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Property management systems (PMS) were originally only for front desk needs like booking reservations, checking guest in and out, charging accounts, and managing room assignments. The newer PMS systems have enhanced the check in and check out process, maintenance and housekeeping management, and accounts receivable management. The check in and check out process has been enhanced by the newer cloud based PMS systems by giving the front desk the ability to provide service anywhere and anytime. It is more accessible and can update room statuses in real time. As housekeeping cleans rooms the room statuses are updated through their mobile cleaning device into the PMS system. Also, the PMS system allows the front desk to communicate with the maintenance and housekeeping staff for last minute guest request and complaints. The cloud based PMS system also allows the front desk to have access to revenue management. This way the front desk can have access to accounts receivable and update it as payments come in from previous guest. This enables faster and more accurate billing for guest. As technology advances it is important for the hospitality industry to stay updated so that guest and employees needs are met. Keeping up with the technological trends allows companies to remain competitive.

This article tell us what is PMS and what benefits it can brings to the hotels operation. Automating daily operations and administrative tasks is an important part of achieving customer satisfaction as it helps provide reliable and quality service time after time. A hotel is a complex system that encompasses the activities of many departments, and every operation must be tracked

More than a "platform that enabled a hotel or group of hotels to manage front-office capabilities", modern PMS is "a critical business operations system that enables hoteliers to deliver a seamless guest experience" by integrating many other systems. PMS offers many kinds of benefits to hoteliers, including improving housekeeping services and revenue management. The deployment of PMS is also a consideration. While most PMS systems were on-premise, there do have cloud-based ones that reduces cost in an innovative way. It also helps in enhancing customer lifetime value and increase RevPAR and ADR.

" It is a reasonable argument that the only reason millions of workers have been able to successfully work remotely over the past year is because cloud computing has reached a level of maturity that now makes working without the cloud unthinkable. Microsoft 365 is arguably the most widely used. Cloud computing is no longer a choice, but rather the default position of any organization that wants to remain competitive. The number of ShareGate desktop users performing on-premises SharePoint upgrades decreased by 19.7 percent in 2020. On-premises operations decreased by 60.63 percent. Operations to migrate from on-premises to the cloud increased by 37.2 percent. Cloud-based operations jumped by 50.1 percent. Cloud-to-cloud migrations increased by 67.9 percent and included the transfer of 144 percent more terabytes of data in 2020 versus 2019. Microsoft also made significant investments in industry specific certifications in financial services, energy, health and manufacturing to meet the stringent requirements of these heavily regulated environments, making it an even more attractive option for enterprise clients. He pointed out that companies that need extreme low-latency transactions, have geographical proximity restrictions or highly secure data handling needs should consider traditional methods as well as the cloud While security is improving, some old and new attack vectors remain for cloud-based applications. That threat landscape will continue to grow as the market for cloud and SaaS networks and platforms expands and bad actors follow the money. The cloud service providers are asking businesses to trade off convenience for control. That will never happen. Further, there is only one cross-cloud provider standard, K8. The other area in need of standardization is security notification. Every cloud provider reports security events to customers separately, with different languages and syntax. Cloud consumption is linear but cloud security notification is exponential.

It is very important for hotels to provide excellent security. It makes the customers feel safe and enhance their confidence and safety.Security officers patrolling the hotel's grounds can look out for suspicious activity.Security officers can prevent hotels from incurring property damage, particularly if officers are patrolling the hotel's grounds. They can also assist in incidents involving guests damaging their rooms.

Hotel software provider protel has jumped on the cloud computing bandwagon by launching a web-based product line. As stated in the article, the benefits are endless, including but not limited to: lower expenditures, no IT infrastructure required, ability to add capacity as needed, etc. Protel only asks that their hotel clients have access to an Internet browser in order to run protel Air or the new portel Web Booking Engine.  Contrary to popular belief, hotels are not required to convert their IT infrastructure entirely online. With protel Air, these hotels are able to combine cloud and on-premise solutions in order to utilize their existing infrastructure while reaping the cloud benefits. With such hybrid solutions all the rage, costs are being significantly reduced while enabling efficient and effective business processes.  Personally, I believe all hotels should convert to a hybrid infrastructure, if not completely run on the cloud. With the average consumer relying on internet interaction every day, guests are accustomed to instantaneous results and information. Software such as protel Air and WBE will help the hospitality industry grow in the technology world. 

This article is about the Hotel Security Management which including membership comprises of large, five-star hotels across the UK. This club is for the information exchanges for the hotel security establish. Hotel security managers in Glasgow, for example, have operated a 'Hotel Watch' scheme since 1992. Here, managers and security staff use e-mails and faxes to alert fellow scheme members about specific incidents that have happened or been prevented on their premises. And the hotel security grated level is different depends on the how develop and promotion for the country or area. Especially, "Provincial hotels generally have poor or average security precautions in place," according to Fairweather. "Usually, I'd only rate them at around four or five out of ten unless they employ a security professional." What is more, recommendations for basic hotel security would include the installation of bespoke CCTV systems, access control and perimeter security, electronic keys for bedrooms and storage areas designed to protect cash and valuables belonging to members of staff and residents.

