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A list of the best Property Management Systems of 2020. 

Technology has taken event planning to the next level. Within the past five years digital administration and mobile engagement are considered to be the two primary causes for change in the events industry. In an article written for Sonburst Communication it states "Digital administration is now key when planning a new meeting. For large events, it's not enough to just sell a ticket online, print them an agenda, and check IDs at the door". Attendees now fall into different categories that may require different forms of check-ins for example someone on the VIP list may receive a gift bag and private cocktail party or someone with special dietary needs once checked in the system notifies the catering term of their confirmed arrival. Digital administration has made it easier for event planners to manage these different kinds of request quickly and on a digital platform. The digital platform is generally tailored for each event before the event. Everything in pre-loaded to the system for example, registration, BEO, event time line, seating chart and set-up and break-down. "If you are not utilizing the smart phone every attendee has in their pocket at your event, you are missing out on a great opportunity and even neglecting attendee expectations." Today's generation is expecting to have the event information available to them at their finger tip. Mobile engagement allows event planners to give them just that weather through email, website, or event app. This also allows event planners to notify guests of any last-minute changes. For example, a change in event time line. Everyone is going digital and most people send more than half the time while at an event on their phones so why not make this information available to them.

This article talks about how hoteliers should be balancing the human touch with technology. Some businesses in the hospitality industry are leaning towards technology, forgetting the human touch is what hospitality is all about. Cutting costs does not outweigh guest experience. Hotels still keep the front desk as a nice touch, yet when we go to the movies we tend to go to the shortest line possible, which is usually the self-service machine. I think this is a trend at the movies because we don't consider it to be hospitality, all we are asking for is a movie ticket and can barely hear the person behind the speaker anyways. Front desk at a hotel is completely different. This is a huge first impression of the hotel itself. Guests are deciding to use mobile apps to check in early or use keyless entry, which means one of the things for front desk: a promotion or getting fired. Hotels are deciding to become more tech friendly to please guests and of course, to cut labor costs. The article mentioned: "The travel industry also needs to rethink its chase of digital tools and services as a proxy to the human experience, and build real social experiences as part of the social spaces it incorporates." This statement was very important to me going back to what I said about human interaction being the face of hospitality. Hotels in China began using mobile check in devices, which seems to be a way to meet in the middle with human experience and technology. These clerks are no longer standing behind a desk. In a way, this seems a bit more personal. Hotel front desks have not changed much within two decades. Of course, certain hotels within Hyatt or Marriott are exceptions. The point here is simply to make checkin and checkout flexible. A hotel can earn customer loyalty this way. It's nice for a guest to feel remembered if they have stayed at the hotel before. Creating loyalty can be very difficult when guests are booking through third parties.When it comes to check

This article goes in depth into GDS. It explains the concept of the GDS is and how eaxctly it works. It also gives examples of some major GDSs. It talks about the benefits of using GDS in hotels.

The global distribution system in the hospitality industry is beyond vital in the act of keeping the ball rolling. GDS provides live products and offers to travelers across the globe. Whats really amazing about GDS is that live availability and rates are transferred through a channel manager directly to online booking sites. This allows guests to acquire the best rates the soonest as opposed to waiting to call a hotel or resort to see what they have and at what price.

This article shows us everything we need to know about Hotel GDS. It includes GDS in the hotel industry, GDS work way in travel, seven major GDS systems, the way to access leading GDSs with GDS software, GDS conditions of use, benefits of connecting hotel to the GDS, and how to use the GDS to capture cruise travel bookings at hotel.

This article talks about how ecommerce has impacted the way business is done online within the hospotality industry with enhanced customer service, automated marketing, customer-specific advertising.

As the hospitality industry continue to grow we should urge to monitor the current trends of consumer needs. Anticipation of what they may look for such as discount codes and personalized experiences are big pluses when it comes to satisfaction. An additional feature that customers are now being attached to is the virtual trend of placing furniture or items that you may purchase online in space of your home to see if it fits your look.

This article introduce four ways that E-commerce impact on hospitality industry. Ecommerce is opening up new avenues for businesses all over the world across a variety of industries. Hospitality has a lot to gain from adopting new technology and ecommerce innovations. In Hospitality and Tourism industry, hardware, software, information management, and telecommunications systems have allowed for the processing and information flow amongst organizations. We consider the importance of the trend of Information Technology by implementing an effective IT system for advertising, distribution, encouragement and co-ordination of the industry. It is important that Hotel Industry take the lead of the emerging technologies to improve management abilities and develop business plans focusing on the most efficient income of delivering value added products to clients.

It is clear that a ton of work goes into planning a successful and smooth event. Many companies use event planners to coordinate an important meeting or event. This involves setting a budget, choosing a location and vendors, obtaining necessary permits or insurance, coordinate with speakers, and are onsite at all times to ensure the meeting or event runs as planned. The job market for event managers is growing and the need for event managers can increase by one-third in the next decade. In order to be a great event planner, you should be a people person, organization skills, interpersonal skills, and multitasking skills.

In order to succeed in event management, one needs to develop crisis management strategies in order to anticipate where problems might arise and plan for them. In the industry there is no right or wrong except to make the client happy, doing the work and getting it right is what matters most.

