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dstro007

Some 15 million online bookings are scams by rogue websites - 0 views

www.traveldailynews.com/...ome-15-million-online-bookings

scams rogue websites online hotel bookings security issues hospitality technology

shared by dstro007 on 03 Oct 15 - No Cached
  • When it comes to booking a hotel, it pays to go straight to the source. A new study conducted by the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AH&LA) reveals that one in three people are worried about online booking scams, which affect millions of unsuspecting consumers.
  • Early estimates suggested that some 2.5 million hotel bookings a year were affected by deceptive practices through rogue third-party online travel agency (OTA) affiliates who pose as direct hotel booking sites.
  • six percent of consumers who have booked hotels online had the experience of thinking they were booking directly with a hotel, but found out instead that they were booking with an online hotel booking site posing as the direct site
  • ...13 more annotations...
  • translates to some 15 million hotel bookings that have been affected
  • translates to more than $1.3 billion in money going to bad bookings, meaning consumers are not getting what they want and need, not to mention suffering inconveniences, lost room charges, and cancellation and booking fees
  • Another 20 percent of respondents who have booked hotels online reported that they were “not sure” if they had also been scammed.
  • This concern was raised by the Federal Trade Commission
  • These practices also damage hotel reputations and reduce consumer confidence in the online booking process.
  • 14 percent could not get a refund for a cancellation
  • 17 percent were charged unexpected or hidden fees
  • 15 percent did not get their rewards points
  • 14 percent were charged an extra booking fee
  • 32 percent got a room that was different than what was expected
  • Nine percent had reservations lost or cancelled
  • Three percent had their identity or private information stolen
  • The study confirmed that, in order for travelers to be certain they are getting what they want and need, without the frustration and worry, most feel it is better to book directly with the hotel. A majority of those who have booked a hotel online say that they prefer dealing directly with the hotel (56%).
  • dstro007 on 03 Oct 15
     
    So, for the consumers that are used to booking their vacations by themselves, I don't think this article applies to you. For the ones that are trying to save money by not going through a travel agent, I think thesis the article for you. A study conducted by AH&LA shows early signs that almost 2.5 million bookings for hotel properties made online through "fake websites" are being accounted for. This is a huge security issue. Consumers are booking their travel thinking that they are getting certain room types, ample amenities, amazing discounts, and good deals, but turns out they are just getting scammed. Other then not making the clients happy, this also hurts the reputation of the hotel property because when things don't go our way or something happens, we tend to blame the property. And in today's society, most take to the internet to voice their opinions in addition to speaking with the hotel; and bad word-of-mouth is the last thing our industry needs. Also, this can lead to loss of revenue. The survey stated that 56% of customers prefer to book directly with the hotel. It is always recommended to book directly through the property themselves, but for the new guys, how are they supposed to differentiate the difference between real and fake websites? 
Allen Lok

Houston Hilton hotel installs facial recognition; system can ID suitcases, employees an... - 0 views

travel.usatoday.com/...1

shared by Allen Lok on 30 Mar 12 - No Cached
  • The 1,200-room Hilton Americas-Houston - Houston's biggest hotel - has installed a cutting edge digital video system that relies on facial recognition technology. The system will let managers track employees, locate missing suitcases, recognize a VIP guest - and much, much more.
  • 90% accurate in recognizing people and objects
  • 3VR Security,
  • ...6 more annotations...
  • The hotel says the system can aid customers who've reported an item has gone missing inside the hotel
  • derail potential dangers before they happen by, for instance, uploading a digital image of someone who is banned from the hotel and letting the system send an alert when the person shows up.
  • the system can find relevent surveillance footage in seconds
  • bility to recognize repeat customers," the
  • release says. Moore says that they'll tie in the system with its front-office systems to "flag our Gold Card members in
  • order to be able to blow them away with service."
  • Yi Sun on 30 Mar 12
     
    Now as the world developed, security of every area becomes more and more important especially in hospitality industry. More and more new technology is used in hotel. From this article, we know that the Hilton Americas-Houston has installed a cutting edge digital video system that relies on facial recognition technology.The hotel isn't just monitoring for potential outsider threat; it's also keeping an eye out for rogue insiders, too. The hotel is using facial recognition to monitor employee behavior, paying particular attention to any former employees who leave on less-than-pleasant terms. All employees are informed that video monitoring of them takes place. The video system monitors the areas where employees come to punch into time clocks in order to verify the person's identity. But perhaps more significantly, the facial recognition system is used to watch for any suspicious activities of employees or former employees. For security problems that happened already, the system can find relevant surveillance footage in seconds rather than hours, which can aid in solving crimes and possibly prosecuting criminals. Hotel security could also derail potential dangers before they happen by, for instance, uploading a digital image of someone who is banned from the hotel and letting the system send an alert when the person shows up. Using facial recognition, the system would issue an alert if the person walked into a hotel so security so then hotel security could then escort the people out of the hotel. In serious cases, footage can be stored and e-mailed to an insurance company or local district attorney.
  • Melissa Krajewski on 30 Mar 12
     
