To speed up the painful and slow check-in process at events, the developers of CheckinEasy spent a year developing the ultimate event planner tool, CheckinEasy. CheckInEasy streamlines and simplifies event check-in and management and significantly increases the speed of check-in. The ultimate goal is to make the day of the event as simple and pain-free as possible.

For every hospitality organization, the online press should be an important component of public relations, sales and marketing plans. In addtion, the business websites and its press room should be able to provide all the info needed. Therefore, the most important question to ask: does your web site work for the press and analysts that visit it? So, the top six steps to have an effective online press room are: 1. Make your press room easy to find 2. Press release index 3. PR Contacts 4. Photos, images and video 5. Background Information 6. Press Clips and Press Coverage Page

This entry-level IP video solution is designed for systems from 1 to 16 cameras, and it is ideal for hotels or other small businesses that need easy-to-use and future-proof video surveillance with HDTV quality. This new solution allows small owners to use HDTV network cameras to help them clearly identify intruders, shoplifters and other incidents. Video can be viewed live and recordings played back from anywhere - on-site or remotely over the Internet. The system supports motion detection and pan/tilt/zoom control. Video clips and snapshots can be easily exported to colleagues and authorities, and the system supports third-party apps for viewing live and recorded video on leading smartphones and tablets, such as iPhone, iPad and Android. Furthermore, all images are recorded onto a standard SD memory card in each camera, and even if a network fails, the cameras keep recording. This reduces cost, simplifies installation, and makes the system more robust as there is no single point of failure.

The L2 ranking measures the digital competency of 52 hotel brands via 350 data points across four dimensions: Site, Digital Marketing, Social Media, and Mobile. (As new technology changes the face of travel, Four Seasons is committed to being at the forefront of digital innovation, engaging guests in the ways that are most meaningful to them. It also reflects the brand's long term strategic investment in digital. Examples that led to Four Seasons #1 ranking from L2 include: innovating with Emerging Platforms, creating a powerful and global social presence, mobile access, and the new FourSeasons.com.

Nor1 announced today the integration of its pricing and merchandising solutions with MICROS OPERA, aiming to enable nearly 22,000 hotel properties to quickly increase revenue and customer satisfaction. This agreement between Nor1 and MICROS is a partnership fueled by common customers such as Hilton, Hyatt, Fairmont, Carlson, and Joie de Vivre, and the desire to help their hotels maximize revenue opportunities at every turn. Furthermore, Nor1's eStandby Upgrade is a revenue enhancement solution that is providing hotels on six continents real bottom-line lift and overall guest satisfaction. It is to note that Nor1's eStandby Upgrade does this through PRiME, the pricing and merchandising engine, which dynamically analyzes over a million points of data to more accurately identify the right product selection, upsell pricing, and display ranking decisions for each individual guest. Now eStandby Upgrade hotels running MICROS OPERA will have access to deep insight into all their guests, ensuring more relevant and targeted offers.

It is well-know that utilizing the right technology can greatly increase profits, reduce inventory, help a manger (and a staff) to stay organized and efficient. Further to that Point of Sale Systems are good example of technology that can practically run a restaurant. It can record labor costs, inventory, 'enter' an order and send it back to the kitchen, tabulate the diner's bill and process payments. It is true that POS can be costly, but on the long run, it is an investment that pays back with interest. In addtion, it is to mention that today it is hard to imagine Point of Sales Systems without sophisticated Financial Software, Credit Card Readers, and Order-Entry Touch Screens. With technology that improves on a daily base, each and every restaurant manage should be ale to find POS that exactly satisfies his/her needs and his/her pocket.

A key focus for hoteliers around the world in 2012 will be the integration of their online distribution with their Property Management Systems (PMS) and Revenue Management Systems (RMS) to make their online reach faster, simpler and more powerful. It means that many accommodation providers will switch their channel management strategy from the "legacy" manual channel management products of yesterday to technologies capable of providing fully automated, two- way, seamless integration between online booking channels and their PMS, CRS or RMS systems.

