Group items matching

in title, tags, annotations or url

The Hutton Hotel that is a comparatively new and boutique style implemented new e-mail marketing in order to increase the clientele's awareness about their properties. The hotel developed this new e-mail marketing with the help of Spectrio that is an all-inclusive audio/video/digital marketing company. By using an existed short promotional film video of the hotel, Spectrio and the hotel created new video about hotel properties such as an event space to show the hotel and attract clientele without visiting in advance. This new e-mail campaign not only includes new video content but also still contain photos combined with music and narration and links to the Hutton Hotel's website like previous version of E-mail campaign. This new campaign increased the effectiveness of hotel's e-mail effort as well as enabled the hotel to raise the clientele's awareness .

By creating a video to showcase the hotel's major feature by the use of simple video they were able to create engagement with potential meeting planners that previously weren't aware that such a space existed. The video was not a significant cost since it was footage that already had been used for other purposes. But by using this footage for a new purpose has created a wider audience they previously had not been able to reach. This targeted strategy to meeting planners is much more effective than simply sending out traditional marketing materials. It reached the people the hotel was seeking to target to increase the awareness of the space, to create more potential business. The hotel also plans to send out a targeted email to corporate guests in the hopes of the same success rate.

HRIS is a computer software employers use to manage the human resources functions of hotels. There are lots of benefits of using this system. According to this article, the most advantage by using HRIS is that it helps create reports and presentation. For instance, the system holds all the informations about human resources in hotels. You can find your employees' personal information very easily and don't have to ask them to bring their documents any more such as I-20 or I-9 forms. The second benefit is related to recruitment, which means it can provide information not only internal staffs but also external job applicants. The third advantage is that by using HRIS, employees themselves can focus on their own profiles. They can log in themselves and change and update their status and required details, which becomes a better way to manage themselves.  

The human resource system can help hotel or anyother companies' HR department to management employees effectively. The system will in charge of salary, w2 tax report and a lot of tedious work. In a sense, the system can not only reduce mistake but alos save some laber cost, because most of data processing will be finished automatic.

This article summarizes the major key points with Human Resources Information Systems and more importantly, their advantages. It starts by discussing how a HRIS is software that aids in the management functions of human resources. The main benefit is the fact that it can generate reports and presentations, making it particularly convenient for more than a few factors, while holding data and files needed for the human resources mangers to do their jobs proficiently. HRIS can aid a company internally as well as externally with job applicants. This is great for employers who are looking for new candidates. In addition, it benefits the company with assisting with the benefits plan, knowing exactly what their coverage is for the year.

Statistically speaking, CIOs don't become CEOs. But it's not because they don't want it. Research shows that nearly half of CIOs aspire to become chief executive, but only four percent actually get there. Much more frequently, CEOs for the world's top companies - about half in fact - come up through C-level financial or operating roles (Vanson Bourne, 2012). Chris Laping, CIO of Red Robin Gourmet Burgers (www.redrobin.com), strongly believes this is because technology executives are too often focused on engineering and IT solutions to embrace their most valuable leadership quality: the ability to manage change. Technology leaders, he believes, possess powerful project management skills that can and should be leveraged across the business for even the most non-IT initiatives, with the particular role of being agents for change. Laping's official role at Red Robin is indicative of that practice: he's the company's senior vice president of business transformation and CIO. In that role, he oversees the company's technology, learning and development, enterprise project management and operations services teams. In this exclusive interview with Hospitality Technology, Laping shares how the technology team has taken on a business transformation role at Red Robin, and describes his overall vision for IT leaders. But it's not something CIOs are handed; they have to drive it, says Laping. Driving this change, perhaps, will also help more CIOs chase down their chief-executive dreams. HT: Let's start with some definitions: "business transformation" and "change agents" are pretty heady buzzwords that get tossed around executive boardrooms. What does business transformation really mean? LAPING: If you look at a classic Wikipedia definition of business transformation, it talks about people, process and technology. So when you push change through people, you usually do that through training. If you want to change business performan

Actually, an offline business could be very resource consuming in terms of cost of advertising and promotion through postal mails and networking similar business partners through tele-calling and organizing physical interactive sessions. In e-marketing, the cost of establishing your presence and networking with identical bloggers is nothing compared to offline business. The E-business through the internet obviously has huge benefit for the business nowadays.

Most of the marketing efforts that cater to the organized sector are open 24 hours and 7 days a week. Moreover, the reach is global and customers feel convenient to shop/communicate anytime they want to. The clients are updated immediately about any new modifications and alternations in information through RSS feeds.

TripAdvisor just launched the new TripAdvisor GreenLeaders program, which ranks hotels across the U.S. according to their engagement in environmentally-friendly practices like linen and towel re-use, recycling and composting, solar panel and electric car charging station implementation, and green roofing.

