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kelseybarton

Meyers Develops Single-Use Paper RFID Hotel Key Card | Hospitality Technology - 2 views

hospitalitytech.com/-use-paper-rfid-hotel-key-card

shared by kelseybarton on 24 Jul 20 - No Cached
  • Meyers, a brand marketing and high-end commercial printing company, announced that it has created a solution that will help the hotel industry offer contactless check-in and room access.
  • Meyers has developed a paper RFID key card — called the AssureCard — that looks and feels like a plastic key card but is made from renewable paper pulp and may be disposed of after a single use.
  • In addition, Meyers has developed a low-cost key card dispenser that allows the customer to get their own card(s) while maintaining appropriate physical distancing with hotel employees.
  • ...10 more annotations...
  • Hotels typically reuse key cards for multiple guests, and in today’s environment, this practice has become unacceptable,
  • it can be contaminated with germs and bacteria. Now more than ever, there is a need for safe, sustainable alternatives for hotel check-in and room access.
  • In many cases, paper key cards may be printed at a cost that matches the cost of producing plastic cards, and the design options for custom branding are extensive (e.g., printing with graphics, foils, and glitter) and may include the option of an anti-microbial coating.
  • The single-user key concept provides a fresh card to each guest and prevents germs from getting passed to your guests or your employees,
  • Plus, hotels that use AssureCards can do so with the environment in mind by helping to reduce the plastic that goes into landfills
  • Paper cards are a proven technology and have been used for years as gift, loyalty, and product activation cards.
  • Meyers has developed a paper RFID key card — called the AssureCard — that looks and feels like a plastic key card but is made from renewable paper pulp and may be disposed of after a single use.
  • Meyers, a brand marketing and high-end commercial printing company, announced that it has created a solution that will help the hotel industry offer contactless check-in and room access.
  • with hotel employees.
  • AssureCard is made with a responsibly sourced paper fiber that offers all of the plastic key card’s best features — durability, convenience, and low cost
  • hankunli on 24 Jul 20
     
    Meyers have created a new way for hotels to avoid physical contact and contamination by using a disposable paper room card. This kind of card also has the advantage of reducing plastic waste and allow hotels to customize their cards. The article also has mentioned that the card can have a layer of anti-microbial coating if needed. Generally, this kind of card is a nice solution to be more eco-friendly and safe.
  • kelseybarton on 28 Aug 20
     
    The company Meyers has created a new, safe way for guests to enter their hotel rooms with the current conditions of the world today. "Meyers has developed a paper RFID key card - called the AssureCard - that looks and feels like a plastic key card but is made from renewable paper pulp and may be disposed of after a single use." It has been customary in the past for hotels to reuse plastic room keys from guest to guest. This practice is often a deterrent for guests and is also quite unsanitary. Provenance Hotels has been using this technology since January of 2020. Their corporate director, Christopher Bebo stated, "the single-user key concept provides a fresh card to each guest and prevents germs from getting passed to your guests or your employees... Plus, hotels that use AssureCards can do so with the environment in mind by helping to reduce the plastic that goes into landfills." I believe that this technology is an amazing advancement for the health and safety of our guests. The keys are produced at similar costs to what organizations are already paying for plastic keys and they can still provide guests with something that meets their brand standard and expectations. AssureCard is a "proven technology" that is good for the environment and it is going to help to keep our staff and guests safe in a time that is so uncertain.
marble_bird

Modern information technologies in the hotel business: development trends and implementation issues Modern information technologies in the hotel business: development trends and implementation issues.pdf - 0 views

shared by marble_bird on 08 Jun 20 - No Cached
  • Today, the process of digitalization of the Russian economy has a significant impact on hospitality industry.
  • Digitalization is becoming a major trend, which is evident in the distribution models of hotel services, and also actively comes to the sphere of automation of internal business processes
  • Digital innovations are gradually becoming the new standard of hotel service
  • ...34 more annotations...
  • digitalization of hotels also includes introduction of advanced solutions for analytics and security.
  • Digital security systems can not only track the slightest disturbance of the public peace, but also provide additional information.
  • At present day, it is too early to assess the effectiveness of some recent innovations, that are related mostly to the hotel's image and attract customers.
  • The main trends in the use of modern technologies in hospitality industry in the conditions of digitalization of the economy are presented in figure 1.
  • The main disadvantages of traditional technologies include the following: local server requires regular maintenance from the system administrator; access to database is restricted by local network facilities; connection speed is limited by the speed of a local provider and divided among all who are drawn to the sever database
  • Artificial intelligence plays an equally important role in improving the efficiency of public catering enterprises.
  • Use of artificial intelligence also allows to analyze the work of the restaurant, and to detect violations of rules by the staff via control of bills, number of the discount card uses, as well as the number of cancellations and deletions of checks.
  • The issue of privacy that characterizes traditional tourism industry is also addressed through blockchain technology, minimizing exposure to sensitive data in the face of existing problems with cyber attacks and fraud in traditional financial services.
  • if the concept of hospitality industry enterprise changes, it is possible to change the composition of paid licenses.
  • Almost all companies in hospitality industry have started to think about using chatbots to solve specific business problems [9].
  • One of the ways to get competitive advantages for accommodation facilities is to invest and use new technologies. In this regard, augmented reality is the most promising technology for the modern tourism industry. its development and application can increase the competitiveness of destinations.
  • Augmented reality can be used to interact with guests before, during, and after their stay.
  • Augmented reality technologies can be used to stimulate travel purchases (the effect of being present in a hotel room, as well as demonstrating the environment and local services using a virtual reality headset). Also, virtual and augmented reality, including those with tactile sensations, can be implemented by digital concierges to issue recommendations to the client on various issues and types of recreation
  • The API allows one hotel technology system to automatically (i.e., without the participation of hotel employees) interact with another technology system and gain access to its functionality.
  • The largest companies develop APIs for clients or internal use at some stage.
  • The result of the analysis of cash transactions is a regular analysis and detailing of violations, categorization of violations, development of measures to counter violations, training of personnel [13].
  • With the help of speech Analytics tools, specialists can work with 100% of requests. To do this, all dialogues are translated into text and analyzed using a special system.
  • Based on this analysis, you can develop a change program for existing procedures and processes and optimize self-service systems (personal account, website).
  • The result of the introduction of innovative speech analytics technologies will be an increase in sales efficiency, an increase in loyalty and customer satisfaction, a reduction in service costs without loss of quality, and behavioral analytics.
  • Currently, biometrics can already be used to identify and confirm the client's identity. Face scanning technologies when registering with the service.
  • Analysts predict that the international market for biometric solutions for the hotel sector will grow exponentially in the coming years. Biometrics, as the most reliable and accurate authentication system, can provide real-time information about employees and their use of their working time.
  • The result of using this technology is payment without wallets and Bank cards, increasing the speed of customer service, and a high level of security.
  • In 2018, Amazon presented a special version of the voice assistant for hotels — Alexa for Hospitality, which is currently being tested in Marriott hotels.
  • At the same time, the use of Echo speakers in hotels raises concerns about the privacy of personal data. Amazon claims that audio recordings of the guest's voice commands will be deleted every day, and the hotel administration will not have access to both request records and response records.
  • IT outsourcing is the transfer to a third-party contractor (outsourcer) of all or part of the functions for servicing the organization's information needs. Currently, this technology is becoming increasingly common in the hospitality industry.
  • The main point of switching to outsourcing is to optimize the company's costs while significantly improving the quality of services provided. The main criteria for outsourcing are the lack of competitive advantages and not the strategic position of this operation or function for the company
  • The main problems of implementing information technologies in the hospitality and tourism industry include the high cost of these developments, the duration of staff training processes, and the adaptation of the built system of business processes of enterprises.
  • The problem is also the difficulty of attracting investment in the hotel business
  • Another problem with the introduction of information technology in the hotel business is the lack of relevance of regulatory documents and legal barriers to the introduction of innovations
  • In addition, the introduction of modern information technologies in the hospitality industry is complicated by the level of technical and technological complexity of implementation projects.
  • nformation technologies are improving at a rapid pace
  • In the leading Russian hotels that are part of the global hotel chains, the work is fully automated, technological, and has its own computer and Internet services. Such hotels already have a successful experience in implementing modern information technologies.
  • Customers of the hospitality industry already have a lot of experience in using mobile devices.
  • Digital marketing is becoming a key channel of communication between the hotel and the network. At the same time, only the implementation of continuous data collection, processing, analysis and aggregation tasks will allow the management of hospitality enterprises to achieve one of their main goals - to better understand their customers and interact with them.
  • marble_bird on 08 Jun 20
     
