This article makes me see in a way how biometrics is actually a better idea than keycard systems or just old fashioned keys. Only the person who booked the room will be able to open it because you never know who is in possession of they card key or the key. With biometrics, you can either tell the guest to tap 2 or 3 fingers or a whold hand. I think that is respecting their fingerprinting privacy, It could be dangerous in away if anyone wants to fake finger prints but that is why a system should be set up in which the guest chooses what finger they want to use. I think its a better idea. Working in a hotel I see alot of key cards being lost and its a hassle just to get them to show their ID or they might be in the room but not registered. If they loose the key and the room number is on the envelope it is easy access for whomever found the keycard. ith Keys, they are always loosing keys. The safe keys in our hotel is always getting lost. I think its better to use biometrics for unique access only

The article here explains the evolution of how we used Travel Agents back in the day and how we got to a point where we no longer needed travel agents. Back in the old days if anyone wanted to fly to another country or state, we went thru travel agents so we can get a booked flight and car services etc. Now we do everything ourselves. We find out information on our own and book and print our own tickets. Why? because of the internet. The internet will teach you anything and will give you whatever you are looking for. According to the article , people are overwhelmed in all the information provided by the internet that they cant decided where they want to go or where they want to stay at. So business is coming to travel agents. We feel so busy now and days that we give all the work to someone to do everything for us.

This webpage is an explanation of all the effective ways you can market thru email in the hotel industry. Obviously if the guests received an email from your company is because they provided you with their email adress, meaning that they are interested. E- Marketing is not spamming. It is very proffesional. At the end of the guests stay, you can use e marketing tools to lude the guest back in your way. You can benefit from E-Marketing by upselling. It is a very powerful tool that can bring you a lot of traffic if you have a great business plan. E- Marketing is also important because you can get guest feed back and fix problems that might occur and also help them come back as well. E-Marketing has changed the hospitality industry in a great way. People no longer need to walk in to your hotel to find out information. If you have a great website, guests can quicly make their own assumptions. If a guest is coming back to the city, E-Marketing can lure them back in.

In 2009 the GDS usage declined from 98% to 79%. ALthough there has not been a demand to use this technology, there has been a demand in the first quarter in 2012. There has been an increase because of corporate business demand. GDS is being used to transfer room inventory to global distribution partners as well as travel agents and OTA's. Hotels using the GDS technology offer a percentage to a client instead of a fixed rate. This happens as long as companies have access to the hotel's system everyday. According to Robert Cole, The GDS system is notgoing anywhere because of its unique solutitons to hotels and travelers. It makes it easier for everyone.

Tennis star Venus Williams had designed her own interior decorating company named V Starr Interiors. She has been in this industry 2002 and kept it a secret. She has studied fasion design in the art institute of ft lauderdale. Williams quotes "interior designs is a business of trust".

Gaylords Hotels has added the POS system for their customers to experience. POS stands for Point Of Sale. Its a small devices that allows an employee to charge the customers credit card right then and there. No cashier, no register. The article elaborates on how the hotel has implemented this systemin their pool area. It discusses how pool attendants spend so much time walking back and forth which eventually makes the order longer. This system allows the employee to charge the credit card and print the receipt right then and there, saving a few trips. This should be implemented in most places saving time and preventing a slick employee to steal someones credit card information

Immediacy vs Accuracy, which would you go with? The media is rushing everyday to deal with the two and make up a news report that consists of the two. Whoever has it broadcasting first is the winner. This article speaks on how twitter has changed the way we find about information now and days. Although Twitter will have a news shooting around the world in less than a minute. How accurate is the information? Stars have been killed by twitters power to spread the news of the stars death faster than the news station can get it on the tv screens. Is the information accurate? unfortunately not. This is where twitter as well as other media sites should manage what gets put out there before it gets publish. Just like what tv stations do. They verify and then they broadcast. As well as wikipedia. Someone should verify the information on each page and should not allow users to change or input information into that webpage.

This article is basically the rules and regulations of how to write an email. Netiquette is important because if you make yourself seem professional, the people whom you send these emails to will reply and treat you with respect. Especially if its a business email. The article teaches you about how to write a subject line and the difference between cc and bc. It also teaches you not to use lol and thesmiley face emoticon unless the email is personal. This article also teaches you on how to relax on the punctuations. Too many exclamation marks might seem like your going crazy screaming at someone. It also teaches you about how to properly send signatures. I think everyone should read this article to perfect their emails. Especially students because now and days , there is no need to go to your teachers office. You just shoot your teacher an email and it will make your life easier.

this article was interesting to me in learning more about what we discussed in class regarding to second life. I believe that not only adults in universities but kids can become more in volved and learn faster using the second life method. Alot of people already seem to have fun using this method. I found it interesting when they brought up that a teacher took his students to a sanctuary place related to the Virginia Tech shootings in Second Life. I thought that the idea to create a sanctuary place on second life for students to grieve on unfortunate circumstances was a great way to put to use second life. It makes everything more interesting in my opinion.

This article speaks about the technology in the hotel industry and what it takes to have the hotel equipped and up to date. The hotel gives examples of what owners have invested or will need to invest. What surprised me was the fact that TIVO should be one of the amenities included into the hotel room now and days. I found it interesting when the article asked who is paying for these upgrades? is the rate changing? or is it part of the experience as the article states?

In class we spoke about how the internet has an impact on small businesses and how small businesses are having a hard time being compared to the bigger businesses. This article talks about how they are being ranked in the search engines. When a consumer goes online to search for a product, he or she will like at what the article refers to as an established brand such as hp or dell in computers oppose to smaller brand names which although theyre known theyre being bypassed by these big brand names. The article talks about the "bid per click" bases that business advertisers use to promote on google. This makes it hard for a smaller business to compete with a bigger business because of their promotion level. It is very expensive.