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AI continues to evolve in fast food locations. McDonalds is piloting voice recognition systems in their drive thrus hoping to hit their 95% accuracy benchmark before deciding whether to roll this out to 14,000 McDonalds locations. The technology is improving ordering processing on average by 20 seconds per order and could reduce human labor hours by 9 hours per day.

Statistics on credit card fraud to support why PCI compliance is important to protect consumers

AR is closer than you think! The Marriott Moxy brand is launching a limited-time AR experience at select hotels. QR codes, avatars, and holographs!

In this article, it can be seen the effects that the pandemic had on marketing in the hospitality industry. With digital marketing, it has lead to success for companies and this articles show how different strategies are used to get there.

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.

Hospitality has a need for human interactions. However 52% of travelers believe automated systems are safer. This article discusses the pros and cons of using robotic technology in hospitality. Then it goes further to show that the best options is to integrate some robotic technology in places where employees are overwhelmed in.

Even though there was many innovations of technology that has occurred. There is nothing like a personal touch. Guest love to communicate with a human to be able to get a real and honest opinion.

"Technology and innovation are what have helped, even saved, restaurants as they transform how they operate to not just survive, but thrive, in this new connected and contactless era" "Third-party food delivery apps like UberEats, Foodpanda, or Door Dash will continue to be an important solution for those not able to offer in-house ordering and delivery services" "Contactless technology is going mainstream, and it's not just about placing an order online, but also about paying with a smartphone, smartwatch or smartcard via an app or touchless device" "technology-enabled reservation systems, restaurants can manage seating, waitlists, customer loyalty and dining preferences as well as collect vital client data be it for contact tracing or market insights" "Kitchen Display Systems (KDS) are a digital menu board for kitchen staff helping restaurants streamline back-of-house operations" "companies like Winnow are helping restaurant owners and managers cut food waste and costs and run their businesses more efficiently and sustainably" "auto-scanning barcodes with smartphone cameras on posters, tables, coasters, doors or websites allows customers to access online menus, order and pay - without contact" "air purification technologies to promote 'clean air'" https://diigo.com/0lmspn

Some of these technologies such as food delivery services, and conctactless payments I have grown used to as a consumer. However, technology like KDS to improve the back of house operations or air purification technologies are more behind the scenes type of technologies that I have not given much thought so I found this article interesting.

Many restaurants are adapting to a new reality. Some of the digital trends to watch in 2022 are as follows: 1. Online ordering systems and delivery apps - Food delivery market worth more than $150 billion globally. 2. Contactless payment estimated to triple from $2 trillion to $6 trillion by 2024. 3. Online table reservation system such as Open table Experiences initiative offering unique culinary events and dinner experiences. 4. Digital kitchen boards such as KDS, a digital menu board for kitchen staff linked to the restaurant's POI which displays orders automatically and efficiently. 5. Automated inventory management software tracking food and beverage stocks, anticipating quantities and scheduling reorders. 6. QR codes that allow customers to access menus online, order and pay. 7. Air purification technology like bipolar ionization and ultraviolet light.

This article talks about AI in hotels. For example, the article mentioned the use of chat boxes for Marriot International. Another example is Connie, the first AI powered hotel concierge robot at the Hitlon. It is a unique tool and can help decrease wait time and provide added efficiency in hotel operations.

This article explains how hotels are very prone to cyber attacks since they store personal information of millions of travelers every day. They need to win over the trust of the guests.

This article discusses why Netflix is the perfect example of a disruptive innovation and why Uber is not a disruptive company. "Not every company that is innovative is disruptive." Before Netflix exploded, it was overlooked by its competitors, which is part of the reason why it was able to rise so quickly.

This article is based on how we can improved e-wastes on doing little changes that will benefit on our future. Most of the e-waste is not recycle properly, we buy things after things and more after more, every time a new technology comes up there is the motivation on buying what is the lasted cool technology, and what about what we have , where does it go ? to the trash or recycle, but we do not know where that recycling goes, I believe learning more about it will help on our routine of how to recycle better and help with this process to proceed right.

We quickly move to 'next' as far as technology goes and rarely think about how to get rid of it when obsolete. In the Caribbean for example, there are not may recycling plants for e-waste, in fact, many rarely do recycling on a whole. In the Turks and Caicos, disposing of a television or a phone is as simple as throwing it in the trash among everything else. What happens next? It goes into the landfills and there they lie. Imagine the toxic waste from over 40,000 inhabitants on a small island. While moving with the crowd seems to be the way of the world, I believe government entities must act swiftly in ensuring e-waste is disposed of correctly to preserve this island and its inhabitants for generations to come. The technology should not outpace the disposal thereof.

This article outlines the linear cycle of the Materials of Economy, explaining each step and bringing to a close the number one issues, the damage to he planet and ultimately the people.

