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How the travel industry can fight back against cyberthreats | SmartBrief - 1 views

www.smartbrief.com/...ight-back-against-cyberthreats security malware spam training hospitality COVID-19 hotel travel cyberthreats phishing Technology
shared by ldevaul on 11 Oct 21 - No Cached
  • Travel and hospitality businesses have become lucrative targets in recent years for cybercriminals who have stolen from the industries in attacks that often take more than half a year to identify.
  • In the past three years alone, the hotel industry has faced 13 serious attacks, according to an IntSights study.
  • The travel and leisure sectors suffered a 155.9% year-over-year rise in suspected online fraud attempts worldwide in the second quarter, according to a TransUnion study, compared with a 16.5% increase in overall alleged intrusions.
  • ...21 more annotations...
  • The hotel industry attracts cybercriminals because it handles so many financial transactions in so many countries.
  • The top threat to hotels is phishing, a scam in which hotel guests may receive fake phone calls claiming to be from the front desk. The caller could claim that there is an issue with the credit card on file and that they need to re-verify the payment method. 
  • DarkHotel hacks are another significant threat. These target travelers via hotel Wi-Fi. Digital certificates are sent to guests, like a familiar adobe update, which will retrieve sensitive information. Hotel chains are combating these hacks by suggesting that guests use a virtual private network.
  • Malware (malicious software) is something criminals email employees, under the guise of the attachment or link looking innocent or legitimate. But when the user opens the file or clicks on the link, their system (and more) can be hacked into by the criminal.
  • IT department should routinely update operating systems and back up data and files, and every employee should double-check sources when asked for software administrative permissions. Also, strong firewalls can limit bad traffic and provide security. 
  • Software and hardware can help prevent breaches, but employee training is also an essential part of any hotel’s cybersecurity.
  • only around 35% of airlines and 30% of airports are prepared for cyberattacks.
  • “Guests can enroll in a service called WebWatcher, which monitors the sites where personal information may be shared and alerts guests if evidence of their personal data is found,”
  • Hotels are not alone in being targeted by cybercriminals: The airline industry has faced serious cyberattacks as well, and many airlines still aren’t equipped to handle them.
  • In 2018, a Marriott reservation system was hacked. More than 500 million customer records, including credit card information and passport numbers, were stolen. The company said the hack went back four years prior to the discovery and, when it was noticed, the company started using computer and mobile device monitoring software.
  • "The proliferated effect of the attack on SITA is yet another example of how vulnerable organizations can be solely on the basis of their connections to third-party vendors,"
  • The aviation industry faces dangers such as ransomware and distributed-denial-of-service attacks. Following the SITA attack, HackerOne solutions architect Shlomie Liberow stressed that airlines need to prepare for the worst. 
  • traditional enterprises like airlines have always been an attractive target since few are digital-first businesses, and therefore have relied on legacy software, which is more likely to be out-of-date or have existing vulnerabilities that can be exploited."
  • The airline industry needs to keep third-party vendors in check when it comes to protecting information. Given the high stakes involved, experts suggest that blind trust is not an option. 
  • “You simply cannot know whether your third parties meet your company’s security controls and risk appetite until you’ve completed a full vendor security assessment on them,
  • It’s important to note that the best practice is not a ‘one-and-done’ activity, but through real-time, continuous monitoring.”
  • In 2015, hackers targeted Polish airline LOT’s ground operations system, affecting 1,400 passengers. The hackers made it impossible to create flight plans and flights. It was the first attack of its kind, and it caused concern about cyberattacks one day remotely taking control of planes.
  • To address the threat, the standard advice is to back up and store data in multiple places, including off your physical premises, and have one copy of it be offline
  • Multifactor authentication and long, complicated passwords will take longer to crack. Updating and patching systems regularly helps companies avoid being victimized when a new exploit is discovered.
  • Treating cybersecurity as a companywide concern, not an IT concern, encourages each employee to take ownership of their actions and knowledge and to seek help proactively instead of making an “innocent” mistake that costs the company millions of dollars.
  • Finally, companies should avoid simply throwing money at the problem: Not all cybersecurity solutions work together, which wastes money and increases the risk of a breach.
  • ldevaul on 11 Oct 21
     
