Majority of millennials use social media to share their travel experiences with their friends. Social media is a very important tool in this day and age for the travel industry and hospitality. Engagement with potential guests online sets a more positive first impression, and can lead to more bookings and exposure. Social media also allows businesses to reach a larger audience by using targeted ads on different social media platforms. Tracking these ads can help improve the marketing strategies to see which ads are providing more traffic. Having a strict and consistent schedule of posting content can also be helpful, as it shows potential guests engagement with the community, especially if there is a lot of interaction in comments, as well as giveaways thrown in to the mix. Businesses can also partner with influencers to show off their locations for them to their massive followings. This increases the awareness and showcases the property to a large audience that may not have seen it otherwise. Social media, if used properly, can be a great tool to engage with existing and potential guests. Communication and engagement build loyalty, while broadening the audience spreads awareness.

This article touches on the advantages of using biometric digital identity verification in hotels. Guests that have traveled a long way are going to be exhausted and irritated if they need to stand in a long check in line. Using digital identification can not only help speed up the check in process, but also make it more secure. Front desk workers will not have to worry about mixing up documents or mishandling the guest's sensitive information, and will also be freed up to focus on other tasks. This can also help the hotels avoid chargebacks or fraud, as they can prove the guest was there and the added encryption will help stop identity theft.

This article goes over some of the most important things to consider when thinking of investing in a property management system (PMS). It first mentions making sure the the interface is pleasant to look at and easy to use. As most PMSs are the same, design is one of the main differences between the many options someone has. The easier to use and nicer to look at a software is, the easier it is to train employees. It then talks about the importance of maintaining guest privacy and security, especially involving guest payments and sensitive gust information. Automating processes and making sure the technology of the PMS keeps up with guest expectations, as well as procuring a system that is able to work with your existing systems. The integration can sometimes can be expensive, but a hotel systems integrator can work as an alternative if necessary. One of the last points it mentions is to make sure it has streamlined reporting to save time and make sure other necessary tasks can get handled in a timely manner. The last touch point when looking into a PMS is making sure the price also includes a good customer support system. If a PMS is cost effective, but leaves you without answers if the system encounters issues, it's not worth the cost. Cloud-based functionality and keeping up with real-time occupancy are more functionalities that a hotelier could research when choosing the best available PMS for their company.

As spending on cloud services jumps up almost 21% from last year, everything seems to be positive for this fast growing technology. It is, however, facing some challenges along the way that companies are going to need to take into consideration when spending on these services. Making sure they have a well qualifies and capable team to keep these services secure without burning them out is one of the concerns employees are bringing up in recent conversations. The security and safety of the data held by these services is very important, and needs to be prioritized in the day to day decisions made by all companies that utilize these services. Threats and malicious code taken advantage of by hackers is ever growing, and requires a constant, educated team with empowerment to protect to constantly watch out for these threats. Cloud computing still continues to grow, and is still a great advancement in business, but it also still needs to have it's threats carefully assessed and addressed to make sure it remains secure.

While Airbnb is still one of the larger competitors the hotel industry is up against, at the NYU Hospitality Conference, a new possible disruptor was brought into question. Speakers began to discuss the possible disruption that online services like Google and Amazon to name a few. The advantages that these companies have, should they dive into the realm of hospitality, is the sheer amount of information that these sites contain about the consumer. Although they have this extensive data, they are lacking in interpersonal experience as these companies don't deal with the consumer physically. The hotel industry however, leads far ahead of these companies in this regard, as it's what they've been known for. However, for the hotel industry to ultimately come out on top, they will need to partner with these companies and work together, rather than be taken down.