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This article discuss Sabre which is one of the biggest GDS systems in use ad their decision to integrate with Bedsonline, TravelBound and the Expedia® Affiliate Network (EAN). The reason they decided to do this was to increase their inventory and in turn better serve the customer. What I found interesting is that Bedsonline and Travelbound are both travel agent exclusive companies, this shows that despite availability that OTA's have travel agents still play a crucial role. I would also like to use the side by side comparison tool.

This article brings us into a deep insight of whether pricing technology offered by OTA is reliable or not. Firstly, two views should be considered before answering this question: one, there is a conflict of interest between an OTA and a hotel property; two, what data goes into their formulas, where it comes from and is it sufficient to make reasonable pricing recommendations. The author provided deep analyses for these two main point and came to the conclusion that: being sure that you know the game rules before utilizing those free pricing intelligent tools.

This article discusses how important technology is in the tourism world. Tourism essentially rely on technology at this point and time, hence the need to invest in making enhancements to make better platforms. Tourism is a global thing and it alls for everybody to connect, everywhere. It is said that technology allows for a whole new world to open up at the edge of your fingertips. With websites, booking platforms, apps, social media, etc. travels are able to engage with others and truly do their own research to figure out the experience best for themselves. Tourism companies need to keep up with easy navigation, mobile availability, stay connected, and sharing experiences.

This article stood out to me in a way that teaches us how important the environment play in our society and industry.It can significantly reduce cost and increase revenue within the hospitality industry. It doesn't have to be overwhelmingly difficult transition into a more green and diverse economy, it can be accomplished quite easily. I believe that its important to implement this green practices in order to help the environment and our economy.

The article I decided to choose this week deals with what we were discussing in our discussions about the POS system that businesses are installing in their restaurants. This article was about how Chili's has implemented tablets about 45,000 across 823 Chili's around the world. Guest can now order their food, pay for their checks and kids can play games on these new tablets. Having these tablets in the restaurant has increase 20 percent in dessert sales. You can see that by guest seeing a photo of the dessert on these tablets have help Chili's sale dessert way more. The device also has a set default for tips which is 20 percent. Some guest does not change the tips so the waiter/waitress are still getting more money. The tablet does not really need a waiter or waitress only until they need to deliver the food. The tablet has allowed quicker table turnaround which means you get more guest through the door so the restaurants gets more money. Since you have the tablets on the table at all time that you are there it tempts you to want to order more and that is more money for the restaurants as well. You will always need the waiter/waitress present because they still have to deliver the food and drinks. But as technology advances, I believe that there will be even more technology that eventually there will be no need for waiter/waitress in a restaurant. For example, having robots deliver your food and drinks.

This article talks about the growing need for customers to have certain in-technology. It also talks about what hotel industry is doing and investing keep it's ahead of the curve and what current are guest expectations when arriving at a Hotel in 21 century.

In this article, it explains that technology is the ruler of today's world. It creates an "easy life" and raises the expectations of customers by the minute, essentially making anything possible. To meet these expectations in the hospitality industry, hotels are incorporating more technological accommodations. This is a must to stay ahead of the competition and attract new customers. A report showed the hospitality industry as the 5th highest investor in sensors to ensure a positive customer experience. From simple technology such as online booking to things such as automated check in/ out are changing the game for the customers overall experience. These things have become normalized for a better guest experience along with keyless hotel room entrance making a shift to app's that act as the bedroom key. Another growing trend is having robots complete simple tasks such as room service as well as more sustainable practices such as adjustable lighting. In order to properly track the success rate of these new technologies, many hospitality related companies are hiring data scientists to assure they are meeting their guest's expectations. All of these advances make life easier for the company and the guests but none of these things can replace the art of human interaction. Although this art is dwindling away, it is something that most still yearn for, regardless of the technology involved in their experience.

