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According the article $290 million will be invested into hotels in the Middle East in 2011. This means that hotel investors need to really pay attention and invest in the right technology for their hotels to keep them competitive. It also goes into the way to create the new guest-centric environment is to have the right new technology.

"Today's guests arrive at a hotel with a high level of expectations - a hotel room needs to be their home away from home, and offer new services, experiences and conveniences."

The article is a good one that simply shows the benefits of technology even though the economies around the world are down. The article is about the spending on IT even though their is an economic downturn. It starts by saying that even though their is a downturn, businesses are still investing in technology. Technology has become the way to give hotels a competitive advantage. The article states that guests expect the best and they look for new services that they would like. They feel that they best way to serve the guest is having the best technology that also works at making the business more efficient and able to work with guest services and hotel operations. So the improvements in technology has definitely helped the industry and businesses must keep up with the latest in order to keep up business.

This article is to introduce useful software which is made by ITA used for Flying on Android phone or Iphone. Also the author introduced the basic operation about this software. ITA has just been purchased by Google on 2010. The software makes the guests have a convenient way to search or book tickets by themselves. However, the software is unlike other airline ticket applications, it is for specific customer. If the customer wants to have a best experience for using it, he needs to know how the airline tickets work. The guest only needs to type the basic information like destination, departure time then the software will give the choices to the guest. It will include the stops, price, miles and other information. Finally, the author told his opinion that he thought the ITA software on the fly for Android is the best software he has experienced.

To ensure customer satisfaction and repeat business, it is very important that the hospitality industry determine what type of telecommunication equipment is going to optimize their guest experience. Our guests want to stay connected, either they are on vacation or in a business trip. Before installing telecommunication equipments in a hotel room, it is a good idea to know what type of customers your business handles. They could be a family on vacation or professionals on a business trip. There are a lot of companies that offer telecomunications equipments for this industry, and base on customer satisfaccion , the hotel industry needs to fit customer needs....

This article definitely explains all of the uses that will benefit the guests in hotels. The first thing that it mentions is choosing a telecommunications equipment that meets all of the needs of the organization and is easy to use. This to me is the most important aspect because if you choose equipment that does not suit all of your companies needs it is not efficient at all to the company because you may then have to end up purchasing other equipment and spending more money in the long run. Choosing telecommunications equipment that is secure and has a reliable messaging system is also important because guests may need to relay messages to someone as well as employees may need to relay messages to one another. If the system is not reliable there is always a chance that messages will not be delivered to the proper person or in the proper time frame causing problems. If you can find a system that has all of these features in one it is definitely the best option for your organization. This is a great article because it talks about all of these issues which we may not realize exist.

Optimize your guests' experience with hotel telecommunications equipment In an ever more global society, many businesses are becoming progressively more dependent on telecommunications equipment. For the hospitality industry, this is an increasingly vital priority. Whether your main focus is family vacations or business trips, your guests want to stay connected.

Sabre's AgentStream has now surpassed 10,000 members and launched in the Asia Pacific region. AgentStream allows agents to collaborate with other travel agents around the world and obtain useful tips from a global community; talk virtually with other global AgentStream users or communicate exclusively with members of its own private sub-community; gain and share insights on suppliers, destinations and properties. These power can all help agents provide the very best service to their customers. 

Nowadays, as travelers turn to the internet and mobile devices to research and book their travel online increasingly, the online marketing in hospitality has become a important sign for success. At the same time, the hospitality industry tries best to enhance their online booking service, hoping to turn general online travelers into loyal repeat customers that book directly on hotel websites. However, there are still are challenges as the industry has many complex factors. And this article gives solutions and results by introduce Adobe products.

