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Jing Huang

Hotel Lock Firm's Security Fix Requires Hardware Changes For Millions Of Keycard Locks ... - 4 views

  • Good news for the security of hotels and travelers: Onity, whose keycard locks can be found on at least four million rooms around the world, has a plan to fix a security flaw
  • Black Hat security conference by Cody Brocious, a Mozilla developer who showed that he was able to insert a device he built for less than $50 into the data port on the underside of Onity’s locks, read their memory to find a decryption key, and use it to gain access to the lock’s firmware and trigger its open command in a matter of seconds.
  • The company’s response to that epic security bug has two parts–a quick fix, and a more rigorous one, both of which it plans to make available by the end of August: First, it’s issuing caps that cover the data port Brocious’s hack exploited, which can only be removed by opening the lock’s case.
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  • “If such a significant issue were to exist in a car, customers would likely expect a complete recall at the expense of the manufacturer,” Brocious adds. “I can’t help but feel that Onity has the same responsibility to their customers, and to customers staying in hotels protected by Onity locks.
  • “We want to assure you that Onity is working on providing you with a solution that will address any potential risks related to the alleged vulnerability of these locks,”
  • But since then, two hackers who asked not to have their names revealed have claimed in emails to me that they independently replicated the exploit and refined it, so that it now works on any Onity hotel room lock. Brocious tells me he’s spoken with eight or nine hackers who have all been able to replicate his work to some degree.
  • Onity isn’t the only one to come under fire in wake of its security flap: Brocious has also been criticized for failing to warn Onity ahead of his Black Hat demonstration and for selling a licence to use his Onity-hacking trick to a locksmith training firm for $20,000 long before he made his findings public.
  • Onity issued a statement responding to last month’s presentation at the Black Hat security conference by Cody Brocious, a Mozilla developer who showed that he was able to insert a device he built for less than $50 into the data port on the underside of Onity’s locks, read their memory to find a decryption key, and use it to gain access to the lock’s firmware and trigger its open command in a matter of seconds.
  • Onity will offer its customers new circuit boards and firmware that ostensibly fix the problems Brocious demonstrated–But Onity is asking owners of some models of its locks of some to pay a “nominal fee” for the fix, while offering others “special pricing programs” to cover the cost of replacing components.
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    In the article, "Hotel Lock Firm's Security Fix Requires Hardware Changes For Millions Of Keycard Locks," it talks about how Onity has a plan to fix a security flaw that allows hackers to insert a homemade device into the lock and open the door in a matter of second. The only problem with this new plan is that it requires hardware changes to every affected lock and it even might require it customers to pay for it. "Black Hat security conference by Cody Brocious, a Mozilla developer who showed that he was able to insert a device he built for less than $50 into the data port on the underside of Onity's locks, read their memory to find a decryption key, and use it to gain access to the lock's firmware and trigger its open command in a matter of seconds." It seems crazy that hackers can break in so easily, so maybe this expensive security could be worth it in the long run. The company responded with two different parts, first, it's issuing caps that cover the data port Brocious's hack exploited and the second more substantial: Onity will offer its customers new circuit boards and firmware that ostensibly fix the problems. Before reading this article I had no idea that it was so easy for hackers to get into hotel rooms, this really makes you think twice before you decide which hotel you will be staying at!
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    The hardware of hotel is the locker. This article showed us there is a new key card locker was discovered by Onity's. It is more security but it need to change all the affected lock. It is a lock built for less than $50 into the data port on the underside of the Onity's locks. The company's response to that epic security bug has two parts-a quick fix, and a more rigorous one, both of which it plans to make available by the end of August: First, it's issuing caps that cover the data port Brocious's hack exploited, which can only be removed by opening the lock's case. To further stymie hackers who would try to open the locks and remove that cap, it's also sending customers new, more obscure Torx screws to replace those on the cases of installed locks.The company's response to that epic security bug has two parts-a quick fix, and a more rigorous one, both of which it plans to make available by the end of August: First, it's issuing caps that cover the data port Brocious's hack exploited, which can only be removed by opening the lock's case. To further stymie hackers who would try to open the locks and remove that cap, it's also sending customers new, more obscure Torx screws to replace those on the cases of installed locks. The safe issue became the most important issue of the new products. It will cost more money of each hotel and it is really safe or not is still a question. 
Christina Eveillard

Hotel lobbies go digital - Los Angeles Times - 0 views

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    This article is talking about the ihotel, a new system where  guests are no longer checking on the counter .  This new system started at the Andaz West Hollywood where guests register on an iPad tablet.  These hotels are adopting new system to fit their guest which are trying to keep us with their guests who are technology oriented.  Some of the hotels are a going to adopt a Wi-fi coffee-shop atmosphere in their lobbies.   Nowadays hotels are trying to make their guests fill as comfortable as possible, they are also  installing electrical outlets so guests can power their laptops and mobile devices 24 hours a day. Those hotels are trying their best to make customers feel comfortable and less formal to bring life to their hotel. But the only reason more hotel are not adopting this technology is because those upgrades are not cheap.   For example  at The Andaz removing  the wall between the lobby , bar and restaurant increase their  revenue  because as guest  spend l more hours in the lobby they tend to other more and more food.The lobbies are becoming the more living room which in their hotel which cause the customer to be more loyal to the hotel since thy feel more comfortable.
Yingjie Cao

Customer Relationship Management - The Future of CRM - 0 views

  • ìCRM is one of the most dramatic, fundamental changes in the history of business.î High-Yield Marketingís Dick Lee agreed: ìCRM is fundamentally the expression of the customer-centric business philosophy. Itís how you respond to the fact that customers are now the drivers in our economy.
  • ìThere are different types of customers, different types of business models and selling strategies, and over time there will be different CRM software to support these different models.î Dickie agrees
  • CRM customers are also demanding more and more knowledge management functionality
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  • in the eBusiness economy, you need to deliver customer organizational knowledge on demand, anytime anywhere
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    According to the article, different customers, business models and selling strategies require different sizes of CRM system. Over the years, vendors only added more and more features to original CRM systems. They've focused more on functionality at the system level, taking an everything-that-everyone-needs approach that rarely took into consideration the user's interaction with the CRM system. So businesses are demanding a much more flexible, much more nuanced interaction with the information in (and around) a CRM system, an interaction focused on the needs of the individual accessing the information and the needs of the customer engagement taking place. So clearly one size of CRM cannot fit all. Such as how iPhone changes the appearance & function of keyboards and screens. As CRM system focuses more on personal view, "smart" and "flexibility" may be what CRM should achieve in the future.
sbarr011

Expedia Leads $26 Million Alice Investment in Hotel Tech Push - Skift - 0 views

  • Alice, a startup that sells operations software to hotels, has raised $26 million in a Series B funding round led by online travel giant Expedia.
  • Expedia’s interest in Alice suggests that the online travel company is curious about possibly providing more back-end software services for the hotels that use it to market and distribute their inventory globally.
  • The company “is now at a completely different level,” when it comes to putting into place a set of tools that are broad and comprehensive and that are responsive to what hotels have said their needs are, he claimed.
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  • A key part of Alice’s system is its ability to let guests, front-of-house workers, and back-of-house staff communicate and track requests. For instance, a guest request via a text message for, say, more linens, can be conveyed to the right worker using Alice, the company said.
  • It now processes more than 50,000 requests a week, up from the 10,000-a-week pace it had a year ago. The company anticipates hotels will handle more than two million requests on its platform over the next year.
  • Alice has more than doubled its count of hotel clients this year.
  • It has since evolved into software that aims to provide the first unified platform for a hotel to run its entire back-end operations, such as housekeeping and customer service communication.
  • Expedia officially began to market a series of new tools for hoteliers that it has been adding to its extranet for suppliers since 2015 under the name Expedia Powered Technology. Tools include help with revenue management and messaging with guests.
  • There are other hotel tech brands that offer software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions that overlap with what Alice’s platform provides, such as the housekeeping-focused services of Amadeus Hospitality’s HotSOS. Other potential players in the market include Sabre Hospitality Solutions and Oracle Hospitality.
  • Expedia’s suite of data analytics tools includes a free service that aims to help hotels set their rates to command the most revenue and Expedia’s first meetings-and-events booking tool to help hotels automate requests for proposals — which today is still, largely, a manual process.
  • Priceline Group has, since 2015, been investing in business services for its hotel partners under the BookingSuite brand. The tools include revenue management software and digital marketing help for a property’s own branded website.
  • Trivago, the hotel metasearch brand that is backed by Expedia (but operates independently), is also offering hotel services, such as for revenue management and hotel management (like Base7booking).
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    Alice, a relatively new start-up which sells operations software to hotels, had a significant investment from Expedia in the previous round of funding. Alice has become a software that provides "the first unified platform for a hotel to run its entire back end operations, such as housekeeping and customer service communication". The system allows guests to send a text message with a request for more pillows or towels, for example, which will be directed to the proper the hotel employee department. Customers can track their requests and both the front and back of house staff can receive communications from guest requests. This IT platform has seen 5 times the amount of requests being generated. Also, the platform has partnered with double the number of hotels and they project more than two million requests will be communicated through this software in a year. Expedia is the largest shareholder in Alice currently. Alice suggests that this is because Expedia could be more interested in "more back-end software services for the hotels that use it to market and distribute their inventory globally." Expedia currently markets tools such as revenue management under the name Expedia Powered Technology to hoteliers. Expedia also offers meetings and events booking tools for hotels. Priceline, which is a competitor to Expedia, also has invested in tools and services that include revenue management software for their hotel partners. Trivago is also offering these services. Alice believes that the size of the market will allow for many other companies to work in this space, and is even open to partnering with other firms to expand. Alice also plans to expand their own business and add personnel with the new funds.
richardkutch

