E-tourism represents the paradigm-shift experienced in the tourism industry as a result of the adoption of ICTs and the Internet. It is evident that all best business practices have been transformed as a result, and that the each stakeholder in the marketplace is going through a redefinition of their role and scope. There are both challenges and opportunities emerging but the competitiveness of all tourism enterprises and destinations has been altered dramatically. It is evident that the "only constant is change." Organisations which compute will be able to compete in the future.

Now the event attendees can ask questions to the speaker via tweets or Facebook comments real time during an event. With the world tweeting away night and day, there is no doubt that technology has changed our life completely.

Following a robbery at a Houston hotel in which thieves exploited security flaws in Onity locks first revealed at the Black Hat conference in July, Hotel Management spoke with Todd Seiders, director of risk management at Petra Risk Solutions and former director of loss prevention at Marriott, for tips on how hoteliers can keep their rooms secure. An NFC-compatible lock, such as this Signature RFID by VingCard lock, can streamline the check-in process.

Many hospitality decision makers are now investing in mobile technologies to support customer-centric applications, designed to improve guest services by handling applications such as wireless email, guest and attendee check-in, table-side order and payment or event ticketing. IT spending in the hospitality industry is set to rise in 2011 with 56% of hospitality organisations polled planning to raise mobile investments to better equip their workforces, improve operational efficiencies and enhance the customer experience, according to a recent Motorola Solutions study. Seventy-six percent of hospitality venues polled cited the primary reason for IT spending as guest experience.

Hotel accounting is not simply about managing revenue and expenses. Independent hotels and hotel franchises have unique financial needs that demand competent staff and an accounting system that will allow management to plan for the future and improve services for both guests and staff alike. There are many things to consider when assessing the quality of accounting of a hotel property, including staff training, accounting software and forecasting.

Hotel accounting is not simply about managing revenue and expenses. Independent hotels and hotel franchises have unique financial needs that demand competent staff and an accounting system that will allow management to plan for the future and improve services for both guests and staff alike. There are many things to consider when assessing the quality of accounting of a hotel property, including staff training, accounting software and forecasting.

* It's ease of use: look for software with a user-friendly graphical interface. And you can have entry of sales information. Most systems allow you to enter inventory codes either manually or automatically via a bar-code scanner. Once the inventory code is entered, the systems call up the standard or sales price, compute the price at multiple quantities and provide a running total. Many systems make it easy to enter sales manually when needed by letting you search for inventory codes based on a partial merchandise number, description manufacturing code or vendor. Updating product information: Once a sale is entered, these systems automatically update inventory and accounts receivable records.

This article introduces a PMS software-Optima PMS, which is a state of the art; Windows based Property Management System that incorporates the latest in advanced technology. It is designed to provide all the features of a sophisticated Front Office system linked with other computerized hotel applications on the same relational SQL database. Optima PMS places all the vital information needed for optimum operation at the manager's fingertips. All information can be viewed on-line, printed in a large variety of reports or shown on graphs. It is a profitable marketing tool, as it captures a wide range of data needed to make the correct marketing analysis. Information analysis is simple, quick and precise, emphasizing revenues, budgets and yearly comparisons in combination with data of occupancy, segmentation and other guest information.

The American Hotel & Lodging Association's Green Assessment Survey results reveal the top 10 green initiatives hotels are enacting, the top 10 green programs hotels can improve upon, motivations and challenges for implementing green lodging practices, and quantifiable measurements of green action being taken around the nation.

Over the last decade the population of Internet users has increased rapidly. The hospitality industry has always been among the first to capitalize on new technologies. E-commerce has been defined as "the buying and selling of products and services by businesses and consumers over the Internet." With hotel e-commerce, the landscape of the hospitality industry is forever changed. Online sales are an important part of the business. The growing importance of e-commerce in the modern hospitality industry has created an urgent need for simple solutions to manage companies' online presence. Now that each hotel is involved in e-commerce, reasons why is hotel e-commerce so important today may because the accelerating internet usage worldwide, the Internet is the lowest cost hotel-booking channel, and social media and online hotel reviews are an increasingly important decision factor.

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.

In today's hospitality market, efficient and timely control is determining the industry leaders. Hospitality software's tend to have hotel specific templates, forms, marketing promotions, training programs, menu analysis tools and financial tracking tools. They have many modules like: Hotel administrations, Hotel Front Desk Management, Hotel housekeeping, and Hotel accounting. They can be used in hotels, motels, inns, resorts, hostel, ranch, suites, apartments and bed & breakfast. We can get a lot of benefit from the use of software in hospitality industry like the Hotel Management Software are an excellent way to spend money since it is effective, saves time, provides convenience and avoids things like double booking and other minor mistakes that prove to be hazardous in the long run. And in order to be successful hospitality software should have User Defined Fields for high flexibility; high-quality graphical representation of rooms, and real-time statistics.