Group items tagged

Synergy Business Solutions is now offering a free 30 day trial of its new financial management and project accounting software. The new software is award winning and is just what hoteliers looking to upgrade systems is looking for. Already we have seen how cloud systems have been taking the business world by storm because of its lower start-up costs, superior ROI, and ease of upgrades, and this is just another example of that. The 30-day trial start-up is quick and easy and allows you to invite colleagues to experience the new system as well. The system is aimed at making it easier to maximize profitability, streamline financial management, manage revenue, and integrate their CRM with accounting. http://www.sfgate.com/business/prweb/article/Synergy-Business-Solutions-Offers-30-Day-Trial-of-4305797.php

It appears that American Airline is about to remove itself from the tradition global distribution system and introduce its own distribution system. American Airlines is advocating for distribution companies to utilize AA direct connect which is a direct link into AA's host reservations system. Currently American Airlines fares are no longer available on Expedia or Orbitz sites. This is because no contractual agreement was reached for the distribution of AA products. Travel professionals are waiting to see the result of this bold move by American as this has great implication for the future of airline distribution systems. If American Airlines pulls away from the mainstream GDS, consumers and travel specialist alike will be faced with the inconvenience of going to a separate reservations system to compare fares. Although travel professionals are now urged to use direct connect on a trial basis, the general feeling is that eventually they will be charged to sell American Airline flights. To defend this move American Airline is only saying that direct connect will make it easier for them to tract ancillary fees like priority seating. It was noted in the article that Southwest Airline for the most part is a stand alone reservations system but they do not negotiate with the GDS companies to sell their flights. It is therefore quite evident that this move by American is really to reduce expenditure by eliminating the middle GDS companies while increasing revenue by charging travel partners for utilizing direct connect. American Airlines clearly wants to globally control their distribution system and maximize revenues. Contract renewal for both world span and sabre are due and the experts are waiting to see if American will renew with them. Sabre is owned by American Airlines so its a wait and see game to see how all this will be panned out. The real problem for the consumers and travel specialists are that if other airlines are to follow this move by American the tra

This article explains the distribution route American Airlines is taking to sell their flights. Due to not seeing eye to eye with the two most probably used websites for travel, Expedia and Orbitz, American has now taken their products away from both airline distribution sites. American suggest that all travel agencies and distribution companies begin using Direct Connect, which is a system for only American Airlines flights. If this would happen, travel agencies and companies will then begin having to pay for the system in order to sell Americans flights. At the moment you can still book flights through other distribution sites, but until when will that be? They already stopped Orbitz and Expedia, what's not to stop the others. The future of global distribution systems will be up in the air if all airlines choose to sell their own systems to be able to sell reservations. The only positive that was pointed out in this article was that if this system takes over, then more consumers will have to go back to using travel agents to secure the best reservations for flights and such.

With the contracts for major global systems, Worldspan and Sabre, being up for renewal in the near future, this article analyses the possible outcomes for airlines, and alternatives should they choose not to forgo continuing use of GDS

the article gives examples of retail stores and how they use proximity marketing to promote their products

This article tells us about 10 new innovations in the hospitality world. Mostly it is talking about some innovations in the hotel industry such as face recognition at the registrations, voice-controlled rooms, and smart amenities.

In today's society, travel distribution environments and electronic reservation services are consistently moving toward global and complicated marketplace. Thus, travel marketplace needs a more and more globalized and comprehensive system for customers. And, I think GDSs well reflect this trend. The article show the example of the utilization GDS in travel industry. Travelport introduces a new travel product called Travelport Drive Me to Galileo-connected travel agents in Asia. The joint creation of Travelport and two major car rental companies, Travelport Drive Me was developed in response to the demand for chauffer-driven car transfers in Asia. This product enables travel agents to book chauffer-driven car transfers through Travelport's GDS for international airports in Asia. This new product would provide advantages not just for travel agents, but also for customers. With this product, travel agents save time and cost through the automated process. Plus, customers experience satisfied traveling by eliminating concerns about language, security, and public transportation issues in Asia.

