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This article describes five new trends in information technology for the restaurant industry. This first is Touchscreen Food Vendors, which is a device similar to the e-bar that allows a customer to choose many items from one machine. The second is Tablet Restaurant Management, which allows one to view menu items and manage delivery tickets to the kitchen. The third is Automatic Biodiesel Converters, which allows cars to receive eco-friendly fuel while at a restaurant. The fourth is LED Alert Systems, which allow the kitchen to be alerted to time-sensitive tasks. The fifth is Webcam-Enabled Monitoring, which allows the kitchen and floor to be watched at a remote site. The article also lists the price of these various innovations

The article expands on the topic from this week because it discusses how there are other technology throughout the world that adds to the pollution on the planet. For example, cars contribute to the poison getting leaked into the atmosphere because when they are discarded and not used they tend to melt from the sun and then rain water washes it into the ocean and lakes where it gets consumed by animals. Also adding technology to farming has made life useful but also added to the pollution on the planet because of the toxic chemicals being used to repel insects from the plants and China has deliberately decided to ignore health standards just to mine and sell rare-earths cheaply.

The article discusses the definition of GDS and how important it is in the travel industry. As stated, the three main GDS systems involve Travelport, Amadeus, and Sabre with Travelport generating billions of dollars in travel sales. Upon explaining how important GDS is in the hotel and airline industry, it also explains its importance to travel agents as it points out reasons for why it has a bright future in the hospitality industry.

The Article talks about how important is the GDS in the travel industry. where some agents can access to scheduling and inventory for your hotels. it talks about three important GDS Systems like the Travelport, Amadeus and Sabre.

This article describes GDS as a network/platform that enables travel agencies and their clients to access travel data, shop for and compare reservations options and book travel. Agents can access scheduling and inventory of hotels, airlines, car rentals, and (some) railway and bus reservations - in real time. GDS links all those services across the three primary travel reservation sectors (airline, hotel, and ground transportation, i.e., car rentals), and activities. GDSs are very important to travel agents and they will continue to be used and will continue to evolve.

Global distribution systems have grown immensely in the last couple of years. This article mentions the biggest and first companies to have created and used GDS. These were and are important companies with in the hospitality industry, they started using these systems to track themselves and created a monster that is now the best way for consumers to book and edit their reservations.

The author holds that the public have ambivalent attitudes of disruptive innovation，and the current understanding of its effects is inaccurate，the article mentions Uber and Airbnb as the example. This article gives the explanation that it is a form of breakthrough that takes place in a rapidly changing market. In the academic aspect, influenced by the theories of Harvard professor Clayton Christensen, It's different from continuous innovation Finally the author show 2 examples of potentially disruptive innovation in hospitality: 3D printers and virtual reality

This article gives a clear understanding on what disruptive technology is in the hospitality industry. It explains how our society craves for more "what's new?" or what a business can do to stay ahead of its competitors but are sometimes afraid of the outcomes and although we cannot see the future, we can give it a try while hoping for the best. They provided current examples such as Airbnb and how they sustain innovation effectively by capitalizing and improving the efficiency of the system.

The article discusses how technology can potentially disrupt the market in positive ways. The article also uses examples of what would not be considered market disruption and used Uber as an example of this. IF we were to however have self driving cars this would be a significant market disruption.

This article reviews advantages and disadvantages of tech advances: tech can replace human workers but this often leads to customer dissatisfaction. Tech is constantly advancing so companies need to stay competitive. The "ripple effect" means tech advances affect other fields where disruption is often rarely anticipated (his example is driver-less cars leading to less business for drive through restaurants).

Hertz introduces iphone apps to deliver extended travel experience to customers. The app is called My Explore, including 11 major cities in U.S. with most travel information. Each city app includes six categories: explore, Top Must See, Events, Favorites, Tours and neighborhoods. Those probably cover major needs during traveling.

Many people first think of Google when it comes to search engines. In reality Google just "crawls the Web looking for websites" and it shows evidence that only 1% of information is actually searchable. This article presents a new website called Shodan which was made a little more than three years ago. It "navigates the Internet's back channels.... It's a kind of "dark" Google, looking for the servers, webcams, printers, routers and all the other stuff that is connected to and makes up the Internet". Its unbelievable the things this website can get a hold of, including the power to turn on and off a car wash to even the control over an ice rinks temperature. It say that IT departments are to blame because they want to control all these things through the internet for their convenience, when in reality they shouldn't be connect there at all. I believe this can all be solved by proper training and people need to really be more careful about what they put on the internet. I sure am learning that not everyone needs to know everything about you're life, especially through the internet.

GDS, which has lasted for 3 decades, is a platform for the trading of suppliers and customers. In this article, Pathway GDS, a UK base GDS company, adds the concept of holiday rental to the GDS. Like hotels, car rentals and airlines, the application of GDS is thriving now. Nowadays, in order to fulfill the different needs of travelers, Pathway successfully broaden the platform. Like mentioned in the article, PAthway can offer one-stop solution. Pathway utilizes the platform, both suppliers and distributors gain access to multiple business partners through one connection.  