Checking in as hotels embrace sustainability, energy-efficiency | Goby - 2 views

  • hotel industry generates more than $199 billion in annual revenue
  • $4 billion in annual energy use
  • For a full-service hotel, energy costs typically run between 4% – 6% of revenue, while historic and luxury properties can see energy costs hitting 10% or more.
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  • the EPA’s ENERGY STAR is working on a new, hospitality-specific scoring system in response to the industry’s specific needs and growing demand.
  • help your property maintain long-term value
  • Being green goes directly to a hotel’s bottom line
  • retain staff long-term
  • Surveys show more consumers are choosing sustainable travel options. In fact, this year we expect to see 36% of travelers planning to choose more eco-friendly travel options than they did in 2016, according to Booking.com.
  • Some RFPs for meetings & conferences request that hotels answer: “What’s your sustainability program? How are you minimizing your carbon footprint? What’s your water consumption?”
  • ENERGY STAR is a free benchmarking tool to help U.S. businesses gauge their energy efficiency.
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    This article makes me proud to work in the hotel industry. Of course, there's financial motivation for being energy efficient, but hey, we can pretend we also do it because it's the right thing to do. As long as owners and operators see opportunities to continue to reduce energy costs, they won't stop. I have to believe that hotels will continue to look for ways to become even more efficient to the point of eliminating their carbon footprint. The hotel business is one of the few industries that have a strong incentive to dramatically reduce energy costs. The fact that the EPA's ENERGY STAR program is working on a new, hospitality-specific scoring system in response to the industry's specific needs and growing demand is pretty cool. I can see such a system becoming measurements for bonus payouts like market share is with Smith Travel Research and further accelerating the work around sustainability in hotels. A great point is also made regarding the retention of employees. The article argues that employees will feel that management cares about their health and well-being. But I would also say that employees want to work for hotels that do what's good and right for our world. You want to work for the good guys. Individual travelers, companies and meeting planners are more and more looking to stay or do business with hotels that are eco-friendly. Thirty six percent more travelers are expected to choose more eco-friendly travel options than they did in 2016. That statistic should definitely get the attention of owners currently in the process of planning a new hotel. If you want a competitive advantage from the day you open your doors, fill up that building with green initiates and let the green slide right down to the bottom line.
marble_bird

Hotel_ITSec.pdf - 0 views

shared by marble_bird on 15 Jul 20 - No Cached
  • During the past decade, information technology (IT) has significantly changed the way the hotel industry controls and manages operations. While many technologies have been utilized, some newer technologies have emerged in the literature and in practice, and many of them impact the hotel’s security.
  • Among the results, this study identified a gap between hoteliers’ understanding of IT budget adequacy and the adequacy of installed IT security systems.
  • Advancements in technology are increasing at a remarkable rate. As technology becomes more important, organizations that do not keep up with these advancements could lose business opportunities to other competitors that do
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  • The four leading technologies which have showed a high adoption rate from the industry and have received attention from academia are: self-service, wireless, green, and security technologies. The advantages of these technologies for hoteliers include enhanced customer services and operational efficiency (Doyle, 2007), decreased guest wait times, more efficient methods to settle bills (Singh & Kasavana, 2005), reduction of energy costs (Meeroff & Scarlatos, 2007), and protection of sensitive customer data and credit card numbers
  • In addition, exploring the influential factors of security system usage will provide greater depth of knowledge with respect to why some hotels have adopted more security systems than others.
  • there is still a lack of understanding of the nature of risk associated with inadequate IT security, especially among operators of hotels that do not have their own IT departments.
  • Self-service technologies are commonly defined as devices or applications which permit users to produce a service independent from the direct involvement of the service provider (Meuter, Ostrom, Roundtree, & Bitner, 2000). The use of self-service technologies in the hotel industry has grown considerably, especially in the areas of self check-in, in-room check-out, and foodservice kiosks
  • IT systems refer to general support systems such as mainframe computer, mid-range computer, and local area network.
  • Some of the most significant wireless technology applications involve the use of mobile handheld devices, such as personal digital assistants (PDA), tablet PCs, and cellular phones, or RFID (radio frequency identification). RFID utilizes computer chips and antennas, allowing the chips to wirelessly communicate with a receiver.
  • While the major usage of RFID in the hotel industry was for inventory control purposes, it also has the potential to be utilized in ways that can provide more conveniences for the guests.
  • Other possible uses include placing RFID tags on items of high value as a means of theft prevention or integrating tags into guest loyalty cards for easy identification
  • IT investment that lowers environmental impact and IT that manages the environmental impact of other systems are commonly referred to as “green technology”
  • Many hoteliers might think becoming more environmentally friendly will cost more for their hotels. However, it has been demonstrated that “going green” is not only the right thing to do for the environment but also provides tangible bottom-line benefits for hotels by reducing consumption of energy and water, as well as other related costs.
  • Some of the risk factors involved include reliability, security, and privacy issues
  • A hotel with more technologies being utilized will install more security systems than those with fewer technologies.
  • Many of these attacks involve attempts by thieves to gain access to customer credit card data, and these attempts constitute a major portion of the risk inherent in IT security
  • if a system is breached and the merchant is not PCI compliant, the merchant then is responsible for all costs associated with improperly used credit card information taken from that system (Kress, 2008). These losses could bankrupt a business if the security breach goes undetected for even a short time.
  • IT security systems are those measures taken to protect the confidentiality and integrity of proprietary data.
  • two main paradigms of adoption are believed to occur: bottom-up adoption and top-down adoption.
  • Thus, it is reasonable to assume that organizational factors (e.g., financial factor, human resource) will influence the implementation stage of security systems at a hotel.
  • A hotel with sufficient IT budget will install more security systems than those with insufficient IT budget.
  • That is, if a hotel does not have its own IT department, it will have a negative influence on successfully installing or maintaining necessary security systems.
  • A hotel with its own IT department will install more security systems than those without.
  • Overall, the state of IT spending on security continues undiminished because managed security services are required for almost every application (Communications News, 2007).
  • risk associated with a breach of IT systems security (e.g., network break-ins) is very high. Consequently, no sector of the business community is exempt from attacks on their IT systems, with an attack being defined as a technique used to exploit a system’s vulnerabilities.
  • Given the importance of security and privacy at a luxury hotel, this study expects luxury properties to have installed more security systems than other segments
  • Most hotel employees use their property management systems for hotel operations and should be able to check their e-mails.
  • To justify the low response rate, previous studies which have compared response rates of mail and e-mail for surveys were reviewed.
  • the large majority of respondent properties do not have their own IT departments. Second, the people making IT decisions generally do not have IT backgrounds or training. Third, the large majority of respondent properties have little more than firewalls or antivirus software to protect their proprietary data, and these systems alone are not adequate to meet PCI standards, as they do not take steps to encrypt and protect cardholder data, maintain a vulnerability management program, implement strong access control measures, regularly monitor and test their networks, and maintain an information security policy as required by the Security Standards Council.
  • The respondents were asked to select from a total of fourteen securities related systems
  • The profile of the respondents revealed that they were experienced hoteliers with more than ten years experience in the industry
  • Fifty-three percent of the respondents reported that they were with chain hotels that would be considered mid-range properties with an average of 175 rooms (median of 107). Over 80% of the respondents reported working in operations, while fewer than 4% reported working in either IT or engineering (Table 1).
  • Nearly 70% of the respondents’ properties did not have their own IT department (69.2% did not have, and 30.8% had their own IT departments, n = 234, missing data = 10).
  • Fifty-three percent of them (n = 244) thought the most important goal for hotel technology would be enhancing the customer’s experience.
  • second identified goal was utilizing technology to help generate revenue (41%)
  • differentiate properties from their competition (20%), to lower expenses (16%), and to increase security (6%).
  • Internet kiosks in the lobby represented the most frequently used self-service technology (36.5%, n = 244), followed by kiosks for airline check-in/board pass
  • With respect to security systems currently in use, antivirus security systems represented the most frequently used security system (92.2%), followed by hardware firewalls, software firewalls, physical security, and encrypted login security systems.
  • intrusion detection was the most frequently identified system (15.6%), followed by vulnerability assessment scanning (13.5%), Internet scanning (13.1%), antivirus (11.5%), digital ID server (11.5%), and nonreusable passwords (9.8%; Table 2).
  • Thus, the hypothesis was supported that there was a linear relationship between the three factors and the adequacy of security systems.
  • The positive standardized coefficient (β) of .389 indicates that there was a statistically significant (p < .001) linear relationship between IT usage (the number of wireless, self-service, and green technologies a hotel was using) and the adequacy of security systems
  • The study revealed certain things of interest, the most significant of which is the need for greater emphasis on IT security among hoteliers.
  • only about 30% of all respondents reported having their own IT departments. Since budget hotel properties are extremely unlikely to have an IT department, it is highly likely that the very large majority of IT decisions throughout the industry are being made by hotel operators for whom IT is not their primary area of concern.
  • Furthermore, the focus of hoteliers for future IT implementations is enhancing the guest experience (53%) and generating revenue (41%). Very few respondents (6%) identified increasing security as a 5-year IT goal.
  • While almost all respondents use information systems as part of their jobs, very few are trained in the development, maintenance, and secure use of these systems.
  • no correlation was found between the respondents’ perceived adequacy of their IT budgets and the adequacy of installed security systems, as adequacy of IT budget did not appear as a significant term in the regression analysis.
  • Nearly 10% of respondents do not have so much as anti-virus protection for their systems, and nearly half do not even take simple physical precautions to protect their IT systems.
  • we note that no correlation exists between the respondents’ perceived adequacy of their IT budgets and the number of installed IT security systems, as the number of installed systems was not a significant factor in the regression analysis.
  • The sample obtained in this study represented the targeted sample: over 80% of the respondents were working in hotel operations. Furthermore, the purpose of this study was to explore hotel operators’ insight of technology usage, IT budget, and security measures rather than to confirm existing theories or to generalize the results.
  • it is reasonable to conclude that the respondents did not have an adequate understanding of the nature of the IT security hazards facing them for the average property does not have installed systems adequate to meet PCI standards, yet they reported having adequate budgets.
  • In order to adequately protect proprietary data, one must have an understanding of network security, which is an understanding apart from software functionality.
  • Properties with their own IT departments, however, reported that they had a higher number of installed IS security systems than did those properties without their own IT departments.
  • roperties without their own IT departments, in particular, have a less adequate understanding of their IT security needs than may be necessary.
  • This study found hoteliers’ lack of attention to security provision, training in IT, and PCI compliance can place hoteliers at great risk. For example, the cost of a single incident at a noncompliant property could result in the loss of the entire business.
  • It will be useful to examine the reasons why luxury properties are more likely to employ adequate security measures to determine whether this greater use is attributable to better understanding of security issues or some other factor.
  • The study was limited by the nature of online surveys; the response rate was quite low. Future studies could test the proposed research model via paper-based mail surveys to increase a response rate.
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    This article covers a study performed on various hotels to determine management's level of IT knowledge and security implementations in relation to the hotel's IT security budget. The article discusses four types of technology impacting the hotel industry and how management responses to trending technology can affect a business, particularly in terms of a data breach and overall security. The study finds that an alarming percentage of hotel managers are not adequately informed on the risks and procedures of IT management and security, and many do not have proper IT security measures in place despite having an appropriate budget.
abroo041

