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Chris Cardoso

Hotel Telecommunications Strategies - 6 views

www.hotel-online.com/...Mar03_Telecommunications.html

shared by Chris Cardoso on 28 Jan 12 - No Cached
  • No matter what telecommunications strategy a property takes, one thing is for certain, it needs to be a different one from the past.
  • The guest now has a variety of choices for communicating including fax over the Internet, e-mail, cell phones, calling cards and now even Internet-based phones. 
  • Assuming that the wireless reception quality is acceptable, it is very difficult for the hotel to compete on a cost basis.
  • ...18 more annotations...
  • Given the hotel’s advantage in quality over the guest’s portable devices, the proper packaging of services will lure even the most avid self-contained guest back to using the hotel’s telecom services.
  • Hotels are unable to compete on price with devices that the guest has brought with him.  What the hotel can do is offer a better experience at a reasonable price to entice guests to use the hotel’s telecom infrastructure.
  • Attracting the Guests to Use the Hotel’s Telecommunication Services
  • No matter what telecommunications strategy a property takes, one thing is for certain, it needs to be a different one from the past.
  • No matter what telecommunications strategy a property takes, one thing is for certain, it needs to be a different one from the past.
  • The guest now has a variety of choices for communicating including fax over the Internet, e-mail, cell phones, calling cards and now even Internet-based phones.   All these alternatives offer a less expensive means of communicating than using the traditional hotel guestroom phone and other services such as fax
  • The guest now has a variety of choices for communicating including fax over the Internet, e-mail, cell phones, calling cards and now even Internet-based phones.   All these alternatives offer a less expensive means of communicating than using the traditional hotel guestroom phone and other services such as fax.
  • Guests had little choice back then but to use the guestroom phone and grumble about the cost.
  • Guests had little choice back then but to use the guestroom phone and grumble about the cost.
  • Assuming that the wireless reception quality is acceptable, it is very difficult for the hotel to compete on a cost basis .
  • Assuming that the wireless reception quality is acceptable, it is very difficult for the hotel to compete on a cost basis
  • Another concern among hoteliers is what can be termed the self-contained guest
  • Another concern among hoteliers is what can be termed the self-contained guest
  • Theoretically, the self-contained guest needs no hotel telecommunications services .  
  • Theoretically, the self-contained guest needs no hotel telecommunications services
  • Attracting the Guests to Use the Hotel’s Telecommunication Services   Hotels are unable to compete on price with devices that the guest has brought with him.   What the hotel can do is offer a better experience at a reasonable price to entice guests to use the hotel’s telecom infrastructure. No matter what cell phone the guest may carry or what service provider is used, no wireless connection is as good as a land-line connection
  • Hotels are unable to compete on price with devices that the guest has brought with him.   What the hotel can do is offer a better experience at a reasonable price to entice guests to use the hotel’s telecom infrastructure. No matter what cell phone the guest may carry or what service provider is used, no wireless connection is as good as a land-line connection
  • The early 1980s marked the beginning of an era of profitable hotel telephone departments.  The advent of call accounting systems (thanks to deregulation) enabled hoteliers to easily mark up calls to a profitable (some say too profitable) level.  Guests had little choice back then but to use the guestroom phone and grumble about the cost. This era has come to an end.  With few exceptions, most hotels have seen between a 15 percent and 25 percent drop in telephone revenues over the last five years.  The main reason for this decrease is guest choice.  The guest now has a variety of choices for communicating including fax over the Internet, e-mail, cell phones, calling cards and now even Internet-based phones.   All these alternatives offer a less expensive means of communicating than using the traditional hotel guestroom phone and other services such as fax . A fax machine in the guestroom was considered a premium amenity for many years.  With the Internet explosion, however, the machines have seen less use.
  • weiwei lu on 28 Jan 12
     
    No matter what telecommunications strategy a property takes, one thing is for certain, it needs to be a different one from the past. The early 1980s marked the beginning of an era of profitable hotel telephone departments. The advent of call accounting systems (thanks to deregulation) enabled hoteliers to easily mark up calls to a profitable (some say too profitable) level.
  • ...6 more comments...
  • Qianlin Wang on 04 Sep 12
     
    Nowadays, people have many choices for communicating including fax over the Internet, e-mail, cell phones, calling cards and now even Internet-based phones. Hotel guests are restricted by the largest telecommunications service providers from making long distance collect and credit card calls to countries other than their home country. The guest is not able to complete his desired call from the guest room telephone. In addition to frustrated guests, this generates absolutely zero revenue to hotels. What the hotel can do is offer a better experience at a reasonable price to entice guests to use the hotel's telecom infrastructure. The hotel can use some systems to reach this goal, such as the BBG Communications. It can increase revenue for every international operator assisted call. It assumes all responsibility for billing and collection of all calls. It has over 500 multilingual, live operators servicing customers. The most important thing is there is no cost and risk to the hotel, because the BBG assumes all associated cost and responsibility.
  • Shuqiong Huang on 05 Sep 12
     
    This article is talked about hotel telecommunications in the 21st Century. No matter what telecommunications strategy a property takes, one thing is for certain, it needs to be a different one from the past. The early 1980s marked the beginning of an area of profitable hotel telephone department. Few years later, this area has come to an end. The main reason for this decrease is guest choice. Later on, guests have a variety of choices for communicating including fax over the Internet, e-mail, cell-phones, calling cards and even Internet-based phones. All these alternatives offer a less expensive means of communicating than using the traditional hotel guestroom phone. With the time passed by, hotel telecommunications update and improve better and better. Nowadays, High-speed Internet access is fast becoming an expected amenity. This the revolution for hotel telecommunications in the 21st Century.
  • rebecca Bonet on 08 Sep 12
     
    This article that is written by Geoff Grisworld. Talks about how telecommications has changing in the 21st century. One of them being hotel. Hotel takes a big advantage in telecommication because there is always a change in the communication system. That is why hotel have to upgrade their system often. This is why hotelier organizes packaging deal when it comes to communication system from using the phone to HSIA. This is a few system that is always need to be change constantly, so the hotel can offer a better experience at a reasonable price while they are enjoying their stay.
  • Paige Hanna on 09 Sep 12
     
    This article speaks about the growth and development of telecommunication within the hospitality industry in the 21st century. "No matter what telecommunications strategy a property takes, one thing is for certain, it needs to be a different one from the past," the article states. Since the 80s hotels utilized their telephone department to offer a service for a profit. Because there was little to no competition with communication, this was profitable as guest pretty much had no choice but to use the phone service provided at a set cost by the hotel. Today, however, we see a shift in technology now where everyone has communication at their disposal via smart phones, Internet and other communication tools. With this happening, "it is very difficult for the hotel to compete on a cost basis." (Griswold) It also explains how high-speed Internet access (HSIA) is almost seen as an amenity anticipated by the guest and has worked in the hotels' favor. The article goes on to describe the "self-contained guest" that carries a smart phone, small printer, notebook computer and technology of their own which allows them to virtually have no use in the hotel telecommunications services. So what does this article suggest for concerns as such? Hotels are to attract guests to use their telecommunication services. By offering packaged deals at affordable prices, Griswold believes hotels will be able to be the ideal option for telecommunications services. After viewing this article, I realize how hospitality industry workers think about those they serve all the time and should always display it. Even though the hotel is trying to make money by charging for Internet and phone services, they wish to market the service as the best option for the guest. The Internet connection would be faster provided by the hotel over a smart phone is one feature they wish to advertise. This type of mentality is smart yet should be withheld throughout the industry and always show that the
  • Ling Xiang on 24 Jan 13
     
    The early 1980s marked the beginning of an era of profitable hotel telephone departments, because guests had little choice back then but to use the guestroom phone and grumble about the cost. Nowadays, guest has a variety of choices for communicating including fax over the Internet, e-mail, cell phones, calling cards and now even Internet-based phones. All these alternatives offer a less expensive means of communicating than using the traditional hotel guestroom phone and other services such as fax. And high-speed Internet access (HSIA) is fast becoming an expected amenity in 21st century. Today hotels are unable to compete on price with devices that the guest has brought with him. What the hotel can do is offer a better experience at a reasonable price to entice guests to use the hotel's telecom infrastructure.
  • Karin Goodine on 26 Jan 13
     
    This article explains how much are creating incentives for hotel guest in an effort to get them to use the technology that the hotel provides.
  • Yawen Zheng on 26 Jan 13
     
    In modern society hotel need more attrahent thing increase revenue. The traditional way may lose competitiveness, like telephone services. Because almost everybody using personal cell phone and more and more people prefer to use internet to communicate such as email and skype. In my opinion if hotel build some telecommunications use internet such as physical skype phone and provide cheap service that may be attract more people to use that.
  • Chris Cardoso on 15 Sep 13
     
    With the emergence of "self-contained guest," hotel telecommunications departments must change its offerings because old strategies no longer apply. A self-contained guest is one that does not need the traditional amenities hotels would offer for telecommunications, such as fax machines and printers. Guests now look for a fast, free internet connection as an amenity. Some may not even need wifi, because they have a faster mobile service that they use. Even hotel telephones, guests no longer want to use the land line and pay hotel fees to make a call. Cell phones have eliminated that need (even for international calls). So hotels must not stay the same, and must change their strategies for producing revenue from their telecommunications department.
Le Chai

Event Planning - Technology Solutions - 5 Technologies Event Planners Can't Live Withou... - 5 views