    This article describes trends in technology in the hotel industry and the applications of them in the Russian economy. The article discusses what the trends in IT are and how they may apply to the hotel sector of the hospitality industry, providing real-world examples and hypothetical scenarios. The information in this article is insightful to the relationship between hospitality and information technology and provides a perspective on this relationship from the viewpoint of the Russian hotel economy specifically.
emilywest5

Developing an eMarketing model for tourism and hospitality: a keyword analysis - ProQuest - 0 views

www.proquest.com/...2498998516

technology hospitality tech software business hotel travel

shared by emilywest5 on 13 Feb 23 - No Cached
  • Advances in IT have prompted the hospitality and tourism industries to move in a new direction, i.e. internet marketing or eMarketing (Leung et al., 2015)
  • On the other hand, from the customer perspective, tourism and hospitality are an information-intensive consumption experience because a customer might make considerable efforts to collect information and understand the image of a travel destination before making a purchase decision (Kim and Law, 2015). In this regard, search engines and social media are two of most fundamental information sources for making such decisions (Xiang and Gretzel, 2010). With their information-sharing capability, social media empower customers, granting them a “democratic consumption culture” by reducing information asymmetry and increasing their bargaining power (Leung et al., 2013). The pervasiveness and powerful computational capability of mobile technology make it possible for tourists to easily access information, book online services or even make impromptu purchases (Kim and Law, 2015). Apparently, the tourism and hospitality industries have been facing a revolution that has arisen largely because of IT turbulence (Piccoli, 2008).
  • Studies suggest that IT plays a prominent role in the tourism and hospitality industries, and it will be imperative, and indeed beneficial, for tourism and hospitality practitioners and scholars to keep abreast of all the advances in IT
  • ...11 more annotations...
  • Correspondingly, the frontiers of IT-related research will not only benefit the innovation and encroachment of the industry but also support managers, researchers, policymakers and other interested audiences in understanding the progress of developing trends and themes in the context of IT development
  • Among these analyzes, the keyword co-occurrence network particularly aims to construct knowledge, as the keywords of an article are anchored by the authors to distill the core concepts of a paper. Keywords generally represent the main idea of a research paper and express authors’ understandings of their work within the thematic context of their research domains (Ali et al., 2019). Keywords are regarded as one of the most meaningful indicators of an article’s content (Weismayer and Pezenka, 2017). Although keywords indicate the topic area and key variables/theories used in a study, they do not convey key findings such as the causal relationship between two keywords. Nevertheless, a group of keywords from the same domain creates an intellectual knowledge map of that realm. A knowledge map is generated from keywords according to the following steps
  • Keywords are collected from journal articles. A network of these keywords is built. A knowledge map connects the same keywords in different articles. A complete knowledge map is formed when all articles undergo the previous three steps.
  • eMarketing Capability As this study’s model of eMarketing capabilities is a major contribution and these capabilities play a critical role in marketing performance, future studies can investigate the antecedents/consequences of eMarketing capability, develop a scale or investigate the formation process of this construct. Future studies might validate the proposed model-based either on a single eMarketing capability or on multiple eMarketing capabilities. Empirical studies could benefit the development of research concerning eMarketing tourism and hospitality.
  • 3. Methods3.1 Data collection
  • 3.2 Data processing
  • 3.3 Analysis process and tools
  • Emerging Digital Technologies The purpose of this study is aimed at understanding the impact of IT on tourism and hospitality. However, as IT continues to evolve and advance, and as new technologies often alter customers’ behavior, as well as firms’ marketing strategies, it is necessary to pay attention to the impact of new digital technologies on focal fields. Specifically, it could be interesting and promising to explore the impact and role of forthcoming digital technologies in different eras, specifically, artificial intelligence, machine leaning, AR, virtual reality (VR), mixed reality (MR), chatbots, robotics, blockchain, 5 G or the internet of things (Park et al., 2018; Tung and Au, 2018).
  • As the database contains journals from various domains, this study first identified the target journals by using the keywords “travel,” “tourism” and “hospitality,” identifying 24 journals. Next, as these journals are affiliated with different publishers, the keywords “IT*,” “IS” and “technology*” were input to search ICT-related articles on the official website of each journal from its first issue to April 2020.
  • Customer Equity and Engagement Value Customer equity and engagement value are two of the crucial variables that require a better understanding in the eMarketing tourism and hospitality research. With the application and support of advanced IT and quantitative mathematical models, it will be valuable for future work to explore all aspects of the factors that influence customer experiences over time to synergize and maximize customer equity and CEV for DMOs or hotels.
  • Marketing Performance Apart from loyalty, other marketing performance indicators including financial and non-financial ones are encouraged to be developed. Such work will contribute to both the tourism and hospitality academia and allow industrial managers to link financial performance with innovative IT in terms of profit, sales revenue or cash flow. Moreover, assessing non-financial marketing performance (market share, quality of services or CEV) will help researchers and managers better understand the predictors of future financial performance than traditional accounting measures have in the past, and it should also supplement financial indicators in internal accounting systems (Ittner and Larcker, 1998). Finally, it will be contributory to develop a combined indicator linking financial and non-financial measures. Table 4 summarizes the overview of future research avenues.
  • emilywest5 on 13 Feb 23
     
    This article is about how hospitality and tourism have been reshaped through IT, eMarketing and how it has helped prove sales, information, made destinations more popular and also help travelers plan. eMarketing also is a massive platform for word of mouth. This study also shows what helped eMarketing become what it is. When certain things are typed into search bars, this data is collected and used for eMakreting and to target specific groups of people.
Yuting Peng

Hospitality Marketing Services | Sabre Hospitality - Tools & Technologies | E-Marketing Tools - 0 views

www.sabrehospitality.com/online-marketing-tools.php

e-Marketing technology hospitality

shared by Yuting Peng on 06 Nov 12 - No Cached
  • Sabre Hospitality Solutions has designed essential applications and products that will push your Internet Marketing program to a higher level of performance .
  • Sabre Hospitality Solutions has designed essential applications and products that will push your Internet Marketing program to a higher level of performance
  • Sabre Hospitality Solutions has designed essential applications and products that will push your Internet Marketing program to a higher level of performance.
  • ...9 more annotations...
  • offer a wide range of cutting-edge and user-friendly Internet Marketing tools that enable direct online sales transactions, track and analyze Website traffic data and conversions, integrate emerging technology, and facilitate cost-effective Customer Relationship Marketing (CRM).
  • The CMT uses a text editor that is similar in functionality to Microsoft Word, allowing a non-programmer to manage and edit content on their Website in real time. Clients are able to edit basic body text and insert interior images throughout their Website, thereby virtually eliminating Website maintenance costs.
  • Sabre Hospitality Solutions provides a full e-commerce solution that enables you to build and manage an E-store that generates significant incremental revenue.
  • Sabre Hospitality Solutions' Interactive Proposal Service (IPS) is a proprietary system that allows a property to respond to RFP's in a highly customized fashion.
  • Our Flash map solution integrates standard interactive components for any set of floor plans.
  • Our behavioral targeting engine serves potential guests content based on how they are navigating through the Website; and profiles their keyword search that has led them to the Website.
  • Sabre Hospitality Solutions developed a proprietary Content Management Tool (CMT) based on the needs of our clients.
  • The CMT is developed in a secure environment and is extremely user friendly, empowering our clients to confidently and efficiently manage copy on their Websites. Sabre Hospitality Solutions designed and developed this application in-house, and the application is used in multiple hospitality Websites.
  • Our E-store solution includes a flexible, easy-to-use product catalog, pre-programmed shopping cart utility, secure checkouts, and automated order management and processing functionality.
  • Chenchen zheng on 06 Nov 12
     
