As the hospitality industry becomes more saturated and competition increases, marketing strategies are vital for hotels and tourism organizations. The TED video and supplemental article that I have posted poses a very important problem that is faced by marketers and decision makers in the eMarketing world - choice overload. Researcher Sheena Lyengar explores four ways to reducing the curse of offering consumers too many choices. The first approach is Cut. As she explains, many people are scared by what this word entails, but what they do not realize is that cutting bottlenecks or repetitive alternatives actually increases revenues. Hotel website designs should only display the most popular items in order to make navigation simple for consumers. They should also offer less special packages aimed at specific target segments. The less options consumers have, the more likely (30% more likely) they are to purchase. The second approach is Concretize. By using visualization content as marketing tool, eMarketers can attract consumers by helping them imagine the end result. They should not just show hotel features and amenities. Consumers like to see concrete pictures and the consequences to them, in this case, beautiful scenes and travel options that they can experience at the hotel. The third options is Categorize. Basically, eMarketers should offer more categories and fewer choices. The category should mean more to the consumer than to the producer (hotel). In addition, they should make it easier for the consumer to navigate, sort, and process the information being presented to them. The final approach is Condition for Complexity. Hotel websites that offer booking and shopping options should follow this ideology. Break down the steps from low complex choices at the beginning of the process to more complex choices at the end to order to avoid losing the consumer's engagement in the selection and purchasing processes. Overall, the message of this video and article is

Room serve technology in hotels - research for paper 

This article describes the importance of credit card security in the hospitality industry. End-to-end encryption (data field encryption) protects credit card consumers' information from hackers. In 2008, 50 percent of card hacks were targeted at hotels and restaurants, therefore, the industry is cracking down on the security of consumer data. Basically, the data encryption acts as a layer of extra security by erasing any consumer data that is left in transist after the transaction is made. The implementation of it is very important,there are still industry standards being put into place so that it can work efficiently. Visa is one of the forerunners that developed and published information on the best practices for the encryption.

I think its one of the best security tools that the industry could adopt. It is such a common way for hackers to gain information and money, that it is often over looked. I for one have never given it much thought when I give my credit cards at hotels, but it will definitively be in the back of my mind from now on.

It looks like the restaurant industry slightly started recovering from the recession in 2011. an increase in revenue and guest counts let to a positive effect on information technology spending in the industry. Restaurants' information technology budgets reflected that they allocated the most money to it than they had in the past 2 years. This rise signifies that restaurants on concentrating on the important of new information and innovations to set their locations and and environments apart from others. The article states that the biggest percent of the IT budget goes to internal personnel, followed by software, hardware, external service, and last, compliance. The industry pays close attention to information technology because it is tool that helps in cutting costs and increasing efficiency. Some of the IT features in restaurant that are popular are point of sale systems, credit card swipes, and touchscreens. The latest trend toward IT investments in the restaurant industry is a sure sign that the entire hospitality industry is both becoming more interested in technology advancement and getting out of treacherous economic waters.

This article explains how the hospitality industry is taking their own twist on accounting. Similar to GAAP, the hospitality industry will use the Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals' (HFTP) global hospitality accounting system users guide. HFTP is a global professional association dedicated to financial and personal in the industry. It is implementing a benchmark that stakeholders can use to gather accounts, compare regional differences, and set the value of operations. It will have a glossary of inventory terminology, charts, and benchmark specific regions of the world. HFTP plans to create this in 3 steps. The first step is to gather bachelor students at Ecole Hoteliere De Laudanne to gather data from hotel operations and assemble the terms. The second step is to distribute the data to regional teams that will create sample charts of accounts for the local areas. The third step is to discuss similarities and differences in allocations. I think this great for the hotel industry because will have a common accounting principle to reference to. It will allow hotels to better be indexed and compared to one another.

This article is really interesting because it incorporates two concepts that we have touched on in class, cloud systems and Points of Sale (POS) systems. Cloudtise, is a type of cloud advertising service that is part of the new online marketing trend that allows businesses use real time data for advertising to consumers. Its versatile form allows both users and consumers to instantly update and gather information. By partnering up with Revel System's cloud based Apple iPad POS system, it will help businesses obtain data about client trends. The coalition enables Cloudtise to mold their data based on the geographical area and use data to create ads in real time for specific areas. Using the POS system, Cloudtise will be able to give businesses information so that they can target ads to demographics in local and specific areas that are the most likely to buy the products. Businesses will be able to track inventory levels, customer characteristics, and details from local competitors that will boost their knowledge of what products sell best and to whom. The overall advantage will be providing information what advertising campaigns work and which do not. I think this is a great way for businesses to gain a competitive advantage in their market because consumers are moving toward an instant gratification plane, where they expect products and services immediately. Using cloud and POS systems as an advertising tool will enable users to specifically target consumers and adapt to them instantly.

This article touches on Property Solutions' new ResidentUtility initiative to bundle billing and utilities for the multifamily industry. Property Solutions is the nation's largest provider of apartment community websites and management software tools. The new system will enable property managers to manage billing and utilities through electronic payments. It solves the industry's utility billing problems, like costs associated with inefficient standards. ResidentUtility combines billing and utility management with en electronic payment systems that will increase extra incomes for properties, especially given that option that utilities and rent and be billed on the same invoices, properties will have extra cash inflows earlier in the month. As a result of extra income, properties can also reduce working capital and pay their own bills in a timely fashion. In addition, residents can reap the benefits because their bills will have more transparency and be bundled so that they only need to worry about paying one large sum. I think this is a great idea for properties, I used to be a leasing manager for residential condos and we offered this billing system to residents and it was very successful. Although I do see residents getting scared by one large invoice as some prefer to pay everything separate. From the management perspective, it is very beneficial because accounts payable and receivables become easier to handle when it is all done under one invoice and electronically.

