Participating hotels within the Hilton Hotels & Resorts, Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts, Conrad Hotels & Resorts, DoubleTree by Hilton and Embassy Suites Hotels brands are part of Hilton Worldwide's Connect+ program, which provides a high level of event expertise and planning support. Each Connect+ hotel is located in a destination city with features including more than 450 guest rooms or more than 40,000 square feet of meeting space. "When planning large events, meetings and conventions, circumstances change often and decisions need to be made quickly," said Joyce Inderbitzin, vice president, events and catering, Americas, Hilton Worldwide. "getplanning enables our clients to exchange information seamlessly and securely between all stakeholders in real-time." getplanning features include: Organized and detailed approach to planning with real-time communication Document access from one centralized location (contracting, planning, on-site and post-event archive) Efficient dissemination of information with chronological organization Single-click to planning assets (floor plans, menus, Passkey and more) Ability to manage third-party vendors and activities Reply to getplanning correspondence directly from own email inbox Use of mobile devices on-site elevates the planner experience, including access to daily pick-up reports, food and beverage and banquet checks, weather, etc. Systematic approach to manage all customer meetings and events

RANGOON — A small bomb on Monday night ripped through a ninth story room at Traders Hotel, an upscale hotel in downtown Rangoon that is popular among tourists and foreign business travelers. An American woman who was staying at the hotel with her family was injured in the blast, which took place in the bathroom of her hotel room at about 11:15 pm.

By using Sabre Hotel RFP's Chain Portal and Competitive Bids solutions in 2013, Millennium Hotels was able to increase the number of competitive bid subscriptions they received by 44 percent over the previous year. They also increased the number of bids by 12 percent that they received directly from corporations and travel agencies versus 2012 activity. Millennium Hotels UK has 104 hotels worldwide, with 22 located within the Europe, Middle East and Africa region. By using Sabre Hotel RFP in 2013, they were able to increase the average transient room rate by 3.27 percent. "Sabre Hotel RFP was the key to our hotel chain increasing transient revenue," said Farhana Butta, Millennium Hotels Senior Global Account Director Corporate and Business. "Sabre has provided a great product – it brings in results and ensures our team is maximizing our opportunities to win more corporate business."

  Another trend we expect to hit the POS space in full force next year is the integration of more loyalty programs and customized advertising and marketing promotions to engage with customers at each stage of the purchase process; from driving impulse consideration, all the way to the final purchase. Loyalty programs have been picking up momentum for the past couple of years and are now becoming fully integrated into on-site POS systems, both mobile and traditional. With customer loyalty software programs launching in every type of retail venue imaginable, cashiers are able to sign customers up within one to two minutes, meeting the easy and quick transaction consumers' today demand while also reminding them of the added-value offered by the vendor.

"Hotel companies that will be the most successful in 2014 are those who are refocusing on their websites and mobile platforms, and they will be vigilantly monitoring review sites in real time to ensure that their reputations are impeccable," said DJ Vallauri, Lodging Interactive founder and president. "In light of Google's recent algorithm changes (Hummingbird), successful hoteliers also will be augmenting traditional display advertising with relevant content marketing on blogs, social channels, e-newsletters and webinars, and they will marry their mobile and social media strategies to be more responsive -- again, in real time and with fluid design. Millennials or Generation Y travelers don't go anywhere without multiple mobile devices including smartphones, tablets, laptops and even smart wristbands; they share their hotel experiences on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+; they post videos of themselves in various hotel environments -- from lobbies and pools to restaurants and rooms; and they tag friends in photos and then post them for the world to see.

Wyndham Hotels & Resorts (WHR) issued an open letter to its customers in February informing guests that certain Wyndham brand-franchised and managed hotel computer systems had been compromised by a hacker, resulting in the unauthorized acquisition of customer names and credit card information. According to the letter, the hacker was able to infiltrate central network connections to move information to an off-site URL before the hotel company discovered the intrusion in late January 2010. The breach is believed to have occurred between late October 2009 and January 2010. The incident did not affect other branded hotels in the Wyndham Hotel Group system.

. When asked to ID the key business drivers pushing them to make a POS upgrade, the vast majority (69.6%) of restaurant operators named “adding a mobile POS” (Figure 1). Coming in a close second, 62.5% chose “enabling new payment options.” Rounding out their top three business drivers, almost half of restaurants surveyed (46.4%) named “delivering personalized guest promotions” as a major objective.

Hospitality Technology’s annual POS Software Trends Report polls restaurant operators about the major business drivers influencing point of sale technology, and asks them about the functionality they’ll be shopping for in their next POS upgrade (Figures 1 and 2). HT also asks the POS software vendor community to reveal their 2014 plans. This year’s results overwhelmingly indicate that restaurant operators and suppliers alike are focusing on mobile POS strategies, and are looking to add everything from mobile payment to tablet-based ordering to their repertoires