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jlewinsky

Hotels: Are Your Cyber Defenses Ready for 2021? | Hospitality Technology - 0 views

hospitalitytech.com/your-cyber-defenses-ready-2021

cyber security hotels tourism POS

shared by jlewinsky on 23 Feb 21 - No Cached
  • Two of the top five biggest data breaches made public in 2020 were at hotel chains. Attackers stole personal information including names, emails and addresses from 5.2 million guests at Marriott and 10.6 million guests of MGM Resorts.
  • To ensure a swift recovery from COVID-19, the hospitality industry must shore up its cybersecurity protections — or risk more headline-making breaches in the future.
  • Risk is especially high at hotels because attackers have multiple points of entry.
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  • Breaches undermine hospitality brands’ reputations and erode customer trust. Eighty-one percent of consumers will stop engaging with a brand after a breach, according to a 2019 study.
  • When it comes to cybersecurity, companies today have two options: Defend the fort or devalue the data. The former is the more traditional approach. By strengthening the digital “walls” around your data — via firewalls, intrusion detection, 24/7 monitoring and other security protections — the defend-the-fort approach works to keep attackers from accessing your systems at all.
  • However, one of the biggest vulnerabilities may be on the hotel grounds themselves.
  • hotels have multiple point of sale (POS) terminals across different locations, from the front desk to restaurants, all of which are connected to each other. If a POS device is not properly secured, attackers can use malware or other attack vectors to steal clear-text credit card numbers and other data.
  • POS attacks remain one of the most common causes of data breaches in accommodations and food services.
  • Guests may share their credit card numbers with the hotel in advance via a booking app or website, opening up the possibility of web-based attacks. Loyalty programs are another source of online vulnerability, with an estimated $1 billion a year lost to account fraud and related crimes.
  • One important and underutilized aspect of cyberdefense is employee training.
  • Make sure your employees use strong passwords and know how to spot fraud and spear phishing attacks. You may also want to limit employee access to confidential data, so if an account gets hacked, private guest information doesn’t go with it
  • You should also make sure your software is up to date with all security patches, as attackers often exploit known weaknesses in programs. Isolating POS devices from the rest of the network can also limit the damage from malware infections at that entry point.
  • it’s unlikely that even the strongest digital “walls'' will prevent all incursions. Defenses are important, but the ever-changing nature of technology means that new, hard-to-catch vulnerabilities will pop up all the time.
  • important to devalue your data, rendering it unusable to attackers who gain access to your systems. One way to do this is to implement point-to-point encryption (P2PE) by encrypting payment information from the moment it enters your network at the POS
  • Encrypted data is unintelligible to anyone who doesn’t have the right digital key. Implementing P2PE is the only way to ensure that clear-text payment data doesn’t fall into the hands of attackers targeting POS systems with malware.
  • Data that’s stored for the long term, like passport information or credit card numbers saved to a loyalty program, can also be devalued through tokenization. Data that’s tokenized gets replaced with an alphanumeric pseudonym, so the actual sensitive information isn’t stored on your servers. This method helps secure guest information beyond the initial transaction at the POS.
  • Hotels that reckon with their security vulnerabilities now will protect themselves from fines and other fallout from data breaches as business rebounds. They’ll also build deeper, more trusting relationships with customers by keeping their personal information secure. By strengthening security protections and devaluing their data, hotels can set themselves up for a brighter future. 
  • jlewinsky on 23 Feb 21
     
    This article describes the vulnerabilities in the security systems of the hotel Industry. The POS system was recognized as one of the most vulnerable areas that are more targeted by hackers. This is due to the multiple stations where the POS systems are located on the premises of the hotel. Likewise having POS systems independent of the hotels security system left the system open to hackers. Two options to defending the cyber-defense, are digital walls and employee training. Digital walls works by keeping hackers from accessing the systems. Although even with a strong firewall it is recommended to implement point-to-point encryption (P2PE), this encrypts payment information of guest. the other is tokenization. This uses alphanumeric pseudonym to protect data stored for long periods of time. Another way to prevent cyberattacks is employee training, encourage the use of strong passwords an dhow to detect fraud and phishing attacks.
jlewinsky