www.successfulmeetings.com/...nt-Planners-Can-t-Live-Without

event hospitality technology

shared by Le Chai on 03 Oct 12 - No Cached
  • 5 Technologies Event Planners Can't Live Without
  • our top five technologies for event planners are no surprise
  • 1. Smartphones
  • ...54 more annotations...
  • This is the most obvious technology we can’t live without. Let’s be honest—-most of us are glued to our smartphones and our favorite apps 24 hours a day.
  • Chances are, if you walk around a convention center or hotel lobby, you will see people with their heads down, tapping away furiously on their smartphones
  • How did we ever find time to accomplish everything before smartphones came into existence?
  • your event management system with a customer relationship management (CRM) system such as Salesforce,
  • the benefits of the SaaS (software as a service) delivery model are becoming increasingly apparent.
  • These applications are advantageous to planners because they allow us to access all details and execution aspects of an event from any web-enabled device—be it a computer, smartphone, or iPad
  • With SaaS cloud apps, just provide end-users with reports-only access to what they need and nothing more. 
  • integration options available to planners, you are now blessed with the ability to link up your event management system with a customer relationship management (CRM) system such as Salesforce,
  • 2. SaaS Cloud Apps
  • With all of the information you  could ever need to access right at your fingertips through event management applications, you can ditch the millions of pieces of paper and now access contracts, registrations, room blocks,
  • Live and virtual events are about giving the attendee a choice as to how they spend their time
  • “webinars on steroids.” Live and virtual events are about giving the attendee a choice as to how they spend their time.
  • virtual events save the planner and attendee time, money, and resources.
  • virtual events save the planner and attendee time, money, and resources.
  • Virtual events are a great way for planners to fill seats at a cost that won’t make anyone wince.
  • This is the best tool in the box for improving future events.
  • 4. Social Media and Viral Marketing
  • Did you know that one out of three consumers is online for three or more hours per day? Or that 90 million tweets are sent out daily? What about this one: One of every eight minutes spent online is spent on Facebook
  • Some of the best traction you will get is from people sharing interesting tidbits they may have learned and enticing others to learn more
  • Today is the day of the iPad and the tablet, and a more simplified life.
  • 3. Virtual Events
  • In a world where everyone is always on the run, our top five technologies for event planners are no surprise—but what these tools can accomplish might impress you.
  • our top five technologies for event planners are no surprise—but what these tools can accomplish might impress you.
  • our top five technologies for event planners are no surprise—but what these tools can accomplish might impress you.
  • our top five technologies for event planners are no surprise—but what these tools can accomplish might impress you.
  • our top five technologies for event planners are no surprise—but what these tools can accomplish might impress you.
  • our top five technologies for event planners are no surprise—but what these tools can accomplish might impress you.
  • our top five technologies for event planners are no surprise—but what these tools can accomplish might impress you.
  • our top five technologies for event planners are no surprise—but what these tools can accomplish might impress you.
  • Smartphones
  • Chances are, if you walk around a convention center or hotel lobby, you will see people with their heads down, tapping away furiously on their smartphones. 
  • Whether the ubiquity of these devices is a blessing or a curse, the fact is, event professionals and participants alike would be lost without them.
  • SaaS Cloud Apps
  • SaaS (software as a service) delivery model
  • These applications are advantageous to planners because they allow us to access all details and execution aspects of an event from any web-enabled device
  • Additionally, with all of the integration options available to planners, you are now blessed with the ability to link up your event management system with a customer relationship management (CRM) system
  • Virtual Events
  • Virtual events are a great way for planners to fill seats at a cost that won’t make anyone wince.
  • Often complementing physical events, virtual events save the planner and attendee time, money, and resources.
  • There is word that the economy is making a recovery, but many of us have yet to see it.
  • Social Media and Viral Marketing
  • Did you know that one out of three consumers is online for three or more hours per day? Or that 90 million tweets are sent out daily? What about this one: One of every eight minutes spent online is spent on Facebook. 
  • So this should be a no-brainer
  • This marketing can come from either you or your attendees. Allowing attendees to share things that they like and getting them involved in hyping your event is a great way to spread the word. 
  • iPads and Tablets
  • Today is the day of the iPad and the tablet, and a more simplified life. 
  • When combining tablets with mobile event applications, planners can also communicate in real-time with participants and share or update information in seconds. Never leave home without one! 
  • 1. Smartphones
  • This is the most obvious technology we can’t live without. Let’s be honest—-most of us are glued to our smartphones and our favorite apps 24 hours a day. We get nervous when we can’t find the phone, and we feel phantom vibration rings. Chances are, if you walk around a convention center or   hotel lobby, you will see people with their heads down, tapping away furiously on their smartphones
  • Virtual Events
  • SaaS Cloud Apps
  • Social Media and Viral Marketing
  • iPads and Tablets
  • . Smartphones
  • Matt Turner on 03 Oct 12
     
    The author of this article, Tara Thomas, summarizes the top five technologies for event planners. The first technology that she mentions is smart phones. She writes that this is the most obvious technology that event planners can't live without. Planners can do things like set alarms, look up information, communicate instantly, and use social media to promote the event. The second technology that Thomas mentions is SaaS cloud applications. Software as a service allows planners to access all details and execution aspects of an event from any web enabled device, eliminating printed or emailed reports. Thirdly, Thomas talks about virtual events. Virtual events save the planner and the attendee valuable time, money, and resources. Thomas next talks about social media and viral marketing. Using sites like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn to share event details is a great way to communicate to a very large group of people. The fifth and last technology that Thomas speaks of is Ipads and tablets. Through event management applications, planners have all of the information they could possibly need right at their fingertips. Ipads and tablets also make it possible to communicate in real time if needed.
  • ...11 more comments...
  • Jenna Rashbaum on 03 Oct 12
     
    I think this is a great article. I am a Marketing Manager but do events at my restaurant as well and even for me I need my smart phone at all times to look up stuff in emails or even have a remote log-in to my computer to check a contract if needed. Event planners really do need all of these technologies at all times and people may view it as rude to be on your phone at all times but in reality they are just doing their jobs to make your life easier and less complex.
  • Theodore Moore on 04 Oct 12
     
    "5 technologies event planners can't live without" was a unique read. The article begins with the number one technology the author designates as not being able to live without which are smartphones. Event planners are constantly in need to update their events, use the latest applications, set alarms for all events , look up phones number instantly by vendor and so on. What is then questioned is the systems in place before smartphones were introduced. Number two on the list is SaaS cloudapps better known as software as a service applications that are vastly on the rise. SaaS cloudapps enable meeting planners to access details and other aspects of events from any web device such as a smart phone or ipad. This is also valid with the ability to link event management systems to customer relationship management systems (CRM).Number three is Virtual events. The article presents many positives in hosting "webinars or live events" that include saving time, money and available resources. The meeting planner can fill "seats" easier and measure improvement for future events. Number four is social media and viral marketing. This is a major deal for event planners because not only they have the ability to market their events but attendees market for them: before, during and after. The article presents statistics about twitter, facebook and linkedin which support why social media and viral marketing are keys to success for event planners. Last but not least, listed as number five are Ipads and tablets. These devices simply allow event planners to have a bundle of information at their fingertips. In summary, event planners are constantly on the go and will always strive for perfection even during crunch time. Technology enhancements have allowed event planners to become more efficient and better resources for their clients.
  • Xu Wang on 08 Nov 12
     
    This article list five technologies event planners cannot live without, including the smartphones, SaaS Cloud Apps, virtual events, social media and viral marketing, and iPads and tablets. With more and more people adopting smartphones, ipads and tablets, event planners should look into purchasing a mobile event app for their attendees to use at their event. This not only reduces paper waste, it also reduces the high costs involved in printing event guides and brochures for the event. It is essentially a virtual event guide that's available in the palm of the attendee's hands.
  • haojingting on 12 Nov 12
     
    In a world where everyone is always on the run, our top five technologies for event planners are no surprise-but what these tools can accomplish might impress you. 1. Smartphones This is the most obvious technology we can't live without. Let's be honest--most of us are glued to our smartphones and our favorite apps 24 hours a day. 2. SaaS Cloud Apps In today's quick and chaotic world, the benefits of the SaaS (software as a service) delivery model are becoming increasingly apparent.With SaaS cloud apps, just provide end-users with reports-only access to what they need and nothing more. 3. Virtual Events There is word that the economy is making a recovery, but many of us have yet to see it. People are quickly catching on to the benefits of virtual events, or as we like to call them, "webinars on steroids." Live and virtual events are about giving the attendee a choice as to how they spend their time. 4. Social Media and Viral Marketing Sharing event details on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook is hugely beneficial because of the range of attention you can garner. People show up at events they've heard about, think good things about, and understand the value of. 5. 5.iPads and Tablets Tablet computers are revolutionizing the event-planning industry. The day of the binder stuffed with event details and spreadsheets is coming to an end. Today is the day of the iPad and the tablet, and a more simplified life.
  • Jianyi Wang on 13 Nov 12
     
    This article provides readers with basic information about the advanced five technologies event planners can not live without.Including smartphones,Cloud apples,Virtual Events, Social media and ipads.
  • anonymous on 15 Nov 12
     
    Here are the 5 espects for event planers development. In my opinion, the most important one in next several years is the smartphones. This is the smartphoe time. It make our life easy and convenient. If we do have an apps for event planning for smartphones, and make a good market planning, it will help the company find lots of potential customers and expanding the business not only on the computer internet.
  • Mikaela Vourtsis on 25 Mar 13
     
    This article discusses how technology can assist in event planning. It lists the five technologies that can sincerely facilitate event planners with their day to day tasks and responsibilities. The five technologies include smart phones which are life savers when it comes to trying to find phone numbers, respond to email inquiries, and keeping a clear and adequate schedule. The Saa S Clould App lends a hand to event planners so they can link up their systems for customers using software as a service tool. Third, they discuss virtual events, which give key data and facts about events and help the planner and client save time, money, and resources. The forth technology is social media and viral marketing which is enormously helpful and saves money. As a final point, ipads and tablets save paper and are of assistance to event planners to be more structured.
  • Adam Herrmann on 27 Mar 13
     
    This article highlights the 5 technologies that are vital to the success of event planners. The first piece of technology that event planners cannot live without are smartphones. With the introduction of the smartphone, event planners can now do mutliple things at once while on-the-go. While moving from event to event, event planners can check their emails so they are not overwhelmed, review and add postings to social media pages, and check their to-do lists for the day. The second piece of technology that are key for all event planners are SaaS Cloud Apps. With these new cloud systems, event planners can now access any information and details about an event from any web-based product making life a whole lot easier. The third piece of technology are virtual meetings. With the cost of travel increasing everyday virtual meetings gives event planners the opportunity to hold events online saving them time, money, and resources, as well as getting immediate feedback from attendees. The fourth piece of technology is social media marketing. With the popularity of Facebook, Twiiter, Instagram, etc going through the roof, event planners are taking advantage of this by being able to have access to a wide variety of potential clients. The last piece of technology that is vital to the success of events planners is IPads and Tablets. No longer will event planners have to deal with file cabinets and binders filled with contracts and invoices. Now, event planners can do everything through a tablet and keep their business more organized. http://www.successfulmeetings.com/Event-Planning/Technology-Solutions/Articles/5-Technologies-Event-Planners-Can-t-Live-Without/
  • Panpan Xie on 29 Mar 13
     
    Nowadays, there are 5 technologies that event planners cannot live without. They are smartphones, saas cloud apps, virtual events, social media and viral marketing, as well as ipads. With a smartphone, the event planner can respond to emails in time, add new postings on the event page, etc. Saas cloud apps allow the event planners or guests get the event details from any web-enabled device. Virtual events is an effective way for organizers to get the data for future events. With social media, event planners can share their experience through twitter or facebook, which is a great way to spread the market. With ipads and tablets, one can make contracts, register or other things online.
  • danielle caskie on 04 Apr 13
     
    This article discuses how these 5 technologies help to make planning events easier. 
  • Kai Zhang on 05 Apr 13
     
    This article picked five technologies that event planners must have, and they are smartphones, SaaS Cloud Apps, virtual events, social media and viral marketing, and iPads and tablets. In detail, the arthor mentioned event planners should link up the event management system with a customer relationship management system such as Salesforce. Also, when talked about the virtual event, the author mentioned it can help to save time, money and resources, and it is a high recommonded tool for improving future events.
  • Katie Gallagher on 30 Jun 13
     
    This article was about the 5 technologies event planners can't live without. These technologies are: smart phones, SaaS cloud apps, virtual events, social media and viral marketing, and finally iPads and tablets. Smart phones are important to the daily activities of an event planner because they are able to look up phone numbers, response to emails, update a status on a social media site, review or add to lists for events, and so much more all on the go. SaaS cloud apps let planner take advantage of accessing all devices and execute aspects of an event for any web enabled device. With SaaS cloud apps you are also able to link up your event management system with a customer relationship management system. Virtual events allow planners to fill seats at a cost that won't cost a burden. Social media and viral marketing allows event planners to market themselves and get event details to different consumers. iPads and tablets get rid of the need for a large heavy binder stuffed with event details. Now event planner can carry a tablet that allows you to access anything you need. In conjunction with the SaaS cloud apps you can also access contracts, registrations, and room blocks and also link up a CRM system as mentioned before. The technology advances we have now let event planners do even more on the day to day, but also make it easier for them to do so.
  • Le Chai on 08 Nov 13
     
    The article lists five technological necessities that used by the event planners. They are smartphones, SaaS cloud apps, virtual events, social medial and viral marketing, ipads and tablets. All of these technologies can save time and costs for the event planners. What`s more, they provide a more simplified life for the human beings. 
Siyu Ma

