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The arising topic of biometrics in the class in combination with Disney Amusements Parks has lead me to further explore details regards the topic. Disney is the first theme park using biometrics for their operations, prior to entrance in the Disney Parks; a digital fingertip is copied of the pointer finger of their customers. The justification for Disney implementation of the biometrics is in order to reduce or eliminate fraudulent and ticketing crimes. The Department of Defense (DOD) is working in cohesion with Disney in a focus to collect information, through the Freedom of Information Act, after Disney provides the excessive quality and quality of information to the DOD, which is after property of the United States' government able to use the information in their discretion. As well, Disney has implemented facial recognition technology in their cruise lines and private island, Casteway Cay, which is tied to a digital voucher card in the event that the customer would like to purchase photographs of their vacation, with or without permission the pictures are property of Disney.

This article deals with the theft that happens on a daily basis in the hospitality field. It happens when credit cards are used to pay for something, like a reservation, and thieves want the information, so they can use your credit card number for whatever intentions they may have. As the article states, "our data is under attack". I can relate to those people that have had credit card numbers stolen, because it has happened to my husband and me, and it is a horrible feeling trying to get your life back on track and recover your money.  I think it would be a great idea, with some research, to get the point to point encryption technology in a field where credit cards are used so often, not only to cover the business (hotel), but also to protect the guest, so they feel at easy when they travel on vacation or business.  The overall point of this technology is to encrypt the information as close to the point of entry, i.e. the swiping of the credit card, as possible. This would in turn "significantly reduce a merchant's card data environment", as the program would encrypt the information so that hackers cannot access the customer's information. As I mentioned earlier, questions should be asked before buying this technology, as there is always something new on the market that may be better. Credit cards are not always swiped, but can also be manually placed in the system, so you want to make sure, that both transactions are protected. Overall, the establishment should always be concerned about the customer and their safety, whether physical or mental and always be prepared for the worse.

Great article! Personally after being a victim of credit card fraud, I'm very apprehensive of where I shop, who handles my card and how long it takes them to return it. I recently cancelled a large purchased after the cashier insisted on rubbing my card number on the reciept after the transactions had be approved. In my mind, I was thinking "If I let you do that, then I've open the door for anyone to charge thousand of dollars. I don't think so." As a manager, who hands credit card numbers for manual input, I'm very cautious of them and want to insure that they don't get into the wrong hand. Aftern each transactions is approved, that number is shredded and the credit card machine is batched out. Companies don't realize how important it is to PCI compliant. The risk in exposing sensitive information of our clients and customers can cost thousand of dolllars in fines and fee, in addition to the lost of that customer/client.

Marilyn, Great Article...as a Front Desk Manager, it is my responsibility to randomly check our computers to ensure employees are not placing USB driver to collect data from our system. Our company has taking this a step further by putting metal locked case around the PC to avoid possible fraudulent activity. If we have to open a PC, we must log it to show proof why a PC became unlock. Companies should adopt similar procedures to protect the consumers/guests. Nelson

This current events article discusses the forward motion of cloud computing.  Baidu Inc, China's leading search engine, is investing about 1.6 billion dollars into cloud computing.  This improves their hold on the young Chinese mobile internet space.  This should solidify them as the largest Chinese search engine, following Google's vacating in 2010. 

Touristlink is new online network that has been created as a means to connect tourists with other tourists as well as experts in the travel and tourism field. This type of network allows users to access the entire website by connecting them with travel agents, hoteliers, tour guides and many other people from all over the world. I personally believe that the Touristlink network facilitates planning a vacation because it centralizes all of the travelers questions and concerns to one particular location. It also puts the traveler in contact with the right people for planning a vacation.

Consumers seeking a vacation are looking for rich visual content to help them understand the value. On the website, social network, everywhere, a quality visual will provide a good representation of the property, the room, and the differentiators, and help the hotel get a better business. The reason is it could let the potential customers understand the value.Technology has made it easy for travel suppliers to create spectacular, rich content at a cost that will not break the budget.

Traveling has a lot of purposes. Some people travel regularly as it is the need of their business or profession while some travels occasionally to enjoy a. When you save sometimes from your busy schedule it allows you to enjoy all the entertaining vacation while exploring different parts of the world. Medical tourism is gaining popularity because of the many benefits that they offer, such as fun of traveling and meeting exotic people and visiting beautiful sites along with obtaining high quality medical treatment .