Why a College Student Developed a Hotel Housekeeping Robot | Hospitality Technology - 0 views

hospitalitytech.com/loped-hotel-housekeeping-robot

hotel robot hospitality technology

shared by jlewinsky on 15 Feb 21 - No Cached
  • Recently, Maidbot announced its partnership with RB (Reckitt Benckiser), a health, hygiene, and nutrition company and the makers of many world-renowned brands including Lysol, Dettol, Harpic, Finish and Mucinex. Maidbot is partnering with RB to drive greater confidence in the hospitality and commercial real estate industries by innovating cleaner, more hygienic experiences for guests and employees alike.
  • The two companies will collaborate to develop innovative commercial cleaning solutions which will drive the commercial robotics revolution and transform the commercial services industry. 
  • as hotels and other companies began to use Rosie – something interesting happened. As the team designed the hardware and navigation software to optimize Rosie’s cleaning function for varied environments, they uncovered demand for predictive data that could provide significant added value to management.
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  • Green also saw similar issues in other types of commercial real estate with demanding cleaning operations. So Green created Rosie the robot (Yes – named after The Jestons’ maidbot!) to vacuum commercial floors so that humans could focus on more meaningful and enjoyable work.
  • Micah Estis Green founded the company when he was a student working as a room attendant at The Statler Hotel on Cornell University’s campus. While cleaning rooms, he realized housekeeping is a hotel’s highest variable cost and that room attendants have the highest rate of injury.
  • Rosie can track environmental data from temperature and humidity to Wi-Fi signal strength. Rosie evolved from being a commercial floor cleaning robot to an indoor mobile data platform - mapping indoor data over physical space. Rosie’s cleaning skills combined with her data tracking has made her a valuable asset to many hotel properties.
  • Operators have seen an increase in efficiencies in room and public space cleaning, so they have derived value in changing operations accordingly. Additionally, the robot captures actionable data that can help mitigate lost revenue from guest complaints - ie. poor Wi-Fi in a room will lead to a guest complaint which could lead to a discounted rate - which has an impact on the top line for operators.”
  • “COVID has had an unprecedented impact on the service industry and operations have changed drastically,”
  • Rosie can help alleviate the strain that increased an increased task list may cause. Rosie can also tackle public spaces -- like lobbies and corridors -- to clean consistently and support house aids so they can tackle higher touch and guest-focused tasks. 
  • jlewinsky on 15 Feb 21
     
    Interesting article! This robot Rosie, was created by a student while working as a housekeeper at a hotel. He saw that majority of accidents reported by housekeeping staff were injuries sustained from vacuuming. Later they found that Rosie was much more capable at performing other duties than housekeeping. Due her data storage capabilities she became useful in tracking environmental data, temperature, humidity and WIFI signal strength. No doubt this type of green technology has had a tremendous impact on the overall guest experience and increase in revenue.
jlewinsky

Facial Recognition Market Expected to Reach $9.6 Billion Worldwide by 2022 | News | Hos... - 0 views

hospitalitytech.com/each-96-billion-worldwide-2022

facial recognition 2D 3D hospitality

shared by jlewinsky on 07 Feb 21 - No Cached
  • According to a new report published by Allied Market Research, titled, World Facial Recognition Market - Opportunities and Forecasts, 2015 - 2022,  the global facial recognition market is expected to generate revenue of $9.6 billion by 2022, growing at a CAGR of 21.3% from 2016 to 2022.
  • North America is expected to dominate the market throughout the forecast period, owing to the high expenditure on security systems by government agencies in the region.
  • Facial recognition technologies include 2D, 3D, and facial analytics. The 3D facial recognition technology segment holds a significant share in the world facial recognition market, owing to its high accuracy in terms of recognizing facial features as compared to the 2D facial recognition technology.
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  • 2D technology is also widely used due to its low installation cost and operational ease as it uses 2D appearance
  • Among the component segments, hardware accounted for the maximum revenue share in 2015, owing to high cost of 2D and 3D cameras. The facial recognition software market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 23.9% during the forecast period. Development of effective and efficient facial recognition software applications is expected to drive this market.
  • In the year 2015, homeland security contributed the highest revenue share, accounting for around 21% of the overall market revenue. From a growth perspective, intelligent signage is likely to be the most prominent application of facial recognition, anticipated to witness the highest CAGR of 25.1% during the forecast period.
  • North America offers lucrative opportunities for market growth, exhibiting a huge demand of facial recognition technology for homeland security and criminal investigation.
  • Some of the leading players in the facial recognition market include Cognitec Systems GmbH, NEC Corporation, FaceFirst, Inc., and 3M amongst others.
  • These players have adopted product development, acquisitions, agreements, and partnerships as their key strategies to strengthen their market position and expand their geographical presence. For instance, in 2015, Cognitec Systems GmbH launched and incorporated a superior version of the face recognition algorithm B9 in FaceVACS-DBScan, one of the its leading facial recognition products.
  • jlewinsky on 07 Feb 21
     
    According to this article the technology of facial recognition is expected to grow tremendously by 2022. Also, mentioned industries such as homeland security who has been using this form of technology since 2015. When comparing the 2D and 3D technology, 2D technology is more widely used due to its low cost and ease of use. The use of 3D technology has its place in the industry as well due to its ability to recognize facial features more accurately than 2D technologies.
jlewinsky

