Yet, more than 30% of staff surveyed by Wombat Security Technologies didn’t even know what phishing or malware was. This is probably why scams like the Business Email Compromise (BEC) result in whopping losses of over $3 billion (according to the FBI).

But as humans, hoteliers make mistakes, they’re trusting of fake identities, tempted by clickbait, and vulnerable to other sneaky tactics used by criminals to gain access to company information.

Staff need cybersecurity training to protect themselves and the hotel against cyberattacks.

By making employees aware of security threats, the impact they might have on your business, and what procedures to follow when a threat has been identified, you’re strengthening the most vulnerable links in the chain.

The World Economic Forum in their latest report, The Global Risks 2019, puts cyber-attacks and data theft into the higher-than-average likelihood bracket during 2019.

To achieve these record levels of data breaches and cyber-threats, cybercriminals are focusing their attention on the manipulation of human behavior.

So how do we counter these threats? Education, education, education. 

Security awareness training is not a point event or solution, it is a process. Security awareness comes out of a series of ideas, thoughts, and preparations that are used to develop a holistic security awareness training program.

Identify the Specific Cybersecurity Needs of the Hotel/Property   

Include Cybersecurity Awareness Training During Onboarding

Cover Relevant Topics

Make Staff Cybersecurity Training An Ongoing Process

We all make mistakes and occasionally slip up. It is really important that staff know that they can come to you and that they are free to report problems without there being a risk of them losing their jobs. This will come from your personal management style. 

Cybersecurity is everyone’s responsibility, whether you are C-level, management, accounting, housekeeping, maintenance, or reception, it does not matter. Everyone needs to be made aware of the hotel’s individual cybersecurity policies, attitude, and culture. 

Continuously send reminders via email, Slack, or any other messenger your hotel may be using with reminders to change passwords, to update anti-virus programs, and with information about the latest phishing techniques.

If you create a culture of cybersecurity awareness within your organization, then the chances of your organization becoming a victim are greatly reduced.

Hotels, bed and breakfasts, and resorts now must accommodate and acknowledge people’s feelings and opinions in a public manner to show their respect and customer service.

social media is creating more work for the industry themselves in protecting their reputation and status. So, for large corporations and hotel chains that can hire and create an extra job, this may be simpler. But, for smaller boutique hotels and family run destinations, this is another job to put on their list.

. The industry itself can shape people’s opinions of their offerings through their own pages as well

social media has created new opportunities for advertising

Beacon technology proximity marketing now becomes an interesting resource for the providers of, both public and private, transportation services. Travelers can now discover a host of experiences with this beacon technology while they travel — from booking from their mobile phones to personalized hotel experiences.

with the ability to source customer data around physical locations, activities, time and personal interests, beacons provide a huge window of opportunity to target travelers with personalized and contextual experiences.

Proximity marketing makes flexibility and convenience for travelers to plan vacations or trips.

Travelers will benefit because they will receive real time information that is personalized, relevant and in accordance with their profile and preferences.

Most accommodations collect a lot of information about current or potential guests and AI systems can sort through these large amounts of data and draw important conclusions that will help businesses adjust their services and strategies.

Machine learning based techniques such as natural language processing and sentiment analysis can help you extract key customer data, like certain positive or negative phrases from a voice chat, an instruction to an AI-powered assistant from your hotel or a discussion in the review section of your website. This information will allow you to customize your offer or rewards program for certain guests.

Introducing AI-based features into websites can reduce friction and provide customers personalized experiences, while also freeing up staff who can handle more complex tasks.

Regarding occupancy, an AI system can help businesses by providing relevant insights into the occupancy patterns of the area they're located in. In addition, it can dynamically adjust pricing rates from day to day.

Furthermore, AI can parse multiple sources of information and identify if there are any upcoming events that might influence your occupancy rate or might determine the price to go up.

airports are benefiting from AI-powered robots too. These robotic assistants can help passengers by carrying out a series of tasks including providing information in different languages, performing check-in activities, etc

An mPOS is best for businesses that want to complete transactions on the go – such as a landscaper, a food delivery service, or a retailer that wants to move customers through the checkout process faster.

Mobile POS systems are also popular with market vendors, home repair services and food trucks.

An unattended POS system enables self-ordering and self-checkout, which has become popular during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Getting an mPOS system up and running is simple. You choose your mobile POS software provider, download the app, and connect your card reader to the mobile device. Once that's complete, you can start accepting payments. Mobile POS systems rely on Wi-Fi or a data connection to process payments.

The standout features that make mPOS popular include portability, speedy checkout, inventory management tools and advanced reporting.

Restaurant owners have come to rely on mPOS systems for several reasons. They're easier to set up and use, they support a wide selection of third-party integrations, and they can facilitate rewards and loyalty programs.

SaaS hotel management systems are pay-as-you-go. Therefore, rather than having to pay a large sum for a long-term commitment, hoteliers can pay smaller amounts on a regular basis.

The cloud lets hoteliers record this data – their preferences, transactions and behavior – every time the customer interacts in some way with their hotel, such as ordering room service, eating in the hotel restaurant or even booking a day trip or spa session.They can then use this data to make suggestions based on the customer’s preferences and behavior.

Secondly, they enable you to provide guests with the convenience and seamless experience they expect, even before they step into the hotel reception. Armed with a cloud-based system, you can give your guests the convenience they now expect from a hotel stay, such as booking rooms on their mobile phones or accessing their room from an app, to name a few examples.

with traditional hotel management software, adding and removing resources is difficult and hoteliers are essentially stuck with one system until the license expiry date. You’re in a contract, with very little wiggle room.

Cloud-based software gives hoteliers a hotel management system that facilitates rather than restricts business operations. Unlike their on-site predecessors, cloud-based hotel management systems are entirely scalable – they have an unlimited capacity to expand. They give hoteliers the agility and freedom to add or remove resources in line with their growth and scale their hotel management systems to the services they offer.

One of the biggest strengths of a cloud-based hotel management system is that it can be easily connected to other software applications, even if these applications don’t share the same provider.For hoteliers, this capacity and the possibilities that it brings are revolutionary. They now have limitless flexibility to work with the vendors of their choice and can bundle applications together thereby creating a truly customized management suite that meets their needs.

Cloud-based technology gives hoteliers the key to run smart businesses that are in tune with modern-day travelers, and more profitable.

As technology makes giant strides in hospitality, so does the importance of each opportunity to interact with hotel guests. Professional concierges and other employees must fully understand that with fewer human interactions, each opportunity to interact with a guest must be executed flawlessly with a warm smile as to create a pleasant lasting impression.