Must-Know Event Technology Trends for 2020 | Social Tables - 3 views

  • In addition to speeding up registration time, incorporating RFID technology into events will help with both qualitative and quantitative data analysis, thereby making it easier for planners to target what worked during their event and what didn’t.
  • Though event apps are admittedly helpful, they now have a new hurdle to face. Producing an application to be used for one event is costly, time consuming, and inefficient, as users must learn how to interact with the app for each new event attended. Phone storage space is very important to consumers. Many are hesitant to download an application that they will only use once. Thus, event apps that can continue to deliver value to customers beyond the date of the event itself, are going to become a huge trend.
  • RFID also has the potential to allow attendees to become more engaged with the event across various social platforms.
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  • Menu options, travel directions, appointment updates, facial recognition software and contact information are just the beginning of the very real ways that event planners will soon be able to use wearable tech.
  • Event technology trends aside, the number one thing for any event professional to remember, is to let your tools work for you, rather than the other way around. The purpose of implementing advanced technology is to make your life, and the life of those whom you plan events for, as easy as possible.
  • 5G will also make it more feasible to incorporate the cutting-edge into event experiences.
  • Projection mapping is the act of creating an augmented reality experience with the help of projectors.
  • this visual technology proves to be an efficient and cost effective way to create optical illusions in nearly every location.
  • event technology adoption can increase attendance by 20%, increase productivity by 27%, and decrease costs by as much as 30%.
  • branded apps provide limitless opportunities to interact with consumers right on their own phones
  • Apps can be customized to appear as if they were created specifically for events or stays, while offering functionality that serves to enhance and personalize the attendee experience.
  • Planners can utilize branded multi-use apps to connect with attendees and engage them on a variety of levels before, during, and after the occasion.
  • Event spaces can create customized apps to enhance experiences and share things like helpful facts, historical tidbits, and even the personalities of their unique employees,
  • Because they’re often cloud-based, these programs also provide accurate, customizable, and collaborative project planning that’s accessible by all managing parties
  • With event diagramming software, both event planners and venues are able to map everything out visually
  • provides helpful tools like drag-and-drop diagramming, 3D walkthroughs, and seating software on a single platform.
  • Hotels especially can use apps in this way, allowing guests to control their rooms from their phones and even communicate with chatbots to find nearby attractions.
  • Projection mapping5GBranded multi-use appsEvent diagramming
  • It also opens up new possibilities for app developers to push the boundaries of current event tech trends
    • abroo041
       
      The world of technology is advancing every day. As technology grows and advances, so does its use in the events industry. This blog post discusses some of the technological advances that have made their debut in the events industry and how they can improve an event, how they help the event planner and venue, and even shows us examples of how they are used in real life. It gives statistics on how these technologies have benefit events. For example, when the blog post speaks about gamification, it mentions that "gamified events see a 44 percent increase in engagement". The post is not only suggesting to us that adding gamification is a good idea for future events, but it shows us how well gamification works.
  • Knowing event technology trends—and adopting the most valuable ones—gives planners and venues the competitive advantage
  • Studies show that using event technology can increase attendance by 20 percent and increase productivity by 27 percent. 
  • Each match automates personalized actions, such as printing a badge with the attendees name, sending an email with a scannable lunch voucher, and finalizing a swag bag for their ticket-tier (no sense creating swag bags for no-shows).
  • The technology speeds event check-ins, improves security, and helps businesses at tradeshows collect more valuable leads by tracking attendee visits to booths.
  • can also use facial recognition to watch for crowd flow bottlenecks and collect session attendance data so you know what worked—and what didn’t.
  • The ability to support advanced tech like facial recognition makes venues more attractive to corporate planners. The technology also allows automation at certain access points, which means lower manpower requirements and lower costs. 
  • Properly integrated apps add value to events, providing attendees with more opportunities for networking, interaction, and engagement with peers, speakers, and exhibitors.
  • Offering tech to support projection mapping provides bang for the buck. There’s no need to physically construct or deconstruct any part of your exhibit hall to add this fun, popular technology to your toolbox and draw more events. 
  • This visual technology is an efficient, cost-effective way to create optical illusions on anything—from cars to landmarks to stages.
  • With tradeshow or conference maps, speaker bios, and schedules in the event app, there’s no need for bulky information packets. Push notifications in the apps help keep attendees informed and on schedule. Planners can also use apps to personalize the event agenda through live polling and attract event sponsors with the option of targeted attendee surveys.  
  • Event spaces can create customized apps to share helpful info like maps, historical tidbits, and even the personalities of their unique employees
  • Easy-to-use 3D event diagramming software provides accurate, customizable, collaborative project planning regardless of venue design or size.
  • Give clients peace of mind and leave nothing to chance on the big dayUpload a floor plan to work with, so you know the diagram is to scaleTake clients and stakeholders on 3D ‘fly throughs’ to clarify your visionPlan seating charts and manage attendees’ meal choices or other preferencesHelp staff easily identify and accommodate VIPs and guests with special requests
  • Sales reps can collaborate with planners in real time, share variations on the event proposal, and visually portray upsells.
  • Attendees can use this tech to follow slide presentations, participate with quizzes and polls, take notes, and engage in text-based Q&A. They can also view graphs, tables, videos, and other content; and follow website and social media links. 
  • Any speaker can keep an audience attentive and engaged with this technology, leading to good reviews and a successful event.
  • Supporting second screen tech for presentations is much less expensive than making physical upgrades that aren’t in the budget. 
  • This data underscores the importance of social media sentiment analysis in monitoring your brand and messaging, keeping an eye on competitors, and making improvements to services during and after events.
  • Tracking attendee activity on social media during an event provides actionable data to help you make adjustments in real-time
  • Replenishing food and beveragesEasing show floor bottlenecksDriving session attendanceAddressing technology issues (mobile apps, Wi-Fi, or audio/visual)
  • Venues can social media sentiment to promote popular services and learn where there’s room for improvement:
  • Wristbands and smart badges using near-field communication (NFC) chips keep disruptions and lines to a minimum, thereby increasing attendee productivity and engagement.
  • Access different event areasExchange information with peersReceive exhibitor marketing materialMake cashless purchases
  • Wearable tech helps you speed-up check-in, control access, and monitor attendee behavior with less staffing. It also improves ROI for exhibitors, who can drive attendees wearing the tech to visit a booth of interest based on an individual’s profile.
  • On-site staff can use real-time data to learn when they need to offer overflow rooms or investigate security breaches, such as non-VIP guests in restricted areas. 
  • Indoor wayfinding helps attendees navigate exhibit halls with ease,
  • gather useful attendee behavioral data, send leads to sales team members in real-time, and build attendee profiles to send targeted messaging
  • You can also incorporate proximity advertising options as a value-add for exhibitors and sponsor
  • Post-event, you can utilize IPS data to see where attendees spent their time visiting booths and attending presentations.
  • Adding hotel bars, restaurants, spas, gift shops, and other amenities to the location map can help drive additional revenue during events while improving the attendee experience
  • store attendee admission information on their person, helping to detect fraud and streamline access
  • Attendees can review their travels throughout a tradeshow and see who they interacted with, while exhibitors are notified in real-time when sought-after prospects come into their booth.
  • Planners can generate pop-up directions for attendees based on their location at an event instead of investing in producing/shipping/replacing physical signage
  • validates your event and highlights improvement opportunities by tracking session popularity, length of attendee visits to exhibitor booths, and strong tradeshow traffic.  
  • RFID and beacon technology helps security and general event staff do their job better in real-time, which is essential for building trust and streamlining crowded events
  • event planners are turning to venue sourcing platforms to connect with the perfect site for their particular event.
  • discover detailed venue layouts, capacity ranges, and on-site services
  • Venue platforms offer exceptional ROI and generate more leads through improved discoverability.
  • Convey elements that make your venue uniqueShowcase your event spaces visually with accurate floor plans, 3D diagrams, quality photos, and videosLeverage the success of past events with testimonials and social media accolades
  • artificial intelligence (AI) tech is using badge scans, social media info, and other behavioral data to match attendees with people they should meet or seminars they may want to attend. 
  • Instead of taking-up significant time pre-event and on-site manually recommending seminars, exhibitors, and sponsors to attendees, AI can do it for you—even in real-time—based on their profiles and preferences captured during registration. 
  • it requires transparency and advance notice about how you may use data submitted by attendees. 
  • Attendees entering the geofenced area triggers predetermined actions, such as event check-in, push notifications, or advertising related to the event. 
  • Planners can sell geofencing to exhibitors and sponsors to reach attendees at events, or even promote their event on attendee devices at a competing event under a separate geofence. You can also provide attendees with a better experience via seamless registration and check-in, along with automatic app downloads as soon as they walk on-site.
  • provides analytics, both post-event and in real-time to help you better understand things like the duration of an attendee’s time at an event and overall peak attendance. 
  • Hotels can serve ads promoting their brand, facility, and services to attendees at events
  • once a prospect visits an event website, ads for that event will appear on any subsequent websites the prospect visits, in the form of website banner ads, search engine results, and pop-up or push ads on mobile apps. 
  • Event marketing teams should develop relevant and creative ads with clearly visible event dates to convince prospects who have visited an event website, but haven’t yet registered
  • venues can use it to generate return visits from event planners
  • retarget attendees during events with offers for in-house services like food and beverage, spa, and discounts on extending their stay.
  • Gameplay creates an immersive attendee experience, while generating leads and booth visits for exhibitors via quizzes, scavenger hunts, and trivia on mobile apps.
  • Gameplay fosters a sense of common purpose; creates an environment of collaboration and trust; facilitates easier communication; and boosts attendee confidence. You can also gather information about attendee engagement and interests via game choices.
  • Promoting the use of gameplay on-site showcases a venue to organizations looking for facilities supporting team building exercises as well as immersive attendee experiences.
  • Event technology is a term used to describe all of the digital tools and software used in the events industry. Everything from check in & registration, to diagramming, to social media tools, and more can be considered event technology.
  •  
    RFID, event applications, wearable technology, virtual reality, and social media are upcoming popular uses for event planners. With RFID event planners are able to keep better track of the guests attending the event as well as keeping them more involved. I first heard of this a few months ago when attending an event and it described that a chip with RFID was placed inside the wristband-type ticket. For me, the most interesting thing is the wearable technology! Imagine an event where you can have directions given to you or a layout of the event right on your wrist! Also, the watch can notify you of events happening within an event or you can see order your food or see the menu. To know that soon enough it will be a norm for everyone to have some type of wearable technology and that event planners can truly get the guests involved through this use is exciting.
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  •  
    This article discusses five major event technology trends. The first is RFID, which can assist in registration time but even more important is being used to gather both qualitative and quantitative data analysis. This kind of data acquisition is great because it allows for planners to analysis, study and understand what worked and didn't work for their events. The second is multi-use apps. These apps allow the event to incorporate important aspects like activities, scheduled break down, and speaker info all at once. Additionally these apps allow attendees to socialize with other participants, and expand their network. The other technologies are some that can definitely change the industry once they are fully integrated. These include: wearable technology, virtual reality, and social media.
  •  
    Nowadays the event planning becomes more and more popular. With the development of event planning, we have 5 event technology trends shaping the future of event planning. The first on is RFID-radio frequency identification. In addition to speeding up registration time, incorporating RFID technology into events will help with both qualitative and quantitative data analysis, thereby making it easier for planners to target what worked during their event and what didn't. In this way, it will be easier to foster repeat attendees. The second one is multi-use apps. It's easy to use apps to solve problems. event apps that can continue to deliver value to customers beyond the date of the event itself are going to become a huge trend. The third one is wearable technology. Like google glasses should be a trend in the future. Facial recognition and contact information make the event planning more easier. The fourth one is VR. VR is a great way to up attendee engagement during events. The last one is social media. Social media will be a really important trend. Social media is more than likely the way that investors and sponsors will advertise your event.
  •  
    This article introduces four new advances to technology that help ease the process of event planning. Projection mapping, 5G, Branded multi-use apps, and event diagramming.
  •  
    This article shares the technology innovation with meeting/convention operations and how these technology help offer better guest satisfaction.
ivonneyee