Why Investing in Hospitality Technology is Investing in Good Business - 1 views

hotelexecutive.com/...-is-investing-in-good-business

hotel investment

shared by Siyu Ma on 18 Jul 12 - No Cached
  • In consideration of how investment in hospitality technology can support business growth, rather than being an added cost, or unnecessary financial burden, to a hotel – it is important to look at what operational efficiencies the technology can bring, including any improvements in staff activities and morale that can be delivered and how the technology will ultimately benefit the hotels revenue performance.
  • In consideration of how investment in hospitality technology can support business growth, rather than being an added cost, or unnecessary financial burden, to a hotel – it is important to look at what operational efficiencies the technology can bring, including any improvements in staff activities and morale that can be delivered and how the technology will ultimately benefit the hotels revenue performance.
  • Those hotel groups that fail to recognize the speed of change in technology and what this can bring to the business will find themselves significantly under prepared when the market starts to strengthen. While “its never too late” to act – there is a significant opportunity cost in doing nothing or worse still, cutting technology out of the day to day operations. For a hotel to effectively operate and ensure it is maximizing its incoming revenue, the right technologies needs to be in place. Through investing in the right technology at the right time, savvy hoteliers will be ensuring that their facility(s) are able to effectively maximize their ongoing revenue capability now and into the future.
  • ...11 more annotations...
  • Equally as important, when considering whether to invest in new technology within the hospitality sector, is the need to recognize that technology is constantly changing and improving. Decision time frames are shortening. International hoteliers that have a good view on the future, realize that the technology decision they make today will only be relevant for the next 3-5 years at the most and are already planning next generation migrations.
  • Whilst many international hotel organisations have used the economic downturn to adequately plan for the future through improved levels of technology and staff investment, many others are not heeding the warning signs and are instead shedding costs wherever possible – which can lead to disastrous consequences.
  • In consideration of how investment in hospitality technology can support business growth, rather than being an added cost, or unnecessary financial burden, to a hotel – it is important to look at what operational efficiencies the technology can bring, including any improvements in staff activities and morale that can be delivered and how the technology will ultimately benefit the hotels revenue performance.
  • Importantly, hoteliers also need to realize that the hospitality industry is constantly changing and a lack of up-to-date technology and older strategies will not always be applicable to new, unique situations.
  • There are many technologies that tick all of the above boxes, including: Energy Management Systems Revenue Management Systems Property Management Systems In-Room Technology Sophisticated Telco Systems
  • Consider Revenue Management Technology: This technology is u
  • sed in a wide variety of industries.
  • IDeaS experience in many regions to date is that there are many technology vendors in hospitality that fail to acknowledge the above reality.
  • Whilst many international hotel organisations have used the economic downturn to adequately plan for the future through improved levels of technology and staff investme
    • Juan Du
      Juan Du on 06 Mar 13
       
      With the increase in the number of hotel, the technology in hospitality is more and more important. It is a good investment in this field. Because many of the facilities in hotel need the help of technology. Such as the energy management systems, revenue management systems, property management systems , In-room technology. To invest these technologies, it can increase the management level and increase the competition.
  • As the wider hospitality industry continues to face a slow recovery, savvy hotel owners and managers should be looking inwards during this time with a view to ensuring that the technology they use to help run their facilities are best suited for the roles they have to perform.
  • Gerardo Collado on 18 Jul 12
     
    In this weeks reading, the article, "Why Investing in Hospitality Technology is Investing in Good Business", mentions how due to the economic downturn hotels have turn to cutting technology and staff levels as a method to minimize costs, yet this is a recipe for disaster, if not conducted adequately. Technology is continuously evolving, it is important to make decisions regards IT investment that will be useful in the coming 3-5 years. Technological infrastructures should operate to facilitate a process or procedure for the overall benefit of the hotel, rather than take a day-by-day approach. In an ever-demanding industry, it is critical for hoteliers to be adequately prepared with automated systems, reducing if not eliminating important manually conducted tasks which are damaging the operations of the hotel due to the lack of real time information which will help revenue maximization. In moments of recessions, companies minimize their cost reducing what is foreseen as unnecessary such as IT investment, yet is important to maintain a level of preparation and not losing the opportunities presented by the market.
  • ...6 more comments...
  • Jianyi Wang on 24 Oct 12
     
    This article mainly talk about the benefit of investing in Hospitality Technology to hotel business.The author emphasizes the importance of looking at what operational effciencies the technology can bring ,including any improvements in staff activities and morale that can be delivered and how the technology will ultimately benefit the hotel revenue performance. We can conclude from the passage that in order to keep competitive in the hospitality industry, the managers should be aware of the dynamic market and technology changing and update the techonlogy in an efficient way.
  • Linfan Cai on 26 Oct 12
     
    The hospitality industry is developing faster and faster. The hoteliers should be with a view to ensuring that the technology they use to help run their facilities and best suited for the roles. They lead to a rapid economic recovery but they also need improve their marketing. The hospitality organizations have taken the time to update or invest in the right technology and training. In consideration of how investment in hospitality technology can support business growth, It is important to look at what operational efficiencies the technology can bring. As the hotel industry continues to move towards a more dynamic and inter-connected environment it is vital that the correct technology infrastructure is in place to meet this challenge. The revenue management technology itself can be maximized by educating staff in the most effective ways to use it. The hotel groups should recognize the speed of change in technology. And they will be ensuring that their facilities are able to effectively maximize their ongoing revenue capability.
  • Panpan Xie on 05 Mar 13
     
    As hospitality industry is now under recovery, many owners and managers are preparing using technology to help them run the facilities. Nowadays, there is a big requirement for investing the right technology and training to operate business in the market of 2010, 2011 later. Actually, hospitality technology investment can bring operational efficiencies instead of added cost to a hotel. Then the author takes revenue management technology as an example and points that a seamless flow of process of technology is a trend. All in all, in order for a hotel to adapt to the future trend, the right technology needs to be equipped.
  • Juan Du on 06 Mar 13
     
    with the increase in the number of hotel, the technology in hospitality is more and more important. It is a good investment in this field. Because many of the facilities in hotel need the help of technology. Such as the energy management systems, revenue management systems, property management systems , In-room technology. To invest these technologies, it can increase the management level and increase the competition.
  • anonymous on 07 Mar 13
     
    This article is explaining why investing in hospitality technology is a good idea. Market changes from year to year, therefore it is important to know what the technology operations can offer to the business. It is vital to know how efficient it is in the workplace, and in what ways in can help the staff. The interest cost of having all this money invested should benefit the hotels revenue activity. Especially in hotels, there has to be a strict decision making, because of how technology is advancing so fast and how efficient the technology will be for the hotel. The correct technology is a challenge. Training the staff with the system is also a test because how fast can they learn and be connected to the operations. It is crucial that hotels manage systematically all information with the technology; instead of having the staffs do all the work by hand. Hotels need to invest in the correct technology so that they can collect their ideal revenue-for the future of the business and to ease the work flow inside the hospitality industry.
  • yongwei hao on 08 Mar 13
     
    "Equally as important, when considering whether to invest in new technology within the hospitality sector, is the need to recognize that technology is constantly changing and improving. Decision time frames are shortening. International hoteliers that have a good view on the future, realize that the technology decision they make today will only be relevant for the next 3-5 years at the most and are already planning next generation migrations. There is an onus on the vendors to also re-invent themselves and re-invent their technologie"
  • lin liu on 10 Mar 13
     
    Hotel owners and managers are putting eyes on technology in the hospitality industry slow recovery period. All pundits agree this method can bring some recovery. The international hotel organizations have made many plans of improving investment in technology and staff. Progressive hospitality organizations have updated and invested in new technology and training, change the industry requirements and market. Before investment, the most important is to look at what operational efficiencies the technology can bring and how the technology will benefit the hotels. There are many technologies are good choices for investment, such as Revenue Management Systems. This technology is efficient and can help hotels track historic data, forecast future demand and so on. We also need to technology is changing all the time. So this is a big challenge of managers to make decisions for a long development. We also need to realize that the hospitality industry is changing, strategies will not always be applicable to new, unique situations. It is important for hotels to increase advantages in the competition.
  • Siyu Ma on 11 Mar 13
     
    Those hotel groups that fail to recognize the speed of change in technology and what this can bring to the business will find themselves significantly under prepared when the market starts to strengthen. While "its never too late" to act - there is a significant opportunity cost in doing nothing or worse still, cutting technology out of the day to day operations. For a hotel to effectively operate and ensure it is maximizing its incoming revenue, the right technologies needs to be in place. Through investing in the right technology at the right time, savvy hoteliers will be ensuring that their facility(s) are able to effectively maximize their ongoing revenue capability now and into the future.
obheron

Deciphering ROI from tech investment can be complicated | Hotel Management - 0 views

www.hotelmanagement.net/...-investment-can-be-complicated

technology hospitality hotel software solution travel

shared by obheron on 05 Mar 18 - No Cached
  • behind the curve when it comes to the latest technology, but hoteliers are also faced with trying to decipher what tech investments will provide the greatest return.
  • behind the curve when it comes to the latest technology, but hoteliers are also faced with trying to decipher what tech investments will provide the greatest return.
    • msoma003
      msoma003 on 06 Mar 18
       
      Not good, we should be ahead of the curve for competitive advantage
  • need to survive, while some technology is simply a fad.
  • ...16 more annotations...
  • sometimes we waste a lot of money doing so
    • msoma003
      msoma003 on 06 Mar 18
       
      Is it even worth it?
  • no one really knows what technology is best to invest in to maximize return on investment,
  • ack-of-house systems such as financial reporting are key to operational success
    • msoma003
      msoma003 on 06 Mar 18
       
      Some things you need others you want
  • Front-of-house technology is more of a gamble,
  • Sometimes we have to play along with those, and those can tend to be more of a fad, but some are critical for differentiating from neighbors.
  • Some brand companies see the value of investing in guest-facing technology.
    • msoma003
      msoma003 on 06 Mar 18
       
      We have to decide which ones are worth it
  • mobile requirements to continue changing as more and more devices come online,
  • But with investment in mobile infrastructure, it’s more about trying to stay ahead so we can continue to innovate and deliver new solutions easily.
  • ROI on some of these solutions might not be immediate, but by starting to develop solutions for these technologies we begin learning how to integrate them into our systems and processes.”
  • ind the right solutions and technology in which to invest time and money.
    • msoma003
      msoma003 on 06 Mar 18
       
      Work with what you have
  • matches with your organization
  • but that’s rarely the case
  • Take the time and look at the process and what and why you’re doing it
    • msoma003
      msoma003 on 06 Mar 18
       
      Figure out what the problem is
  • Invest in a change-management program to make sure you are getting best bang for your buck
  • some tech, such as supporting core processes, is required for operations, but isn't necessarily ROI-based.
    • obheron
      obheron on 19 Sep 18
       
      Interesting perspective. To what extend are new technological add ons just a fad? A must have versus a nice to have? A mover and shaker impacting the bottom line versus just something that is trendy.
  • HVMG invested in technology that pulls all of its operational reporting systems together so that management and ownership can see hotel performance in one place.
    • obheron
      obheron on 19 Sep 18
       
      Is this mostly for small hotels that probably have combined management roles? If a hotel has a Manager for each area, wouldn't we already have all the information needed to inform business decisions?
  • bdolman on 05 Mar 18
     
    The article titled "Deciphering ROI from tech investment can be complicated", explores how technology can be challenging within the hotel industry. It is important to note that hotels need to understand what components they need to include, and which are simply a waste of money. According to the author, "Some technology trends are elements that hotels need to survive, while some technology is simply a fad". It is important to keep an eye on consumer trends to filter out what will actually enhance guest experience. Nowadays, guests and staff need mobile needs to optimize their work processes. For some processes and technologies, the ROI may be almost immediate, but for others, they still require more time to see the investment. In terms of investing in technology, do you think room automation is always necessary? In my personal opinion, the more perks a room has, the more it may enhance the customer experience. Ultimately, it all depends on the hotel, its size and its investment opportunities.
  • msoma003 on 06 Mar 18
     
