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"The way travelers communicate on the road has changed dramatically over the years, and these changes become evident when analyzing the revenue earned by U.S. hotels from their guests for use of telecommunication devices and services. In lodging industry parlance, "telecommunications revenue" includes monies received from the guest use of hotel room phones, fax machines, and internet connections."

This year, travelers are on track to pay U.S. hotels an estimated $1.95 billion in fees and surcharges - an amount that includes unpopular Internet charges. With this in mind, Hotel Check-In asked Robert Mandelbaum, the Atlanta-based director of information services for PKF Hospitality Research, to tell us about the state of the industry's telecommunications revenue stream - a stream that includes Internet fees.

Over the years, with technological and telecommunication advances the way we communication while on the road or on vacation has changed. I remember going on vacation as a child and being able to call my grandma from our hotel room once a day because we didn't want to spend too much money on calling back home or getting a voicemail from family members calling while we weren't in the hotel room. Over the years, this has changed dramatically. Now I can go on vacation and call, text, send emails, pictures, and videos to all my contacts with the use of my cell phone or with the use of my laptop in a WiFi area. This article gives insight on the revenue provided by telecommunications as told by Robert Mandelbaum a director of information services. He tells us that internet fees help with the growth of telecom revenue, as use of in room phones has decreased. This is just one way that the changes in technology have affected the industry. In this case, telecommunication advances have had a negative effect on the revenue in telecommunications but its only a matter of time until something new comes around and attempts to restore profit production. 

This article summarizes a webinar sponsored and moderated by The Wall Street Journal that addresses the 10 key hospitality technology trends. One trend pointed out was hotel guests are traveling with an increasing number of technological items. "A SmartBreif poll showed that 45% of hotel guest travel with two devices and 40% with three or more". Hotels are accommodating this trend with free-wifi but also with guest room design assuring capabilities for their computers, tablets, and phones. A property in New York, Eventi a Kimpton property, has gone as far to install a "business bar" for those that forgot their tablet or just in need to entertain their kids. More-so technology is being used for signage, digital signage can be found in many lobbies showing off twitter messages and amenities guest can view while standing in line. A showy new trend is having interacting hub in the lobby for guest to be able to check the weather, look up restaurants in the area, find attractions, etc. with no need to wait in line to ask the concierge or front desk attendant. Marriott has a new concept which is a "Workspace on Demand" with services that allows for small-businesses to hold conferences in their space. They can lease the space for a half-day or the full-day. Allowing them to utilize their wifi, a large space, and includes use of audio and visual equipment without having to book rooms at the hotel. Needless to say this has been a huge success for Marriott with 120 bookings in the first 90 days.

Technology is growing every day and staying up to date with what customer needs and wants are, are very important to being a successful business. This articles main focus is about the growth of technology in the hotel industry and how hotels are adjusting to new and upcoming technology. Customers expect certain tehcnologies now when staying in a hotel such as high speed wifi or electric key swipes now. Also new Developments such as social media. Businesses have started using mobile apps such as twitter or Facebook to learn about the needs and wants of their customers before they have even walked through the door.

What an informative article! In my own opinion, the following article gave a great insight to investing in technology within the hospitality industry. The 5 helpful tips they provided within the article are the following; get to know your guest first, balance technology with the human touch, invest in mobile based technologies, try before you commit, and future-proof your technology investments. Each of these suggestions truly would make a huge impact within the hotel industry if followed and practiced. In my own opinion, the most vital thing to be sure of when introducing new technologies into your business is to make sure you have the right balance of human connection and technologies. Like stated in the article, technology is not meant to be an aid or replacement for face-to-face staff and guest interaction. New technologies are giving the industry the ability to provide fresh ways to deliver high quality experiences to keep pace with rising customer expectations.

The article highlights 5 things a hotel leader should consider before they decide to invest in IT. The goal is to ensure the investment truly helps grow the firm's bottom line, is inclusive with the human resources operating within the establishment, and is in align with current long-term trends and not just fad investments. The article helps connect the dots on what makes IT investment risky or an essential path to success.

This article goes about discussing the issues around full service hotels and fees for WiFi internet connection. Travel Professionals do have changes throughout the years in the hotel and tourism industry, but some are really serious that is affecting the rating of customer satisfaction in hotels. According to experts, they do present a theory that something must be done in order to increase revenue and also hotel's ratings; no all hotel managements agree with such theory. Therefore, they are still pushing for continuing the fees and strive for customer satisfaction all at the same time. In essence, the hotel industry is constantly adapting to new and more changes everyday, as technology also changes and have new innovations.

The article I read was called, "Restaurants, Beware: Hackers Want Your Customer Data." In the article it talked about how cyber criminals want credit card information from people so that they can make money off of them. Criminals find new ways everyday to breach systems and steal information from guests staying at hotels or eating in restaurants. It states that many restaurants and franchise businesses use unsecure and public WiFi networks are connected to the point of sale system. "Franchise businesses are particularly at risk primarily because franchises tend to have the same POS system duplicated at all locations." A lot of times businesses don't have trained security on staff, they just assume that their IT person will be talking care of the security. According to the article the best detection systems are neither the technology nor the security but it's the employees who work there. The employees can tell when something has changed in the system and as soon as they realize that, they need to report it to their manager. I never even considered people breaking into the systems and stealing credit card information but it does happen and it's important to know what to do in these kinds of situations.