INNCOM is the global hospitality-industry leader in advanced energy-management and Integrated Room Automation Systems (IRAS) for hotels and resorts. Furthermore, INNCOM is considered to be a pioneer in wireless environment installation with extensive experience in networking guestroom equipment and 25 years of tradition. INNCOM invented a Deep Mesh Network which uses advanced radio frequency technology to provide better control and monitoring over a hotel's HVAC, lighting and other equipment with the goals of reducing energy consumption and simultaneously improving the guest experience. In case of the Waikiki Beach Marriott Resort & Spa, it had upgraded its guestroom temperature control system to a networked energy management system utilizing the Deep Mesh Network (DMN) architecture from INNCOM, and since the 1,310-room property converted to this robust wireless environment (nearly eight months ago), energy consumption has dropped by 21 percent without requiring the 40-year-old facility to undergo an extensive or costly installation effort. After all, energy conservation is not just a question of saving money, but saving something that is home to us all: the earth.

Six of the world's leading hotel companies, Choice Hotels International, Hilton Worldwide, Hyatt Hotels Corporation, InterContinental Hotels Group, Marriott International Inc. and Wyndham Hotel Group, launched Roomkey.com, an innovative new online hotel search engine. It enables consumers to search and book directly with the hotel, and it gives consumers confidence that they have made the right choice by providing accurate hotel information straight from the source. The brain behind this project is John F. Davis III, Chief Executive Officer of Room Key, who is a highly experienced hospitality industry visionary with a history of entrepreneurial successes. The technology platform for RoomKey.com was acquired from hotelicopter, an innovative flexible hotel search and direct platform, which allows Room Key to evolve and enrich the user experience quickly. Additionally, hotelicopter's affiliate platform provides destination marketing organizations with a hotel marketing platform that helps drive more direct bookings to their local hotels, now under the Room Key Solutions brand. Shafiq Khan, Senior Vice President of eCommerce, Marriott International, said, "Room Key's new and unique offering will embody the best of what hotel company websites offer consumers, giving them confidence in their booking decisions - a personalized and welcoming experience that offers flexibility, accuracy, and benefits of booking with the hotel companies' proprietary sites." Now is time for consumers to use new "Rom Key"and make their way to hotel rooms around the world.

One of the biggest complains received from travelers or hotel guests in New York is paying for Wi-Fi and not being able to get cellular data service. While wired and wireless service was available, the lack of cell phone signal for downloads and data service caused travelers to become frustrated. To help out, the Mandarin Oriental, New York decided to deploy a converged IP network and install the Ruckus Wi-Fi wall switches in every room to help with cellular and wireless capacity and coverage. Since installing the Ruckus Smart Wi-Fi system, Mandarin Oriental, New York has seen user capacity more than triple and wireless traffic eclipse traffic on the wired network, while customer wireless complaints have dropped by more than 85%.(But the benefit isn't just for the guests. According to the hotel, the new wall-switch Wi-Fi "dramatically reduces the cost and complexity of installing and managing wired and wireless network services."

The iRiS Sommelier is an application that turned the iPad into a digital Sommelier. It allows diners to browse through the wine list in their preferred language, view each wine label, and narrow the selection according to the type of wine, color, size, grape and region, as well as price. The iRiS Sommelier does not just lead to more informed dining experience, but also reduces wine selection time. Furthermore, this application helped to increase wine sales by 21% at the Kepinski Hotel in Budapest. In regards to the operation, the great feature is that restaurants are able to update their wine lists instantly, as well as change prices and availability. In addition, wine menu printing costs are minimized and environmental benefits are maximized. In my opinion, the iRiS Sommelier is not just a great new way to introduce the wine menu and update the inventory, but also to educate diners and give diners more time to enjoy their wine and food.