Group items matching

in title, tags, annotations or url

Network computing has enormous implications for marketing to customers on a global basis, as well as hotel operations. Consider the potential for the industry to connect with vendors worldwide for electronic purchasing, potentially achieving economies of scale and leveraging not yet possible. World purchasing functions will allow companies to customize their own catalogs. Virtual channels of distribution using computer networking capabilities will also allow hotel companies to market products and services - some traditional to our industry, others not - to customers whether they are in the hotel, at work, or at home. This will require a migration from today's central reservation systems to tomorrow's customer information systems using network-centric solutions. Development of customer profiles and guest recognition will make it possible for hotel organizations to interact in entirely new ways with customers, regardless of their physical location. Clearly, the large hotel companies will need to be the first to address questions raised by global networking capabilities and what this will mean in terms of technology investment. But for many hospitality companies presently struggling with the high cost of technology and the confusing state of our industry's technology affairs, this will not be an easy task. And the decisions will ultimately become further complicated by the opportunity to outsource certain functions into subscription-based networks. It is unlikely that the hospitality industry will be forced to bear the entire burden for networking infrastructure. Strategic alliances with major technology companies will be the catalysts in building this capability as they become strategic providers of networking capabilities to hospitality and other industries. And as network-centric computing comes of age and a company's proprietary information is stored in cyberspace, security will become an ever-more important issue requiring solutions. Whether it is an e-mail gateway through an internal network or customer access via the Internet, network fire walls and encryption systems will be required to mitigate the concern many will have with system security.

Network computing has enormous implications for marketing to customers on a global basis, as well as hotel operations. Consider the potential for the industry to connect with vendors worldwide for electronic purchasing, potentially achieving economies of scale and leveraging not yet possible. World purchasing functions will allow companies to customize their own catalogs. Virtual channels of distribution using computer networking capabilities will also allow hotel companies to market products and services - some traditional to our industry, others not - to customers whether they are in the hotel, at work, or at home. This will require a migration from today's central reservation systems to tomorrow's customer information systems using network-centric solutions. Development of customer profiles and guest recognition will make it possible for hotel organizations to interact in entirely new ways with customers, regardless of their physical location. Clearly, the large hotel companies will need to be the first to address questions raised by global networking capabilities and what this will mean in terms of technology investment. But for many hospitality companies presently struggling with the high cost of technology and the confusing state of our industry's technology affairs, this will not be an easy task. And the decisions will ultimately become further complicated by the opportunity to outsource certain functions into subscription-based networks. It is unlikely that the hospitality industry will be forced to bear the entire burden for networking infrastructure. Strategic alliances with major technology companies will be the catalysts in building this capability as they become strategic providers of networking capabilities to hospitality and other industries. And as network-centric computing comes of age and a company's proprietary information is stored in cyberspace, security will become an ever-more important issue requiring solutions. Whether it is an e-mail gateway through an internal network or customer access via the Internet, network fire walls and encryption systems will be required to mitigate the concern many will have with system security. In the final analysis, networking solutions will drive down the cost of technology investment "on-property" where hotel real estate and business interests merge. The solutions that hotel organizations will be able to choose from in terms of networking should also be less expensive than the current profile of technology spending. And we can expect that change to occur sooner rather than later, given the present rate of investment in Internet-based technologies.

From the time of reservation until the time customer checks-out of the hotel everything is recorded and the data is available. The computer system really monitors the guest requirement, their likes and dislikes, their wants and satisfaction levels in a readable way that helps the hotel enhance their future services.

It is not uncommon that one may have good computer system yet may not be successfully getting right information for the business.

Information and good service is the key for success in hospitality industry.

Information and good service is the key for success in hospitality industry.

From the time of reservation until the time customer checks-out of the hotel everything is recorded and the data is available. The computer system really monitors the guest requirement, their likes and dislikes, their wants and satisfaction levels in a readable way that helps the hotel enhance their future services.

Information and good service is the key for success in hospitality industry.

Information and good service is the key for success in hospitality industry.

Computer pundits came out with great solutions specifically to hotel industry making life easier for front end staffs who need to attend to guests most of their time rather than looking at the paper. Information and good service is the key for success in hospitality industry.

It is not uncommon that one may have good computer system yet may not be successfully getting right information for the business.

Information and good service is the key for success in hospitality industry.

Computer pundits came out with great solutions specifically to hotel industry making life easier for front end staffs who need to attend to guests most of their time rather than looking at the paper.

In order to achieve good results through the computer system one should first understand one’s requirement in terms of fastness of information, kinds of reports, formats etc. Second, the flow of work that takes place in each activity. Third comes the procedures and last its effective implementation.

