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With so many different options for POS systems, it can often be hard for business owners to figure out which systems are the best. BusinessNewsDaily's sister site, TopTenReviews, has done extensive research on POS systems. The site ranks AccuPOS as the best POS System and POS services provider. They earn high marks for providing increased accounting capabilities, as it is the only software that is line-item compatible with QuickBooks and Sage accounting software. Additionally, AccuPOS is easy to use and requires minimal training.

Indeed, the relationship between local restaurants and email marketing is a win-win for all involved. Most local restaurants don't have the budget to advertise on local television or radio, never mind nationally, and the days in which the local newspaper was a reliable advertising option are long gone.

declining readership of newspapers–as well as their shrinking ad space–means any ads placed there will almost surely go ignored by the target audience.

affordable for restaurants of all sizes and can be managed by anyone with a minimal amount of computer experience. There is no need to hire anyone to handle email marketing for local restaurants.

SAI's SynergyMMS Selected by Starwood Vacation Ownership for Enhanced Asset Management and Preventive Maintenance

SynergyMMS is a Software as a Service (SaaS) solution designed exclusively for hospitality to enhance asset life and longevity by creating "synergy" between front office, engineering and housekeeping staff for enhanced workflow and communications. Starwood Vacation Ownership offers flexible vacation options from spacious villa accommodations in the best locations in the most sought-after destinations to distinctive experiences around the world—all through Starwood Vacation NetworkSM.

extend the lifecycle of equipment, reduce energy consumption, minimize equipment downtime, and reduce guest-reported maintenance requests,

LBA Hospitality Partners with M3 Accounting + Analytics to Enhance Accounting Processes and Increase Efficiencies July, 31 2013 M3 Accounting + Analytics Seeking to update and streamline accounting processes for its 70-plus Southeast properties, Dothan, Ala.-based Larry Blumberg & Associates, Inc. (LBA Hospitality) recently announced an expanded partnership with M3 Accounting + Analytics, the national leader in hotel-specific accounting software, operations reporting, and business analytics. “If we are to continue to be an industry leader, we must have the ability to meet the requirements of our stakeholders and provide accurate, real-time and relevant information for our management team and owners,” said LBA President Beau Benton.  LBA sought the ability to swiftly handle budgets, forecasts, and reports, and to dissect business data, all while insuring that the back-office accounting platform functionality was state-of-the-art and industry-specific.  In choosing M3, Benton cited how the company integrates accounting, business intelligence, and reporting, while eliminating most redundancy, software investment and annual hardware/software maintenance. In addition, Benton and LBA were looking for continual and automatic upgrades, backup and disaster protection, and minimized downtime.  LBA is implementing the full suite of M3 products: accounting through the AccKnowledge platform, time, attendance and labor management through the newly released RightTime solution and LaborWatch, and payroll services through RightPay. The company will also continue to use M3 Link business intelligence reporting, as LBA will be expanding it to bring financial data, operating stats, Smith Travel feeds and guest satisfaction data (including verbatim responses) into one completely customizable dashboard. LBA, which launched its business by developing a Sheraton Inn in 1973, is rapidly growing its management business and securing more and more agreements from sophisticated owners and investors.   Scott Watson, M3 Vice President of Sales & Marketing, said, “While our core product remains our accounting solution, we’ve continued to evolve and offer new products and services that meet the current and future needs of the hospitality industry. It is truly exciting that our product platform will help Beau and LBA achieve the aggressive growth they are anticipating over the next five years.”  The implementation and training process for all LBA properties is expected to be complete by December 1.  About LBA Hospitality Based in Dothan, Ala., LBA Hospitality is a hospitality management company focused on maximizing return, safeguarding assets and enhancing value. Founded in 1973, the company now manages 70 properties throughout the Southeast, from Texas to Virginia. More information is available at http://www.LBAHospitality.com.  About M3 Accounting + Analytics M3 is the national leader in hotel-specific accounting software, operations reporting, business intelligence and analytics, processing more than $8 billion in financial transactions for more than 3,000 properties. M3’s integrated suite of hospitality accounting products includes: AccKnowledge, Link, payroll and labor management services, and document imaging and retrieval – all designed to help provide hotel operators, owners and managers unsurpassed access to the information they need in the most integrated and cost-effective manner. The company was founded in Gainesville, Ga. in 1998, and also has a base of operations in Tampa, Fla. More information is available at www.M3AS.com. 

“If we are to continue to be an industry leader, we must have the ability to meet the requirements of our stakeholders and provide accurate, real-time and relevant information for our management team and owners,” said LBA President Beau Benton.  

continue to be an industry leader, we must have the ability to meet the requirements of our stakeholders and provide accurate, real-time and relevant information for our management team and owners,” said LBA President Beau Benton.  

“Restaurants are looking for a competitive mobile ordering solution that will match the functionality that major restaurant companies are bringing to market, while minimizing the operational impact of adopting this new technology,”

Heartland Mobile and Online Ordering automates the ordering process, saving restaurant operators time and money. The solution’s robust functionality reduces the manual processes of servers taking orders by phone, entering orders into a POS (point-of-sale) system and manually processing payments. As a result, restaurants see increased throughput of incoming orders and improved sales.

Oh sure, many companies have green initiatives. Apple in particular has made notable, documented efforts to reduce its carbon footprint, powering a majority of its retail stores and data centers with renewable energy, developing more efficient packaging design, and designing products that use less power than their predecessors. But if your products are going to be tossed out in a year, none of that is particularly brag-worthy. That’s a tremendous amount of wasted resources.