This article is about touch less payments after COVID. It focused on three options: Paying at the table, the value touch less POS brings, and Near Field Communications which is used with Google and Apple Pay.

This article shows us top 3 free even management softwares. Before choosing your software, keep these 3 things in mind: size of the event, marketing and promotion needs and deployment options.

This article outlines the current technology trends in event management. It also entails what strategies event planners are using to market mega-events, to attract attendees and to get real-time feedback about the event.

This is a great article which breaks down the MIS and their role. The MIS is an important factor to help build a productive business. Companies should take into consideration the hiring of a MIS personnel.

Thank you for the great read. I enjoy how the article compares the MIS function to the heart in the body. With this direct comparison, we see how important MIS is to an organization. These systems ensure that data is properly collected and stored to be made available to any manager or executive level employee.

Agreeably, MIS is the heart to any successful business in today's era. MIS impact productivity and performance. Processing/filtering information which is transmitted into and out of one's business is key for reducing security breach.

This article discusses expectations, current trends, and perceived growth with PMS (Property Management Software). Property Management Software is used by hotels to trim the hours worked by employees (reducing cost), cut down lead time, and as per the article provide better services to guests. PMS has been studied in both on-cloud and on-premise distribution in hotels of all sizes throughout the world. There is an increase in the number of hotels worldwide using PMS and other cloud based software systems. One reason why companies are using these kinds of software is because the cost is economical. In order to make better profits, companies are always finding ways to be more frugal with their spending. Many companies are looking to PMS and other cloud based softwares as a means to enhance their current operations. However, due to difficulty implementing the PMS into the hotels' current infrastructure, many companies have yet to purchase PMS. This software has been mostly purchased by larger companies. PMS is used mostly by the larger companies who are concentrated in the hospitality industry. However, as smaller companies gain investors, there is opportunity for those companies to use PMS also.

Global distribution systems have grown immensely in the last couple of years. This article mentions the biggest and first companies to have created and used GDS. These were and are important companies with in the hospitality industry, they started using these systems to track themselves and created a monster that is now the best way for consumers to book and edit their reservations.

Cruise ships are creating software applications to enhance the guest experience. Long lines and long lines are a thing of the past with new software which bring excitement to the guest without running the adventure. With significant companies hopping on the software/guest experience, it's easier than ever to stay connected and get the most out of a cruise vacation.

This article features an automated data gathering system that measures patterns in employee/personnel returns, refunds, etc. that can help identify misbehavior. As discussed in our discussion board about Restaurant Fraud, this type of software could absolutely assist with monitoring and accountability for employees of any level, including management. An added bonus is customer data to increase and improve service

The article discusses how accounting systems specially designed for restaurants can better perform activities like monitor inventory, pay vendors, record transactions, do forecasting, and generate statements by integrating all this data in real time for management to use in their decision making. Using generic software that does not fully integrate all the information available can result in a less efficient operation, where employees spend more time performing their tasks, irregularities are missed, and important information is not analyzed. For example, when compiling information for decision making, most systems focus on a monthly or yearly basis for their data breakdown, while accounting software for restaurants should be able to do it on a weekly basis to adapt to thigh margins and nature of the business.

The author talks about the importance of having a specific to restaurants accounting system. They also point out the importance of having a system that can send alerts in cases of suspicious activity or expenses not lining up with the inventory. They also say that it is important to have the ability to review reports on a day-to-day or weekly basis.

This article is about The Albion Hotel in Miami Beach. It talks about how they were losing business due to their outdated PBX (Private Branch Exchange) phone system. It was not reliable. They switched to a cloud based system called TCN (Total Connect Now). They are now, not only saving money, but they are able to work from anywhere at any time. This shows the benefits of cloud computing!

In the hotel world, as technology is ever evolving and change it is most times necessary to keep up with change. This hotel was at least 20 years old in the business what worked back then to five years ago even one year ago may not work today. Granted not all hotels need to be tech savvy but if that's the majority of their clientele due to their location they may want to keep up to date to ensure that they are meeting their customers needs.

Sabre has canceled its distribution agreement with all airlines from the Lufthansa Group. These include Austrian, Swiss, and Brussels Airlines. Flights have also been removed from Abacus, which is Sabre's Asian booking system. Lufthansa sets the standard in Europe when it comes to distribution, and Lufthansa is currently working on a redeveloped distribution platform of its own.

In this article the food and beverage POS systems are described and discussed. The author explains why POS systems are important for the restaurants and entertainment centers, how to build those systems, how much would it cost to the businesses and what POS is exactly. Other than that, the benefits of installing POS systems are pointed.

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

This article discusses the important issue of data security especially when it comes to a hotel's PMS. It goes into two areas of particular vulnerability: the booking engine used by hotels and the actual PMS. By hosting a 3rd party booking engine off site, it is still the responsibility of the hotel to secure and keep guests' date secure. They need to ensure that their partners are adhering to proper compliance and rolling updates for security. The second area of focus is the PMS itself and how it is hosted: whether locally or through a cloud based system. Regardless of the location of the host, data security is the responsibility of the hotel.