Trump International Hotels & Tower in Toronto has selected to use MICROS Opera and MICROS RES. The MICROS OPERA system includes property management, vacation ownership, and customer information to manage customer data and provides the most advanced technology. Trump selected MICROS RES because of it's rich restaurant operations functionality. Trump is pleased to be working with just one company that provides so much advanced technology. The company looks to gain more efficiency and secure processes and enable employees to provide superior experiences to their clients/guests.

This article discusses four cyclical sales revenue cycles. First, the daily sales revenue that depends on meal periods in restaurants, second, weekly cycle where business travelers mostly uses hotels during the week, third, seasonal cycle, during vacation months and fourth, generalized business cycle. There is direct costs which refers to all materials and labor costs that are traced to the product and then there is indirect cost which refers to utilities, overhead,salaries etc. Managers review operating results to ensure that all departments provide sufficient income to cover total indirect costs for the overall hospitality operation and provide excess funds to meet the desired level of profit.

Not only does the Better Business Bureau verify legitimate businesses, but this link provides travel tips which are highlighting possible scams and ripoffs that are occurring related to tourism. It is important for travelers to be hyper-vigilant when making purchases not part of everyday lifestyle, such as taking vacations to foreign & unfamiliar places, which makes opportunities for fraud. Local scams are also discussed such as the risk for ripoffs when buying sports or concert tickets as well as counterfeit team items. Fake lodging and cruise scams are also highlighted, all issues which serve to bring awareness that validation prior to purchases of travel arrangements or leisure offers is a critical step to take before making any commitments, or confirming payment. The BBB recommends: 1) Always check the business first through validation with BBB. 2) Pay with a credit card which can be stopped or possibly recovered according to your provider. 3) Ensure you purchase is actually being used for what you intended by ensuring payment is received by cruise line, hotel, or airline being promoted. 4) Get proper confirmation of your booking. (Nuff said), 5) Don't be afraid to ask lots of questions BEFORE MAKING A PURCHASE! If questions are not welcomed, then don't give them your money! 6) Consider investing in travel insurance - a few dollars goes a long way when problems occur. Plan travel insurance into your vacation budget as a necessary purchase. "For more consumer tips you can trust, visit www.bbb.org/us/bbb-news. "

In this article, Christine Negroni discusses the future of airline booking and travel. Over the last ten years, there has been a shift from telephone reservations to computer reservations with the birth of the World Wide Web. With new mobile devices and smart phones, customers are now trying to find the newest, easiest way to work a plane ticket or a vacation. Companies have to strategically plan how they will market to thei customers. FOr leisure, companies will want to reach them through Facebook and Twitter. With the internet, airlines today need to focus on their image. The image is just as important as the product you sell, or the plane ticket the customer purchases. With Youtube, anyone can post whatever they'd like, so hospitality companies and airlines especially, need to be weary. Because the aviation industry is so large, the internet give customers and companies a way to interact on a deeper, more personal level.

So, for the consumers that are used to booking their vacations by themselves, I don't think this article applies to you. For the ones that are trying to save money by not going through a travel agent, I think thesis the article for you. A study conducted by AH&LA shows early signs that almost 2.5 million bookings for hotel properties made online through "fake websites" are being accounted for. This is a huge security issue. Consumers are booking their travel thinking that they are getting certain room types, ample amenities, amazing discounts, and good deals, but turns out they are just getting scammed. Other then not making the clients happy, this also hurts the reputation of the hotel property because when things don't go our way or something happens, we tend to blame the property. And in today's society, most take to the internet to voice their opinions in addition to speaking with the hotel; and bad word-of-mouth is the last thing our industry needs. Also, this can lead to loss of revenue. The survey stated that 56% of customers prefer to book directly with the hotel. It is always recommended to book directly through the property themselves, but for the new guys, how are they supposed to differentiate the difference between real and fake websites? 

Amadeus is working with travel agents to ensure their clients get the most personalized experience possible while booking their vacations especially, airfare. After a study done by Amadeus with Frost & Sullivan, the found that many travelers would respond to messages that they can relate with their interests. Also, they found out that travelers would respond to offers related to their locations. The article summarizes that GDS were not providing the most conclusive and personal content to travel agencies. Amadeus has developed 'fare families' for airlines. These fare families are able to combine options and services that appeal to consumers and give travel agents the ability prepare targeted offers with the GDS in place. Additionally, using consumer relationship management data, like spending patterns and social media, will lead to better customer response. Travel agents rely a great deal on global distribution systems. Amadeus is going in the right direction in giving travel agents the proper tools to succeed in a market that is increasingly booking directly with suppliers. This new personalized offers that Amadeus is bringing to the table may actually give travel agents an advantage over the competition.