    This seems similar to the casino facial recognition technology that Professor Cilli mentioned in the video lecture. Its interesting that you mentioned protecting the Hotel and their guests from disgruntled former employees backlash. With the Hotel common areas not being private space I don't see why guests would have a problem with privacy infringement.
  • Allen Lok on 22 Mar 13
     
    3VR highlights hotel security program that incorporates facial recognition to track guest, identify unwanted or banned guest and monitor employee attendance and behaviors. Also it can be used to help those pesky items that guests seem to keep losing by using color, size and other physical attributes. While this system has many benefits to a hotel, I see this being only feasible in a large property where the sheer volume of customers and guest can produce enough revenues to offset the cost of this system.
asant318

Ransomware: One of Hospitality's Biggest Threats in 2017 | News | Hospitality Magazine ... - 0 views

hospitalitytech.com/pitalitys-biggest-threats-2017

shared by asant318 on 12 Jul 18 - No Cached
  • attack made headlines for locking guests out for their rooms
  • discuss how ransomware can affect the hospitality industry and what hotels and restaurants should consider to protect themselves from future cyber attacks.
  • Travelers may be annoyed, but for the hotel, ransomware can be a major business disruption.
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  • The cyber threat has been used to target a variety of businesses from hospitals to retailers and now the hospitality industry
  • , businesses need to always be ready for a breach. Every business should have an action plan in place to prevent their company from being the next victim of ransomware or any other cyber security threat.
  • pirated software, file attachments, web links, and suspicious emails.
  • keep additional devices from being infected.
  • best practices for any company to employ are regular backups and a tested disaster recovery plan
  • Using anti-malware software is a necessary start, but it will not stop everything – especially rogue software downloaded by employees
  • important to act quickly by segmenting portions of the infected network and removing devices to try and prevent the problem from spreading.
  • install ransomware protection
  • malicious software will continue to rise as businesses and consumers become more dependent on the internet for everyday needs.
  • it’s important that businesses take proactive steps to protect not only company data, but the overall integrity of the company network from hackers.
  • asant318 on 12 Jul 18
     
    The article discusses ransomware attacks on hospitality properties. A 2016 attack left guests locked out of their rooms but the threat could affect different areas of a hospitality business and cause significant disruption to their business. Properties need to be prepared for a security breach with an action plan to prevent cyber-attack. The article points out that it's important to act quickly to segment the network and try to prevent any new devices from being infected. Best practice recommends regular backups and a recovery plan, using anti malware software and being cautious with employee installed software. The most important thing a company can do is to be proactive and prepared for an attack.
kmill139

