Group items tagged

It appears that American Airline is about to remove itself from the tradition global distribution system and introduce its own distribution system. American Airlines is advocating for distribution companies to utilize AA direct connect which is a direct link into AA's host reservations system. Currently American Airlines fares are no longer available on Expedia or Orbitz sites. This is because no contractual agreement was reached for the distribution of AA products. Travel professionals are waiting to see the result of this bold move by American as this has great implication for the future of airline distribution systems. If American Airlines pulls away from the mainstream GDS, consumers and travel specialist alike will be faced with the inconvenience of going to a separate reservations system to compare fares. Although travel professionals are now urged to use direct connect on a trial basis, the general feeling is that eventually they will be charged to sell American Airline flights. To defend this move American Airline is only saying that direct connect will make it easier for them to tract ancillary fees like priority seating. It was noted in the article that Southwest Airline for the most part is a stand alone reservations system but they do not negotiate with the GDS companies to sell their flights. It is therefore quite evident that this move by American is really to reduce expenditure by eliminating the middle GDS companies while increasing revenue by charging travel partners for utilizing direct connect. American Airlines clearly wants to globally control their distribution system and maximize revenues. Contract renewal for both world span and sabre are due and the experts are waiting to see if American will renew with them. Sabre is owned by American Airlines so its a wait and see game to see how all this will be panned out. The real problem for the consumers and travel specialists are that if other airlines are to follow this move by American the tra

This article explains the distribution route American Airlines is taking to sell their flights. Due to not seeing eye to eye with the two most probably used websites for travel, Expedia and Orbitz, American has now taken their products away from both airline distribution sites. American suggest that all travel agencies and distribution companies begin using Direct Connect, which is a system for only American Airlines flights. If this would happen, travel agencies and companies will then begin having to pay for the system in order to sell Americans flights. At the moment you can still book flights through other distribution sites, but until when will that be? They already stopped Orbitz and Expedia, what's not to stop the others. The future of global distribution systems will be up in the air if all airlines choose to sell their own systems to be able to sell reservations. The only positive that was pointed out in this article was that if this system takes over, then more consumers will have to go back to using travel agents to secure the best reservations for flights and such.

With the contracts for major global systems, Worldspan and Sabre, being up for renewal in the near future, this article analyses the possible outcomes for airlines, and alternatives should they choose not to forgo continuing use of GDS

Engineering.com explores how renewable energy industries will operate post COVID-19. With focus on: Utilities, Solar, & Wind Power.

This article expounds how Google is contributing to the future green advancements of the world by implementing them in their every day operations. Although developing next-generation consumer electronics is an extremely lucrative sector of technology, Google has shifted their thinking away from the immediate consumer electronics field, moving towards the development of green technology. The article further mentions Google's wide-range of environmentally-friendly initiatives which includes the development of an application plug-in that would help automobiles determine where the driver is going that in turn reduces energy use, incorporates renewable energy, and offsets carbon emissions. Also, despite the large amount of Google data centers, Google has managed to cut their energy use in half through practical thinking that included purchasing a wind farm in Iowa with plans of running entirely on renewable energy in the near future. The company also made it a point to cut down on greenhouse gases by having goats roam their Google campus to eliminate the need for fertilizer and lawn movers. In conclusion, by adopting unconventional techniques for effectively lowering its environmental impact, the company has become a model example for more companies to think outside of the box and focus on implementing green technology in an efficient and innovative manner.

Deploying a monitoring and control system as part of this project offered many advantages, including: Showing the public the impact of investing in a renewable energy project Providing an effective means of assessing the long-term performance, determining maintenance needs, and maximizing the ROI of the project Enhancing the project's educational value for students. Overall, the project has reaped important benefits for education, business, and industry: The green home illustrates the use of renewable energy and supports its benefits with solid performance data. The project demonstrates how educational institutions can extend their reach throughout the country and around the world, conducting long-term research, bringing short-term real-time data into the classroom, and educating and training the future technology workforce. The systems exemplify the influence of sophisticated, electronic tools such as Web-based portal software.

The article points to the fact that energy is a major issue for hotels, which can be solved by going green and by implementing 3 energy-saving factors. 1. Using low energy devices and replacing all incandescent bulbs with LED-based lightning. 2. Adopting renewable source of energy. 3. Using connected devices, which make it possible for managers to monitor the power consumption. So today going green it's the long-term option for companies who want to save their prosperity.

Google has now been involved in the green initiative by trying to conserve energy and helping other sectors of the society to stay green. "French authorities have used google's mapping services to determine agricultural regions that should face water restrictions." This could help the French to save some of its crops as some require more water than others. It could also help them to conserve on water during their drought season when water is most needed. The agricultural sector in the mid west US could consider utilizing this technology during their drought season. Also with the use of their satellite system Google is able to disseminate information to tribes to help them prevent deforestation. Another way in which Google is helping in the green initiative is in its agreement to purchase renewable energy to run one of its new data centers. Google also encourages its workers to bike or ride scooters to work. this would help the environment a great deal by reducing carbon emmissions in the air, it also reduces traffic congestion. If more companies would adopt some of these initiatives it would greatly impact our environment.