    This article discussed how to pick the best technology for your company thus maximizing your ROI. Some technologies are necessary while others are just a fad and it is important to determine what your company needs. Guests are also demanding more tech advancements from hotels, the personal touch is not as important anymore. Mobile and digital payment tech is becoming more and more important. Lastly it is important to note that technology will not always fix a problem, it is up to the company to determine what the issue is and then learn how to implement technology that will assist, not just expect it to resolve on its own.
  • obheron on 19 Sep 18
     
    Very interesting article that makes us question whether specific technological add-ons are must haves versus nice to haves to separate us from our neighbours. It also shows us that we cant often times quantify from an ROI perspective. It begs the question, does technology really set a hotel apart and how.
Nivia Butler

Accounting Software for Restaurants | Chron.com - 1 views

smallbusiness.chron.com/oftware-restaurants-48087.html

shared by Nivia Butler on 19 Oct 12 - No Cached
  • ff-the-shelf checkbook software through tightly integrated point-of-sale restaurant management systems
  • Restaurant accounting systems vary from simple
  • At the foundation of every accounting system lies a general ledger listing assets and liabilities (what the restaurant owns and what it owes) and accounts to track profit and loss
  • ...14 more annotations...
  • These bookkeeping functions can be performed with a checkbook and a ledger pad (not recommended), a general-purpose accounting package like QuickBooks or Sage 50, or with special-purpose financial systems designed specifically for restaurants. High-end packages include point-of-sale terminals, menu planning, cost accounting, inventory, payables, receivables and other food service-specific features.
  • A general-purpose, off-the-shelf package like QuickBooks costs several hundred dollars and covers all of the basics: general ledger, profit and loss, cash flow, basic inventory, payables and receivables. The software takes little time to learn
  • Point-of-sale terminals or software act as cash registers, transmit orders to the kitchen, track inventory and monitor costs
  • full-featured point-of-sale system may look attractive, the same amount invested in kitchen equipment, fixtures
  • point-of-sale system, the vendor can also provide software that posts the results to a number of standard accounting package
  • ordered over the Internet or through restaurant supply stores, it makes sense to pay a little more to find a contractor who can install the system
  • With all the choices and such a wide range of costs, it may be difficult to determine what a new restaurant really needs. Start by looking at the business plan
  • Talk with an accountant to find out what will be needed for tax reporting, license renewals and other legal requirements. Ask what others are using and how much they spent up front and each month.
  • "middleware" merges the details tracked by point-of-sale and lets you know when it's time to reorder supplies, alerts you when menu item costs get out of line and keeps the restaurant profitable
  • every restaurant must turn a profit and control costs to stay in business.
  • yet every restaurant must turn a profit and control costs to stay in business
  • surroundings. Few will mention finance or accounting,
  • dly
  • yet every restaurant must turn a profit and control costs to stay in business .
  • laura kaczkowski on 19 Oct 12
     
    The article I read was called "Accounting Software for Restaurants" in the article it said that many restaurants owners opened their business for their desire of food or their love for friendly surroundings. Most restaurant owners highly ever talk about their finances or accounting systems, yet they all should know how much money they are making and what percent of that money is profit. Every accounting system has a general list of assets and liabilities for the restaurant, which in other words means what the restaurant owns and what it owes. "These bookkeeping functions can be performed with a checkbook and a ledger pad (not recommended), a general-purpose accounting package like QuickBooks or Sage 50, or with special-purpose financial systems designed specifically for restaurants. High-end packages include point-of-sale terminals, menu planning, cost accounting, inventory, payables, receivables and other food service-specific features." Accounting software's allow you to see the general ledger, profit and loss, cash flow, and basic inventory. These software's are not only easy to use but they also save you a lot of time in the long run. When choosing software for your restaurant, start by looking at the business plans and see what your business can afford. It's best to talk with an accountant to find out what will be needed for tax reporting and license renewals, they will help you find out how much to spent up front and each month.
delaneyverger

Thinking Outside the Vendor RFP Process in Hospitality Digital Marketing | By Jason Price - 0 views

www.hospitalitynet.org/...4067389.html

vendor rfp process request for proposal hospitality hotel business tech technology i.t. i.t. investment

shared by delaneyverger on 21 Sep 16 - No Cached
  • Some believe the vendor RFP process allows a hotel company to pick the most qualified service/product provider through an unbiased decision process. Perhaps this is the case for commoditized supplies or services (housekeeping supplies, linens, laundry, etc.) where the RFP process allows for comparing the proverbial "apples to apples."
  • At a typical hotel, who is equipped with the latest best practices in digital technology and marketing to sufficiently and adequately prepare a vendor RFP? Very few hotel companies have the bandwidth and depth of knowledge to adequately identify the digital needs of the property. Nor can they convey the property's needs and wants in the digital space and where it needs to be in 6, 12, 24 and 36 months from now. Lastly, who at the property can afford to devote considerable time to research and prepare a vendor RFP that asks the right questions, conveys the right objectives and provides a solid framework for evaluating and comparing one digital technology and marketing firm to the next?
  • On the hotel side, the typical vendor RFP process easily takes 50+ hours from beginning to end. On the digital technology and marketing vendor side, time to review, respond, and present takes upwards of 25-40 hours. Typically, three vendors compete and with all parties combined the entire RFP process will cost upwards of $15,000-$20,000. Beyond the cost, this process consumes the time and energy of multiple people and departments on an average of every two years for the hotel company.
  • ...6 more annotations...
  • The traditional vendor RFP process is not suited for evaluating and choosing a digital technology and marketing partner who will be entrusted to guide the hotel in maximizing revenues from the most important distribution and marketing channel in hospitality: the direct online channel (i.e. the property website). Such an RFP process is typically riddled with contradictions and self-selecting biases, and also represents an antiquated method unsuitable for a fast-paced digital world
  • The traditional vendor RFP process cannot provide answers to crucial questions concerning familiarity with industry's best practices, strategic approach to digital marketing technology and marketing, digital technology innovativeness, quality and depth of direct online channel consulting services, etc
  • Common observations on the RFP experience: It serves as a tool to fulfill administrative requirements or to simply "shop around" when in fact the digital marketing/technology firm has already been privately selected. On paper, every digital technology and marketing firm can present itself at its best and can creatively diminish any weaknesses or embellish any strength. The hotel does not know what questions to ask to get to the heart of what the hotel needs. Digital marketing and technology firms can easily make promises and fall short on delivery and meeting expectations. Over-promising and under-delivering has become modus operandi for a number of players in the industry. Properties can get carried away and request proprietary information like methodologies, access to code, and design work as part of the vendor RFP.
  • Some hotel companies never follow up and leave the evaluated vendors in limbo. Oftentimes hotel companies do not give the digital marketing firm adequate time for proposal development, which demands further use of resources or the delay of other key projects. When management changes, the hotel company is more likely to go into a vendor RFP without evaluating the results and contributions of their current vendor, which can disrupt existing relationships and potentially impede the successes to date. Given the arduous process of the vendor RFP process, there could be a sense of entitlement on both sides that could result in a mutually caustic relationship from the onset.
  • Digital agencies may propose lower costs to win the contract and introduce additional fees later only leading to resentment and regret. Hotels will often push needs beyond the original scope in the vendor RFP and use the proposal as leverage to get more services without paying. Not all digital agencies are the same but as mentioned, any agency can demonstrate on paper its superiority to solve any problem and deliver any service. Behind the scenes an agency can outsource and end up costing the hotel twice what is originally proposed in additional fees.
  • Not all digital agencies are the same but as mentioned, any agency can demonstrate on paper its superiority to solve any problem and deliver any service. Behind the scenes an agency can outsource and end up costing the hotel twice what is originally proposed in additional fees.
  • delaneyverger on 21 Sep 16
     
    This article discusses how the traditional vendor RFP (Request for Proposal) model is no longer the ideal way to integrate the right technology marketing that a hotel needs. The traditional vendor RFP model is time-consuming and expensive, and with the way that technology is constantly expanding and changing, hotels need to stay up-to-date with technology more and more frequently, which can mean this process is wasting time and money on an ever-increasing scale. Furthermore, it is not always an accurate indicator of the kinds of technology a hotel might need, especially what a hotel might need in the future, and it is difficult to determine who would best be capable of knowing what the property will need or what exactly to ask for in an RFP. The article talks about three alternatives to the traditional model: the Scorecard model, the Digital Marketing Partner Interview model, and the Trusted Partner model. With the Scorecard model, hotels have a checklist of things they need and can check off each point from each potential vendor. With the Digital Marketing Partner Interview model, which is similar to the traditional vendor RFP process, except that the interview focused on finding a Digital Marketing Partner that aligns with the hotel's management philosophy, values, and culture in order to find the right partnership. With the Trusted Partner model, the hotel works with one particular company with whom they share common goals and objectives, and they work together to solve problems and adapt new technology as the hotel's technological needs are manifested over time.
anonymous

Before You Book, Beware the Hotel Photo Fakeout - ABC News - 0 views

abcnews.go.com/...story

shared by anonymous on 17 Jun 12 - No Cached
  • Oyster.com allows you to search for hotels and see photos and reviews submitted by actual travelers and secret reviewers.
  • Misleading pictures are why the undercover researchers at Oyster.com take their own pictures.
  • Hotels around the world potentially are misleading travelers
  • ...8 more annotations...
  • posting images to their websites of breathtaking views and enticing pools that sometimes owe a lot to the marketer's imagination or reflect additional luxuries not necessarily found in the real hotel rooms.
  • "photo fakeouts
  • As ABC News found, what you see in those pretty pictures isn't always what you get.
  • hotel review website tries to capture the gritty reality behind those glittering hotel ads by posting their images side by side with the hotels'.
  • You don't get to vacation all that often, and you show up and it's not exactly what you were expecting or what you were hoping for,"
  • "They've manipulated you in some way. ... That's not OK."
  • On the Hyatt Regency Capitol Hill's website, a photo makes it look like the hotel is practically next door to the U.S. Capitol. It's close but not that close: The Capitol is about a quarter of a mile away.
  • a room that looked spacious on the hotel's website actually measured a little more than 8 feet at its widest point, and there was a wall just 22 inches from the bed.
  • anonymous on 17 Jun 12
     
    This article, although posted in March of 2011, focuses on the misleading ads posted online by hotels. "Photo fakeouts" present "breathtaking views that sometimes owe a lot to the marketer's imagination or reflect additional luxuries not found in the real hotel rooms." Oyster.com has undercover researchers book into these hotels and take photos of the what the rooms and views really look like and then they post them on the website. Although what the hotels are doing is technically not illegal, this is a prime example of invalid information and why what you see on the Internet is not all valid.
amichellemagluta

Right Property Management System is Key to Your Hotel's Success. - Saturday, 27th July ... - 1 views

www.4hoteliers.com/...7792

property management system hospitality hotel software

shared by amichellemagluta on 17 Sep 13 - No Cached
  • Ask any hotelier and they will all agree that a hotel management system plays a key role in their hotel’s success.
  • At the back-end, hotel software is even more important. The front office module, point of sale, accounts receivable, banquets and conferences, restaurant module, housekeeping, inventory, HR and Payroll, along with a host of other modules and apps in a hotel software must work in an interconnected and smooth manner.
  • These software products may have integration issues, and can become major hurdles for your staff when they use the modules
  • ...8 more annotations...
  • Many times, a software vendor could simply be offering you a Front Office Module.
  • you will have to additionally invest in purchasing, licensing and maintaining the back-end modules.
  • investing in the right hotel software is a complex task and most hotels spend months deliberating on their investment.
  • Numerous integrations also means you could spend long hours networking and interacting with multiple vendors.
  • this could get restrictive and influence your other partnerships.
  • review about your potential software vendor is their experience in the industry
  • your hotel runs a mission-critical operation.
  • The hotel software market is full of options, and each vendor claims his software is the best. However investing in the right hotel software is a complex task and most hotels spend months deliberating on their investment. Unfortunately, hoteliers excel at their core skill, delivering to guests a world-class hospitality experience, and sometimes get ‘talked’ into making a wrong decision on the software they adopt.
  • Michaela Gave on 17 Sep 13
     
