Skip to main content

Home/ Hospitality Technology/ Contents contributed and discussions participated by kayshap96

Contents contributed and discussions participated by kayshap96

kayshap96

Hospitality Employees Play Big Role In Sustainability Efforts - Facilities Management I... - 0 views

  • Hospitality Employees Play Big Role In Sustainability Efforts
  • When it comes to the environment, employees leave a big footprint, Gaines says. "Employees are aware of their footprint and it yields a lot of returns," he says. "As a result, they're watching their fellow employees and holding each other accountable because they understand that every little bit counts."
  • With employees outside of the facilities department, it's often the little things that make a big difference, such as getting employees in the habit of turning off lights and checking thermostats in unoccupied meeting rooms, as well as having them remind each other to keep an eye out for potentially wasteful use.
  • ...10 more annotations...
  • A side benefit of involving non-facilities employees in sustainability efforts is the force multiplier effect, Witt says.
  • when employees take these lessons home, it can expand out the effect of sustainability efforts.
  • "Ideal for us would be if we give a housekeeper the tools to minimize the amount of water that she uses when she cleans the bathroom, then that person in turn goes home and teaches her kids to turn the tap off when they're brushing their teeth," she says.
  • tresses the importance of training employees outside the facilities staff on what they can do to help
  • keeping an eye on the lights, turning down — or off — ovens that weren't in use, and not propping open cooler doors, employees with no energy management experience or responsibility could help contribute to big savings.
  • More Room to Keep Going Green in Hospitality Industry
  • While the hospitality industry has made great strides in its sustainability efforts over the last few years, there are still opportunities for improvement,
  • According to Bendewald, the industry spends nearly $8 billion annually on energy costs, but is often limited in how aggressively it approaches efficiency due to concerns about occupant demands.
  • how can hotels provide the same, or often better, services with reduced energy use?'"
  • So instead of having to evaluate each building from scratch, facility managers can test strategies and products in one or two facilities, then roll them out across the chain.
kayshap96

Proximity Marketing in 2018 and the market forecast for 2022 | Beaconstac - 0 views

  • Proximity Marketing in 2018 and the market forecast for 2022
  • Proximity-based marketing isn’t a new concept. It has been around for decades. Whether it’s giving out flyers in the busiest part of the city or hiring a sign spinner to drive sales, it has always relied on location-based marketing.
  • With the dawn of the World Wide Web, marketers were able to target consumers using their IP address.
  • ...15 more annotations...
  • In 2018, consumers have evolved to avoid spam Consumers have become exceedingly aware of marketing tactics. According to research, 69% of people who use text messages reported receiving unwanted spam and text messages. 25% of those people face this issue weekly. Proximity based marketing takes care of unwanted spam by showing only hyper-local relevant ads to consumers
  • Google’s competing Eddystone technology that debuted in 2015, can trigger URLs and web pages directly without an app on Android.
  • The Eddystone protocol designed by Google negates the need of having an app on Android phones
  • Not requiring an app to receive notifications allows marketers to target a much wider audience
  • People in stores, on the move who are inside buildings or on the sidewalk and have their data switched off cannot receive any digital advertisements. This segment of people are not being targeted through digital or traditional marketing.
  • Using location based marketing, brands and marketers can show relevant targeted ads.
  • The game changed in the 2000s when smartphones took off and GPS, geofencing and geo-targeting came into the picture.
  • People today love personalised recommendations
  • According to the ‘Trends in Personalisation study,’ 96% of all marketers agree that personalisation advances customer relationships. 88% have reported a measurable rise in business resulting from their personalisation campaigns. Which is why, proximity marketing is a notch above the rest.
  • Introduction of BLE smart technology and Bluetooth Mesh Leaving the Bluetooth switched on pre-2010 meant massive battery drainage. With Bluetooth low energy, people are more prone to leaving their Bluetooth on. After every new iOS update, Bluetooth is automatically switched on.
  • WiFi and beacons can also work in conjunction to provide better services, even prompting users to turn on their Bluetooth.
  • Privacy is a major concern
  • There is no personal identifiable data that is collected from users making it more compliant to laws and regulations globally.
  • There are more mobile devices than people in the world. Proximity marketing makes good use of this fact.
  • n fact, proximity marketing isn’t just limited to mobile devices. Wearables can also receive beacon notifications. The global wearables market is all set to reach 126.1 million units in 2019.
  •  
    " "
kayshap96

