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After the tragic events of September 11th, 2001, the travel business was damaged for many years. Profits became much lower in the hotel business, but were not nearly as bad as airline profits. As a result, many larger hotel chains began innovation on their websites in order to streamline promotions, advertising, reservations and bookings. In the hotel industry, there are individuals who create hotel technology platforms and there are IT professionals that make sure they work properly when needed. Some of these IT professionals, for smaller businesses, work from remote locations. At larger hotels, however, they are often times required to be onsite. Onsite IT professionals are an important part of the hotel's staff. Some hotels, however, assign IT duties to hotel management, as well as other key employees, in order to not have to invest the salary of an IT manager. The author of this article, Christine Cadena, states that it is a better idea to invest in an IT manager with specific education and training, than just assigning duties to hotel management. She also touches on how many hotel chains fail to promote education and certification in IT, resulting in hotel managers learning the IT processes by trial and error or hands on experiences. As the hotel industry continues to recover, there has been an emphasis on improving technology onsite. Many hotel managers, however, are lacking the education necessary to help with technological improvement. When hotels begin to invest more in IT education and certification, they should see an improvement in levels of service, as well as profits.

Great Article Matt- I struggle with not having an IT department on site and not being too techie. Its a great advantage when you ring that extension, someone answers and can quickly identify why the credit card machine is not working or the projector has fuzzy lines right before a big conference. Too many times, we find ourselves being place on hold for countless minutes usually 10 or more for someone from support services to identify the problem. I'm a foodservice manager not the IT manager, so talking technology to me is like talking French. If companies invested in a manager with the proper training and skill level to fullfill the position of running the hotel, then the same should be done for IT.

This article shows the relationship between tourism security and economy. Tourism security is an important factor that will affect the economy, people should pay attention to it and also the staff in tourism industry should pay attention to it, cause they can make full use of this factor to improve the economy.

Great read!! Explains how tourist need to feel safe in order to travel. The importance of safety is the most important thing tourist look for when traveling. Currently the world is in a disarray. 

M3 is a leading provider of accounting and analytic software, business intelligence and operations reporting. The company has been providing accounting assistance to customers for 15 years and has relied heavily on the feedback of their customers to improve their services. As a result of their customers wanting to outsource their accounting functions M3 has developed a customizable software that allows customers to choose from basic accounting functions to a complete accounting cycle depending on their business needs. By using M3PS and outsourcing accounting needs customers will be able to focus more on management functions as well as guest experience. M3PS launched operations on August 1st and since then has expanded its services to over 100 hotels as well as other businesses. M3PS is providing customers with outsourced accounting assistance from a team of CPAs and business professionals that have years of hotel accounting experience. Also, M3PS is saving customers from having to invest a large amount of time and money on IT infrastructure costs.

Where the article I posted emphasizes a total PMS solution, this company focuses primarily on back office functions. This doesn't make it wrong. On the contrary, if the firm is able to conduct all the back office functions and remain integrated with the existing PMS, it could be beneficial. That is of course, if the money being saved by exporting these functions to external CPAs outweighs the costs of keep the functions in-house.

Courses in this field teach you about event bidding, finance and accounting, project management and much more. Hospitality, events and tourism students often sit within one department and, understandably, they gain many of the same professional skills. Hospitality students tend to focus more specifically on the running of hotels, restaurants, catering businesses and events. They have lectures on quality control, the latest food and drink, front of house and housekeeping skills. On event management courses, an emphasis is place on the broader picture, for example, how do you plan, promote and run events? And the term events is incredibly diverse, including anything from a small wedding to a big corporate meeting or the American super bowl. Tourism students will learn all about how to manage the movement of people around the planet, and think about what the economic, environmental and social impacts of this movement are. Our national heritage, forests, coastlines and culture are dependent on tourism, and need to be managed by professionals who understand who travels, how they travel and why they travel. When natural and manmade disasters strike, tourism professionals need to know how to respond and how to help companies and destinations recover.