In this article it talks about e business strategies. One of them being mobile device because research and booking travel have been so critical for people on the go. The HeBS is a big digital marketing firm for the hospitality industry. There are profitable online strategies to come by in the hospitality industry. These opportunities do not come easy many time it very complex but also very successful if it done right .Hotel budget have come to a plateau. Hotel need to step up the plate because online travel agencies have taken over the industry. In addition social media and smart phone have added new dimension for market that require new skills with their ideas. HeBS face a challenge by multichannel marketing success, improving return on ad spend, and making more online marketing to be able to come back by doing this they would have the solution and the result. The solution being, keeping clients of the curve of the competition by building direct online revenue. The result for that is providing insights. The market and the driving force for the differentiate competitors. The benefits will build a leading- edge for the hospitality industry

As the title indicates, this article discusses the partnership between Guestline (Europe's leader in software solutions for the hospitality industry) and City and Country Hotels. This collaboration will consist of equipping The Wellesley London and Number Ten Manchester Street (both properties of C&C Hotels) with Guestline Web-based PMS. This system will provide C&C Hotels with a set of features including cross-selling functionalities. In other words, booking sales will be transferred to another property if the requested hotel is full. Thus, City and Country Hotels will be able to maximize productivity (no more calling from property to property to inquire if there are any rooms available, etc) and increase revenue thanks to the seamless integration of both properties into a centralized web-based PMS. The best thing about this partnership is that City and Country Hotels will also cut down hardware and software costs thanks in part to the use of a cloud-based system. Having Guestline has their provider of all technical solutions, City and Country Hotels will be able to place their focus on their revenue makers - their guests.

Social media nowadays becomes a very important role in hospitality industry, and most travelers will search a third party's property reviews like Tripadviser before making their decisions to choose a hotel. You can find either good or bad comments for the hotels around the world from it, and people believe that it has some influence on the travelers' decisions. However, most great hotel groups do not have a website for that use, and Daniel Craig thinks it is because hotel groups not only take care of the customers but also the owners, and as we know hotel group also has franchisers, so if just one unit not operated well, all the other properties will also suffer the reputation issue. But there are also some hotel groups try to do that but with some tricks. Starwood allows the guest to post reviews for some of its brands and list by ratings with the best first, and Marriot set up a new website for its members to post reviews and list by time with oldest first. In my opinion, most hotel groups focus so much on the influence of their brand loyalty, which is also very important, but comparing with the increasing influence of words of mouth that I list below, I strongly agree that those hotel groups need to have a trustful review website for their own ASAP: 1. 90% of consumers online trust recommendations from people they know; 70% trust opinions of unknown users (Econsultancy, July 2009) 2. 83% of all holiday shoppers are influenced by customer reviews. (ChannelAdvisor "Consumer Shopping Habits Survey", August 2010)

In this Article: "The Best Restaurant Marketing In the World" resiliently describes the marketing world and the amounts of money restaurants spend obsessively to bring in more customers. Instead of focusing on all the new technologies for new ways to advertise and spending thousands of dollars there are other things to consider such as bringing in more customers over the quality of the food, excellence in the service, cleanliness of the place, and having an agreeable unique dining experience. If all these requirements are not met that's when marketing comes in to place. There are many ways possible to improve your business such as changing or simplifying the menus, training the staff properly, making sure the restaurant is spotless, creating a nice ambiance and lastly making sure you have total commitment to all of these basic necessities. These requirements are essential when it comes to exceeding your customer expectations and important for your business in order to succeed. . With all of these categories fulfilled you will bring in a happier, lively and contented crowd; therefore, bringing in more regulars.

This article is about how network works for the hotel. TravelClick is a leading provider that designs and produces websites for hotels. Each hotel can have its own unique hyper-local online storefront with information. The Red Lion Hotel is one of the cooperators with the TravelClick. TravelClick designed a special web and mobile platform for the hotel. The guests of the hotel can find the information such as where to have the best breakfast and where is the good place to go. The hotel will excite them to go out and enjoy and encounter. This can give the guests special experience and let them have much fun. The hotel aims to use this way to make a differentiation from other hotels. In my opinion, the competition of the hotels likes the battle, the hotel must differentiates itself from others and let the customers to remember it. The network can help the hotel a lot. It not only has the traditional function of making introduction and reservation, it also can be used for marketing. For instance, TravelClick will serve as Red Lion's agency of record in all matters impacting search engine optimization (SEO), pay-per-click (PPC) and display marketing. The resulting online experience will fuse mobile, social media and interactive map technologies. Make a good use of network can help the hotel manage itself well and attract more guests.