Nowadays, we can say each hotel must have the accounting department. Every successful goal needs a perfect financial management to consolidate it. In the hotel, accounting need to budget preparation, need to do the business planning, creating financial statements and payroll. Hotel needs to pay the salaries for employees and reporting sales and analyzing the profits. This is a huge process. A hotel must manage it efficiently. And owners can make decisions and improve their company. When you report the financial activities, you need to do the real report. A report can give you a chance to take the best decisions and make more profit. As a staff, you need to track cash flows and record transactions. If you have some trouble, you can let the expert help you to solve problems. They can help you to control your cash flows and maximize earnings.

For all businesses, including hospitality businesses, it is essential to have a properly organized accounting system. Every business needs solid financial management to achieve growth without which every business withers and dies. Proper accounting is at the heart of solid financial management. Hospitality accounting includes: preparing a precise collection of month end accounts, a trial balance, budget preparation, business planning, creating financial statements and balance sheets, and payroll. Not only does it enable you to track cash flows and record transactions, but it provides deep insights into the financial status of the business enabling owners to make proactive decisions and improve profits. So to excel in the dynamic hospitality industry seek professional help from expert accounting companies to set up proper accounting to have solid financial management. In my opinion, I believe that to have a successful business you need to have an up to date, accurate way to record your accounting transactions so getting professional help from experts would be wise.

This article begins by quickly going over new technologies that guests can interact with at leading metropolitan hotels. It then takes a turn to delve in to bringing these technologies "behind the scenes"; specifically for meeting planners. For example, the Thompson Seattle gives all their employees Itouch's equipped with Zello allowing them to quickly radio other departments and fill guests needs within minutes. What I found the most interesting was the HIlton Quebec and The Cosmopolitan Las Vegas sharing their guest text messaging interfaces with meeting planners, Event Service Managers, and Sales. Instead of Sales Managers having to chase departments around the hotel, and regularly pop into an event to make sure it was being executed correctly. The meeting planer could easily text when their event was in need. Any technology that allows us to better fulfill the needs of our guest, is worth the trial and error they may come along with.

RealView is a Chicago-based mobile software company that assists hotels with emergencies by equipping first responders with hotel's up-to-date floor plans and other relevant information. "We provide a preplan program where we make everything a responder would need available to them ahead of time," Stephen Nardi, CEO of RealView, said. "With planning, both employees and responders won't be operating on trial and error but reality." All of this information is streamlined to portable tablets or security stations and can be updated remotely and shared digitally. This software is important not only because of the safety of hotel patrons and visitors, but also to protect a hotel from a liability standpoint. "The front-end policies you have will protect you in the moment and in the end," Justin Parafinczuk, a partner for the defense law firm Koch, Parafinczuk, Wolf and Susen said. ""Any break in the chain is a liability. It's a minefield." In my opinion, this type of software not only makes sense but should be required in all hotels. When dealing with emergencies that involve life and death, seconds matter. It is software like RealView that can be the difference in saving peoples live's. RealView offers the ability to streamline real time information and make it easily sharable. I believe that not having this type of software should be considered a legal liability to hotels and they should be held accountable if they do not have this type of software implemented.

RoomOrders is now available for free trails in the United States offering a digital menu in the cloud to streamline food and beverage options. The web app helps answer hotel dilemmas as well as solving problems which include language barriers, reprinting menus, and customer satisfaction with signal and unresourceful staff members.

The role of GDSs in the travel industry has a major impact on revenue, competition, and reservations. In this article, Sabre, one of the largest known GDSs was sued by US Airways for failing to provide a fair contract to the airline. The lawyers from US Airways claimed that Sabre threatened to "cut off the airlines from a network of thousands of travel agents worldwide who depend on inventory that the tech giant provides via desktop software". The jury concluded that Sabre indeed violated antitrust law. Sabre, apparently, charged US Airways increased fees though their cost per transaction decreased because of the advances in technology. According to the article, Sabre argued that the fees were justified relative to the cost that an airline would incur to distribute its fares by other methods. This helped the agents have access to a plethora of information regarding price comparison. In my opinion, this is just a messy situation. However, it goes to show how important and how much of an impact that GDSs have on airline companies. They determine what consumers or agents readily see on the site. They determine how much of a presence a company has. The GDSs provide company information to a worldwide network that markets to consumers. Having a GDS system hold back or increase fees has proved to be detrimental. Ethical issues have come into play. The fact cannot be ignored that the technology being used by Sabre is helping lower cost for transactions. This decrease in cost should have resulted in a decrease in fees for the airlines. Nevertheless, the key to this article is that GDSs have the power (though Sabre did illegally) to determine which avenue a company goes through in regards to apparent competition and markets. The advancement of GDSs is resulting in lower cost transactions and giving agents and consumers "more bang for their buck". So it is important that the relationship between GDSs and airline companies remain ethical in all ways, especially dealing with