Safety and security is very important in the hospitality industry. When you have tourist coming to your place every single day then you know you need to have your premises secure. In this article they talk about how hotels have separated and made two different categories, which are security and safety. This article also shows how it is very important that hotel train their staff for an emergency if it was to occur. Training your employees in safety and security would help prevent any emergency that can happen in the hospitality industry. This will just help tourist come to your hotel more because guest will feel safe at your hotel. The system that hotels implement about security and safety is very important and will help keep bringing in your guest.

The article describes the growing importance of a Property Management System. Some PMS companies are continuously integrating modules to their systems to make them more sophisticated for their users. These features can gather specific information about guests so the staff can cater to their preferences. Another element of the article explains how moving the PMS to the cloud can better serve small to mid sized premises, providing them with market insights and pricing trends to better manage the property. The cloud based PMS also proves to be beneficial to serve users who access property information through their mobile devices. Property apps could integrate with these PMS providing an interaction channel so guests can integrate with the property.

This article indicates that there are three majors shaping our world between now and 2020. Those are the cloud, mobility, and Cellular Offload. We should determine the major trends, and then invest in solutions that align with those trends. Interestingly, it is mentioned some insights provide clues as which investments will be future proof to and witch will be risks. From hospitality perspective, equipment and maintenance performed by on-site or locally based staff, which is great for all owners. Also, It can be seen that the cloud allows investors to make big investments in its service.

This article introduced three major trends that we think will shape our world between now and 2020. The author thought one of the biggest challenges for any technology executive is predicting the landscape of toolsets and IT infrastructure that will be available in the future. The correct choice can last at least 10 years and there are three major trends, cloud, mobility and cellular offload. For cloud, the author thought it is good for hospitality. It holds the promise of relieving the hotel owner of responsibility for managing the operation and integration of premise-based systems, with associated costs for deployment, equipment and maintenance performed by on-site or locally based staff. Also, the author thought the mobility creates both opportunity and challenge. It can be used to both define new service models and revenue streams, and to improve existing ones. Today's challenge is that mobility requires massive investment in wireless infrastructure and bandwidth .Finally, the author thought as it is far cheaper for a cellular carrier to build or fund a Wi-Fi network, than to install an additional cell tower and/or buy additional spectrum, it is good news for hotels. It means that cellular companies have an economic reason to help fund hotel Wi-Fi networks.

Samsung LYNK is the new alternative to traditional Digital Rights Management (DRM)  in the hospitality industry. DRM is the hotels way of controlling and maintaining protection of copyrighted material through the use of technological tools. With tools such as Samsung LYNK copyrighted materials such as music and movies can be used on hotel premises without allowing residents to duplicate material. The LYNK provides cost saving efficient solutions that can all be controlled in a remote secure way. Not to mention, all DRM control can be done through hotel room televisions. 

Cloud computing is becoming more and more popular in today's business world. What are the main advantages that cloud computing can bring to Hospitality industry? Through the article I found the answer which are also the concerns of hoteliers that are a lower cost and a higher security environment. For instance hotel companies can be access to the latest version of what they are using without paying too much to buy related software. Secondly since the cloud is being used by federal government and financial institution which have higher level of regulatory requirements than most hotels, hotel companies can feel more safety in applying this high-tech in their business. But nothing is perfect. The author mentioned in this article that before we choose cloud service, we should get to know some information about the hospitality software suppliers. As for me I concerned about whether they have an offline mode which can continue the business activities for a while when the internet disconnection happens. For example how could hotels make sure the check-in, check-out, and reservation activities go on successfully when something wrong with the internet. The second concern for me is how could I get my data back if I discontinue my service in certain provider. Hoteliers should have ways to protect their data and other business activities. Cloud computing is developing very quickly and it will benefit us a lot only when we get to know the right way to use it. 

ATLAS sands for Advanced Technology Lodging Access System is designed for hotels that need to have a better control over their back office operations and that can rely on a system to provide secure access to their premises and accurate.

I used to use this systme to make key cards for the customers in the hotel. It's really easy to make a key card and safe for both of the customers and hotels. For example, if a customer lost his/her key card, we can remake a new one that the old one is not able to open the door in case of a theive pick up the room card to access to the guest's room. I think in the future the access system will be more advanced like you can use a cellphone to access to your room or you just use your finger print or pupil to access your room. It also works for the access for the employees. Employees may access to the working area by using their figer print or pupil to in case of some of the stranger to access to the working area. This locking system may be still have a large space to develop. This will make the hotel more fashionable and more intersting for the customers. We used to have the oringinal keys but now most of the hotels use key cards. Today also some of the hotel use mobile phones to access to the room, here still some security issues to be pay attetion like if someone lost their mobile phones. So from my opinion the future room key fotr the hotels will be better to use the unique identity of the human to access to the room.

