to businesses who need to know more about their clientele and also can provide information and data that humans could never do. It gives a more personalized experience to each guest while organizing data much faster than on a excel sheet that stuff have to manually update. It improves experience and reduced cost for business as well. It allows information to be reached anywhere and business can be taken home or traveled with. It brings a new level of security to businesses and customers and allows more flexibility in service in the hospitality industry.

Cloud computing transforms hospitality by a offering seamless experience to customers while reducing obstacles to service from the staff side. It also offers individualized, quick solutions in an industry that is highly competitive.

In today's hospitality market, efficient and timely control is determining the industry leaders. Hospitality software's tend to have hotel specific templates, forms, marketing promotions, training programs, menu analysis tools and financial tracking tools. They have many modules like: Hotel administrations, Hotel Front Desk Management, Hotel housekeeping, and Hotel accounting. They can be used in hotels, motels, inns, resorts, hostel, ranch, suites, apartments and bed & breakfast. We can get a lot of benefit from the use of software in hospitality industry like the Hotel Management Software are an excellent way to spend money since it is effective, saves time, provides convenience and avoids things like double booking and other minor mistakes that prove to be hazardous in the long run. And in order to be successful hospitality software should have User Defined Fields for high flexibility; high-quality graphical representation of rooms, and real-time statistics.

this article goes over the on going change of the types of telecommunication technologies Hotel guests are using. The article mentions the shift from the use of in-room phones and faxes, to the now popular use of internet connectivity. Mentioning how nowadays it actually costs hotels more money to offer phone services to guests than what they actually make from these services. lastly, it also talks about how more and more hotels are charging internet access fees in order to balance out the loss of revenue from telecommunication services.

This article talks about the many functions an HRIS has and how a business can benefit from having one. From managing payroll efficiently and properly to alerting you of any updates to the FLSA. Having such a system in place can help the HR department comply with the regulations of payroll needs and government audits.

Now this article is about Big Brother and total surveillance. The CIA has laid claims that they would be able to tap into almost all of our daily used devices including our dishwashers. Why I don't know but it is unnerving that they would even bother to see if I separated my darks from my lights. In essence The CIA and the NSA will be able to gain access and control of all devices that are linked to the internet.  The article also reports that anyone who has been arrested in NYC is only released from custody with an iris scan. Probably because of the increased presences of CCTV and facial recognition but they are keeping mum on their reasons.  Oh and for all you email users oh wait that is all of us, the NSA is working on de-encrypting all messages to read, analyze and store. 

I'm not sure but that would be a good guess or perhaps they can bug it for sound?

I'm going to go with the benefit of the doubt and say no to the bugging on the machines. In terms of water conservation the government can monitor individual meter readings from companies through water bills, so that throws out that theory as well. I am still pondering the reasons.

"The first role on the internet in the hospitality industry is online booking." With the increase in use of online booking sales of travel related goods and services in the hospitality industry has soared. "In the past, travel agents were the most common source of booking hotel rooms and travel components." The use of the internet has changed this as more and more travellers are booking online. "Another role of the internet is the use of it as a marketing tool." Hotels are able to market themselves; when the internet is used they will be able to set up their own websites where they will be able to showcase the aesthetics of the property and the services offered. This could attract a lot of online users. The customers would be able to see virtually what they are about to purchase. This type of technology also allows the business to reach customers globally. This in turn allows the business to have an idea about the kind of customers they are catering to. Since businesses would be using less of travel agents, there would be some savings and so they would be able to offer customers more competitive rates, there an increase in sales.

Nowadays, cloud computing is widely applied in the hotel industry. Cloud(s) are made up from computers, always linked or networked together as computer farms. There are many pros and cons associated with cloud computing and solutions. The Pros: Cloud computing has lower start-up costs and not much equipment to purchase. Hotels do not need to hire many IT staffs to maintain the equipment, and not need to pay for future hardware upgrades. The Cons and solutions: Security and cost are the major concern for hotel management. Paying attention to your usage and manage usage routinely can keep your bill in a reasonable price. Cloud computing service companies provide different levels of quality and services. Thus, finding a reliable service provider is a tiring and time-consuming job.

This article outlines the tremendous potential of IoT implementation in the industry, with a specific look at India. Interesting to note that the number of devices connected had already exceeded the population of India when it was written and the writer comments that the projection is set for 50 Billion by 2020 (25x the population of India). Citing three major areas of application and impact: 1. Personalization - Enabling the guest to control their in-room preferences and providing the Hotel the opportunity to understand those preferences and provide better future service. 2. Better Monitoring - Ensuring product fault assurance and equipment monitoring 3. Surveillance and Access Control - Monitoring activity on key locks and access to multiple units on the same device. While I think this article speaks to the potential there was significant ground missing in potential applications and services that can and will be offered. It didn't discuss many set backs such as limitations to current IOS provision systems, such as requirement for stable Wi-fi or cell reception. 5G will make this even more complicated. Nor did it address the actual costs of implementation which will be significant, especially for smaller operators. However, it does bring to light the potential for the future.

The article goes in depth into what HRIS is and the functions and benefits of it to a company.

This article talks about HRIS, which are human resource information systems, which is an intersection of human resources and information technology through HR software. This allows HR activities and processes to occur electronically.put it another way; an HRIS may be viewed as a way, through software, for businesses big and small to take care of several activities, including those related to human resources, accounting, management, and payroll. An HRIS allows a company to plan its HR costs more effectively, as well as to manage them and control them without needing to allocate too many resources toward them. In most situations, an HRIS will also lead to increases in efficiency when it comes to making decisions in HR. The decisions made should also increase in quality-and as a result, the productivity of both employees and managers should increase and become more productive.

This is an article that goes through the history of bookings from the early 1900s through to today. It walks through the players in the industry, the changes in technology and the factors impacting the changes. It discusses the rise of the Computer Reservation Systems and subsequently GDSs, ultimately bringing readers to todays OTAs.

NDC or New Distribution Capability is a new subset within GDS systems to provide airlines with detailed information about customer in order to enhance the personalized service. NDC will be able to provide pricing independence and direction information to airlines about their passengers. The system is more flexible and accurate in order to improve the experience from what GDS would provide.

This article tells us about a new communication protocol which is called NDC. NDC stands for the New Distribution Capability. You can also find some information about how airline distribution works in general.

The author presents the argument that optimum performance of a hotel's wi-fi network is critical to a hote and that the demands of IoT, large conferences and the need to update infrastructure require constant oversight. It is argued that outsourcing the hotel wi-fi network to a managed WiFi provider has many advantages over placing the burden and responsibility on the hotel IT team. In my opinion, the article makes a strong case for engaging a managed WiFi provider. What would have been a useful addition to the article is how hotel's should go about managing and overseeing the provider that they engage.

This article discusses a recent cyber-attack on ICH that is believed to have been a ransomware attack. It's stated that hospitality is the 8th most targeted sector for ransomware as of recently. The recent attack on ICH 4,053 users and 15 employees were compromised, which is actually far less than their last attack in 2016 that effected 1,175 properties. Hotels must take as much precaution as possible against cyber attacks because not only does it decrease their bookings, but they can also be charged millions in fines for information breaches.

To Sum the article, Hoteliers consider high-tech security technology since the outbreak of the coronavirus and the safety of residents in hotel. In order for hotel to prevent the virus from spreading they'll consider limiting who has access to the facility. Another, to prevent criminal activity to take place within hotels by granting access to person who notify resident who stays and to be buzz in, contactless on key card and more.