    The right property management system plays a key roles in the success of any hotel. Property management systems store guests' information which helps make for a pleasurable stay at the hotel. On the back end having the proper property management system can be key tool in making a successful stay at the hotel. The front end has software that handles the point of sale, account receivable, banquets, conferences, restaurant, housekeeping, inventory, payroll, among other apps and modules that connect to make the hotel run successful smooth. The information that is stored in these systems generate reports that the hotel can review for decision making. Much like other software, technology can be exhausting at times when it doesn't do what we want it to do. The hotel software market is full of many different option management can choose do off with. A few things a hotel should consider when choosing software should be: How many modules will your new hotel software offer? Does your new property management system have third party products merged into it? Is your hotel software compatible with third party software? Does your property management system help you enhance revenue? Considering all these questions while choosing a new property management system can help management choose the best system that will be most beneficial for the hotel. As someone who has been part of choosing a PMS it is very important to consider everything. Every vendor tells you why theirs is the best. It takes a lot of time to review everything and determine what system will work best for the company. I think where companies go wrong when getting a new system is training. The companies I've worked for often do very little training. I think lack of training for employees contributes to employees not using systems correctly and to full capacity which causes errors in reports. As a sales director, I often read reports and knew the information wasn't correct and it was due to input error. This
  • ...3 more comments...
  • Dibakar Desouza on 17 Sep 13
     
    Correct, but as well hoteliers would always go for Opera if the company does not have a signed deal with a PMS company to use their services worldwide. For example, Starwood in America have a signed deal with Galaxy systems, however Starwood in Asia Pacific go with Opera. This is just due to the fact that Galaxy is still facing some issue in terms of getting the system in different languages. But in general, Opera is preferred by any hotel company. Recently the Hilton in Japan, has changed their PMS ONQ to Opera.
  • Brittany K. Ward on 07 Oct 13
     
    Property management systems are important in a hotel. They enable to establishment to store information to personalize a guest experience, but they also assist the back-end with point-of-sale, accounts, payroll, restaurant module, ect. The headache is deciding which system is best for your operations. This article list a few helpful questions in order to sort out what system your establishment needs. The first question the article is, "How many modules will your new hotel software offer?". The reason why the author points this out as being important is because some softwares just come with the Front office module. Meaning you will need to invest in another system to accommodate the back-end of the hotel. Then he goes into ask, "Does your new property management system have third party products merged into it?". Some software vendors require smaller companies to merge products to make up their PMS. This can lead to a hassle for the staff and means you could spend long hours needing to interact with multiple vendors rather than just one. Another question the author posses is, "Is your hotel software compatible with third party software?". This question is to double check that the software you plan to integrate is compatible with third party hardware and software. A couple examples are credit card payment gateway and the door locking system. These are all useful questions that a manager can look to in order to help them pick a system.
  • jazminesnyder on 15 Sep 15
     
    The main point of this article is to point out key features that you need to consider when you are upgrading your PMS in your hotel. It makes the point that choosing a new PMS is not easy, and it can get very complicated since there are so many on the market. One of the main points the author makes is that you should be looking for a system that has multiple modules, not just a Front Office Module for example. Another point the author makes is that some software companies have other parties involved when establishing their software, this is not a good thing since it may lead to you having to interact with a number of vendors which could take a good amount of time away from you, time that you could be using interacting with guests or doing a more qualitative time consuming task. You also want to make sure that your new potential software is compatible with third party software. "Review this list carefully to ensure the software you are buying is compatible with a large number of third party hardware, if not, this could get restrictive and influence your other partnerships". Lastly, the article discusses how you should check with the experience in the industry of software companies you are considering. Since your hotel runs a "mission-critical operation" you want to make sure that your PMS will indeed help stick with the mission of helping to enhance your revenue. I believe that these are great tips to follow by when looking to incorporate a new PMS, I also think the security of your new software should be added to the list as well; how secure is it from hackers?
  • anonymous on 04 Sep 16
     
    This article was very interesting and it gives advice to any person thinking about opening a hotel in what software you can use. A hotel software is extremely important because that has all the guest information and store there experience that they had at the hotel. You have to see what software you want to implement when changing the hotel management system or property management system you need to know who is selling it to you and what is included in the software. If you are just getting a new system, you have to make sure that everything you already have is included and more. You also have to make sure that the software you get is compatible with a third party hardware. A hotel software system can make you or break you in a hotel. You really have to know the vendor that is selling you the software and make sure that they have experience with the software. The better the software that you have in the hotel, the smoother the hotel will run.
  • amichellemagluta on 27 Sep 16
     
    The article talks about the importance of using a PMS or Property Management System. The use of a property management system is very important to the success of a property. The article is also able to aid those who looking to implement a property management system by helping them narrow down what they will need. The article poses questions toward the reader to see what they are looking for in a PMS.
alexsolano36

Why Cybersecurity Isn't Only a Tech Problem - 0 views

hbr.org/...urity-isnt-only-a-tech-problem

shared by alexsolano36 on 17 Feb 20 - No Cached
  • By now, most accept that they need to invest significant cash and resources into cybersecurity capabilities
  • ather than the full C-suite and board.
  • we’re failing at cybersecurity
  • ...27 more annotations...
  • today as comparable to trench warfare in World War I.
  • First, no company has all of the resources to fix every cybersecurity issue, and not all fixes are equally important.
  • starting with a company’s most critical business activities and how cyber attacks could disrupt them that one can start to prioritize this whole process of risk mitigation.
  • skip the ste
  • focusing on individual technologies t
  • without ever addressing the fundamental issue, which is protecting the business activities for which the computers were procured.
  • hey translate in their minds being compliant with requirements as equivalent to being adequately protected.
  • nds up actually diminishing the security of these companies, as opposed to achieving its goal of increasing protection.
  • cybersecurity has been, it’s come out of the technology department.
  • versus one that’s related to any other complex business risk that a company might face.
  • eally large cybersecurity budgets, don’t nearly get the cyber protection benefit that they should, given the dollars that they spend.
  • with r
  • $3 million a year on cyber threat intelligence.
  • And that really starts with looking at cyber risks as a business risk that could come and occur as a result of a cyber attack.
  • to help quantify what those risks are, and bringing an IT department and your cybersecurity resources to understand what the threat environment might by that might affect those risks in some way or make them to come about.
  • this perception on the part of non-technical business leaders that the cybersecurity field is so complex, so impenetrable that they would never be able to understand
  • And so, the cybersecurity team decided to put the network used for the development of new automobiles inside their corporate network, because they thought, ah, at attacker would need to go through two networks in order to be able to then steal information.
  • cybersecurity people had no idea how the companies that they worked for actually design cars, and so they proposed security mechanisms that both interfered with work and ended up resulting in the company being more vulnerable because all of these outsiders now had complete access to the corporate intranet globally.
  • You know, we’ve found that cybersecurity writ large is full of platitudes that seem obvious and compelling at first read, but if you think about them more thoughtfully, they’re sometimes misinformed.
  • , informing employees about the cybersecurity implications of their own work
  • but also who your adversaries are. H
  • Another avenue that companies can take is, is there anything about the business that the company is in, the way in which it operates, that might attract some sort of attacker.
  • In all areas of risk, whether it be financial risk, physical risk, or cyberrisk, there are no guarantees that what you do will be sufficient to fend off the attack that you actually face.
  • , you need to have cybersecurity reviews as you change your business, just like you look at other risks when you’re making changes to your business.
  • Based on our experience, when a company is looking for a home for the cybersecurity organization, they should first look at where their most significant cyber risks reside.
  • A company needs to have the technical capabilities to respond to the most likely forms of cyber attack on their most critical business activities.
  • instead of telling me what vulnerabilities need to be fixed with whatever priority
  • alexsolano36 on 17 Feb 20
     
    This article talks about how companies make the grave mistake of thinking that cybersecurity is merely an issue that should be addressed by an IT team and that no one else is responsible for addressing risks and understanding them. Most C-suite employees don't understand what the risks are, and usually these risks vary from company to company. It is not that you should only consider that you can get hacked, but you should consider and identify what kinds of information can get hacked and why. The article denotes an example of an Asian automobile company that needed to implement a new system to mitigate security risks and in the process, ended up locking up other companies who needed to use their systems to find out about their products. So those companies started to create fake profiles to try and access the information -- all so that they could just do their job. This showed that people are more interested in just getting their job done than understanding cybersecurity and why certain systems are in place. The way of thinking up security systems should be creative and involve all parts of an organization. Departments won't know what their role is until they identify what information is important to them, what their purpose is in the company, and what is valuable to them. By identifying this, they can come up with ways to secure this information and monitor its delivery. Businesses don't look at cybersecurity as a risk of their business just as a shipping company would look at weather risks as a potential threat to their revenue. It is looked at as more of an abstract concept and this stops people from implementing successful strategies to keep their information safe. Cybersecurity shouldn't be viewed as "so impenetrable" that no one would ever understand it. This requires everyone to get involved and understand the implications of cybersecurity on their own work, specifically, and identify who their main adversaries may be.
Dongyun Oh

Red Robin CIO Drives Change Through IT Management - 0 views

hospitalitytechnology.edgl.com/...ge-Through-IT-Management-85049

Technology hospitality

shared by Dongyun Oh on 08 Mar 13 - No Cached
  • Dongyun Oh on 08 Mar 13
     
    Statistically speaking, CIOs don't become CEOs. But it's not because they don't want it. Research shows that nearly half of CIOs aspire to become chief executive, but only four percent actually get there. Much more frequently, CEOs for the world's top companies - about half in fact - come up through C-level financial or operating roles (Vanson Bourne, 2012). Chris Laping, CIO of Red Robin Gourmet Burgers (www.redrobin.com), strongly believes this is because technology executives are too often focused on engineering and IT solutions to embrace their most valuable leadership quality: the ability to manage change. Technology leaders, he believes, possess powerful project management skills that can and should be leveraged across the business for even the most non-IT initiatives, with the particular role of being agents for change. Laping's official role at Red Robin is indicative of that practice: he's the company's senior vice president of business transformation and CIO. In that role, he oversees the company's technology, learning and development, enterprise project management and operations services teams. In this exclusive interview with Hospitality Technology, Laping shares how the technology team has taken on a business transformation role at Red Robin, and describes his overall vision for IT leaders. But it's not something CIOs are handed; they have to drive it, says Laping. Driving this change, perhaps, will also help more CIOs chase down their chief-executive dreams. HT: Let's start with some definitions: "business transformation" and "change agents" are pretty heady buzzwords that get tossed around executive boardrooms. What does business transformation really mean? LAPING: If you look at a classic Wikipedia definition of business transformation, it talks about people, process and technology. So when you push change through people, you usually do that through training. If you want to change business performan
Jia Kim

Stop, look and listen before investing in hotel tech - 1 views

www.hotelnewsnow.com/...before-investing-in-hotel-tech

technology investment Hotel technology

shared by Jia Kim on 23 Oct 13 - No Cached
  • Before investing in hotel technology, stop to reflect and observe what travelers really want and need
  • guests will start to question why they should pay for this tech when they don’t need it, don’t want it and, most importantly, don’t use it.
  • why
  • ...10 more annotations...
  • To understand what the guest really wants and needs: STOP, LOOK and LISTEN!
  • adding Blu-ray players or IP-TV systems with video-on-demand functions?
  • Less is more
  • 1. Super-fast, reliable and suitably priced Internet access
  • 2. A well-lit room with simple controls
  • 3. Power sockets, power sockets and more power sockets
  • 4. Temperatures that can be easily controlled, both up and down.
  • 5. A place to work
  • 6. And as for the TV, include 24-hour news channels, sports channels and some entertaining TV channels
  • what guests want from a hotel room with three Cs: 1. Clean 2. Comfortable 3. Connected
  • Jia Kim on 23 Oct 13
     
