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Even though the GDS had reformed the distribution system of the travel industry, will it continue to grow and update it's current model to upkeep the growing age of tourism? The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is looking for newer ways to revolutionize the travel industry. Tony Tyler, IATA CEO, feels that the Global Distribution System (GDS) is lacking upgrades and says "the GDS model is too clunky to adapt easily to the emergence of trends". As a result, the IATA is working on a new distribution capability (NDC) that will enable the industry to become on trend with online retailers and transform distribution. However, the GDS will still play an important role in aiding the NDS to get there. Tyler spoke at the SITA Air Transport IT Summit in Belgium, asking the IT partners to help innovate the air transport industry. He also explained that the IT already did and will continue on doing a great job with facilitating the operational efficiency.

Green Path Transfers are a a fairly new Eco-friendly airport transfer and ground transportation network. The goal is to offer safe and professional transportation in global markets to travelers. In addition Green Path Transfers are focusing on a low carbon movement in the future. The company has partnered with companies using low-emission vehicles and these vehicles are clearly marked in the search results of the website, in order to allow the customer a completely transparent booking and check-out process with the vehicle of their choice. Their customers consist of leisure travelers, corporate travelers and their distribution partners, such as hotels and flights.

Advanced technologies have always been tested or applied in large airports for operational effciency and better travel experience. This is an interesting article about the latest technology that will be used in major airports. The Transportation Security Administration gave reasons that why they want to relocate backscatter advance imaging technology units to smaller airports. Firstly, it allows the use of advance imaging technology units in some smaller airports. Secondly the newly introduced millimeter wave units can work faster in saving time and perform better in protecting the privacy of travelers since it just shows the outline of the passenger's body, while not a specific one. Thirdly under the economical consideration, it is better to use one type of machine in the same airport so they don't need different training and maintenance.  So larger airports can just use the latest technology for their large amount of work while smaller airports can benefit from the one with backscatter technology because of the smaller workload. Both sides will be satisfied if this transfer can be done successfully. 

In the future, jobs will look different, allowing more and more people to work as digital nomads from anywhere in the world, including onboard planes thanks to the high-speed in-flight Internet. They will want to have a platform to be able to book any kind of transport, be it air, ground or sea on an on-demand basis. And this is exactly what kiwi.com is building with the Virtual Global Supercarrier.

The International Air Transport Association introduced a new security system at the 67th Annual General Meeting and World Air Transport Summit in Singapore in 2011. This new system would divide travelers in three different categories: known travelers, normal travelers and enhanced security travelers. Each level would have different security procedures and then passengers would pass through different tunnels, one for each category of traveler. For example, if you are a known traveler you would need to pass a iris recognition system which would confirm your identity and you would pass through a tunnel with minimal scanning technology. The scanning procedures get more invasive for normal passengers and even worse for enhanced security travelers.

This article briefly introduced some new ideas about transportation tools for green technologies developing in the tourism industry. Although discovering and implementing a new thought of recycling for environmental friendly is very difficult and expensive, the green activities are significant and need to be continual going on.

This article talks about secure technology measures for the travel industry. The myth that Apple iOS devices are not infected with viruses is a total lie. But what is true is that Android devices are much more susceptible to malware attacks than Apple iOS devices. The big boss of security "for years…was what made Blackberry the darling of IT departments everywhere." But now what has driven new markets especially transportation is the increasing use of Android devices. American Airlines uses thousands of Android Galaxy Notes for flight attendants and in-flight entertainment devices for passengers as well as those used by the maintenance crew. Samsung's SAFE platform was a key reason the company was influenced to go through with the product because of a security issue. It's important to remember that not one device is immune and to explore an innovative and secure option when picking a device.

