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The findings of this research make very interesting reading. We were impressed to see so many independent hotels using social media - 85% had a Facebook page and 74% were on Twitter, although only 35% actually responded to our tweet. The fact that 37% of the hotels take the time to respond to every review on TripAdvisor was also very positive

This article discusses a couple of ways in which hotels are extending themselves to go green. Specifically the article lists three ways in which these hotels are initiating themselves into going green, which are through low water consumption Power saving, and solid waste disposal. The article also discusses energy efficient lighting.  Along with discussing these processes, the article explains that its not easy to be green in this sector, but the hotel industry now has a new environmental conscience. This being great for hotels. its one step in opening a new way to help get our environment back to where it needs to be and with there being such a large scale of hotels why not get them in the best order that we can get them. 

As the article states"The hotel industry has long been associated with excessive waste: using powerful chemicals for cleaning and wasting energy for maintenance rather than being environmentally friendly. Moreover and as result of tourism industry growth, the demand for resources from the hospitality sector has exponentially increased. However, the new popularity of Eco Tourism has encouraged hotels to adopt new green practices that allow them to reduce their negative impact on the environment" The hospitality industry can help improve the environmental problems we are going through at the moment by simply adding: low water consumption, power saving, energy-efficient lighting and solid waste disposal. Furthermore, the guest are starting to become more aware and loyal to brands that are making changes to become green and there is where eco tourism starts and its getting bigger. In the future, all hotels will have to follow the LEED requirements which makes them follow certain rules to help reduce energy and go green. This will help the hotel managers and industry save money and at the same time help the environment.

With cloud computing such a big hit in all levels and industries, restaurants are also shifting their approach from more customer service, less techonology investment to vice versa. This article summarized the upcoming trends, features in demand and purchsing plans for POS in 2013.

Hotel operators are looking to better POS system which can positively impact the customer experience, increasing hotels innovation and investment. There are two trends of 2013 POS: more platform innovations, and overall purchasing plans. For the suppliers, they will make some forms of mobile-ready solution of POS. The new technology of cloud-based POS is also being brought to market. What is more, tablet hardware, social media will be integrated into the POS. POS Features in Demand In HT's survey, we know that most restaurants desire for more advanced POS technology. And online ordering is the number-one to be upgraded in the next year for them. They also Interest in mobile phones for ordering and payment. Cloud computing has a biggest jump, which is desired by 36.2% of restaurants. For the POS Purchasing Plans, most operators need add new functionality, features or modules to current POS software. More restaurants are investing in POS technology. A third of all restaurants are in a "testing and research" phase for POS upgrades. There are many specific Predictions and Plans in different companies, for example, integrating mobile applications into POS, more interactive options, simpler points of contacts, online ordering for mobile devices, Apps accessible from any phone at any time, personalization, recognition, rewards and outstanding, etc.

This article analyzed what POS can bring to nowadays' hospitality industry and forecast the future trend. Any technology investment should be a balancing act. All the hotels should make specific forecast and plans about their designing about their POS.

The hotel is a perfect place for hackers to attack because they have easy access to retrieve thousands of guest information including credit card information, billing addresses, and much more personal information. Nicholas Percoco, senior vice president of Trustwave's SpiderLabs, mentioned that the credit card and debit card information is the most in demand by hackers because it is easiest to turn into cash quickly. There are three main steps in a typical data breach and how attackers mostly operate at each level: initial entry, data harvesting, and exfiltration. Close to half of these attacks occur via remote access applications, of which 90 percent exploit default or weak passwords. Around 42 percent of attacks occurred via third-party connections; 6 percent via SQL injection; 4 percent via exposed services; and 2 percent via remote file inclusion attacks. Interestingly, less than 1 percent began with an email Trojan. As an IT manager of the hotel, it is crucial to recognize how serious the consequences are for the hotel should the data not be protected well. 

Hey all, here is an article I found that talks about hackers taking over the hospitality industry. It mentions how hackers main objective is to gain access to debit accounts and gain access to customer cash. Also, hackers are also able to infiltrate POS systems along with other valuable technology with in the hospitality industry. Nearly half of these attacks occur via remote access applications, of which 90 percent exploit default or weak passwords, according to the report. Around 42 percent of attacks occurred via third-party connections; 6 percent, SQL injection; 4 percent, exposed services; and 2 percent, remote file inclusion attacks. Interestingly, less than 1 percent began with an email Trojan.

hackers are EVERYWHERE!