    This article discusses ways that the travel industry can combat cyberthreats. The main cyber concern for hotels' is phishing, which is a scam that collects credit card information by pretending to be apart of a hotel's front desk staff. The article mentions that IT departments should do routinely updates to operating systems and back up data and files. Employees should also be trained to help prevent data breaches. The author briefly touched on what to do when your hotel system is hacked and even dives into how the airline industry is still very unequipped to handle cyberattacks and threats. This is a great read to learn how to keep up with best security practices in the hospitality and tourism industry.
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The Benefits of Hiring an Influencer for Hospitality Marketing | By Colin Hannan - Hosp... - 0 views

www.hospitalitynet.org/...4100855.html social media hospitality pandemic COVID-19 influencers marketing hotel technology business tech travel
shared by ldevaul on 28 Sep 21 - No Cached
  • Influencers have been a part of modern hotel marketing strategies for several years now, and it could be argued that influencers have played a key role in traditional hotel marketing for many decades
  • Think of how The Ritz in Paris became synonymous with icons like Coco Chanel and Ernest Hemingway - who they've named their old world cocktail bar after.
  • Inspire an Established Audience
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  • The right influencer should match both your brand values and the values of your audience, bringing an already-established crowd of relevant consumers to your digital door.
  • The audience's goal is to use that influencer's experiences to guide and inform them as they choose their next getaway destination - positioning your property as the place to be.
  • Educate Your Audience
  • Hotel guests can't get enough of reviews - the more in-depth, the better. An influencer can provide the most detailed content about your brand and the guest experience you offer through high-impact channels utilising video, blogs and photography.
  • The best influencers are seen by their audience to be unbiased and objective, which puts them in a position of authority and trustworthiness when it comes to purchasing decisions.
  • People follow influencers and engage with them because they believe they have a wider range of experience to better understand the brand, products and services they are talking about, similar to a professional hotel reviewer.
  • influencer marketing actively builds trust in your brand.
  • it's an ongoing challenge for hotels and hospitality marketing departments to keep coming up with something fresh and exciting - something their audience wants to see.
  • Good professional influencers really shine when it comes to this side of hotel marketing strategies. Not only do they have a deep understanding of what their audience (and therefore your audience) is looking for and what resonates with them, they are also creative specialists in finding fresh and entertaining ways to deliver this content.
  • leveraging their creative expertise is not only rewarding in terms of results, but helps to avoid critical missteps that can happen in a marketing strategy. You'll get more engagement, avoid the kind of faux pas that can cost you, and drive followers and leads to your website and social pages.
  • COVID-19 has made social media more powerful than ever before
  • Instagram, a primary platform for many influencers, saw some of the biggest increase in terms of use, with 2020 projections showing 14% growth - an additional 3 minutes of time per user on the platform per day.
  • One of the best ways of leveraging these changes in user behaviour work for your hotel marketing strategy is to get an established influencer who understands you brand and already has a relationship with your target audience to work on your campaigns.
  • Influencer Marketing is the Edge Your Hotel Marketing Strategy Needs
  • ldevaul on 28 Sep 21
     
    This article discusses the benefits of utilizing influencer marketing to give your hotel/restaurant marketing strategy a more competitive edge. They noted that influencers inspire an already established audience and provide inspiration to followers to live more fully and "experience something out-of-the-ordinary." I learned that the key to a great influencer is finding someone who matches both your brand values and the values of your audience. They also discussed how influencers add authority and trust and how they are seen by their audience to be unbiased and objective. This puts the influencer in a position of great trustworthiness when it comes to purchasing decisions. The article also discussed how influencers help marketing departments by coming up with fresh and exciting content that their audiences will want to see. Lastly, the article touched on that since the COVID-19 pandemic social media has become more powerful than ever before. People are spending an additional 3 minutes on Instagram per day. The best way to leverage this new increased usage is to get an established influencer who understands your band and who already has a relationship with your targeted audience to work on your campaigns. Overall, influencer marketing is here to stay and if carefully researched you'll see a strong surge of engagement on your social media platforms.
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8 Hospitality Digital Marketing Trends to Watch in 2021 | WEBITMD® - 0 views

