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This 2016 article discusses the implementation of smart controls (smart phone apps), beacons for Bluetooth-enabled smart phones, and virtual reality technology in the hotel industry, and how they have modified the way hotels compete.

Aptech is a service provider for the Hospitality Industry. They launched a web based accounting solution that was first adopted by innkeepers because of their demand for sophisticated services. The development happened after they oversaw and understood the manual effort employed by these properties into bookkeeping.

Infogensis POS continues to grow in usage. Next month they will appear at the ICE Totally Gaming Conference to promote their usage for gaming hotels and resorts. Earlier this year, the company solidified a new contract with The Mark Hotel in New York City. Imran Raja, the Director of Technology for The Mark Hotel said, "with Infogensis we have the best of both worlds- a combination of fixed and mobile point-of-sale solutions that deliver comprehensive functionality and maximum flexibility." This new luxury NYC hotel features traditional hotel rooms and residences, a full service salon, and multiple dining options. Infogensis Flex is one of the many reasons why this POS is growing in popularity. It offers hotels the use of a tablet touchscreen in which there are multiple language and menu options to help streamline F&B operations. The property I currently work for utilizes Infogensis POS. It is easy to edit menu options and prices, switch to different outlet menus, and easy for new employees to learn.

Increasingly, consumers expect their travel experiences to include the latest and greatest technologies that they experience in their daily lives. This is driving increased investment from hospitality (esp. hotelier) CIO's in digital customer engagement. Top technologies include virtual/augmented reality for consumers as training of employees; voice activation in hotel rooms and common areas as well as for coaching staff; mobile apps for booking, check-ins/check-outs, IRD orders, and front-desk communications, as well as back-end management of labor, inventory, and customer relations; RFID asset tracking; interactive displays; and robotics. All of these trends culminate in Innovation Incubator hotels like M Beta at Charlotte Marriott City Center where technologies are rapidly prototyped and guest feedback is provided in real-time to help drive decisions about which technologies represent the greatest value to cutting-edge hoteliers through guest engagement.

StayNTouch could be the next best thing when it comes to hotel PMS systems. This software combines cloud software with customer service and revenue management mindset.

An article talks about very intelligent system created for the businesses and specifically for event and meeting planners, which calls for communication after the events and discussion of various topics such as how to improve the next projects.

Very nice idea, to exchange experience in order to make the service better. I wish it was used in many other spheres.

It is a really good idea.The ability to add guest to a hybrid network in a secure and controlled way helps company achieve our goal of connective a social community for sponsors, speakers and delegates around all our events that spans across the entire lifecycle in a very cost-effective manner.

This article discusses how to select the right Property Management System (PMS) for hotels and specifies procedures that the hotels need to follow. The first step in selecting a PMS is that hotels need to foam an evaluation team that includes managers, staff from different departments, such as front desk, accounting, housekeeping, and IT, in order to make sure the PMS works for everyone. Then, the hotel should determine its budget, making sure they don't waste time for a PMS out of their price range. Once the budget is set, the evaluation team should conduct a needs assessment to ensure that they only buy features they need. Next, researching the PMSs that meet the hotels' requirements and fit the budget is necessary. This article emphasizes some key features, such as user-friendly design, guest-oriented functionality, integration with other system, etc., to consider when evaluating the PMSs. After the hotel has completed its research, they need to narrow the options down to top two or three, and to have the selected vendors demonstrate their products in front of the evaluation team. After all, the hotels can choose the right one which works the best for them. Competition in the hospitality business has been intense, so it is essential to invest in technology, such as Property Management System (PMS), to streamline operations, enhance guest service, and ultimately win competition over others. However, there are so many PMS options to choose on the market, so it is also critical to know what procedures to follow, and to choose the most suitable PMS for each business.

Hyatt Hotel Corp., one of the world's largest hospitality companies, announced plans to install iTV platform within the next two years in as many as 60,000 rooms. Guests also can order room service, interact with hotel associates, make restaurant reservations, edit and print documents as well as gain direct access to local dining, shopping, night life, cultural events or attractions all through a dynamic user interface on (the TV. I think this investment will bring a faster delivery of goods and services to clients, increased employee productivity and reduced production costs. To make a good decision on IT investment, firms should take into consideration its long-term performance value before investing on a new technology. Looking at the TCO (total cost of ownership) which is far more than just the sticker price would be the right way to determine whether to invest or not.

