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In 2017 JetBlue announced that they will be the first airline to partner up with US Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) to come up with a biometric technology that will use facial recognition to check in their customers and allow them to board the airplane, instead of using cell phone applications or paper boarding passes. The way it will work is that your image will be sent to CBP where it will be matched with your passport or visa. At the same time the technology will verify your flight details and let you know when you're okay to board the flight.This will be the first time biometric facial recognition is cleared through CBP.

I was just reading this today! Great article and fascinating technology.

I am a frequent flyer with Jet Blue, and love everything their airline. This futuristic step will not only enhance security, increase boarding speeds, but also help the environment with paperless boarding. I think there will always be passengers who want to be offered the traditional boarding pass, and those who do not want their picture taken. However, the more airlines that come to use this system, the quicker it could become airports new normal. Thanks for posting!

Security has always been an issue for financial services which led to avoidance of some new technology systems. Due to advancements in cloud systems, I think it is time for financial services arms of hospitality organizations to reap the increasing number of benefits of cloud computing. Also, cloud-based financial Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) helps companies enter new markets, explore new opportunities, and strengthen their business processes. Cloud-based financial ERP has certainly helped Tetherow Resort by reducing costs and allowing their finance department to concentrate on their strategic business matters rather than dealing with IT and infrastructure issues. By switching to a cloud-based system, Tetherow Resort was able to reduce the amount of infrastructure stored onsite, reduce costs of the process and develop new strategic plans. In my view, there is a huge potential in cloud-based financial ERP in for financial and even non-financial companies, because through this system companies' finance departments are able to increase the efficiency of their operations.

This article touches on GDS bookings and bookings via Expedia specifically. It is one of the most well-known websites used by consumers. Many don't know that cutting out Expedia and selling rooms via GDS systems only costs hotels about 10% of the share, which is much lower than the usual standard for bookings through other agencies. Some data from travelport showed that there was a 30% growth in GDS direct bookings in 2014. Some brands are taking GDS properties from their sites because they feel they don't offer the level of customer service they require. With this example it's clear to see that the relationship between the hotel, GDS systems and sites like Expedia, can get very complicated. Expedia acts as the middle person between the GDS systems like Pegasus and the customer using the site for booking. Each outlet provided for bookings has pros and cons, so it is best to do your research on what is best for your hotel.

This article focuses on new hotel apps, focusing on Recharge, that let you rent upscale hotel rooms by the minute/hour. As the article states, this is not a new concept and has been offered in the pass usually at motels. This app looks to change the demographic of those looking to rent hotels for a small amount of time. The app is already active in popular cities around the world, they aim to only work with 3-5 star hotels. I downloaded the app and thought the pricing was a little concerning, but it goes back to the demographic the app is targeting. Recharge aims to appeal to travelers with long layovers, business people looking for a quiet spot in between meeting, sight seers that may need a nap, and even mothers looking for a safe place t publicly breastfeed. Their pricing is right in line with their target demographic as the cheapest price is usually around $30 per hour, and there is always a service fee; the author of the article talks about staying in a hotel for 15 minutes and paying $65 dollars. Personally the pricing is a huge setback, but business wise it makes sense. You are covering the cost of housekeeping having to go in and reset the room, and front desk reprogramming the keys/ handling check in and check out. While I think the system could create a bit of a challenge for hotels in terms of making if something is ready and clean or not, it is another opportunity to increase revenues. This app especially during the slow season for hotels, could help them fill their less desired rooms, if only for an hour. It is similar to a restaurant way of thinking "How many times can we flip this table (room) in peak hours". I may not use the app, but if I was traveling with friends and splitting the cost, I would definitely take the opportunity to pay a few bucks to nap in a 5 star resort.

