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E-marketing is not unfamiliar for us and it has become a powerful tool for hotels to promote themselves. Hotels can make profit from it if it is applied in a proper way. This article introduces a successful example that IHG focuses on developing apps and mobil features to engage with guests throughout their journey and the monthly revenue from mobile booking reaches over $20 million. IHG's mobile strategy focuses on connecting with guests at all touch points throughout their travel planning and stay experience not just on the first step of room booking. IHG will continue their mobil strategy with launch of the Priority Club Rewards app for iPad that can help guests easily find and book rooms, check rates and increase flexibility to manage their reservation and view member details. This provides guests great convince and leaves them great feeling about this brand. Some new features, functions and offers will be customized for different category of guests such as corporate guests and leisure guests in IHG's e-marketing plan. So the efficiency in targeting the right market is increased. IHG benefit a lot from e-marketing and is multiplying more methods in this area to keep up with the trend. Success of IHG in e-marketing can be a good example for other hoteliers.

ITG Networks provides multi-product technology solution at the new Residence Inn by Marriott on Pittsburgh's North Shore. Wexford, PA April 15, 2010 - Kratsa Properties awarded ITG Networks a multiple product contract to install and support Kratsa's technology solution for the new Residence Inn by Marriott, a 148,500 square foot, extended stay hotel offers luxury suites on Pittsburgh's North Shore, within walking distance to Heinz Field, PNC Park and a variety of bars and restaurants. Adjacent to PNC Park's home plate entrance, on the corner of West General Robinson Street and Mazeroski Way, this 10-story hotel will provide an array of the latest digital amenities. When the hotel opened its doors on April 5th guests had mobility with a business-class, wireless, high-speed Internet access (HSIA) solution throughout the property. This solution provides secure, plug n' play access. Wireless is available throughout 180 suite-style rooms and all common areas. Wired Ethernet is also available in all guest rooms. Each desk is equipped with a convenient pull-through desk hub and 10' Ethernet cable. For added convenience, the hotel lobby offers a large social laptop table with twelve built-in Ethernet and power outlets. With a complete understanding of the Marriott requirements ITG was able to engineer the overall network to use common networking gear for both Voice and Data. Kratsa Properties now has a system that will both cost less to operate and offer the features and functionality the company requires to meet its customer service goals. Summary: This company provides mobility internet throughout a property, and in this case is the Residence Inn Marriott with 180 suites. ITG Network works hand in hand with different companies to integrate the property management system. Nevertheless, ITG is a full service management development company whom helps with the maintenance of the hospitality industry properties

The JW Marriott Marquis Miami and Hotel Beaux Arts Miami are three Marriott hotel brands that have been combined as the setting to create a revolutionized guest experience experience with the use of technology throughout the property. Not just technology here and there, but rather technology as the primary provider of the experience. This is evidenced by the conference room amenities: Virtual Meetings by Marriott, mobile video concierge, world's largest video powered by Cisco, digital signage, and wireless IP phones for guest use (which allow guest to order room service, check the weather, special offers, etc.). The goal and vision of the property is to allow guests to experience the advantages of technology to interact with other guets, co-workers, and hotel employees, in hopes that they will enjoy new ways to communicate, as well as have more fun. The hotel has already experienced several benefits and other favourable results: a one-of-a-kind experience for guests, effective marketing of hotel services, operational efficiency from working with one vendor, and increased guest safety thanks to 70 surveillance cameras deployed throughout public areas of the property and monitored by Cisco, who will notify hotel personnel immediately of any emergencies.

"Despite the challenges unfolding at a regional level in the Middle East and North Africa, hoteliers were still able to raise rates enough in February to achieve average rate growth worldwide and capture more bookings than last year. "Consumers are not only traveling, but they are also willing to spend more. Additionally, the corporate market is booking more groups and meetings business from corporations of all sizes as February bookings, rate and revenue growth was coupled with increases in length of stay and booking lead time. Even though at the time, hoteliers continue to raise rates, but people are still continuing to travel and spend money. The traveling public understands that their leisure time is valuable and are willing to pay for peace of mind. Also, bookings made through online channels provide a perfect virtual marketplace for travel inventory sellers.

This article post on the year of 2011, it said that the global GDS hotel bookings grew substantially by 23.5%, which driving revenue up by 36.8% in two years. And the monthly growth of more than 20% through July in 2010 to now. At the same time, the length of stay and booking lead time are also expanded. Compared with the booking rates in 2010, the business travel rates rose about 7% and rates paid by leisure travelers for hotel rooms increased 3.6%. The booking mostly through the ADS or online channels were all declined due to varieties of factors such as regional unrest in the Middle East and North Africa. Despite these challenges, the hotel managers still tried to achieve the high booking rates and capture more bookings than last year. Consumers are not only travelling , but they are also willing to spend more. People are tend to travel by groups in business or meetings, this will increase the length of stay and booking lead time. GDS bookings represent the mostly corporate market, despite of all the problems which could influence the travel rates, bookings made through online channels like GDS made growth rates keep increasing both in tourist on or off season.

