The article discusses how hotel lenders and investors have found success with the direction of the investment market. According to the 2012 edition of the Hospitality Investment Survey, lower interest rates along with revenues that are outpacing expense growth are combining to provide investors with a greater level of comfort in regards to the U.S. lodging investment market. According to Scott Smith, vice president of PKF Consulting USA, the double digit growth of profits along with low capital and limited supply growth has made hotel real estate much more attractive to commercial real estate investors. Smith notes that institutional investors as well as private equity funds are more inclined to invest in full service hotels existing in the major markets, which has shown the most profit growth.  According to the text, investments in the hospitality industry will continue to remain attractive to investors due to the expected continued improvement in industry performance along with the availability of cheap capital. 

Lawrence Cohen, an Executive Consultant and Hospitality Group Leader recently examined the conflicts of interest that hotel owners face when hiring third party management companies. According to Cohen, owing a hotel requires both strategic and operational decisions to be made in real time. The problem occurs when real estate owners go from owning commercial property to owning hotels and are not used to making decisions on a daily basis. As a result, the most critical daily decisions that determine the success of the hotel do not fall into the hands of ownership but rather to a third party management company. These third party relationships may result in hotel management staff being loyal only to the management company rather than the hotel itself. Hotel owners could benefit by building a team with experience in the hospitality industry and hiring individuals loyal to the owner. 

This article describes one of the worst situations that could occur when operating a hotel. According to the text, Wyndham Hotel Group failed to implement a strong enough security system, resulting in hackers breaching the network and stealing over 600,000 credit card numbers and over 10 million dollars in fraudulent charges. The FTC is suing Wyndham Corporation for failing to take the proper security measures to guarantee the security of the most important customer information. The FTC also states that Wyndham used improper software configurations that presented credit card information in a manner that was clear and easy to read. Michael Valentino, spokesman for Wyndham Worldwide, the company made prompt efforts to notify those whose information had been compromised and according to Valentino, no hotel customer had experienced a financial loss as a result of the attacks.  Despite Valentino's claims, the FTC is suing Wyndham for unfair and deceptive practices in failing to protect the privacy and personally identifiable information about guests. The FTC claims that Wyndham failed to address the security failures that occurred after the first breach in 2008 and did not implement technology that could have detected unauthorized access to networks. In 2009, hackers used similar techniques to break into the network again as steal as much personal information as they could. 

This article focuses on how Mobile technology is changing the way the hospitality industry is utilizing POS systems. Ever since the rise of tablet  computer usage, open system POS solutions that integrate multiple transaction methods have become increasingly more popular. Entrepreneurs in the hospitality industry are opting to go with systems that follow clients and offer better table-side service. Instead of using the traditional POS system terminals, business owners are going with a POS system that can be run on mobile computers through an internet connection.  Mobile POS solutions are becoming more and more popular in the restaurant and hospitality business. Retailers are delivering different mobile applications, such as personal shopping solutions as well as encouraging customers to use their mobile devices to receive promotions and other marketing incentives. In january 2012 it was reported that almost half of all tablet computers are being used for some kind of shopping transactions. 

When working in a hotel, the majority of the reservations that come in are done through online booking but what about the reservations made over the phone? Are they still booked as a result of online marketing efforts?  This article from Virtual Strategy Magazine is discusses a brand new data interface developed by NAVIS, the leader in reservation sales systems in North America. NAVIS teamed up with RDP (Resort Data Processing) to create an interface that allows clients to measure how much online and offline revenue is generated from online marketing. Currently, NAVIS is the only company able to offer this service to its clients. The ability of NAVIS to provide this information gives clients the opportunity to decide on where exactly there marketing money needs to be spent and where it needs to be spent less. Having access to all of this new data and information regarding source of revenue will ultimately make a company more successful in the future. 

The article discusses the Green Mode and how human activities causing excessive fossil fuel emissions are forcing us to change the way we live and become more eco-friendly. This trend can be seen in the hospitality industry as more buildings are utilizing a green approach. These buildings offer sustainable features such as efficient use of water, energy efficiency, use of recycled materials and improved indoor conditions for better health and comfort. Companies using the green approach create value for occupants and increase property values by offering easier maintenance and lower operating costs. In India, The Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) have produced over 687 projects that have been registered under IGCB green building guidelines. These projects include hotels, hospitals and different factory buildings. Major companies adopting the green mode include Intercontinental Hotel Group, Starwood Hotels, Hyatt and Hilton. The hospitality Industry is beginning to take advantage of the benefits of going green. With energy costs escalating, reduced maintenance and energy saving is becoming increasingly more necessary. 

Sceptre Hospitality Resources, one of the hospitality industries leading revenue enhancement service providers recently announced that they will be using voice activated services powered by Thing5 LLC. Their switch over to Thing5 is largely due to the fact that this company has been one of the leading telecommunication providers in the industry. Sceptre is hoping that the quality service Thing5 offers will help them achieve consistant sales revenue growth. Thing5 offers a wide array of services including complete reservation office support, after hours reservation call support, as well as concierge and loyalty program services to guests.  I think that by utilizing the services Thing5 have to offer, Sceptre will continue to be one of the bigger revenue enhancement service providers in the industry. The many features of Thing5 voice activation systems will allow for a better customer service experience. Guests will have full access to reservation services  as well as in-house staff and will also be able to book at any time of day or night with after- hours reservation call support. 

Maestro, a company specializing in property management and hotel software is launching a new face in property management productivity by introducing the Maestro Ipad Xpress App. With the popularity of tablet computers such as IPads and android platform tablets rising, Northwind has decided to launch a system through Maestro to make the check-in and check-out process in a hotel as simple and efficient as possible. Northwind ultimately hopes that the Xpress check-in app will not only be more efficient for guests but also optimize revenue and productivity in the hotel. The new app allows guests to complete the check-in and check-out process anywhere a wireless signal is available. Lets say for example, a large group of employees are attending an out of state conference and when they arrive at the hotel, there are over fifty of them that have to go through the check-in process. With the Xpress check-in app, these individuals could check in on their way to the hotel and by the time they get there they will save time and effort by not having to wait in line and go through the entire check in process one by one. For this reason the Maestro Xpress Check-In App is perfect for handling large groups of people arriving at the same time. The Xpress app creates a more personalized service for the customer making the entire check-in and check-out process much more convenient for the guest and productive for the hotel.