    Today's many hotels have been trying to innovate their hotel technology to keep pace with their competitors. However, it seemed like that they're too much depend on the unnecessary and expensive technology. Thus, before investing the hotel technology, stop and look and listen people and what the travelers really want and need. Instead of adding Blu-ray players or IP-TV systems with video-on-demand, or putting an expensive dedicated shaver socket into the bathroom, hotels need to rethink and downsize. Here are some simple and short lists. 1. Super-fast, reliable and suitably priced Internet access 2. A well-lit room with simple controls. 3. Power sockets, power sockets and more power sockets. 4.Temperatures that can be easily controlled, both up and down. 5. A place to work 6. And as for the TV, include 24-hour news channels, sports channels and some entertaining TV channels. From the lists, what guests want from a hotel room with three Cs: 1. Clean 2. Comfortable 3. Connected For conclusion, too many investment on expensive and unnecessary technology would lead a fail in ROI. Rather than just spend money on the technology, hotels should rethink and research what the guests really want while they're staying.
da7327

7 Must Follow Rules for Perfect Hotel Wi-Fi - 0 views

www.securedgenetworks.com/...w-rules-for-perfect-hotel-wifi

hospitality software technology hotel booking business

shared by da7327 on 09 Sep 17 - No Cached
  • In a 2013 Study, Forrester Research concluded that out of those polled, 94% agreed that above anything else, they wished all hotels offered quality wifi throughout the hotel and in their rooms.
  • Understanding exactly what factors are most critical to your guests when using wireless connectivity will help you to create a network that is designed to support those exact wants and needs.
  • At the minimum, your hotel will need: A Firewall Role-based access control Profiling IDS/IPS
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • If your goal is high-performance, which it should be, then placing your APs down the hallways is the last thing you should do.
  • Your wireless system should incorporate a network management system and for many hotels some level of managed support to provide services like: Monthly health checks Firmware reviews Scheduled system tests Tier 2 support Proactive alerts Threshold based triggers And Client tracking to name a few
  • Wi-Fi as a Service offers many benefits,
  • da7327 on 09 Sep 17
     
    The most desired amenity is not a comfy bed, good location its actually something we can not without, fast and secure Wifi!  Studies show 94% agreed that above every other amenity they wished all hotels offer quality wifi. But not all hotels offer high quality wifi which leads to more spending to fix issues, and poor guest experience. The article mentions how to build a good wifi network from the ground up first thing is Security comes first. Creating a secure system for what your guests needs. Next, comes planning for capacity. Planning for this means plan for what applications your guest use. Then comes access point placement. Where should the network stream from that is the most effective?  Now comes listening to your guests regarding the wifi connectivity and keeping up with demand which all ties into choosing the right partner to setup your wifi connection. It is surprising that out of all the lavish amenities one would like 94% want high quality wifi. In these times without internet connection, it feels as if were in the stone age. The article talks about the importance of having high quality wifi for guests to have a great experience which we cannot stress enough of the importance. The first step of establishing a good wifi network is to do a needs analysis of your guests what type of apps will they use? If its normal email, surf the web you can build a standard network, but if its high data usage like video apps then you have to establish a higher connection. With all this having a shared network is always risky so you have to have the most secure network one can have so you don't Put your guests in cyber harm's way. An effective way for hotels to manage all this is to contract with a wifi company so they can manage, provide and upgrade as needed. So the importance of choosing a right partner that knows your guests' needs is important. Hotels rely so much on keeping up with technology from being able to check in online, manage hotel guests services, and j
kelseybarton

What is Point of Sale (POS) Systems? Definition of POS with Examples - 0 views

www.posusa.com/what-is-pos

pos technology Hospitality business

shared by kelseybarton on 18 Sep 20 - No Cached
  • A point-of-sale (POS) transaction is what takes place between a merchant and a customer when a product or service is purchased, commonly using a point of sale system to complete the transaction.
  • In its most basic definition, a POS system is a combination of POS hardware and POS software to create a POS machine for processing a transaction and payment.
  • a POS terminal is the electronic equipment performing the sales transaction and processing the credit card payments. Used in most storefront businesses, a computer terminal combined with the POS software helps to manage everyday sales transactions and operations.
  • ...11 more annotations...
  • The hardware components bundle will typically include a POS terminal, receipt printer, credit card reader, cash drawer, barcode scanner, kitchen or bar printer (for restaurants), and possibly even an on-site computer server for older legacy systems
  • The primary reason you need a point of sale for a restaurant is to accept cash and credit card payments. In addition to receiving payments, you need to be able to track all your financial and tax data.
  • A restaurant management system is recommended if you’re a restaurateur and want to be competitive in the business. Many types of restaurants need to utilize a POS like full-service restaurants, quick-service restaurants, fast food, take-out only, cafe’s, pizza shop, etc
  • Recipe costing is just one example of features a restaurant computer system can provide. Some other features and services you’re going to need potentially are restaurant marketing, customer management, online ordering, loyalty program, server sales performance, new versus repeat customers, invoice purchasing, menu performance, employee management, and sales reporting.
  • The only negative to implementing a new restaurant management system is the training time and challenge of learning new software. But that’s only temporary,
  • The main features to look for in bar software is preauthorization (or “preauth”) of payments for tabs management, bar and liquor inventory and control, speed functions like reordering rounds, bar prep printing, fast checkout, and quality 24/7 support. For the reporting side, you’ll want to see your labor costs compared to sales, product reports, and all your sales and tax reports.Additional register features to consider for nightclub and bar point of sale software is employee management, inventory management, customer loyalty, recipes, tab management, quick reorder rounds, and quick customer checkout. Reporting is critical as well to keep track of your food and beverage taxes. Also, you’ll want to have online access to see your labor costs and sales reports
  • Retail businesses can have some particular requirements and features that other programs will not have. They can have retail shop features such as color and size matrixing, inventory tracking, employee commissions, gift registry, customer database, layaway, and purchase orders
  • If you’re not processing an enormous amount of volume and speed isn’t as critical (like in a restaurant or bar), then a mobile POS could be just the answer to save you some money
  • A cloud-based POS system is a point of sale platform that stores information on the cloud. Cloud-based systems typically don’t record much information on your terminal device. Instead, all data is stored in the cloud and synchronized across multiple terminals.
  • Nail and hair salon POS systems can sometimes crossover for other business types like barber shops, gyms, fitness clubs, beauty schools, massage parlors, pet grooming, tattoo parlors, to name a few. That is because these other business types will especially require an appointment calendar and may need retail functionality with inventory control, and not every software program has those features
  • In this POS guide, we discussed everything related to POS systems, including the meaning of POS, the definition of mPOS, what the difference is between a cash register and POS, how a point of sale system work, and the different types of systems with examples
  • kelseybarton on 18 Sep 20
     
    (1 of 3) POSUSA had originally published an article in 2017 about the definition of Point-of-Sale (POS) and a guide to understanding POS more in depth. This article was updated in May of 2021 to represent the ongoing challenges in the hospitality industry due to COVID-19. The article begins by defining a POS transaction as "what takes place between a merchant and a customer when a product or service is purchased, commonly using a point of sale system to complete the transaction." The original idea of a POS system was that of a cash register, but what is in the system make up today is far more complex. A POS system and a POS terminal are one in the same, as the terminal is the physical piece of equipment that processes the information for the POS. The system is composed of many different components as with any piece of technology. "The hardware components bundle will typically include a POS terminal, receipt printer, credit card reader, cash drawer, barcode scanner, kitchen or bar printer (for restaurants), and possibly even an on-site computer server for older legacy systems." These systems continue to make advancements that evolve with the times and can keep up efficiently with the business they are working with.
  • kelseybarton on 18 Sep 20
     
    (2 of 3) The article continues on to discuss the many different types of POS systems and how they can be used for different types of businesses. The restaurant POS system, for example, is the most complex POS system and is the most commonly seen system in the industry. Through the restaurant POS, a business can have a restaurant management system, which helps them run the business efficiently through features such as recipe costing, customer management, reporting, and many other features discussed. Bar, nightclub, retail, small business, salon, and spa POS systems all have very similar features, but are catered to each businesses specific operational need. Cloud-based and mobile POS systems are also discussed in the article as a way to store all POS information in the cloud. The advantages of mPOS were discussed in depth as this can be accessed through an application, making mobility much easier in our ever-advancing technological world.
  • kelseybarton on 18 Sep 20
     
    (3 of 3) The article also provided an introduction of how POS systems work, as a basic understanding is necessary when considering purchasing a system. Through understanding how the POS system works, we see that a POS transaction is "simply any transaction that occurs within a business." POS payment is "when a customer and merchant exchange products or services completing a POS transaction aka point of sale purchase," which can sometimes be referred to as point of purchase, or POP. Finally, the article discusses how POS systems have played a role during the pandemic. While online POS systems have been used for many years to keep businesses on their feet, during the current state of the world this has become even more necessary. The article discusses how important it is to keep the payment process simple, yet secure so that the business may rely on this as a way to make income and customers can enjoy a seamless experience. This article does a very good job of explaining in-depth what a POS system is and how it is relevant to every line of business in the hospitality industry. As online sales continue to grow and as the state of the world remains uncertain, POS system popularity will only continue to rise and advance to create the best possible experience for both the businesses and consumers involved.
laura kaczkowski

Uniform Marketing New Restaurant Technology of the Future - 0 views

www.qsrmagazine.com/...ould-your-crew-wear-mobile-ads

shared by laura kaczkowski on 09 Nov 12 - No Cached
  • When Superior Uniform Group (sug) began manufacturing uniforms in 1920, chances are no one in the company ever thought it would launch a media division more than nine decades later.
  • Through a licensing agreement with Eyelevel Interactive, the division offers advertising panels with mobile action codes that can attach to uniforms with Velcro. Customers can scan the mobile action codes, or MACs (similar to the QR codes that many quick serves are including with marketing materials) with their smartphones using popular apps like Microsoft Tag, Android’s ZXing, and various iPhone apps.
  • “What we’re doing is taking the uniform, which is [traditionally] a utilitarian item used to identify employees, and turning it into a flexible and effective point-of-purchase advertising system,” says SUG CEO Michael Benstock.
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • Of course, the interaction encouraged by such a uniform amounts to more than just looking. Customers would have to wave their phones in the vicinity of an employee’s uniform (in many cases, the employee’s back) to scan the MAC. It’s safe to assume a few customers and employees might find this kind of interaction a little uncomfortable, but de Mattei says none of the brands he is negotiating with have raised serious concerns.
  • McDonald’s would not confirm to QSR whether it is working with SUG or planning to roll out interactive uniforms. Subway spokesman Les Winograd says the company believes the concept of interactive uniforms has “merit,” but “they are not something we are actively looking at right now.” Chipotle spokesman Chris Arnold says the Denver-based chain isn’t exploring the option, either. It remains to be seen whether interactive uniforms make sense for quick-serve restaurants. The glaring concern is an obvious one: crewmembers strive to serve their menu items quickly, and having customers scanning employee uniforms may slow down service
  • “My overall opinion of QR codes is really favorable,” he says. “I’m completely convinced that they are very powerful in what they can do for a brand. It’s a big opportunity, but I wonder if uniforms are the place where we’ll see this pop in [quick service].”
  • laura kaczkowski on 09 Nov 12
     