One of the biggest complains received from travelers or hotel guests in New York is paying for Wi-Fi and not being able to get cellular data service. While wired and wireless service was available, the lack of cell phone signal for downloads and data service caused travelers to become frustrated. To help out, the Mandarin Oriental, New York decided to deploy a converged IP network and install the Ruckus Wi-Fi wall switches in every room to help with cellular and wireless capacity and coverage. Since installing the Ruckus Smart Wi-Fi system, Mandarin Oriental, New York has seen user capacity more than triple and wireless traffic eclipse traffic on the wired network, while customer wireless complaints have dropped by more than 85%.(But the benefit isn't just for the guests. According to the hotel, the new wall-switch Wi-Fi "dramatically reduces the cost and complexity of installing and managing wired and wireless network services."

This is awesome, especially in New York where the wi-fi traffic is crazy busy all the time. It is true that most guests do complain about having to pay for the wi-fi. I work at a hotel and that is one of the most complaints that I get. Even though in the article they say that the guests still have to pay for the wifi, it does allow the guest to have the confidence that they will receive a strong signal and that the internet will work.

This article is talking about wireless internet becomes more and more important in the hotel industry. They provide some of the key considerations for the hoteliers that help the hotel to ensure they can meet the demands of their customers. There's a big demand for wireless access to hotels. Every customer would like to choose a hotel with a Wi-Fi service. Wireless become very necessary in the hospitality industry. The best wireless service that can help the hotel create the loyalty customers. Wi-Fi has become a standard amenity, therefore, the hotel has to find affordable and non-disruptive solutions to meet customers wants and needs. Currently, customers would like to use the smart phone and their computer to watch videos rather than watch TV. They are not just sending email and web surfing anymore. There have a strong needs of the best internet from the hotels. The articles showed us couple challenge of wireless in the hotel. First of all, weak cellular signal strength. In many hotels, for guests, it's not always can find the signal of their cell phone, especially in urban area. The customers can't have a good voice communication with others. Maybe because the location of that room in the corner and there have something will disturb the signals or building construction that will interrupt the signal as well. The solution of the cellular signal strength is "Make provision for both voice and data signals to be amplified." To installing that equipment that always needs the hotel to run a new cable in order to provide the good signals for the guest used. The second challenge for the hotels is "Cellular Network Capacity Issue". Since cellular companies continue selling the device for many years without expanding their network to meet their demand. For example, AT&T is the first company that realized this issues when there are sell iPhone and another cellular. Thus, it's very important that each device support connection to the internet by use Wi-Fi withou

This article is talking about the history of hotel technology. Also, it records the significant innovation of the invention in hospitality. And I recognize the technology changes our life a lot. We are always moving forward without any notice.

Interesting article! This robot Rosie, was created by a student while working as a housekeeper at a hotel. He saw that majority of accidents reported by housekeeping staff were injuries sustained from vacuuming. Later they found that Rosie was much more capable at performing other duties than housekeeping. Due her data storage capabilities she became useful in tracking environmental data, temperature, humidity and WIFI signal strength. No doubt this type of green technology has had a tremendous impact on the overall guest experience and increase in revenue.

With the expected boom of mobile internet users, investing in the right technology for eMarketing and proximity marketing will be key in personalizing guest booking and experience. Using smart technology products (wearables etc.) will also create competitive advantage.

This article is about the top emerging technology trends within the hospitality industry. It was actually pretty interesting to read about certain trends that I had never heard of before, such as augmented reality. My main takeaway from this article is that hotels are focusing more and more on incorporating bigger and better technology as we delve deeper into the technological era.

This article went into depth about the recent technological innovations being seen within the hospitality industry and how these pieces of disruptive innovation are changing the way hotels operate forever. One of the main catalysts for an increase in the speed of change has been the COVID 19 pandemic. A move to touchless and more hygenic aspects of operations was essential to get businesses back up and running while investments in these innovations lead the way for more and more advancement. These changes are forcing the whole industry to evolve as the pressure to keep up with changes to food and beverage, guest services, and amenities are all being shaken by technological advancement.

This article talks about the different types of technology created based on the trends in the world of the hospitality industry. Hotels are not trying to continue to be a competitive with technology that appears to clientele. Not only it will entertain guests, but also assist with improving operations and accuracy.

Why the hotel should do the IT investment? Everybody know that the great thing about technology is it is always moving on and forwards. It can save businesses a lot of time, bring people through the door and turn them into returning customers. And the article lists products and technologies that are moving hospitality businesses forwards, exploring how cafes, restaurants and bars are able to push the boundaries of modern technology. And show us the benefits such kinds of IT Investment. For example, the article said WIFI used in the hotel bar pub will make their guests more convenient and satisfied with their service, and more and more guests would like to go to these place which provide the free wifi. So maybe the IT investment could not enhance the benefits directly, but it really help the hotel to manage the daily working, and provide their guests more comfortable and convenience service.