In class you mentioned the high surveillance and passenger monitoring on cruise ships including the alerts of children going into non parental rooms. I found this intriguing because there are always a slew of people in the media that had the misfortune of going missing while on a cruise. In the last two years 41 people have gone missing and this does not include the Costa Concordia capsizing numbers. While the camera's might be rolling and the identification cards can track if passengers left the boat or stayed on I still wonder what the cruise lines do to cover up crimes. In Hospitality Law we learned that wherever the next docking country is that is where the crime that occurred on the ship will be investigated by. Most of these Caribbean Islands do not want to deal with missing persons or rape that occurred on a cruise ship so the cases get swept away. So despite the fact that cameras are supposedly on for safety here is an article with some interesting cases of missing people from cruise lines. I think a better technology would be to have the RFID enabled wristbands worn by all cruise ship passengers so that they can be located at anytime. This should be mandatory but disguise the tracking part by selling the fact that the wristband allows the passengers to make purchases with it.  Royal Caribbean Oasis of the Seas has this but it is voluntary and mostly requested by families who need to keep tabs on their children. They have only made 1000 wristbands and the article is accessible here : http://www.rfidjournal.com/article/view/7415/1

World Travel Market Vision Conference-Florence May 23, 2012 The travel and tourism industry's longer-term prospects are good, delegates were told last week at the World Travel Market (WTM )Vision Conference-Florence. Despite the global financial problems, which continue to impact the industry, Euromonitor International Travel and Tourism Analyst Angelo Rossini predicted the "the next 5 years would look brighter."

This article is good news for all of us in the hospitality industry. There are "growing middle classes and they are hungry for travel." The article suggests that within the next five years people will be looking to vacation on short costs, most likely traveling on short breaks or low-cost holidays. This article also brings attention to the technology aspect in this rapidly growing industry. They say that the technology is very far behind and needs to be updated to better suit people's needs. Overall, even though the tourism industry is headed in the right direction there are still many things that need to be updated on a periodic basis to keep up with the changing times.

Wi-fi is a service everyone expects everywhere, especially in hotels. It seems easy enough to install but proposes numerous questions and challenges for a hotel providing wi-fi, such as whether or not to charge a fee, who manages it and problem-solves, and how much and what type of hardware is required? This article reiterates much of what we already know about wi-fi but also poses some new ideas, including how wi-fi will develop and change and what that means for hotels.

The tech people are saying the smart phone lock/key will change the whole industry. Some people are still worries about security issues but the it company is saying the technology is no different then programming a key cared which are already being used at hotels everyday.The smartphone is already a boarding pass,a flight tracker and travel guide so why not a hotel key ? Whats next ?

This article is an introduction of a new business application software called Infor 10 EAM. It provides a brief overview of how this software is beneficial to both the hospitality and healthcare industries. The Infor 10 EAM Hospitality Edition enables companies to manage multiple tasks and departments from one integrated application, which gives hotels the ability to improve their performance and increase their savings. This application was designed to specialize in asset management to help companies not only focus on reducing costs, but also achieve Energy Star standards. I believe the Infor10 EAM Hospitality Edition will be up and running in most hotels within the next few years. The benefits provided from the utilization of this software seem to be worth the investment. A few of the benefits provided by the Infor10 EAM Hospitality Edition include: better tools for guest incident management and rapid response, increased equipment reliability, trusted information for fleet management, real-time preventive maintenance alerts, and enhanced risk management and regulatory compliance.

The article attached to this link is from HotelNews.com and refers to "The Guestroom of the Future" reported in a trade show in 2010. The author reports ten trends that should be seen in hotel rooms within the next few years. One of the ten trends is the ability to use a mobile device such as an ipad to control the amenities in the room utilizing a software that will connect the room technology to the touchscreen device. By using the ipad, the guest is able to control the room temperature, open and close drapes, set privacy sign light on or off, turn on request for housekeeping service, alarm, wake up call, room service order, view room folio, access concierge services and etc. The advantage of this device is that it concentrates all technology in just one device depending on the capability of the software. I believe more hotels will adhere to this type of software as soon as it is proven to be reliable and accpeted by guests. Reliability is also related to the dependancy of the internet connection for the functionality of this software. I consider one of the concerns to be how would these amenities be delivered or operated in case of failure of internet service or power outage.

Another interesting article that we all can relate to. A study recently had results disclosed where 500 people were surveyed into how they decide on where to eat out and how internet sites are influencing decisions. To start off, about 50% of people who go out to eat refer to a friend before making a decision on where to eat. As it relates to our class, before choosing a place to eat, 27.7% of consumers use a user generated review site and 27% use the actual restaurant's website. Consumers preferred to use user friendly websites the most and sometimes even referred to blogs for opinions. Google was actually cited as the third most utilized website for those seeking a second opinion with 16.5%. I thought the most interesting fact was that Food Network actually ranked on the list to getting some more insight on where to eat, with 1.7% of consumers using that website. Next time you are going out to eat somewhere, think about if you use websites or apps to assist you in making the decision. I guess you can make a review site about anything.