The importance of IT security in the hospitality industry | Marathon Professional Services - 0 views

  • The importance of IT security in the hospitality industry
  • One of the industries with the highest risk of security breaches in the hospitality industry. A large volume of customer data is handled on a daily basis, including card details, names and addresses.
  • All companies are legally required to meet certain expectations of data protection regulations, and as an IT provider, it is your responsibility to ensure that all IT infrastructure provided to your clients contributes to data protection.
  • ...4 more annotations...
  • With the number of security breaches worldwide each year, it is no surprise that more and more people are aware of their data being given to anyone, and knowing it is sufficiently protected. Each person needs to be able to trust their hotel or the place that they’ve visited to keep their details private at all times.
  • Perhaps the hardest to recover from is the damage caused to customer trust, and brand reputation, which can be difficult to rebuild. The result of failure to comply can also include significant financial penalties and legal complications where affected parties are able to seek compensation for insufficient security measures being taken to protect them.
  • Most businesses will now store the majority of their secure information on computers, which means their IT infrastructure needs to be able to restrict unauthorised access and prevent breaches. Without implementing security measures, a breach can result in downtime for your customers, which can be both costly and time-consuming. You should ensure that there are restrictions to access different levels of information, and implement all basic security features within their IT infrastructure such as usernames and passwords.
  • Having a plan for your customers to manage all the data that they have is also important, and the most effective way of doing this is to create an Information Security Management System, or ISMS.
kayshap96

Mobile Revolution: Enhancing Hotel Operations & Service | News | Hospitality Magazine (HT) - 0 views

  • Mobile Revolution: Enhancing Hotel Operations & Service
  • People use their mobile devices for nearly everything, from talking with friends, family or colleagues to paying bills and even booking travel plans. In the hospitality and hotels industry especially, mobile is becoming a major touchpoint for customers. A recent study found that 60 percent of consumers are more likely to choose a hotel that allows guests to check-in and access other amenities with their smartphone.
  • The internal impact With staff that is always on-the-go, it is crucial to have a proficient and secure mobile communication solution. With messaging apps, managers are able to communicate in a timely and secure way, so they don’t jeopardize confidential guest information.
  • ...7 more annotations...
  • This is also especially beneficial during an unexpected crisis that staff needs to be made aware of. Using a mobile messaging solution, managers can send alerts via SMS to all staff to keep everyone up-to-date without the hassle of gathering everyone in one place. Overall, mobile messaging is a cost-effective communication channel that managers can easily install, implement and manage.
  • An internal mobile messaging solution allows managers to relay information to staff, such as housekeeping or concierge, to let them know about late checkouts or special requests, in real-time. This is not only more effective than email, but also encourages two-way communication between staff and managers on a more regular basis.
  • mobile messaging can also boost productivity and broadcast important alerts among staff.
  • The external impact Mobile has made it possible to enhance customer experience. Hotels can be more engaging and personalized with guests by using features such as mobile bookings, self check-ins and push notifications to regularly communicate.
  • Another study has found that one in two respondents would make or confirm travel plans via mobile message, while one in four would purchase a flight or book a hotel via mobile message.
  • Hotels can use mobile to completely eliminate the use of phones in hotel rooms. For example, a guest can send a mobile message asking when the pool closes and receive an immediate, automated response. It’s also an effective way for hotel staff to engage with their guests, which also keeps the brand name top of mind during the stay.
  • With the adoption of mobile, hotels are not only effectively increasing communication amongst staff members and guests, but they’re also providing an enhanced experience to set themselves above their competitors
kayshap96