Why the U.S. is Terrible at Recycling Electronics | Digital Trends - 0 views

www.digitaltrends.com/...-waste-recycling-united-states

technology hospitality business tech

shared by kmill139 on 17 Jun 21 - No Cached
  • E-waste in the United States is out of control.
  • You may assume America has to at least be on par with the rest of the first world when finding a forever home for computers, phones, and printers, but you’d be wrong.
  • Those millions of old motherboards and TVs consoles rotting in landfills and warehouses aren’t just eyesores. They amount to a massive health hazard. While electronics waste comprises only 2-3 percent of America’s solid waste stream, the lead, cadmium, chromium, and other materials in aging circuitry account for 70 percent of the hazardous material in landfills, according to an EPA report.
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  • Others go belly up, leaving behind millions of pounds of old gadgets piled in mountainous heaps atop land which has lead levels many times normal.
  • You’re probably not screaming into a paper bag about the $20 billion or so of gold that’s trashed in electronics every year worldwide. Precious metals come and go. But if you care about the soil that comprises the land of the brave, you should start thinking about what happened to last year’s smartphone (even if it’s just sitting in the garage).
  • This list of reasons isn’t exhaustive, but serves as a solid starting point for understanding the United States’ e-waste dilemma and what can be done.
  • U.S. e-waste recycling laws are often outdated or nonexistent
  • Only 25 states (plus Washington, D.C.) have legislation that addresses e-waste recycling. The other 25 don’t have comprehensive programs, and don’t report what happens to the electronics beyond occasional voluntary numbers, says Jason Linnell, head of the National Center for Electronics Recycling (NCER). Federal laws don’t explicitly address e-waste recycling.
  • The U.S. isn’t good at recycling
  • The current level and effectiveness of e-waste recycling depends on which state you live in and whether or not you trust locals to “do the right thing.” The hope for improvement sits with congressional reps, state lawmakers, manufacturers, and gadget freaks (yes, you).
  • Single-stream recycling hasn’t helped
  • Between 2005 and 2014, single stream recycling programs increased from 29 to 80 percent in American towns and cities. During that same time period, material contamination rates increased from 7 to 25 percent.
  • E-waste legislation regularly disappears in Congress
  • This is not the first Congressional session in which similar bills have been introduced and allowed to die like a first grade classroom goldfish on summer break. SEERA currently sits with the house’s Foreign Affairs Committee. Why is it so tough to pass e-waste legislation?
  • The U.S. is an environmental rogue
  • As of late 2018, 186 states and the European Union have ratified it and follow its legal framework. The United States has signed the Basel Convention, indicating an intent to ratify, but is the only developed nation that hasn’t actually done so, which
  • After the initial Basel Convention was adopted in 1989, many organizations said the treaty didn’t do enough to address the disposal of waste from first world countries into the developing world, and pressed for an update, which eventually became 1995’s Basel Ban Amendment. The tweak — which was attacked by many industrial powers, including the U.S., Canada, and Japan — needed three decades before it was accepted by enough countries to go into effect. In August 2019, Croatia became the 97th country to ratify it, which transformed the updated stipulations into international law in December 2019.
  • EPA regulations are incomplete
  • Federal attempts at regulation have stalled, been killed
  • U.S. pushes back against international efforts
  • As a part of the 2003 Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE Directive), the public was guaranteed free recycling services, and conveniently located collection centers. Around the same time, the EU also passed the Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive (RoHS), aka the “lead-free directive,” which restricts the use of several toxic materials in the manufacture of circuitry and electronic products.
  • In Japan, the Association for Electric Home Appliances requires consumers to help pay for the processing of their goods and manufacturers to set up recycling programs. Electronics recycling has been promoted as such a point of national pride — because Japan is both a huge consumer of gadgets and the country has few indigenous precious metals — that there’s serious talk of making the 2020 Tokyo Olympic metals out of recycled materials. An estimated 80,000 cell phones need to be pulled apart and picked over to complete the plan.
  • State-level e-cycling programs are uneven
  • Certified e-cycling programs are important, but also confusing
  • If you’re the compliance officer who has to make sure the company’s used servers don’t wind up getting tossed in an Indonesian landfill, and you won’t have to nervously answer questions in a “60 Minutes” exposé, you probably want to get that e-waste removed by a disposal team with one of these
  • That all sounds great until you listen to Puckett, who helped create the e-Stewards protocols. He’s one of several people who took part in the development of R2 for over two years and then refused to continue when the proposed guidelines seemed to be too tainted by lobbyists, including ones at the Institute of Scrap Recycling (ISRI), an organization that favors a free market approach over regulation. Puckett and 13 recyclers created e-Stewards, which describes itself as the “the cleanest, most globally responsible standard for e-waste recycling.” He points out that the R2 certification still allows recyclers to export to developing countries. E-Stewards’ doesn’t. R2 recyclers can drop toxic e-waste in landfills or incinerators in the event of “circumstances beyond their
  • Scrap recycling lobby doesn’t like regulations
  • The announcer proudly explains e-cycling is a vibrant industry that adds 20.6 billion to the U.S. economy and supports 45,000 jobs domestically, “safeguarding our environment,” along the way.
  • Can anything be done? Possibly
  • Recycling isn’t the only answer for fewer landfills filled with decaying circuits. Chris Wellise, Chief Sustainability Officer for Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), which installs and recovers tech, emphasizes the importance of designing products for longevity, disassembly, and reuse.
  • “On average, 85 percent of the environmental impacts can be addressed in the design phase,” estimates Wellise.
  • Similar challenges exist for smartphones. Review IFixit’s guide for repairability and you can expect the phones that are easy to disassemble are also easier to refurbish or scrap. In an unusual display of transparency, eco-minded electronics company Fairphone sells spare parts on its site and has visual cues printed on the pieces to help novices figure out where everything goes. In case you’re wondering, it’s possible to make a Fairphone work in America, but most of the company’s sales are in Europe.
  • In 2018, Apple gave birth to Daisy, a robot that can disassemble 200 of the company’s phones in an hour — 1.2 million a year. The company has an installation of the machine in Austin, Texas, and another in the Netherlands. Daisy’s supply chain of used products comes from the company’s in-store trade-in program and a partnership with Best Buy.
  • Pretty awe-inspiring, right? Keep in mind that Apple sold over 217 million phones just in 2018 and has moved 2.2 billion iPhone units since the product line launched in 2007. The two Daisy divisions aren’t even working at capacity. Apple is willing to license the robot technology so any company can use it to disassemble phones, but none have approached them yet.
  • carlatj on 17 Jun 21
     
    "Maybe it's easy to ignore the huge percentage of vintage gadgets that wind up torched in dicey scrap heaps in developing countries". This article was written on Feb-27-2020. The problem we saw on the old video is still very much a problem now, only bigger.
  • kmill139 on 29 Sep 21
     
    This article was super informative in the realm of E-waste. It covered every aspect of the issue and most definitely is relevant in today's world.
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