This article is about how network works for the hotel. TravelClick is a leading provider that designs and produces websites for hotels. Each hotel can have its own unique hyper-local online storefront with information. The Red Lion Hotel is one of the cooperators with the TravelClick. TravelClick designed a special web and mobile platform for the hotel. The guests of the hotel can find the information such as where to have the best breakfast and where is the good place to go. The hotel will excite them to go out and enjoy and encounter. This can give the guests special experience and let them have much fun. The hotel aims to use this way to make a differentiation from other hotels. In my opinion, the competition of the hotels likes the battle, the hotel must differentiates itself from others and let the customers to remember it. The network can help the hotel a lot. It not only has the traditional function of making introduction and reservation, it also can be used for marketing. For instance, TravelClick will serve as Red Lion's agency of record in all matters impacting search engine optimization (SEO), pay-per-click (PPC) and display marketing. The resulting online experience will fuse mobile, social media and interactive map technologies. Make a good use of network can help the hotel manage itself well and attract more guests.

I agree with you. Hotels need to differentiate themselves among competitiors in order to attract more business. This online experience made by TravelClick could work as a competitive advantage for some hotels that need to make their name known in new markets.

The CEO of the award-winning Sandals Resorts International gave top marks to LIME, the Caribbean division of Cable & Wireless Communications. He remarks the importance of having the best in communication services in the hospitality industry. The executive Vice President of the Bahamas Hotel Association also welcomed the hotel industry improvements in telecommunications.

In 2009 the GDS usage declined from 98% to 79%. ALthough there has not been a demand to use this technology, there has been a demand in the first quarter in 2012. There has been an increase because of corporate business demand. GDS is being used to transfer room inventory to global distribution partners as well as travel agents and OTA's. Hotels using the GDS technology offer a percentage to a client instead of a fixed rate. This happens as long as companies have access to the hotel's system everyday. According to Robert Cole, The GDS system is notgoing anywhere because of its unique solutitons to hotels and travelers. It makes it easier for everyone.

This article is about how global distribution systems are still in demand even though they were said to be dying out. Industry leaders thought that with the development of online travel agencies, GDS's would soon be out of business. This isn't the case though. Well it is proven that member travel agencies have been using GDS's less this could be linked to the economy. The people who are purchasing travel through online travel agencies are still using the GDS every day. Business travel is also up in the past 10 years and also an increase in business travelers extending their stays for leisure. With that leisure and corporate traveler are help keeping GDS's alive. But GDS's would be even more profitable if they lowered their transaction fees.

The GDS has decreased steadily over the past decade, but recent studies have shown that there has been a small increase. The increase is thought to be due to corporate travel.  Many hotels are trying to increase the use of the GDS through dynamic pricing models. This model offers a percentage off the hotels best available rate depending on what the demand is. The GDS provides many benefits like facilitating the online search process, offering immediate access to information without using a marketing budget, and high sense of security. The only downfall is that the distribution costs are too high, because transaction fees usually are around $5. 

The article I read was called, "What is a Hotel Management System?" In the article it states that in the early 90s Gartner came up with the term ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) that automates a large number of business functions such as finance, accounting, and human resource. "A hotel is a hive of numerous operations such as front office, booking and reservation, banquet, finance, HR, inventory, material management, quality management, security, energy management, housekeeping." All of these activities need to be taken care of at hotels and doing so can sometimes be a lot of work. This led to the introduction of property management systems, an automated software which can optimize hotel operations and keep a tight control on costs. It important for hotels to understand the needs of their guests, if they want them to come back to their hotel, they need to know what they like and dislike. Using the PMS it allows them to make a profile of each guest and they write in if they want a beach view room or if they want a mini bar in their room. There is a difference when it comes to PMS and ERP. "A property management system usually consists of front office software and other best of breed solutions." The ERP, is usually a comprehensive solution from a single vendor. I really enjoyed reading this article and it helped me get a better grasp on how hotels use property management systems.

I completely agree that technology is making deep inroads into the hospitality industry, and hotels across the world are looking to use technology to make operation smooth and efficient. Any operating system that can help optimize the hotel experience is going prosper in their business.