Protecting your data and systems is an important part of business continuity planning. Whether you experience a natural disaster, power failure or other crisis, having your data stored in the cloud ensures it is backed up and protected in a secure and safe location.

Collaboration in a cloud environment gives your business the ability to communicate and share more easily outside of the traditional methods.

Cloud computing allows employees to be more flexible in their work practices. For example, you have the ability to access data from home, on holiday, or via the commute to and from work (providing you have an internet connection).

Access to automatic updates for your IT requirements may be included in your service fee. Depending on your cloud computing service provider, your system will regularly be updated with the latest technology.

first database management systems

The hospitality industry is at “a tipping point in terms of cloud adoption”, with hoteliers expected to invest 7 – 8% more in cloud technology over the next 2 to 3 years.

Cloud-based hotel management systems

hosted by the vendor’s server rather than the hotel’s

On-site hotel management software, managed by the hotel’s IT team, comes with considerable upfront, maintenance and running costs.

business can save 50% with cloud computing solutions

limitless flexibility to work with the vendors of their choice

cost of general operational and maintenance fees,

are part of the package and covered by the vendor

personalized experiences with the help of captured customer information

With traditional software, hoteliers are limited to standalone software packages

Cloud-based applications are offered as software as a service (SaaS)

cloud-based hotel management systems are entirely scalable – they have an unlimited capacity to expand

One of the biggest strengths of a cloud-based hotel management system is that it can be easily connected to other software applications, even if these applications don’t share the same provider.

The reality is that with traditional hotel management software, adding and removing resources is difficult and hoteliers are essentially stuck with one system until the license expiry date

The hospitality industry is at “a tipping point in terms of cloud adoption”, with hoteliers expected to invest 7 – 8% more in cloud technology over the next 2 to 3 years.

Cloud-based hotel management systems – or, simply put, systems hosted by the vendor’s server rather than the hotel’s – give hoteliers a single, scalable system from which to manage every aspect of their hotel business.

A Frost & Sullivan study showed that business can save 50% with cloud computing solutions. The apparition of the cloud and its flexible pricing has slashed businesses’ hardware costs, making it possible for even hotels with small budgets to run an advanced management system.

SaaS hotel management systems are pay-as-you-go. Therefore, rather than having to pay a large sum for a long-term commitment, hoteliers can pay smaller amounts on a regular basis.

The cloud lets hoteliers record this data – their preferences, transactions and behavior – every time the customer interacts in some way with their hotel, such as ordering room service, eating in the hotel restaurant or even booking a day trip or spa session.They can then use this data to make suggestions based on the customer’s preferences and behavior.

Secondly, they enable you to provide guests with the convenience and seamless experience they expect, even before they step into the hotel reception. Armed with a cloud-based system, you can give your guests the convenience they now expect from a hotel stay, such as booking rooms on their mobile phones or accessing their room from an app, to name a few examples.

with traditional hotel management software, adding and removing resources is difficult and hoteliers are essentially stuck with one system until the license expiry date. You’re in a contract, with very little wiggle room.

Cloud-based software gives hoteliers a hotel management system that facilitates rather than restricts business operations. Unlike their on-site predecessors, cloud-based hotel management systems are entirely scalable – they have an unlimited capacity to expand. They give hoteliers the agility and freedom to add or remove resources in line with their growth and scale their hotel management systems to the services they offer.

One of the biggest strengths of a cloud-based hotel management system is that it can be easily connected to other software applications, even if these applications don’t share the same provider.For hoteliers, this capacity and the possibilities that it brings are revolutionary. They now have limitless flexibility to work with the vendors of their choice and can bundle applications together thereby creating a truly customized management suite that meets their needs.

Cloud-based technology gives hoteliers the key to run smart businesses that are in tune with modern-day travelers, and more profitable.

Foundation of green ICT was laid as far back as 1992 with the launching of Energy Star program in the USA.

Green ICT is a clean-environment-based technology. However, fruitful realisation of green ICT is equally dependent upon awareness in society. Society needs to practice common ethics of ‘don’t keep computer on, when not needed,’ ‘don’t use Internet as a free tool, but as a valuable tool of necessity only,’ ‘don’t unnecessarily replace devices after devices just because you can afford to’ and so on

In the cloud, for example, F&B businesses can greatly mitigate the risks surrounding the potential loss of data. Instead of using an internal system, they will rely on POS software that they access through the Internet. Since an outside vendor maintains this system on their behalf, they do not need to worry about losing their data if their on-premises hardware should fail.

