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The article revolves around new technological concepts that the main cruise lines are adding to the cruising experience. While they have heavily focused on the ships hardware, they want to implement new software that will make the experience more enjoyable and simpler for guests to enjoy. Carnival, would like to implement a "medallion" called the Ocean Compass, that is crossover between the Disney Magic Band, and the band seen at the Universal Volcano Bay water park. It fits the Disney aspect, because it holds information,can open doors, and links guest pictures to the technology. It is similar to Universal, because it informs guests of when to attend something, so that they do not have to wait in a line. Royal Caribbean, likes the band idea that Disney presented, and wants to make bands of their own, that have similar functions that the Ocean Compass from Carnival has. In addition, Royal Caribbean wants to expose their guests to Virtual Reality. They hope to create an immersive experience for their guests, from the comfort of their rooms. Norwegian and MSC are mostly developing smart phone applications, that allow guests to check-in, book excursions, and open rooms. It is obvious that Disney developed a great idea with combining a "magical" band and phone application. The concept is so successful, that other players want to utilize the same formula. Let us see how well it works in the cruising industry.

The article discusses the benefits of using POS software in hotels and how POS software can improve revenue generation over time. Some of the key benefits discussed include ease of processing payments, better management of inventory, opportunities to upsell and market different products, improved employee management and more analytical insights. The article further highlights a POS system's ability to integrate with the hotel PMS to further increase efficiency. Current and future trends have also been covered.

This article shares opportunities for the introduction of augmented reality in the hospitality setting. These modernized methods will allow hospitality properties to stand out from competitors. Guests will also have an improved experience with this technology in place.

Hospitality tech company invests millions in new eCommerce technology for luxury hotels. Its main goal will be to help hotels maximize property profitability by creating a kind of Shopify for hotels by gathering the hotels products and services into purchasable inventory for guests.

Highlights: 1) Computers are used extensively by lodging managers and their assistants to keep track of guests' bills, reservations, room assignments, meetings, and special events. In addition, computers are used to order food, beverages, and supplies, as well as to prepare reports for hotel owners and top-level managers. 2) As for front desk, these computers have an intricate soft ware called the Property Managemen System (PMS) to do all the check ins, guest accounting, and etc. 3) In the restaurant, lounge, or bar is a new computer entirely called a Point of Sale System (POS). This will collaborate with a PMS to bill guests for a meal and etc, but can also be used as a cash register. 4) The computer in the sales office, which software is most likely DelPhi which is a booking terminal. 5) Nowadays hotel without a computer is like a bank without a vault. 6) The PMS may interface with central reservation system(CRS) and revenue or yield management system.

This article talks about the various types of computer systems in the hospitality industry, as well as their usage and benefits. Most of the common computer systems in the hospitality industry are PMS, POS, CRS, and DelPhi. A computer systems may be link to another to ensure streamline process. For example, the POS system at a hotel's restaurant can be linked to the PMS system at the front desk. That way, the guest's restaurant bill can be directly charge to his/her folio. Most of the large hotels do use computer systems. As the author mentioned, "a hotel without a computer is like a bank without a vault." In my opinion, hotels will not be able to deliver exemplary guest service without inventing in computer systems in today's competitive market.

This is one step closer to creating a virtual experience for hotel guests entirely. This article is about a completely automatic system that delivers guests their room service needs quickly and virtually. This machine is called "Butler" and is considered to be a virtual room service that has changing menus for food and saves much time for people that would be doing that now. They, later on, plan on having the system be able to deliver drinks and much more. According to recent surveys taken by the hotel, these services has had much positive feedback.

Highlights: -It allows hotels and other related businesses to enhance the physical environment they are selling (i.e. their hotel and its rooms), or enhance the experience of exploring the surrounding area. -Augmented reality technology can make a lot of this information readily available to customers at all times of the day, improving their entire experience. -Interactive Hotel Rooms. -Beacon Technology -Augmented hotel environment -Augmented Reality is a great example of how engineers/workers can use these tools and incorporate them with an EAM CMMS solution.

Summary of article: This article talks about how augmented reality technology is leading in the hospitality industry. The augmented reality helps the hospitality industry to enhance the physical environment they are selling, or enhance the experience of exploring the surrounding area. For example, guests will be able to have a "feel" before arriving to the property and the destination. Some examples of augmented reality are interactive hotel rooms, beacon technology, and augmented hotel environment. These systems are able to linked with the PMS and POS in order to enhance the experience of the guests.