    This article talked about Sabre Hospitality Solution which is the user-friendly e-marketing tool. The Sabre Hospitality Solution will push your internet marketing program to a higher level of performance through the following five essential elements. First, Sabre Hospitality Solutions developed a proprietary Content Management Tool (CMT) based on the needs of the clients. Second, Sabre Hospitality Solutions provides a full e-commerce solution that enables you to build and manage an E-store that generates significant incremental revenue. Third, behavioral targeting engine of Sabre Hospitality Solutions serves potential guests content based on how they are navigating through the Website; and profiles their keyword search that has led them to the Website. Fourth, flash map solution integrates standard interactive components for any set of floor plans. Fifth, Sabre Hospitality Solutions' Interactive Proposal Service (IPS) is a proprietary system that allows a property to respond to RFP's in a highly customized fashion.
  • Yuting Peng on 04 Apr 13
     
    Sabre Hospitality Solutions has designed applications and products to push the e-marketing program to a higher level. It offers a wide range of e-marketing tools. Sabre Hospitality Solutions developed a proprietary CMT based on the needs of the clients. This friendly empowering the clients and is widely used in multiple hospitality websites. It also provides a full e-commerce solution that enables you to build and manage and e-store that generates significant incremental revenue. In addition, the behavioral targeting engine serves potential guests content and the flash map solution integrates standard interactive components for any set of floor plans. Finally, it is a interactive proposal service. This unique online presentation of your proposal will ensure your product stands apart form other competitors.
Jing Huang

IT, human capital investments boost competitiveness of travel, tourism & hospitality sectors | Elaf Group | AMEinfo.com - 0 views

www.ameinfo.com/-competitiveness-travel-298730

investments hospitality

shared by Jing Huang on 07 Mar 13 - No Cached
  • Jing Huang on 07 Mar 13
     
    Industry events have been emphasizing the importance of conducting advanced training programs to produce qualified personnel and provide unique services that meet the requirements of travelers and tourists. Greater focus is recommended towards promoting creativity and innovation across the travel and tourism market which is in need of 'travel consultants' rather than just 'ticket clerks,' for example. IT development is playing a vital role across the industry as an effective means to obtain services in a quicker, easier and more reliable manner. Online booking, for one, has received highly positive response from customers and has driven tourism companies and travel agencies to invest in the latest systems and talents to achieve greater customer satisfaction. Bin Mahfouz added that it is vital to adopt advanced IT systems that can support effective and convenient online services. Such systems, he said, promote competitiveness and help meet and exceed customer expectations."Rapid changes and fast-paced digital developments have influenced the Elaf Group of Companies to undertake major investments across the Saudi travel, tourism and hospitality sectors and beyond to keep pace with international developments and resolve competitiveness-driven challenges to reach a wider segment of customers. Some of the areas we are focusing on are the installation of better IT systems, the expansion of our hotel portfolio, and advanced training to enable our personnel to meet the many needs of our customers," said Bin Mahfouz. 
Ashley Mullins

Automated testing of complex Web 2.0 applications prevents security vulnerabilities - 0 views

phys.org/...lications-vulnerabilities.html

shared by Ashley Mullins on 19 Jun 13 - No Cached
  • So far there are no methods to test complex web 2.0 applications systematically
  • developed a software system for checking complex web applications autonomously.
  • He says that the methods that web developers and responsible project leaders rely on to try to find programming errors and security holes in web applications have been too ineffective and inefficient.
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • developed the software system "Webmate", which determines automatically why Web 2.0 applications fail.
  • Ashley Mullins on 19 Jun 13
     
    There is internet fraud everywhere and the most common one these days is web application fraud. Saarland University have developed a software system that checks web applications autonomously which is convenient t for application users. Most methods fail but with Webmate we are able to figure out why it did so. Webmate is able to detect how the applications work and what virus are trying to interact with the application.
Marcos Oliveira

LEED Certification and Other Green Initiatives Can Be Hotel Marketing Coups , by Carl Rizzo - 0 views

hotelexecutive.com/...s-can-be-hotel-marketing-coups

shared by Marcos Oliveira on 05 Feb 13 - No Cached
  • from becoming airborne. Green Seal is a non-profit
  • prevent particles from becoming airborne. Green Seal is a non-profit, third-party certifier
  • n the United States, hotels represent more than 5 billion square feet of space, nearly 5 million guest rooms, and close to $4 billion in annual energy use
  • ...27 more annotations...
  • January 2010, only 40 hospitality properties have achieved so-called LEED
  • certification.
  • LEED is a voluntary, third-party green building certification program that awards points to buildings for satisfying certain green building criteria. In order to be LEED-certified, a building has to implement a plan to reduce building operating costs, its environmental footprint, and resource consumption such as water and energy use.
  • developed by the U.S. Green Building Council
  • non-profit organization
  • intended to provide building owners and operators a basic framework for identifying and employing practical and measurable green building design, construction, operations and maintenance solutions
  • LEED for New Construction and Major Renovations and LEED for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance are the programs which have the most applicability to hospitality projects.
  • In addition, each rating system, including LEED for New Construction and Major Renovations and LEED for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance, is organized into six credit categories
  • sustainable sites; water efficiency; energy and atmosphere; materials and resources; indoor environmental quality and innovation in operations.
  • Once the essential prerequisites are satisfied, developers can thereafter chose which optional credits to pursue in order to obtain certification. Certification levels start at Certified and increase to Silver, Gold and Platinum designations.
  • first hotel to receive LEED Platinum Certification was the Proximity Hotel in Greensboro, North Carolina
  • Proximity Hotel uses 39% less energy and 33% less water then a comparable sized hotel. In addition, the Proximity Hotel was able to recycle 87% of its construction debris
  • purchased 40% of the building materials and 90% of its furniture locally and even restored 700 feet of an adjacent stream. Proximity’s most impressive features, however, include:
  • installation of 100 solar panels on the roof, which heat about 60% of the hotel and the hotel restaurant’s water; use of geothermal energy for the restaurant’s refrigeration equipment; and installation of the Regenerative Drive model of the Otis’ Gen2 elevator which reduces net energy usage by capturing the elevator’s energy and then feeding it back to the hotel’s electrical grid
  • Many hospitality companies have already introduced green initiatives, such as the use of compact fluorescent light bulbs, offering linen and towel reuse programs as well as various recycling programs
  • Not only are these green initiatives environmentally responsible, but should a hospitality company at some future point seek LEED certification, these green initiatives would earn them points in furtherance of the certification process
  • Paving Parking Lots with Highly Reflective Materials or Open Grid Pavers
  • By using highly reflective concrete and/or open grid pavers, hospitality companies can help reduce the summer cooling loads for their building, which in turn reduces energy use and pollution generation.
  • Installing High-Efficiency Plumbing Fixtures
  • Landscaping with Native Plant Species
  • native plants reduce more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere than traditional mowed grass due to their extensive root systems and increased ability to retain and store water
  • Green Cleaning – Using Sustainable Cleaning Products, Materials and Equipment
  • A green cleaning program may include the use of Green Seal Certified household cleaners, Green Seal Certified laundry products, micro-fiber cloths, and dual motor vacuum cleaners with HEPA (high efficiency particulate air) filters that prevent particles from becoming airborne. Green Seal is a non-profit, third-party certifier
  • third-party certifier
  • Using Local Materials and Goods
  • While not every hotel or hospitality company may be in the financial position to seek LEED certification or undertake costly capital expenditures, there are numerous green initiatives that each and every hospitality company should be considering to improve their efficiencies while also attracting green conscious consumers
  • A simple Google search of “hotels” and “green initiatives” returns more than 27,000,000 hits
  • Marcos Oliveira on 05 Feb 13
     
    In the United States, hotels represent more than 5 billion square feet of space, nealry 5 million guest rooms and approxiamtely $4 billion in annual energy use. As of January 2010, there were only 40 hotels that were LEED certified. The acronym LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. LEED is a voluntary, third party green building certification program that awards points to buildings depending on their sustainable practice being implemented which includes building improvements, environemntal footprint and water and energy use. LEED was developed by the U.S. Green Building Council, a nonprofit organization. Its main purpose is to provide building owners and operators with a basic framework for developing and implementing sustainable practices. The first hotel to ever be certified according to LEED criteria was the Proximity Hotel in Greensboro, NC. This hote received Platnium status for being able to recycle 87% of its construction debris, purchasing 40% of the building materials and 90% of its furniture locally. Installation of 100 solar panels, use of geothermal energy for the restaurant's refrigeration equipment and instllation of a Regenerative Drive model for its elevators made the Proximity Hotel a benchmark hotel. There are several practices that can make a hotel conserve energy and make it sustainable such as using flourescent lightbulbs, offering linen and towel reuse programs, paving parkig lots with highly reflective materials or open grid pavers, installing high-efficiency plumbing fixtures, landscaping with native plants and using local materials and goods. These will not necessarily lead to LEED certification but will definitely earn points towards obtaining that accredidation. The use of sustainable practices not only helps conserve the environment but also saves money in the long run. Through water conservation techniques, recycling and linen and towel reuse programs, the hospitality industry wins two-fold,
cmogu001