Yum Brands Is Adding Disruptive Technologies Across Its Global Restaurant System. Here'... - 0 views

  • Those moves set the ball set in motion to integrate technology-centric solutions across its four brands across the world with an objective of elevating both the customer and team member experiences.
  • “What Covid has done is change our mindset. We don’t have to have everything perfect to launch something. For example, in Pizza Hut, U.S., we launched contactless curbside and carryout in two weeks. In the previous environment, it would have taken months, committees, testing protocols. Now we don’t have the luxury of time. We don’t have to wait until we have sharpened the blade to perfection. Our strategy is the same, but our pace is faster,” Felder said during a recent interview.
  • “Digital Innovation Lab,” led by Park, a partnership with the Plug and Play platfo
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  • rm for startups and plans for a physical innovation lab to open later this year
  • The digital lab is unique in that it translates restaurant operations–be it at KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell or Habit Burger–into a cloud “facility.”
  • Park’s team takes all digital inputs from Yum’s restaurants, like closed-circuit television footage of cars in the drive-thru, point-of-sale data or drive-thru audio, and puts it into the cloud
  • Plug and Play, which claims to be the world’s largest global innovation platform for startups and corporations
  • Automation can free up employees’ time spent on manual back-of-house tasks so they can focus more on customer-facing tasks, ideally providing more speed and accuracy in the process.
  • Some of these ideas–like voice, artificial intelligence, computer vision, IoT–have popped up in the restaurant industry here and there. None, however, have proliferated at the global scale Yum Brands offers. This is where the true disruption could happen. Yum has over 50,000 restaurants in more than 150 countries and territories, and employs 1.5 employees and franchise associates. Few food and beverage companies have this kind of global footprint.
  • Restaurant companies are no longer dabbling in technology efficiencies, they’re relying on them for their very survival. In fact, because of the pandemic, digital sales are now expected to make up more than half of limited-service business by 2025–a 70% increase over pre-COVID estimates. 
  • “The big lesson for us is we’ve got to be where the customer is. We have several restaurants at the moment trying to take consumer ease to the next level,” Felder said. “I don’t think we’ve ever seen a more fertile time of innovation in the history of the restaurant industry. We’re about to hit a wave of transformative innovations.”
  •  
    Yum Brands, which runs restaurants KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and Habit Burger, is integrating technology-centric solutions across its four brands around the world, which could result in an acceleration of disruptive technologies on a large scale. This Digital Innovation Lab then adds information from thousands of Yum Brand restaurants into a cloud facility. The information includes closed-circuit tv from a restaurant's drive-thru and point-of-sale or drive-thru audio. Hundreds of startups then get access to the data to compare their technologies in the lab. They're able to use that information to create more automated services like artificial intelligence, computer vision and the Internet of Things. Yum's idea is by improving automation back of house, employees can focus more time on customer-facing tasks, resulting in more speed and accuracy.
nathaliro

The Future of Technology in Hospitality is Green | Hospitality Technology - 2 views

  • the fact that millennials (those born roughly between 1982 and 1996), are going to be the largest generation in the country’s history (at 83.1 million).
  • Simple math tells us that the buying power at large is mainly in their hands.
  • For example, more LED lighting throughout their facilities with sensors can help keep costs down while reducing energy waste.
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  • he hospitality industry is also one known for producing exorbitant amounts of waste.
  • In order to make more green, here are some of the tactics within the headlines of late that are being used to keep up with the sustainable practices to woo this generation, and those others to come.
  • Thanks to technology, hotels have been making strides to becoming more environmentally friendly without breaking the bank.
    • Angelica Saez
       
      It is important to work with different companies to help you establish different ways technology to go green. There are different ways to help the technology to go green for your business.
  • According to Forbes, millennials consider social responsibility and environmental friendliness when making their purchases, so brands have to rise to these significant expectations millennials have when it comes to spending their money.
  • Through the use of an intelligent camera, smart scales and AI-based smart meter technology, Winnow Vision analyses ingredients during food preparation, as well as plates returned to the kitchen, to assess which food items are most wasted and in what quantities.
  • Cruises Also Taking a Stand with Tech
  • the cruise line is implementing technology to help reduce its ecological impact including clean LNG as fuel on its new ships, installing an Advanced Emission Purification system on most of its fleet, making progress with its program to eliminate single-use plastics, and is increasing its number of ships that are zero landfill capable
  • Hotels Continue to Innovate
  • According to the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA) trend survey released earlier this year, supporting sustainable initiatives remains important to the lodging industry as a whole.
  • This tells us that hotels need to continue to innovate and the future of technology in hospitality has to be green, or those brands that do not adopt to these emerging standards face being left behind.
  • it’s hard to ignore the fact that the pace of technology is moving faster than ever before.
  • From the excess food that is thrown out each year, to the overuse of plastics, water and energy – there are many brands in hospitality that are taking the right steps to becoming more sustainable. After all, if they don’t get on the green bandwagon, they risk losing the largest generation of buyers in history.
    • Angelica Saez
       
      When your business goes green it is good for the environment and your business.
  • InterContinental Hotels Group® (IHG®) announced a partnership with technology company Winnow to help its hotels automatically track, measure and reduce food waste for more sustainable and efficient restaurant and bar operations.
  • The technology group Wärtsilä also announced that it will supply and install an Auto Gasification solution for the ‘Regal Princess’, a Princess Cruises vessel. This technology will enable the safe disposal of waste from the ship through a self-fueling thermal decomposition unit, thereby significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions. It will also lessen the requirement to offload waste at shore facilities.
  • In the case of the Andaz London Liverpool Street hotel, a project with Quimera Energy Efficiency kicked off in 2016 and within a year 21% of electricity and 27.1% of gas consumption was saved. This translates in 500.000kg of CO2 emissions saved and was achieved using the methodology of Monitor & Save, including the Bopstem technology provided by Wisestate which is an IoT solution for HVAC control and automation, without suffering guest comfort.
  • Another big announcement made by MSC Cruises shows its commitment to becoming the first major neutral cruise company in 2020. Starting on January 1, 2020, MSC Cruises will buy enough credits from companies that absorb carbon dioxide to offset all of the carbon emissions from its 17 ships throughout the year. MSC said that it is committed to reduce emissions as technology progresses with an ultimate target of zero emissions. The company intends to invest and work with shipyards and research institutes to achieve this goal. 
  • St. Regis Atlanta integrated green tech into its 10th anniversary redesign (a trend that keeps popping up in headlines), leveraging services from Mode:Green to take advantage of the opportunity and make it a smart building system.
  • While Carnival Corporation, which holds the tag as the world’s largest leisure travel company, is partnering with leaders from the maritime and engineering industries to pilot the world's first fuel cell system designed to power large passenger vessels.
  • Linen and towel reuse programs are nearly universal among properties, and a majority of hotels across all segments have implemented a water savings program.
  • Consumers have way more transparency when making buying decisions and with the right information at their fingertips at all times, the hospitality industry is not immune to the imperative of creating a quality consumer experience.
  • This builds up a bank of data which in turn informs buying decisions, shapes menus and hones food preparation techniques.
  •  
    This article emphasizes how imperative it is for hospitality businesses to stay on the cutting edge of technology as a part of their business design and strategy if they want to survive in today's competitive market and remain in it, in the near future. The author expresses that today's hospitality market is being driven by Millennials' "the largest generation in the country's history" who patronize businesses that are socially and environmentally responsible. Armed with this information to capture their targeted market, more and more hotels are now incorporating from inception within their physical blueprint infrastructure that is environmentally sustainable and cost-effective. As well as obtaining Green certifications and implementing sustainable software to reduce waste and minimize leakages. This concept has also been adopted by cruise ship operators to reduce environmental impact through the use of technology.
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  •  
    The current innovation trends of hospitality prove that this industry is steadily developing with more sustainable tactics.Hotels are implementing more energy saving products to reducing energy waste. Cruise corporations are partnering with industries to find solutions in powering vessels with cell technology rather than emission cruising.
  •  
    -As technology advances consumers are being more transparent with their buying decisions. -Buying power lies on millennials who are roughly 83.1 million. -Millenials consider social responsibility and environmental friendliness when making their purchases. -Sustainable practices include censored lighting/temperature. -Cruise ships have installed a purification system to reduce its ecological impact, have decreased the use of single use plastics, and have increased the number of ships that are zero landfill capable. -Linen and towel reuse programs and water savings programs are nearly universal among properties.
  •  
    This article introduces the different initiatives that the hospitality industry is taking with regard to technology in order to align with their target market or a large segment of their market. As being perceived, millennials are sought to be the largest generation in the country's history which leads companies to infer that they have a massive amount of buying power in their hands. Hospitality companies are now making strides to become more environmentally conscious. Some of these initiatives is incorporating LED lights throughout the facilities to reduce energy waste and cut down on costs. Another initiative is incorporating new systems in the guest rooms that enhance the stay while keeping it green like systems that adjust temperatures in the rooms, remotely powered shades, etc. Other companies are even using systems as a tool to help track, measure, and reduce food waste for more sustainable and effective restaurant/bar operations. It is no secret that technology is ever-evolving, and it will continue to develop as new features are discovered.
  •  
    Article discusses millennials as the largest generation in U.S. history, and the speed at which technology progresses. In addition to paying attention to millennials' purchasing decisions, other industries must also meet their financial expectations. Many brands are taking steps to become more sustainable in the hospitality industry despite its reputation for producing massive amounts of waste.
cdamo003