The federal government has recently promoted a new plan that will combine smartphone applications and energy companies to help consumers monitor and manage their utility bills. The Green Button initiative was first welcomed at the Silicon Valley event by California's biggest utilities companies. The government is now hoping that the rest of the country will be able to jump on the bandwagon. The initiative is led by Aneesh Chopra, the chief technology officer, who hopes that private sector utility companies will create a standard format across the board so that a wide range of consumers could potentially benefit. Consumers will have virtual access through applications to their energy consumption. Ideally, the plan is supposed create energy saving efforts for consumers who will have greater access to managing their bills and levels of consumption. There already are major energy companies, like Opower and Tendril, which are producing Green Button compatible applications. It shows how energy companies are treading the online and smartphone waters. This initiative will also require consumers to put their part in adopting smart meters and smart phone applications. I think this a great move by the government in a time where both energy consumption and costs are increasing. As a future homeowner, I would be more than willing to contribute to participating in this type of plan. People today are interested in having their life bundled up and having access to it through their online services, this effort was definitely inevitable.

In this article we find out how the British Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) is challenging the authenticity of Tripadvisor as a result of a complaint by online reputation specialist, KwikChex Ltd. The ASA is complaining that Tripadvisor is allowing hotels to submit their own reviews to boost their reputations, compromising the legitimacy of the website's "honest travel reviews." The ASA and KwikChex believe that consumers are not aware of the difference between honest and hoax hotel reviews on the site. The website is fighting back saying that the large number of users that visit the site help balance out the small amount of fake posts. In addition, they state that they have fraud detection systems in place to weed out illegitimate reviews. But most importantly, they argue that those reviews that do manage to creep in do not carry much weight because users read an average of 12 reviews before making final decisions. Tripadvisor is one of the most popular websites among consumers making purchasing decisions because it is founded on real, consumer hotel reviews. Consumers today, specially the millennial generation, rely on peer reviews for important purchases such as travel and hotel stays. As consumers it is vital for us to remain educated and alert, specially when we cannot prove the legitimacy of the contents' authors.

This article throws the popular notion that social media is one of the most important point of contact with customers for a loop. It points out that social media, like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, is only a customer engagement channel not a distribution channel where you can measure important date like return on investment. It is limited to building relationship and engaging guests. This article exposes a channel that can do all of this plus generate sales and measure ROIs as much as $33 for every $1 spent. It is direct marketing. Direct marketing motivates customers to "take action, to pick up the phone or click through your website." It can attract specific target segments with specific, tailored messages to get them to act. The article offered a quiz for hoteliers to measure how good hoteliers' sales strategies are, if they scored low they offered them to take up direct marketing. It is the ideal medium for them to reach consumers and generate direct sales. I did not think that direct marketing was such a strong and motivating factor in reaching consumers and generating sales. I have always had a negative view on it because of its cost and vague way to reach out. But I must agree, it is a more accurate way than Facebook or Twitter in measure the success rate of their investment.

Google Transit, which uses data from over 500 global markets' transportation systems, is partnering up with Google Hotel Finder to make tourists' stays more time efficient. Google Hotel Finder added a new filter that shows consumers the maximum travel time from any point of interest to their hotel. It has placed a 20 minute default distance from point to point. Tourists can type a specific attraction, like Buckingham Palace, and it will show you hotels within 20 minutes of it. Google also allows you to choose the transit time; the smaller the time the smaller number of hotels within the range. Moreover, Google Hotel Finder can also search for hotels in selected areas for popular city locations. Prior to this, Google had Google Calendar, which allowed business consumers to choose hotels based on travel distance to their business meetings. Overall, Google's Hotel Finder targets both the leisure and business consumers. As a consumer searching for hotels in unfamiliar areas, this feature would be really beneficial because it allows me to plan my stay more accordingly. Usually, consumers choose a hotel based on travel time from the main points of interests, whether they are attractions or business meetings. Google Hotel Finder will now share this information with consumers before they actually even choose a hotel. I have a strong inclination that this type of consumer technology will drive hotels to use travel times as advertising tools when they use Google as an advertising medium.

This article shows how hotels are using technology to improve their loss prevention and security systems. Hotels, like the ARIA in Las Vegas, are implementing radio frequency identification systems (RFID) to efficiently track their employees' uniforms. This specific hotel has the advantage that it is a new hotel and therefore can start with a blank slate, versus other hotels that will implement it as their budget allows. The RFID chips are sewn into the uniforms and then entered into the inventory system. This allows the hotel to monitor where and in whose hands the uniforms are. Other hotels, like the Arnold Palmer in Orlando, are using RFID for security. The RFID locking technology audits locks and tell the hotel when and who entered a room. In addition, sophisticated cameras with intelligent software are being used throughout different points of hotels' perimeters to safeguard guests. These sophisticated technological breakthroughs are only efficient if organized data management and communication processes are put in place. I think that the use of technology to better monitor theft and security is a great area for hotels to invest their money on. The use of cameras to detect alarming fast speeds of boats near hotels with ocean perimeters is not something that guests look for when deciding on hotels, but it is an added feature that adds value to the hotel in the long-run and one that can save lives.