Site Minder by GDS experience, serves as good example to better understand the impact of a GDS's impact on the hotel industry. GDS by SiteMinder provides a single point of entry to over 500 000 travel agents across the globe, which means that hotels can target many type of travelers in multiple geographic regions. By connecting hotels directly to the world's major GDS providers - Sabre, Amadeus, and Travelport - and travel agent network, GDS by SiteMinder offers a major convenience to participating hotels. Through this service, hotels don't have to worry about signing up with each one of these providers. Another advantage of SiteMinder is its affordability; there are no commission fees, rather, just one flat transaction fee per reservation. The company offers free services from GDS experts and free technical account management advice which are other benefits. For instance, in another article, in mid-2013, South Beach Group who has boutique hotels in the heart of Miami Beach, decided to switch its 12 hotels to GDS by SiteMinder. After moving to GDS by SiteMinder, South Beach Group representative highlights the significant increase in bookings leading to a growth in annual revenues by17% in 2013. In essence, GDS by SiteMinder advertises participating hotels to more customers globally within an incomparable distribution platform, with real-time and two-way GDS connectivity. As we can see in the article, in 2016, just within 12 months the total number of users of GDS by SiteMinder increased from 250 to almost 900. This article underlines the importance of GDS for the growth of travel industry. With Site Minder by GDS, one can realize how GDS helps increase hotel bookings by placing hotels on more virtual channels (an analogue of supermarket shelves) globally.  

This short linkedin article highlights the importance of using e-commerce in the hospitality and tourism industry. As we see a growing use of technology and the web in the industry, the use of e-commerce could be a great benefit to businesses and customers alike. Proper use of social media can bring out a strong presence and get you more bookings and it's also the least costly booking channel. One should be sure that your site is user friendly and use e-commerce as an advantage.

I found this article very useful because it focus on the common complaint of hoteliers when it comes to paying commissions to OTA's. In order for hotels to attain direct bookings, they need to have a deep understanding of ecommerce and digital marketing. While online travel agencies (OTAs) have continued to flourish due to their understanding of conversion optimization and user experience, many hotels still have not adapted to this mindset. Therefore, if hotels want to compete and succeed in the digital economy, it is important to acknowledge key principles of e-commerce and apply them effectively to the websites. First, mastering user experience includes creating simple yet intuitive design including a clear navigation, easy to find information and a strong call to action. Next, constant A/B testing, which is a process that compares different versions of the same page to measure with converts best, helps hotels understand how to maximize the user experience. Personalization is another useful tool to elevate user experience, since 86% of consumers reported that personalization impacts their purchases. OTA's have been efficient in this area as they have been able to amass booking data and convert this to improve the shopping experience thanks to embedded cookies and marketing automation systems. Also, employing conversion triggers are powerful tools used at pivotal points in the booking process. Just as OTA's have been able to master these conversion triggers, hotels should learn from them to increase direct bookings. For example, creating a sense of urgency on the website, such as "only 4 rooms left", will appeal to customers. Social proof, which entails social persuasion, is a decision making tool, where customers can book their stay thanks to quick access to reviews. Best rate guarantees help boost bookings as well, since customers have the peace of mind that they do not have to sure elsewhere. Lastly, understanding the travelers' booking journey, such

This article researched the efficient strategies that OTA's use when getting customers to book through their site. The purpose is to give tips for improvement to hotel websites so that they can use their site appropriately to drive more bookings directly. My opinion is that the strategies used by OTA's outlined in this article are a perfect direction for a hotels' website to configure itself in the most efficient manner.

The following article reviews the hospitality E-Business as well as the industries "E-profile". It was interesting to read how the article breaks down the realities of the new millennium and what it has brought to the table for the entire hospitality industry. It is vital for the hospitality industry to be available to evolve with the current technological trends and innovations. The article reviews how e-business has removed the traditional barriers to commerce; for example, time, distance and physical location. The future for "Web-enablement" within the industry has major potential and will soon be implemented. Ex; virtual tours, guest history and loyalty programs, sales force automation, etc.

IT investment are pushed forward now and days more so for guest satisfaction. A recent Motorola Solutions Inc has uncovered a study that fifty six percent of hospitality organization plan to increase their mobile investment and wireless technology with greater data volumes and high speed access. This will increase drastically competitive advantage for the business and customer experience. Some find it a challenge in convincing upper management to approve investing in to the latest technology. As well as demonstrating that a proposed technology investment will be beneficial for their business and will assist in continuous up to date trends and market competition. I highly agree that technology is a must in this industry, especially how fast it is changing. In order to stay within the competitive advantage and provide convenience for our guest it is necessary to invest and update into the latest technology. The initial investment might be extreme especially if you have been out of date from any recent technology however, with time the results will be returned with satisfied guest and fast paced PMS systems.

Information Technology is indispensable in the hospitality industry for several reasons. This article discusses how many hotels are increasing their investment in I.T because of its abundant advantages, especially guest satisfaction. It particularly states how mobile and wireless technology will aid in guests pleasure but ensure competitive advantage as well. They looked at a study of Motorola Solutions Market Barometer of 2011 where they fundamentally determine the emerging trends in the industry and opportunities. They then came to understand that businesses are investing more on hospitality information technology to not only assist in customer retention but to have an overall high-quality system that can manage their daily duties such as inventory, budget, and status of room reservations.