Rackspace updates its Private Cloud system which is more accessible, powerful, and secure. It plans to deliver two versions of this system-enterprise with installation fee and private for free. All of the most updated applications are involved in this system such as KVM hypervisor, Opscode Chef, Image Service, and more. The only missing application is openstack storage, which will be available next season. Compared with previous version or other comparable products, new Private Cloud is more accessible, powerful, and secure. For example, new users can install this software within seven steps no matter what system they have. Then they can share more than 2000 applications from rackspace, most of which are free for individual clients. In my opinion, the most innovative output of this update is the hybrid cloud model. It allows an enterprise to manage both public and private resources based on a single platform. Moreover, it is quite convenient for them to move VMs between that multi-based clouds. We can make a positive forecast that this application will be more mature after getting connected with OpenStack Storage. Thus, it is a good alternative for both individual and enterprise users seeking for secure network environment.

According to this article, e-commerce such as online activities has been changing how retailers develop their global expansion strategies. As e-commerce is growing so fast, online booking, online shopping and online reservation are more popular than old days. Being a retailer, he has to be adapt to this new e-commerce trend and start to build an  online presence in order to maximize potential advantages from e-commerce. This article also showed top 10 countries in the 2012 E-Commerce index in which China is decided being the leader of the pack. China has 513 million internet users and 164 million online shoppers, which means that China's potential online retail market is expected to develop faster and faster. What's more, there are three main reasons that people in China like shopping online. The first is that there are greater products selections comparing with shopping in some malls. The second reason is that online shopping make customers be able to compare the prices by vendors. The last reason is also the simplest because online shopping make daily life more convenient than before.

This article is about technology of combining the room key with the iphones. Holiday Inn will test this technology next month. Though this is a creative idea, some people may feel skeptical to try the new room keys. As this technology is new, some guests may not accept that use the cell phone as their room keys and there are many questions come into being with this new technology. For hotels, they must think about the using guests' iphones as the room keys is optional or required. The article also illustrates how the iphone works and what will happen if the iphone is lost or stolen. Besides, more hotels will test this new technology and the technology will work with regular cell phones. In my opinion, combining the cell phones with the room keys is a good idea, because many customers today use iphones today, and almost everyone takes a cell phone when live in the hotel. It is convenient for the guests to use their cell phones as the room keys. This technology can give guests fast check-in because before the guests arrive, they will receive a text massage containing their room number and a unique and encrypted sound code that they'll use to unlock their hotel-room door. When they arrive at the hotel, they can directly go to their rooms. It also can reduce front desk's work. . However, security is still the main factor that the guests will concern and there are some risks if the cell phones lost or stolen. Besides, some guests may prefer to use traditional room key and may not accept the change. It relies on the Open Ways (the secured network) and can work with more brands of cell phones. I consider hotels can provide this technology for the guests as an option because some guests prefer the traditional room keys while some like the new technology.

This article is about the use of I-Phone of Blackberry as your room key. It explains that Holiday Inn will be trying this new technology and many guests are not sure about trying it out. Many guests are not sure about trying it and question how safe it can be. The article explains that this new technology is not required and is rather an opinion. The article explained how it works and is simply a code sent to the customer to their phone and this is used to open the door and the code is only used once and resets every time. The article goes on to explain that there is no issues if the phone is lost or stolen because the codes aren't saved to the phone but rather the server the app runs on. I feel that this is a new cool way to technology. However, I don't see where it is anymore secure than a room key and really it doesn't make the process any easier. I feel its new and innovative but its not the best idea.

This article provides a brief overview of the emerging trends for hotel management information systems. The trends focus on easy mobile access, unattended point of sale, radio frequency identification and near field communications. An increasing number of hotel are using the the cloud for on the go mobile connectivity to their POS systems and revenue management software SaaS. You can manage your hotel from anywhere and be up to date instantly. This trend and the next eliminates the need for desk or office time. Lilipad has created an I-product that allows guests to perform their own transactions at I-Pad kiosk which eliminates time at the front desk. The other large emerging trend is tracking devices that can be implanted in phones or even loyalty cards that link to bank and credit card accounts replacing the traditional wallet. While other articles say there is no rush to cellphones replacing wallets just yet, hotels like Aloft are using RFID's in there loyalty cards eliminating the issue of room keys. Notice in all these trends that the face to face contact with guests that we hospitality students enjoy and train for is decreasing with every new technology.

This new study details the transformation of technology and the ever changing social values of the next generation of travelers. In this article it summarizes the next generation of experience, automatic transit, payment with memory, intellegient recommendation, among others. I agree with the article as travelers are already savy when it comes to searching for hotel and flights, now they will want the entire experience to become less stressful and more seamless. When this article refers to the study that explains using mobile devices and biometric technology to facilitate faster check in process, it details by country that is more comfortable using this technology. Intelligent recommendation is already being used for locals, and it will be more accessible to tourists to toughly enjoy the city's true offering. As the demographics of travelers change so will their desire for what is a pleasurable experience.