This article speaks about, for the most part, how bookings done through systems are now only at an all time high, but continue to grow substantially.  ADS's on the other hand, declined from January's levels declined due a variety of factors including regional unrest, etc. However, growth bounced back in February and even set a new record for North America. Also, despite all the challenges throughout the middle east and north Africa, average rate growth was still achieved throughout the month of February and even outperform last years bookings for that month.

Vantage Hospitality Group is adding its first two properties of a new construction project in South Korea. LG Electronics has signed a contract to be the exclusive provider of the complete energy efficiency system for selected locations in South Korea. LG will provide "cost-saving and technologically advanced operating systems and electronics at the hotel" for better management. LG says the energy system will cut back on utility costs and energy usage throughout the facilities and recover wasted energy to heat floors and water. The company's Smart Control System will be installed thought the property and in guest rooms for them guests to adjust on a smartphone application before they arrive to check-in. LG is excited to present their new LG Vertical system that provides total energy management and cost reductions throughout the property.

As hotels make every attempt to come up with new and innovative techniques to conduct business, technology companies are looking for ways to being the first on scene with new technological tools. Many hotels now have instead of swiping ones card through the lock and waiting for the green light to enter, the guest can simply approach the door with a card in their hands and walk right into their rooms. This is possible through radio frequency identification (RFID). RFID are also being used to track customer loyalty to ones brand. RFID Technology also allows the hotel to maintain better security by knowing more clearly who's coming in and going throughout the hotel, since each RFID card be detected by multiple sensors in the lobby, elevators and rooms. There is even the possibility to access ones room by simply utilizing their cell phones and having the phone unlock the door. This is done by simply dialing a phone number and when prompted placing the cell phone next to the door lock. An audio key will play and the door will be unlocked. The audio is unique to each and every reservation.

"In Western Europe, we see a similar trend, and social network ad spending per user will remain about half the amount spent in North America throughout our forecast. By contrast, Asia-Pacific social networkers will command only $8.04 each from advertisers trying to reach them this year, and that figure will increase to just $10.54 by 2017. In that region, user bases are still growing significantly while spending still lags. Social Network Ad Spending per Social Network User Worldwide, by Region, 2013-2017 The US and China will be the leading individual countries in social network ad spending for the foreseeable future, collectively commanding more than half the worldwide market throughout our forecast period. This year, advertisers in the US will spend $9.59 billion on social ads, up 31.0% from 2014 and more than double the amount they spent in 2013. By the end of our forecast period, social network advertising in the US will total $14.40 billion-just shy of 20% of all digital ad spending countrywide. In China, ad spending on social networks will reach $3.41 billion this year and is expected to increase to $6.11 billion in 2017, or 12.5% of all digital ad dollars in the country. At a company level, unsurprisingly, Facebook is dominating the paid social advertising landscape globally. eMarketer estimates that in 2015, the company will make $15.50 billion in ad revenues, or 65.5% of all social network ad spending worldwide. That portion is up from 2014, when Facebook owned 64.5% of the social ad market. Twitter is also gaining share, expected to take 8.8% of global social network ad spending, or $2.09 billion, up from 7.1% share in 2014. LinkedIn, the other major US-based social ad seller for which eMarketer forecasts ad revenues, will make $900 million in advertising this year, but its share of global social ad spend will dip to 3.8%, down from 4.2% last year." This article states the increase in e-marketing expenses companies are willing to pay in order for th

This article shows five easy ways in which a hotelier would be able to improve their guest experience with 5 technological connectivity considerations. Interestingly enough it shows the importance to having a high tech hotel as 91% of guests choose their hotel based off the hotel offering free wifi. Therefore, these 5 considerations are a great opportunity for any hotel in order to ensure guest satisfaction. Firstly, the hotel should upgrade the small details, such as the outlets throughout the hotel and integrating them into a sleek design in the hotel as to not stand out. Secondly, it would be important to increase the connection points and power access in the room, making it most convenient for guest to charge multiple devices in convenient locations. The next point would be to ensure a seamless indoor-outdoor connection, this not only means having wifi in the outdoor areas of the hotel, but to also offer connection spots for charging (eg. by the pool) and this ties into the next point, being to take advantage of the common spaces as these areas are becoming a place for people to socialize and work, therefore the areas should be designed in a way for the guests use. Lastly, the hotel also must take into consideration the sustainability, not only because of the guests growing concerns but with investing in new technological products they could save on cost and be more efficient, especially in the long run.

