"Facebook ads (except for major placements like the home page) work like Google's AdWords. The advertiser creates ad content; selects targeting options; and sets budget, scheduling and payment parameters." Based upon one's "likes" or interests, facebook ads pertain almost exclusively to proximity marketing, allowing companies to advertise for people based upon recent google searches, in addition to facebook. Their job is basically to anticipate and manage what people like, in order to succeed in their advertising. One of the downfalls to this is that you have to consider the people who know nothing about what is being advertised, thereby eliminating a potential new client completely. You have to be very careful about this.

Counterfeit and stolen credit cards are a headache for businesses of all kinds, but hotels, like other businesses, can protect themselves by following the credit card companies' mandated procedures. However, hotels have another problem that John E. Nichols, vice president of internal audit for Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. in Phoenix, describes as "the biggest issue I see in the hotel industry." This article goes into detail of the trials and tribulations that go into protecting businesses from credit card fraud, especially at hospitality establishments. The idea is, that by having an internal auditor at each and every major business, you decrease the risk of this happening, because you have someone constantly monitoring the ins and outs of your daily worklife.

"Introducing ISISPOS, a revolutionary hospitality Point of Sale system that combines Apple innovation with powerful business logic to offer a fully featured and easy to use solution designed for the Restaurant industry." If you are interested in finding out more about this system, you can also go to www.isispos.com. This revolutionary new way to take orders at restaurants is going to change the hospitality industry. The Isis system is far less expensive than Micros and Touch POS systems because everything is built into ONE, using Apple's technology, costing just over $5,000, versus $28,000 for a restaurant that seats 150. It has a $200/month maintenance fee, and this includes all system upgrades, whereas Micros does NOT. Check it out!

"Groupon has evolved quite bit since we launched three years ago. We started off with a single 'deal of the day' in each city, and today we often offer dozens of deals in numerous cities, across many categories (travel, goods, etc.). We think of it more as a curated deal marketplace then a daily deal site now." With all the deals being presented to the American public on a daily basis, it is interesting to see how many people are employed by Groupon outside the US. While outsourcing may seem like a good idea for businesses since people don't need to be paid as much, this is ruining the job market within. The founder of Groupon, however, is very smart, considering his age. I like to call Groupon "Food Stamps for the middle class", and Andrew Mason really hit the nail on the head.

So Best Buy is becoming more environmentally friendly by turning it's home energy section into an interactive layout, designed to get people talking about saving the earth. "Home Energy control panels are connected to refrigerators, lamps, lights, heating and cooling systems, showing shoppers how the digital energy home could be connected. An interactive booth where customers can turn lights on and off and an employee can talk to potential customers enabled shoppers to learn about the benefits and price points of LEDs vs CFLs. For many Best Buy shoppers, it could be the first time they've even thought about using these types of efficiency tools to cut home energy usage." What we have, in this store that focuses mainly on video games, DVDs, and flatscreens, is an initiative centered on all of us who need to be educated on the reality that the earth is losing it's natural resources because of our selfish overspending and lack of care. Hopefully they will be able to expand to all of their stores and not just the few they are doing this test run in.

This article explains that more and more companies are adding online ordering directly to their Facebook fan pages. Their software is directly linked to the internet, thereby allowing customers to order through facebook. If a potential new client was browsing the internet at work, unsure of what to order for lunch that day, this is very convenient. Once ordered, the activity is posted to that person's wall, for all their friends to see. It's a great marketing strategy and a way for word about that particular restaurant to get out.