    In the article "Would Your Crew Wear Mobile Apps?" it talks about a new way of advertising through uniforms. On the back of a crew members uniform there is a QR code and the customer just has to scan the code it shows them coupons and deals the restaurant is promoting. I feel that this way of advertising is easy and fun; people love using technology and what better way to incorporate it then by using your Smartphone! In the article they asked different fast food restaurants if they would use this product and although they thought it was a good idea they felt that it would be taking away from a fast paced environment. In the article it states that traditional media is not what it use to be, ""There are billions of dollars being spent on it, and [traditional ads] are driving consumers to the stores, but at that point consumers still don't know what they're going to buy." Overall, I feel that this product would bring in a lot of customers and it's a great way to advertise things on the menu, I'm all for this idea!
Qianlin Wang

The Evolution of HR Systems: Update from HR Technology Conference 2010 - 0 views

www.bersin.com/...echnology-Conference-2010.aspx

Technology hotel software HIRS

shared by Qianlin Wang on 21 Nov 12 - No Cached
  • "Integrated Talent Management" is officially the new product category
  • With the exception of Softscape (which was built to work together), most of the product sets in the market come from multiple acquisitions, so each vendor is going through a range of product roadmaps to build an end-to-end solution.
  • As the market shifts in this direction, companies are now differentiating themselves with the newer areas of talent management:  analytics, workforce planning (a new beachhead), onboarding, and social networking.
  • ...7 more annotations...
  • The Next Generation HRMS Market is Emerging
  • There are three real ways companies upgrade or replace their HRMS.
  • They do a "forklift" replacement.
  • They build a mid-level software layer to slowly replace the HRMS.
  • They build a middle-ware solution that co-exists with the HRMS.
  • First, the market for integrated talent management software has now taught all HR departments that data integration is far more valuable than we might have believed.  
  • Second, there is a tremendous amount of innovation now flowing into the HRMS market.
  • Qianlin Wang on 21 Nov 12
     
    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.
Camila Calcines

Do travel companies need to revisit mobile security choices for staff? | Tnooz - 0 views

www.tnooz.com/...ile-security-choices-for-staff

travel companies mobile security hospitality tourism

shared by Camila Calcines on 14 Jun 13 - No Cached
  • large target on Android’s back because of it’s leading global market share position.
  • security was what made Blackberry the darling of IT departments everywhere.
  • Security, and the desire to penetrate corporate accounts, is also what is driving Samsung’s Knox platform,
  • ...5 more annotations...
  • Apple holds 58% share of enterprise mobile deployments.
  • Transportation was one of the few industries where Android had the majority share.
  • American Airlines is one of the most aggressive companies in the use of tablets for its workforce
  • Samsung’s SAFE – Samsung for Enterprise – platform (which incorporates Knox) was a key reason in their decision:
  • Apple devices, while targeted about 100x less frequently than Android devices, are not immune.
  • Camila Calcines on 14 Jun 13
     
    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.
laura kaczkowski

What is a Hotel Management System? - 3 views

hospitalitytechnology.wordpress.com/...hat-is-hotel-management-system

shared by laura kaczkowski on 28 Sep 12 - No Cached
Gaby Belardo liked it
  • Technology is making deep inroads into the hospitality industry, and hotels across the world are looking to use technology to make operation smooth and efficient
  • These are also popularly known as Property Management System (PMS), and Hotel ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) – if you are looking at a larger, more comprehensive management system.
  • came up with the term ERP to denote enterprise management software which automates a large number of business function such as human resource, finance, accounting, supply chain management etc.
  • ...10 more annotations...
  • many hospitality properties especially those that are growing chains or planning a global presence, have upgraded from smaller, simpler property management systems to the larger hotel ERP.
  • A hotel is a hive of numerous operations such as front office, booking and reservation, banquet, finance, HR, inventory, material management, quality management, security, energy management, housekeeping, CRM
  • With growing competition in the industry it’s important for a hotel to understand the needs of their guest,
  • what guests demand for most
  • A property management system (PMS) usually consists of front office software and other best of breed solutions. The PMS served hotels well for a reasonable among of time until now, when hotel operations have grown in complexity.
  • As complexity of hotel operations increases, a PMS is woefully inadequate and often results in integration issues to
  • Things are different for an ERP which is usually a comprehensive solution from a single vendor. Although the concept of an ERP in the hospitality industry is still new, it offers numerous advantages in terms of smooth seamless use of technology, greater automation, greater visibility into hotel operations, optimized use of manpower, reduced revenue leakages and higher resultant profits.
  • When a hotel is looking to upgrade their software the natural question that comes to mind is which Hotel Management System should I choose?
  • Make a list of the features you are looking for. One of the main deliverables of a hotel ERP is its business intelligence. Does the ERP you are evaluating give you a bunch of in-depth reports that assist decision making?
  • Always check if the hotel ERP provider has been in the business for a considerable amount of time, has tested the solution across market segment and geographies if possible. A hotel cannot afford downtime, and so ensure your ERP provider also delivers high quality customer support
  • laura kaczkowski on 28 Sep 12
     
    The article I read was called, "What is a Hotel Management System?" In the article it states that in the early 90s Gartner came up with the term ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) that automates a large number of business functions such as finance, accounting, and human resource. "A hotel is a hive of numerous operations such as front office, booking and reservation, banquet, finance, HR, inventory, material management, quality management, security, energy management, housekeeping." All of these activities need to be taken care of at hotels and doing so can sometimes be a lot of work. This led to the introduction of property management systems, an automated software which can optimize hotel operations and keep a tight control on costs. It important for hotels to understand the needs of their guests, if they want them to come back to their hotel, they need to know what they like and dislike. Using the PMS it allows them to make a profile of each guest and they write in if they want a beach view room or if they want a mini bar in their room. There is a difference when it comes to PMS and ERP. "A property management system usually consists of front office software and other best of breed solutions." The ERP, is usually a comprehensive solution from a single vendor. I really enjoyed reading this article and it helped me get a better grasp on how hotels use property management systems.
  • Gaby Belardo on 28 Sep 12
     
    I completely agree that technology is making deep inroads into the hospitality industry, and hotels across the world are looking to use technology to make operation smooth and efficient. Any operating system that can help optimize the hotel experience is going prosper in their business.
  • Michael Anthony on 28 Sep 12
     
    I didn't really care for the passage that talked about PMS vs ERP, I though they could have been more specific... they just said ERP is better, could someone provide an example? Also, they mentioned how when a hotel becomes more complex problems arise in the PMS, how? All the hotel would have to do is come up with another PMS system that would provide them with greater resources, etc whats the problem??
dstic005

What Is a Point of Sale System? A Guide to POS Features - 0 views

www.softwareadvice.com/...what-is-a-point-of-sale-system

technology hospitality tech software business

shared by dstic005 on 15 Oct 17 - No Cached
  • Ask any retailer, “What is a point of sale system?” and they’ll tell you—it’s the central component of their business; the hub where everything merges.
  • “A point of sale system is a combination of software and hardware that allows merchants to take transactions and simplify key day-to-day business operations.”
  • Software and Hardware Components of POS Systems As we look at the components of POS systems, it’s first important to understand the software options available and what each requires.
  • yimengliu on 15 Oct 17
     
    This article introduces what is a Point of Sale System(POS) and the benefits, must -have capabilities of POS system. Also, the article explains the hardware and software components of POS system. A retailer said the POS it's the central component of the business and the system and combined everything together. POS combination of software and hardware that allows the merchant's transactions day by day for the business operations. Thus, POS system becomes very popular and very helpful for the business. There have the key capabilities and the benefits for selecting a new POS system. For software components, on-premise and cloud-based are two common software adjust methods. First of all, on-premise is a traditional software model, the business can purchase it and installed it on the computer system or servers. You have to pay for the updating and maintaining fee for that software, which means the business has to hire an IT to monitor it. Second, cloud-based, cloud0-based is a good example of the Software as a Service (SaaS) POS solutions. The business has to access the system via the internet. The benefit of cloud-based is when your internet goes down, most systems can save the information for you and you always can go back to check it again when your internet coming back. Besides, the hardware components for the POS are registered screen which is can monitor that displays the product database, the barcode scanner is a automates the checkout process. Credit card reader that can secure the systems. The cash drawer, you need a secure place to store cash for transactions.
  • dstic005 on 01 Oct 18
     
    This article explains what a Point of Sale System is. It also points out an important factor about software and hardware. Hardware requirementshttps://www.softwareadvice.com/resources/what-is-a-point-of-sale-system/ must be met regardless of what software system you have in place. There are two common software deployment methods: On-premise: A traditional software model. Purchase one or more licenses upfront for the software and install it on your computer system or servers. You're in charge of updating and maintaining the software, which may require dedicated IT personnel for larger organizations. Cloud-based: Also known as Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) POS solutions. You access and support the system via the internet. Don't worry-if your internet goes down, most systems track sales and sync them once you're back online.
krehman

Three Ways to Overcome Hotel Accounting Challenges - 0 views

lodgingmagazine.com/me-hotel-accounting-challenges

business hotel solution

shared by krehman on 03 Jun 18 - No Cached
  • Managing payroll is a constant challenge, so it’s critical for hoteliers to have a way to monitor daily labor costs, manage overtime, oversee daily payroll transactions, and have access to simple reporting functions.
  • Adopting a cloud-based reporting system can offer seamless labor monitoring and management from clock-in to paycheck while giving hoteliers on-demand management of earnings to manage transactions in real time.
  • Hoteliers may have a difficult time deciphering what story the data is telling and which levers to pull to remedy an issue or to replicate success. Business intelligence and analytics tool can point to where efficiencies can be improved and how to best reduce expenses.
  • ...7 more annotations...
  • Adopting an operations management platform that allows hoteliers to import data into one centralized dashboard combines critical accounting and performance data to aid hoteliers in identifying trends and making more informed decisions.
  • Hoteliers must expect the best but prepare for the worst and have a back-up accounting team in place ready to resume operations in the event of a disaster.
  • While increased corporate travel demand and a healthy economy paint a rosy picture for the hotel industry, the report also warns that the lodging ecosystem is vulnerable to threats from multiple fronts.
  • These unique challenges require hotels to be nimble, educated, and equipped with the latest technology to streamline processes and drive financial performance.
  • Hotels live or die on the ebb and flow of fluctuations in their business.
  • hotel-specific accountants can scale on demand to offer the needed expertise and ramp up quickly.
  • Because the hotel industry has a very specific set of needs, it is imperative for hoteliers have the right tools to navigate today’s challenges. The global travel industry shows no signs of slowing down any time soon, so hotels must incorporate cutting-edge technology to streamline operations, optimize labor management, and access critical data while preparing for the next unexpected event.
  • mkim001 on 03 Jun 18
     
    This particular article on hospitality and tourism accounting states that the global travel industry is expanding at an accelerated rate. Although there are high demands in corporate travel and high level of satisfaction in the economy, the ever growing industry is vulnerable to many risks given by its consumers. Just as much as the guests utilizing these hospitality services are becoming more pressing towards great prices and expressing concern in the quality of service they receive, hotel businesses are adamant about increasing awareness in cost and profit. To balance all these exclusive challenges, hotels are insisting on being educated and equipped with the most up-to-date technological advances to keep up with the ever demanding industry. With this in mind, the article states three methods to conquer the challenges faced today. The first method is to utilize a cloud based system to keep track of all the innumerous activities present to keep the business running. Due to the fact that a hotel is run by an overflowing amount of employees, all with different jobs and tasks, all using different systems respective to their departments, and require several types of pay (part-time, full-time, tipped employees) methods, it is a challenge to keep things efficient without a proper system. This is the reason why the article recommends using a cloud based system to keep track of the daily labor costs, overtime management, daily payroll transactions, and incorporate easy accessibility to reporting functions. The cloud based system will be beneficial in keeping everything in record beginning from the moment an employees clocks in to the end where they receive their paycheck, as well as, the ability to manage transactions. The second method is to centralize all the various sources of data. Hotels have a countless amount of data being stored. That can range from guest satisfaction satisfaction survey and comment reports, PMS data, to financial reports. With all these busy ac
  • ...3 more comments...
  • itzdchang on 10 Jun 18
     