For years now European cities have been facing water shortage issues due to high consumption and lower than normal supplies. The Student Hotel Group has came into a partnership with a few European universities and startup, Amphiro. Their main goal is develop new tools and technology to make a real impact on reducing the water consumption in European countries with known water shortage issues. Amphiro has developed a water meter that will be attached to showers in new Student Hotels and it will also display the water and energy consumption usage. The idea behind this is to show students and others how much water they are consuming, while in the shower. They hope by putting the actual meter and reading display into the showers, people will choose to be more eco-friendly and waste less water. According to the article, WUR found that students and guests used an average of 20% less water. This is a significant reduction and is a great way for hotels to incentivize guests to be more eco-friendly. They are expanding the initiative to more European countries in hopes of conserving water and energy use throughout Europe.

This article is about Disney's new foot tracking technology and how it uses the cloud network, to cater to customer needs and interests, in real time. "As guests become recognized, robots throughout the park are able to greet park goers." "By having all the data uploaded to the cloud, the robots or employees that are designated to greet guests can access information instantly." "This tracking allows Disney to mine data for visitor preferences and how much foot traffic they are obtaining. " "This information is useful so they can monitor the guests' movements from ride to ride to identify the park's most visited attraction. " "By monitoring and tracking the movement of visitor's the park can deploy more employees to the busier areas throughout the park." "Using the cloud's capabilities, robots can access data for each guest quickly to maximize the amount of park goers that receive this innovative technology."

""We have recycling bins throughout the hotel in every guest room," said Barnard. In the newer remodeled rooms they've installed heat and motion sensors. Once you leave or enter the room, it activates the heat and AC system, which makes it energy efficient. In addition to the in-room management system, a monitored hot water system automatically shuts off when not in use."

This article expounds how customers demand more from their e-commerce web sites and how their preference for consistency while shopping online must be satisfied in order for any business to remain successful. The article points out and elaborates on how e-commerce is really an all encompassing strategy that companies could use to sell their products and services, both online and offline to potential customers. The article also mentions how consumers are more likely to purchase any products or services from companies that leave them feeling more informed and secure in their purchase decisions. Most e-commerce platforms facilitate the integration of multiple applications such as online storefronts, POS systems, real-time inventory tracking and customer analytics into a single management platform. Lastly, because online shoppers are empowered with an abundance of competitive advantages it is important for retailers and other hospitality businesses to strive to improve data integration processes by centralizing databases and sharing information throughout their company.

SPA POS Widely used throughout the Hospitality Industry

SPA POS Widely used throughout the Hospitality Industry

MICROS Systems recently incorporated its cloud-based technology in the Moran & Bewley's Hotel Group. This system will assist in delivering consistent service to customers and staff throughout its ten hotels located across Ireland and the UK. MICROS OPERA, known as the world's most popular PMS, will control room availability and ensure that guests experience a consistent, fast and easy check-in/check-out service. It will also support the sales, catering and website integration among all the properties. This technology will be beneficial to management in allowing it to control company functions and sales in all of its establishments from a remote location. The PMS was also upgraded and migrated to provide greater resilience, reliability and performance. It is a smart investment for the hotel company because it provides upgrades for all areas of the business and allows management to focus on other vital aspects of the hotel, such as customer service, instead of dealing with IT. This leads to significant and measurable operation and economic benefits. Restaurants and bars will now provide greater service with the point-of-service that was installed. Data will be better secured and collected with the fully hosted solution, which ensures reliability and consistently high performance.

MICROS Systems, Inc. , a leading provider of information technology solutions for the hospitality and retail industries, is pleased to announce that the Moran & Bewley's Hotel Group has invested in MICROS cloud-based technology to help deliver a consistent experience to customers and staff throughout its ten hotels in Ireland and the UK.

Cloud computer seems be becoming more and more the way hotels communication. It has been proven more realiable, consistent, and allow for easy check-in as well as check-out services for hotels. Management is benefiting from being able to control all aspects of the hotel without having to be on property using the the network.