webitmd.com/...keting-trends-to-watch-in-2021 hospitality emarketing digital marketing 2021 pandemic social media influencers retargeting ads hotel business mobile
shared by ldevaul on 26 Sep 21 - No Cached
  • If there is one industry that was adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, it is the hospitality industry.
  • And now, with a vast majority of consumers shifting their activities to online platforms, it has become imperative to make use of digital hospitality marketing to maintain a competitive edge.
  • Perhaps the number one most trusted content online is user reviews. This includes everything from testimonials, comments, forums, social publications, and blog posts.
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  • Influencer marketing is one of the fastest-growing strategies in the marketing arena at the moment.
  • By doing so, you get access to a broader audience while establishing credibility and trust. It has been associated with an increase in direct bookings
  • Remarketing basically involves focusing your advertising efforts on users who show interest in your business. You can do this by collecting statistics on users visiting your website or engaging with your content on YouTube or social media.
  • At the moment, remarketing ads have a 400% larger click-through rate and nearly 150% higher website conversion rate
  • The trick is to re-engage the users who’ve visited your website but didn’t go all the way booking.
  • Chatbots are becoming an almost standard component of business websites. They apply more so in the hospitality industry, where users need rapid responses to queries they make online, regardless of whether there is staff available to give answers.
  • With a VR headset, you can catch a glimpse of a remote location and feel like you are actually there.
  • Due to the impact of COVID-19, revenues in most hospitality-based industries are a fraction of what they were in 2019.
  • Online reputation scores are basically a measure of the rate that people like and trust your brand. There are tons of paid and free tools which you can use to run automatic assessments for your company. It takes into account positive, negative, and neutral critics made about your business, which is then rated from 0-1000.
  • Perhaps the most fundamental trend in the hospitality industry in the wake of the COVID-19 virus is showcasing your facility’s abilities to guarantee the safety of your customers.
  • The way you advertise your service, be it food or massage and gyms, should be done so they appeal more to the local residents and the popular cultural ideals.
  • Keep in mind that any company’s primary aim in the hospitality industry is to enhance the customer experience and create a more lasting relationship. Therefore, as you try out these techniques, your strategies should ultimately achieve that goal.
  • ldevaul on 26 Sep 21
     
    This article discusses digital marketing trends in the hospitality industry for 2021. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses have had to shift a majority of their activities to an online platform. The number on most trusted form of eMarketing for 2021 has been the focus on User generated content (UGC). Restaurants, retailers, and hoteliers have been encouraged to take advantage of UGC and use their guests experiences to share to their social media pages. Another important detail to note from this article was the focus on remarketing/retargeting ads. Currently, these ads have a 400% larger click-through rate and nearly 150% higher website conversion rate. They also discussed how VR has helped with online booking for hotels and highlighting safety protocols have impacted businesses during this pandemic. Ultimately, a "company's primary aim in the hospitality industry is to enhance the customer experience and create a more lasting relationship."
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10 robots automating the restaurant industry| 2021 Trends | Fast Casual - 1 views