This article has many ideas to incorporate "green" ideas into the physical plant structure of a hotel. For example, it suggests building your staff into a more "green" awareness. Also, it has several ideas on how to save energy and reduce. Additionally, it has numerous suggestions on building maintenance. For example, using the Energy Star Portfolio Manager will aid in waste tracking.

Meyers have created a new way for hotels to avoid physical contact and contamination by using a disposable paper room card. This kind of card also has the advantage of reducing plastic waste and allow hotels to customize their cards. The article also has mentioned that the card can have a layer of anti-microbial coating if needed. Generally, this kind of card is a nice solution to be more eco-friendly and safe.

The company Meyers has created a new, safe way for guests to enter their hotel rooms with the current conditions of the world today. "Meyers has developed a paper RFID key card - called the AssureCard - that looks and feels like a plastic key card but is made from renewable paper pulp and may be disposed of after a single use." It has been customary in the past for hotels to reuse plastic room keys from guest to guest. This practice is often a deterrent for guests and is also quite unsanitary. Provenance Hotels has been using this technology since January of 2020. Their corporate director, Christopher Bebo stated, "the single-user key concept provides a fresh card to each guest and prevents germs from getting passed to your guests or your employees... Plus, hotels that use AssureCards can do so with the environment in mind by helping to reduce the plastic that goes into landfills." I believe that this technology is an amazing advancement for the health and safety of our guests. The keys are produced at similar costs to what organizations are already paying for plastic keys and they can still provide guests with something that meets their brand standard and expectations. AssureCard is a "proven technology" that is good for the environment and it is going to help to keep our staff and guests safe in a time that is so uncertain.

This article asks 21 hospitality experts what their top 3 technologies to implement in 2020 are. Recurring choices include: renewable energy, smart rooms, food waste management, water conservation, and data collection.

So I'm a beer person. I brew with 'Brew FIU' team and I'm a TA for Professor Gump. This story just makes me smile. Leave it to beer people to find another reason to make more beer. In the brewing process malt, barley and other grains are used as a sugar and flavor source. It's what makes beer, well beer. After the grain has been used it's considered spent due to the fact that most to all of the sugar and starch has removed. At this point it's common to dry the spent grain and turn it into flour for cooking or send it to a farm for animal feed. Which is a green thing to do as is. But the Alaskan Brewing Co. decided to turn it's spent grain into fuel. Now their entire facility is run off of spent grain. How cool is that?!

The financial crisis of 2007-2008 is considered by many economists to be the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. It resulted in the threat of total collapse of large financial institutions, the bailout of banks, and downturns in stock markets around the world. The bursting of the U.S. real estate bubble, which peaked in 2006, caused the values of securities tied to U.S. real estate pricing to plummet, damaging financial institutions. Prior to this crisis strategies to develop new hotels or acquire existing assets with a small percentage of cash out of pocket were plentiful. Today to secure funding it may take 30%-40% of hard cash to move a deal forward. The Small Business Administration (SBA) is offering a way to leverage funds at well below market rates for major renovations and new construction with as low as 10% cash down. The catch? Some money-saving energy efficiency or renewable energy measures must be in the mix. Millions of dollars in SBA 504 loans have been available for decades to help small businesses grow. The greening of the program began when the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 added 3 public policy goals that could qualify businesses for a loan for construction, renovation, or refinance to: 1.Build a new facility (or retrofit an existing building) that consumes at least 10% less energy. 2.Incorporate sustainable design such as LEED into the new construction or renovation projects or building purchases. 3.Incorporate the production and use of renewable energy onsite for the business and/or for the local utility. Another area the 504 green loan program can assist the hospitality industry is to bring cash to the table for major renovations. Hotel franchise companies have been lenient over the past several years on product improvement, as not many hoteliers have had the financial ability to perform major renovations. In the past several months the need for franchise companies to protect their brand have

According to the article, Colorado College did the survey on some state to looking for the swing voters minds of the November election. This survey asked some questions such as what the U.S. would be like in 30 years if it remains dependent on fossil fuels? And what the U.S. would be like in 30 years if clean energy is developed. Swing voters answers were discussed in this news. As the survey showed, the majority of swing voters in those states agreed with the statement that renewable energy will create jobs in the future. 80% interviewees believe the possibility of improving economy and protecting the environment. Besides, the climate change didn't resonated with those voters; however, they worried about the economic competition from China.

The companies have to do a drastic changes in order to stop destroying the planet and today there are materials or sources that can be substitute the fossil fuels, but they have invested so much money in their infractstructure that they do not want to loose it. The corpotates know that making this changes means invest a lot of money and I think they do not want to do so unless we as society force them to make these changes.

According to the July 2011 results of the Sustainable Asset Management Survey by Gartner and TRIRIGA, an IBM company, only 8% of their 130 respondents in large corporations and public sector organizations indicated that they did not have an energy and environmental strategy. However, I suspect that this problem is more prevalent in medium and small organizations.

