SalesPro is not a new system to the hotel industry. Directors of Sales and Sales and Catering Managers would be lost without a system to keep track of their meetings and conferences, as well as to collect payments and maintain guest listings and price brackets and rate plans for those groups. Food and Beverage directors find it helpful as well, as each group maintains their own banquet event order and the food and beverages are charged accordingly. What is new, however, is that hotel SystemsPro is enhancing its hotel SalesPro to include mobile options, where hotel sales teams and managers can obtain remote access to the system for real time information about the property. This is a handy tool, as sales representatives are frequently traveling and seeking new clients by completing sales calls externally. Should a client be interested in the pricing or availability during a sales visit, the sales manager can then immediately seek the information and provide it to the client. Efficiency and convenience are key factors for consumers when choosing a space, whether it is for their meeting, function, guest room needs, or anything else for that matter. Being able to immediately provide the answers to the questions that a client may have will gain the advantage, and potentially persuade the client to book the space or facilities on the spot, as opposed to having to contact them at a later time with the information, as by then, the client may have already made a decision to go with someone else. SalesPro is already a top choice for hotel businesses, as it boasts a high performance, and boasts to help boost sales and reduce operating costs. It also claims to offer property solutions that include reporting capabilities, allowing enhancement of a quality guest experience. This new development is simply an additional benefit to the system, and is offered to SalesPro users at no additional cost, making it that much more of an asset to the sales team.

Almost everyone has recently heard of Cody Brocious and his gadget that was implemented and utilized to unlock guest room doors in Onity locking systems. This issue has been recently broadcasted all over the news and has gained the awareness of millions of people, making travelers panic when staying in hotels, and questioning their safety and security. The truth is, behind the issue at hand, travelers have been utilizing hotels and other establishments without being concerned or conscious of their safety, and with some negligence, and lack of attention, they put themselves at risk in numerous different ways. Although Brocious' invention gained the attention of the public, and although he went out of his way to be sure that other hackers out there knew how to replicate the system and how to utilize it to their advantage, enabling hackers to enter guest rooms and steal their personal belongings without their permission, or potentially cause physical harm to a traveler as well. Stated in this article, according to Forbes, the gadget that Brocious invented has proven inconsistent in its effectiveness. That is not to say that it could not eventually be improved, but with the changing in technology, and now the gained awareness, hotels are focusing more intently on ensuring guest security through their technological outlets. Technology affects many aspects of a hotel guest's security - from internet access to credit card information, along with guest room locks and personal identity. The article also suggests numerous ideas for how guests can avoid a lot of problems with their safety in mind, including using secondary security systems on their door, ensuring closure of the room door when leaving he room, as well as never keeping your room number written down with your key. The article also focuses on how utilizing your energy to ensure that your belongings are safe in your room as you would in your own home, is energy more well spent than being concerned about someone

This article focuses on how hotel companies are implementing a new system that has been introduced to simplify financial accounting. Aptech Computer Systems claims to be a leading provider of such software, allowing companies to improve their budgeting, forecasting, and accounting. Many hotel companies utilize Quickbooks to effectively manage their budgeting and forecasting needs, along with their accounting needs, and as these companies grow, they need a better solution to effectively manage these aspects. Companies with multiple properties need a system that can manage data from all of their different sources, and combine them to strategically analyze their profits, revenues, and their losses, as well as to make budgeting decisions and forecasts. Execuvue, a web based business intelligence application created by Aptech, combines data from a large variety of hotel systems, such as STR data, which is extremely valuable in assessing where each hotel stands in its competitive set, and how much of its market share that it is currently obtaining. The system also provides insight to operators as to recommended actions for the hotel to take with the data that is collected. The system also measures online ratings, comment card details and other guest satisfaction measurements, enabling hotel operators to utilize guest satisfaction ratings along with their profit standpoints and their current financials. This system seems to be a valuable resource in today's economy, and with the evolving technology. It allows users to utilize data from all sorts of sources to make decisions and assessments. Any operator or manager knows that seeing data quickly and efficiently, where the answer is simply laid out in front of you so that you do not have to seek information from multiple sources and then compare it with the other sources, allows you to make informed decisions much more quickly and be much more assured with your choices. It also enables those operators to find ways to opt

This article focuses on the benefits that Maestro (a property management system) offers to hotels and how it has been benefitting hotels that currently use their system, more specifically, smaller, independent hotels. Most chain hotels and large facilities are required to utilize a flag-mandated property management system. However, independent operators are not linked with these mandated systems, and have a choice as to which system to utilize. Maestro claims to offer Northwind, a service that allows Maestro to be utilized in a cloud-based system, enabling it to host multiple properties and save the establishment money by not requiring them to purchase servers and security, whereas a traditional PMS would have done so. The president of Northwind also states that they strive for their clients to succeed and that it is more of a partnership with those who utilize their service, and their goal is to make a hotel's operations more profitable and efficient. The article continues on to explain the uses and functions of the Maestro system, including being fully-integrates and offering operators loyalty program benefits and the functionality to compete with programs that were solely available to chains. It also tracks points earned and redemption stays as well for those loyalty programs, and claims to minimize errors and save operators money. It also allows integrations that provides social media outlets through the property management system, allowing the user to operate their business simultaneously through different systems. Maestro also boasts that the utilization of their property management system allows hotels to increase their direct bookings through the property for a lower cost than if they were to utilize a different system in which it was not flawlessly and seamlessly integrated with a global distribution system. It seems to be a property management system that enables users to complete many tasks at once, from one location, without having the hassle of

