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"The Motorola Solutions 2011 Hospitality Market Barometer reveals that 91 percent of hospitality decision makers realize the increasing importance of mobile and wireless technology, while 78 percent recognize the role mobility plays in ensuring a competitive advantage for their business. As a result, hospitality venues are investing in new technology, as well as powerful wireless networks to handle greater data volumes and increasing demands for high-speed access from the customer and mobile workforce. "

The article analyzed why hotels do investment to It in 2011. It concluded three main reasons, which are elevating the guest experience, empowering the mobile worker, and enabling operational efficiency. It's already 2013 now and things can become different. Hotels should invent carefully according to its specific necessary and customers' necessary.

Dear team! I found an article, very old but to me, very actual and interesting about how the Internet Technology is improving and progressing, and the investment bring benefits only. In 2011 , only 4 years ago, we can see that the companies were having a clear plan to improve the communication system. By introducing wireless, tablets, WLANs , to improve network reliability... Today we have it all on hands. We are using all the devices online , wireless and with no problem to access. No cords on the floor, no telegrams ... Internet technologies is a big progress in our century and is developing and growing, by leaving some of us behind. :)

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.

The article about "smart glass" discusses a new glass product that has Internet protocol and electrical power connections that allow the tinting to be adjusted or follow a program. Mentioned briefly in the article is another electrochromatic glass, SageGlass, produced by the French materials giant, Compagnie de Saint-Gobain SA. The pitch of the American company reviewed in the article, View, is that it will lower temperature control costs by 20% and that installation is also significantly less expensive than traditional glass. When installed as a test for DFW airport the restaurant in that area benefited from the more confortable atmosphere and lingering customers with an increase in alcohol sales of 80%. The intended benefit of saving on cooling cost and customer satisfaction is actually resulting in improved profits, this is the type of green technology that companies will gladly implement, because it helps their bottom line. I think this product is an all around win and improvement for airports, hotels, stadiums and any desitnation that has lots of large windows, the product is cost effective, improves customer satisfaction and increases revenue while using less energy for cooling.

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 gives hospitality companies tips on how to stay relevant in this ever changing industry. They suggested that localized content will give your company a competitive advantage. They also suggest that having information in multiple languages will increase you relevance.

This article relates on the growth and efficiency of cashless & contact-less payment systems which are now part of the unattended POS systems. Their use allows for a fast & easy service and prevent people form worrying about whether they have enough change to pay for the parking meter or for the candy bar form the vending machine. The best part is the fact that the payment card can be placed nearby the device and the transaction can be processed; no need to put in a pin number and risk getting any financial information stolen.

In this article, the author discusses four hotel accounting challenges and solutions with Scott Watson, Executive Vice President of Sales and marketing from M3. According to this VP, hotel finances and accounting can be complex and come with challenges. We will discuss the challenge and solutions to the four listed issues: Enterprise Resource Planning, Staff Variations, Data Overload and Core Challenges. Firstly, the challenge with enterprise resource planning is how do hotels implement affordable and scalable solutions. Scott believes partnering up can cut costs. Secondly, staff variations and labor demands and the importance of staying within the budget. Scott's solution to this is real-time monitoring for labor. Cloud- based reporting can help manager monitor the daily labor costs and other payroll functions in real-time. Thirdly, data overload. The challenge here is how to do hotels present that data collected. According to Scott, the solution here is having a centralized platform. This allows for a check and balance system and may assist in monitoring cash flows, etc. Lastly, the fourth challenge are core challenges such as guest service, sales, operations and cash management. The main challenge here is how to hotels monitor the core competencies that generate revenue. The answer, according to Scott, is to outsource it. Outsourcing can be an efficient and cost-effective solution but it is not for everyone.