The article highlights the top five risks and security challenges in the hospitality industry. The following are the top five security risks according to the article. 1. Identity theft leading to credit card fraud - compared to other industries, the hotel industry is at more risk for credit card fraud and identity theft. This is because hotels are highly targeted by hackers. Hotel properties for the most part have credit card information for each and every guest that has stayed at a specific property. Hotels must be ahead of the technology curve when it comes to security however this is not always the case. 2. Silent invasions - This consists of all the cyber attacks that can affect a business by infecting the network. As discussed during the first module, hotels run majority if not all of their business using technology. If a hotel were to have their networks hacked it would leave them in a very bad situation. Since hotels operate their entire business using technology and multiple different systems, they would not be able to operate if they experienced a network breach. 3. Longer or no security audit cycles - Most branded hotels are required by the franchise to have consistent security audits done for each property. Independent hotels are deemed greater at risk for a security attack because they are not mandated to have security audits. These hotels sometimes skip audit cycles to save money. 4. Physical crime - This ranges from professional robberies to drug laps in hotel rooms. Hotels are at risk for armed robbery due to to lower chance of security compared to other industries that operate overnight. 5. Reputation risk - Hotels that experience a security breach almost always will see some sort of loss in competitive advantage. Nowadays with social media and the news travelers are more aware with what is going on and they would be more inclined to book their reservation somewhere else if they heard of the property having a security breach.

Last year, Harbortouch released a new POS system that had all the features of a standard POS while also adding new features such as an easier search function, online reservations, online ordering, and tableside ordering. The POS system is cloud-based and uses Android as a platform, making it easily adaptable to standard POS systems and tablets. The company also made things easier and more affordable to smaller businesses by having a monthly fee of $49 for these businesses to get the POS system and everything that it includes, such as onsite training, 2/7 support, professional installation and more.

This article discussed the importance of planning within an event and all of the aspects that have evolved with advancements in technology. Ultimately, making event planning more organized for the planner and the client. These interactive technology pieces can help keep all parties in the loop and prepared for anything.

The events industry is growing in the United States and around the world. Event managers need to keep up with the current and future technology trends in the industry. Mobile ticketing, cost reduction, gathering data from event attendees, and cashless events are all areas that event managers need to use in their operations. Using technology at events can help to reduce costs and improve attendance. In addition, the future in events could mean having a cashless event and also implementing virtual attendance. Event managers need to evaluate the technology that is the most cost-effective. The initial cost may be high; however, event managers need to look at the return on investment.

This article is very interesting because it shines light on the importance of using technology for HR purpose. It discusses the issues being faced that need to be resolved. It is important to note the generational differences and the social responsibility aspect.

I liked this article, but thought that it could have been more detailed. It offered many suggestions, but not that much intel into the systems that have been created or are in use to actually connect with candidates. For example, video interviewing. The best fit for the job might not always live close enough to travel for an interview. Skype interviews have become increasingly popular with hotels allowing them to quickly interview candidates without a person having to carve out a large portion of their day. The article did touch on the importance of following up very quickly which I agreed with, my property specifically is down 42% of our management due to hiring processes that are often drawn out.

Voice translation technology will enable international travelers to receive voice-automated professional hospitality in real time when they travel.

This article provides insight on three various types of IT providers and there methodologies. It definitely emphasizes the benefits of specialized companies that focus on cloud computing as their IT service and business model and their ability to b=continually adapt to the changing environment and their desire to create long term relationships. It also talks about how larger IT companies are more focused on strategy rather than implementation of systems. It also talks about how the larger IT companies are much more focused on their own profit than providing services to the client and how cheaper off shore IT companies basically provide the same services at a lesser quality

This article covers a study performed to determine the digital maturity of events. The research conducted reveals that the majority of industry professionals are aware of technology in events. The study ultimately finds that events have a low digital maturity, but high potential for advancement. The article also addresses the limitations of the study performs and agrees that additional research should be performed to determine the relevance of technology in the events industry while acknowledging that digital engagement is not necessary or conducive to every type of event.

This article has discovered the fact that the event industry was digitally immature. It also introduced a new concept which is called E4.0 into the academic literature. The article is meaningful since it has filled a gap in the literature relating to events and digital maturity and responded to some of the calls for research. The authors were also planning to make further research on E4.0, events, and digital maturity. They have mentioned that the studies on E4.0 itself were also requiring deeper research.

Cruise industry must work together to address safety & sanitation measures re:Covid-19. Travel advisors will be key to selling cruises to passengers. Industry is creating an education program for travel agents/advisors hoping that they will be able to effectively instill confidence in wary travelers.

This is an excellent, comprehensive article and research study that fully looks at environmental technology through interviews with hotel professionals. It has many specific examples of hotel environmental technologies. It also specifically looks at energy, water and waste in the hotel industry.