IHG uses artificial intelligence to reduce food waste - Business Traveller - 0 views

www.businesstraveller.com/...echnology-to-reduce-food-waste

AI food hospitality

shared by jlewinsky on 02 Feb 21 - No Cached
  • AI technology to reduce food waste at selected properties.
  • The Winnow Vision AI technology uses intelligent cameras, smart scales and meters to analyse ingredients used during food preparation, as well as plates returned to the kitchen, to assess which food items are most wasted and in what quantities.
  • The group says that the technology will help its hotels achieve a 30 per cent reduction in food waste,
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  • the Intercontinental Fujairah Resort, which has been able to reduce food waste by over 50 per cent using the technology, a
  • jlewinsky on 02 Feb 21
     
    This article describes how the Intercontinental Hotel Group is using artificial intelligence to reduce food waste. This technology uses smart scales, meters and cameras during food preparation.
jlewinsky

What is the digital outlook for 2021 in business travel? | PhocusWire - 0 views

www.phocuswire.com/utlook-in-business-travel-2021

travel business travel solution hospitality

shared by jlewinsky on 24 Jan 21 - No Cached
  • The GDSs are finally competing with a wider group than the traditional oligopoly group that they have been complacent with for so many years.
  • I imagine that at some point in the next few years the GDSs and the airlines will finally figure out their commercial challenges and we will get NDC content in the GDS as mainstream. If they do not, a huge amount of development cost by the GDSs has been wasted. 
  • It will be interesting to see how the NDC specialists will adapt to NDC becoming mainstream in the GDS. To compete with the GDS they would need to fill some gaps quickly around hotel, car rental, and I expect they will utilize the wealth of API options. 
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  • With more and more airlines adding surcharges for booking on the GDS as well as removing lower tiers of fares, the GDS is simply becoming a more expensive environment to book in. As has been said many times, this model needs to change.
  • The OBTs will face some challenges in 2021, one being with respect to resources.
  • The OBTs might have added to their roadmaps the integration of new information sources that deal with COVID-19.
  • In some respects, the OBT workflows are ideal with regards approval processes, which are likely to be more complex in 2021 compared to a year previous. So, from that perspective the OBT’s have a strength to play on.
  • Automation is no longer a nice to have in 2021, TMCs need to find ways of working that avoid the costly touch of a human being. Fully touchless bookings are the holy grail.
  • Still missing is a system able to grab GDS bookings, NDC bookings, other direct booking sources (e.g. low cost carriers, bed banks) and offer one single place to be able to view and interact with the bookings (modify, cancel). 
  • jlewinsky on 24 Jan 21
     
    This article focuses on GDS emerging competitors now and in the future. Online booking has become more attractive to the consumer, with no surcharges unlike the GDS system airlines use for booking.
jlewinsky

Learn How Tech-Forward Hospitality Companies are Transforming Via the Cloud | Hospitali... - 0 views

hospitalitytech.com/mpanies-are-transforming-cloud

shared by jlewinsky on 20 Jan 21 - No Cached
  • a handful of travel and hospitality companies are already turbo-charging their recoveries by adopting agile technology as a key competitive advantage.
  • Amazon Web Services’ must-attend event for everything cloud:  AWS re:Invent
  • Most travel and hospitality companies are slowly migrating to the cloud to save money, facilitate digital transformation and increase access to innovation
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  • Moving ahead, Just Eat Takeaway is looking to cloud to facilitate global expansion, streamline operations, and enhance the user experience.
  • adding value to the customer experience, enhancing loyalty, and innovating faster in the midst of an ever-changing travel environment.
  • jlewinsky on 20 Jan 21
     
    Amazon web Services or AWS is a cloud based platform created to help the hospitality, restaurant and travel industry. This platform enables companies to save money, increase global expansion, enhance user experiences thereby enhancing customer loyalty.
jlewinsky

ASSA ABLOY Global Solutions Earns Recognition as Best Mobile Key Provider During 2021 H... - 0 views

www.hotel-online.com/...er-during-2021-hoteltechawards

shared by jlewinsky on 12 Jan 21 - No Cached
  • “Being named the best mobile key solution by hoteliers not just once but twice, is a truly proud moment for our company and is especially relevant this year as properties look to digital key solutions to play a central role in their cleanliness initiatives,” said Markus Boberg, Global President- Hospitality at ASSA ABLOY Global Solutions.
  • Currently in use by properties and hotel brands of varying sizes and backgrounds, Mobile Access provides guests with the ability to sidestep germ risks at the front desk by using personal devices to check-in. Engineered using ASSA ABLOY’s Seos technology, the solution further uses secure communications channels to transmit digital key and room number information to a guest’s device which can then be used to gain entry to guestrooms or other hotel areas.
  • jlewinsky on 12 Jan 21
     
    ASSA ABLOY is leading the industry in contactless technology. They provide digital key system to enhance hotel brands while keeping their customers safe.
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