This article introduces several feature event plan companies for hospitality industry. In order to build customer loyalty and brand awareness, partyPOP.com revised their 2012 budget and are going to offer free wedding invitations to attract more engage couple in the United Stated, Canada and United Kingdom. PartyPOP.com is one of the accomplished companies that plan events for customer, there are some similar companies such as ABC Worldwide Chauffeured Transportation and The Theme Factory of Philadelphia. ABC Worldwide Chauffeured Transportation is an event plan company that corporate with the local transportation and travel industry and they have plenty of experiences to meet the client's demand, also they help the people who travel alone. However, The Theme Factory of Philadelphia is a company that provides solutions for planners and project managers for some private or special events.

Google glass has provided the opportunity to explore more efficient ways to process air travelers. SITA, the air transport's IT provider, has quickly produced the first app to do so with wearable technology. The glasses are worn by the security agent and used to compare and legitimize the security documents used for travel. While the technology is not yet fast enough to be put to practical use and remains quite expensive, it is certain that price and quality will improve in the future and provide value to the air transport industry.

Meetings are significant in that they are major events which generate dollars on a local and national scale. Those associated with tourism and hospitality, transportation and convention venues (among other industries) benefit significantly. Tax revenues increase as well. In addition to the economic impact, many jobs are created. Simply put, meetings are a lucrative income stream.

This article is a perfect example of how event planning can go terribly wrong with social media usage. The Bahama music festival hosted by Ja-Rule and his company left hundreds stranded on the Island of Great Exuma. The event started off by being promoted through instagram, mainly by famous celebrities such as Bella Hadid and Kendall Jenner. Tickets were sold at $1,200 for the utmost luxurious experience. Come the weekend of the festival, music go-ers arrived into full chaos. Everything that had been promised to the guests such as deluxe lodges, yoga tents and food courts were missing. People showed up to an empty island with no food, water or basic shelter. Clearly the festival was poorly executed and planned and it was canceled. There was a lack of infrastructure on the island to provide safety for the guests along with a lack of proper water systems and transportation. The event planners had not had a proper back up plan for storms that could potentially hit the island (which happened) which completely set back everything. Many viewed this Fryre Festival as a major scam and were extremely upset, but what it turned out to be was a poorly planned and executed music event.

TVs are the largest contributors to electronic waste. Electronic waste recycling solution is urgent because the waste is toxic. LG partnered with Hilton Hotels for a recycling program to efficiently recycle their old TVs without sending them to a landfill or somewhere overseas. Through the program, recycled TVs were replaced with newer 43" Energy Star certified LG flat screen TVs.

In the article, "How to Select Human Resources Information Technology," it talks about how they are essential for companies to manage their benefits plans and their employee history. One question that they felt was important before purchasing an HRIS was, what is the degree of flexibility and scalability that it provides? Their answer was that HR professional should determine if the software could import data from paper documents, and excel sheets. "Many online enrollment solutions require that data be manually manipulated before it can go to a carrier to update their systems. Automation of the update format, transmission schedule and delivery method can help to eliminate billing and eligibility issues." This will save the company a lot of time just by investing in this system. The Human Resources Organization is group that owns this data and companies should be able to transport their data to any application service. In addition to enabling HR to approve transactions it also provides capabilities for HR to serve as the gatekeeper in auditing carrier billings. Overall, this article shows many benefits to having an HRIS, the question is if the company is willing to invest in one.

This article is about a group called Worldcom PR group and they assist a variety of different groups and organizations in their communication skills with the customers in their market, and their competition. This company has realized the changes happening within the hospitality industry and they are prepared to help and consulate different groups and companies.

This article is about the wireless networks within hotels today and how there are many hackers that are breaking into the hotels networks. It discusses how hackers target hotel networks more than any other destination in previous years, and that what is even worse is that the hotels that have been hacked didn't have any knowledge of the hacking that has been done for more or less than 160 days. This article also gives insight of some of the possible things to do to prevent hacking from happening.  I feel that this article although it is 3 years dated, is of great importance to most hospitality industry businesses. There is much information that is stored and transported through many networks that can cause a company to loose everything they have worked for if put into the wrong hands. 