The article describes the new IT feature installed in a flagship hotel of Mandarin Oriental Group of hotels - that is a WIFI feature installed into the walls of every guest room. Mandarin oriental New York is known as technologically savvy hotel, which adopts all new technology features, that appear in the market. Capacity, coverage and user density were major problems for the hotel before, but the time to change has come when iPhones and iPads hit the market and the need of new technologies has appeared.

The Courtyard Marriott in Midtown Manhattan installs a software that can insert some ads or cut off some articles on a website that a hotel guest is visiting. And this was found out by Justin Watt, a Web engineer. After he post it on his blog, it came to a big discussion. Is it legal for a hotel to get into a personal's visit on a website? But this kind of technique also has some potential use in the future, such as hotel can deliever the newspaper to each room with all some ads or some articles being cut off by using that technique, or adding hotel's daily special menu or event on an online newspaper and also pint it delievering to each room.

I believe the security issues is what we will be getting everywhere, because what is made online, always can be tracked and checked by some smart ITs. Another aspect - is anyone exept us is interested in our security? More often we can hardly guess what is really secure ...

I found this article very interesting as it covers some of the next technological changes the hotel industry would see. Hotel companies and property owners are spending lots of money to ensure they are able to satisfy modern day traveler's needs. As technology advances and more and more studies show travelers prefer to use their own mobile devices, companies have to constantly improve their mobile platform. Sooner or later hotels will have mobile keys that work via a phone on the customers phone or tabloid. Features like mobile keys, check-in, and communications via a mobile app will all require significant amount of investments by major hotel chains. All of these new types of feature also require more advanced security to protect hotel stayers while using the hotels' mobile apps. Over the long run the investment will pay off for large hotel companies as they will gain tons of data and data is very powerful and useful. I am interested to see how this affects small-scale motels as the investment in mobile platforms may not be feasible for an independent motel.

This article discusses six of the new upcoming trends in the hospitality industry in regards to technology. The first is mobile ubiquity - meaning the amount of usability of guests using mobile devices to check in, make a reservation, or purchase. The second is integrating mobile data and the integration of such valuable data. Third would be the Enabling of guest room technology, such as on-demand content and room features. Fourth would be Future-proofing networks and ensuring safety from hackers or malwares. Fifth would be beefing up security. Sixth would be energy conservation to save money on wastes and energy consumption.

Future proofing or building a more robust network infrastructure is the backbone and the most important part of any network model. It seems that newer buildings will have an advantage as they will have fiber optic installed as they are constructed which would be cheaper than replacing an entire existing copper network. This trend, will enable companies that have newer hotels to offer more services and meet the technological demand that their customers now expect.

Phones essentially, and unfortunately, are going to be around for peoples time at hotels. People usually go away to get away from real life, but unfortunately everybody likes to be on their phones still. The first four examples of this article highlight how phones are important with recent technology updates. Your new phone can now serve as a phone key, concierge, and do so much more with an app. Robots and other technologies are being implemented to replace human interactions.

This article was a great read. For the most part I have either witnessed some of these advancements or heard about them in some form or fashion. The trend that intrigued me the most, of course, was #9 - Tech Enabled Meeting Spaces. This is ALWAYS a demand for my clients. Will they have wifi, will they have a polycom, adapters for their laptops, etc. Some clients, especially tech groups, that I have want their own entire network created and work hand in hand with our IT department to configure all that needs configuration. I think these trends are great, and positive, trends that if done correctly can meet the guests' expectations and as a result increase GSR (Guest Satisfaction Rates).

In the ever changing world of venue life safety, technology is becoming more prevalent. Within budgetary limitations, venues are looking for better ways to ingress guests while keeping the safety integrity of the facility. If applicable, venues would like to incorporate facial recognition and screening as guests arrive. While looking at capex for technology, what will the next wave of venue security look like? Is facial recognition and pass through magnetometers be the peak?

Since few hotel chains can afford a professional staff to monitor the entire computer network and their guests have little tolerance for slow internet services, remote monitoring technology coming out to allow specialists to evaluate every network component and make changes. Reports are provided from the remote monitoring services at regular intervals. Changes made to the configuration and traffic routing will allow the hotel executives to see the many services that are required to run the network at optimal levels. Recommended upgrades can be conducted before the network performance degrades. 

Forget about whether there is free wifi in room or not when travelling. Hyatt Hotels Corporation has introduced the internet accessed In-Room television where basically your In-Room TV not only performs the normal functions, but everything you can possibily imagine with your laptop, mobile phone, etc... from browsing websites, ordering room service, dinner reservations to receiving customized messages from meeting and group planners and much more! With this new service, I would simply see it as an electornic bulter where every guest could enjoy whenever they stay with such properties.