I didn't really care for the passage that talked about PMS vs ERP, I though they could have been more specific... they just said ERP is better, could someone provide an example? Also, they mentioned how when a hotel becomes more complex problems arise in the PMS, how? All the hotel would have to do is come up with another PMS system that would provide them with greater resources, etc whats the problem??

This article discusses the various options for reducing both a hotels energy costs and its carbon footprint. Many times a hotel will combine a door sensor with a motion detector. However, some in industry argue that a door sensor is over unnecessary. Real saving is energy is achieved through "through management of the property's HVAC system". Whatever system is installed it is best to err on the side of the guest. Door sensors can be tell if a guest has enterer or exited a room. But if a motion detector is installed it can be sure of a guests presence.

From answering incoming phone calls, checking out guests, taking payments, and processing reports for management, a front desk agent can't do it all. Today, many hotels can come to the conclusion that a high number of guests are booking through online channels, but they cannot lose sight of to business that can be made over the phone. If hotels do not accommodate to guests calling in, it may lead to lack of trust from potential and loyal guests. In order to solve this issue, Collins refers to a mantra: hotels must need to recognize that what get measured, gets managed. This can be done by measuring how many calls are actually being handled and measuring those that are being ignored by a front desk agent on a typical day. When calls get ignored or are rushed, any investment that a hotel put into advertising or content production could turn up to be a loss. If incoming calls aren't being measured now, eventually hotels will be in for a rude awakening. Collins mentions that technology can help solve this issue, but most hotels find it difficult to handle scenarios with IT due to a lack of investment. Collins stresses how important it is to have the appropriate software and hardware for employees to perform at their best for the hotel to reach it's goals. In order to better navigate and keep track of call volume, Collins states that the PMS provider may not be able to accommodate a hotels request; therefore, hotels may need to invest in additional hardware and software. In addition to this, hotels may need to find an additional information technology partner to help reach their monitoring and service needs. In my opinion, although smaller hotels may have an issue with having to invest in sufficient hardware and software, the benefits would lead to better business practices and a more efficient front desk staff. The benefits of a more efficient front desk are endless, especially when it comes to effective multi-tasting and creating memorable customer relationships

With the rapid growth and increased use of the Internet over the past 2 decades, industry professional Andrey Smirnov gives 7 tips to other industry leaders on maximizing their presence in e-commerce and in consumer minds: (1) make your website quick to download and easy to find; (2) organize content by prioritizing information; (3) when offering promotions, clearly reflect it with a call to action; (4) distribute 'fresh' content on different channels (i.e., photo galleries, press releases, etc.); (5) maximize on mobile marketing; (6) embrace social media; and (7) continually improve by testing new things.

The internet is constantly changing, the way we communicate and they way we do business. The hospitality industry is always quick to capitalize on new technologies. However, the e-commerce growth in the hospitality industry has created an urgent need for simple changes to companies' presence online. So when every hotel is involved in e-commerce, why is it so important today? It is simple. Today, the internet is the lowest cost hotel-booking channel. As well as now, most travelers are searching and making hotel reservations online. Lastly, social media and online hotel reviews are increasing and have made an important decision factor. Now, hoteliers need to keep focus on what information customers are seeking and what they are looking for online. There are a few basic strategies that will help drive usage from the internet world. Some of those are: vave a search-friendly website, focus on usability and conversation taking a holistic approach and prioritize information, and lastly make websites compatible for mobile phones. If hoteliers can use the full potential of the internet, they will maximize their return on investment in e-commerce. The hospitality industry needs to constantly learn and look for ways to use the new developments and trends.

