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This article provides a brief overview of the emerging trends for hotel management information systems. The trends focus on easy mobile access, unattended point of sale, radio frequency identification and near field communications. An increasing number of hotel are using the the cloud for on the go mobile connectivity to their POS systems and revenue management software SaaS. You can manage your hotel from anywhere and be up to date instantly. This trend and the next eliminates the need for desk or office time. Lilipad has created an I-product that allows guests to perform their own transactions at I-Pad kiosk which eliminates time at the front desk. The other large emerging trend is tracking devices that can be implanted in phones or even loyalty cards that link to bank and credit card accounts replacing the traditional wallet. While other articles say there is no rush to cellphones replacing wallets just yet, hotels like Aloft are using RFID's in there loyalty cards eliminating the issue of room keys. Notice in all these trends that the face to face contact with guests that we hospitality students enjoy and train for is decreasing with every new technology.

This article basically talks about an outsourcing accounting company, Indevia Accounting and how its accounting program works for small businesses.  The list of services Indevia offers is long, from recording and reporting daily and weekly sales, to offering accurate bank and credit card reconciliations, and everything in between. Indevia reports in real time, offers consistent reporting. Operators can see their food and labor costs and they can vary those based on where they find inefficiencies.  The owner of Indevia accounting was an accountant and he even designed himself a 20-point review checklist to catch mistakes in any of their reports so that they could learn what they need from the clients.  This article seems a little bit advertising but I could think that it is important to have a personalized accounting program that will best fit our specific needs.

That's a good sign that he took the initiative to implement essentially a system of checks and balances with the 20-point review checklist. Just knowing that he accepts that there may be some flaws but he is being preemptive would make me more confident in investing in his program.

According to this article it states that the US governement has send varies request to Google corporation to eliminate or bank certain searches on their website. The reason behind this is simply politics and security towards the US government and protection over the political views and 2012 US elections. Therefore, it shows how important Google is and has expand worldwide; everyone uses google as there top search engine versus other ones.

The article titled Welcome to the Property Management Office of the Future talks a lot about growth in business while directly associating the technology of property management systems in the conversation. The article is a few years old and some of the ideas have already came into affect but there are also a few other ideas that sparked some interest. The article mentions that you need to let go of the things that do not support your ability to move forward and that it would be a good idea to look at new and different business models involving Property Management Systems where you can ultimately achieve growth.

Paladion, a cyber security intelligence platform, has been incredibly successful with its services. Its most recent success was its' raising of ten million dollars in fresh funding from its investment holders. This capital will be put towards advancing the security system, building a comprehensive cloud security services platform, and global expansion of multiple Security Operation Centers. The company already provides an array of information risk management solutions and services. And its industry expertise includes sectors like banking-finance-insurance, IT & consulting, R&D, and telecommunications. Paladion is on the track for prolonged success and will continue to grow as more advancements are made.

Diamond Foods was one of the largest snack foods corporations that were involved in an accounting fraud. This was an investigation that was going on for two years that is finally being settled. The former CEO was accused of falsifying costs in order to boost numbers on the stock market. The costs of walnuts had increased, however, former CFO was hiding that fact and misleading the market to let them believe Diamond Foods was beating earning estimates each time. Diamond Foods was acquiring Pringles but fell apart due to the scandal; this would have been a $2.5 billion deal. Talk of bankruptcy, stocks taking a nose dive, and a breach in loans made the banks take a step back, however, the company persuaded them to continue holding out for them. Diamond now has a new CEO and things are slowly starting to turn back around for the company. It's unfortunate that companies feel they have to lie, cheat and steal just to come out ahead. Some companies are getting away with it, but eventually it all goes back around.