Why you should consider Self Order Kiosk for your Restaurant - 0 views

  • Why you should consider Self Order Kiosks for your Restaurant
  •  Self Order Kiosks are typically considered to be touchscreen computers that allow customers to enter an order into the computer on their own.
  • The increase in minimum wage is reaching an inflection point at which the cost to invest in solutions like Self Order Kiosks might cost less overall than investing in POS and employees to operate them.
  • ...16 more annotations...
  • However, there has been steady growth in the demand for Self Order Kiosks in the Fast Casual, Restaurant and Fast Food industries.  These days businesses are much more aware of the benefits of technology.  There is a lot of proven data that the right technology can boost the growth and productivity of a business.  Restaurants that are able leverage the latest technology trends can often have the largest technological advantage in the market. 
  • Kiosks can free up valuable human resources to do what humans do better than any kiosk could: greeting customers, offering assistance, bringing their food to the table, offering suggestions, and asking about their experience.
  • As time changes so do the generations of adults.  This means as baby boomers get older the next generation of people will be the majority of customers.  These days it’s not hard to see that almost every brand is looking to cater to the next generation of consumers.  It’s also no secret that the millennial generation and every generation after is much more technology aware and savvy.
  • Lower Overhead Improve Customer Experience and Retention Improve Efficiency Improve Growth Increase Revenue
  • Self Order Kiosk orders are typically submitted more accurately because there is no translation required from customer to cashier. It’s been proven that customers are happier with order consistency when entering orders on their own.  Happy customers often translate into repeat customers.
  • elf Order Kiosks can consistently provide better upselling and suggestive selling.  The more advanced kiosk technologies can provide upsells and suggestions based on the user that is ordering.
  • The Restaurant and Fast Food industry has changed a lot in the last 10 years and the competition and ability to differentiate has become increasingly more difficult.  We’re seeing a lot of overcrowding in many spaces.  Much like Retail stores casual dining restaurants are experiencing similar store closings due to overcrowding.
  • Many millennial customers will often choose a Self Service Kiosk option and if the kiosk is designed well, they will have a good ordering experience because the order entry was fast and easy.  A good kiosk interface can allow the customer to expect an accurate order every time.
  • Self Order Kiosks sound great! So then why has adoption been so poor?
  • Fragmentation Most of the Self Order Kiosks that are available today are not made for your Point of Sale system.  So there isn’t always a kiosk solution available.
  • Limited Customization Most Self Order Kiosks can be customized but the customization is often limited.  The ability to change the workflow, menu layout, and user experience tend to be limited.  These kiosks often have a standardized layout.  Most Self Order Kiosks do not allow you to change the orientation of the screen from portrait to landscape or vice versa.
  • Cost Self Order Kiosks definitely come with initial and on-going costs.  As with all things you get what you pay for.  The lower cost kiosks provide limited flexibility and may do a poor job of representing your brand.  The cheaper kiosk hardware is often not commercial grade and not nearly as rugged/tamper resistant as higher end options.  Cheaper solutions may be cost less up front but it limits your capabilities and the type of self service you’re offering your customers.
  • The high end kiosks built with custom enclosures and hardware are much more expensive.  However they can deliver the true branded experience.  As with all custom built equipment, it always has a higher initial cost and often come with a higher installation and setup cost. High end kiosk software is often custom developed.
  • Management Kiosks like all technologies, require management.  Maintenance, repairs, upgrades, security, and upkeep can increase the overhead of owning and operating Self Order Kiosks. Another issue that can arise from Kiosks is vandalism and this issue can add costs to manageability.
  • Poor Customer Experience Customers may become impatient or frustrated if the kiosks are not working, are laggy, or the interface is too complex to order or pay.  When something goes wrong customers may have to ask for assistance which can take up additional time.
  • Employee Sabotage Employees can see Kiosks as a threat to their job security and can make the experience difficult to adopt.  Sometimes Servers may believe that they are getting smaller tips because the customers are using self service kiosks.
kayshap96

The right Property Management System a key factor in hotel success: Study - Insights - 0 views