With TripAdvisor's launch of the new GreenLeaders program, it will help hoteliers as well as restaurants and other businesses increase their Green initiative commitment. I know for the Florida Green Lodging Certification, it is a simple, yet tedious, form to complete, covering many aspects that can help reduce waste of products, energy, and gasses. Thanks to a bill that was passed in the not-so-distant past, certain aspects of the government travel requires their selection of lodging and/or meeting facilities to be green. This is in an effort to encourage those changes in order to secure government business, as well as to encourage personal & leisure travel, government or not, to choose green facilities. The more we increase the demand for green properties, the more properties will seek to make the necessary changes and commitment. In addition, the application process changes periodically, increasing the information and steps necessary to become green. Through all of that, we will begin to notice bigger steps to be made to save our resources and our environment. TripAdvisor launching this program will only help in these efforts. Along with increasing efforts, the feedback will be a great tool for use when selecting how to make those changes. Sure, nothing is perfect and you will still have those that prefer the convenience instead of the overall "Save the Earth" way of life, but we will be able to see what is working and what may need to be adjusted a bit.

This article talks about a group of New York City hotels that have pledged to become greener. Seventeen hotels have joined the NYC Carbon Challenge, an initiative originally created to get the city's universities to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. These hotels have pledged to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by at least 30% in the next ten years, which can significantly reduce the amount of greenhouse gases produced by the city's buildings. This is all in an effort to reduce the city's overall greenhouse gas emissions 80% by the year 2050. The Office of Sustainability worked with the Hotel Association of New York City, a coalition of hotels in the city, to get this first group of hotels involved with this green initiative. The hotels that have already started working towards making their property greener are already on the right track to meeting their goals and these implementations will involve minor construction and little hindrance to guests. The article talks about some of the changes that these hotels are making, such as changing to LED light bulbs, installing more energy-efficient elevators, implementing sensors that turn off bathroom lights after a certain period of inactivity, and using an energy-conserving air-conditioning system. Although these changes will cost the hotels a hefty sum of front, they also know that these changes will save them money in the long run. Most of these changes will not be visible or known to guests, but people who want to stay someplace that is environmentally-conscious can educate themselves about what these hotels are doing.

This article speaks about the possibilities in social media marketing for hospitality outlets as well as the method in which to effectively use these outlets without wasted efforts. Some of the things that this article suggests is simplicity. Once the social media use becomes too complex then employees won't continue to update it and therefore the marketing aspect dies. The article goes on to list several other methods of ensuring that the social media marketing will be effective. For reference and further information the article suggests a paperback by the name of "Social Media Strategy for Hotels". Overall this article is very effective at showing the capabilities and positives of social media marketing.

This article describes one of the worst situations that could occur when operating a hotel. According to the text, Wyndham Hotel Group failed to implement a strong enough security system, resulting in hackers breaching the network and stealing over 600,000 credit card numbers and over 10 million dollars in fraudulent charges. The FTC is suing Wyndham Corporation for failing to take the proper security measures to guarantee the security of the most important customer information. The FTC also states that Wyndham used improper software configurations that presented credit card information in a manner that was clear and easy to read. Michael Valentino, spokesman for Wyndham Worldwide, the company made prompt efforts to notify those whose information had been compromised and according to Valentino, no hotel customer had experienced a financial loss as a result of the attacks.  Despite Valentino's claims, the FTC is suing Wyndham for unfair and deceptive practices in failing to protect the privacy and personally identifiable information about guests. The FTC claims that Wyndham failed to address the security failures that occurred after the first breach in 2008 and did not implement technology that could have detected unauthorized access to networks. In 2009, hackers used similar techniques to break into the network again as steal as much personal information as they could. 

The Four Seasons Vancouver has conquered the highest rating for Eco-friendly hotels. This title and rating is only given to 30 hotels nationwide and is extremely competitive in nature. Any hotel has the ability to qualify and is evaluated in several aspects consisting of the following: operational areas, sustainable practices and community outreach efforts. The Four Seasons Vancouver has switched over to a unique heating system that is reducing gas emissions, installed newly efficient LED lighting that will last for up to 40 years, participates in an Eco-friendly laundry system for par linen, offers sustainable dining options and donates to local organizations. Along with public recognition, going green has perks that not only benefit the environment but the hotel as well. The Four Seasons Vancouver has taken many drastic initiatives that will be in place for years to come. This says a lot about this individual property and Four Seasons as a hotel brand. It's exciting to see the opportunity for more hotels to go Green and be the change that we all would like to see.