Module 3: Networking (Rebecca Noble)

This article discusses the increasing demand for e-commerce and third party delivery in the food and beverage industry, as well as the costs associated with it. Restaurants are currently facing a growth problem in the United States as foot traffic has declined due to a "millennial generation shift" that sees diners doing more in their homes, while third party companies like Grubhub have seen it's stock rise 141 percent from a year ago. For many restaurants, it is a matter of opportunity cost. As explained in this article by Warren Solocheck, a restaurant industry analyst at NPD, "We're going to see more and more quick-service chains begin to try out delivery," he said. "The margins associated with third-party delivery may be slimmed down. But, the question for restaurants is, 'If I don't do it and I'm not delivering my food, am I in the game anymore? Am I in people's consideration? It boils down to being an opportunity cost. The hope is that at some point people will like the food enough to come in and sit down." I found this article very interesting as a General Manager. We recently decided as a brand to begin offering delivery through third party services as we noticed a decline in covers leading to a decline in revenue. This new revenue stream, although at a higher cost, still brings in revenue that we would be missing out on either way. We also offer free appetizer cards for a consumer's next in house visit to help attract new guests.

Square has created a new point of sale system and corresponding software that integrates offline and online sales. With many restaurants turning to delivery for additional revenue, trying to manage both to go and dine in orders has resulted in headaches over a variety in hardware. After releasing Square for Retail, Square has now shifted it's focus to restaurants. "Every restaurant is becoming an omnichannel business," says Gokul Rajaram, Caviar lead at Square. For the first time, he says, restaurants "will have a unified view of their sales and their customers, and be able to understand how each channel contributes to their overall business." One of there largest hurdles will be the price associated with switching costs. As a General Manager, I can see the need for this software that will mainstream all of these channels into one. Currently at my restaurant, we have partnered with three different third party delivery services as we look to find revenue outside of our four walls, one of those companies being Caviar. This has led to our host desk being bombarded with three different tablets, and hourly employees being responsible to manage them from accepting orders to then entering them into our POS system. This is not only time consuming and inefficient, but also costly.

This article contains an interview with the CEO of the payments technology company Affirm, Max Levchin. Affirm, established in 2012, is a payment technology firm that allows for travelers to pay for trips via a monthly payment plan. The company fully pays the travel provider and then is responsible for collecting the funds from the traveler. The payment does not need to be paid in full prior to travel. Levchin says that this product is attractive to companies because airline and hotels don't have to worry about interchange, processing fees and fraud. It benefits consumers because they are able to book early when prices are lower instead of "saving up" to book closer to the date of travel, when the trip is more expensive. They have seen an increase in advance bookings with Affirm for trips over $250. He suggests that this will disrupt traditional travel industry e-commerce and make travel more accessible.

RealView is a Chicago-based mobile software company that assists hotels with emergencies by equipping first responders with hotel's up-to-date floor plans and other relevant information. "We provide a preplan program where we make everything a responder would need available to them ahead of time," Stephen Nardi, CEO of RealView, said. "With planning, both employees and responders won't be operating on trial and error but reality." All of this information is streamlined to portable tablets or security stations and can be updated remotely and shared digitally. This software is important not only because of the safety of hotel patrons and visitors, but also to protect a hotel from a liability standpoint. "The front-end policies you have will protect you in the moment and in the end," Justin Parafinczuk, a partner for the defense law firm Koch, Parafinczuk, Wolf and Susen said. ""Any break in the chain is a liability. It's a minefield." In my opinion, this type of software not only makes sense but should be required in all hotels. When dealing with emergencies that involve life and death, seconds matter. It is software like RealView that can be the difference in saving peoples live's. RealView offers the ability to streamline real time information and make it easily sharable. I believe that not having this type of software should be considered a legal liability to hotels and they should be held accountable if they do not have this type of software implemented.

The article talks about the integration of a new system called Rainmaker and RoomkeyPMS. The trend of using the "cloud" is ongoing, as RoomkeyPMS is software that is "cloud-powered" which helps to facilitate the way the front office handles their operations. Rainmaker integration with the PMS, on the other hand, is to help the back of the house. It is meant to increase hotel bookings and "streamline operations and revenue optimization processes". Highlights the first boutique hotel in Charleston, The Spectator Hotel, are the first to adapt this new collaboration to improve the way data is being accessed. Based on the article, the hotel is using these cloud based systems to be able to offer more innovative service to their consumers especially when it comes to how revenue is being handled. I think that having to cloud systems working together can be kind of difficult especially when they serve two different purposes. But with that being said, both softwares seem to work for the best individually. Having the ability to try this out on a smaller boutique hotel would be for the best because it allows hoteliers to conduct analysis for the systems on a smaller scale.