If a glitch causes their in-house system to go down, they can rest assured that they can still access their payment system online.

Cloud computing is critical for F&B organizations with structures like these because it allows them to consolidate these various locations into a single enterprise cloud platform. This gives them the ability to oversee all infrastructure—from pieces of equipment to digital systems—from a central location and integrate these disparate resources efficiently.

F&B businesses can also leverage cloud platforms to facilitate innovative marketing campaigns through customer interactions. For instance, restaurants can deploy loyalty programs that link with customer information, allowing them to engage with their audience outside of the brick-and-mortar establishment.

This is key to the success of a hotel group in a market where 1) mobile booking on travel websites are increasing at a faster rate (20% annually) than desktop bookings (2% annually), 2) 21% of bookings are originating from smart phones and tablets, and 3) 12% of mobile bookings are implemented by Apps

Cloud computing has been used for tourism management, for example to rank popular tourism destinations in cities

Cloud computing is a technology that allows the provision and utilization of resources over the internet in lieu of installations on a desktop computer

cloud computing de nition: Private, Public, Community and Hybrid clouds.

After the 2008 recession, when lowering costs was a key objective for hotels, PAR Springer-Miller, introduced ATRIO as the Next Generation Hospitality Management Software 3 into the market.

The cloud related challenges that have stood out from the hotel groups responses were a) the increase in Opex (OPerating EXpense), b) restricted access to the environments and c) concerns about information security.

how a Quality of Service (QoS) ranking mechanism enables cloud applications such as airline ticketing systems, hotel booking services and car rental services to interact with each other to deliver services to their customers.

OPERA property management system cloud application in over 850 of their hotels. The hotel management system is no longer maintained on the hotel premises and storage of their data is outsourced (MICROS Systems Inc., 2013).

InterContinental Hotels Group were able to eliminate hardware infrastructure costs and centralize management activities such as updating prices, at the touch of a button across sixty one of their UK properties by adopting a cloud solution for their restaurant point of sale systems called SIMPHONY

Cloud computing is the only way forward for hospitality.

The distribution of the usage of cloud information system (IS) or on-premise IS in the studied hotel groups shows that the majority of IS used by hotel groups were running on the cloud, and that the smallest (in terms of number of rooms) hotel groups' (group 2) level of cloud adoption is equivalent to that of the largest (group 4).

The most common two bene ts identi ed are: 1) solving the problem of lack of hardware on site, and 2)transferring the risk relating to security and PCI / PA-DSS requirements to the cloud service suppliers.

traditional telephone system to a cloud based VoIP solution which is integrated to their SaaS hotel management system solution provided by Protel (16).

Alternatively, it could be due to the change in process experienced by IT Managers and now having to depend on a third party for issues which previously could be quickly checked and resolved with servers being on site.

The challenge which received the highest average rank (12.38 points) by the participants was the Dependency on bandwidth whilst that of least signi cance was the issue of Software licensing (3.38 points)

On time delivery

Reliability and security

Flexibility to operate from anywhere anytime

Global and regional brands can use SaaS technology to speed opening dates of new locations through faster implementation. As SaaS technology acts like catalyst for new trends in hospitality industry ensuring that employees become adaptable to the more dynamic delivery method.

the company introduced a new mobile web browser that offers Baidu services, speedy downloads, and applications that can run directly in the browser.

Redundancy

There are many pros and cons associated with cloud computing and hosted solutions for the hotelier

The Pros:There are much lower start-up costs and not much equipment to purchase. Less staff is needed to maintain the equipment. There should be no need for future hardware upgrades.

Cloud computing is very fast to implement to a number of workstations.

Then there is the fixed-cost advantage: Software provided online is upgraded and maintained by the provider

The fixed cost allows business owners to plan rather than be caught off-guard when a costly software or hardware upgrade must be purchased.

Making false promises

Redundancy.

Cloud hosting resides in a single data center.

For starters, automatic scaling can make people extremely lazy. If you’re not paying attention to your usage, you just might get a huge surprise on your next bill.

So if you’re using cloud hosting, make sure to pay daily attention to your usage.

App performance could suffer. Your data might not be cloud-worthy

Service level availability agreements. Since these agreements are very detailed, it’s essential to verify all the services being defined in the contract.

Service level availability agreements.

So, what is the “cloud”?  Believe it or not, most hoteliers don’t fully understand what the cloud is . Yet the cloud is in the news daily. It touches all of our lives, but in its present form is the cloud and the security measures to protect users ready for prime time? The consensus is ”cloudy”.

cloud computing service provider

provide different levels of quality and services when it comes to actually installing them. Thus, finding a reliable service provider is a tiring and time-consuming job.