Alex Canter, CEO of Nextbite and Ordermark explains the difference between virtual restaurants and ghost kitchens. Both exist online, with no physical storefront. A report by Statista predicted online food delivery revenue will reach over $324 billion in 2022. Virtual Restaurants - only exist online, work with existing restaurants and kitchens. Helps increase productivity of their kitchen and labor, increase revenue and margins. Ghost Kitchens - Physical kitchens designed off-premise (pick-up and delivery only). Some have 30 or more individual commercial kitchens for rent and one area for delivery drivers to pick up. These kitchens house many brands and new local restaurants for a rent fee. Virtual restaurants require great marketing strategies, such as digital marketing, SEO, social media, professional photography and menu design. Some of the strategies suggested for success are utilising and being part of apps, focusing on the reviews, setting up a website.

As mentioned in this article, the amount of data creation on a daily basis is rapidly increasing personally and professionally. This data is more high quality now than ever and the space required to save the data has to be large enough to hold all the information. This is shy most people are switching to the cloud, because it is affordable, easy to use, and typically has large amounts of space.

Providing an easily accessible and reliable internet connection to their guests has become a major task for event planners in the hospitality industry. These days, free Wi-Fi is basically a requirement for all hotel guests whether or not their trip involves business or pleasure. As the title suggests, this article provides event planners with suggestions on how to negotiate a data plan that's both effective and efficient. It all starts with a site inspection visit by a technology consultant. In doing so, event planners could ask all sort of questions regarding the proper service (DSL, satellite, T1, etc) proper bandwidth limit and the necessary number of access points. Personally, I stayed a resort a few days ago in which the complimentary wi-fi wasn't reliable in the common areas of the hotel. It was a struggle trying to access the internet and the situation became frustrating since I wasn't able to complete some of my work. Like me, I am sure there were business men and college students who may have experienced the same problem. For the event planning team, this must have been a headache since the wi-fi amenity wasn't up to par as previously advertised. In conclusion, it is every important that event planners conduct the proper research on what type of data needs their establishment requires. The use of the internet is inescapable especially in today's world since guests handle all types of personal and professional business through their technology artifacts.

According to the article, the Red Lion Hotel on the River - Jantzen Beach has implemented the GroupMAX online reservation system in order to streamline and simplify event planning for meeting professionals. Planners that choose Red Lion Hotel on the River for their event will be equipped with a powerful set of tools that include various templates and themes, libraries, bundles and customized event websites. The booking process for each event also includes a dedicated social network, which helps drive attendance and extend the event lifecycle, allowing attendees to connect before, during and after the event. An event-centric social networking option dramatically boosts the perceived value of the event. While guests enjoy the convenience of online booking and networking, meeting planners can track the progress of their events via their own set of online dashboards that provide automated email alerts and other tools helping to mitigate the difficulties of managing room blocks and bookings.

The Red Lion Hotel has implemented the GroupMAX online reservation system to streamline and simplify the event planning. For hosting the events and also using the related facilities, Red Lion has became the convention destination. Now GroupMAX may combine the housing management, communications, booking processes and logistics together and working with the hotel. Red Lion has a lot of powerful tools to guarantee the event. Also, the mobile version of booking website can be accessed from other mobile devices. Booking process for each event is more like a social network. The event will present the value. Meeting planners will track the progress of the events through the dashboards that provide automated email alerts. Those things all make sure the events going smoothly.

There are few processes about how to select a HRIS technology. What is the degree of flexibility and scalability that the HR information technology software provides? HR professionals should determine if the software can import data from multiple Excel spreadsheets, databases, and paper documents and the level with which it can interface with all kinds of systems and data. Will the HR information technology be able to grow and scale with the organization? Is the HR information technology software able to integrate with other systems? HR can obtain greater efficiencies when data and other employee information entered into one system can be shared with another system. Who is responsible for implementing, or building, the solution? What level of training is involved? HR should have a clear understanding of the level of training and technical expertise that will be required and the amount of time expected. If training is involved, is there a charge? What types of maintenance and upkeep are required? What security measures are built into the HR information technology? If the software is available online, through an ASP or SaaS model, the provider should offer daily backups, backup servers, and added protective layers. Will employees be able to enroll in benefits plans and make changes in real-time to their personal data and plan choices? The system should clearly present the plans available and enable employees to make selections at their convenience, simplifying these actions throughout the process with wizards.