Google's Green Initiative: Environmentally Conscious Technology - 1 views

www.technobuffalo.com/...nmentally-conscious-technology

technology software solution green

shared by cmogu001 on 04 Sep 16 - No Cached
  • Progress depends on radical innovation
  • the company still released information detailing the progress of its environmentally-friendly initiatives.
  • an application plug-in that would help automobiles determine where you are going,
  • ...10 more annotations...
  • This technology, called Prediction, maximizes fuel and power consumption, which effectively reduces carbon emissions
  • Google has made its environmentally-conscious initiatives well-known
  • French authorities have used Google’s mapping services to determine agricultural regions that should face water restrictions.
  • cutting down on the emissions of data farms or having goats roam Google’s campus to eliminate the need for fertilizer and lawn mowers, the company has always strived to cut down on greenhouse gases.
  • managing to half their data center energy use through practical thinking, using the excess energy to power office complexes, Google has effectively cut down on its environmental impact.
  • Google is now providing information to indigenous tribes on deforestation, giving them the ability to track and prevent the atrocity from taking place.
  • Google would be nowhere without its data centers.
  • Google’s long-term goal of running entirely on renewable energy is growing closer and closer.
  • Google is constantly searching for ways to ensure that it never consumes excessive gas.
  • Instead of trying to purge carbon from its systems, Google invests in “off-setting” its carbon emissions by investing in green initiatives that would not have the funding to survive otherwise.
  • cmogu001 on 04 Sep 16
     
    This article expounds how Google is contributing to the future green advancements of the world by implementing them in their every day operations. Although developing next-generation consumer electronics is an extremely lucrative sector of technology, Google has shifted their thinking away from the immediate consumer electronics field, moving towards the development of green technology. The article further mentions Google's wide-range of environmentally-friendly initiatives which includes the development of an application plug-in that would help automobiles determine where the driver is going that in turn reduces energy use, incorporates renewable energy, and offsets carbon emissions. Also, despite the large amount of Google data centers, Google has managed to cut their energy use in half through practical thinking that included purchasing a wind farm in Iowa with plans of running entirely on renewable energy in the near future. The company also made it a point to cut down on greenhouse gases by having goats roam their Google campus to eliminate the need for fertilizer and lawn movers. In conclusion, by adopting unconventional techniques for effectively lowering its environmental impact, the company has become a model example for more companies to think outside of the box and focus on implementing green technology in an efficient and innovative manner.
anonymous

Shift4 supports Google Wallet | Hotel Management - 0 views

www.hotelmanagement.net/...4-supports-google-wallet-15932

POS

shared by anonymous on 23 Jun 12 - No Cached
  • Shift4 Corporation now supports Google Wallet on four newly integrated Ingenico PIN pads.The Shift4 interfaces for these four new devices – the Ingenico iSC250, iSC350, iPP320, and iPP350 – also support swipe-ahead functionality, meaning customers can swipe their cards (or touch their phones) and then enter their PIN (or signature) before the merchant finishes ringing up the order. Once the order is completed, customers simply approve the amount, get their receipt, and are on their way. In busy retail environments, the short time saved by this option quickly adds up.
  • The new NFC functionality integrates seamlessly with Shift4's existing DOLLARS ON THE NET® features including TrueTokenization® and 4Go®. It is now available to Shift4 merchants running the most recent version of Shift4's Universal Transaction Gateway®. Currently, the aforementioned devices are supported with no modification required to the Point-of-Sale (POS) system.
  • anonymous on 23 Jun 12
     
    Shift4 develops payment technology for various types of business. The hotel I work in uses it to process gift cards. This article describes the company's newest endeavor with emerging technologies, in this case Google Wallet. Companies using Shift4 will now have the functionality of letting customers use Google Wallet, paying for a purchase by tapping or swiping your cell phone on a special screen, in a seamless integration with their current POS. Google Wallet or the iPhone Square Card Reader are technologies that businesses need to take into consideration when developing or enhancing their POS. Shift4 seems to be the front runner in offering this add-on. I imagine other payment developers will follow suit.
jennifer amador

Modern Independent Hotel Websites Drive Results... and Awards - 0 views

www.hospitalitynet.org/...4056695.html

hospitality website sites models

shared by jennifer amador on 02 Jul 12 - No Cached
  • VIZERGY, a leader in hotel Internet marketing, recently won two Interactive Media Awards (IMA) for website designs, including the highest honor of Best in Class.
  • The awards are a testament to the company's evolving and leading website design principles that factor into all of their clients' websites.
  • VIZERGY's design team adheres to the latest industry design and usability standards, as well as best practices determined by the team's years of award-winning experience. Along with professional images and search engine optimized copy, VIZERGY's client websites include bold calls to action, prominent booking engines, social media integration, layered imagery, shadows and more.
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • "Our design team is constantly researching and implementing the latest website design and standards. More awards are a testament to their diligence," says Philip Faircloth, VIZERGY's Director of Operations
  • jennifer amador on 02 Jul 12
     
    This article is recognizing the performance of a great innovative website model developer Vizergy's; which captures the wonderful images and writings and place them into corporate websites. VIZERGY's is being acknowledge for being the leader in hotel internet marketing and interactive media awards. Nevertheless, VIZERGY received one of the highest acheivements for excellence in website design and development; I personally believe that companies should recognize such accomplishment and let it be know to the hospitality industry that it is very important to dedicate time and perhaps money into website development. A website not only represents the company as a whole but it can be seen worldwide over the internet and therefore should be up to standards and complice with all hospitality industry marketing related.
Hanlu Hu

E-Commerce for the Hospitality Industry | The Moscow Times - 6 views

www.themoscowtimes.com/...449373.html

technology

shared by Hanlu Hu on 30 May 12 - No Cached
  • E-commerce has been defined as "the buying and selling of products and services by businesses and consumers over the Internet."
  • Accelerating Internet usage worldwide The Internet is the lowest cost hotel-booking channel Most travelers research hotel reservations on the Internet Social media and online hotel reviews are an increasingly important decision factor The web is the preferred media source for travel information, favored 17:1 over television and 6:1 over newspapers and magazines.
  • Adding real time search functionality to your site, capability to generate user reviews, launching contests helps to build fresh content and quality links
  • ...9 more annotations...
  • Heavy graphics, animation and flash demos cause your site to perform slowly. Sites that are built keeping these guidelines in mind will deliver better user experiences, will perform better on search engines, and ultimately drive higher ROI.
  • As things stand now, mobile queries represent about 10% of all queries made on Google. People are using mobile devices to conduct searches, as well as share content, connect with friends and browse the web
  • Embracing social media. 93 percent of social media users expect companies to have a social presence. 85 percent of social media users want companies to interact with them on social sites. A well-planned social initiative can turn fans into brand evangelists.
  • The Internet has consolidated itself as a very powerful platform that has changed the way we communicate, and the way we do business.
  • The growing importance of e-commerce in the modern hospitality industry has created an urgent need for simple solutions to manage companies' online presence. Now that each hotel is involved in e-commerce, why is hotel e-commerce so important today?
  • We forget that the human brain can only consume limited information. It is important to take a holistic approach and prioritize information. Good web site architecture and organized content improves site usability and its efficiency when used with search engines.
    • yan xie
      yan xie on 03 Jun 12
       