www.fastcasual.com/...mating-the-restaurant-industry AI AR Robotics Restaurants
shared by waldjustin13 on 19 Sep 21 - No Cached
  • From cocktail-making to burger-flipping, many food and beverage businesses are beginning to discover the benefits of using robots to improve their productivity.
  • The automation revolution has begun.
  • make 10 loaves per hour,
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  • Aside from being pretty damn cool and bringing innovation into businesses, customer-facing robots can help reduce human contact, a significant benefit at COVID-19.
  • Recently acquired by delivery startup DoorDash, Sally is a salad-making robot, mixing up to 8 fresh ingredients from vegetables to salmon into a compostable bowl in just 90 seconds!
  • Cecilia.ai is a smart, interactive bartender that can be placed almost anywhere, serve mixed drinks in less than 30 seconds, and give customers guidance about the menu using AI and speech recognition.
  • The entire process can be automated in this modular and customizable system, starting with spreading the sauce, topping it with cheese, then adding pepperoni and three more ingredients and baking the pizza.
  • Picnic can produce hundreds of pizzas per hour with just one operator, allowing the rest of the staff to be occupied with the rest of the food
  • The startup recently raised $16.3 million and has plans to install its robot in schools, stadiums and hospitals.
  • The Mini Bakery, built and designed by Wilkinson Baking Company, is a fully automated system for baking bread. It does all the mixing, shaping, proofing and baking, allowing bread to be sold hot and fresh directly to customers just like a vending machine
  • Even though the system was built for supermarkets, we don't see any reason why it couldn't be used in restaurants or hotel kitchens.
  • This countertop device makes authentic artisan gelato, fruit sorbets, frozen yogurt and ice coffee using biodegradable capsules, which can also be used as the serving bowl. Solato is ideal for small cafes and restaurants looking to upgrade their menu with fresh ice cream without wasting precious space and money.
  • can flip burgers and make fries
  • The system includes the Miso Analytics platform, which provides deep insights and improves food quality with cooking precisely as defined.
  • Among the company's clients are CaliBurger and White Castle, where it flips over 10K burgers and fries more than 12K baskets every month.
  • The Dark Kitchen, also referred to as ghost kitchens and virtual kitchens, is a kitchen space devoted exclusively to delivery-only restaurants, a trend that has seen a meteoric rise since the global pandemic began in 2020.
  • Beastro can be customized to automatically prepare any type of dish, prepare about 45 dishes per hour, collect analytics, and fully integrate with Cuismo, the company's online restaurant, and dark kitchen management software.
  • The company partnered with craft breweries in NYC to give customers high-quality coffee at a reasonable price, automatically made by a 20-square-foot kiosk that serves the cup using three little magnets.
  • While TrueBird's primary business model is to open dozens of automatically operated coffee shops in public spaces across the country, we can see no reason why you shouldn't set up one in your hotel or airport lounge.
  • ACUR-C by Japanese company Smile Robotics is an automatic robot for serving and collecting dishes in restaurants, clinics, nursing homes, hotels, and more.
  • The robot moves autonomously between tables, picking up trays with its robotic arm and bringing them back to the kitchen.
  • They can automate the food or beverage-making process, save money and human resources, enrich menus, make fewer mistakes, reduce food waste, and work 24/7 without a raise.
  • Another innovation for the hospitality industry is Milkit, a patented milk-tap solution that saves time, energy and money
  • With its unique milk bag, the Milkit device pours precise amounts of milk, saves up to 4 seconds per coffee cup and eliminates the need for storing milk bags.
  • Most of these systems are still quite expensive and are intended for filling in the gaps throughout the workforce (a major issue created by COVID-19), either to work alongside human employees so they can focus on more complex tasks, or just to serve as additional revenue sources or a tourist attraction.
  • already being used by several Israeli restaurants and hotels, as well as Starbucks in Germany.
  • ldevaul on 19 Sep 21
     
    This article discusses 10 robots that are helping to revolutionize the restaurant industry. These robots are really making an impact in the food and beverage industry by stepping in and filling workforce gaps due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The article mentioned that even though these robots have the ability to replace humans, it's very unlikely that will be happening anytime soon. Furthermore, a majority of these robotic systems are still quite expensive and are intended to work alongside human employees so they can "focus on more complex tasks." If you are interested in salad making robots, pizza robots, and my personal favorite the fully automated micro-cafe that creates coffee, then this will be a great read.
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Making the Move to a Cloud-Based Restaurant POS - 0 views

