Being in the food and beverage side of hospitality I tend to post mostly restaurant technology, this one specifically caught my eye as the restaurant I just recently left in New Orleans would always get complaints about how loud it was. With the new app iHEARu, users can measure the decibels in a restaurant as well as track how it changes at different times throughout the day. The app could help users find places to have business meetings, take someone who is hearing impaired, or even help families find a welcoming restaurant if they have younger kids or just patrons in their party who tend to be a bit louder. With the overgrowing effects of social media reviews on restaurants I found this rating system to be mostly beneficial. This would only lower the number of things a guest has to potentially complain about or upset other guests. Often diners don't realize how important noise level is to their experience until is it something that upsets them. Personally if I was going out with just my mom or sister, I might want something quieter so we could catch up, but if we are going out with my entire family we better pick a loud restaurant so we don't get dirty looks when we are inevitably yelling across the table. This app essentially helps all kinds of diners find the right fit for them.

This article focuses on new hotel apps, focusing on Recharge, that let you rent upscale hotel rooms by the minute/hour. As the article states, this is not a new concept and has been offered in the pass usually at motels. This app looks to change the demographic of those looking to rent hotels for a small amount of time. The app is already active in popular cities around the world, they aim to only work with 3-5 star hotels. I downloaded the app and thought the pricing was a little concerning, but it goes back to the demographic the app is targeting. Recharge aims to appeal to travelers with long layovers, business people looking for a quiet spot in between meeting, sight seers that may need a nap, and even mothers looking for a safe place t publicly breastfeed. Their pricing is right in line with their target demographic as the cheapest price is usually around $30 per hour, and there is always a service fee; the author of the article talks about staying in a hotel for 15 minutes and paying $65 dollars. Personally the pricing is a huge setback, but business wise it makes sense. You are covering the cost of housekeeping having to go in and reset the room, and front desk reprogramming the keys/ handling check in and check out. While I think the system could create a bit of a challenge for hotels in terms of making if something is ready and clean or not, it is another opportunity to increase revenues. This app especially during the slow season for hotels, could help them fill their less desired rooms, if only for an hour. It is similar to a restaurant way of thinking "How many times can we flip this table (room) in peak hours". I may not use the app, but if I was traveling with friends and splitting the cost, I would definitely take the opportunity to pay a few bucks to nap in a 5 star resort.

I chose this article as I am an avid user of Trip Advisor! After watching the E-Commerce lecture, I actually started researching more on facial recognition used in the hospitality industry, both in marketing and to keep guests safe. Using facial recognition for safety actually came up quite a bit; specifically as Professor Cilli mentioned on cruise ships to help track and potentially stop a predator or threatening guest. This article is on Trip Advisor's new badge system, that intends to flag hotels if reports or media comes out including sexual assault, crime, and other potential threats to travelers. The idea started from a case filed against Trip Advisor for taking down comments claiming a security guard at a Mexican resort had sexually assaulted a guest who had stayed there. Trip Adivisor claims that at the time, the comment was removed due to explicit material. Not only has Trip Advisor promised to keep comments like this published on their pages, but if taken down they will tell users what exactly flagged their system to take it down. Users will easily be able to adjust their wording and repost. While the exact wording of the badge does not specifically detail why the hotel was flagged (see wording annotated above), as a traveler it would definitely make me think twice. From a management standpoint, getting flagged like this on one of the most used travel websites could completely halt business and create financial strain for months. The badge will last for at least three months and in that time could be seen by thousands of visitors. I hope this small step for Trip Advisors forces hotels to take big step in terms of safety and security with who they are hiring and tracking who is on property.

Following my previous post, here is more technology focused on food allergies. This pod testing tool is called Ally and focuses on lactose.

This past week I watched a few episodes of the documentary series on Netflix Rotten. There is an entire episode dedicated to food allergies and the increase we have seen over the past few decades in severe reactions. I am going to attach another article following this one, but this article specifically is about the newly developed food scanner named Nima. Nima is a scanner that is sold with pods. Simply crush up some of the food you would like to eat inside the pod; if it is safe to eat Nima would show a happy face, if it contains the allergen Nima would contain a sad face. As someone who has worked in restaurants for quite some time now, extreme steps have to be taken to keep foods completely allergen free, and not all restaurants are 100% committed to taking them. Currently food allergies have increased 50% from 1997-2011 with 200 people per year just in the US dying from allergic reactions. Nima does come with a high price tag though costing an initial $190 and then $3.99 per pod. It can currently test for peanuts, gluten, and lactose; but the Southern California inventors are hoping to create a single pod connected to an app that would allow user to choose the allergen they would like to test for. If I had a family member with an extreme food allergy, I would definitely purchase this product. There is no price on safety, and while I'm sure even with the product users would exercise concern, it could put many people at ease having this as a second wall of defense.

This article begins by quickly going over new technologies that guests can interact with at leading metropolitan hotels. It then takes a turn to delve in to bringing these technologies "behind the scenes"; specifically for meeting planners. For example, the Thompson Seattle gives all their employees Itouch's equipped with Zello allowing them to quickly radio other departments and fill guests needs within minutes. What I found the most interesting was the HIlton Quebec and The Cosmopolitan Las Vegas sharing their guest text messaging interfaces with meeting planners, Event Service Managers, and Sales. Instead of Sales Managers having to chase departments around the hotel, and regularly pop into an event to make sure it was being executed correctly. The meeting planer could easily text when their event was in need. Any technology that allows us to better fulfill the needs of our guest, is worth the trial and error they may come along with.