This article discusses the use of data mining and analytic techniques to create a competitive edge for companies in the hotel industry. Hotel companies are a customer centered business which accumulate large amounts of data on customers from various databases. Implementing a data mining system will improve profits, loyalty and retention and enhance guest experiences by helping the marketing and management teams create focused policies. The article discusses seven guidelines that create appropriate use of data mining technology. These guidelines include synching your IT infrastructure with the right data experts. Also, creating accurate segmentation and predictive models of the customers information or profile. As well as gathering the correct data for use in the system's models. Also utilizing the proper methods to collect and sort relevant data. Another important guideline is to have a speedy turnaround of the data. Also, continuous improvement is important find better ways to implement the processes. The final guideline mentioned is to find the proper IT employees to manage the data. The article proceeds to discuss five categories to utilize the information. These are classification, clustering, deviation detection, association and forecasting. The article predicts that over the next ten years there will be more attention paid to data mining to improve the guest experience and focus marketing initiatives. Data mining will be a critical tool to understand and utilize customers behaviors and patterns.

This article reviews ten tips on how companies can better prepare for event security. Based on recent terrorism attacks, threats, and natural disasters it is important to prepare for any type of emergency especially in events. This article offers insight on tips to navigate event security. For example, one tip is to document everything. In any type of emergency, it is important to document names of attendees and employees who were involved in the crisis. This way if insurance or any assistance is needed, companies have detailed information of who was involved or affected by the disaster. This article is very useful because some things can be forgotten however this can be used as points to discuss other security measures.

Four key elements to successfully planning an event in the hospitality industry include but aren't limited to: Client Satisfaction - The event should follow through as planned between the planner and client. Anything that goes wrong should be fixed in a timely manner where the client won't notice. A successful event leads to client loyalty most of the times so they'll book with you again. Profitability - Ensure each event doesn't result in a loss Guest Experience - What the guests experience will ultimately determine how the client's satisfaction of the event will be by the end of the night. A guest's experience will be based off of service and quality. The quality of the chairs, the plates even right down to the utensils they're eating from, the music, the drinks, and most importantly, the food. Happy guest = happy client Perceived Value - Adding a special touch to an itinerary that the client wasn't expecting makes all the difference

This article outlines several factors to focus on in order to host a successful event in the hospitality industry, including customer satisfaction, guest experience, profitability and perceived value. Among them, customer satisfaction is the primary factor that needs attention, and improving customer satisfaction will get more business opportunities. In addition, meeting customers' needs and solving customers' problems can give customers an unforgettable experience, which is also conducive to the success of the event. As an operator, you must also consider profit. Profits come from customers. If you can improve the perceived value of customers, it is a memorable experience for customers, improve customer satisfaction, and profitability comes naturally.

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Module 2 Article Summary After reading this article, I found that it was discussing the topic of how hotel PMS technology is on a rise and beginning to take a change. Many hoteliers are looking for innovative ways to operate their hotels while making sure they are getting the needs of customers and providing great service. With that being said, studies have shown how many hoteliers are turning to a cloud based computing system. There were main benefits that discuss the incorporation of using this system such as it being more efficient. They see reverting to this cloud based system as a money saver. This can get rid of many things that are associated with traditional hotel PMS systems such as hardware costs and so forth. Using the cloud based systems, hoteliers are able to be more flexible and mobile. Utilizing the cloud allow for them to access and use the data whenever and wherever. Also, by using the cloud, hoteliers are still able to engage with guests. A lot of guest may have personal and special preferences while staying at a hotel. Having this information stored in the cloud can allow hoteliers to effectively accommodate their guests based on a guests experiences and habits. This form of technology is "easy to use and intuitive at the end user level." It won't take much to train employees on this type of technology and they'll have accessible information readily available for them to use at their fingertips. Overall, converting over to using a cloud based PMS hotel system is cost efficient, extremely manageable, and be able to allow hoteliers to interact with guest on a real time basis.