      It is true that we always forge how many information the human brain will take at once. Although the e-commerce is the good way for customers to know the new products and new service from the hotels, sometimes the hotels provide so much information to customers. It lets customers confused and does not know what the specifice products can meet their requirements. And sometimes, they feel some hard to understand your service so that they give up hotels service or new products to choose the one they are familiar. So how to make e-commerce usability and efficiency is a new point, which the hospitality industry company need to consider.
  • make sure your ad groups are made up of tightly knit keyword themes and that those keywords are reflected in your ad copy; ensure that your landing pages clearly reflect the offer promoted in the ad copy and includes clear calls to action and conversion factors.
    • yan xie
      yan xie on 03 Jun 12
       
      As the point two mentioned, the customers cannot get so many information at once, and they also cannot search lots of information at once. So the keyword themes is also another important thing for company to do the promotion and ads. This ads need to have the keywords to clearly reflect the offer promoted for customers. In this way, the customers will catch the information as possible as they can.
  • Top e-commerce sites are continually testing new things. It's the only way to achieve continual improvement.
    • yan xie
      yan xie on 03 Jun 12
       
      To do the continually testing new things is always a best development way for the developing company. If the company cannot test the new things in their e-commerce sites and e-commerce process, the e-commerce of this company will be far away from other companies. Company need to have the innovation to make some new things for their e-commerce and do the test all the time to select the best way for the business and customers' expericence.
  • hospitality industry has always been among the first to capitalize on new technologies
  • Gerardo Collado on 30 May 12
     
    The hospitality industry along with the resourcefulness of the Internet has allowed the Russian hospitality industry to benefit and grow with the technology of e-commerce. E-commerce is defined as "the buying and selling of products and service by businesses and consumers over the Internet". This technology is significant due to its beneficial factors of lowering costs, accessibility, decision-making, and media exposure. As well, the article provides for methods and advice regards effective strategies to utilize the Internet. Primarily, the speed of the website's functionality is essential, along with providing compatibility of browsers, thus, allowing for a better experience for users. The information in the website should be efficient, allowing for real time search whether using a mobile phone or a computer. It was informative to read the multiple functionality, that social media is playing in the hospitality industry regards the exposure and marketability. E-commerce has change the market of goods and services, from a tangible experience to digital experience, through the use of online shopping estimated at $228 Billion in 2010, a third derived from the purchase of travel and flight websites, thus, demonstrating the importance of the Internet in relation to consumerism.
  • ...7 more comments...
  • Avril Emmanuel on 01 Jun 12
     
    This article talks about why hotel E-commerce is essential today and how to go about having E-commerce work for your business/hotel. The article says, "The internet has consolidated itself as a very powerful platform that has changed he way we communicate, and the way we do business." This is the reason why businesses need to utilize the internet. According to the article these are the reasons that hotel e-commerce is important today: the internet is being used worldwide, the internet is the lowest cost hotel-booking medium, the internet is used, by travelers, to research hotels and their reservations, the internet is the home of social media and hotel reviews and the internet is preferred 17:1 over television and 6:1 over newspapers and magazines for travel information. It would be at a hotel's detriment if they do not utilize the internet and e-commerce. It isn't enough to use e-commerce for business but there must be an upkeep. It is extremely beneficial to research or monitor how customers and potential consumers are seeking information and what attracts them to a site. According to the article, e-commerce strategies that would 'help get the best from the internet world' are: 1. Search-friendly website design 2. Improving Conversion and Usability 3. Paid Search 4. Real time Search 5. Mobile Device Market 6. Social Media 7. Testing
  • yan xie on 03 Jun 12
     
    This article mentioned why the ecommerce important for the hospitality industry. And also there are more things they hospitality industry companies need to know. Although the e-commerce is the good way for customers to know the new products and new service from the hotels, sometimes the hotels provide so much information to customers. It lets customers confused and does not know what the specific products can meet their requirements. And sometimes, they feel some hard to understand your service so that they give up hotels service or new products to choose the one they are familiar. So how to make e-commerce usability and efficiency is a new point, which the hospitality industry company need to consider. As the point two mentioned, the customers cannot get so many information at once, and they cannot search lots of information at once. So the keyword themes is also another important thing for company to do the promotion and ads. This ads need to have the keywords to clearly reflect the offer promoted for customers. In this way, the customers will catch the information as possible as they can. It is true that we always forge how many information the human brain will take at once. To do the continually testing new things is always a best development way for the developing company. If the company cannot test the new things in their e-commerce sites and e-commerce process, the e-commerce of this company will be far away from other companies. Company need to have the innovation to make some new things for their e-commerce and do the test all the time to select the best way for the business and customers' experience.
  • xiyu wang on 16 Sep 12
     
    This article discusses about the application of e-commerce in hospitality industry. Internet has become a very powerful tool for customers when they are planing their travels. As the same time, it has become an important media for hotelierss to improve their businesses. Internet can provider a lot of online sources to customers when they make any dicisions. And how to make your web site become more competitive and attract more customers is the topic of this article. First of all, a good design for the web site is the most important thing for hotelierss. And the download speed is the basic factor. Quick download speed brings a good experience to users, and improves the ranking in organic search. Secondly, improving usability needs to be focused on by hotelierss. Large imformation may not be took in by users. You need to make your customers seethe most important information first. In other word, you need to prioritize your web site and make the imformation more understood. Paid search and real time search are also focused on by the author. Sometimes, paid search can make your hotel more compelling on the search engine. And some tips have been given in this articel to help the hotelierss to maximize conversions. Real time search is similar with paid search, and it needs compelling fresh content and quality incoming links on the web site. Maps, photo galleries, videos and press releases are creative ways to distrivute content on different channels. With more mobiles customers using, mobile represent about 10% of all queries make on Google. Hotels can exand the mobile market and improve the download speed of their site by avoid heavy graphics and flash, making their site is mobile compatible. Social media is in the same condition with mobile. Customers need more connections on social sites, so they want companies to interact with them through the social media. The last point is testing. Every new thing needs a lot of tests. It can provides changes and improvement for
  • Gaby Belardo on 16 Sep 12
     
    The article discusses power of internet and how different it is from magazine and television ads. "In terms of time your travel websites are available for are accessible for a longer period of time, the flexibility that the content can be changed without asking someone,if you have a content management system." Also travel websites will help your business potentially reach a wider audience. Another big advantage of having a travel website is it's availability even when your business is closed or no one is available to answer your phone. Everyone knows that there are so many time zones, and the visitors can come from any part of the world. So having a travel websites gives your travel business visibility for all 365 days of year 24x7.
  • Xiameng Zheng on 30 Jan 13
     
    In hospitality industry, customers are constantly seeking new sources of information to help them make decisions before purchasing services. E-commerce in hospitality industry is about the online buying and selling services. And it's become such an important source for the company and customer. Hospitality businesses are all involved in the trend. Smart hoteliers need to keep a sharp focus on the fundamental shift in ways customers are seeking information and channels that drive maximum return on investment. This article listed several basic e-commerce strategies that will help hoteliers to get the best from the Internet world.
  • Marcos Oliveira on 31 Jan 13
     
    As new technological advances are being made, the hospitality industry has always been among the first to capitalize on new technologies. The term e-commerce has been defined as the buying and selling of products and services by businesses and consumers over the internet. Now that hotels are involved directly with e-commerce it becomes even more important today because of the accelerating internet usage worldwide,the internet is still the lowest cost channel for booking, many travelers make their travel decisions via the internet. Embracing social media, 93% of social media users expect companies to have a social presence and 85% of social media users want comoanies to interact with them on social sites. A well-planned social iniative can turn fans into brand evangelists. This article dealt mainly with a brief introduction of what e-commerce is in terms of its defining and what it means to the hospitality industry. With more and more people utilizing the internet each day, the potential to have a person book a hotel room greatly increases. Several search engines have advertisements relating to many hotel companies offering specials and customers will see these ads and book. With more technological advances bound to come into play, its only a matter of time before the practice of e-commerce is taken to another level.
  • Ling Xiang on 31 Jan 13
     
    Over the last decade the population of Internet users has increased rapidly. The hospitality industry has always been among the first to capitalize on new technologies. E-commerce has been defined as "the buying and selling of products and services by businesses and consumers over the Internet." With hotel e-commerce, the landscape of the hospitality industry is forever changed. Online sales are an important part of the business. The growing importance of e-commerce in the modern hospitality industry has created an urgent need for simple solutions to manage companies' online presence. Now that each hotel is involved in e-commerce, reasons why is hotel e-commerce so important today may because the accelerating internet usage worldwide, the Internet is the lowest cost hotel-booking channel, and social media and online hotel reviews are an increasingly important decision factor.
  • Panpan Xie on 31 Jan 13
     
