This article discussed the need for the IT department to be involved whenever an employee is terminated. This practice should be in place because there can be security threats if former employees still have access to company records and data. The article gave three principles that companies should strictly adhere to when terminating employees: Prompt notification of termination, prudent revocation of access (both on-site and remote) and preemptive preservation of data. This article makes some very interesting points, because we don't often think of termination from an IT standpoint. But it is crucial that former employees no longer have access to company data, and that the company preserves certain data that will be useful if the employee seeks a lawsuit. I have a somewhat relevant example in that a former apartment complex I lived in never requested the barcode scanner for my vehicle when I moved. Just for fun one day, I tried to drive through the gate to see if my scanner still worked. It did! Good for me, but not so good for the complex, as hundreds of former tenants could still access the property with ease. This example reinforces the fact that IT must be involved even in employee terminations.

This was a very interesting article about how Salvatore's Grand Hotel will be the first to benefit from the integration of Zeno Control, LLC and Verve Living Systems. The hotel will immediately begin installing Verve Keycard Switch, which is controlled wirelessly and uses sensors and control products to control HVAC, lighting, and other electric loads in guestrooms. Verve Keycard Switch doesn't require batteries. When a guest enters their room, they place the card into the Keycard Switch and then have complete control over all the electric devises in the room. Once the card is removed, the electronic devices in the room turn off or go into eco set back mode. The system can not only turn things on and off, but can defect problems in the room and track energy usage. The hotel expects to see a return on investment within two years. I thought this article was right on target with this week's module, and it seems this system would definitely help facilities be more energy efficient. I think it also supports preventative maintenance. Since it tracks problem areas, the facility manager should be able to address them before guests have to point them out. One possible problem I see is if guests forget to remove the card when they leave the room.

This article gives five tips on how to use e-marketing strategies to upsell at a hotel. The article's premise is that it is not enough to have guests visit your website and book a room. Hotels also have the opportunity to upsell to guests before they even arrive, as well as during their stay, using online marketing. The five tips are: 1. Sell the properties unique amenities on the website, 2. Use your booking engine to upsell guests packages, discounts, add-ons, etc. while they are making their reservation, 3. Use e-mail marketing to send personalized information to guests, 4. Use social media to keep guests updated and to spark interest (and revenue), and 5. Take advantage of mobile websites and mobile apps, as many guests book from their mobile devices. I think that this article did a good job of reminding hotels, etc. that their job is not complete when a reservation is made, although it can be if they are not interested in maximizing profit. Instead, hotels should use every opportunity to maximize profit and have an array of digital tools to help them do so.

In this article, InterContinental Hotel Group announces the launch of a new events and meetings booking tool that will be used by 23 of its properties in New Zealand and Australia. A product of Passkey, the GroupMax reservations technology will enable hotels, event planners, and attendees to fully automate their booking processes. GroupMax is completely online and can be used by any standard browser or smartphone. Its suite of tools includes online hotel booking, live event tracking, automated room lists, increased pick-up, and professional e-mail marketing. Of particular interest to event planners, I feel, are the live event tracking, automated room lists, and increased pick-up features. Event tracking enables planners to optimize their room blocks and see where their financial risks are. The automated room lists feature allows planners to personally make adjustments to their room blocks, and to be assured that attendee data is PCI-secure. With increased pick-up, event planners can easily e-mail updates or reminders to attendees and thus have greater knowledge of and control over their room blocks. GroupMax helps event planners to be better informed about past events, etc. and how and where to improve.

This article discussed the Mandarin Oriental Hotel's security system upgrade to SAMS, from InvoTech Systems, and how they scored 98.8 out of 100 on an independent security audit. Mandarin's director of safety and security is Nelson Ballester, and after coming into his position, he upgraded from just using SAMS' key tracking solution to four other SAMS modules: Patrol Monitor, Security Logs, Incident Reports, and Lost and Found. According to Ballester, the SAMS system has made security at the Mandarin much more effective and efficient. In discussing security within the hospitality industry, it is important to realize that while guests want to feel safe and secure, too much, or the wrong kind of security gives the impression of danger. Thus, properties have to come up with innovative ways to have strong security measures without frightening guests. Nelson Ballester spoke really highly of the SAMS system, crediting it with the reason for his property's high score on the security audit. It appeared that two key areas that SAMS really benefited the property were with the processing and tracking of keys and being able to have greater control and knowledge of who's entering and exiting the building. SAMS' ability to integrate with multiple processes makes employees' jobs easier, and hopefully translates into providing greater customer service.

This article shared information from a Motorola Solutions, Inc. study predicting that information technology (IT) spending in the hospitality industry would increase in 2011, with guest experience cited as the top driver for investment. The study revealed that 91% of hotel decision makers recognized the importance of mobile and wireless technology and that they would be focused on enhancing guest experience, empowering the mobile worker, and enabling operational efficiency. Motorola Solutions conducts independent market research and collected surveys from 161 qualified participants. I found this article relevant because guests are now expected the hotels they stay at to be able to meet their technological needs. I attended a conference just this week and heard multiple attendees ask if the hotel had wifi and how/where to access it. Nowadays, it's more of a necessity than an option for hoteliers to make the decision to invest in technology. Not only does this investment meet guests' needs and increase satisfaction, but it also benefits employees. According to the article, over half of the survey respondents who use wireless and mobile technology in their workforce saw increases in employee productivity and efficiency. Often times, if employees are able to be more productive and efficient on the job, there is a positive correlation with guest service and satisfaction. Thus, IT investments are crucial for hoteliers to make.

