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AirRevive, the leader in sustainable HVAC refurbishment and re-commissioning services, is pleased to announce the completion of its guest room fan coil unit refurbishment project for the Sheraton Suites Plantation.

The South Florida landmark selected AirRevive to restore its two-hundred and sixty-four 1989 IEC guest room fan coil units as part of its guest room renovation.

Sheraton’s choice to include refurbishing its fan coil units and the added expense of an often overlooked and unseen guestroom amenity with its guest room renovation is a testament to its commitment to its guest’s comfort and satisfaction”

data management has become one of the top priorities

guests preferences, interests, social life and much more is available, useable and, most importantly, storable.

sensitive information is of great importance.

the plan has assumed a new life as both a disaster prevention and action schematic for all physical plant systems, computer systems, appliances and all normal uses of the facility. The plan revolves heavily around backup generators and battery power for electricity, as well as services that run on electrical power.

chief engineer Sam Lota spent most of late 1999 worked up a detailed engineering contingency plan.

Today’s travelers are armed with three or four mobile devices to help them stay connected to office and home. They are more inclined to carry a tablet than a laptop. And, when these business travelers communicate with the home front from their hotel room, they are most likely do so with a video chat

They travel with 3-4 mobile devices.

For friends and family, nothing beats face time.

LBA Hospitality Partners with M3 Accounting + Analytics to Enhance Accounting Processes and Increase Efficiencies July, 31 2013 M3 Accounting + Analytics Seeking to update and streamline accounting processes for its 70-plus Southeast properties, Dothan, Ala.-based Larry Blumberg & Associates, Inc. (LBA Hospitality) recently announced an expanded partnership with M3 Accounting + Analytics, the national leader in hotel-specific accounting software, operations reporting, and business analytics. “If we are to continue to be an industry leader, we must have the ability to meet the requirements of our stakeholders and provide accurate, real-time and relevant information for our management team and owners,” said LBA President Beau Benton.  LBA sought the ability to swiftly handle budgets, forecasts, and reports, and to dissect business data, all while insuring that the back-office accounting platform functionality was state-of-the-art and industry-specific.  In choosing M3, Benton cited how the company integrates accounting, business intelligence, and reporting, while eliminating most redundancy, software investment and annual hardware/software maintenance. In addition, Benton and LBA were looking for continual and automatic upgrades, backup and disaster protection, and minimized downtime.  LBA is implementing the full suite of M3 products: accounting through the AccKnowledge platform, time, attendance and labor management through the newly released RightTime solution and LaborWatch, and payroll services through RightPay. The company will also continue to use M3 Link business intelligence reporting, as LBA will be expanding it to bring financial data, operating stats, Smith Travel feeds and guest satisfaction data (including verbatim responses) into one completely customizable dashboard. LBA, which launched its business by developing a Sheraton Inn in 1973, is rapidly growing its management business and securing more and more agreements from sophisticated owners and investors.   Scott Watson, M3 Vice President of Sales & Marketing, said, “While our core product remains our accounting solution, we’ve continued to evolve and offer new products and services that meet the current and future needs of the hospitality industry. It is truly exciting that our product platform will help Beau and LBA achieve the aggressive growth they are anticipating over the next five years.”  The implementation and training process for all LBA properties is expected to be complete by December 1.  About LBA Hospitality Based in Dothan, Ala., LBA Hospitality is a hospitality management company focused on maximizing return, safeguarding assets and enhancing value. Founded in 1973, the company now manages 70 properties throughout the Southeast, from Texas to Virginia. More information is available at http://www.LBAHospitality.com.  About M3 Accounting + Analytics M3 is the national leader in hotel-specific accounting software, operations reporting, business intelligence and analytics, processing more than $8 billion in financial transactions for more than 3,000 properties. M3’s integrated suite of hospitality accounting products includes: AccKnowledge, Link, payroll and labor management services, and document imaging and retrieval – all designed to help provide hotel operators, owners and managers unsurpassed access to the information they need in the most integrated and cost-effective manner. The company was founded in Gainesville, Ga. in 1998, and also has a base of operations in Tampa, Fla. More information is available at www.M3AS.com. 