upserve.com/...cloud-based-restaurant-pos POS hospitality cloud-based restaurants technology business decision-making mobile Software solution Tech
shared by ldevaul on 16 Sep 19 - No Cached
  • If you anticipate growth or change, a cloud-based POS system is better enabled to grow with you. 
  • Instead of printing out lengthy reports for every shift, now you can access your insights from any smart device—such as your computer, phone, or tablet—and get updated sales, inventory, customer feedback, and more, no matter where you are. 
  • Legacy systems only allow on-premise access to data, which means you have to be in your restaurant in order to access the information on your POS system.
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  • Real-time data means real-time solutions to situations before they become problems. Just think of the time and money you’ll save by identifying issues before they blow out of proportion
  • While buying up all of the necessary technology to get a cloud-based POS system off the ground may seem expensive, they tend to have cheaper operating costs in the long run and some, like Upserve, offer free support 24/7/365. 
  • With a cloud-based restaurant POS, you have the ability to add on a mobile POS unit that provides a number of benefits.
  • That decrease in time spent waiting for their check or credit card to return to the table also increases guest satisfaction, boosting your reputation. A mobile restaurant POS also provides contactless payments with a built-in EMV reader, minimizing the exchange between servers and guests – something that is particularly important in this moment.
  • Cloud-based POS systems update automatically and for free, just like the apps on your mobile device, while traditional POS systems require manual updates that can be labor intensive and costly. 
  • The beauty of the cloud-based POS format is how scalable and customizable it is—it can work for single-location full service and quick service restaurants, multi-location restaurants, and restaurant groups alike. 
  • Thanks to the cloud and its encrypted online storage, there’s no risk of hardware or software incompatibility or failure, no viruses or driver hiccups, and no risk of a hard drive accidentally deleting a weekend’s worth of sales reports. It’s all backed up, automatically. 
  • If the internet ever goes down, the system that your legacy POS relies on will be offline and non-functional. Luckily, on a cloud-based restaurant POS system you have the option of switching to offline mode as a back-up. You’ll stay up and running until the internet is able to connect again.
  • Whether it’s updating your menu on the regular, launching new or improved loyalty programs, or requiring more precise inventory tracking, the more your needs will shift over time, the more sense it makes to opt for cloud-based.
  • Plus, younger generations of workers—think millennials and Gen Zs—will be able to get right on board with a cloud-based POS solution with little-to-no training.
  • Customers will feel good knowing their credit card information is secure and encrypted with the most up-to-date technology. 
  • No matter what type of establishment, your cloud-based POS can track every last drop of product, allowing you to spot discrepancies in an instant and fix gaps before they become problematic.
  • Hardware costs are separate from service, and maintenance and support services often come with a hefty fee. 
  • While traditional POS systems certainly have lower start-up costs, they tend to come with plenty of hidden costs that reveal themselves over time.
  • upfront costs are kept to a minimum and monthly subscription fees are lower. 
  • Best of all, instant free upgrades mean no lost revenue from downtime or inconvenient hardware upgrades as your business grows. Instead, plans can be upgraded or downgraded at will, and most providers don’t even charge a fee for the trouble. 
  • If you have existing setups in place, many third-party vendors have upgraded apps for cloud POS systems to help you maintain your current rewards and promotions planning. 
  • Most studies are showing that those who switched are sticking with a cloud-based solution, and that legacy POS systems will only decline moving forward.
  • After over three decades with a legacy POS system that only slowed them down, they made the move to a cloud-based POS to bring their restaurants into the future.
  • “Our restaurants are chef-driven, so we have specials that change every day. We need to add buttons every day. We change pricing every day. Having to stop and reset all the terminals because it’s not instantaneous was a headache.”
  • Not only did constant resets of the system create roadblocks for the team at Homegrown Hospitality, but service was also less than stellar and cost more than what it was worth.
  • We went through a lot of pain—our system would crash all the time, credit cards wouldn’t spool, and data would be lost. Our IT department would spend numerous hours a week just trying to recover data,” Simon explained.
  • “That was pretty much the breaking point: we were at the point where we needed to upgrade, but it would have cost us several hundred thousand dollars. So we decided to source something new. The functionality and capability of Upserve won us over.”
  • ldevaul on 11 Sep 21
     