This article explains the five key issues with hotel cybersecurity. Hotels have to address a lot of issues with cyber security but this article is able to narrow it down to the top five. The article mentions compliance, credit cards, informed responses to attacks and that credit cards are not the only risks that we have to worry about. Those who work in hotels must realize that it is their duty to protect not only the hotels information but also the information of the guests.

The article talks about how the most important gastronomic event in Brazil "The Pernambuco Restaurant Week" was promoted to attract a large population. This festival started 20 years ago in New York and nowadays it takes place in 100 cities around the world. By marketing the festival through different media channels and promoting it through e-marketing the participating restaurants are expecting exposure, brand recognition and an increase of business "The festival is aimed at warming the sales of the restaurants that, in turn, undertake to transfer part of the profit to a social institution. This year the organization was chosen as the Child Citizen Orchestra Boys of coke, which serves 130 youths, between 4 and 19 years." The main sponsor of this famous event was MasterCard giving the brand popularity, position, and exposure in the Brazilian market.

Thank you for sharing this. I love Brazilian food. I will have to see if there is any restaurants in the area that are participating.

Room serve technology in hotels - research for paper 

China's Eastern Airlines & Sabre, a Global Distribution System, just signed an agreement allowing Sabre to use the airlines inventory and airfares to market to the travel agencies associated with Sabra.  This will help increase their North American expansion.  Sabre's technology and resources will help enhance the expansion for for China Eastern and Shanghai Airlines.  Marketing intelligence from Sabre has helped the airlines cater to the flight schedules and operations for their customers.  Sabre's network reaches more than 300 million people! 

November 19th 2009, Planes at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International airport in Atlanta, Georgia experienced numerous of delays. Airlines were cancelling and delaying flights all over the United States, due to problems with the airline system. The system that collects airlines flight plans was experiencing technical difficulty. During the time of the problem, safety in the air wasn't the issue; planes were still flying. Various airlines resorted back to manually processing flight plan. The biggest issue that the airport, and other airlines faced during this time; was the fact that so many flights were being delayed. I can only imagine the agony to plan and arrange flights manually. One of the most important factor, is that everyone safety wasn't threatened by the system problems.

This article, posted on the Visa website discusses how McDonald's UK plans to implement a new type of payment method for customers. This "cash free" payment methods allows for customers to use only debit or credit cards and pay up to 15 euros. Visa states that it is a quick and easy way for customers to purchase a coffee or lunch at a fast food establishment. As stated in the article, this form of payment helps companies save money with regards to operating costs and improves risk management because less cash is available at the restaurant. In my opinion, I believe this is a quick and convenient way for customers to get in and out of the restaurant - which is essentially what a fast food establishment caters to do. The down side of this new hardware addition to McDonald's is that it may reduce the amount of jobs in each store because the computers will be able to do the work, humans once did.

To me this is just a given. Of course contactless payments are going to increase. They already are especially in big cities where everyone is always on the go. I know that I barely ever have cash on me. I end up having to run to an ATM. Paying with cards is the easiest and an fastest way of paying for things.

I agree with both comments. I just wonder why they cap the amount to £15, which converts to $19.25. Is that to encourage individual transactions? To clarify, the only thing I can think of is they are trying to discourage people from purchasing for others. But that doesn't really make sense since the purpose of contactless payments is increasing convenience for the customer who wants to make on-the-go purchases and thus increasing profit for the business. Just something I was wondering.

A significant change since the study in 2009, it says that there is a significant change that more than 26 percent of travel agents stated that they used their GDS more often. It means that GDS has become more and more important in the hospitality industry, since the generation has changed to 80's. Travel agent has once again confirmed their confidence in GDS shopping.

The article shows how a unified computing and communication system helps a company implement a new technology. While the new technology system is worth a multimillion-dollar investment; the benefits have provided the company excellent financial results. It allowed the company to consolidate 18 room reservation and telephone operations into a single location. Another advantage from the update is the capability for Station Casinos to connect 15,000 different devices which include some of the newer slot machines that have been installed. The new technology reduces downtime; this is an advantage as downtime could lead to potential monetary loss. Finally, the update while costing millions of dollars, the financial return on the investment is tremendously impactful to the company.

