This article explains the newest event technology in 2017. Robotics, Artificial Intelligence and Virtual Reality are some forms of technology that are showing up at events around the country. Some robotics popping up are Make Shakr, a robotic bartender that makes an limitless menu of cocktails and Sprinkles' Cupcake ATM that sells cupcakes 24/7. Artificial Intelligence is being used in voice recognition programs and unmanned vehicles. Apple's Siri, Microsoft's Cortana and Amazon's Alexa are all voice activated assistants that make AI easier to use in events. Gone are the days were virtual reality (VR) uses heavy headsets VR 2.0 allows costumers to walk around activations. Merrell, a footwear company had an industry-first hiking experience that had customers move around a virtual commercial.

In this article, Hazel Jain explains that companies that have invested in email marketing are struggling to get their "open and click" rates up with an average open rate of 15% and click rate of 4.7%. Jain also states travel companies can add value to their email marketing campaigns by making the emails targeted and personalized. A customer is 19 times higher to purchase an items when a remind email is sent, reminding them they have items left in their cart. This practice is called abandoned cart remarketing campaigning. Also explained in the article is that mobile internet is still on the rise. With the ever increasing mobile internet; companies must modify their websites to support the newest technology used by their customers.

This article discusses Expedia's investment in guest-facing concierge messaging app, Alice. Started in 2013, Alice is named after the housekeeper from The Brady Bunch. Alice has many different functionalities; such as guest messaging, guest request management and employee communication software. In one year, the number of requests jumped from 10,000 a week to over 50,000 and anticipates hotels will handle more than two million requests over the next year. When using the tool, guest can communicate directly with specific departments to handle their requests. Guests receive notifications with the status of each other their requests, so they know how long each request will take and when it is complete. Alice is a great tool not only for guests but for employees as well because it gives employees to-do list that can be easily tracked.

This article discusses how OTA's are stealing and breaking the control of communication with hotel guests. OTA's are an incredibly important channel t attract many guests to hotels as bookings through them are increasing at a steady rate. Last year, was the first year in which OTA hotel bookings exceeded direct bookings in the US compared to 2011 when 4.3 were booked for every indirect booking. Guests often book through the same channel they have booked on before; which are tying them to OTA's. In an attempt to maintain control of all communication between guests, most OTA's do not provide hotels with any guest information. To combat, this increasing problem it is increasingly important for hotels operators to retrieve and store as much guest information as possible. Hotels can then use this the contact information to send guests personalized message and tracking their stay personalization. Hotels that are successful at this can potential break the habit of most guests who book through OTA's.

This article Danny King, discusses how hotel operators are increasing choosing green options for their hotels. While some companies chose to invest on cutting energy, water and waste; some brands are being created with environmental sustainability as part of their core values. It is estimated that the 5 million hotels rooms in the U.S. racked up almost $4 billion in energy bills in 2011. Hotels contain an estimated 30% - 70% of public spaces that need to be heated, cooled and cleaned daily which consumes chemicals and energy. Most guests, would guess that hotels leading the green initiative are in areas such as Portland or Seattle; but surprisingly, Las Vegas is leading the trend! Las Vegas is home to the two largest LEED-certified hotels in the world, Sands' Venetian and Palazzo. CityCenter hotels, the Aria Hotel Tower, Mandarin Oriental and Vdara, have been able to recycle 50% of their waste in 2011. Most brands now have green options for their guests. Starwood, for example, has a Make a Green Choice option where guest opt out of housekeeping services and receive 500 points towards their SPG account or in some areas $5 credit towards Food & Beverage. Element Hotels has about 90 hotels, most of which are LEED-certified and although most of their guests do choice their hotels because they are green, they continue to return for that reason.