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We love technology but we don't always know how to use it or even want to spend the time figuring it out. Thats why Sam Grobart is set out to take the mystery from some common questions that are being asked about todays technology problems.100 questions were asked and 25 of them were answered on his Gadegetwise blog.

This is another innovation utilizing the cloud based computing in the hospitality industry. I am delighted to see advancement of the industry with implementing technology. The possibilities seem endless. With this planning platform, the world is really on our finger tips.

Hotel ProposalPro Creates and Tracks Professional Proposals and RFP Responses; Shares Leads Throughout an Enterprise to Increase Sales and Revenue

Hotel ProposalPro works either as a seperate entity, or in conjunction with any of Hotel SystemsPro's other programs, such as SalesPro. It allows management companies to share leads in a more productive fashion, as well as helps with creating and closing contracts with clients. I am personally jealous at this point. I am required to use Delphi.net, which has been "undergoing a transistion" to .LDC for the last 8 months (which has yet to make it to me). The functionality of Delphi is not nearly as user-friendly as some of the other programs, such as SalesPro. To hear that SalesPro is now having the option of adding on ProposalPro, just makes the program that much more desireable to me. I'm sure it has it's flaws as well, as every program does, but I would really like to make the change to almost any other program.

Good facility management of a hotel can make the service indispensable and delight the customers. But it's not a easy work. It is related to almost every department of a hotel. Abaris came up with a facility management solution on cloud. The solution mainly focus on three parts, which are housekeeping service, security services and maintenance & engineering services. With its help, a hotel can change its way to operate the business and ensure integration between operations and back-office departments. As a result, it can provide perfect service to meet customer requirements.

This document, from the National Restaurant Association, highlights eight things a restaurant manager should do upon acquiring a POS system. First, confirm the software and hardware that is on sale is the same as the order you will place. Second, establish a clear Service Level Agreement, establishing guidelines for the services to be provided to you by the POS supplier. Third, implement a fixed scheduled on payment and billing for future services. Fourth, understand the terms of your warranty in regards to what and when your system is covered. Fifth, ensure the safety standards of the data collection for the system are compliant with the standards of an approved collection agency (payment application data secu- rity standard - PCI PA-DSS). Sixth, require the supplier to disclose revenue sharing agreements it may have with other agencies, possibly affecting your bottom line. Seventh, establish payment on your terms as much as possible. And eighth, know and understand your contract.

This article shows that majority of hoteliers know the importance of technology in this industry, however, they just put off adopting new advancements because of the lack of funds and a fear of changing. When the hotel adopts a high technology, majority of working system should be changed which cause a fear to hoteliers. However, most surveys reveal that investment on technology surely enhance the customers experience that directly related to generate revenue.

Our Philosophy "We believe that independent hotels and smaller chains deserve the chance to compete with well-established hard brands with massive budgets. With that in mind, we develop smart, innovative and affordable tools to help even the playing field. May the best hotel win!" This company (evolution) looks to distinguish their brand by giving the opportunity to independent or small chain hotels the chance to fight with big chain hotels. Having said that, in this article they (evolution) state that a 40% of a corporate negotiated rate is no visible on the hotels' GDS. As stated previously, this percentage refers to that of a small chain hotel or independent hotels, not big chain hotels. After researching this sector, of corporate customers, they found that the GDS nor the CRS nor the CM (Channel manager) are sufficient for a satisfactorial system. Thus saying that these systems do not work on this specific market because the information provided through them is probably erroneous for many reasons. Such reason are stated by the article as follows: 1. wrong access codes provided by travel agents (miss communication) 2. hotel's rates are visible but not go according with the contract. 3. incorrect access city codes have been supplied (miss communication). 4. availability for those rooms are not applied in time by the hotel (probably because of lower staff). 5. lower rates from other sources (other sites give better rates than corporate GDS). 6. wrong rates loaded for the corporate customers (wrong information and not having glanced at it on time); among other possible reasons. I believe all this can be fixed by taking proper actions (evolution also offers solutions to these problems), but not everyone has a desire or the focus to attack them, thus falling on these situations.

As it becomes more and more popular (and more crucial to the environment) to "go green", it is also becoming less intimidating and more rewarding for organizations in the hospitality industry.  The notion that improving an organizations operations to make them more sustainable is too costly, is quickly being disproven, and in many instances organizations actually save money in the long run.  Part I of this series by Lee Simon focuses on operational practices and outlines simple steps that can be integrated in to a restaurant or hotel's current systems.  

Going Green is quickly becoming the thing to do in the hotel industry. In fact, Hilton now requires their department heads within their hotels to be trained and certified in their green program. They have created a link on their site which measures waste put out into the environment by each specific meeting group or guest. Even more importantly, clients are beginning to ask for these statistics and reports prior to committing to sign a contract that states they will hold their meeting at that particular hotel.