The future looks great down the road, but in the meantime there will be a great shakeout and much angst getting there. If Amazon and Sony can’t get it right yet, what chance do you stand?

hotel technology goes way beyond in-room entertainment and cloud computing. It touches every corner of a hotel and has significant impact on how your guests perceive their stay, how efficient and satisfied your employees are and how well you can manage the bottom line. Technology can be complicated, frustrating and at times expensive, but you can’t afford to ignore this critical area of hotel operations.

Hotel owners are under increasing pressure from their brands and their guests to upgrade their properties

A single guest profile created in the system can be accessed by employees at each property within a particular hotel chain or brand.

Cost efficiency is another key benefit of cloud computing, with cloud storage greatly reducing or even eliminating the expense of on-site data storage.

Demand for cloud services is rising among hoteliers in the Middle East, many of whom are looking for ways to streamline administration and attract guests traveling to the region for Expo 2020 and the FIFA World Cup 2022.

The company now owns almost half the world’s public cloud infrastructure market. It boasts a dominant 30% market sha

re of the cloud computing market.

It is crucial for tourism and hospitality practitioners to proactively incorporate new technologies into their businesses as these will improve service quality and differentiate their products and services.

In order to be able to follow the increasing guests' requests for qualitative services, it is mandatory for hotel management to constantly work on improving its functions and operations. For this it is necessary to keep track of innovations in sectors outside the hospitality, like IT sector that works on creating, developing and introducing new technologies

Hospitality is one of targeted sector that is considered appropriate for application of cloud technologies and services. Hotel Management System or widely known as Property Management System (PMS) is one of the system where IT practitioners saw the chance for improvement by ''moving it to the cloud''.

Hotels will be forced to upgrade their current systems so that they can respond to various and changeable guests' habits and requirements. However, until today, there was not enough academic papers related to usage of cloud technology in hospitality industry even though this sector is under continuous changes caused by usage of new technologies which made search, evaluation and payment of the hotel rooms easier than ever.

After comparing the two groups of hotels, from which one was using desktop PMS and other group cloud- based PMS, the results of the research were derived and presented. In conclusion of the paper, challenges with which the hotels are facing and which affect their decision of starting to use cloud- based technology as well as recommendation for future work will be discussed.

As stated by the Sharif (2010), cloud computing is the latest technology that is being introduced by the IT industry as the next (potential) revolution to change how the internet and information systems operate. The term “cloud” was probably inspired by IT text books’ illustrations which depicted remote environments (the Internet) as cloud images in order to conceal the complexity that lies behind them (Sultan,2010).

The goal of a new computing world is to develop software for millions to consume by easily accessing it over a network. Cloud service providers are making profit by charging consumers for accessing these services.

Products offered via this mode include the remote delivery (through the Internet) of a full computer infrastructure (e.g., virtual computers, servers, storage devices, etc.); the building blocks of an IT enterprise.

Services provided in this category include CPU processing on demand, virtual Web hosting, and storage on demand. The most notable vendors are Amazon’s EC2, GoGrid’s Cloud Servers, and Joyent.

With cloud computing, services and applications that were managed locally in the past requiring hardware, operating systems, web servers, as well as teams of network, database and system management experts are now provided remotely by cloud providers under this layer.

Cloud computing services can be adopted by firms in three different forms (Goscinski and Brock, 2010):

Public clouds - online applications that are open to everyone for free, such as Google

Private clouds - involves firms deploying key enabling technologies, such as virtualization and multi-tenant applications, to create their own private cloud database

Hybrid clouds - mix of the previous two types that are emerging with the intention of providing clients with a level of “control” over their resources

The cloud offers enterprises the option of scalability without the financial commitments required for infrastructure purchase and maintenance.

Reallocating information management operational activities to the cloud offers businesses a unique opportunity to focus efforts on innovation and research and development. This allows for business and product growth and may be even more beneficial than the financial advantages offered by the cloud.

These investments and efforts for a new technology to be presented open a new progress circle of technology advancements and it continues in the same way.

When creating software or an application for a hotel, IT personnel have to possess a certain level of flexibility, openness and creativity. On the other hand, hotel employees are expected to have more insightful and openminded approach towards new ways of performing business operations, sometimes take risks and have experiences with using different programs and applications.

A hotel's PMS can gather and keep valuable information about hotel guests by incorporating business intelligence tools which help hoteliers organize and make sense of the gathered data. Regardless of whether room reservations come from Online Travel Agency, Global Distribution Systems or by telephone, all of them are gathered, stored and managed in the PMS.

low investment costs were main reason for hotels from Group B to decide in favor of cloud based version.

