This article talks about the difficulties surrounding information security in the hospitality industry. Many hotels are increasing their spending on this security but they are falling short of what hackers can accomplish. A survey of 9,600 hospitality executives revealed that security incidents increased by 25% in one year. It is essential for companies to renew their security policies and increase their security budgets if they want to get a handle on the threats that are out there with cloud computing and more smart phone and tablet use the technology is just waiting for hackers to have fun.

Hilton Hotels have invested $500 million on smartphone technology that allows guests to book their stay, check in from their cell phone, pick a room from ones that are available and request additional amenities be delivered to their room upon arrival. The biggest opportunity for guests is the ability to log on the day before their arrival and choose which room they want. They not only choose a type of room but they also choose the location.

NASCAR has many green initiatives to talk about. As the 2014 Daytona 500 was ready to run NASCAR was trying out four hydrogen fuel cell generators to power cameras that take video from different staging areas during the race. These fuel cells replaced diesel-powered generators which reduced greenhouse gas emissions, noise and vibration. NASCAR has teamed up with the Department of Energy to further their use of new green solutions in racing events. They have also added EV charging stations at their corporate office locations in Daytona Beach, Florida, Charlotte, North Carolina and Concord, North Carolina. To show their support of electric automobiles. The NASCAR corporation continues to look for ways to be more environmentally friendly while improving the customer experience at their events.

I was listening to the news over the week end and was intrigued about a story on a new smart card that would one day take the place of all of our credit cards. My mind started reeling and could not grasp the concept especially with technology and hackers in the forefront of any credit card online usage. I read this article several times and it helped me understand the simplicity of this card and also the fact that your credit/debit account numbers are not stored on the card just a chip then the consumer either uses a PIN number or signature as authorization for payment. Fingerprint technology will be added in the future, which will bring about an evolution into the use of the Smart Card.

Green initiatives in the hospitality industry have been around since the 1990's. Hotels are seeing cost savings with many of the initiatives such as energy consumption, prevention of pollution and recycling. These initiatives not only save them money but also attract loyal customers who are impressed with the hotels that are concerned about the harmful impact they are having on the environment by not adjusting their operations. Many hotels have seen a 20 - 40% reduction in energy consumption by installing low water flow shower heads and faucet aerators and replacing light bulbs and utilizing automatic occupancy sensors in rooms to adjust room temperatures. Hotels also gain a competitive advantage by voluntarily adding green programs to their operations. The Fairmont has received many awards for their green practices , these awards attract clientele, such as corporations that are required to do business with socially responsible companies. Larger companies have been criticized regarding green house gas emissions and environmental devastation, instituting green initiatives into their long term business sustainability efforts will attract repeat customers and possibly increase employee retention rates.

Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is a technology that is evolving in the hospitality industry. Trending in 2015 will be the use of hosted PBX services which will take the place of the stand alone on-premise system. By utilizing a hosted service businesses should see a cost savings from the freedom of maintenance on a system that is owned and operated by the hotel to the required staff that is needed to monitor the system on a daily basis. With the use of a hosted PBX the host company will be running analytical data and sharing the results with your company, a hosted setup will also be keeping up with technology without you incurring additional expenses of keeping your software updated in the ever changing technology field. This article goes on to talk about mobile integration which in my opinion, will need some tweaking right out of the starting gate. The trend talks about migrating our mobile phones and tablets as a replacement to the desk phone and room phone. This idea will make front desk staff more mobile, but I do see how it will also cause issues with employee abuse on personal calls acting like they are working and also with customers seeing an employee on the phone and automatically thinking the employee is on a personal call. There are still people out there that have not moved up with technology like the vast majority of the population, and they will be the first to complain loudly at the advances coming.