This article discusses the liability for a cyber breach at various branded hotels between the franchise owner or the corporation. The Trustwave 2016 Global Security Report stated that the hospitality industry had the second largest amount of data breaches. Additionally, more than half of the breaches are from a corporate/internal network breach. According to a Ponemon study, the average cost of a data breach is $4 million. While this is alarming, it is a surprise since hotels store numerous amounts of personal customer data including guest's credit card information. The article states that cyber hacks are largely due to the gap in not knowing who is responsible for the cyber security. There is an issue of control of data versus franchise network requirements. The hotel brand places individual franchisees in control of their own cyber security. However; they must rely on many centralized corporate owned reservation systems that could be possible access point for cyber attacks. The article suggests that the individual franchisee should make more effort in protecting their customers information as the hotel brand will take most of the blame. This does not help either side. Also, it mentions that in order to protect the hotel franchise it is important to have updated systems and should consider investing in cyber insurance.

Module 8: "Everything in the business world is about the bottom line, and the accounting department of an organization is the keeper of that bottom line's flame." The following article, Accounting and Bookkeeping For The Tourism Industry gives and inside look and new perspective into the accounting and bookkeeping within the hospitality and tourism industry. The following are a few topics that are required in order to successfully run financial aspects within the travel industry; cash-flow, operation & cost budget, pensions, foreign currency, accounting system integrity and accounting & reporting standards. I was interested to read all of the possible job opportunities that are available in accounting and booking sides of the travel industry; for example - opportunities to travel to exotic locations, work/live abroad, possible events, etc. It is clear to read that employees in both accounting and booking are vital today and their role continues to play a major role in the overall success of the industry. "Just as the history of the tourism and hotel industry has grown and evolved into the mega economic force it is today, so has the bookkeeping necessary grown into a mega accounting career that the tourism business could not live without."

This particular article on hospitality and tourism accounting states that the global travel industry is expanding at an accelerated rate. Although there are high demands in corporate travel and high level of satisfaction in the economy, the ever growing industry is vulnerable to many risks given by its consumers. Just as much as the guests utilizing these hospitality services are becoming more pressing towards great prices and expressing concern in the quality of service they receive, hotel businesses are adamant about increasing awareness in cost and profit. To balance all these exclusive challenges, hotels are insisting on being educated and equipped with the most up-to-date technological advances to keep up with the ever demanding industry. With this in mind, the article states three methods to conquer the challenges faced today. The first method is to utilize a cloud based system to keep track of all the innumerous activities present to keep the business running. Due to the fact that a hotel is run by an overflowing amount of employees, all with different jobs and tasks, all using different systems respective to their departments, and require several types of pay (part-time, full-time, tipped employees) methods, it is a challenge to keep things efficient without a proper system. This is the reason why the article recommends using a cloud based system to keep track of the daily labor costs, overtime management, daily payroll transactions, and incorporate easy accessibility to reporting functions. The cloud based system will be beneficial in keeping everything in record beginning from the moment an employees clocks in to the end where they receive their paycheck, as well as, the ability to manage transactions. The second method is to centralize all the various sources of data. Hotels have a countless amount of data being stored. That can range from guest satisfaction satisfaction survey and comment reports, PMS data, to financial reports. With all these busy ac

The article discusses how hotels can overcome accounting obstacles. Firstly managing payroll is cumbersome, so a cloud-based reporting system can provide an easy way to monitor labour and manage overtime, and daily payroll transactions. Secondly, hotels have a difficult time to read data as data can come from a huge variety of sources: STR reports, PMS data, satisfaction surveys, comments. Hotels need a centralized dashboard which combines all critical accounting and performance data to assist hotels in making better decisions. Lastly, the article talks about hotels needing a back-up accounting team in case of disasters. In-house accounting teams may not be able to tackle on one-time event disasters and there must be a back-up team in place in times of urgency. The author, Scott Watson, executive vice president of sales and marketing at a cloud-based financial platform, sees that hotels are becoming more "cost and profit conscious" and I agree with him. Technology solutions are what hotels are craving right now to increase revenue, minimize costs, and maximize profits without sacrificing service quality.

This article helps guides hotels in how to overcome challenges when it comes to the accounting department in any situation that deals with staff tracking, how to decipher intricate data, and what to do in emergencies. The article details the usefulness of the Cloud and keeping track of staff members that are FOH and BOH that are both hourly and salary. That the accounting department could simply look them up in the cloud rather than searching through paperwork to understand exactly what their role is in the hotel and pay them accordingly. The article also goes over how having multiple centralized data sources can help accountants understand information from reports, guest satisfaction questionnaires, and other forms of reporting to pinpoint exactly what needs to be changed to become more efficient in the company. Lastly, the article covers how having back up accounting teams could be a definite positive just in case of emergencies (i.e. weather) so accounting can still be in progress no matter what situation occurs and the hotel can run smoothly.