Why hotels need to focus on sustainable technology | Hotel Management - 0 views

  • HG and Marriott International have eliminated plastic straws in thousands of hotels worldwide, removing an estimated 1 billion straws from the ocean and landfills.
  • Both brands also are cutting out single-use bottles in the hotel bathroom, estimating to remove more than 500 million plastic bottles every year from the environment.
  • the largest hotel brands will be rolling out room controls within their loyalty platforms that enable guests to preselect the room temperature, lighting mood, TV, music, blinds and more
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  • Using the digital device that guests already have, hotels can reduce (or eliminate) the use of paper—saving tons of water and chemicals used in paper processing—and reduce (or eliminate) wasteful plastic keycards
  • The future is keyless, paperless and has less plastic
  • sustainability is more than just a travel industry buzzword or term travelers drop to sound hip.
  • According to a recent survey of millennials, 87 percent would be more loyal to a company that helps them contribute to social and environmental causes and more than nine in 10 millennials would switch brands to one associated with a cause. 
  • More than 5 billion people are now connected to a mobile network, equivalent to roughly two-thirds of the world’s population. Mobile devices are a key enabler of sustainable economic growth and a major contributor to the delivery of the United Nations' 17 sustainable development goals. 
  • And as technology evolves to seamlessly link functionality within the hotel with guests' mobile devices, the synergistic forces of guest satisfaction, cost reduction and environmental sustainability will produce a greener planet for everyone to enjoy.
  •  
    This article shows how important sustainability is in the hotel industry and how innovation and technology can help companies sustainability efforts. Even though technology like the smartphone has a huge footprint on the environment, they can be used to help in sustainability such as hotels using the smartphones that guests already have to perform some functions without having to use paper. Mobile phones can also be adapted to help in running of smartrooms to improve customer experience and also reduce the footprint on the environment.
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  •  
    Hotel Management is the backbone of the future in development. Technology plays a huge role in the extensions of green technology in hotels. Many properties are now implementing reward systems that can help reduce waste, mobile extensions with the reuse of key systems and smart rooms with the control of light, temperature and TV systems to help with personalization while saving energy and costs.
  •  
    A quick read but very enlightening statistics about generational feelings and loyalty to green technologies in hotels.
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    It is becoming more common for hotels to become more sustainable and green in there business practices. Guests are finding these practices to be expected more often that none. Hotels are now becoming more efficient on there sustainability efforts by utilizing technology in order to reduce costs as well.
Xiaoxiao Wang

PlannerTech Show: Bringing Technology to Today's Event Planning - 2 views

  • “It [Internet] is an amazing technology that makes us more efficient, makes us smarter, increases communication and truly improves our lives,” says Elizabeth Mazzei, director of partner solutions at Pogby. “I realized there really is no event all year long that focuses on technology for event professionals. How frustrating!”
  • Technology is often overlooked by the event planners. It seems like it's the last part of the planning process. Possibly unknown to them, they leave it until the end or let someone else handle it. This is especially true when it comes to the Internet.
  • PlannerTech will showcase presentations from a selected group of Internet technology companies catering to the event industry, including Event Leadership Institute, Event Farm, Hashable, IML, and ShareSquare. The showcase will be followed by a networking event, where event planners will be able to socialize with peers as well as learn more from the company representatives. Attendees will be able to get their pictures taken at the TwitPic Photo Booth as well.
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    Nowadays, with the development of information technology, there are more and more event planners using technology to plan events. Technology will help them a lot during the process of event planning, technology makes the planning process be more and more efficient and faster than ever. In addition, it also help event planner find more information related to their event and give them more ideas to create an excellent event. Moreover, it also help planners to collect data and information in a logical way. All in all, technology not only changed our life, but also change the way the event is planned.
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    Nowadays, there are still many event planner dislike use technology in their event planning. They either don't know about the technology or just simply don't know how beneficial it would be for their event. Liz King and Mazzei got together to plan the first inaugural PlannerTech event. PlannerTech will showcase presentations from a selected group of Internet technology companies catering to the event industry. The showcase will be followed by a networking event, where event planners will be able to socialize with peers as well as learn more from the company representatives.
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    "Technology is often overlooked by the event planners. It seems like it's the last part of the planning process. Possibly unknown to them, they leave it until the end or let someone else handle it. This is especially true when it comes to the Internet."
  •  
    This article shows the importance of bringing technology to event planning. Once we take technology into account, event planning will become more and more meaningful and at the same time technology will change a little bit of event planning.
Ashley Reed

Virtually There: Property Management Systems Expand Far Beyond Their Original Scope-and... - 0 views

  • Over the years PMSs have steadily improved by adding more
  • Virtualization
  • Speed of Implementation
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  • The Cloud
  • Flexibility.
  • Connection Loss.
  • More Complete Range of Applications
  • Data Security.
  • Better Security.
  • Virtualization
  • The Cloud
  • Many vendors have also expanded their coverage into revenue management, sales and catering, spa/golf/activities and so on, within their own software and/or by interfacing to specialized systems from other vendors.
  • a search for a system (or system set) with much broader capabilities.  These usually include marketing, multiproperty reservations, distribution channel management and coverage of every aspect of the guest experience, both on and off property. 
  • Property management systems (PMSs) have been fundamental software in every hotel for decades
  • As more guest and operating information needs to be captured and managed, many hotels and resorts need multiple other systems to complement the PMS. However, the more applications are required, the greater the amount of computer room hardware needed to run them and the more complex the support requirements become. 
  • Cloud computing takes virtual server tools one stage further, using them to allocate the resources of vast numbers of servers quickly and flexibly among many different companies’ needs
  •   Further, the on-demand flexibility means that hoteliers no longer need to worry about buying and implementing more hardware resources as their businesses grow; they just call up the cloud vendor and ask for it to be allocated.
  • Data storage is another factor,
  • toring all this data on cloud-based servers is cheaper than continually expanding on-site storage, though of course selection of a trusted, secure vendor for the cloud is even more important.
  • There’s one link between the PMS and the revenue management system, one to S&C, one to the GDSs and Web booking sites, and so on, not one per system per property.  Traditional remotely hosted approaches do outsource the support and security issues but can’t provide the economy-of-scale savings nor the flexibility of clouds.
  • Alternatively, since many cloud-based systems are accessed via Web browsers it’s also possible to use 3G (and soon 4G) high-speed cell phone connections to access them if the Internet or other main communications line goes down. 
  • The best approach, though, is to keep a copy of enough critical data on property at all times so that operations can continue even if connection is lost completely.
  • Traditional PMS functionality is still the essential core at every property.  By tracking and managing all aspects of guests’ stays, it’s both a source and collection point for the crucial activity and preference information that forms the basis of all future relationships with them, on and off site.
  • At the same time, the move to cloud-based architecture makes all of these combinations simpler to create, implement and support.
  •  
    Traditional PMS functionality is still the critical core at every property. By tracking and managing all aspects of guests' data, it's both a source and collection point for the crucial activity and preference information that forms the basis of all future relationships with the guest. But with the change of technology and the manner we do business today, hotels now need a wider function set than what a traditional PMS provides. Having a PMS on the web and in the clouds is getting more popular. These new Web services make it easier for new vendors to develop fresh approaches and link them quickly and effectively into established systems, providing hoteliers with richer and more varied options. There are more advantages than disadvantages when using cloud computing. The world is changing rapidly and in other for hotels to survive, they have to keep up with those changes.
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    Overall this article gives an overall prospective of how PMS are run. The basics include how PMS systems have move from a completely paper run process to a completely virtual program. This article also speaks of how the us of Clouds has changed the possibilities for PMS systems. Now information can be stored over the internet and accessed from anywhere. The article does mention many draw backs to this process such as outages and server errors. Internet advances have made the speed and flexibility of PMS much more vast.
  •  
    Hey all, here is an article I found that talks about the traditional PMS systems for hotels and how it once rained supreme. Now a days, traditional PMS systems are not cutting it anymore because businesses are growing and are trying to find systems that have more functionality. This article brings up a few different options that a business could adopt and put into use. Installing software applications at the property is becoming unmanageably complex. Despite very worthwhile gains in functionality, no PMS will ever cover everything a hotel needs; none offer telephone service, for example. As more guest and operating information needs to be captured and managed, many hotels and resorts need multiple other systems to complement the PMS. The first option the article bring up is Virtualization, Server virtualization is not a new technology, but its adoption by the hospitality industry is relatively recent. The basic concept is that specialized control software allows the physical resources of a single computer server-memory, disk space and computing power-to be divided as needed between several different software applications, each perceived to be running on its own dedicated server. The second option is running a cloud based system, we all know what that is so I will let you read the article. Enjoy
  •  
    The author attributes a growth in 'hotel complexity' that is driving the need for a change with traditional PMS systems and the limits of their capabilities. According to the article, the current PMS system is unsustainable and will need to evolve to meet client's demands- such as cloud computing, which is highlighted as being beneficial to hotels especially with regards to flexibility, better security, speed of implementation, etc. The pros and cons of cloud computing are clearly described, the cons mainly being loss of connectivity and security breaching. Although traditional PMS are essential for most hotels, cloud computing could put them at a competitive edge.
Hanlu Hu

E-Commerce for the Hospitality Industry | The Moscow Times - 6 views

  • E-commerce has been defined as "the buying and selling of products and services by businesses and consumers over the Internet."
  • Accelerating Internet usage worldwide The Internet is the lowest cost hotel-booking channel Most travelers research hotel reservations on the Internet Social media and online hotel reviews are an increasingly important decision factor The web is the preferred media source for travel information, favored 17:1 over television and 6:1 over newspapers and magazines.
  • Adding real time search functionality to your site, capability to generate user reviews, launching contests helps to build fresh content and quality links
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  • Heavy graphics, animation and flash demos cause your site to perform slowly. Sites that are built keeping these guidelines in mind will deliver better user experiences, will perform better on search engines, and ultimately drive higher ROI.
  • As things stand now, mobile queries represent about 10% of all queries made on Google. People are using mobile devices to conduct searches, as well as share content, connect with friends and browse the web
  • Embracing social media. 93 percent of social media users expect companies to have a social presence. 85 percent of social media users want companies to interact with them on social sites. A well-planned social initiative can turn fans into brand evangelists.
  • The Internet has consolidated itself as a very powerful platform that has changed the way we communicate, and the way we do business.
  • The growing importance of e-commerce in the modern hospitality industry has created an urgent need for simple solutions to manage companies' online presence. Now that each hotel is involved in e-commerce, why is hotel e-commerce so important today?
  • We forget that the human brain can only consume limited information. It is important to take a holistic approach and prioritize information. Good web site architecture and organized content improves site usability and its efficiency when used with search engines.
    • yan xie
       
