For many businesses in event planning, hosting or being a part of a tradeshow is a great way of showing people what your company can do and model your products. Many companies are choosing to cut costs of tradeshows and go virtual instead. By going virtual, the article explains that companies can save money, protect the environment (reducing carbon-dioxide emissions), give more to the attendees and save time. Employees can set up virtual tradeshows and virtually be in two places at once. They can be at the office and at the virtual tradeshow. Companies can save money by not having to spend on set up, travel, and registration. 

This article was about online marketing trends that will prevail in 2014. More and more companies are resorting to using online marketing finding success in its branding and audience growth. The trends that I think will make the biggest impact are that of content marketing being bigger than ever, image-centric content ruling, and mobile-friendly content being necessary. Out of the 7 mentioned trends I believe that these three will have the biggest impact because they are the most necessary. With content marketing, companies should focus more on inbound marketing that is tailored to a specific audience. Image-centric content should be a big hit because its basically that an ad should be simple to understand in order to convey a message. Like the saying says, "A picture is worth a thousand words." Finally, mobile-friendly content is becoming more popular and with the widespread use of mobile devices and tablets, companies are looking for ways to make their content more accessible to users. 

This article gives us a glance at six different technological trends being used and "revolutionizing" the hospitality industry. The six trends are cloud/software services, mobility, social media, personalized systems, integration, and globalization. The trends are all seen across the board in hospitality nowadays and are making huge changes in the industry. We have been talking about cloud computing and the pros and cons of using a cloud to store information and even with all the controversy, companies are investing and using the cloud. The use of tablets and smartphones has changed the way we interact with technology and the hospitality field is not staying behind. They are developing mobile sites and apps to help customers look at pictures and reviews about a place, check in and check out or make other arrangements. Social media is also revolutionizing hospitality by creating a reputation for businesses whether they be positive or negative. People can freely post about whether they enjoyed their stay at a certain hotel and helps build the online reputation of the company. In addition, more and more companies are looking to become more personalized experience. When I think about this part, I think mostly of the new systems rolling out at Disney World that scream personalization, guests can select their Fastpasses ahead of time, can use MagicBands to purchase things, get into their hotel, get into the park as well as to utilize the Fastpass system and every time a MagicBand is scanned at a touchpoint, the cast members know the person's name and whether they are celebrating something. With integration, customers and staff can access information from different departments all on one system and with globalization companies are trying to use systems that are global and used worldwide. 

This article introduces the upgrade to the EasyPay mobile POS system used in the US by Apple. The company has improved it's POS system by choosing to use new hardware (the iPhone 5s) and enhancing the hardware with a hard shell, accepting chip-and-pin (EMV) cards as well as a pin pad, and a Near Field Communications (NFC) feature in which smart phones may exchange information with the EasyPay. The article also talks about the future of chip-and-pin cards, Visa and MasterCard may be forced to begin using chip-and-pin cards by October of 2015. There is also talks of Apple including NFC features in their phones making it easier for guests to pay, share pictures and documents. 

Over the years, with technological and telecommunication advances the way we communication while on the road or on vacation has changed. I remember going on vacation as a child and being able to call my grandma from our hotel room once a day because we didn't want to spend too much money on calling back home or getting a voicemail from family members calling while we weren't in the hotel room. Over the years, this has changed dramatically. Now I can go on vacation and call, text, send emails, pictures, and videos to all my contacts with the use of my cell phone or with the use of my laptop in a WiFi area. This article gives insight on the revenue provided by telecommunications as told by Robert Mandelbaum a director of information services. He tells us that internet fees help with the growth of telecom revenue, as use of in room phones has decreased. This is just one way that the changes in technology have affected the industry. In this case, telecommunication advances have had a negative effect on the revenue in telecommunications but its only a matter of time until something new comes around and attempts to restore profit production. 

The article "The Software Algorithm That Turns Hotel 'Lookers' Into 'Bookers'" poses questions about the pricing algorithms in the airline and hotel industry. It then introduces and explains the software developed by Bruno Perez and Jean Francois Mourier called REVPAR GURU. In essence, the software is a revenue management system that analyzes data points online and internal factors within the company to provide suggested price-points to maximize profit. I believe that this software simplifies the job of the revenue manager because with the software they no longer have to agonize over data about reaching capacity at the highest room rate, they now focus on the data given by the software and its suggested prices. The idea for the software stemmed from the fact that we are going through a shift from offline to online in our society and more and more people are now doing their bookings online. I believe that this software has the right idea and is available at the right time during the shift to online. As more and more companies adapt, adjust, and use the online world, this program will continue to succeed.