Andrey Smirnov in his article "E-Commerce for the Hospitality Industry highlights how the internet has changed the way business is done not only in the hospitality industry but as a whole. He stresses the importance of e-commerce in the hospitatlity industry and why hoteliers must utilise strategies to ensure they make the most of the marketing and sales opportunties the internet provides. There are a few things that hoteliers must do to make the most of what the internet provides. They include: (1) Search Friendly Website Design - "site download speed is one of the most important ranking factors in organic search" says Smirnov therfore hoteliers must ensure that their site is properly designed and compatible across any browser, any items that causes the site to perform poorly shoud be eliminated as internet users similar to hotel guests tend to only visit sites where they can receive the best experience yet. (2) Improve conversion and Usability - content on website must be properly organised and users must not be bombaded by information. (3)Search - Hoteliers must focus on Paid searches as well as Real time search to increase traffic. Paid searches ensure that your targeted traffic are directed right to you. Whereas with a great web design with strong content that is also timely the natural ranking of the oranisation website can be increased thus increasing tracffic to it. (4)Mobile - Mobile devices have become a popular means of conducting e-business related activities for consumers therefore the hotel that ensures that their online services are accessible from mobile devices will be putting themselves ahead of the game. (5) Embracing Social Media - According to Smirnov 93 percent of social media users expect companies to have a social presence and 85 percent of social media users want companies to interact with them on social sites. With this being said one can see why a social media presence is one that cannot be overlooked. It is important that co

Hoteliers are expecting a lot more out of their PMS's such as data acquisition, integration with other systems, mobile capabilities, and social media. This article describes some of the different directions hoteliers are taking based on their specific focus and desired results. Some of the advantages and disadvantages of cloud based PMS's are discussed such as mobility, internet connection redundancy for rural vs. urban areas, and multiple system integration. The increasing role of social media is also explored and the degree to which it should be utilized by the hospitality industry. There are many possibilities including using social media posts to mine guest reviews, as well as the ability to book your hotel on Facebook and receive a confirmation via text. I apologize for the diminishing hi-lighting towards the end, my tool bar is having some issues!

This article continues on our modules topic of offsite backups. It explains the need for them in case of emergencies, whether it be a breach or a natural disaster that compromises your systems. It mentions the the biggest services; Amazon S3 and also provides their opinion of top 10 options. It provides the benefits for each of the storage services and why they would recommend them. I personally found that Zetta was a great option as they are not only affordable but also very efficient and safe as it uses a push button. It concludes with information that can help a business decide which company is best for them and encouragement to choose one if you want to keep your data safe and readily available in case of an emergency.

I found this article interesting as it talks about why the GDS is important and also gives some insight to how the booking process has changed over the decades. For instance, thanks to the internet we can book a flight within minutes while comfortably sitting on our cough. The article however states, what I did not know, was that back in the 50's, it took an airline reservationist 1.5 to 3 hours to book a single airline flight for the customer. At the end, the article also states that GDS most probably will not be going anywhere any time soon and still be around, at least for some time, and keep on evolving.

The article describes the importance of GDS to the travel industry. The article describes GDS as "a network/platform that enables travel agencies and their clients to access to travel data, shop for and compare reservations options and book travel." The system is used globally as it helps in generating travel sales in billions of dollars. Travel agents use the system access scheduling and inventory of hotels, car rentals, airlines and bus tickets all in real time. The system achieves this by linking the travel reservation sectors of car rentals, hotels and airlines. The major GDSs in the world are Sabre, Amadeus, Worldspan, Apollo, and Galileo. The authors argue that GDS is important to travel agents as it helps the agents to make reservations in real time for their clients and can complete bookings for their clients within a short time. The end of the article proposes that GDS may become obsolete by 2020 due to technological advances. However, the authors argue that the system will evolve with the technological changes and will not fall into disuse anytime soon.

GDS I feel will always have an impact in the travel industry because it is what it was built for since the beginning. Yes, we advance with apps and direct booking but people will always use travel agencies and GDS I believe will always be the primary source for booking for travel agents because it is what makes them comfortable.

The article discusses ransomware attacks on hospitality properties. A 2016 attack left guests locked out of their rooms but the threat could affect different areas of a hospitality business and cause significant disruption to their business. Properties need to be prepared for a security breach with an action plan to prevent cyber-attack. The article points out that it's important to act quickly to segment the network and try to prevent any new devices from being infected. Best practice recommends regular backups and a recovery plan, using anti malware software and being cautious with employee installed software. The most important thing a company can do is to be proactive and prepared for an attack.