This article talks about how hotel companies are starting to invest more in information technology to provide a more enhanced guest experience. A survey done by Motorola Solutions found that 56% of hospitality companies are looking to invest in more mobile technology. While companies are looking to invest more in technology, it has been challenging to convince higher management levels to make the investment. Radi Karnib with Rotana Hotel Management said that it's important to demonstrate the benefits of the investment. Daniel Haijar with Layia Hospitality agrees and goes on to say that it's important to differentiate between what's an investment and what's an expense.

Module 3: Networking (Rebecca Noble)

The article written by Kristine Loretta, details five key benefits of why business owners should launch themselves into the e-business market. 

Due to the growth and advancement of technology, businesses have been able to grow in ways bigger than ever before. As we all know, e-commerce has become more popular today and is taking over many industries now. In this article, it discusses how this trend of e-commerce is extremely innovative and is proven to be a good alternative to the normal ways of business is usually conducted. Just to name a few things, conducting business via the internet saves tons of money. Customers are now able to shop and add items directly into a virtual cart instead of it been a paper trail of the items that are attempted to be purchased. Also, in addition what was mentioned above, e-commerce has opened up new and better channels for communication that can occur faster. Convenience is another key role that e-commerce plays in this. "No longer do people have to wait for stores to open". Patrons can now shop whenever they want to due to online shopping and have the items shipped directly to their home. Which leads me to say that this also is way that reduces cost and save money, especially for small businesses.Last but not least, without a doubt, it is pretty evident that e-commerce create different and many avenues of ways for money to be made. All in all, e-commerce is relevant in today's industry and many other businesses and these are the advantages that allow for it to thrive as it does.

Three years ago Oracle was able to buy out the leading company in hotel and restaurant technology, Micros. But the transition was quite tough on the company leaving many customers dissatisfied with the service they were receiving. One reason for this is because Oracle was not used to call-center based customer service making it quite difficult for them to adapt on their side but it was also difficult for the customers to adapt to taking all their data online to the cloud. In order to keep happy customers Oracle was able to boost the number of customer service representatives which made each and every customer have a shorter wait time and also the they are able to serve more customers as well. Oracle has also taken the step into streamlining the agreements with their customers into one global agreement making the service across the board on the same level, they were able to get more companies on the cloud, they were able to reduce training time by making the systems more user friendly and also have changed the PMS system to be on separate hardware such as tablets. They have also decided not only to focus on the hardware and IT aspect, but make it possible for hotels to give the best experience possible by adding more tools to track guest information but also for revenue and accounting management. At the time there are still many opposers to the systems and are being voices by many General Managers of the world but with the improvements they are bound to please more customers.

This article talks about hotels investing and implementing micros as their main system.

For three years now, Oracle has been the owner of Micros, a software that manages payments and reservations for more than 300,000 hospitality owners. This article speaks on how Oracle has been handling the transition, and the obstacles they are facing now, including competition from other hospitality softwares that hotels around the world are using. Most softwares today are using cloud based systems, but Oracle was having some mishaps with that transition, therefore making customers unhappy. To relieve some of the tension between customers and the company, there hired about 30% more representatives to handle the volume of requests, and questions from Oracle users. With more research and more representatives, 70% of customer support requests are being resolved within an hour. With time of the essence in the hospitality world, this is an important aspect for users of the system. Competition is out there, and price is a large factor for small and family owned businesses that cannot afford the Oracle system, but they are now working on widening their marker to independently owned hotels from anywhere around the globe. Being a user of Micros in my own place of work, the computer software makes it easy for both the employee and the guests, with straightforward prompts and payments that deliver little to no hassle. Oracle would like to keep on growing and with the rate that they have overcome their mishaps and learned to adapt to new technologies such as ApplePay and Bitcoin, it seems it can only go up from here.