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.

This article outlines how hotels are trying to become eco-friendly sustainable and still able to paramount guest needs. With this initiative, modern consumers are showing a definitive preference for experiential purchasing over material goods.

This article discusses the negative aspects of cloud-based software.The hospitality industry found the software to be expensive and lacked the functionality that was expected from the software. What seems to be taking the place of cloud software are business software environments, which the author refers to as a eco-system of vendors. SAP Cloud platform HANA is the center of one of these eco-systems. Another eco-system that is discussed in this article is the one around salesforce.com and last but not least the Microsoft Office Environment. The author concludes his argument by saying although there is no hotel industry eco-system, cloud-based hotel software will not resurface as an eco-system.

The article discusses how the hospitality industry can now use applications on a cloud to change or modify the programs if they are not a good fit. It is technology that is still in the making, and will not be used by all but is an amazing idea if all negative components are taken care of. Such as training personal.

This article is an industry update in which readers learn that the Hotel Electronic Distribution Network Association has joined partnership with Hospitality Next Generation and The OpenTravel Alliance with the goals to improve and advance technology distribution technology in the hospitality industry! This awesome partnership will leverage the strength of HEDNA's business focus. This article gives information on HEDNA as well as OpenTravel Alliance as well.

Tomorrow's World surveyed 250 restaurant operators and their customers on the their thoughts on emerging technology in the industry such as facial recognition, artificial intelligence, voice activation, among others. 50% of guests said this technology could improve the guest experience. Today's restaurant operators are finding ways to increase guest satisfaction, which involves having the ability to purchase products in the simplest of ways. EPoS has a huge role in this, and should be used to stay a step ahead . Technologies should be implemented and work together, operators should work on a collective, open platform with a POS partner willing to adapt, change, and adopt new technologies, which essentially can grow the business.

This article focuses on the impact that two new GDS programs will have on Southwest flights and their cooperate progress. While they dive into other observations in the article, the main points are being made about GDS and how it is newly implemented in their company. Based on the GDS that is now with Southwest, they can now "provide content and full booking capabilities for the first time." This is important as they are trying to open their flights to make more Hawaii trips and this helps their cause. The reason that this article strikes me of such importance because it shows a real-life example of GDS being used to this day. GDS is still a prevalent force in the travel industry and while stated in the article that it will take some time to be fully operationally, the company still believes that it is a plus. When studying about GDS, there were many opinions saying it is not as relied on anymore as it once was. Yet as we have here, GDS is still here as it is being used to it strengthens and helping a major airliner like Southwest.

This article discusses the InterContinental New York Barclay Hotel's mission to become New York's most sustainable hotel. In order to do so, the Barclay has aligned its own initiates with those of the United Nations and look to follow its standards 100% by 2010. Some of these initiatives include donating unused toiletries to impoverished nations as well as partnering with New York's Repeat Roses, an organization that reuses floral arrangements from weddings and other events for nursing homes and hospitals.

This article talks about how Airbnb has become more appealing to travelers than hotels. Airbnb has become one of the largest hospitality networks offering cheaper stays and more authentic experiences than hotels. However, hotels are not liking this as people are more likely to turn to Airbnb's. There have been many regulations that hotels are forced to face while Airbnb's have close to no regulations, making it easier to earn an income without any specific regulations. Airbnb's have caused hotels to turn to different methods of gaining more customers while competing against such a strong competition.

Its interesting that hotels and hotel chains have spent so much time effort and money on implementing standards and standardization over the past decade. AirBNB has limited standards other than the provision of accommodation. Standards were introduced as a tactical approach to consumer market by providing standardized and recognizable brand standards so that a traveler will know they staying in a Marriott for example. AirBNB success has turn that assumption on its head as travelers embrace differentiated product more related to finding a personalized choice that suits their personal tastes based on a more varied product offering. Hotel have been discussing personalization as a high level topic for many years now, more related to services and experience. Could it be that the success of AirBNB is actually an oversight of the hotel industry (perhaps explaining the significant increase in "Brands" by the largest hotel companies.) on the desire for travelers for personal spaces that are closer to the desires of the consumer.