The Kimberly hotel located at 145 East 50th Street in New York City became Manhattan's and New York's first hotel to utilize touch screen technology in its guest rooms. The technology is provided by Intelity, an Orlando based hospitality software solution company. The touch screen use a prgram called ICE (Interactive Customer Experience) to allow guests to order room service, check flight status, express check outs, check destinations using Google maps, and even the ability to print their boarding pass. This software and touch screen technology will definitely increase employee custoemr service and reduce guest wait time. Hotel personnel will be able to spend more time with the guest because many of the tasks will be literally at the guests fingertips. The hotel will save money because they will not need to staff as much because of the automated system. Fantastic technology.

This article suggests that consumers now purchase in a more customized why with new technologies offered through applications and data plans through consumer's phones, tables and laptops. Airline consumers have recently changed their purchasing habits to choices such as in-flight WiFi, priority boarding, premium seating, meals or doubling their miles instead of the traditional schedules and fares. Airlines have veered to selling these types of customized travel services through direct selling to consumers and have eliminated the use of global distribution systems GDS. Airlines have found that the use of GDS's are more expensive to both the airline and consumer and that GDS's technology has yet to evolve to enable the kind of customer-focused and customized shopping that other industries have embraced. Now GDS's has ask that the Department of Transportation DOT to protect its market dominance by having DOT force airlines to give them, free of charge, the ability to sell options services as checked bags, seat upgrades or club access. Airlines believe that consumers should know what the are paying for.

This article claims that GDS systems are actually limiting consumer choices. The author suggests that using new distribution technologies that connect us directly to reservation systems would be better for consumers because it provides them with all the choices the airlines can offer, without the extra charge. Purchasing a ticket through GDS is three times more expensive than purchasing the ticket directly. Airlines, which aim to support consumer choice and transparency with its customers, try to tailor travel options to accommodate a passenger's individual needs. However, GDS opposes this movement by urging airlines to use outdated equipment that requires its due fees, which in turn raises the cost of travel for consumers.  

In the age of apps and mobile technology, something told me this one was coming. I found an interesting article about 10 travel companies being sued by a mobile app producing company for copyright infringement. Air Transport World is reporting that MarcoSolve Inc., based out of Oklahoma, is suing several airlines and other companies, including Avis Rent A Car, the Hertz Corp., Hipmunk Inc., Hotels.com, Priceline.com and Travelocty.com. The patent that MacroSolve is suing over grants the company the ability to download apps to any mobile device, collect data from those device users and send that data back to a central database. On a travel-based application, this would be conceived as the ability to track user location and automate social networking connectivity. MacroSolve was finally granted the patent in 2010 following several revisions when the company originally filed in 2002. More than 30 other companies other non-travel based companies were also sued by MacroSolve for infringement. However, a patent consultancy is claiming that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office granted the same patent for the invention to different companies. When considering the app world and app technology, the article indicates that there are only very small differences in software that distinguish one patent from another. As app-building technology continues, I believe news reports will begin to reveal more litigation like this. This is the type of technology that tends to overlap in design. For example, the article says the MacroSolve patent on differed in its use of its app terms like "poll", and "survey". Air Transport World reports the recent litigation is forcing some foreign developers away from the U.S. market.

The International Air Transport Associate (IATA) at their annual general meeting in Beijing have had enough with the outdated Global Distribution Systems technology. The new Director General Tony Tyler indicated that in the 70's the system was cutting edge technology expanding distribution for airlines but years later the technology lacks innovation and must be brought up to date with airline product differentiation. This can be done by adopting new standards through XML messaging schema. Farelogix has donated XML through Open Axis, an organization that promotes the XML technology for linking airlines with distributors, similar to the technology that American Airlines has been using. IATA indicates that this year they will define the foundation standards in partnership with the GDSs, a necessary progression.