The hotel event planning business is a very lucrative business for hoteliers. Renting out space for special events such as weddings, birthdays, graduations parties and conferences are all ways hotels can earn extra revenue. In this article, "Hospitality & Event Planning: The Ingleside Hotel, provides a brief overview of the 40,000 square feet renovated meeting and banquet space. The Ingleside Hotel in Wisconsin created a new program called 'Experience Ingleside that will create unique opportunities for guests to explore both the property and the local community. For the frequent business traveler, this space is great as it offers guests rooms and suites that include a work station with complimentary wireless internet.

According to this article, the hospitality industry has one of the highest numbers of security breaches. Due to the nature of the business, credit card fraud and identity theft crimes seem to be an ideal target for cybercriminals. Humor error, high turnover rate, and insider threats are just a few primary factors for security breaches within the hospitality sector. The consequences of data breaches can have a long lasting impact on the company, including, customer trust, tarnished brand reputation and legal and financial problems. As we all know, hotel owners and operators do not want anything to impact their revenue. Encryption of credit card information, operating a continuous training program in cybersecurity, adhering to relevant regulations, using firewalls, and a detailed response plan in the event that a data breach should occur are a few practices the hotel sector can implement to mitigate a cyber attacks.

In this article, the author discusses four hotel accounting challenges and solutions with Scott Watson, Executive Vice President of Sales and marketing from M3. According to this VP, hotel finances and accounting can be complex and come with challenges. We will discuss the challenge and solutions to the four listed issues: Enterprise Resource Planning, Staff Variations, Data Overload and Core Challenges. Firstly, the challenge with enterprise resource planning is how do hotels implement affordable and scalable solutions. Scott believes partnering up can cut costs. Secondly, staff variations and labor demands and the importance of staying within the budget. Scott's solution to this is real-time monitoring for labor. Cloud- based reporting can help manager monitor the daily labor costs and other payroll functions in real-time. Thirdly, data overload. The challenge here is how to do hotels present that data collected. According to Scott, the solution here is having a centralized platform. This allows for a check and balance system and may assist in monitoring cash flows, etc. Lastly, the fourth challenge are core challenges such as guest service, sales, operations and cash management. The main challenge here is how to hotels monitor the core competencies that generate revenue. The answer, according to Scott, is to outsource it. Outsourcing can be an efficient and cost-effective solution but it is not for everyone.

This article is about the future of POS systems and what we as consumers can look forward to in the near future. In this article, Emily Engle discusses the current talks Amazon has to implement scans of user's hands to receive payment instead of a physical credit cards, cash or phone systems during your point of sale transaction. Although, just an idea for some retail giants, some retailers in other markets such as China and India use biometric features during point of sale transactions. To get things started, Amazon believes that customers will enter their credit/debit card and scan your print during this initial process. After that you will never need your card again. It is said that since Amazon owes Whole Foods, they will begin the testing period there. Using this new method of shopping, if it comes to fruition, could useful for frequent visitors.

In sum, this article discusses the long awaited partnership with Southwest airlines and global distribution channels Amadeus and Travelport. In the past, there have been many debates regarding the topic of "full content" between airlines and travel intermediaries. However, according to Southwest, this agreement will bring "the highest level of participation." As Southwest continues to revamp and improve the way it competes in the global market arena, Tom Nealon, President of Southwest has stated that, "GDSs are the third leg of the stool in Southwest's distribution strategy for business travel. With its great business product, Southwest is hoping to improve the way consumers book, transact and settle by using global distribution systems. With a conservative outlook, Southwest is hoping that the newly formed partnership with Amadeus and Travelport will generate between $10-$20 million in additional revenue in the second half of 2020.

This article discusses the importance of hoteliers using green cleaning products. The added benefit to using green cleaning products is safe for the environment. If hotel practice green cleaning, it may lead to higher occupancy and revenue. If consumers are eco-friendly, they want their hotel to be as well. Overall, our society is becoming more aware of products that are impacting our environment and it is vitally important that hotels listen and make change that for good for the people, good for the planet and good for the balance sheet.

This article discusses the importance of hoteliers using green cleaning products. The added benefit to using green cleaning products is safe for the environment. If hotel practice green cleaning, it may lead to higher occupancy and revenue. If consumers are eco-friendly, they want their hotel to be as well. Overall, our society is becoming more aware of products that are impacting our environment and it is vitally important that hotels listen and make change that for good for the people, good for the planet and good for the balance sheet.

In "How Technology has Shaped the Hospitality Sector in 2019," author Pranjal Prashar believes that the use of certain technological advances, will allow hotels to provide exceptional guest experiences. Prashar states that there has been an increase in the number of hotels that have recognized new and innovative technologies and have started to implement these advances to deliver a better guest experience. One of the benefits of using such advances as the PMS and RMS systems is that it can help hotels make data- backed decisions. In today's world, guest expectations have moved from basic needs such as clean rooms to including the need of an experience says Prashar. With millennial's projected to overtake baby boomers as America's largest population, I believe it is vital that the hospitality industry as well as other industries invest in technology to stay in front of the curve.