KingSmart is a popular and successful HPMS because of its automatic, flexible, and customised. Similar with most HPMSs, it can be installed in any types of hospitality establishements. At the same time, it can help each departments within the hotel finish their work more efficiently. It can cover all aspects of daily operation in a hotel such as reservation & registration, group handling, yeild management, sale & marketing, housekeeping modules, revenue management, and so on. Among these aspects, I think some of its applications are more necessary in modern hospitality environment. First of all, KingSmart allows us to run a hotel in its maximum capacity through its powerful, comprehensive, and flexible tools. In addition, managers can increase the profit without any other efforts except using this smart system. KingSmart can force the operaton toward the most profitable rate depending on some marketing strategies installed by managers before. All of the other works are processed by KingSmart automatically. Another automatic application of this system is that it can assign and check in of multiple rooms by one touch of button. In my opinion, it is more important for group reservation of different preferences and behaviors. At last, it establishes a connection between the hotel and customers. Through sending some emails or messages, the hotel can target and keep some loyal groups easier. In a word, KingSmart has so many common benefits with similar softwares and some of its own advantages. It is a good choice for hotels, resorts, and other hospitality properties.

Along with green initiatives in hotels and airlines, cruise lines and ports have been making efforts on "Going green" for years. This article, particularly introduces The Port of Los Angeles that can provide plug-in power system, a.k.a. Alternative Maritime Power system (AMP) to two cruise ships simultaneously. Basically, cruise ships consume the huge amount of fuel just like hundreds of cars do while they are in port. With the AMP that cruise ships gain electrical power from, cruise ships can turn off their engines while being at berth like an electric car. As a result, cruise ships can reduce their fuel cost and eliminate significant ship exhaust. More and more cruise ports have installed the AMP system and cruise ships have tried to be fitted to the power system. Obviously, the AMP is not the ultimate solution to pollution, however this can prevent the environment from being more polluted. The AMP system will advance, and we might see cruise ships sailing with only electrical power or other alternative power sources, such as solar power, power generated by cruise ships in the future.

The federal government has recently promoted a new plan that will combine smartphone applications and energy companies to help consumers monitor and manage their utility bills. The Green Button initiative was first welcomed at the Silicon Valley event by California's biggest utilities companies. The government is now hoping that the rest of the country will be able to jump on the bandwagon. The initiative is led by Aneesh Chopra, the chief technology officer, who hopes that private sector utility companies will create a standard format across the board so that a wide range of consumers could potentially benefit. Consumers will have virtual access through applications to their energy consumption. Ideally, the plan is supposed create energy saving efforts for consumers who will have greater access to managing their bills and levels of consumption. There already are major energy companies, like Opower and Tendril, which are producing Green Button compatible applications. It shows how energy companies are treading the online and smartphone waters. This initiative will also require consumers to put their part in adopting smart meters and smart phone applications. I think this a great move by the government in a time where both energy consumption and costs are increasing. As a future homeowner, I would be more than willing to contribute to participating in this type of plan. People today are interested in having their life bundled up and having access to it through their online services, this effort was definitely inevitable.

This article is about the top technology trends for meetings and events. One of these trends is to have a dedicated high speed WIFI network available to guests, allowing them to download and share media in real time. This is very appropriate for weddings, birthday parties, and baby showers. When it comes to business meetings, having high-performance mobile computing is a must. With top Hi-Tech manufacturers concentrating on mobile solutions, presentation materials can now be shared via portable screens in 3D formats, whether it is on site or through video streaming. Another trend in modern event planing is online photo and video publishing. Given the growing disposable nature of media content, especially on mobile devices, publishing efforts should be a part of every event. Encourage guests to share stories, and incorporate quotes and commentaries. Finally, something I found very interesting in modern event planning is content marketing. In a world where businesses are defined by online footprint, content marketing efforts should be an integral part of promotional efforts. Whether it is business or private, events provide the perfect venue to promote or market anything.

This article focuses on an effort by many luxury brands to eliminate the use of plastic single use straws to reduce their footprint and become more sustainably minded. They have moved to serve drinks without straws and instead supply biodegradable alternatives upon request. Some brands have gone even further and reduced, eliminated, and/or replaced plastic water bottles and to-go containers with their environmentally friendly alternatives. These changes have incurred costs that have either been passed on t or absorbed but have also created, in some cases such as the Cayuga's gardens bamboo straws, new business opportunities. 