    This article discussed the benefits of switching from a localized POS system to a cloud-based restaurant POS. The article touched on how cloud-based systems provide real-time data and how that instant data could provide a management team real-time solutions. You can save so much time and money by identifying issues before they even arrive. I found it very interesting that with cloud-based systems you have the "ability to add on a mobile POS unit that provides a number of benefits." With this option, your servers do not have to run back and forth to a POS station. They simply have the option in the palm of their hands. It also decreases the time spent waiting for a check or credit card to return to the table. This not only increases guest satisfaction, but helps with table turnover. The article also touched on how cloud-based POS systems are "better enabled to grow with you." They are super adaptable and the article mentioned that restaurants can update their menu whenever, launch new loyalty programs, and help with more precise inventory tracking. This article also touched on setup, increased security, staff accountability, and the ability to make better business decisions due to the cloud software being able to provide extensive business insights. Finally, the article touched on POS cost and how " upfront costs are kept to a minimum and monthly subscription fees are lower." It also ended with a case study about Homegrown Hospitality Group and their switch from Aloha to Upserve Cloud-based POS. It was very interesting and I'd recommend everyone read the brief two paragraphs about how the switch changed their business trajectory.
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Wyndham Hotels & Resorts Selects AWS as Its Preferred Cloud Provider to Enhance Guest E... - 0 views

hospitalitytech.com/ider-enhance-guest-experiences technology hospitality hotel Software business cloud aws wyndham
shared by ldevaul on 06 Sep 21 - No Cached
  • Today, Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS), an Amazon.com, Inc. company, announced a global collaboration with Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, Inc., a hotel franchising company, to upgrade its technology infrastructure and develop and deliver new guest services across its 21 hotel brands — including Days Inn, La Quinta, Microtel, Ramada, Super 8, and Wyndham.
  • Today, Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS), an Amazon.com, Inc. company, announced a global collaboration with Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, Inc., a hotel franchising company, to upgrade its technology infrastructure and develop and deliver new guest services across its 21 hotel brands — including Days Inn, La Quinta, Microtel, Ramada, Super 8, and Wyndham.
    • ldevaul
      ldevaul on 06 Sep 21
       
      This is HUGE!
  • putting it on track to achieve its goal of running 90% of its infrastructure in the cloud.
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  • For example, Wyndham will use AWS machine learning to help optimize over 90,000 daily rate changes across its approximately 9,000 hotels to help maximize occupancy rates that vary according to factors such as location, weather, and time of year.
  • xpanding its presence in the cloud will enable Wyndham to focus on growing its core hotel franchise business—seamlessly integrating new properties into its network—while leveraging AWS’s proven global infrastructure to help meet demand where it arises post-pandemic during the peak summer travel season. 
  • In addition, Wyndham will use AWS to develop new digital services for guests to automate check-in and leverage AWS partners to deliver customized offers during hotel stays, such as recommendations on local attractions, restaurants, and entertainment. 
  • Looking ahead, Wyndham will use AWS to remain agile and adapt to rapidly changing guest and market needs with plans to use AWS machine learning to drive demand with greater personalization and more timely and relevant guest offers.
  • “By moving the majority of our workloads to the cloud, Wyndham was able to rapidly respond to the changing business conditions brought on by COVID-19, and now we’re positioned to scale our operations as different parts of the world begin to reopen.
  • “The hotel industry has faced a series of rapid changes recently, yet by running on AWS Wyndham gains the insights and agility it needs to support its franchisees, transform its customer engagement, service, and business models, and remain an industry leader,”
  • ldevaul on 06 Sep 21
     
    This article announces the global collaboration between Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Wyndham Hotels & Resorts Inc. This collaboration is going to allow the Wyndham to upgrade their infrastructure tech and deliver an entirely new way to experience customer service. What I found to be very interesting, besides Wyndham being 90% cloud based, was that AWS is going to help the hotelier develop a new way for guest to automate check-in and leverage AWS partner to deliver customized offers. It will be able to recommend local attractions, restaurants, and entertainment.
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8 Disruptive Hotel Technology Trends to Watch in 2021 - 6 views

hoteltechreport.com/...hotel-tech-trends-2021 technology hospitality hotel Software travel solution Tech business
shared by ldevaul on 17 Jan 21 - No Cached
  • For those of us keeping an eye on technology in hotels, it can be difficult to discern what trends are here to stay and what trends are simply a marketing stunt.
  • Venture capitalists are finally starting to recognize the opportunity to invest in tools and platforms that allow hotels to capture new levels of hotel operations efficiency and revenue growth.
  • Cloudbeds offers an all-in-one suite of tools, including a property management system, channel manager, booking engine, and revenue manager, growing revenue and automating workflows at more than 20,000 properties.
    • ldevaul
      ldevaul on 30 Aug 21
       