This article speaks about a seemingly successful turn around for a struggling casino group in Las Vegas after making multimillion-dollar investments for I.T. over a period of time. While it has not completely eradicated all their problems, Stations Casinos Inc., which operates 18 hotels, and casinos off the Vegas Strip has saved tremendously by providing a cohesive communication computer system that has allowed greater efficiency ultimately saving money. An example of efficiency is cutting down data center server racks from 12 to one. More advantages showed with reduced cost due to less power and energy being used to maintain more infrastructures. An upgrade in network allowed for their slot machines and security cameras to connect across the board. This is important because, " about 80% of revenue comes from slot machines," said Baltz. These are just a few advantages the Stations Casinos Inc., has experienced since their investment. After reading this article, it just goes to show how important the I.T. department can be to the profitability of a hotel, casino or other hospitality entity. Usually we think of the product or service as the revenue generators of a business, but this type of article shows that, by saving money, the trickle down effect of increasing profits will occur when you cut expenses.

If there was ever any question that IT investment could drastically benefit companies, this scenario is the proof. A group of struggling Las Vegas Casinos really turned there negative situation around with the use of new interactive technology. This interactive technology is not only beneficial in the hotel world, but apparently casinos as well. The possibilities for this technology are endless, as long as it continues to advance. Guests and costumers who continue to be satisfied with their enhanced technological experience, will give companies and businesses large profits. Just as the casinos had a drastic turnaround by utilizing technology, other groups will do the same.

Restaurateur's evaluation of machines purchased in move to automate noodle making process in business units owned. Owner reports that machines are working proficiently and cost of ownership provides good ROI vs human wages. Also mentioned were projected cost advantages achieved through greater economies of scale vs variable cost that would be incurred utilizing human-based alternative.

Foodservice automation technology: Robot Serves Up 360 Hamburgers Per Hour | http://bit.ly/18p0HoW SushiBot Serves Up An Order Of 3,600 Per Hour | http://bit.ly/14gEmg3 Foodservice automation technology issues: Fast food strikes NYC | http://nbcnews.to/175TET1

Noodle Power Rangers! Only thing I am worry about is the sanitation standards, not to mention you have no idea what goes inside that noodle dough mix. Other than that, cute little robot with automation technology in food production.

Pegasus is one of the leading GDS in online travel distribution system. Hotels chain in India have joined this giant in order to gain more exposure and compete in the global market.  The clients who joined the new Pegasus will benefit from personalized service, new tools such as automated sales tools, market performance that can certainly increase the profit margin of those chains' hotels. 

The "Going Green" trend has been a true blessing since it's marketability took birth several years ago. Many industries are taking advantage of this technological and ecological trend. There has never been a better time than now to turn our business ethics into the direction of a better world. Basic utility expenses at any hotel or business can sometimes make or break their existence. Technology today has given us the tools to give back to both our beautiful Earth and our bottom dollar. Luxury brands and all the like are implementing new green policies and technologies that will cut costs and even beautiful their environments. By the end of 2015 The Intercontinental Hotels Group plans on equipping over 4,000 of their hotels with a system that monitors and assists in energy use and conservation. They have a goal of reducing their overall water use by 12% in California in part due to the severe ongoing drought. The Loews in Santa Monica Beach is investing $96,000 in a laundry-water recycling system. It will recycle nearly 70% of water use and pay for itself in less than 2 years. Apart from it's ability to cut-costs and truly give back to the environment, "going green" is highly marketable. One of the Intercontinental's General Managers was quoted saying "It's not a huge savings. I think it's about sending the right message." I have personally seen many RFPs from large corporate companies that request green-initiatives from hotels. Improving sustainability is important to the customer and the establishment. Around 60% of travelers consider green initiatives when selecting a destination and activity. Of those 60%, over half said they would even pay more to stay at an establishment that respected and helped improve the environment. In a world where we are fortunate enough to live in excess should we choose to, it's a shame it took this long for a global movement to "go green". Sustainability alone has built such a giant indu

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!

In this article, Hazel Jain explains that companies that have invested in email marketing are struggling to get their "open and click" rates up with an average open rate of 15% and click rate of 4.7%. Jain also states travel companies can add value to their email marketing campaigns by making the emails targeted and personalized. A customer is 19 times higher to purchase an items when a remind email is sent, reminding them they have items left in their cart. This practice is called abandoned cart remarketing campaigning. Also explained in the article is that mobile internet is still on the rise. With the ever increasing mobile internet; companies must modify their websites to support the newest technology used by their customers.