This article discusses the implementation of computer technologies in hotels' green practices. Electricity use accounts for 60-70% of the utility costs and average daily water consumption per occupied room is 218 gallons. Management is permanently under pressure to cut these costs, however, this should be done without impacting guests' comfort. Installation of water-efficient fixtures and energy-efficient lighting helps to reduce utility bills. Computer operated systems aimed at consumption data collection, analytics and remote control are an essential addition to energy-saving equipment. Energy harvesting wireless sensors, thermostats, and other products help collect data that later is processed by IBM Watson, which applies predictive analytics to guest behavior to drive greater energy efficiency of HVAC and other equipment. Wireless networking in energy management enables the hotels to create customized profiles for different rooms depending on their exposure, season, occupancy, etc. based on historical data. Furthermore, satellite technology that tracks the weather and ground moisture helps limit excess irrigation. Computer technologies are meant to substitute guest's active efforts in resource savings. Yet sometimes the sustainability technologies become the selling point for hotels. For instance, guests, especially millennials, might be attracted by the hotel's energy panel that demonstrates how the power generated while using fitness equipment immediately adds to the hotel energy grid.

This article, published in 2015, covers a study performed in Turkey to analyze factors in hotels that lead management to prefer desktop-based PMS over cloud-based PMS or vice versa. The study uses qualitative research to determine the reasons for the usage of PMS and the advantages and disadvantage of either system. The study found that, among others, significant factors that contribute to the form of PMS implemented by mangement may include the size of the property, reservation channels, and prior level of IT experience.

Sustainability has been a primary focus for many hotel companies around the world. There are many initiatives that are being created other than your everyday recycling. Fairmont Mayakoba has implemented a tour in which guest can assist in the transplant of coral to help their growth. Hosteling International USA has also become the first of it's kind to develop a system that monitors shower to last at most seven minutes in it effort to conserve water. These are just some of the many ideas that are taking into effect to further progress sustainability within hotel operations.

As guests are getting more environmentally friendly, being sustainable is an important aspect of hotel operations. Before they book a hotel, a lot of guests will look for or read about the hotel's social responsibility program. Hence, going green would bring in more revenue by attracting more guests.

This article explains several ways that hotels and resorts are helping in the fight for sustainability. Some resorts have completely eliminated the use of air conditioning and other ways to get energy for running electricity. For example, the Jade Mountain resort in St. Lucia has designed all their rooms to be open-air rooms which allows for breezes to come through the rooms and ultimately cool down the rooms. This, in turn, eliminates the need for air-conditioning all together. Some hotels are even offering classes on how to live a more sustainable and eco-friendly lifestyle. Hotels and resorts have worked towards saving coral reefs, energy and water conservation, preserving food and re-purposing waste, and creating eco-minded communities.

This article shows how important sustainability is in the hotel industry and how innovation and technology can help companies sustainability efforts. Even though technology like the smartphone has a huge footprint on the environment, they can be used to help in sustainability such as hotels using the smartphones that guests already have to perform some functions without having to use paper. Mobile phones can also be adapted to help in running of smartrooms to improve customer experience and also reduce the footprint on the environment.

A quick read but very enlightening statistics about generational feelings and loyalty to green technologies in hotels.

It is becoming more common for hotels to become more sustainable and green in there business practices. Guests are finding these practices to be expected more often that none. Hotels are now becoming more efficient on there sustainability efforts by utilizing technology in order to reduce costs as well.

Cruises are said to be one of those forms of transportation with the highest carbon emissions. "A typical cruise ship with 3,000 passengers generates 1 million gallons of gray water; 210,000 gallons of sewade; 25,000 gallons of oily bilge water; 100 gallons of hazardous or toxic waste; 50 tons of garbage and solid waste…" This expert just proves how non-ecofriendly cruises can actually be. However, regulations set by the government have now pushed cruises into trying to be more environmentally friendly. This article singles out seven green cruises that have found ways in which they can decrease their carbon footprint on the world. One cruise that has taken on the initiative is Holland America Cruises. With tactics such as towel reuse program and the installation of low-flow showerheads this cruise line has been making a conscious effort to operate green. They even ensure the most fuel-efficient means of travelling by studying tide schedules to maximize fuel usage with shorter routes. Another interesting cruise that pushes for the green initiative includes Celebrity Cruises with its solar powered cruise line. Other tactics used by other cruises include reusing waste cooking oil on heavy machinery, ridding of all plastic water bottles, shutting off engines in the winter time and only buying fish that are sustainably harvested are just some ways these 7 cruise lines have taken a stand to become greener. This responsible effort by these cruise lines not only can work in their favor for marketing purposes with consumers but create a sustainable industry for the future of cruises. Something as crucial as waste disposal in the water can greatly affect the future of the industry if not considered by the cruises today. Could you imagine if every cruise were to just dispose of their waste into the ocean with no sort of eco-friendly thought in their mind? I found this article to be extremely interesting, especially since I have been on a cruise. I had no idea ho

This article summarizes the results of a report done on TripAdvisors free online marketing platform. This platform offers a management response tool that business owners can utilize to better their marketing efforts.  The results are in line with my opinion. If there is more information on a hotel, I am more likely to chose it over another with less information.