This article discussed the pros and cons of mobile proximity marketing and how to possibly overcome the downfalls of the type of marketing.

privacy concerns, complex management, excessive opt-ins, conversion issues

There can be many benefits and negatives to introducing new technology into your company. While it can be interesting to see new marketing methods for a company, these results can also be temporary. A company wanting to integrate these new marketing methods into their business will have to identify if their audience would react well with this new form of marketing and make their choices based on those results.

This article investigates the adoption of cloud computing in the hospitality industry across the world. While identifying the benefits and challenges of this system, the findings suggest that cloud computing is utilized in hotel groups today, more often than not. The article is not an opinion piece but rather an investigation searching for evidence to support the theory that cloud computing is growing in the hospitality industry. It bases its arguments from the observances that in order to operate a hotel group on todays scale, you have to be willing to fall in line with the trends of today- technology + convenience. It also is described how operating systems that streamline property management in terms of reservations, billing, ticketing, etc aren't exactly inventions of right now, but have been developed and corrected more and more as time has gone on and necessity has demanded of them. Four hotel groups, across 2-3 regions were involved in the study where participants were all senior IT directors and managers, across hotels with varying levels of rooms. What they ultimately found was that majority of the information systems used by these hotel groups were based on the cloud system. When the benefits and challenges were surveyed, it was found that the most common reason groups were utilizing this system was relieving the site from not having certain hardware to perform certain functions, and transferring security related risks to the system suppliers instead of the hotel. However, challenges noted was that operating expenses increased, the on site IT leaders don't have access to the environment the hardware lives in, and information security concerns. Working with a cloud computing system daily, I thoroughly understand and appreciate the benefits of having one streamlined services for guest logistics. It creates multiple levels of ease for all aspects of the organization as well as the wider hotel group. For operations that span across the globe, there probably i

This article talks about planned obsolescence and US e-waste. This article talks about how tech companies engage in planned obsolescence to encourage technology turnover. They talk about ways that the US can stop this planned obsolescence. One way would be to enforce durability standard for products creating a longer life time. This could be partnered with an enforced longer warranty on electronic devices.

The hospitality industry is beginning to employ robots to perform many of the tasks we'd typically expect human employees to perform. They are programmed to perform tasks such as fulfilling guest requests and responding to guest inquiries. Some hotels, however, have taken it a step further by replacing half their staff with robots and attempting to program them to perform other tasks such as assisting guests with their luggage. This turned out to be more of an issue than it was helpful as guests found that these robots could not climb stairs or go outside. Guests staying in hotels where robots' tasks were simpler tasks such as vacuuming, and room delivery had better reviews than those tasked with more complex tasks such as customer service interactions.

Consumers generally say they want to buy products that are more environmentally sustainable or socially responsible.Effective societal marketing treats the social responsibility aspect as an extra benefit to choosing an already fine product. The company needs to give customers what they want either way by including healthier options.

This article talks about what the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, WA is doing regarding green computing on campus and how their students can also get involved.

Philips Professional Display Solutions (PDS) offered to upgrade hotel televisions in order to reduce e-waste. By allowing older models to be upgraded, there is higher return on investment and a reduction in the frequency of replacements. This prevents the discarding of pieces of electronic equipment that are fully functional, but are erroneously deemed out-dated and worthless.

There are several pros and cons to self-service POS systems. Technology innovations will result in an increase in the amount of service businesses that will utilise self-service kiosks for contactless payments. Every business must evaluate which type of system would work best for the specific type of product or service offering. Retailers, restaurants, ticketing businesses and businesses with appointment checkins are likely to benefit from these systems. There are many solutions that can enhance customer service and business efficiency. Each business must carefully consider the advantages and disadvantages prior to investing in order to identify a system that fits.

This article shows the 11 Key Trends that are disrupting the travel industry and what businesses need to stay on top of in order to stay relevant. I found the concept of voice activated things in the rooms interesting. As someone who has her own "smart-home", I struggle with the debate of Alexa always listening to my children, and the ease of me saying goodnight and all the lights turning off without me having to get up. I remember reading about a lawsuit that came about regarding the legality of Alexa recording children without their consent, so I wonder about the feasibility of this technology inside the rooms themselves.