(make sure to click on full text pdf) Cloud Computing is a set of hardware, software, networks, storage, services that an interface combines to deliver aspects of computing as a service. This helps in the sharing of software, hardware, and application packages through internet tools and wireless media. This article discusses the advantages, challenges, issues, and opportunities that Cloud Computing (CC) brings. The biggest and most obvious of these advantages is that concerned organizations need not install IT or hardware/software of their own, but can received a more sophisticated service through a CC provider while also allowing for very large amounts of data to be available though the CC infrastructure. The main fundamentals for CC are deployment optimization, virtualization, and resource allocation. The article finds that CC is gaining popularity in educational systems and the e-learning is gaining considerable popularity. E-learning or online education through these CC will play an important roll in IT infrastructure development in hospitality companies. It is suggested through these findings that the government, IT organizations, and educational communities should increase their cooperation. Proper funding, planning, and training will be essential to CC being implemented successfully

As technology advances so does the way consumers buy products and services. In order to keep consumers happy the hospitality industry has adapted itself to be more mobile and convenient. Mobility and convenience are two very important factors when making a website or app for E-Commerce. Many hotels and restaurants have created apps for cell phones and tablets so that guest can have convenience and mobility when booking a reservation or ordering a meal. E-Commerce profitability is maximized by using digital marketing. Two major sources for digital marketing are search engines and social media ads. Through digital marketing companies can constantly advertise to consumers anywhere at anytime in a cost efficient manor. Search engine marketing allows companies to increase the number of visitors to their website by putting them at the top of search engine results.

To summarize this article, it mainly discussed how the layout of digital marketing within the hospitality industry is constantly changing and highly important. This is something that is a challenging task for most hospitality businesses, especially hotels. It was said that there are many factors/questions to consider when approaching digital marketing such as " How much does it cost to acquire a new guest and how do we encourage this new guest to book directly through a brand's website?" Websites are plays a vital role in digital marketing are one of the main starting points. Hotels and other hospitality businesses should be frequently updating websites with useful information that compliments more visuals such as images and videos. In addition to that, it was even mentioned how making sure that the website is easy to navigate and readily accessible to customers is essential. After carefully reading more into article, SEM (Search Engine Marketing) was mentioned. This is more like an assessment in a way and a method to show where a hotel or business stands as a brand. For example, if your were to simply google the word hotel, brands such as Marriott and Hilton would most likely be at the top of the list. That is actually good and will benefit those brands greatly in the aspect that there reputation, which possibly stems from online review sites and social media platforms, is well known. These online review sites are capable of monitoring and responding to customer inquiries/comments. The article also touched basis on how the demand of social media presence is vital and should not be overlooked. Social media proves to be cost effective and efficient. Simply using hashtags with either the brand name or keywords can attract prospective customers which in return will generate more revenue. Overall, the article was clear that as far as the hospitality industry goes, digital marketing is something that has evolved in so many ways and can generate good revenue if the plan

Digital marketers in the hotel industry are adapting to the changing climate for OTA's guest expectations, advertising, and competition. Hotel Websites must be clean, low text, and image based with opportunities for guest to comment or ask questions. How to guests find you online? How can we create strategic links from the website to a brand's social channels for increased retention? Business owners will need to learn search engine marketing (SEM) to ensure that sites appear high on listed results of search engines. Paid advertising and Geo-targeting advertisement will be essential in offering the right products to the right markets. Markets must set measurement goals to monitor performance at different stages of ad campaigns and decided if ads should be adjusted. Lastly, the social media craze is still going strong, and being aware of current trend such as Instagram and hashtaging will be crucial in for current success.

This article is the resultant of a survey by Hospitality Technology as a deep dive into the minds of Restaurant Technology experts and executives. The results of the survey, commented by various executives from POS provision companies details their thoughts on the needs and direction of POS systems in the industry. The article, though lengthy, outlines current additions to existing POS systems and upgrades they are or will be implementing as a contrast to the opinions of the Technology executives. Out of this, several distinct trends emerge. POS will no longer be just cash register alternatives. They as a class of products are evolving quickly, integrating data, inventory management, third party integration (both service and distribution side) as well as an emphasis on Cloud-Based and managed implementations. All seem to concur that the future of the POS is not merely operational and operator functionality but also payment systems integrations that will make payment by the consumer friction-less and more diversified. On-line ordering is a distinct focus for all POS providers as online ordering grows exponentially for the foreseeable future. This includes critical items for brand based application ordering as well as third party aggregators. This includes the integration of omni-channel ordering including mobile, amazon-echo, Google-Echo and other AI/Voice based systems and the implications of their increasing usage. Data Security will be at the forefront of POS implementations with Restaurants having to increase their focus on vulnerabilities in their current systems and look to Cloud based systems to offer greater safeguards against hacks and data compromise. Finally, there seems a general agreement that a POS needs to be ready for the future, that is is extensible, up-gradable, and flexible to meet the rapid changes in technology in as bio metrics, payment methods (ie Bitcoin), new devices and services come to market. .