The geniuses over at Apple may have finally broken the code (so to speak) on secure transactions and electronic data interchange. Under their new Apple Pay program, arriving with the iPhone 6 in 10 days, users can pay for their transactions with a touch of their finger on their own phone. A unique transaction ID is created for each use, meaning the card data (secured by hardware, software AND biometrics on the phone) never leaves your hand, but the bank and the vendor conduct a highly secure transaction. Apple is launching with support for 83% of credit cards in use and a host of vendors who are ready to accept your digital transfer. Noticeably absent from the list was the world's largest retailer, Walmart. However, if Apples gambit is successful (as the majority of them are), Walmart would be crazy not to follow suit. I would gladly forego a few more things in my pockets if I can still have instant access to the same transaction power from my phone.

This article talks about how there is a serious concern in the hotel industry when it comes to credit card and identity theft. They talk about how all the major brands in the hotel industry were all victims of highly publicized, major breaches in the last year alone. Also, including airline and banks, hotels maintain a wealthy amount of database of personal and financial data. For example, with new technology systems being created, POS systems are a weak security point for many networks because they are constantly in use and are not always updated or even protected from vulnerabilities. The article talks about personal details for hotel guests are frequently stored in a variety of locations including restaurants, facilities, and government buildings, so hackers have a greater possibility to access your personal information. The bigger hotels are in more danger because of the volume of guests that come in and out of the location. Smaller hotels should be concerned not just about their security but also by ransomware, an increasingly favorable tactic to extort hoteliers by hackers who encrypt the hotels data making it inaccessible until ransom is paid for. I believe hotels need a toolbelt of various securtiy technologies that can be used to prevent future malicious attacks. I think by managing and implementing a firewall is essential which helps get rid of dangerous traffic from coming onto the network and preventing sensitive data from being hacked.

MOD 10: This article discusses the main tactics of cyber hackers that target hotels. Point of sale (POS) systems are easy targets for hackers due to their constant use during operation hours and because of that their security measures aren't always up to date. Hotels have large data banks since they're storing consumer profile information such as home addresses, phone numbers and credit card numbers. There's a large risk when it comes to security breaches within franchises because they have access to their parent company's regional, national and global systems. If their systems are hacked and breached, then that puts the whole system of the brand at risk. Security breaches within a system can also damage a brands reputation with the public. According to the article, "Recent major breaches at Fortune 500 companies and household names across the retail, restaurant and hotel sectors demonstrate that anti-virus, anti-malware and firewalls alone are not enough to secure businesses from the ever-evolving threat landscape." Smaller properties are even at a greater risk because not only do they have to monitor their compliance with PCI but also monitoring their security systems for their database and PMS system. Some of the recommended software's that should be used by hotels looking to be proactive with their company's cyber security is File Integrity Monitoring(FIM), Unified Threat Management(UTM), and Security Information and Event Management(SIEM).

This article explores the different tactics hotels should use after a cyber attack. The article mentions several different type of attacks such as Phishing when hackers trick customers into giving up their login credentials. Ransomware, when hackers encrypt data making it unusable and inaccessible for the hotel. Not one solution but rather companies should be equipped with a series of technologies from firewalls to file monitoring programs. Some of these technologies, like SIEM requires an intelligent IT team to have the capabilities of analyzing and monitoring the reports produced. This may be more difficult for smaller businesses to implement and maintain.

In the business world, as well as in many other fields, accounting is used to report (account for) an organization's money and other valuable property. Accounting is utilized by all managers in business and especially by those in the hospitality industry. In fact, in almost every hospitality job, accounting is important. Accounting in the hospitality industry is utilized every time a guest purchases food, beverages, or a hotel guest room. Accounting in business occurs even before a hospitality facility ever opens. This is so because business persons estimate their costs before they decide to build their facilities and often seek loans from banks to help them. Those banks will assuredly want to know about the proposed business's estimated financial performance before they decide to lend it money. Accurate accounting is important to many other individuals in the hospitality industry. The owners of a restaurant or hotel will certainly want to monitor their business's financial condition. These owners may be one or more individuals, partnerships, or small or very large corporations, but they all care about the performance of their investments. Investors in the hospitality industry generally want to put their money in businesses that will conserve or increase their wealth. To monitor whether or not their investments are good ones, investors will always seek out and rely upon accurate financial information. When it is properly done, accounting is simply the process of providing that information.