This article explains the company, Ruskus Wireless, which has introduced a powerful Wi-Fi Wall switch, called ZoneFlex 7025, with elevated speeds of 802.11n, available for the United States' and European market. This product can offer hotels with the feature of multiple IP service over a single wireless at a minimal cost per room. According to Douglas Rice, Vice President and Chief Executive Officer of Hotel Technology Next Generation: "the hospitality market sees enormous benefits that an IP-based network brings in delivering a better guest experience, new services that will lead to drive customer loyalty". This type of technology will allow for hotels to integrate their Internet enabled devices to connect to a single wireless network. Eliminating the limitations of Ethernet cables will improve the areas of guest services, and conference rooms enhancing the experience for guests. Multiple hotels do not have the infrastructure to provide the feature of wireless access throughout their facility, considering the current technological revolution; it has become more of a necessity for hotels to provide this option for their guests. This type of Wi-Fi wall switch will help reduce the cost and complications associated with implementing network services. Fundamentally, Wi-Fi is a common amenity that multiple guests request in every level of travel purpose, which many hotels should implement if their benefit will outweigh the cost.

After 9/11, hospitality-related businesses, especially airlines, cruise lines, and hotels started putting huge efforts to prevent terrorist attacks, but it has never been easy to do so because of financial matters and guests' privacy. Hotels have been exposed to terrorist attacks since, unlike airlines and cruise lines, it is relatively easy for terrorists to access hotel properties without strict security check. This article suggests hoteliers to invest in the latest technology, such as Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology for guests' safety. Within the hospitality industry, non-contact RFID is one of the latest innovations in the customer security market. This new technology allows guests to easily access the hotel and their rooms by putting their room card on a sensor. However, guests can access to only the floors that they are entitled. So this could help hotels increase the level of security. Currently, RFID technology is at the forefront of hotel security throughout the world; and, more and more hoteliers have been interested in this technology for not only cutting down labor expenses but protecting their guests from terrorism. Mostly, this RFID technology still has room for improvement and advancements.

What types of improvements do you see in the future of RFID technology?

As i know, RFID has been used in some high class buildings or latest built building in residential areas, residents can only access the floors that they are entitled. This is a great idea that i hope the hotels could widely used it in the future to protect their guests' safety.

This article emphasizes how imperative it is for hospitality businesses to stay on the cutting edge of technology as a part of their business design and strategy if they want to survive in today's competitive market and remain in it, in the near future. The author expresses that today's hospitality market is being driven by Millennials' "the largest generation in the country's history" who patronize businesses that are socially and environmentally responsible. Armed with this information to capture their targeted market, more and more hotels are now incorporating from inception within their physical blueprint infrastructure that is environmentally sustainable and cost-effective. As well as obtaining Green certifications and implementing sustainable software to reduce waste and minimize leakages. This concept has also been adopted by cruise ship operators to reduce environmental impact through the use of technology.

This article introduces the different initiatives that the hospitality industry is taking with regard to technology in order to align with their target market or a large segment of their market. As being perceived, millennials are sought to be the largest generation in the country's history which leads companies to infer that they have a massive amount of buying power in their hands. Hospitality companies are now making strides to become more environmentally conscious. Some of these initiatives is incorporating LED lights throughout the facilities to reduce energy waste and cut down on costs. Another initiative is incorporating new systems in the guest rooms that enhance the stay while keeping it green like systems that adjust temperatures in the rooms, remotely powered shades, etc. Other companies are even using systems as a tool to help track, measure, and reduce food waste for more sustainable and effective restaurant/bar operations. It is no secret that technology is ever-evolving, and it will continue to develop as new features are discovered.

Article discusses millennials as the largest generation in U.S. history, and the speed at which technology progresses. In addition to paying attention to millennials' purchasing decisions, other industries must also meet their financial expectations. Many brands are taking steps to become more sustainable in the hospitality industry despite its reputation for producing massive amounts of waste.

Biometrics usage in the hotel sector have been ramping up. Biometrics links a user's I.D. and credit card information with biometrics like a photo or fingerprint and this tech can be used throughout the hotel for things like in-room purchases and access to the gym and pool. Using biometrics allows the hotel staff to focus on being hosts.

There are few processes about how to select a HRIS technology. What is the degree of flexibility and scalability that the HR information technology software provides? HR professionals should determine if the software can import data from multiple Excel spreadsheets, databases, and paper documents and the level with which it can interface with all kinds of systems and data. Will the HR information technology be able to grow and scale with the organization? Is the HR information technology software able to integrate with other systems? HR can obtain greater efficiencies when data and other employee information entered into one system can be shared with another system. Who is responsible for implementing, or building, the solution? What level of training is involved? HR should have a clear understanding of the level of training and technical expertise that will be required and the amount of time expected. If training is involved, is there a charge? What types of maintenance and upkeep are required? What security measures are built into the HR information technology? If the software is available online, through an ASP or SaaS model, the provider should offer daily backups, backup servers, and added protective layers. Will employees be able to enroll in benefits plans and make changes in real-time to their personal data and plan choices? The system should clearly present the plans available and enable employees to make selections at their convenience, simplifying these actions throughout the process with wizards.