Older hotels have been reluctant to make the change to the new PMS's coming out on the market. They have been stuck in time with their outdated systems. However in the past few years more and more have been making the switch. The 5 trends of new PMS's are the cloud, mobility, guest engagement, endless integration and new sleek designs. Hoteliers are needing to make the change if they want to stay with the ever changing technology.

Hospitality executives sometimes are reluctant to switch to more modern PMS, sometimes because being old timers or being afraid of moving onto something else. The reality of the situation is that cloud businesses revenues are going up because year by year more and more hospitality industries are moving to all of the benefits of being a cloud based company. "cloud, mobility, guest engagement, endless integration and sleek design" are the top 5 trends in hospitality PMS.

This article talks about how companies make the grave mistake of thinking that cybersecurity is merely an issue that should be addressed by an IT team and that no one else is responsible for addressing risks and understanding them. Most C-suite employees don't understand what the risks are, and usually these risks vary from company to company. It is not that you should only consider that you can get hacked, but you should consider and identify what kinds of information can get hacked and why. The article denotes an example of an Asian automobile company that needed to implement a new system to mitigate security risks and in the process, ended up locking up other companies who needed to use their systems to find out about their products. So those companies started to create fake profiles to try and access the information -- all so that they could just do their job. This showed that people are more interested in just getting their job done than understanding cybersecurity and why certain systems are in place. The way of thinking up security systems should be creative and involve all parts of an organization. Departments won't know what their role is until they identify what information is important to them, what their purpose is in the company, and what is valuable to them. By identifying this, they can come up with ways to secure this information and monitor its delivery. Businesses don't look at cybersecurity as a risk of their business just as a shipping company would look at weather risks as a potential threat to their revenue. It is looked at as more of an abstract concept and this stops people from implementing successful strategies to keep their information safe. Cybersecurity shouldn't be viewed as "so impenetrable" that no one would ever understand it. This requires everyone to get involved and understand the implications of cybersecurity on their own work, specifically, and identify who their main adversaries may be.

CEOs of companies struggle with the decision of investing more in IT rather than in advertising or research/development tools. When and if investing in IT the question would be what kind of projects should have the focus. Recent studies have helped determine that since 1995 there has been significant positive profitability in IT investments. This research indicated that IT investments have a larger profit impact than spending money on advertising. IT investments are creative and use new technology that may help attract new consumers. Some IT projects however work better than others. They can be used to support sales by customer satisfaction and customer retention strategies. As more companies invest in IT investments, profitability increases due to competition. In conclusion business owners should focus on IT projects that will have potential growth in revenue over projects that only focus on cost savings.

Hotels will gather a large amount of information from guests, from their interests to their credit cards and this is potentially sotred in their systems. Needless to say, their information is sensative. It is said that many hotels use cloud based technologies for check-ins, reservations, etc. and this typically has a high chance of hackers or they may use a third party, which is just as equally questionably safe. This article highlights three main hotels brands, Mariott, Hyatt, and Sheraton, that had numerous issues from 2015 to 2016. EHotelier stated that a whopping 95% of breaches can be traced to human cause and this could be due thanks to a poorly trained front line staff. During a confrence, it was brought to attention many hotels think it is a big if, opposed to what should be done when it an attack occurs or how to prevent it.

This article explain how different hotels are using robotic technology to help serve the hotels guests and help hotel staff.

This article discusses how AR has been around for a while but has now had a boost thanks to the pandemic. The article mentions how companies such as Lenovo, Panasonic, and Apple are going about the implementation of AR through their product offerings as they are sensing and responding to demand created by the pandemic in order to adapt to changing consumer preferences.

This article explains how due to Covid-19 more and more companies for developing and investing in contactless technology for customer experience.

A new method that might help E-waste recycling become more green and safe for the environment.

This article discusses cybersecurity in the hospitality industry. It presents the question of what actions can we take to protect ourselves and our customers which is exactly what we are talking about in this module. It states facts related to security breaches in the hospitality industry in the year 2015.