      It is true that we always forge how many information the human brain will take at once. Although the e-commerce is the good way for customers to know the new products and new service from the hotels, sometimes the hotels provide so much information to customers. It lets customers confused and does not know what the specifice products can meet their requirements. And sometimes, they feel some hard to understand your service so that they give up hotels service or new products to choose the one they are familiar. So how to make e-commerce usability and efficiency is a new point, which the hospitality industry company need to consider.
  • make sure your ad groups are made up of tightly knit keyword themes and that those keywords are reflected in your ad copy; ensure that your landing pages clearly reflect the offer promoted in the ad copy and includes clear calls to action and conversion factors.
    • yan xie
       
      As the point two mentioned, the customers cannot get so many information at once, and they also cannot search lots of information at once. So the keyword themes is also another important thing for company to do the promotion and ads. This ads need to have the keywords to clearly reflect the offer promoted for customers. In this way, the customers will catch the information as possible as they can.
  • Top e-commerce sites are continually testing new things. It's the only way to achieve continual improvement.
    • yan xie
       
      To do the continually testing new things is always a best development way for the developing company. If the company cannot test the new things in their e-commerce sites and e-commerce process, the e-commerce of this company will be far away from other companies. Company need to have the innovation to make some new things for their e-commerce and do the test all the time to select the best way for the business and customers' expericence.
  • hospitality industry has always been among the first to capitalize on new technologies
  •  
    The hospitality industry along with the resourcefulness of the Internet has allowed the Russian hospitality industry to benefit and grow with the technology of e-commerce. E-commerce is defined as "the buying and selling of products and service by businesses and consumers over the Internet". This technology is significant due to its beneficial factors of lowering costs, accessibility, decision-making, and media exposure. As well, the article provides for methods and advice regards effective strategies to utilize the Internet. Primarily, the speed of the website's functionality is essential, along with providing compatibility of browsers, thus, allowing for a better experience for users. The information in the website should be efficient, allowing for real time search whether using a mobile phone or a computer. It was informative to read the multiple functionality, that social media is playing in the hospitality industry regards the exposure and marketability. E-commerce has change the market of goods and services, from a tangible experience to digital experience, through the use of online shopping estimated at $228 Billion in 2010, a third derived from the purchase of travel and flight websites, thus, demonstrating the importance of the Internet in relation to consumerism.
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  •  
    This article talks about why hotel E-commerce is essential today and how to go about having E-commerce work for your business/hotel. The article says, "The internet has consolidated itself as a very powerful platform that has changed he way we communicate, and the way we do business." This is the reason why businesses need to utilize the internet. According to the article these are the reasons that hotel e-commerce is important today: the internet is being used worldwide, the internet is the lowest cost hotel-booking medium, the internet is used, by travelers, to research hotels and their reservations, the internet is the home of social media and hotel reviews and the internet is preferred 17:1 over television and 6:1 over newspapers and magazines for travel information. It would be at a hotel's detriment if they do not utilize the internet and e-commerce. It isn't enough to use e-commerce for business but there must be an upkeep. It is extremely beneficial to research or monitor how customers and potential consumers are seeking information and what attracts them to a site. According to the article, e-commerce strategies that would 'help get the best from the internet world' are: 1. Search-friendly website design 2. Improving Conversion and Usability 3. Paid Search 4. Real time Search 5. Mobile Device Market 6. Social Media 7. Testing
  •  
    This article mentioned why the ecommerce important for the hospitality industry. And also there are more things they hospitality industry companies need to know. Although the e-commerce is the good way for customers to know the new products and new service from the hotels, sometimes the hotels provide so much information to customers. It lets customers confused and does not know what the specific products can meet their requirements. And sometimes, they feel some hard to understand your service so that they give up hotels service or new products to choose the one they are familiar. So how to make e-commerce usability and efficiency is a new point, which the hospitality industry company need to consider. As the point two mentioned, the customers cannot get so many information at once, and they cannot search lots of information at once. So the keyword themes is also another important thing for company to do the promotion and ads. This ads need to have the keywords to clearly reflect the offer promoted for customers. In this way, the customers will catch the information as possible as they can. It is true that we always forge how many information the human brain will take at once. To do the continually testing new things is always a best development way for the developing company. If the company cannot test the new things in their e-commerce sites and e-commerce process, the e-commerce of this company will be far away from other companies. Company need to have the innovation to make some new things for their e-commerce and do the test all the time to select the best way for the business and customers' experience.
  •  
    This article discusses about the application of e-commerce in hospitality industry. Internet has become a very powerful tool for customers when they are planing their travels. As the same time, it has become an important media for hotelierss to improve their businesses. Internet can provider a lot of online sources to customers when they make any dicisions. And how to make your web site become more competitive and attract more customers is the topic of this article. First of all, a good design for the web site is the most important thing for hotelierss. And the download speed is the basic factor. Quick download speed brings a good experience to users, and improves the ranking in organic search. Secondly, improving usability needs to be focused on by hotelierss. Large imformation may not be took in by users. You need to make your customers seethe most important information first. In other word, you need to prioritize your web site and make the imformation more understood. Paid search and real time search are also focused on by the author. Sometimes, paid search can make your hotel more compelling on the search engine. And some tips have been given in this articel to help the hotelierss to maximize conversions. Real time search is similar with paid search, and it needs compelling fresh content and quality incoming links on the web site. Maps, photo galleries, videos and press releases are creative ways to distrivute content on different channels. With more mobiles customers using, mobile represent about 10% of all queries make on Google. Hotels can exand the mobile market and improve the download speed of their site by avoid heavy graphics and flash, making their site is mobile compatible. Social media is in the same condition with mobile. Customers need more connections on social sites, so they want companies to interact with them through the social media. The last point is testing. Every new thing needs a lot of tests. It can provides changes and improvement for
  •  
    The article discusses power of internet and how different it is from magazine and television ads. "In terms of time your travel websites are available for are accessible for a longer period of time, the flexibility that the content can be changed without asking someone,if you have a content management system." Also travel websites will help your business potentially reach a wider audience. Another big advantage of having a travel website is it's availability even when your business is closed or no one is available to answer your phone. Everyone knows that there are so many time zones, and the visitors can come from any part of the world. So having a travel websites gives your travel business visibility for all 365 days of year 24x7.
  •  
    In hospitality industry, customers are constantly seeking new sources of information to help them make decisions before purchasing services. E-commerce in hospitality industry is about the online buying and selling services. And it's become such an important source for the company and customer. Hospitality businesses are all involved in the trend. Smart hoteliers need to keep a sharp focus on the fundamental shift in ways customers are seeking information and channels that drive maximum return on investment. This article listed several basic e-commerce strategies that will help hoteliers to get the best from the Internet world.
  •  
    As new technological advances are being made, the hospitality industry has always been among the first to capitalize on new technologies. The term e-commerce has been defined as the buying and selling of products and services by businesses and consumers over the internet. Now that hotels are involved directly with e-commerce it becomes even more important today because of the accelerating internet usage worldwide,the internet is still the lowest cost channel for booking, many travelers make their travel decisions via the internet. Embracing social media, 93% of social media users expect companies to have a social presence and 85% of social media users want comoanies to interact with them on social sites. A well-planned social iniative can turn fans into brand evangelists. This article dealt mainly with a brief introduction of what e-commerce is in terms of its defining and what it means to the hospitality industry. With more and more people utilizing the internet each day, the potential to have a person book a hotel room greatly increases. Several search engines have advertisements relating to many hotel companies offering specials and customers will see these ads and book. With more technological advances bound to come into play, its only a matter of time before the practice of e-commerce is taken to another level.
  •  
    Over the last decade the population of Internet users has increased rapidly. The hospitality industry has always been among the first to capitalize on new technologies. E-commerce has been defined as "the buying and selling of products and services by businesses and consumers over the Internet." With hotel e-commerce, the landscape of the hospitality industry is forever changed. Online sales are an important part of the business. The growing importance of e-commerce in the modern hospitality industry has created an urgent need for simple solutions to manage companies' online presence. Now that each hotel is involved in e-commerce, reasons why is hotel e-commerce so important today may because the accelerating internet usage worldwide, the Internet is the lowest cost hotel-booking channel, and social media and online hotel reviews are an increasingly important decision factor.
  •  
    E-commerce has become more and more important in our daily life, because many customers today prefer to use internet to help them make decisions. In hospitality industry, e-commerce also plays an important role, as internet is a very cheap and convenient booking channel and many people use the internet intensively. There are many e-commerce strategies for hoteliers, such as making friendly web site design, embracing social media, etc. As e-commerce has so many advantages, I think e-commerce is an opportunity for hoteliers to grasp. It is important for hoteliers to use different strategies to get the best from the internet world.
  •  
        This article introduced the function of ecommerce and the ecommerce effect for the hospitality industry. The author listed some important reasons about why hotel ecommerce is so important:1)Accelerating Internet usage worldwide.2)The Internet is the lowest cost hotel-booking channel. 3) Most travelers research hotel reservations on the Internet. 4)Social media and online hotel reviews are an increasingly important decision factor. 5) The web is the preferred media source for travel information, favored 17:1 over television and 6:1 over newspapers and magazines. This article also listed some basic e-commerce strategies that will help hoteliers to take advantage of ecommerce from the Internet world. 1) Search-friendly web site design.2) Improve conversion and usability 3) Paid search. 4) Real time search - natural ranking.5) Mobile.6) Embracing social media. 7) Test, test, test. Top e-commerce sites are continually testing new things.      In a summary, the author suggest smart hoteliers need to keep a sharp focus on the fundamental shift in ways customers are seeking information and channels that drive maximum return on investment. Moreover, hoteliers have to constantly learn and look for ways to harness the power of new developments and trends.
Jing Huang

Property Management System- The Future of Hotel Industry - Tourism and Hospitality - Zi... - 1 views

  • They work completely on the web and are based on the cloud.
  • It is the age of the Internet, the age when many businesses solely run on the Internet. From marketing to reaching new people, there is a lot that can be done with the help of this medium.
  • one of the major boons of Internet on the hotel industry has been the web based property management systems. Unlike previous applications which would burn a hole on the pockets, these online hotel software are user-friendly and do not need any additional hardware or software expenses. They work completely on the web and are based on the cloud.
    • Juan Du
       