This article emphasizes the different methods and approaches cruise ships are taking to become more sustainable in the future. They are doing so by pursuing innovations like renewable resources, regenerative travel, providing energy solutions, and more. They are seeking to reduce carbon emissions by 40% by 2030. One of the methods described in the article is that cruise ships are now integrating liquified natural gas (LNG) fueled ships which produce zero sulfur emissions and reduce greenhouse gases by 20% when compared to regular ship fuel. Cruise lines have already started to introduce this kind of innovation to newer ships. Ports are also taking initiatives to become greener by having solar-powered terminals, smart waste separation, electric transportation, etc. Cruise lines are also working with organizations like the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) to make sure that culture, environment, and destination laws are enforced and protected.

This article will give you the basic skills necessary to evaluate a proposed IT investment.These skills can be used in any industry including hospitality. At the beginning, it explains some basic IT investment analysis terminologies. Then it introduce two IT investment analysis methods: NET PRESENT VALUE; PAYBACK PERIOD. It also contains some link that would teach us how to use EXCEL to calculate data.

This article explains how important it is to analyze and interpret new forms of IT technology to make the best purchase or investment. The articles starts by describing terms used in IT Investment. The first term is Capital Expenditure, which is any expenditure not for the usual maintenance and upkeep of the hotel or restaurant. For example, a Capital Expenditure would be obtaining a new PMS or renovating your banquet facility. The next term is Depreciation, which everyone should know is the amount of money lost on an investment of the course of its life. The third and fourth terms are Cash Flow and Discount Rate. Cash Flow is "the movement of cash in and out of the business", and Discount Rate is "analysis based on the dollar being worth more today than in 5 years". The second part of the article talks about investment techniques used. Many methods are used to help make sound investment decisions like NPV. NPV is Net Present Value, which is an assessment of long-term profitability of the investment made by adding together all the revenue over its life and deducting the costs involved. Another technique used to evaluate an IT investment is the Payback Period. This helps to evaluate how long it will take to make back your initial investment in the IT. The article goes into grave detail on both of these methods and believe this article can be very helpful for hotel/restaurant managers and owners when determining which investment should be made.

This article talked about how and why to use proximity marketing for your restaurant. They started off by talking about how many people have smart phones and how restaurants can use this to their benefit. There were a couple benefits of proximity marketing this article brought up that i thought were great ideas. The first being partnering with other business and restaurants to create combo deals. The other being just hoe in-depth you can personalize the experience using proximity marketing.

Proximity marketing can be used in many different ways in the hospitality business. For restaurants specificially it can help enhance the customer experience, increase customers, maintain loyal customers, boost sales, make customers want to keep coming and more. Proximity marketing allows restaurants and all the hospitality industry to focus more on their clientele and who they want to reach in many ways and can be a great tools for sales.

Opportunities for adopting green initiatives are becoming more and more common in the hospitality industry. IT updates and implementations have become a sustainable practice to reduce cost, provide a better guest satisfaction and environmentally friendly. One of the ways to start off the green initiatives is by effectively reducing energy and paper consumption; this gets done by using smart phones to replace key cards and using emails to reduce paper flow. Another green initiative is the effective technology practice such as energy star which is the system that powers down a computer automatically after it has not been used for a period of time. The use of digital media (social media) instead of print media is a fantastic way to save money while lowering the impact on the environment. Green initiatives are coming up pretty fast and are required to have a strong commitment but all vary depending on the size of organization, demand of business and location of doing business. I have seen many hotels implementing green initiatives in their facilities which at first can become extremely costly but in the long term very cost effective and environmentally friendly and expand the guest experience. I have seen hotels that have a HVAC system which senses the presence of someone in the room, this system puts the AC temperature high when room is vacant and lowers the temperature when it is occupied. Additionally the lighting of the room works the same; it turns on when someone is present and automatically turns off when the room is vacant. Just these two initiatives alone can save the property millions of dollars in a period of a year. In my opinion, going green is a great way to benefit every one involved, the guest, the environment, and cost efficient (long term) for hoteliers. The green initiative has not yet been a giant boom, but in a few years a larger amount of guest will prefer to stay in a green environmental friendly hotel then with a non green hotel. I believ

This was about the risks in the hospitality and tourism industry when it comes to big data and analytics. Big data is so important in the hospitality industry because it's how companies know who to cater to and with what and how. In addition to the importance of big data, there are risks that come with it. A few risks are data leaks, hackers, etc. Companies invest money in their systems so these things are avoided.

This article provides a detailed approach on the negative and positive impacts of electronic waste from a global standpoint. This article also provides statistical data to show the various types of technological gadgets that contribute to e-waste, the materials they are made from, and new initiatives put in place to recycle these items.

The Hospitality industry has been somewhat hesitant to adapt to new technologies. This may be the case of hospitality companies being scared to go away from what we consider good customer service. The pandemic helped to jumpstart the hospitality industry into accepting new forms of technology. Technology is on the rise in the hospitality industry and is only going to continue to be more and more prevalent.