“If we are to continue to be an industry leader, we must have the ability to meet the requirements of our stakeholders and provide accurate, real-time and relevant information for our management team and owners,” said LBA President Beau Benton.  

continue to be an industry leader, we must have the ability to meet the requirements of our stakeholders and provide accurate, real-time and relevant information for our management team and owners,” said LBA President Beau Benton.  

“Restaurants are looking for a competitive mobile ordering solution that will match the functionality that major restaurant companies are bringing to market, while minimizing the operational impact of adopting this new technology,”

Heartland Mobile and Online Ordering automates the ordering process, saving restaurant operators time and money. The solution’s robust functionality reduces the manual processes of servers taking orders by phone, entering orders into a POS (point-of-sale) system and manually processing payments. As a result, restaurants see increased throughput of incoming orders and improved sales.

Credit card fraud and identity theft should remain high on the hotel and lodging industry’s radar. Just ask Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide (including their Westin, Sheraton and W Hotel brands), Hilton, Hyatt and the Trump Hotel Collection, all of which were victims of highly publicized, major breaches in the hospitality industry last year. 

Hotels need a ‘toolbelt’ of various security technologies that can be used to prevent malicious attacks. A managed firewall is essential, blocking dangerous traffic from coming onto the network and preventing sensitive data from being exfiltrated, or sent, to the hackers.

In the breaches mentioned above, point-of-sale (POS) systems were attacked and malware launched to acquire cardholder names, credit card numbers and expiration dates.

Technology has come a long way.

the hospitality industry now looks for other ways to appeal to an increasingly “been there, done that, got the t-shirt,” not-so-easy-to-impress clientele. And cutting-edge technology seems to be the answer.

Durham, North Carolina’s Sheraton Imperial Hotel and Convention Center, for instance, has introduced high-def, flat-screen LG televisions to its rooms.

Rapid developments within the field of hospitality technology have been getting a lot of attention within the past 10 years, but innovation has been taking place since the industry began.

General changes in society have led to new expectations that redefine what it takes to satisfy guests and remain competitive in earning loyalty.

Mobile technology has shaken up the travel and hospitality industries, unlike any other innovation in quite some time. Telephones took nearly 80 years to reach half of U.S. households. Smartphones took less than 10.

At some sustainability-focused hotels, sweating the small stuff makes a big difference.

The project reinforced the need for an initiative that Pfister launched about seven years ago to eliminate all single-use plastic straws at all of the Cayuga Collection’s eight luxury sustainable hotels in Costa Rica and Nicaragua

The company pays 10 cents per straw, which it tacks onto the cost of each drink.

Nowadays, hotel guests who travel with devices such as phones, tablets and computers no longer see Wi-Fi as a perk, but as a must-have when they check in at a hotel. Hotel guests expect to be able to connect to the internet seamlessly and without too many interruptions, leading hotels to invest in better, faster Wi-Fi infrastructure so that people can do business and use their technology devices with ease when they book their stay. Hotels are also starting to move away from user pay models. In the past, hotels could charge exorbitant rates and guests knew they would have to pay if they wanted to go online. Installing and maintaining a hotel-wide wireless network may be coupled with costs, but many leading hotel groups have started to install high density Wi-Fi and started to offer in-building mobile phone coverage as guests have come to expect these services during their stay (not only for themselves, but also for their guests if they are hosting a conference or function at the hotel). It might not yet be financially feasible for hotels to completely abandon the user pay model, but many of them are re-thinking their current infrastructure and pricing models.

Technology is advancing at a faster pace than ever before, and this is changing both the expectations of patrons as well as the way in which the hospitality industry conducts its business. Some of the trends in industry are leading to great improvements and savings for hospitality industry companies; while some are changing how hotel developers plan their buildings, infrastructure, management structure and staffing requirements.

Near field communication (NFC) technology is the next-generation short-range high frequency wireless communication technology that gives users the ability to exchange data between devices.