Now this is a sight to see! Dubai is recognized as one of the fastest growing cities in the world. This rapid urbanization has led to many environmental issues because of the critical environment, lack of resources such as building materials, and the surprising expansion. Due to it's expansion, their is a high demand for electricity. While being a city with a high consumption of electricity, Dubai has taken steps to introduce solar power on a large scale with now its first ever hotel. Dubai seems to be ahead of the curve, let's just hope it doesn't fail them long-term.

This article helped me gain a better undestanding of proximity marketing and beacons. Beacons emit radio signals to connect with nearby consumers' mobile devices. This article discusses some of the pros and cons to proximity marketing in order to best engage consumers. Proximity marketing is a fairly new concept that is beginning to skyrocket.

Since this week's topic involved IT investment, I figured this would be a great article to post to help us better understand what hotel business people are investing in and how they are using their investments for their companies benefit. Due to a decrease in their revenue during the 2017 fiscal year, Expedia is doing whatever it takes for consumers to book through their platform, even if it means spending $170 million. Expedia is listening to its consumers through data mining and they've found out that consumers are searching for more independent hotels and less name brands so they've decided to invest in supply to drive demand across their brand. Companies like HomeAway and Airbnb are investing in technology that is making them ahead of the curve. If Expedia doesn't act fast, it could greatly detriment their business.

I'm curious to know how Shake Shack's experiment is going so far. When I began reading the article, I had my doubts because the system might decrease jobs. As I kept reading, I realized that it's not the case. This innovation is expecting to result in a higher volume of customers, and they need the same number of staff members to assist with the crowds of people coming in and out to create shorter lines. It's smart for the company to test this innovative idea before rolling them out to other locations. If Shake Shack has a backup plan in case of technical issues, then this might just work in their favor. By going cashless, what this means is that customers who want to make a purchase will have to rely on digital kiosks to place an order, with the orders going directly to the kitchen where your food will be prepared. Apparently this is one of the ways the company plans on eliminating "friction" during the entire process.

I'm now used to seeing a lot of partnerships among hospitality companies -- making it a worldwide trend. The partnership of hotel company, Marriott, and e-commerce conglomerate, Alibaba, resulted in expanding the online travel footprint of both companies. As a result, Chinese travelers find it easier to book hotel rooms across all the brands managed by Marriott. In addition, travelers are able to use Alibaba's mobile payment platform during their stays at Marriott-branded hotels. It's a win-win situation! This partnerships broadens the level of services available to consumers. It comes to show that Marriott and Alibaba have used the proper e-business strategies to succeed in our digital economy.

Cloud computing is ever-evolving and I wonder if it's just today's hype and a trend. As this article shows, cloud computing has a huge impact on PMS. Imagine this: If your hotel is using a cloud-based PMS and you lose your internet connection. What do you do? Hoteliers need a strong case indeed before they entrust their valuable operations and data into these cloud computing providers. In the perspective of a hotelier, I'd be worried.

In this article, the writer informs us on how two system solution based companies are joining forces to give hotels the most accurate and up-to-date data on their companies transactions. These transactions includes the control of inventories, pricing of inventory, and forecasting in order to increase hotel revenue. This allows for hotel managers to better strategize their brand's revenue in order to create more informed decisions. The article highlights what both IDeaS Revenue Solutions and Springer Miller Systems do to support hotels. Many resorts already use both systems. The companies working together allows their solutions to become more streamlined for hotel establishments. Hoteliers largely focus on the guest experience, but are restricted in how they manage inventory and forecast. These tools will allow them to do both at the same time with less manual labor. It sounds like an expensive investment. It's important for managers to decide whether it's worth the investment and predict whether they will see a return on this investment. Thoughts?