This article is about how guests prefer the use of technology when they stay at a hotel. According to the article, 64% of guests say that investing in hotel technology is important. Everyone uses mobile devices each and every day and they expect to continue using them while on vacation. "A third of guests are interested in using a complimentary hotel tablet provided in guest rooms. Forty-one percent of guests want a message to their smartphone when their guest room is ready. About 21 percent of guests want the ability to stream content onto the in-room TV." Although excessively using technology has decreased human interactions, while on vacation travelers rather have the information given to them on a device rather than having to go to the front desk for everything. Smart phones have made trips more convenient from start to finish.

Summer is wedding season. Celebrities aren't the only one spending a ton of money willing to spend on their honeymoons. Billionaires have honeymoons almost as extravagant as their wedding itself. With all that money, but tends to be complicated. Ovation Vacations have become experts at planning honeymoons for billionaires. This company is known for planning leisure travel consulting for 'ultra-high net worth' people. This team consists of 30 employees which plan nearly 200 honeymoons per year, averaging about $50,000 each trip. This results in $1 million in revenue per month. The CEO is considered to be the Olivia Pope of the travel industry. An interesting request of travelers who book with Ovation is that they like specific cuts of meat during traveling. It's very common to have meat sent from the U.S. to where ever they are vacationing. This is very interesting to me because you would expect one of the main attractions of traveling is to try new cuisines. Seems a little over the top. It gets a little more extreme -- one guest even requested an al dente pasta cooked for a certain amount of minutes. A celebrity requested dragon fruit for their "pink smoothie". This gets tricky when other countries have rules when it comes to importation. JLo wanted Ovation to pick our green M&Ms for her. In addition, another guest wanted a crate of Fiji water bottles delivered nightly. It gets even better, one guest paid $40,000 for her 5-night stay in order to have her sink filled 7 inches in order to not bend over to wash their face. Another husband spent $80,000 to have a yacht carpeted so his wife can wear her stilettos instead of being barefoot. Sometimes inevitable things happen such as natural disasters. Not a problem for Ovation. They spend $50,000 for one couple to still enjoy the beach, which had been destroyed due to weather. What they did was hire a truck to move sand from one part of the island to the other for them to enjoy a private beach. Something simple, yet

E commerce has impacted tourism for over 50 years, both business and consumers alike. The introduction of the internet and the world wide web expanded the consumers options to make vacation decisions such as air fare, seating and time of travel. E commerce has enabled consumers use of their tablets, smart mobile devices and emails to access the internet as resource to obtain and gather information about their choice of travel destination. Consumers find using their technology devices to be more accessible and comfortable. These devices are used to collect data about their travel destination through browsing the web on a company destination site. viewing the number of ratings or reviews that the destination has accumulated thus giving the consumer an idea of experiences of travellers who vacationed previously. As a business in the tourism industry ecommerce provides the company an opportunity to display products and services to the world. Businesses are given the opportunity to attract travellers to their world while enticing vacationers to want a experience everything that is available from browsing the other side of a screen through blogging, video clips and photos.Consumers are given more options with use of e-commerce. It is noted that businesses must take advantage and make use of the internet to remain competitive.

Expedia Inc. believes that voice command will be the biggest disrupter in the travel industry in the near future. Due to technology advancements in the industry, which Expedia spends roughly $1.3 billion annually, soon customers will be able to book their whole vacation by simply using their voice. Part of the industry would be shaken because as the services get more convenient, then less travel agents would be necessary. I believe part of the problem is optimizing the actual voice commands to actually work. During demonstrations, they always seem to work, but many people have problems using it. I am not a huge fan of using any voice commands, especially to book an expensive trip; however, I believe we will get to a point where the voice commands will be really accurate. I just thought it is ironic that Expedia thinks voice commands will disrupt the travel market, when the company's own existence already did that a few years ago by allowing customers to book their own trips from computers or mobile devices.

The article discusses the ways hotels can become more sustainable for the environment by using green technology which will reduce energy and cut down water usage.

AirBnb and City Relay discuss how they are implementing sustainability in the short term vacation rentals that host travellers in their business platforms. Sustainability has become a very important trend in tourism which travellers highly consider and these businesses see sustainability as a way of increasing operational efficiency.