Business intelligence options provide hoteliers with a threedimensional view of guest data, which allows easily statistical reporting and increased hotel management efficiency.

The aim of this study was to investigate the difference in practical usage of the two types of PMS systems – cloud based and classical (desktop) ones.

On the question about the reasons for using the current PMS type in hotels, answers of Group A were based on usage of their current PMS for years and on the fact that employees in all hotel departments were used to work on it. As time passed by, hotels upgraded their system to new versions for several times and additional customization was implemented with regard to hotel preferences.

Hotels from Group B were consisted of relatively new boutique hotels that operate for more than a year and from those that were not using any kind of PMS solution (they were using Excel tables and creating reservation records manually). The reason why hotels from this group wanted to use cloud PMS was a desire to try the latest technology used in hospitality industry.

Other reasons for using it were: PMS could be reached from any place where Internet connection is available, simple but effective design with lots of visual solutions, more options to enter the important information and the fact that it is working not only on any PC but also on any mobile device due to its mobile applications.

Simplicity of the cloud based property management system allows it to be productive. Cloud based PMS's can operate on any advice that has a web browser and the companies are putting their efforts to make it even more friendly on smaller devices like tablets and smart phones.

The similar amount of initial investments were confirmed by the Group A. Being considered as great amount of money for newly opened and small sized hotels to invest, management decided to try out the cloud version which allows access to this system based on monthly subscription with very little or no investment cost, depending on the solution provider.

After initial investments in the system implementation, hardware, software and training of employees, every year hotel makes a one-year-based contract for additional support services and, if needed, extra training. Support is provided any time a hotel reports an issue or malfunction by directly connecting to hotel's computer through remote programs.

Changes are made either for each hotel at a time, or after releasing new version, when provider try to convince all the current users to upgrade to it. Upgrade is provided by the extra charge, so these costs should be also considered during planning investments in classical PMS.

Regardless of which type of system they used, all participants were very careful about and interested in the matter of data security.

However, it is totally different situation with cloud based system, which is mainly open system where all authorized users and providers from outside have access to. Of course, it is up to hotel management to whom the authorization rights will be given and being an open system it makes support, development and innovation activities much easier. Cloud based PMS are hosted on some of the world's best known servers so there is no need for additional computers to be used as servers.

Although there are some great differences in functions and way of managing regarding classical and cloud based system, both have their advantages from which hotels do not want to give up.

One of the biggest advantages of cloud based PMS for the Group B is the fact that this system can be directly integrated with hotel online booking engine. This is considered as a great advantage for the hotels that besides having functional web site, wish to maximize use of its online booking engine, receive more online reservations directly from the guests and gain more profit.

Such a functional connection between hotel’s PMS and online reservation system allow hotels to have a social media integration as well. This means that hotels are able to receive online reservation through their Facebook page as well as receive direct links to its page from the biggest review sites such as TripAdvior.com.

In this paper two different approaches and perspectives on usage of cloud based and classical hotel management systems were exposed. Hotels from Group B have shown a tendency for usage of new technologies and readiness to adopt and continuously learn about them.

Among factors, affecting why hotel prefers one system over another, are type and size of hotel, through which channels are guest reservations coming, previous experience with IT stuff and different programs, etc.

Cloud based program can help them in order to update prices and room availability information to hotel's booking engine. This prevents overbooking, provides easily management of CRM functions and information, with no first investment costs or extra expenses which results in revenue increase.

Hotels that use classical PMS pay a great attention to the security issue because they do not want to risk opening their hotel for external intervention. In recent years we can find in media lots of evidence of information linkage from system that had much higher security measures than an average hotel.

Measuring the performance of cloud-provided services is another challenge for the hotel management, primarily due to the lack of measurement standards.

While investigating the previous knowledge about the other system solutions, hotels in Group A have claimed lack of information about the cloud technology and its solutions.

Even though IT stuff in these hotels has some basic knowledge about it, it is still not enough to convince the other managers about its benefits. Therefore it may be concluded that, besides trying to overcome the above mentioned challenges, developers of cloud based solutions to hotels should also work hard on training the potential clients about the positive aspects and correct usage of cloud technologies.

Lack of measurement standards for cloud-provided services in general as well as for hotels is another important limitation due to which qualitative research was conducted. Authors’ recommendation is that academicians should focus more on topics of cloud computing, cloud solutions for other business operations and on defining measurements standards for cloud services.