In this article, lawyer, Mark Pestronk, expresses how competition between GDS offers from Sabre, Travelport and Amadeus are "the best" he's ever seen. According to Pestronk, Amadeus offers the best deals followed by Travelport then Sabre because of the GDS's size in the U.S market as well as its presence in the market. Pestronk also included how the penalty of using another GDS is decreasing today.

This article brings us the real version of how important to launch cyber security system, as there are actual cases in which hotel face loss because imperfect security net. Thus, the professor Mangal suggests that all hotel employees should keep an eye on the threats. At the same time when we protect our customer, we protect and branding our reputation as well. In the future, advanced technology such as biometric technology will be implemented to restrict access to data. Although hotels are unlikely to hire IT professionals directly, but they truly need cooperate with firms which specialized in cyber security, at the same time, help hotels strengthen the training of employees.

Cloud computing has created a very hacking prone storage system because companies have not been paying as much attention to security as they should. Thus, by not taking the logical measures such as not uploading credentials to cloud storage systems, they are becoming prone to hacker raids. However, with the turning of the tide, new methods of security have presented themselves in the form of online tools such as HashiCorp's Vault Microsoft's Azure Key Vault, and Amazon's AWS Secrets Manager, which stores sensitive credentials in very limited access windows, as well as UpGaurd's BreachSight which detects online data leaks containing exposed and volatile client data, and Amazon's Amazon Macie, which learns the access patterns of your cloud storage,

In this article, the author has introduced how a hotel maintenance management software does good to a business in the hospitality industry. The physical plant software enables hotels to be more efficient to manage bookings, monitor utilities and sort finances, which helps ensure daily operations run smoothly. There are several benefits of the physical plant software mentioned in the article. Firstly, the software allows hotels to implement a scheduled maintenance plan. By regular maintenance, hotels can spot problems and fix the issues. In addition, the software enables hotels to track the amount of energy and water, which will help save money and decrease the costs. Moreover, the software allows hotels to track the levels of all of the supplies and allow the suppliers to have access to the amount of inventory the hotels have on hand. Next point, such software has the ability track and prioritize work orders. Not mention the software allows hotels to track all employees' information, which makes it easy to manage multiple employees. Lastly, the physical plant software helps hotels plan an annual budget by tracking all of the hotel's expenses.

This article outlines some of the procedures that are used in the Hospitality Industry accounting departments. Beginning with document retention, GAAP is followed to comply with how long the documents need to be kept. In keeping documents, data security needs to be in place to protect sensitive information. Internal controls are also important and follow GAAP, so that stakeholders and owners are protected. The procedure is so that the proper allocation of assets are maintained. Revenue recognition is also part of accounting procedures, as revenues may be sorted in various ways as appropriate. Lastly, timeshare accounting being one of the most complicated, due to the different agreements. I found this article to be a good guide in knowing the basic procedures that are followed in hospitality accounting.

This is an important point - The hours of labor that can be reduced because of an HRIS can allow HR employees to focus on other projects.

The article recaps some benefits of an HRIS system. It also emphasizes on the importance of the Human Resources department, as it is considered to be one of the most critical departments in any company. Human Resources is responsible for tasks that concern employee benefits, payroll, scheduling, rules and policies, contracts, legal documents, and training. An HRIS is able to facilitate the duty of HR employees and automate employee records, payroll and several other tasks. Highlighted below are some of the most important benefits mentioned in the article.

In the hospitality industry your Point of Sale System is the backbone of your operation, thus finding the best and most efficient POS for your business to succeed is key. The article discusses the best POS systems to fit your business, from traditional standard systems to the new trending Ipad systems. Your POS system should be affordable and efficient. In addition, it should do more than just take payments and process sales. It should come with marketing strategy tools, inventory/staff management, easy to function daily specials menus, and other special functions to help run your business. The vendor should have 24/7 availability to your needs and accommodate all the proper functions to assist the servers and bartenders. Some of the best POS systems are the following: * Vend - Has features that help run your business, boost sales, and save time. * Bindo - Best mobile POS system for Ipads. It is cloud based and offers an intuitive user interface. Easy mobile payments and 24/7 customer support. * Touchbistro - POS system that focuses on a restaurant's specific needs. Works with the Ipad and the Ipad mini, also has 24/7 customer support availability. * Shopkeep - cloud based for the Ipad, with easy to use tools for any retail store. No long term contracts or fees.

This article discusses some of the best POS systems for food service. Small business owners were asked for their choices and the pros and cons for the systems they discussed. The Business New Daily created a list of criteria to evaluate the POS systems and then ranked the top ones they chose for 2018. There are links and some costs provided in this article.

The article reports Hyatt Planner Portal, a technology that will be for meeting planners designed to enhance the planning experience. The portal will allow planner to have access to view confirmed attendees, event space floor plans, view event history and generate reports. The portal will be integrated with Hyatt's Event Concierge App.