This article explains how due to Covid-19 more and more companies for developing and investing in contactless technology for customer experience.

This article details the technological innovation that Burger King began in order to adapt to the changing food service climate during the covid 19 pandemic. The article also talks about how Burger King is utilizing unattended POS systems as well as contactless QR code systems to add to the ordering experience and make guests feel safe at their operation. The article details that at the time, these technological innovations were somewhat of an experimental trial, however now it is much more of the norm.

This lengthy article provides a grim outlook for the lowly skilled/paid worker in the workforce when technology has been applied to improve outcomes in management. The article insinuates that companies/employers benefit likely at the expense of employees who are affected by technological innovation. Three key points are emphasized in that surveillance capitalism, disruption innovation and techno-solutionism are behind the pushout of low-skilled workers. And companies are not providing a solution to improving a sustainable economy and sustainable workforce which are goals of the United Nations. However, the United Nation's goals are not keeping up with societal trends. Surveillance Capitalism can be construed as digital monitoring in the workplace. Used as a way to control and manipulate performance outcomes which may shift to automation if employees don't perform. Further disruption innovation is defined as a "disruptive product that has particular benefits that focus on the cheap and easy that have the power to overturn markets". This is seen with automating basic tasks in food service such as ordering. Finally, the use of technology as an excuse to "rationalize" cost-cutting/management changes is what is considered Techno-solutionism. This article highlights various technologies already in use in the industry, most with much success and a few that did not pan out. Trial and error, but at the cost of retaining employees.

Tourism is paying a heavy price to accommodate a growing trend making "people" expendable. The competition isn't comparable and unless we change our processes and thinking in how we use technology more jobs will be gone. We can't be an all-knowing, 24/7 never tires robot. The industry is undermining the value of a person. Ridding themselves of them has larger implications for society and our future. Eventually, it could be us too. What value do we offer? And how do we enhance humans over technology?

What is the Human Resource Information System? The Human Resource Information System (HRIS) is a central automated HR information tool that manages the data of employees and applicants such as Recruitment & Selection, Training & Development, Performance Management, Disciplinary Procedures, Grievance Procedures and Leave Administration. What is the purpose of the HRIS and what will be its function? The HRIS supports the Government of Montserrat in improving data accuracy and information as it relates to its workforce and future HR planning. It creates an improved means of aligning the Government's human resources to its policy priorities and assists with our thrust towards modernization. It will provide data for informing and strengthening line management capabilities in people management. Overall, Government would have better knowledge of its HR costs, numbers and skill-set for future manpower planning, succession planning, and decision making in managing the size of its public service and be able to better ensure that the human resources are fit for purpose. The automated HRIS will enable Government of Montserrat to maintain vital organizational data in an organized manner. How will the system benefit you, the Public? There are several benefits to be derived from the HRIS System. For example, whenever you apply for a job in Government, you will be better able to know where we are in the recruitment process in a timely manner. Individuals who have worked for the Government, will take pleasure in knowing that key information during the years of employment, such as training received, promotions and performance, have been captured from their first day of work to retirement. Government of Montserrat would be better able to report to you with accurate and timely information on issues such as the skillset and health of the organization. Reporting and accountability is made easier. So where are we now with the implementation of the Human Resource Inform