    E-commerce has become more and more important in our daily life, because many customers today prefer to use internet to help them make decisions. In hospitality industry, e-commerce also plays an important role, as internet is a very cheap and convenient booking channel and many people use the internet intensively. There are many e-commerce strategies for hoteliers, such as making friendly web site design, embracing social media, etc. As e-commerce has so many advantages, I think e-commerce is an opportunity for hoteliers to grasp. It is important for hoteliers to use different strategies to get the best from the internet world.
  • Hanlu Hu on 02 Feb 13
     
        This article introduced the function of ecommerce and the ecommerce effect for the hospitality industry. The author listed some important reasons about why hotel ecommerce is so important:1)Accelerating Internet usage worldwide.2)The Internet is the lowest cost hotel-booking channel. 3) Most travelers research hotel reservations on the Internet. 4)Social media and online hotel reviews are an increasingly important decision factor. 5) The web is the preferred media source for travel information, favored 17:1 over television and 6:1 over newspapers and magazines. This article also listed some basic e-commerce strategies that will help hoteliers to take advantage of ecommerce from the Internet world. 1) Search-friendly web site design.2) Improve conversion and usability 3) Paid search. 4) Real time search - natural ranking.5) Mobile.6) Embracing social media. 7) Test, test, test. Top e-commerce sites are continually testing new things.      In a summary, the author suggest smart hoteliers need to keep a sharp focus on the fundamental shift in ways customers are seeking information and channels that drive maximum return on investment. Moreover, hoteliers have to constantly learn and look for ways to harness the power of new developments and trends.
Panpan Xie

Aptech Launches New Hospitality Accounting Software - 2 views

nreionline.com/...ality_accounting_software_0621

hospitality accounting software

shared by Panpan Xie on 14 Jul 12 - No Cached
  • “This solution will lift hotel operations into the next decade of financial accounting,”
  • Competition became greater as technology became more affordable
  • with the Internet’s ease of use, anyone can access the best kinds of tools for an affordable price by signing up for a subscription for those tools
  • ...5 more annotations...
  • Aptech Computer Systems, a provider of hospitality software and enterprise financial accounting, has developed an advanced hospitality financial accounting system called the Aptech Next Generation Accounting Solution.
  • Aptech Computer Systems, a provider of hospitality software and enterprise financial accounting, has developed an advanced hospitality financial accounting system called the Aptech Next Generation Accounting Solution.
  • “This solution will lift hotel operations into the next decade of financial accounting,” says Cam Troutman, vice president of Aptech
  • The system is Web-based and developed in Microsoft’s VB.NET technology that leverages a Structured Query Language (SQL) database
  • Aptech developed its Execuvue Business Intelligence system in 1997. The system is now used by La Quinta Inns & Suites, Extended Stay Hotels, Hershey Entertainment, Dolce International, Concord Hospitality Enterprises Co., Starwood Hotels and Resorts, Benchmark Hospitality and Highpointe Hotel Corp.
  • david swatscheno on 14 Jul 12
     
    This article is all about Aptech and their new software. This is a web based software and able to work with just one company or be linked to multiple building or properties if you would like. They really see this software helping out in the hotel industry. This is a big tihng in the industry and will help out a lot of companies.
  • ...1 more comment...
  • Franc Pulido on 23 Sep 12
     
    As the title indicates, this article briefly discusses the release of a web-based, financial accounting system specifically targeting the hospitality industry. Created by Aptech, the Next Generation Accounting Solution system is bound to reduce payroll costs and drastically minimize the manual workload put into financial accounting. Thanks to this system, users will be able to monitor their daily numbers more efficiently and access data at any time from any computer with Internet access. Another advantage of the ANGAS system is that it fully supports sole proprietorships as well as corporations. In other words, hotel companies of different sizes should be able to utilize this web-based accounting tool. In summary, this article confirms how the use of cloud-based applications has allowed companies in the hospitality industry to simultaneously keep operating costs down and maximize their productivity levels.
  • frank rodriguez on 19 Oct 12
     
    Aptech Computer Systems, a provider of hospitality software and enterprise financial accounting, has developed a system that has the ability to help a hotel enterprise or the common Innkeeper. The is system is Web-based and was developed by the company Microsoft. The Company Ap tech has been around for 40 years and have been hotels with their performance management tools. Originally, they started working on interstate motel with their technology and from then on have been a huge success. I am sure people will be very sceptical when using this product because it is Web-based, however it does seem to be much easier to use and if something were to happen you have access to 24/7 customer service. For a business just starting out, this seems like a perfect tool.
  • Panpan Xie on 25 Feb 13
     
    An advanced hospitality financial accounting system is launched by Aptech Computer Systems, which is a hospitality software and financial accounting company. The system is based on internet and can be used by both individual and multi-property hotel companies. The president of the company thinks that with the help of internet, hospitality staff can access to the tools more easily. Also, he has positive attitude towards using new technology by more hotels. There is also an example for the technology's expanding role in hospitality industry. Smith Travel sent its research reports from two to three weeks a time to once a day. I think a good accounting system is very important for a hotel. In the globalized world, many hotels expand themselves in the world, and this system can bring convenience to multi-property hotels.
Tamara Lang

Point of Sale Technology: New Developments - 0 views

www.hotel-industry.co.uk/...point-of-sale-technology

Point of Sale Technology Developments

shared by Tamara Lang on 26 Aug 12 - No Cached
  • Hotel
  • A hotels Point of Sale (POS) system is vital to the running of the business and crucial to how a hotelier monitors things like sales, bookings and staff performance. Recent advances in technology have helped to revolutionise the hospitality sector, decreasing service times and increasing the efficiency of sales when completing transactions.
  • The growing trend of a new technology called Near Field Communications (NFC) is hoped to eliminate the necessity for customers to carry money or credit/debit cards to pay their bills. This NFC technology allows consumers to use mobile devices to process all their transactions, for instance by swiping their smartphone across a special kiosk at the counter, with all the information sent to a central processing system for payment.
  • Tamara Lang on 26 Aug 12
     
    This article was very enlightening on the recent advances of POS technology in the hospitality industry and the new developments that keep evolving. The article presents areas were recent advances have helped to improve the "effectiveness of a business and relationship with their customers". As stated in the article with the use of "cloud-based systems, the latest i-trends and the growth of Near Field Communications", the hospitality industry POS technology will move very far. Three key areas were discussed; "Point of Sale on the move" which referred to using a browser on any mobile device to obtain necessary information while you are on the move or away from the business. The second area was using a POS system on a tablet or smartphone that would be able to provide more useful information than tradition POS systems in a lightweight manner with more flexibility. I can attest to the real need for this advancement because working in an establishment that has the traditional POS systems has proven when there is a problem trouble shooting can be very difficult. A process as simple as getting your technical support team to make changes in your POS system can be a nightmare, when your system does not have updated software. We experienced that issue this week, when technical support attempted to access the system and could not locate the license agreement after hours of searching for a key we found a device that was attached to the printer cable in the back of the CPU. All of the unnecessary time spent on that one event could have been eliminated if some of this new technology was in place. The last area the article referred to is "Marrying POS and NFC". This new development is hoping to eliminate the need for carrying money or credit/debit cards and enable consumers to use mobile devices to process all transactions. I believe this would be very beneficial in the hospitality industry not only from the point credit card fraud but also it eliminate
Long Jin

Brands grind to push online presence in China - 0 views

www.hotelnewsnow.com/...-push-online-presence-in-China

online china technology

shared by Long Jin on 14 Sep 12 - No Cached
  • More than 500 million Internet users reside in China, according to the China Internet Network Information Center, and hoteliers around the world believe the opportunities for online distribution are abundant as that number continues to grow.
  • Online distribution in China is quite complex and different from the rest of the world.
  • Government restrictions on social media are an added hurdle for hoteliers operating in the nation,
  • Long Jin on 14 Sep 12
     