      This is definitely something to look into. SaaS programs, nowadays, are super robust and offer so much data and opportunity for large and small businesses.
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  • Despite being one of the largest and most dynamic segments of the US and global economy, penetration of cloud-based technologies in the segment remains incredibly low, and the vendor landscape remains tremendously fragmented on a global basis,” says Matt Melymuka, co-founder and partner at PeakSpan Capital.
    • ldevaul
      ldevaul on 30 Aug 21
       
      This is very interesting...one of the largest industries and they are the slowest to invest in cloud-based technologies. A lot of companies clearly prefer to print everything and leave an actual paper trail!
  • Hotels use Zingle’s messaging tools to deliver five-star service at scale; Medallia’s investment in Zingle gives hotels the opportunity to provide frictionless guest service and streamline time-consuming interactions, such as check-in.
    • ldevaul
      ldevaul on 30 Aug 21
       
      I'm sure companies who invested in this program during the height of pandemic were very thankful!
  • Life House, a tech-first hotel experience, shows proof-of-concept: that hotels that invest in technology drive higher revenue, better guest reviews, and a higher star-rating.
  • Hotels are catching on, adding convenience through streaming, voice activation, guest-room tablets, and food ordering tech.
    • ldevaul
      ldevaul on 30 Aug 21
       
      The guest room tablets that can order room service and manage the operating system in the room is a game changer. Hotel Mousai in PV Mexico has this installed in all of their suites and it was super impressive!
  • White labeling is a practice in which a product – in this case, hotel software – is manufactured by a third party and uses branding by the purchaser, or marketer, so that the end product appears to have been produced by the purchaser.
  • Oaky, one of the industry’s leading upselling tools, raised a Series A funding round of $9.5 million led by PeakScan Capital. Oaky’s appeal to investors stems from the app’s data-driven approach to driving incremental revenue. Their deep understanding of customer behavior makes Oaky one of the top-rated upselling tools on the market today.
    • ldevaul
      ldevaul on 30 Aug 21
       
      This would be great for hotels who are struggling to increase their revenue.
  • For instance, feeding data from your PMS into a business intelligence tool leads to real, operational data to analyze trends and provide recommendations for better marketing campaigns, smarter staffing decisions, seasonal trends, and market competition. Hotels that are comfortable using APIs can automate tasks that take up much of their employee’s time with manual data entry.
  • On-demand convenience dominates our lives, and guests expect this level of ease from their hotel experience as well.
  • An API, application programming interface, is simply a messenger of data between applications. APIs allow your various hotel technology tools and programs to work together, connecting your RMS to a PMS, or your PMS to your upsell software, or your business intelligence software to your PMS. An API makes your technology user-friendly and efficient; when your tools work together, you capture each platform’s full capabilities.
    • ldevaul
      ldevaul on 30 Aug 21
       
      This is super useful! When all of your software can speak to each other it improves productivity so much!
  • Hilton is taking a different approach, partnering with Netflix to allow guests to control their streaming straight from the Hilton Honors mobile app.
    • ldevaul
      ldevaul on 30 Aug 21
       
      This is genius! Definitely will be trying this at my next Hilton stay.
  • As far as voice-activation, Volara is leading the way in providing a thoughtful, Alexa-esque guest-room solution. Volara integrates with the most popular work order management systems so that guests can make requests and get confirmation when the item or service they need will be delivered.
  • And for savvy marketing managers, tablets provide a new channel through which to send targeted, automated messages generating $5,000 per month in additional revenue.
    • ldevaul
      ldevaul on 30 Aug 21
       