Long with the new technology progressed, improved tech was using to transfer the way of payment. In the past, we usually use cash or credit card or debit card, the retailers should be wait until the bank of the credit or debit card to process their actual money back to them. It took long time for the processing so that the retailers short of the cash flow in that period of time. In case of avoiding this situation, recently many new solutions have been introduced to the market, which can become competitors of cash at physical POS. One of the most important innovations are contactless cards.Another solution which can be used in POS transactions, are remote mobile payment systems. These two solutions save bunch of time for customer waiting in line when they pay their bill and this could improve customer`s satisfaction for your services, furthermore, is could cut the process of transaction of money transfer between bank and retailers. Retailers could have more opportunities and budget to enlarge their business, update hardware. If we will shorten the time of waiting check out as much as we can by using new technology, more profit will arise in the future.

In this article we discuss the issues that airlines are having with the GDS system. They give an example of someone attempting to purchase a ticket through an airline website, and then through a travel agency. The direct airline method was only cheaper, if the guest provided information to a direct bank account. The cost for airlines to sell is a bit less than 10%, and they are sold mostly through indirect channels, like travel agencies. The main reason this can happen, is the integrated GDS system. A GDS system is a data facility that shares inventory information for various airlines to different 3rd party channels. The issue with this, is that the total in fees for the use of the GDS system was around $7billion, which is twice the amount of net profit they are receiving. People state that the airline system cannot survive without the GDS, but is that statement really true? Airlines like Air Asia or Ryanair have really attempted to focus on selling tickets directly, and really expand on their profit. How can this be achieved? Well, airlines are making the booking process easier for guests to manage, which gives them more of a reason to book through there. Also, they are offering greater loyalty rewards for directly booking through the site. Different incentives need to be created to attract guests to book directly. Lastly, they would like to create another distribution system, to put GDS out of business. This new system will work to allow guests to handle meal and baggage fees. Concepts that the GDS cannot handle. With that said, will this new system reduce costs for airlines? I guess they will have to wait and see.

This is an interesting article that describes some of the new technology being implemented to improve how employees are getting paid based on the current workforce's spending habits. These include the ability to be paid by debit cards, ability to be paid daily and have the flexibility to move the money around, AI intelligence to keep track of the employees' work hours on their own devices, and integration of many payroll functions into one platform. With so much technological advancement, it seems that payroll management is one that is still behind with many companies still working with the old clock in and out method which is time consuming.

In 2017, Marriott entered into an e-commerce partnership with Alibaba...China's number 1 recognizable name in e-commerce. By installing Alipay and broadening their guest amenities, Marriott is hoping to increase the number of Chinese travelers to their hotels all over the world. Globally, China is expected to have the largest population growth and Marriott is banking on them to travel to their hotels.

This article is giving the reader a look into the new check in procedures being implemented by hotels across the world. This "speedy check-in" allows for guests to by pass the traditional front desk check in and instead opt for check in via kiosks located in the lobby or even checking in before arrival. The automatic check in trend began as a way to relieve guests from having to wait in long lines when arriving at their hotel to check in . The option for speaking with front desk associates is still there but would rather serve as more of concierge, with suggestions on restaurants and questions regarding any leisure activities within the city or hotel itself. Some hotels are also taking the approach of personal greeters who approach the guest upon arrival, making the check in process more like a welcoming into a friends home. Overall I love the idea of being able to bypass hotel lines, especially during holidays when lines tend to get quite long or when arriving to a hotel fairly late in the night. Being able to arrive and head straight to the room allows for smoother check-ins and more efficient use of front desk associates. The personal greeters also provide more of an at home feeling. Guests can feel like they are personally being cared for as opposed to just being another occupied room. 