    The article introduced about the opportunities and challenges if the hotels want to expand their ecommerce in China. As the China Internet Network Information Center said, more than 500 million Internet users reside in China while it is still growing, hotels around the world believe that it is a big opportunities to develop their online distribution in China. However, although this is a big opportunities, there are also many challenges which can influence the effect. As the author said, the challenges are government restriction, language and translation and lack of adequate technology. As many hoteliers said, in china, it is very hard to develop its ecommerce. The key issue is the language, only the companies can find professional staff to translate the system into Chinese, the ecommerce can be used. Also, as Chinese credit limits are very low, most of the overseas travel transactions are completed offline in cash.However, hoteliers are trying to find solutions to beat challenges like hiring local marketing agencies or developing in-house marketing teams. Also working with local partners has been more used in the industry.
Melissa Krajewski

Availpro and Premier Hotels of the World announce extended partnership - 0 views

www.hospitalitynet.org/...4054330.html

extranet cloud online distribution channel

shared by Melissa Krajewski on 27 Jan 12 - No Cached
  • CEO of Premier Hotels of the World™ Mr. Martin Fabiano states: "We are excited to announce the partnership with Availpro, which will give our Member Hotels a distinct advantage over other Groups."
  • Melissa Krajewski on 27 Jan 12
     
    The Availpro organization is the hospitality industry leader in online distribution. Its mission is to provide hotel owners with the most effective online sales platform. Using the tagline, 'The World is your hotel Marketplace,' Availpro has helped thousands of hotels worldwide sell over ten million rooms by utilizing a highly developed extranet channel. Availpro's extranet channels provide two-way connectivity to over one hundred distribution websites. With a larger scope of distribution the hotels using Availpro increase their sales and become more efficient. In addition, Availpro's management of these extranet channels saves hotels valuable time. However the reason Availpro is the leader in online distribution is not just its booking capabilities but rather its recent developments that together provide their clients an online distribution extranet solution. The booking engines that made Availpro successful expanded to include mobile applications and social booking with Facebook. Availpro also introduced important decision-making tools such as the Smart Channel Manager, Rate Screener and Guest Satisfaction. I was curious about the 'Rate Screener' so I read Availpro's article "Availpro rate screener allows Hotel owners to sell their rooms at best rate," published on October 17th 2011 (http://www.hospitalitynet.org/news//4053349.html). This tool was developed with user input and tested in real life rate decision scenarios. The all-in-one solution allows managers to see their rates, inventory and competitor rates on a central distribution schedule. By analyzing their competition in real time managers are able to optimize their rates. Long gone are the days when managers used to call the local competition and pretend to be walk-in guests to find out fire sale rates. This most recent article, published on the third of January 2012, discusses Availpro's growing partnership with Premier Hotels of the World™. By incorporating Availpro's ex
Lorena Collazos

HFTP Begins Development of a Global Hospitality Accounting System Users Guide - 1 views

www.marketwatch.com/...-system-users-guide-2012-02-22

hospitality technology accounting global

shared by Lorena Collazos on 02 Mar 12 - No Cached
  • To create a global resource for the hospitality finance industry, Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals (HFTP(R)) has begun development on a global hospitality accounting system users guide.
  • The global guide will provide the industry with a comprehensive glossary of inventory terminology, charts of accounts and will benchmark common allocation for specific regions of the world.
  • Michelle Wilson on 02 Mar 12
     
    HFTP (Hospitality Financial And Technology Professionals) have started developing a global hospitality user's guide. This is a three step process: 1) Students at Ecole Hotelierre De Lausanne in Switzerland are gathering data and surveying hotels and putting together words of reference; 2) Distribute assembled data to regional teams of industry professionals and then they will create sample charts; 3) Finalization of the project by authoring a discussion on similarities and differences of allocations. Initially the guide will be published in English, with other languages being published later on.
  • ...1 more comment...
  • Lorena Collazos on 02 Mar 12
     
    Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals (HFTP) are developing a global hospitality accounting system users guide. This a unique resource in that they plan to document how the industry is actually performing the process, as opposed to mandating a process. Students in Switzerland collect the data, it is then distributed to regional teams of industry professionals that are chaired by industry consultants. These teams will develop sample charts of accounts and common allocations for their specific areas, and lastly the team chairs will finalize the project by authoring a discussion on similarities or differences of allocations. The initial guide will be published in English, with plans to distribute globally in multiple languages.
  • Melissa Krajewski on 03 Mar 12
     
    How are the students at Ecole Hotelierre De Lausanne in Switzerland surveying hotels; i.e. what methods are they using? A great idea in an increasingly globalized world economy.
  • Michelle Wilson on 03 Mar 12
     
    That's an excellent question! The article did not go into detail about how the students will survey the hotels, it just mentioned that they would collect data and survey hotels.
Rui Zhu

Ridout & Maybee LLP: Canadian Patent Office launches Green Technology Initiative - 0 views

www.ridoutmaybee.com/Page.asp

Green initiative Technology

shared by Rui Zhu on 18 Sep 12 - No Cached
  • Under the proposed new service standards, the Canadian Intellectual Property Office would aim to produce a substantive office action for expedited applications within two months from the receipt of the applicant’s request for expedited examination.
  • In addition to relaxing the requirements for expedited examination for patent applications related to green technology, the Canadian Intellectual Property Office has also indicated that it will be setting new service standards to speed up the prosecution of all patent applications that benefit from expedited examination. 
  • The proposed amendments would relax the requirements for expedited examination for patent applications related to green technology.  Specifically, the proposed amendments would permit patent applications related to green technology to be granted accelerated examination without the payment of an additional fee. 
  • Rui Zhu on 18 Sep 12
     
    Green initiative has a great value for both economy and environment. Some countries' governments had drafed some regulations supporting this concept of development. Canada is one of the most early contries focusing on thise issues. The Cnadian Intellectual Property Office is mainly responsible for detail jobs related to green technology developing and spreading. They made some standerds toward some primary industries in both demastic and international market. Nowadays, they plan to update their strategies and standards to make these industries more productivity and eco-friendly. All of the agencies or ministries regarding to these issues attmpt to iprove their ability to solve green product problems through a proaction approach. In my opinion, all of these efforts are benefit to sustaianable development of local economy and society.
brittsengl

Technology of the Year 2016: The best hardware, software, and cloud services | InfoWorld - 2 views

www.infoworld.com/...ftware-and-cloud-services.html

Hardware_ Soft Ware Article

shared by brittsengl on 23 Aug 16 - No Cached
  • brittsengl on 23 Aug 16
     
    "And the changes keep coming. Among this year's winners, handpicked by InfoWorld editors and product reviewers, you'll find a number of "traditional" names: Cisco, IBM, Microsoft, Red Hat. But you'll also find the names of more open source projects than we've ever seen in the Technology of the Year winner's circle, thanks to the huge role open source has come to play in software development, data center (and cloud) infrastructure, and big data analytics. [ Read about the winning hardware, software, development tools, and cloud services in our slideshow: InfoWorld's 2016 Technology of the Year Award winners. | Get a digest of the day's top tech stories in the InfoWorld Daily newsletter. ] Docker, Kubernetes, Mesos, Spark -- these are only a few of this year's winners from the open source camp. In one way or another, each brings something new to the enterprise. Docker's clever take on Linux containers was so popular with developers, it became a standard even Microsoft sought fit to adopt. Kubernetes brings Google's cloud-tested technology for container management to the rest of us, while Mesos -- the U.C. Berkeley AMPLab project that gave birth to Spark -- offers an elegant solution to cluster resource management. "
  • brittsengl on 26 Aug 16
     
    This article is discussing the changes and updates in technology for the year 2016. It explains how the best IT products has been used for this year and the order of the ratings for them. It also explains the best hardware/software that has has been used by consumers and for businesses. This can help in the hospitality field by choosing which software is best to use.
galca008