RateGain is a company that offers services that allow hospitality establishments to retain a "seamless" distribution with central reservations systems, global distribution systems, and property management systems. RateGain claims to enhance growth and offer support for revenue management decisions. Utilizing a central reservations system, a global distribution system, and the property management system, from a hotel standpoint, seems like you are gaining a ton of additional business and additional rooms sold. But what happens when the hotel sells out, and the inventory continues to flow in, overselling the hotel, upsetting the guests and creating an angry mob in front of the front desk, blaming the hotel for the issue instead of the lack of seamless communication between all of these systems providing this revenue? That is where a service such as RateGain comes in handy. This article focuses on the issues that have been identified regarding electronic distribution, including updating multiple system with rates and availability, manual entries, lack of synchronization between the systems, non-delivery complications with reservations and information, and lack of information provided by the source channel. Rate Gain notes these challenges and focuses on ways to improve and bridge the gaps between the services, to provide a seamless revenue gaining opportunity for an establishment. The article continues to explain how their RG Bridge implementation enhances these systems and eliminates these issues utilizing two way connectivity and allowing the hotel employee to work with channels to generate demand. It also states that they customize each connection to live up to the expectations and needs of the hotel, so that nothing will be lost or not understood. This service is a great investment for a company that continues to have these communication issues with their systems. Sometimes with the lack of communication between the global distribution system, the pr

This article focuses on sustainability and methods in which technology is utilized to conserve energy and waste, while also not hindering the guest experience. Hotels, similar to the Salvatore Grand Hotel, have began implementing systems such as the Verve Living System, by Zeno Controls, LLC, that provide wireless connections to the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system, as well as the lighting in the guest room. It utilizes sensors to activate such amenities, and enables the guest to enter the room, place their key card into a slot, and it will begin to adjust to the preferred temperature and the preferred lighting levels. Once the key card is removed, such as when the guest is leaving the room, after a very short delay, it sends a signal that verifies the room is unoccupied, and turns off these energy-consuming items in the room. Many guests, when staying in hotels, do not consider turning off their lights or air conditioning when they leave the room, and simply leave everything running. They do not realize the impact this has not only on costs for the hotel itself, but also the impact that it has on energy consumption and sustainability. With the growing awareness of being "green", guests are focusing more and more on conservation, however, they may still be slacking in these areas, leaving things on, being absent minded. This system will allow guests to not have to worry about such tasks, and controls the system of turning these items off for them, adding convenience for the guest who is environmentally conscious. I have personally seen a similar system being used in a hotel room, and thought it was a great idea, and an amazing way to control costs and eliminate waste of resources. It is also very surprising to read that the Verve Living System detects low battery levels, constant occupancy, problems with room connectivity, and rooms that are not communicating with the hotel PMS or other systems. This enables the maintenance team of a hotel to fun

This article focuses on how the Santa Ana Star Casino utilized technology and software installations to manage their uniform inventory and tracking procedures. The Santa Ana Star Casino has a staff of 500 employees, and utilizes an inventory of over 9,000 uniforms. Having such an abundance of uniforms and employees, in order to prevent loss and reduce purchases, the InvoTech Uniform System allows the company to properly and efficiently track which employee has checked out which uniforms and how many, so that they can assess which uniforms, sizes, and par stock is on hand at the time. According to an employee from Santa Ana Star Casino regarding the use of the InvoTech Uniform System, "We automatically track who each garment is assigned to. This streamlines accountability and helps cut replacement purchase costs." Santa Ana Star Casino created a uniform room around the concept of InvoTech, and utilizes a staff of three people to manage the uniform room, and has seen dramatic decreases in labor costs and losses due to uniforms going unaccounted for. The technology provided by this system allows the casino to automatically track who each uniform is assigned to, and maintains records for each employee. According to the vice president of InvoTech Systems, "Most businesses that install InvoTech's Uniform System realize at least a 20 percent reduction in labor costs. Clients also report they have 100-percent protection against non-theft related losses because of the system's comprehensive tracking of each uniform article." I feel that this system is only a glimpse into our future - the future of technology changing the way operations in hospitality establishments are currently running. Eventually systems similar to the one in this article will be implemented in all aspects of the industry, replacing the need for excessive staff members and high payroll costs. Technology and software such as this not only decreases payroll costs, and reduces operating cost