  • The right Property Management System a key factor in hotel success: Study
  • Hospitality technology has evolved by leaps and bounds in recent years. In fact, until recently, there was no single software application for managing, let alone automating, all of the different functions that take place at a hotel or resort in a unified and integrated fashion.
  • Fast forward to today and next-generation property management solutions are empowering hoteliers with the ability to drive ever-increasing levels of efficiency and effectiveness in ways that may have been difficult to imagine only a decade ago.
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • The scope of the platform capabilities has expanded beyond core functions like guest registration, room inventory maintenance and housekeeping assignment to encompassing virtually all aspects of hotel operations.
  • integrate with third-party technologies, including web booking engines and point-of-sale (POS) and revenue management systems.
  • according to the research, more than one-quarter (27%) of hoteliers who have not upgraded their PMS within the past 3 years plan to do so in the next 12 months.
kayshap96

Why Personalization Is the Future of Hotel E-Commerce – Skift - 2 views

  • he hotel industry has an opportunity to transform the direct booking process using website personalization. Doing so can help deliver a more efficient and customized booking experience, resulting in better conversion ratios and the opportunity to further cultivate relationships with guests.
  • Personalization in the hotel industry has ceased to be a trend. Today, it’s an obligation.
  • Back in 2015, American Express Travel reported that 83 percent of millennials would allow brands to track their habits in exchange for a more customized experience
  • ...16 more annotations...
  • And earlier this year,
  • Deloitte Consulting published the white paper
  • noted that “–truly knowing your guests –what they have told you, what they request, what you have learned, and what should be implied –should yield larger results.”
  • using new technology-driven tools to help them streamline the booking process and create a more seamless guest experience.
  • When potential guests are shopping on a hotel’s website, there’s a clear opportunity before a booking is made for properties to demonstrate the acute attention they’ve paid to individual guests’ preferences. This is accomplished by using website personalization technology, allowing hotels to automatically and intuitively suggest particular room categories, package types, and even rates tailored to each user’s expectations.
  • he results of these improved personalization efforts are numerous, including higher booking probability, increased user satisfaction, and a greater likelihood of repeat visits to the website, leading to better brand loyalty. Taking these steps can even offer hotels a further tool to take more control of their distribution decisions, rebalancing their e-commerce strategies between direct and non-direct channels.
  • Building Loyalty is an Investment
  • over-relying on OTAs for cash customers hurts profitability.
  • Today’s personalization technology can also help hotels to optimize the conversion rates for direct bookings.
  • If this analysis shows that more users are bouncing from the site instead of booking, it may be time to consider new tools.
  • “When users leave a hotel’s website, they’re likely to have forgotten the details after visiting multiple other hotel-related sites,” he noted. As Upneja believes, personalization tools are one method to prevent this. “Appeal to them on the spot with personalized offerings like the right price, the right room category and the right amenities before they can move on.”
  • Personalization tech is increasingly an essential tool to rethink online bookings. But in order for it to succeed, there needs to be alignment between the personalization of the booking experience and the hotel’s curation of more traditional on-site amenities like service and design.
  • That site is available on both desktop and mobile, and in English and Spanish, the primary languages spoken by the hotel’s two main markets.
  • Using IP addresses also enables the Viceroy Los Cabos to personalize resort packages to users in locales suffering from bad weather.
  • “Ideally we want to sense that behavior and adapt the site for them, showing them customer reviews, social media posts, food and beverage photography – things that we know will be a strong call to action for the customer to continue through to making that reservation.”
  • Today’s hotelier recognizes the value that personalization has on the guest experience. The more guests feel that every aspect of their experience was tailored exactly for them, the greater the likelihood that they will spend more on property and return again and again.But in today’s competitive market, truly savvy hotel executives realize that it is no longer enough to only customize during the guest stay. Personalization needs to extend to the booking process, where the right tools give hotels the means to increase conversions, build better loyalty and customize content in order to deliver more direct bookings.
  •  
    This article describes how personalization of eCommerce can bring better profits, because it is helping guests personalize how they would like their stay. This is more efficient for the guests because it is ensure they get what they want, like if they want to be around certain theme parks, or if they want their rooms a certain way. They even have options where you can fit guests language barriers, like if they speak only spanish they can change the language so spanish speakers can also ensure they have their preferred stay.
kayshap96