This article is five hotel groups streamlining their management accounting process by using Aptech's intelligence and financial products. The systems were selected because of their ability to interface with several property management systems, level of accuracy, and reporting capabilities. The systems are internet based and be used for single or multi-property companies. I find this article to be interesting because at the end, it speaks about Aptech Computer Systems, Inc. as a leader in the hospitality industry. It approach to creating state of the art products is attributed to "leveraging change by valuing human relationships and applying technology to solve business problems for people". I think that is a great premise for a company to build on.

Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is a technology that is evolving in the hospitality industry. Trending in 2015 will be the use of hosted PBX services which will take the place of the stand alone on-premise system. By utilizing a hosted service businesses should see a cost savings from the freedom of maintenance on a system that is owned and operated by the hotel to the required staff that is needed to monitor the system on a daily basis. With the use of a hosted PBX the host company will be running analytical data and sharing the results with your company, a hosted setup will also be keeping up with technology without you incurring additional expenses of keeping your software updated in the ever changing technology field. This article goes on to talk about mobile integration which in my opinion, will need some tweaking right out of the starting gate. The trend talks about migrating our mobile phones and tablets as a replacement to the desk phone and room phone. This idea will make front desk staff more mobile, but I do see how it will also cause issues with employee abuse on personal calls acting like they are working and also with customers seeing an employee on the phone and automatically thinking the employee is on a personal call. There are still people out there that have not moved up with technology like the vast majority of the population, and they will be the first to complain loudly at the advances coming.

In today's fiercely competitive market adopting technology to grow your hotel business is essential, to avoid facing operational bottlenecks like Hotel A, unlike Hotel B who uses the latest technology to do smart hoteliering. This means getting a cloud based Hotel PMS which can easily integrate with a POS system that is also on the cloud. This translates into having all your hotel-related data under one umbrella in one single system, on one dashboard, giving you automation, accuracy, time and most importantly convenience. So during the stay, guests can order food from the restaurant, use the spa, the gym, the travel desk or the gift shop and pay for everything during checkout without being over or undercharged so both the hotel and guests remain happy and guests have a pleasant guest experience. In my opinion Hotel A needs to upgrade their technology to integrate the cloud PMS with the POS system also on the cloud and add other facilities to supplement revenue for the hotel when room occupancy might be down.

The Maestro PMS has a new feature, called the single guest itinerary, that lets hoteliers give guests a more personalized experience. Since each guest is different, and would have different preferences in terms of activities, the feature allows the operator to create an itinerary that would have the guests reservations for things such as dining reservations and spas. It updates in real time if a guest wants to move things around, so that the guests can see what their new itinerary looks like as soon as they make any changes. This feature is included in all Maestro systems, both cloud and on-premises.

Doing more research on the topic of this week HRIS, I stumbled upon this very helpful article. It goes into detail about Human Resource Information Systems their use, and pros and cons. The article lists eight advantages that come from having one of these systems. It only has to be uploaded once, it integrates reporting and evaluations, it removes human error therefore improving accuracy, time saving because of self service, reminders, paper saving, administrative tools, and recruitment tools such as those we discussed in our class discussion. Where as there are only three disadvantages mentioned; security concerns just as there are with any online system, cost which is predicted to decrease rapidly in the upcoming years, and staffing because systems like these often require IT team. These three disadvantages are synonymous with that of the disadvantages we have seen on all of the softwares or systems we've learned about this semester. There will always be a concern with security when a business has data online and when a company reaches a certain size it will be inevitable to have an IT team so I believe that these few disadvantages do not outweigh the benefits of HRIS. The statistics provided by the article are very helpful in noting that these systems are most effective for businesses with approximately 100 employees but can be used with those with as few as 50.

This article mainly compares cloud-based POS versus traditional POS. While cloud-based systems are easier to access and are supported through any tablet or smartphone, it explains how traditional POS systems are more difficult to access if you are away from your restaurant. Cloud-based point of sale systems have made it easier for employees to access data from outside of the office, decreased operating costs, and have made it easier for system updates. Although, the only advantage that a traditional POS might have over a cloud-based POS is that it does not rely on the internet.

HRIS is very beneficial to the hospitality industry because it is a labor intensive industry. This article highlights the advantages of employing an HRIS in your business and how to choose the right HRIS based on the size of your organization. Lastly, it explains further the benefits of using a cloud based HRIS and an on premise HRIS.