Green IT | Green Hotelier - 1 views

www.greenhotelier.org/...green-it

green technology Hospitality

shared by galca008 on 07 Feb 18 - No Cached
  • With the world becoming ever more reliant on IT, from computers and laptops to smartphones, the issue of how you make it more sustainable, in terms of reducing energy requirements and electronic waste, becomes ever more pressing.
  • In 2010, it was estimated that 360 million computers were manufactured. A computer is one of the most resource-intensive pieces of equipment, requiring over 10 times its weight in fossil fuels to make
  • The production of a computer requires 22kg of toxic chemicals, 240kg of fossil fuels and 1,500 kg of water. 80% of life-cycle energy use is accounted for before we even switch a PC on for the first time. Computer Aid International About 2% of the world’s total energy is consumed by building and running computer equipment. BBC Office equipment is the fastest growing energy user in the business world, consuming 15% of the total electricity used in offices. This is expected to rise to 30% by 2020. In the UK, the cost of running this equipment is estimated to be around £300 million annually and rising each year. Carbon Trust 200 million computers and 550 million mobile phones reached the end of their life in 2008.  Computer Aid International 50 million tons of e-waste was generated worldwide, but only 13% was recycled. US Environmental Protection Agency Reusing working computers is up to 20 times more energy-efficient than recycling them. Computer Aid International
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  • A data centre is a facility used to house computer systems and their components, and it can be far and away the biggest contributor to an organisation’s carbon footprint. A data centre’s life expectancy is relatively long so it is imperative it is built to the highest standards in terms of efficiency as any excess energy use will lead to significant cost implications over the years.
  • 1. Build the most energy-efficient data centre possible. This will save energy and costs over its lifespan. 2. Only get the data storage capacity that is currently required and forecast for the lifespan. Many data centres have excess capacity that burns energy (and therefore costs) unnecessarily. Don’t have servers or equipment that will not be used. 3. Cooling data centres. Traditionally cooling has been done by air circulation, which is very inefficient. Larger data centres already use other technologies to cool more efficiently, such as water cooling. 4. Virtualisation technology. Improve your system’s resource utilisation through virtualisation technology. Virtualisation is the creation of a virtual (rather than actual) version of something, such as an operating system, server, network, etc. and allows a single user to access several physical devices on one terminal. A computing device dedicated to an individual member of staff or allocated for one software application is highly inefficient and expensive. Virtualisation consolidates resources, requiring less power and cooling. 5. Consider cloud computing. This is a location-independent IT service, typically available over the internet, where shared servers provide resources, software and data to computers and other devices on demand, increasing IT capacity and capabilities without an organisation having to invest in new infrastructure. Keeping data virtually, or “in the clouds”, means less information stored on IT systems and therefore less energy being used to run the systems. Systems such as BT’s Virtual Data Centre, a hosted data centre that enables businesses to create, deploy, monitor and manage their own service through a self-service portal, claim to offer savings of up to 40% of the total cost of running one’s own data centre as well as reducing the space required, the level of emissions produced and the power consumed.
  • 6. Measure and monitor power usage. Once you know what’s using the power, focus on why and whether it’s possible to reduce consumption.
  • 1. Upgrade. Before buying new, investigate options to upgrade with the latest energy-efficient components to extend appliances’ working life and efficiency. 2. Green labels. Look out for the certification labels denoting more energy-efficient equipment, from Blue Angel in Germany to TCO in Sweden and Energy Star in the US (see below). 3. Screens. Opt for flat screen monitors, which reduce energy use by over two-thirds. 4. Get the right equipment. Consider your information technology needs against the tasks required. For example, laptops may be a better option in some circumstances because they have been developed to be energy-efficient and generally match the computer to the task required. Remember: not all staff have the same needs. 5. Consider running costs. Look at the life cycle costs, not just the purchase cost. Take note of running and standby costs of equipment. These can vary enormously.
  • Top 10 Tips to reduce running costs of office equipment (source: Carbon Trust) 1. Computers. Activate energy-saving features. In fact, most office equipment will have these features, so make sure they’re activated. 2. Standby features. Introduce a policy to activate standby features, don’t assume employees will do it. 3. Turn it off. Buy seven-day timers. These can save up to 70% on energy costs. 4. Monitor and manage the equipment that is peripheral to computers, such as speakers, printers, etc. and consider installing intelligent switch-off solutions. Printers can consume 30%-40% of their peak power demand when idling between printing and standby modes, so minimising this can produce cost savings, reduce heat output and increase its operating life. 5. Educate your staff. Consider a screen saver with an energy-saving message. 6. Rationalise your equipment via networking to reduce the number of printers (for example) in any office area. 7. Printers Use only black and white for internal documents and colour only when absolutely necessary. Consider the benefits of inkjet printers v laser printers. Inkjet energy use is much lower than that of a laser printer. Encourage staff to use print preview functions. Set default printing mode to double-sided. Use lower-specification printers, such as inkjets, for internal documents and encourage staff to use these for day-to-day use.
  • 8. Photocopiers High volume copiers use more energy so should be used sparingly. Use low melting point inks (available from stationery suppliers). Encourage staff to copy in batches to increase standby time. Stick to black and white copiers and only use colour when absolutely necessary. Set default copying to double-sided. 9. Invest to save and purchase only what you need. 10. Don’t forget to motivate staff. Keep repeating the message of the importance of energy saving in ways that they can understand (for example, a computer monitor switched off overnight saves enough energy to microwave six dinners).
  • WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment), or e-waste, is the term used for old or disposed electronic equipment. It covers both the toxic and valuable materials found in appliances. The most important lesson is to reuse, not recycle. With so much e-waste, and electrical devices such as computers and flat screens often being replaced well before the end of their shelf life and ending up in landfill, it’s imperative that the most is made of these materials by reusing them productively.
  • Options to investigate when trying to reduce e-waste are: 1. Can you upgrade your equipment with new energy efficient components? 2. Can it be used by someone else in the company? 3. Can it be given to a charity? (Note: charities must be registered to take WEEE.) 4. Will the manufacturer take back the old equipment and reuse parts in new products?
  • Developments on the horizon include: 1. Smaller, more efficient processors. The continuing development of microprocessors means a mobile phone can have around the same computational power as the average desktop computer back in 2000. 2. Memristors. Electronics giant HP is in the process of developing “memristors” (see photo above), which have greater memory storage capacity while requiring less energy and space. They are due to be on the shelf in about three years. 3. Specialist data centre design. Siemens recently launched its transformational Data Centre Solution, a groundbreaking strategy in data centre energy-efficient design and operation. It claims the system, which uses virtualization and efficient power and cooling, offers many benefits for businesses, including up to 50% energy savings through ground water cooling and IT costs reduced by 30%. 4. Outsourcing. Hotels of all sizes are starting to view IT outsourcing as a viable option to gain flexibility and reduce short-term costs and increase transparency of cost structures and processes. 5. Optimisation of resources. This will become a necessity either through virtualisation, networking or cloud computing. 6. Water cooling. IBM is currently working on a supercomputer that is cooled by water (a given volume of water can hold 4,000 times more waste than air), which claims to be 50% more energy efficient than the world’s leading systems. The Aquasar stacks many computer processors on top of each other with cooling water flowing between each one. IBM’s Dr Bruno Michel told the BBC in November 2010: “We plan that 10 to 15 years from now, we can collapse such a system into one sugar cube — we’re going to have a supercomputer in a sugar cube.”
  • galca008 on 07 Feb 18
     
    This is a great article that provides tips on how to use green practices within the IT realm. It starts by giving statistics on how much energy can be consumed by equipment, and also how much electronic waste can be done when not reusing or recycling such equipment. There is tips on how to increase efficiency with your technology and also providing tips on how to properly purchase needed equipment. Another set of tips covers reducing the running costs of office equipment and reducing e-waste by the 'reduce, reuse, and recycle'. Lastly, developments for green technology and equipment are provided for us. My opinion is that this article is very informative and should be read by all hoteliers to look into and apply the tips given. Showing the statistics paints a great picture for the reasons why we should be going green with technology.
ayenkiah

InterContinental Hotels Group and Shiji Group Strengthen Partnership with Celebration of 100th IHG Hotel Infrasys Cloud POS Go Live - 1 views

www.hospitalitynet.org/...4093559.html

systems hotels

shared by ayenkiah on 23 Sep 19 - No Cached
  • ayenkiah on 23 Sep 19
     
    Shiji Group development of the POS Infrasys Cloud has been on of the most sucessful solution on the market due to its flexibility and management functions. Shiji Group have shared a relationship with IGH in which all of their F & B outlets have relied heavily on the efficiency of the system. Both companies have been able to develop the Infrasys Cloud and hope to continue to utilize their partnership to develop new technology for the industry.
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