This article is talked about top 11 productivity features in accounting software that can multiply revenue for hotels. 1. Accounting software that grows with you. The ability of accounting software to grow with your practice, known as software scalability, makes this possible. As a practice grows, multiple operating systems may be in use within the firm. 2. The option to operate in heads-down data entry or a mouse-driven mode. 3. Import and Export transactions from QuickBooks and other software. 4. Integration with tax preparation software. The ability to integrate with multiple vendors' tax preparation software means having the flexibility and capability to shift from one vendor's tax software to another, or work with multiple programs on a client-by-client basis. 5. Direct import of bank-cleared transactions. 6. General ledger auto-fill and auto-populate features. These features improve accuracy and significantly reduce typing keystrokes for the bookkeeper. 7. Customizable reports. The best accounting software products allow custom report criteria to be set. Accounting software customizable reports should also support multi-level consolidations. 8. Reporting flexibility. 9. Direct delivery of reports in real time. Reports that are generated and automatically delivered in real time [via e-mail] ensure uniformity and eliminate human error, such as developing reports that are not needed. 10. The ability to automate processes whenever you need or want them to be automated. It also is very important to be able to run a report (such as a trial balance) across some grouping of your clients, instead of having to go in to each client to tell the software you want to print the report, which can save an accountant what could be days of administrative work. 11. Cloud friendly. The cloud will allow you to take advantage of significant productivity multipliers and make you a leader in client/prospect mindset perception. Be sure that your software provider is

Demand the top 11 productivity features in your accounting software and give your practice the opportunity to grow and multiply revenue. Accounting software that grows with you. Whether you serve the basic accounting needs of 25 clients or the highly complex needs of thousands, there is peace of mind in knowing your accounting software will grow with your business for decades into the future. The option to operate in heads-down data entry or a mouse-driven mode. Highly productive software will allow you to work in a heads-down data entry mode or in a drop-down mouse-driven mode. Import and Export transactions from QuickBooks and other software. Having your accounting software integrate well with mass market client-oriented accounting programs like QuickBooks is critical to productivity. The ability to automate processes whenever you need or want them to be automated. A key to productivity and getting it right in an accounting practice is having accounting software that will require only one step to run a predefined series of reports on one or multiple clients, with the option of automatically e-mailing of the reports to the client.

TouchBistro is the best POS system for restaurants. It focuses solely on features that restaurants need and it is a perfect solution for a small business. From a management perspective it has a a lot of positive time-saving features. -mobility, it can be taken anywhere -table or bar, easy to open tabs -lock in register -bill splitting, easy to split entire bill -custom orders -automatic pricing -send orders directly to kitchen -reports, help to identify trend and boost sales -anytime support -personalized training program As for disadvantages: -it relies on a Apple-based infrastructure, if you are looking for an Android POS system, it's not for you -it is not cloud-based POS system, it's work depends on the device and local network.

(First I would like to say I am not promoting this program in any way. Because this article talks about security that is the only reason I use this article.) Security is a word that is spoken about very often; it is on people minds everyday and maybe every second. Privatesky, online cloud base security software, claims to have the best security system on the market. The service is free, fast, one-click encryption for messages, files and information. The security software is activated by a click of a button from within Outlook, a web browser or via any browser-based application on a PC, MC tablet or Smartphone. HTTPS is a very secure system and Privatesky claims to be better.

This article analyzed the performance of TripAdvisor PPC activity in detail, and showed the results of an investigation regarding to hotels' commission level, traffic ranking, and conversion rate, then talked about whether it worth to invest by hotels.  That is useful for hoteliers to work on the ROI, and make right decisions.

This article is about whether to invest in Trip advisor's PPC program. It offers some benefits and correlations between the commission fee and Trip advisor's score. It introduces this program through several aspects, like the cost, the prerequisite. And the program do has some limitations, like the limited expenses control and hotel position preference. But it can provide properties social network, customer satisfaction, word of mouth through this new distribution way.

Counterfeit and stolen credit cards are a headache for businesses of all kinds, but hotels, like other businesses, can protect themselves by following the credit card companies' mandated procedures. However, hotels have another problem that John E. Nichols, vice president of internal audit for Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. in Phoenix, describes as "the biggest issue I see in the hotel industry." This article goes into detail of the trials and tribulations that go into protecting businesses from credit card fraud, especially at hospitality establishments. The idea is, that by having an internal auditor at each and every major business, you decrease the risk of this happening, because you have someone constantly monitoring the ins and outs of your daily worklife.