How Technology Is Redefining E-Commerce - 0 views

  • The last decade was the biggest in the history of the e-commerce industry.
  • According to eMarketer, China pulled in almost $900 billion from e-commerce storefronts in 2016, with the U.S. earning more than $423 billion in sales revenue. Overall, the e-commerce world received approximately $1.915 trillion in 2016.
  • Redefining The Consumer Shopping Experience
  • ...6 more annotations...
  • The advent of virtual and augmented reality technologies has provisioned e-commerce vendors with an avenue to display their wares in immersive detail, comparable to the real-life experience.
  • Making Selling As Easy As Buying
  • The traditional emphasis in the e-commerce industry has always been on the shopping experience from the viewpoint of the buyer. In addition to promoting seamless buying, technology is also working to the advantage of the seller. Easy access to instantaneous communication, information transfer, logistics processing and online networking have allowed for remote orchestration of sustainable e-commerce platforms. Sellers no longer have to micromanage every aspect of the e-commerce business or possess the huge start-up capital associated with the sector in the past.
  • Seamless Payment Processing
  • If there’s one other thing that has been the bane of the e-commerce industry, it’s the issue of processing payments made by buyers. It's proven to be either too hard or too expensive to incorporate a payment gateway capable of processing orders from all world markets.
  • With other revolutionary payment solutions like Bitcoin gathering momentum, technology might once and for all eliminate the industry’s payment limitations. The ability to pay through blockchain removes the intermediate middlemen, allowing both businesses and customers to have more control over how they conduct business.
  •  
    This article is describing how technology is redefining E commerce. E commerce has been playing a really big part into everyone's everyday lives, but with technology expanding so is E commerce. For example, technology has been helping with online stores since they are able to show exactly what they are selling with detailed descriptions. Paying methods have also been made a lot easier, and are more reliable. Since technology is not done growing that means E commerce will also be expanding!
kayshap96

How Employee Time Tracking Software Transforms Hotel Management - 0 views

  • The quality of staff management affects every aspect of the guest experience.
  • Since the cost of labor is a significant expense, optimizing human capital is paramount. Time tracking software is the answer for streamlining employee hospitality timekeeping and scheduling.
  • Employee scheduling requires: Forecasting occupancy Matching staffing demands to expected occupancy Creating shift schedules Adapting schedules to changes Accommodating employee availability and preferences
  • ...8 more annotations...
  • The solution for efficient and cost-effective employee management is advanced time and attendance software. Let’s discuss some of the benefits.
  • Cloud-based time and attendance eliminates hardware compatibility issues. This was a shortcoming of older enterprise systems. With cloud computing, all players can access work information from any internet-enabled device.
  • With an online shift trade board, the manager posts open shifts when an employee calls in sick before the shift begins. If the employee fails to call and just doesn’t show up, the system signals that a worker neglected to clock in. The system sends alerts to all available workers. The current schedule feeds information to the trade board. The system knows which workers are already working and, therefore, unavailable.
  • he manager approves the trade which triggers a confirmation alert to the applicable employee.
  • Time and attendance software remembers everyone’s availability and schedule requests.
  • Any business is susceptible to time theft. Since many hotel employees are unsupervised, the hospitality industry is especially vulnerable.
  • US employers pay millions a year in unnecessary wages due to time theft. A biometric time clock paired with a time tracking system allows managers to apply schedule lockouts and break rules.
  • Time tracking software handles the complex logistics of multiple employee types and pay rates. These include overtime calculations, accruals tracking, break tracking, and absence management.
  •  
    With technology constantly updating and hotels getting larger and obtaining more employees, it is important to have a system that is keeping up with the times, and makes bosses work a little easier and more efficient. With the time tracking software it does all of that. The software allows managers to have available employees cover shifts, it ensures there will be no time theft, it keeps track of overtime, pay rates, absences and more. The system is cost effective because it does not hold up the employer in the office all day, and with the watches out for the time thieves. This system does everything a manual tracker can do and more. It is extremely efficient.
1 - 9 of 9
Showing 20 items per page