This article was pretty brief, but it stated that Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals has begun development on a global hospitality accounting system users guide. This would create a global resource for the finance industry. Frank Wolfe, HFTP's CEO, says that the company is the only global association dedicated to hospitality finance and technology. They are hoping to create a benchmark that stakeholders can use to compile accounts, compare regional differences and define the value of a hospitality operation. What I found interesting about this article was that it greatly involved final year bachelor students at Ecole Hôtelière De Lausanne in Switzerland performing research for this project. I also think that a global hospitality accounting system users guide would be beneficial, especially since many managers/employees do not have the strongest training or skills in a financial or technical area.

This article introduces Revel System's new Ipad Point of Sale System designed specifically for food trucks. The system includes Revel Router, which allows customers to connect to the internet by using their iPad's built-in 3G or 4G connection. Another highlight of the system is that it intergrates with Twitter, allowing food truck owners to instantly send out location/price/sales updates to their followers. I immediately found this article to be interesting, because my research for this class will center around effective POS systems in food trucks. I feel it was an excellent move on Revel's part to create a system for this unique group. I think they really had food truck owners' best interest in mind, especially in intergrating Twitter with the system. This allows food trucks to communicate easily with their followers, and provides opportunites to boost sales and revenue. I look forward to seeing if any of the food trucks I visit are using this system.

This article announces that the Regal Hotels Group, a Hong Kong based company, now has seamless connnectivity with hundreds of online travel agents from its custom-built Miro PMS and RDX, Room Distribution Exchange. According to the article, RDX allows hotel groups to build a custom PMS and connect it the world's leading booking sites through RDX. The process saves staff hundreds of hours in manual reservations processing and allows hotels to receive thousands of bookings every day. Room Distribution Exchange is a technology powered by SiteMinder. What I didn't know was that RDX is the only real time hotel room exhange platform. It appears to be very beneficial and efficient because it allows busineses to connect directly to their partners. The system also reduces the amount of time hotel staff have to spend manually making reservations, and allows customers all around the world to book reservations. In a time where consumers are becoming more demanding and internet savvy, having an effective PMS is imperative.

This article announces the use of Wind Turbines as one of Hilton Fort Lauderdale's green initiatives. Six 40-foot turbines will be installed on the roof of the hotel and are the first part of a process that will include solar panels and possible even street-level turbines. Both methods will help increase the amount of electricity provided by renewable resources. The wind turbines are projected to provide 5-10% of the hotel's electricity, and the solar panels could add another 5-10%. I think this is an excellent green initiative, and I've never heard of a hotel undertaking it before. The possibility of 10-20% of the hotel's electricity coming from wind turbines and solar panels is pretty significant. According to Andreas Ioannou, general manager, the hotel is hoping to get up to 25% of their energy from these sources. It appears that the resort has been very energy conscious since its opening, and is the first resort in Broward County to receive the Florida Green Lodging designation. They also have a Green Team, which oversees other green initiatives such as recycling all paper, using fluorescent light bulbs, and automatic water flush-o-meters in public restrooms.

This article stated that while overall hotel bookings through Global Distribution Systems fell in March of this year, the av erage daily rate paid for the booked rooms actually rose. According to Pegasus, the economic climate is making travelers more concious of the need to prioritize travel. Business travel still seems to be a major driver, as most of the growth rate is occuring in larger international cities that regularly host conferences, etc. I thought the relationship between the total GDS bookings and the rates of the rooms booked was interested. It seems that travelers are willing to pay more itravel,f they feel it's worth it, and that although they might not be travelling as much, when they do travel they are more deliberate about their selections. Perhaps business travelers aren't attending as many conferences as they would have previously, but when they do attend, they go to the big ones and are willing to pay more.

This article shares how the North Central Group implemented cloud-based mobile technology and boosted its overall guest satisfaction scores by 5.5% in a year. NCG, which manages 26 hotels in the Hilton and Marriot families, uses hotel SystemsPro's hotel ServicePro Computer Maintenance Management System. I feel this article is very relevant because we were introduced to cloud computing this week. Based on the statements in the article, NCG seems very satisfied with the system. They are able to stay on top of guest requests, implement preventative measures, and store all their information online, where it is accessible anytime. I think this is a good example of how cloud computing can have a positive effect on a hotel's operations, and in turn, their guests' satisfaction.

NORTHWIND launced its Maestro iPad Xpress Check-In app at the HITEC this year. This app allows hotel properties to use tablets/iPads to perform basically every aspect of a guest's check-in/out experience, while still maintaining access to Maestro's PMS. With Xpress Check-In, hotel properties can check guests in before they arrive and even encode their room keys and have them waiting. The use of this app results in a less crowded, more efficient lobby, in that larger groups can be processed before their arrival, or in a designated room on the premise. This technology is innovative because it frees customers from the restriction of checking in only in the lobby when they arrive. With Maestro Xpress Check-In, a hotel employee could board a tour bus and process all the customers at once so that when they enter the hotel, they can move seamlessly to their rooms. This prevents the lobby from being crowded and disorganized, which can be overwhelming to front desk employees. Of course, these actions are also posted to the property's main property management system. While there are many innovations out there that increase customer satisfaction, I feel this technology will result in increased employee satisfaction, especially those employees used to dealing with large groups and crowded lobbies.