Article discusses results of study on sustainable facilities management and provides a rubric to set and reach energy efficient goals. Key point of the article I think was item number three in which the article instructs managers to focus on energy efficiency rather than renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, and other areas. See also link below to study... http://1105govinfoevents.com/custom/IBM/sustainability_white_paper.pdf

This article is about how technology can reduce the cost using sustainability. Although that some people believe that green operation is more expensive and that guests are not interested in hospitality. According to Cornell University for hospitality research, the reverse is true for both. Recent advances in technology related to renewable sources of energy are beneficial and have cut the costs for energy. Not only that investment in environmental technology reduce the costs but also has a positive impact in our guest experience.

This article is about how technology can reduce the cost using sustainability. Although that some people believe that green operation is more expensive and that guests are not interested in hospitality. According to Cornell University for hospitality research, the reverse is true for both. Recent advances in technology related to renewable sources of energy are beneficial and have cut the costs for energy. Not only that investment in environmental technology reduce the costs but also has a positive impact in our guest experience.

This article explains the various sustainability efforts of hoteliers in effort to limit their negative impact on the environment. Although, going green is beneficial to the world around us, hoteliers have also realized its benefits within the industry. One important factor has been its cost savings and economic incentives. Going green also enhances the brand image of hoteliers which in turn creates a market for a specific type of traveller, whom deems it necessary for a hotel to maintain sustainability efforts.

Improving hotel's sustainability with the use of environmentally-friendly materials is now of utmost importance. It is a myth that green operations are more costly to obtain and maintain. In fact, renewable energy sources have improved economically and have now become alternative energy source at property level. Governments are now strongly supporting the use of renewable energy sources by providing tax write-offs and quickly expedited regulatory permitting. There will also be increased recognition for brand image and corporate brand image which creates a positive guests experience and attracting better talent. The savings are exponential by investing in better operational procedures and emerging environmental technologies. The green technology is inspiring and forward-thinking.

This paper analyzes and demonstrates the importance of sustainable design in the hotel industry from the perspectives of economy, law, guest experience and corporate responsibility. With the progress of science and technology, sustainable development will become more popular and become a major trend of hotel industry in the future.

This article is about the mobile network technology (including software and hardware) now playing a significant role in the hospitality industry. Hotels use more mobile technology for their marketing and reservation will come out obviously advantage among the competitors. For example, the Google Maps is growing very fast, and its software on the mobile has become the most popular travelling tool for the users in recent months. People use this software as they ask for dinner recommendations, view maps and turn-by-turn directions. What is more, travelers they can use other software in their mobile to watch proprietary videos highlighting hotel amenities and area attractions. As the mobile network technology is growing so fast today, the hotels should make some revolution for their marketing or booking and reservation system. First of all, the hotel should ensure they have a website for the mobile device which can be smooth and functioned well. Addition, for the marketing department, hotels can offer some discount for the travelers who use the mobile software for booking in advance. Because of the locating function in the mobile, hotels can collect those data in their data house which will be useful to customer data analyzing. What is more, the mobile technology is continuously changing, the hotels should follow the trend, and pay attention for the technology renew which will help to attract more customers.

This article analysis the future of the GDS for airlines from both the airline company's perspective and the marketing perspective. The conflicts between airlines and GDS and the agencies is a recycling battle. It has been back and forth with the airlines withdraw from the system and ended up renewing contracts. The most recent war initiated by American airline pulled its inventory from Orbitz in December, 2010, in order to force GDS Travelport to drop the distribution cost. The two parties need each other and it is time for them to reach common ground and have mutual benefits.Delta has done something for that by adopting three second-tire OTAs. http://www.tnooz.com/2010/12/22/news/delta-cites-apple-experience-exits-cheapoair-bookit-com-onetravel/ But those are the short-term issues. In the long term is that " airlines' long-term strategy to advance distribution from fare- and schedule-led selling to merchandising. " The article also give a marketing perspective. It shows the intention of American Airline to build a system that link directly to the airline that don`t have to obey the searching rules of the agency. It also listed nine unanswered questions and wild cards, which indicates the risk of this strategic shift.

Long term financing in hospitality is often done for a period of more than one year. Such financing will have good impacts on hospitality industry like renewing its equipments and meeting operating costs with smooth cash flow. Therefore it is a cost-effective way to help hotels during their tough times in accounting and cash problems. Like we learned in accounting and financing classes, ratio analysis is the best  method to analyze finance in a hotel, which compares the current ratio with the past in order to make feasible investments in the future. What's more, long term financing in hotel industry gives lots of investment potentials. For example, by investing new sectors in F&B as well as accommodation, the job opportunity has also been increased. Besides the investments in hotels, hospitality investment also includes in airlines, cruise lines and tourism bureaus which can also bring profits. So long term financing help hospitality industry make a successful goal with experience and cost effective strategic plan in order to attract more and more tourists as well as guests.

I didn't agree with the pricing method of examining the past and the prices. What for? Prices, consumers wants and needs along with products constantly change. It's an unpredictable market at times. So examining the history would be a waste of time, the only thing you could possibly get from this would be to see how much your costs have gone up in recent years and plain your profit margins accordingly. But you can do this with out having to manage your previous records and histroy. You could just look at any expense report and go from there