      "Property Management System" play an important role in Hospitality management. Because the Internet plays a major role in improving the sales and customer relationship. The hotel need collect data to analyze the market and make the market plan. Property management system have a lot advantages. It is easy to make a reservation, the system can control the over booking. Use this system can keeping a check on the add-on services. Also PMS has its own system to operate the whole things. PMS is able to provide some basic function: enable guests to make reservations, enable guests to check-in/register when they arrive and check-out/pay when they leave, enable staff to maintain guest facilities. And it is easy to use, especially for employees.
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  • Property Management System- The Future of Hotel Industry
  • Property Management System- The Future of Hotel Industry
  • Property Management System- The Future of Hotel Industry
  • It is the age of the Internet, the age when many businesses solely run on the Internet. From marketing to reaching new people, there is a lot that can be done with the help of this medium
  • Central Reservation System: One of the greatest advantages of using an online hotel software is that you do not have any more headaches about reservations.
  •   Numerous Point of Sale: Keeping a check on the add-on services your hotel provides can easily be done with the help of the numerous points of sales.
  • Sales and Marketing Console: To help popularize your hotel and make it known to people from across the globe, many PMSs have a dedicated sales and marketing console.
  • Travel Agents and Corporate Clients:It is also important that you properly deal with travel agents and corporate clients as they play a very important role in bringing in more guests to the hotel.
  • Connected to 1000s of Travel Portals: These property management systems  help you get connected to many travel portals like Travelocity, Tripadvisor and Expedia helping you reach more people. 
  •  
    This article particularly caught my attention because it points out the major advantages of web-based PMS, but it does not mention the risk of transfering such sensitive guest information over the unsecure and unregulated Internet. Surely there are great cost-related and operational advantages to web-based PMS and that alone often motivates hotels to upgrade in that general direction. Afterall, the reason why the hotel is operated is to generate revenues. However, is risking the identity of thousands of your guests worth the money you will save? That is what this article does not cover. As the title points out, web-based PMS is the future of the industry, but securing the identity of the biggest drivers behind all revenue for your hotel is arguably more important. Is the risk worth the reward? I believe the Internet needs to become a more secure highway of information before the industry can fully embrace this new technological advancement. My thoughts on considering an upgrade to web based PMS: Research and proceed with caution.
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  •  
    Karl- Valid point in saying is the "risk worth the reward", with all the viruses, glitches and hackers sensative information floating around in cyber world ready to be attacked and stolen. I feel its up to the cloud computing companies to set the security parameters to run their systems and for the industry to enforce them, so that we can embrace the growth of technology in hospitality.
  •  
    This article shows a lot of advantages of using online hotel software. Better Reservation system can be found on a cloud based PMS. More factors of hotel can come out to be a famous feature when they all come online. Much easier for a hotel to deal with travel agents and corporate clients when they using a cloud-based PMS.  The cloud-base PMS can bring the hotel to more travel portals which will lead to more clients. 
  •  
    This article focuses on the numerous advantages of a Property Management System. It summarizes the fact that it makes a business more proficient and how a company can save by not spending money on additional software or hardware expenses. The main benefits that this article gives attention to is the fact that it assists in the reservation process and point of sale process, helps market and target the correct people, positivity deals with travel agents, and connects to several travel portals. All in all, a Property Management System is a great tool and advantage in the hospitality industry because it facilitates in all operations and helps companies with daily challenges.
  •  
    The hotel industry is crossing over to web based PMS and this article states that because it works off a cloud its less headaches and more user friendly. There are many reasons why a web based PMS can be beneficial and why the hotel industry is swithcing over. It can be used for multiple properties and reduce double booking. Another great feature is you can have numerous points of sales and it all interconnects. This is the future of our industry.
  •  
    "Property Management System" play an important role in Hospitality management. Because the Internet plays a major role in improving the sales and customer relationship. The hotel need collect data to analyze the market and make the market plan. Property management system have a lot advantages. It is easy to make a reservation, the system can control the over booking. Use this system can keeping a check on the add-on services. Also PMS has its own system to operate the whole things. PMS is able to provide some basic function: enable guests to make reservations, enable guests to check-in/register when they arrive and check-out/pay when they leave, enable staff to maintain guest facilities. And it is easy to use, especially for employees.
  •  
    This article indicated the importance of Internet for hotel industry and also assumed that web based property management systems will widely used in future. The author listed some advantages of web based property management system:1) Central Reservation System: One of the greatest advantages of using an online hotel software is that you do not have any more headaches about reservations.2)   Numerous Point of Sale: Keeping a check on the add-on services your hotel provides can easily be done with the help of the numerous points of sales.3) Sales and Marketing Console. With the help of this console, you can access the database of your customers get in touch with them notifying them of special offers and discounts. 4)Travel Agents and Corporate Clients:It is important that you properly deal with travel agents and corporate clients as they play a very important role in bringing in more guests to the hotel.5)   Connected to 1000s of Travel Portals: Web based PMS help you get connected to many travel portals like Travelocity, Tripadvisor and Expedia helping you reach more people. 
  •  
    t is the age of the Internet, the age when many businesses solely run on the Internet. From marketing to reaching new people, there is a lot that can be done with the help of this medium. The hotel industry too is not insulated from its effect. Almost all kinds of hotels, from inns to bed and breakfasts to resorts, everyone is trying to tap the energies of the Internet and make optimum use of the medium. The Internet plays a major role in improving the sales and customer relationship.
ypere044

The Top 7 Online Marketing Trends That Will Dominate 2014 - 0 views

  • top online marketing trends of 2014
  • Content Marketing Will be Bigger Than Ever
  • concentrate on inbound marketing, by producing valuable, engaging content designed for a specific audience
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  • Social Media Marketing Will Require More Diversity
  • it has become common for businesses to branch out and experiment with multiple networks with the aim of reaching the maximum amount of consumers. This diversification seems to prove fruitful for many companies because it often builds brand equity by making it easier for consumers to recognize a particular brand.
  • Image-Centric Content Will Rule
  • well-placed pictures to break content up and emphasize certain points
  • Less Will be More
  • The’re now making efforts to tone-down their campaign messages and not overwhelm consumers with hype
  •   Mobile-Friendly Content Will Be Necessary
  • it’s necessary for companies to create content that’s accessible to mobile users
  • Ad Retargeting Will Grow in Effectiveness
  • it works by utilizing browser cookies to track the websites that users visit. Once they leave a certain site, the products or services they viewed will be shown to them again in advertisements across different websites.
  • SEO and Social Signals Will Become Even More Intertwined
  •  
    This article was about online marketing trends that will prevail in 2014. More and more companies are resorting to using online marketing finding success in its branding and audience growth. The trends that I think will make the biggest impact are that of content marketing being bigger than ever, image-centric content ruling, and mobile-friendly content being necessary. Out of the 7 mentioned trends I believe that these three will have the biggest impact because they are the most necessary. With content marketing, companies should focus more on inbound marketing that is tailored to a specific audience. Image-centric content should be a big hit because its basically that an ad should be simple to understand in order to convey a message. Like the saying says, "A picture is worth a thousand words." Finally, mobile-friendly content is becoming more popular and with the widespread use of mobile devices and tablets, companies are looking for ways to make their content more accessible to users. 
noreen1

HEY KERMIT, BEING GREEN IS GETTING EASIER (PART I) - INNOVATIVE FOODSERVICE DESIGN TEAM - 0 views

  • Being green is getting easier.  It is becoming more popular.  And, dare I suggest, it is even becoming profitable.
  • Environmental sensitivity will have a profound effect on the way that hospitality facilities are designed, built, and operated over the next decade.
  • In my view, there are three key components to a green initiative for any hospitality and foodservice operation. 
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  • initiatives, both operational and building related, which are specific to the hospitality industry.
  • building related practices
  • operational practices and decisions
  • Demand green practices from your purveyors:
  • Reduce, re-use, and recycle:
  • the average restaurant in the US produces 50,000 pounds of garbage every year.  It is estimated that 95% of that trash can be recycled or composted, but is unnecessarily thrown away instead
  • Purchase environmentally friendly paper products:
  • Phase out Styrofoam and other polystyrene products:
  • The beauty of these operational initiatives is that they require little investment or modifications to existing facility for implementation
  • Consider “green” menu selections:
  • Evaluate the chemicals you use:
  • Reduce water usage: 
  • Use alternative chafing fuels:
  • Granted, some of the ecologically friendly products are more expensive – in the short term, anyways.  However, once you consider the “total” cost of many of the operational decisions discussed above, you will find that the green approach is often less expensive – in the long run.
  •  
    As it becomes more and more popular (and more crucial to the environment) to "go green", it is also becoming less intimidating and more rewarding for organizations in the hospitality industry.  The notion that improving an organizations operations to make them more sustainable is too costly, is quickly being disproven, and in many instances organizations actually save money in the long run.  Part I of this series by Lee Simon focuses on operational practices and outlines simple steps that can be integrated in to a restaurant or hotel's current systems.  
  •  
    Going Green is quickly becoming the thing to do in the hotel industry. In fact, Hilton now requires their department heads within their hotels to be trained and certified in their green program. They have created a link on their site which measures waste put out into the environment by each specific meeting group or guest. Even more importantly, clients are beginning to ask for these statistics and reports prior to committing to sign a contract that states they will hold their meeting at that particular hotel.
herzencortes

Don't Lag Behind: Emerging Hotel Technology Trends for Hospitality Industry | By Berta ... - 1 views

  • Not so long ago, all the hotels had the same checking procedures, the same TV channels, and delivered the same experience in general. However, it couldn't last forever and the age of digital technologies introduced new standards of service
  • They want to make reservations from their smartphones, they are looking for a stable network and convenient minimalistic design.
  • A great example is Hilton Worldwide. This company introduced an AI-driven concierge in 2016. They called this robot Connie. It's based on a powerful IBM computer Watson.
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  • The more it interacts with the customers, the smarter it becomes, and the more useful its suggestions.
  • Smart Guest Rooms
  • More Data
  • Energy Conservation
  • Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality
  • Mobile Technologies
  • People are looking for customization and automated solutions. One-third of all hotel guests in the world are millennials, and experts predict that they will make up over 50% of clients in two years
    • herzencortes
       
      The millennial market is quickly changing the tourism market, from the way reservations are made to the destinations that are chosen. In my opinion the tourism industry needs to evolve or fall behind.
  • Hotels that don't want to lag behind have already started using it.
    • herzencortes
       