In the past, computers were designed to be relatively easy to disassemble, like HP’s towers and older versions of the Mac Mini. You could swap out dead parts and batteries, add more memory if it got sluggish, even replace a motherboard. But in the mid-2000s, things started to change. Apple introduced the ultra-thin, ultra-light MacBook Air and the industry enthusiastically followed with heaping helpings of devices that, while slim, were very difficult to repair due to the construction compromises required to achieve that svelte profile. Smartphones and tablets followed with an even faster purchasing and chucking cycle.

Therefore, the easier it is to disassemble something, the more likely it is to be worth someone’s time to recycle it. And that’s where issues arise

The Intercontinental Los Angeles Century City Hotel is removing draping ivy plants from the balconies of all 361 rooms, replacing them with drought-tolerant succulents. The Courtyard by Marriott in Torrance tore out 81sq m of turf and flower beds, swapping them for native California grass to help cut water use by 15%.

With California in the worst drought in state history, some hotels have gone beyond

“It’s not a huge savings,” Steve Choe, general manager of the Intercontinental, said about dumping the ivy planters. “I think it’s about sending the right message.”

 Bizzabo is launching what it calls an Event Success Platform, equipping small to medium event organizers with a complete system to promote, manage and monetize their events.

he next step in the natural development of our produ

We wanted to free the industry from a reliance on multiple siloed tech solutions that increase an event organizer’s workload, minimize their ability to measure success and limit productivity.

The planning process that gives birth to top notch management of events involves three rules. To reach success with the core event management planning steps, stick to this framework: No pressure. Just calm brainstorming, create a vision of what you want to achieve with this event. Give it structure. Outline all aspects you need to work on and get the perfect skyline with the stars you’ll have to light up for a great event! Connect the dots. Talk to everyone, whose help you need. Have all technical issues solved. This way, your stars won’t stop shining brightly at the most responsible moment!

don’t you dare start your planning of an event without setting a goal.

Shared tasks are easier tasks. Don’t hesitate to assign responsibilities to your team members

“When department managers and other employees think more about safety and security, you can prevent a lot of theft and minimize dangers.”

1. Update locks. Locks that can track who goes in and out of rooms can serve as a deterrent to theft.

2. Make time for safety meetings. Perhaps as part of a regular meeting, schedule time to talk about guest safety

Hospitality Employees Play Big Role In Sustainability Efforts

When it comes to the environment, employees leave a big footprint, Gaines says. "Employees are aware of their footprint and it yields a lot of returns," he says. "As a result, they're watching their fellow employees and holding each other accountable because they understand that every little bit counts."

With employees outside of the facilities department, it's often the little things that make a big difference, such as getting employees in the habit of turning off lights and checking thermostats in unoccupied meeting rooms, as well as having them remind each other to keep an eye out for potentially wasteful use.

the hospitality industry is the number 1 target for cyber criminals.

Most breaches in hospitality target the POS (91%), but other targets can include reservations procedures and unsecure integrations between software applications.

you are a potential target for hackers.

Credit card fraud and identity theft should remain high on the hotel and lodging industry’s radar. Just ask Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide (including their Westin, Sheraton and W Hotel brands), Hilton, Hyatt and the Trump Hotel Collection, all of which were victims of highly publicized, major breaches in the hospitality industry last year. 

Hotels need a ‘toolbelt’ of various security technologies that can be used to prevent malicious attacks. A managed firewall is essential, blocking dangerous traffic from coming onto the network and preventing sensitive data from being exfiltrated, or sent, to the hackers.

In the breaches mentioned above, point-of-sale (POS) systems were attacked and malware launched to acquire cardholder names, credit card numbers and expiration dates.

HVAC systems in typical commercial buildings are responsible for more than 40 percent of total energy use. Keeping HVAC systems running properly and at peak efficiency is the first step in managing facility energy use.

Temperatures and humidity levels that fall outside of this range can lead to interruption in services and even costly system failures.

Reactive maintenance remains the norm, not the exception. Maintenance is deferred. Planned and predictive maintenance remain the exception.

One lone gunman committing an unpredictable, horrific act of mass murder has set off a predictable debate about how government can prevent such an event from “ever happening again.”

While hotels and casinos are indeed soft targets for terrorism, and measures can be taken to prevent attacks similar to the Indonesia's 2003 Jakarta Marriott bombing, the concept of implementing TSA-like procedures at hotels and casinos is impractical, costly and mind-numbingly ill conceived.

Most American hotels and casinos still have close-in driveways allowing patrons to check-in and drop off luggage with bellmen. While this remains an obvious vulnerability in terms of car-bombings,

The world of cyber security is seemingly in a state of constant flux, making the sources of possible threats hard to nail down for hoteliers.

The world of cyber security is seemingly in a state of constant flux, making the sources of possible threats hard to nail down for hoteliers.

The velocity of change of threat landscape is very challenging for organizations.

Computerized front desk technology enables the agent to perform check-in duties ranging from room availability and reservations, to inventory, pricing and guest data capture. On checkout, the guest's billing is integrated with phone accounting, in-room entertainment costs and point of sale purchases. Front desk technology provides the agents with real-time information to facilitate efficiency and minimize wait time.

Today, hoteliers spend most of their time trying to 'beat the OTAs' by focusing primarily on increasing their direct bookings; that's a fantastic tactic BUT it's not the only one that you should be using to boost your property's occupancy, ADR and RevPAR, while cutting the cost of acquisition

While it has been overlooked by many hoteliers, the GDS is still a very viable booking channel - and one that you should reintegrate into your revenue management strategy today!

he use of travel agents is, once again, on the rise - in fact, 2018 was actually nicknamed the "Year of the Travel Agent" by some - as they are now highly valued for their expertise and prized on their ability to build complex, multi-stop itineraries quickly, affordably and with little fuss.