      This is great for hotel marketers! Proving their value and having the company invest in tech that shows an huge ROI. Love this!
  • 2nd Kitchen is a godsend for hotels without a kitchen on-site: guests can order room service from restaurants near your hotel, taking care of care of orders, menus, payment, fulfillment, and customer support for your property.
  • Hotels are a prime target for hackers. “Only about 25% of all U.S. businesses, including hotel operators, are fully compliant with current data security best practices. That means that three out of four are not and are potential disasters waiting to happen,” reported one cybersecurity expert.
    • ldevaul
      ldevaul on 30 Aug 21
       
      This is definitely worth exploring more!
  • Numerous high-profile malware attacks on the hotel industry have led to hundreds of millions of guests’ data being compromised and millions of dollars in damage. Just this February, MGM Resorts revealed they were the target of a massive data breach that compromised personal information for more than 10.6 million guests. Files leaked in the MGM attack included information on celebrities, chief executives of technology companies, reporters and government officials, according to Skift.
  • Expedia and Booking have taken some pretty big hits in recent months.
  • Why the dive in stock price? There are two factors outside Coronavirus that are impacting OTAs. First, hotels are getting better at capturing direct bookings. Hotel tech like direct booking platforms, metasearch ad managers, and messaging integrations help properties draw more visitors to their site and convert more direct bookings, circumventing the high OTA commissions in the process.
  • Secondly, Google has entered the travel market in a big way. Google has expanded from traditional AdWords to include hotels everywhere via its Hotel Ads product.
  • 5G may be getting all the buzz, but for property owners, WiFi 6 is much more relevant. WiFi 6 is the term used to describe the next iteration of Wifi, a faster, more efficient connection enabled through new technologies. WiFi 6 is about 30% faster than our current WiFi.
  • With WiFi 6, your property can leverage in-room technology to provide better service, driving positive guest reviews and repeat business. Smart thermostats, smart speakers, and smart locks will all perform better with the adoption of WiFi 6 over the next five years.
  • Investors in Oaky already recognize this next insight: data has become the world’s most valuable resource. The sooner you start to mine guest data for better customer insights, the better positioned your property will be against your competition.
  • Data can fuel smarter marketing campaigns, inform your pricing, and help you capture a higher market share than your competitors by knowing your guests on a deeper level.
  • Earlier this year, Revinate launched the hotel industry's first Guest Data Platform to aggregate, clean and deliver rich guest profiles for hotels and property groups of all sizes. The platform combines data from multiple sources to provide a complete picture of a hotel’s guests, delivering the information needed to increase guest satisfaction scores, direct bookings, and ultimately, profit.
  • Brands in the alternative lodging sector include Stay Alfred, Sonder, The Guild Hotels and to some extent groups such as Selina and OYO. 
  • The biggest distraction or barrier these next-gen hotels face is that they’re taking the wrong approach to tech. The companies that win will be the ones who stop acting like tech companies – using buzzwords like AI and virtual concierge – and focus on being more innovative and agile real estate businesses than traditional market players today. Those that succeed will be tech-enabled businesses; not tech businesses.
  • Smart hotel rooms use technology to allow guests to personalize their stay experiences.
  • Technology is becoming more important to hotel operations because it can deliver increasingly high value for hoteliers and guests.
  • The most important software in the hotel industry is the property management system, which acts as “mission control” for hotel operations. Hoteliers use a PMS to manage reservations, check guests in and out, and handle billing.
  • While exciting technologies present new options for hoteliers to enhance their offerings, these new innovations also mean hoteliers must focus on data security and continued training when implementing the technology that guests expect.
  • ldevaul on 30 Aug 21
     
    This article takes a deep dive into the emerging tech trends in 2021. They briefly touched on how SaaS is slowly taking over the traditional PMS and how venture capitalist can't get enough of these programs. Another honorable mention in this article is the explosion of guest room tech such as streaming services, voice activation, and guest room tablets. OTAs that have traditionally been top dogs when it came to hotel bookings are slowly declining and big data is becoming super insightful to hoteliers. This article touches on so many avenues of tech and it's definitely a must read!
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