    The hospitality industry today is said to be one of the fastest growing sectors in the world, as demands for travel accompanied by a healthy economy has pushed a flourishing industry. As the industry grows, businesses are having to become more cost/profit-conscious while maintaining an increased importance on price, quality, and level of service, all the while sustaining a profitable organization. The article states that business owners are relying more on financial data to ensure maximum efficiency and profitability out of each and every contract. The article goes on to discuss three new smart-technology accounting solutions for various industry challenges. Cloud-based reporting systems are beneficial as the hospitality industry has many different waged employees that make payroll challenging; cloud-based systems make monitoring and managing staff significantly easier. With all of the varying data that the hospitality industry finds necessary, it is often easy to be overwhelmed with data/numbers. Data from one source may indicate trends in one direction while data from another source may contradict. Operations management platforms can be put into play that can decipher through the data and find out the important details like what efficiencies can be improved and how to best reduce expenses. These platforms combine critical accounting and performance data to benefit business owners by identifying trends and aiding better informed decisions. Lastly, the article finishes with how the hospitality industry can be unpredictable and that back-up accounting teams may be necessary in times of distress.
  • aycasa on 30 Jun 18
     
    This article mentions way to overcome hotel accounting challenges. The article mentioned that technology has been helping the industry increase revenue, minimize cost, and maximize profit without affecting the quality of the service. One of the ways the author mentioned was to use cloud-based reporting for labor. Hotels have many employees working at all different times of the day and their pay rate varies, therefore it is much easier to monitor labor cost, have employees clock in electronically, and complete payroll having an electronic accounting system. Another way is to centralize multiple data sources. "Hoteliers may have a difficult time deciphering what story the data is telling and which levers to pull to remedy an issue or to replicate success. Business intelligence and analytics tool can point to where efficiencies can be improved and how to best reduce expenses." As a manager, its easier to monitor all your reports on one page making it easier to point out the areas that need improvement. Lately, having back-up accounting teams is a smart idea. Hotels are 24/7 hour establishments that host rooms for the needs of many people. In case of a natural disaster, the hotel must have a team ready to tackle the challenges on making room for those guests in need. "The global travel industry shows no signs of slowing down any time soon, so hotels must incorporate cutting-edge technology to streamline operations, optimize labor management, and access critical data while preparing for the next unexpected event."
  • csendra004 on 01 Jul 18
     
    MOD 9: This article is about how hotels are able to overcome accounting challenges within their industry. According to the article, the travel industry on a global scale is one of the fastest growing industries. While this is great news for the hospitality industry, the lodging sector is prone to vulnerability from trying to stay competitive while being cost and profit conscious and providing customized service. With these challenges, this article discloses three ways hotels can attempt to overcome them and they include cloud-based reporting for labor, centralize multiple data sources, and back-up accounting teams. When managing hotel staff, there are some challenges in overseeing that employees are compliant to their schedule, managing payroll and monitoring labor costs for each department. Implementing a cloud-based labor reporting system could help alleviate those challenges. A similar example would be like ADP, my own property uses this system to monitor labor costs as well as manage payroll and scheduling issues. With implementing multiple centralized data sources, it helps hoteliers to easily identify trends and help make more informed decisions based on the data shown from their data sources. With any property, it is always in their best interest to prepare for worst case scenarios which could be a natural disaster as an example. By establishing a back-up accounting team, hoteliers will be able to make more informative decisions with their back-up accounting team to match the changes of the industry after events like a natural disaster.
  • dtrak002 on 23 Sep 18
     
    The article discusses how hotels can overcome accounting obstacles. Firstly managing payroll is cumbersome, so a cloud-based reporting system can provide an easy way to monitor labour and manage overtime, and daily payroll transactions. Secondly, hotels have a difficult time to read data as data can come from a huge variety of sources: STR reports, PMS data, satisfaction surveys, comments. Hotels need a centralized dashboard which combines all critical accounting and performance data to assist hotels in making better decisions. Lastly, the article talks about hotels needing a back-up accounting team in case of disasters. In-house accounting teams may not be able to tackle on one-time event disasters and there must be a back-up team in place in times of urgency. The author, Scott Watson, executive vice president of sales and marketing at a cloud-based financial platform, sees that hotels are becoming more "cost and profit conscious" and I agree with him. Technology solutions are what hotels are craving right now to increase revenue, minimize costs, and maximize profits without sacrificing service quality.
  • krehman on 11 Feb 19
     
    This article helps guides hotels in how to overcome challenges when it comes to the accounting department in any situation that deals with staff tracking, how to decipher intricate data, and what to do in emergencies. The article details the usefulness of the Cloud and keeping track of staff members that are FOH and BOH that are both hourly and salary. That the accounting department could simply look them up in the cloud rather than searching through paperwork to understand exactly what their role is in the hotel and pay them accordingly. The article also goes over how having multiple centralized data sources can help accountants understand information from reports, guest satisfaction questionnaires, and other forms of reporting to pinpoint exactly what needs to be changed to become more efficient in the company. Lastly, the article covers how having back up accounting teams could be a definite positive just in case of emergencies (i.e. weather) so accounting can still be in progress no matter what situation occurs and the hotel can run smoothly.
anonymous

Impact Of E-Commerce On The Hospitality Industry | YOSAKI - 0 views

www.yosaki.com/ce-on-the-hospitality-industry

technology hospitality eCommerce

shared by anonymous on 10 Sep 19 - No Cached
  • E-commerce has now become a very important and basic part of people’s lives and since it is the selling and buying of products and services via the internet it has not only impacted on the business industry but the hospitality industry as well.
  • The hospitality industry being one of the most essential industries must move together with the evolving world in order to fully satisfy consumers and this has brought an unavoidable combination of E-commerce and hospitality.
    • anonymous
      anonymous on 10 Sep 19
       
      Society is constantly changing and a big part of that change is due to technological advancements. In order for the hospitality industry to move forward and keep up with society it must stay up to date with these changes and make constant improvements in the system.
  • E-commerce creates quick access to the hospitality industry as it markets the best services so that people don’t have to waste too much time looking for where the best hospitality services are.
    • anonymous
      anonymous on 10 Sep 19
       
      People want to be able to access what they are looking for or what they need quick and easy.
  • ...19 more annotations...
  • As tourists look for the best places to tour on the internet they are also provided with hospitality facilities such as accommodation (hotels), social functions, foods and cultural attractions among many others  that are displayed all over the internet.
    • anonymous
      anonymous on 10 Sep 19
       
      The hospitality industry and tourism seem to almost work hand in hand through eCommerce as this example shows.
  • From a mobile phone or computer it is now very simple for to look up for where they can find the best services
  • The hospitality industry is majorly dependant on wildlife and natural scenes which are very easy to advertise through E-commerce
    • anonymous
      anonymous on 10 Sep 19
       
      Being advertised through the internet gives them a better chance of having more people find them and want to use their services. People expect to find everything online.
  • Since customers can know whatever they need to know through internet, all extra costs have now been eliminated yet made everything more convenient and thus leading to a really drastic rise customer satisfaction.
    • anonymous
      anonymous on 10 Sep 19
       
      eCommerce makes transactions faster by allowing guests to pay immediately for their services and since all information is available online they can have anything they need to know available for them right there. Thus it is understandable why customer satisfaction has increased.
  • When using the internet it is super fast and easy for a customer to get into contact with the supplier of the particular service or product that they need. Using emails and different social media app chats communication which is one of the key issues in developing the industry has greatly been simplified.
    • anonymous
      anonymous on 10 Sep 19
       
      For customers it is very important as well to get in touch with their suppliers for any questions or concerns that they may have. When they contact them they expect to be able to do so fast and just like that they also expect a quick response from them.
  • Through the various web services, customers have been motivated to try out the most famous hotels and inns no matter how far they are and also people who were never interest in travelling are encouraged to go to destinations far away.
  • Everyone loves to have various options to pick from in order to have their needs perfectly satisfied and that is exactly what e-commerce has brought into the hospitality industry
  • All a company needs to reach out its ideal customers is create a website through which it can offers its services directly to customers, display each and every service they offer and also the necessary conditions and requirements without having to pay extremely high costs for it.
    • anonymous
      anonymous on 10 Sep 19
       
      This reduction in cost makes more hospitality industry want to try eCommerce. Then with this extra money that was saved up, the company can invest it in something else to improve their services or to add things to their inventory.
  • Most of the companies that deal in hospitality services now allow customers to have their places of stay booked earlier, they make the payments online and have all of the details including where to find tickets, how they will be welcomed, what is required of them and so much more.
    • anonymous
      anonymous on 10 Sep 19
       
      Now that all the information is available online it makes it easier for the guests to be informed beforehand and have some knowledge as to what to expect. eCommerce makes finding information about the services effortless.
  • Much as they work hand in hand with other industries it is now an independent industry of its own
  • Each and every company puts out their rates in the open giving customers the advantage of comparing prices before they can actually go on to spend the money.
    • anonymous
      anonymous on 10 Sep 19
       
      This a very important thing for customers. People like being able to compare prices in order to choose the one that saves them money. They also want to be able to make the right choice in terms of what is really worth their money. But of course this means more competition within the hospitality industry.
  • Through the bookings and reservations done from the internet customers end up giving out way too much information something that has become overly dangerous as it exposes innocent customer’s information to unauthorized that end up using it for in wrong ways and for the wrong purposes.
    • anonymous
      anonymous on 10 Sep 19
       
      Some people may also have their concerns and preoccupations about eCommerce and how safe it is. Nobody wants their personal information to end up in the internet for everyone to see and possibly steal/use.
  • E-commerce has created a world where it is extremely easy to rob, steal, kidnap and even more criminal offences such as killing among so many others.
  • The owners of such places must put strict security and warning on such attractions or else suffer with the unruly members who may use them recklessly.
  • Marketing countries with overly attractive facilities has become a threat as it has overly attracted the wrong crowd, not everyone that travels into a country come into the country with the best of intentions.
    • anonymous
      anonymous on 10 Sep 19
       
      This is another possible side effect of advertising in the internet. Everyone nowadays has access to the internet and therefore can see all this information and as is mentioned here not everyone has good intentions and could turn something pleasant into something offensive and hateful. One just has to be very careful with these things.
  • The internet attracts all sorts of people since it puts out way too much information and the same way hackers get into other online businesses they have also managed to get into the hospitality industry and caused innocent countries to face huge problems with such people.
  • Since the customer never gets to meet personally with the owner of the service, a seller can easily provide them a service different from what they actually wanted, some do this by mistake while others do it intentionally due to lack of ethics.
    • anonymous
      anonymous on 10 Sep 19
       
      This a very common things that does happen maybe very often depending on how well the communication between the customers and the suppliers goes. Sometimes customers end up paying for a service that wasn't exactly whet they wanted or whet they needed. This then leads to customer dissatisfaction and to poor service.
  • Service providers need to check their services to ensure that they deliver customer satisfaction
  • In conclusion, e-commerce has increased the popularity of the hospitality industry through the different ways of marketing its facilities and making them more accessible to the customers who are mostly tourists and people who enjoy lives of leisure and luxury.
  • anonymous on 10 Sep 19
     
    This article talks about both the pros and cons of eCommerce in the hospitality industry. It talks about how it has changed and helped the industry but also the side effects that it may have.
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