As we move into a technology focused society hotel needs to follow the trend of what travelers want and how to streamline using technology. This article describes how hotels are implimating kiosk in their lobbies to offer their guest a quick and easy way to check-in without having to make the line at the front desk. The hotels goal is to leave the "hotel embassador" and/or front desk for guests that have special requests or questions about their stay. They reference a hotel in Boston that has taken the electronic checkin a step further. They email the guests prior to arriving at the hotel two codes. The first code is to be used at the front door to enter the hotel, and the second code to enter into their hotel room keypad. They interviewed President and General Manager of NCR Corporation's travel business about these types of services. He stated that they offer travelers the same speed and quick services as ATM machines at banks or kiosks at the airport for quick checkin. He went on to say that they expect that type of service when traveling. Mr. Craig even touched on how a travelers feedback is even more important due to social media. One bad review can affect the hotel instantly after they tweet, post, etc. In the article they also interviewed Glenn Haussman, editor of the online trade magazine Hotel Interactive. He stated that with the use of the kiosk and express check-in the front desk staff can offer a more personal experience by doing other tasks. For example they mentioned a late check guest might want a snack or something to relax after a tough flight. By the staff not needing to check them in can go get the guest a coffee, or something to eat; this making the experience feeling more personal. The article states the Hyatt chain has implemented their kiosk in almost all their properties in major cities. They still offer a more traditional check-in as well. They went on to say some chains are using greeters with ipads to check guests in as they ente

This article highlights the importance of announcing a security breach quickly, and explains the argument on whether it needs to be carefully analyzed before releasing the breach. It explains the importance of releasing the understanding of a hack as quickly as possible to maintain people's information (i.e. bank information) safe.

email security is a good defense against cyberthreats in the hospitality space because it not only helps fend off attacks but also sensitizes staff to risks in cyberspace and provides them with basic awareness and education.

Mariott learned the hard way about the importance of cyber security! By inquiring a hotel for their boutique hotel line, it wasn't until after the fact that they realized that the hotel had been hit by a huge data breach in their system. Luckily, Marriott has the resources and reputation to deal with the issue. But a lot of these smaller hotels do not, so the damage to them could be catastrophic.

"The hotel industry is at risk of attacks, such as malware and ransomware, where criminals try to either steal data or exploit organizations" Majority of threats come through over email, often in malicious links. deploying email security is a good defense against cyberthreats in the hospitality space because it helps fend off attacks.

FinTech is a hot topic and this Journal article touches on the developments of FInTech in the hotel. The standout line touches on how cloud payments can, "connect to a booking engine to drive commission-free bookings and the payment system..."

This article emphasizes how imperative it is for hospitality businesses to stay on the cutting edge of technology as a part of their business design and strategy if they want to survive in today's competitive market and remain in it, in the near future. The author expresses that today's hospitality market is being driven by Millennials' "the largest generation in the country's history" who patronize businesses that are socially and environmentally responsible. Armed with this information to capture their targeted market, more and more hotels are now incorporating from inception within their physical blueprint infrastructure that is environmentally sustainable and cost-effective. As well as obtaining Green certifications and implementing sustainable software to reduce waste and minimize leakages. This concept has also been adopted by cruise ship operators to reduce environmental impact through the use of technology.

This article introduces the different initiatives that the hospitality industry is taking with regard to technology in order to align with their target market or a large segment of their market. As being perceived, millennials are sought to be the largest generation in the country's history which leads companies to infer that they have a massive amount of buying power in their hands. Hospitality companies are now making strides to become more environmentally conscious. Some of these initiatives is incorporating LED lights throughout the facilities to reduce energy waste and cut down on costs. Another initiative is incorporating new systems in the guest rooms that enhance the stay while keeping it green like systems that adjust temperatures in the rooms, remotely powered shades, etc. Other companies are even using systems as a tool to help track, measure, and reduce food waste for more sustainable and effective restaurant/bar operations. It is no secret that technology is ever-evolving, and it will continue to develop as new features are discovered.

Article discusses millennials as the largest generation in U.S. history, and the speed at which technology progresses. In addition to paying attention to millennials' purchasing decisions, other industries must also meet their financial expectations. Many brands are taking steps to become more sustainable in the hospitality industry despite its reputation for producing massive amounts of waste.