      Hotels are beginning to involve AI technologies such as Alexa and Siri in their rooms, though these may not have the capability of doing hotel reservations and research them yet, these are now able to make restaurant reservations and recommend ac tivities acting in many ways like a concierge.
  • "focused on reimagining the entire travel experience to make it smarter, easier and more enjoyable for guests."
    • herzencortes
       
      As the market evolves companies need to evolve along with it, by making rooms smart it adds a differentiator and in doing so a n aspirational destination for millennials.
  • Obviously, hotels also need to re-think design, including accessible plugs in every part of the room so that their guests could easily charge all their devices.
    • herzencortes
       
      The change towards more technology friendly rooms is evident by the ever increasing number of outlets and USB ports found in hotels.
  • Almost 50% of resorts and hotels are now looking for new ways of collecting data from their guests.
    • herzencortes
       
      Data is gold for many reasons from building accommodations that are more adequate for the demographics of a hotel to the commercialization of a hotel, through AI technologies the mining of this information becomes easier with more data than ever before available to marketing professionals.
  • VR technologies allow guests to navigate through a hotel before they decide whether or not they're going to stay there.
    • herzencortes
       
      VR is going to be very important to marketing in the future. Hotels are now starting to use it more and more every day.
  • Today's hotels are focusing on customization, local experiences, and inspiration. Modern travelers put these factors above all, and the hospitality industry changes to meet their expectations
    • herzencortes
       
      Customization is going to be king in the future to come and a great way of reaching new markets.
  • Energy Conservation
    • herzencortes
       
      Green hotels and destinations are becoming more and more prevalent, energy conservation raises the bottom line by lowering costs.
  •  
    Before hotels had the same number of tv channels, but now it's a race to see what hotel can bring more technological advances to the table to increase ROI. Hilton worldwide has adopted an AI-driven concierge in 2016 at a property which is powered by IBM Watson. The article also talks about 5 top emerging hotel technology trends. The first one is Smart guest rooms, the second one is obtaining more data, third is energy conservation. The fourth one is VR and AR which can show people special maps of guest rooms, while the fifth one would be mobile technologies, such as mobile key, room service request.
ldeur001

6 Elements Obsolete in the Hospitality Industry - 2 views

  • Guest expectations has always been the focus of industry leaders in hospitality and food service. Today, the hospitality consumer is tech savvy to an historically unprecedented degree.
  • Through mobile options for their guests, leading hotel chains including Marriott and IHG are making the traditional front desk line-up unnecessary.
  • The guest experience of going directly to the room without having to line up to check in and to check out in the same way becomes a given as the old paradigm disappears.
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  • An important trend that’s driving the industry is guest empowerment to manage the order process themselves in their own time without necessary staff intervention.
  • Mobile ordering plays a significant role in this area. So does the growing presence of kiosk technology
  • UberEats, Door Dash, GrubHub
  • here are some negative effects of these models as well, with some third-party apps taking a debilitating chunk of the profits in exchange for their services.
  • Allowing customization of menu items is a part of the increasing emphasis on personalization of the hospitality industry overall.
  • accurate reporting that allows organizations to manage menus based on the trends of what guests want and apply changes across all locations simultaneously.
  • it is becoming more and more important for organizations to remove the barriers for visitors to make payments according to their native preferences, particularly as cash payments continue to be rivaled by digital payments globally.
  • walled garden of information that was disconnected from the whole
  • With the increasing prominence of cloud technology, mobile applications, IoT, and a myriad of other technologies whereby data is collected and managed, that earlier model is fading out.
  • Creating an accessible, visible, and open environment that more easily connects to strategy is the clearer road to staying competitive.
  • Emerging technology and the culture developing around it continues to drive the evolving expectations of guests.
  •  
    Hospitality consumers are only getting more and more tech savvy, therefore, businesses must meet their patrons' standards and expectations when it comes to preferences, efficiency, convenience and speed. Examples we experience daily are mobile ordering at a restaurant, online/kiosk check in at a hotel, food delivery apps and more.
  •  
    Being able to customize to the consumer and their needs is a game changer and with data analytics available today this is becoming more of a reality and could soon be a consumer expectation as we want content and experiences that are relevant to us.
  •  
    The more technology is evolving into the world of business the more human interaction is less needed. parallelly, customer expectations keeps getting higher every year. some consumers tend to look for more personalized service, this is very difficult to provide through technology solely, till now at least, human interaction is essential to keep up with guests expectations.
kyleemcroberts

Why Tablets on Restaurant Tables Are Here to Stay - Eater - 0 views

  • tabletops at numerous restaurants, from fast-casual burger chains to pillars of the casual-dining sector like Olive Garden and Chili’s.
  • Putting tablets on tables is intended to speed up service by enabling diners to perform various tasks such as ordering food or paying their check without having to wait for their server to appear. I
  • restaurants to turn tables more quickly and serve more guests
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  • Outback Steakhouse franchisee in the nation operates more than 100 stores, said that the tabletop tablets enable their restaurants to cut labor costs by “one or two percent,” and run fewer servers per night who are each making more money.
  • 15 percent of diners use the tablets to play games during their meal, but all those small transactions add up — and mean that the tablets basically pay for themselves.
  • tablets are a valuable tool in their technology arsenal.
  • There’s been a fair amount of concern that tablets would put human servers out of jobs, but thus far Outback and other casual dining chains say they are using tablets as server’s assistants:
  • Human servers still interact with the tables and lead service, but diners can use them for common requests like ordering drink refills and closing out their tab.
  • tips have stayed steady or even increased, thanks to the ease of tipping via tablet:
  • automatically apply a tip of the industry standard 20 percent, which is easier than manually entering a smaller tip. Tips are likely also higher thanks to diners’ increased satisfaction with service
  • increased check averages when tablets are in use
  • tablets are also serving as a valuable data gathering tool.
  • restaurants with useful feedback on food and service, and in some cases guests who want to provide more specific feedback
  •  
    The rise of tablets.
  •  
    Tablets have become a success in faster casual and casual-dining restaurant and seem to be better for all around service. Customers like how fast they are able to order, servers are happier because they see a trend of getting more tips at the end of the night, and businesses are profitable because less servers on shift and more profit in business pockets. People tend to spend more money with games to play and ability to order more food in less time. There is a benefit for data collecting on experience at the restaurant as well that helps the companies out on what they need to focus on. Tablets are showing great promise and will most likely be on almost all casual dining tables.
Qike Chu

Hotel Industry Trend: Mobile Proximity Marketing Gives Hoteliers and Their Advertisers ... - 3 views

  • andexclusivity. 
  • Today, hotels and advertisers have a new tool to reach their guests after they check in: interaction via the guests’ mobile devices—only now, it won’t be by dialing a number or sending a text message. 
  • Proximity marketing is one of the most effective advertising tools to become available for hoteliers.
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  • Proximity marketing offers hoteliers capabilities that traditional advertising never could alone, which is why it is such an effective marketing for hoteliers. 
  • Proximity marketing provides a tool to reach guests beyond just traditional advertising campaigns by adding to existing digital signage and television advertising. 
  • Proximity marketing appeals to what guests want, offering hotels and advertisers increased customer engagement, interaction andexclusivity.  By notifying guests of exclusive promotions hotels have to offer through their mobile phones, hotels and advertisers have a greater chance of customers responding to their advertisements, and therefore a greater ROI on their marketing spend. 
  • Changing technologies provide a new way for hotels to interact with guests.
  • As hoteliers search for new marketing tools to increase interaction with their guests, and advertisers switch budgets from traditional advertising to newer, more interactive “new media”, it is clear that the future of hotel marketing is ready to evolve.
  • With such an increase in the use of mobile devices, hotels and advertisers are now provided with an interactive and immediate way to connect and engage with their guests.  Research shows that 98% of hotel guests turn on the TV within five minutes of entering their room.  This means that within the first five minutes of checking in, hotels are provided with a captive audience that is primed for information and offers.
  • By the end of 2011, 91% of Americans will own mobile phones, and Smartphone penetration will double.
  • by using wireless Bluetooth® capabilities—95% of mobile phones, including Smartphones are Bluetooth-enabled – to reach guests via their mobile devices, hotels and their advertisers can now offer promotions to guests after check-in, directly onto their mobile phone.
  • Research has shown that proximity marketing increases the response rate of traditional mobile marketing making it more effective: through mobile advertising, over 1.2 billion in digital coupons were issued in 2010 (over 41% growth) and response rates for mobile location-based couponing was 23-33 percent.  By adding proximity marketing into the mix, hoteliers can encourage guests to react to an advertisement immediately, create repeat business, and in turn generate larger ROI for hotel advertisers.
  • Increased interaction engages the customer in a hotels promotion.
  •  
    Proximity Marketing is the trend of the marketing sector of the hospitality industry. Based on the statistics, there is a great increase in using proximity marketing recent years. And there are some reasons why hotels choose to use this technology. First, it enables the hotel to reach potential customers and providing electronic forms of advertising. By notifying guests of exclusive promotions hotels have to offer through their mobile phones, hotels and advertisers have a greater chance of customers responding to their advertisements, and therefore a greater ROI on their marketing spend. Second, from the perspective of the hotel, it decrease the advertising cost in terms of decreasing labor cost. It is said that proximity marketing has a tremendous revenue-production potential, and more hotels are engaging in using proximity marketing.
  •  
    Proximity marketing is the localized wireless distribution of advertising content associated with a particular place. It is now becoming one of the most popular marketing tools in any industry especially in hospitality. Marketing people from hotel industry were looking for new marketing tools past few years. Instead of sending out promotion mails or emails, they need to have better ideas. What they realized is that wish an increase in the use of mobile devices, hotels can communicate and provide better service with guest cell phone. They also realized guests usually watch TV, while they are waiting to be C/I. So hotel is now providing offers while guests are in line. It is a Win-Win situation. The way to find communication is now the key of marketing. Proximity Marketing is a type of eMarketing that will help to communicate with guests with low cost.
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    According to this article, it said that by the end of 2011, 91% of Americans  owned mobile phones, and Smartphone penetration have been doubled. Obviously, it becomes a trend in hospitality industry nowadays that more and more people use smart phones and tablets. Based on wireless such as bluetooth, it allows hoteliers to interact with customers much easier and more convenient. Proximity marketing is one kind of eMarketing which is very popular in daily life. It is well known that better marketing brings better sales which of course increases revenues of companies. By sending guests nearby informations about promotions and discounts, hotels attract more guests than before. However, too much informations sent to guests will make them sucks and they have no choice to select what they really want. So in my opinion, I think it should be improved.
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