There is a lot of talk within the travel industry about the future of travel distribution. Some argue that direct bookings from airlines are the new future, while others are arguing that the continued use of GDSs still remain essential to travel distribution. ASTA and Travel Weekly conducted a survey of travel agencies to get their take on GDSs. Although the use of GDSs continues to shrink, the declining rate of use has been slowing down. In 2010, the rate was 76% and in 2011 the rate was 75%. In 2012, surveys found that 72% of agencies surveyed were still using a GDS. ASTA predicts that the rate of decline will eventually stop because no other method of booking flights beats the GDS System. Agencies surveyed said that they continue to use GDSs because of the speed, and the ability to easily compare airlines and hotels. Airline bookings continue to be the main reason for the success of GDSs, with 90% of air bookings made through the GDS. 95% of car rentals are made through a GDS, and 50% of hotel bookings are done through GDS. GDS systems continue to drive competition, and make it easier for agencies to negotiate with suppliers. Agencies also continue to receive incentives from GDSs as long as they use a GDS. I believe that as long as travel agencies stay in business and are continuing to turn a profit then the GDSs are safe. Travel agencies are not likely to switch to a new system if the easily accessible, and easily manageable system is still GDS. If travel agencies begin to become less popular, then GDSs may see a rapid decline in the use of the system.

"When you go to SignUpGenius.com, you'll find services catering to the needs of eight different groups. There are schools, looking for help with organizing parent-teacher conferences, class volunteers, and events such as book fairs. Churches and temples can get help with scheduling nursery workers and greeters. Nonprofits can organize donations and fundraisers. Other groups are clubs and groups, sports, business, family and college. The idea is to attract a range of users, from parents organizing car pools to businesses coordinating employee training schedules. "By going broad, we still haven't scratched the surface," said Angel Rutledge, who is married to Dan and is the chief marketing officer. SignUpGenius' users are 78 percent female, and 80 percent are between the ages of 25 and 54. "Our primary user is a mom with kids," says marketing strategist Kate White. "Most people tend to find us through their kids' activities." Monthly fees range from free to $49.99, where users can get additional features such as cloud file storage and access by multiple administrators. These subscription services were significant, Dan Rutledge says, "because we jumped into the organizational level, from coach to league, from teacher to school." While the Rutledges don't disclose specific financial information of the private company, other numbers illustrate its growth. Revenue in August 2015 increased 225 percent over August 2014, according to the company. Between 120,000 and 190,000 events are organized per month, with a groundswell in August and September, when the school year begins. In 2014, SignUpGenius says 1.4 million new sign-up pages were created. Traffic rose 35 percent last year, to 39.9 million visitors. And the company has grown from 13 employees this spring, to 20 now." This article illustrates the idea of on the event planning and I.T. programs working handing in handing. As an example, the article uses the company SignUpGenius wh

The central reservation system plays major role in the hotel industry. It's a system that is used to store and receive information and handle transactions related to air travel, hotels, car rentals and even activities. It all started in the 1950's according to travel tripper by the following decade hotels begun using it world wide. However, with the internet constantly growing and inventing new distribution channels and booking methods. It's making it harder for hotels to keep up with this ever changing market some have left their most profitable booming channel fall behind. In my findings after reading this article, the central reservation system must find ways to evolve to compete with online travel agencies. Because many travelers are using third party distributors that offer better user experience and hotel are seeing a slimmer profit margins as their share of direct bookings shrink.

Global Distribution Systems were originally created by airlines to reach more customers, and provide access to fare and flight information to travel agents. They have expanded into the hotel and car rental industry, and are widely used by online travel agencies. As peoples access to the internet increases, airlines have tried to get consumers to move away from the GDS, and book directly on their websites. This has proven to be a difficult challenge, and it is clear that the GDS will continue to play a major role in the way travel is booked, at least for the near future.

In the article Mr. Lassana Tunkara talks about the positive impacts information technology has on the travel agencies, tourism industries and individuals that uses the internet. Everybody is becoming computer literate since it's the number one means of communication through the internet. Information technology has taken over the world. In the past if you want to book a vacation, you would have to find the closest travel agencies to you. You would spend a couple days in the travel agent office looking through brochures. With the advance in information technology, you can do so from the comfort of your home with just your laptop and an internet connection and logging to your desire website. The tourism and travel industry depends a whole lot on the internet as a means of communication, through emails and other forms of communications. With the advance in information technology cost is reduced, the speed at which information is transferred and retrieved has increased. Information technology has transformed the tourism industry, it changes the way the services are delivered and customers' expectations are much higher. With the internet all these industries are able to communicate with each other, such as travel agencies, airline, hotel and car rental companies. Doing reservation is much easier for everyone involve, it can be done anytime and anywhere without having to sit in a travel agencies office going through tons of brochures.

This article talks about 3 stages for the telecommunication development in hotel. Hotel could absolutely use the phone 2 decades ago which is much more convenient to keep in touch with each others because of the lack of the mobile phones. But after the cellphone came out, hotel couldn't make more benefit from the phone calls which were just used for internal communications, morning calls, housekeeping and so on. After 2000, another technology was created which is call VolP( voice over the internet or IP phone) which could do more than a phone, such as Ads on the IP PHone. but it could not be widely used because of the complexity and cost. There is a new technology coming out called cloud which combines all the stuffs-- Telephones, PMS, Internet, and cable plant together and make employees or customers easier to learn. For example,a hosted provider of not only voice, but PMS, Internet access, premises infrastructure. Several hybrid IP systems now support a gateway mode - where the on-premises solution is effectively a gateway controlling all the analog rooms. Centrally managed and controlled - integrated into a multi-tenant web based PMS - backed by a 24-hour help desk and NOC, could be the ticket to get hospitality VoIP.

This article describe a new smartphone app based on Android system in Samsung phone. At the first, this article introduce the long history about the room key development. It points out that the physical keys always have a problem that key itself can be stolen, and thus used by someone who doesn't have access privileges. Then the article introduce the  new Samsung's system. What amazing me is the phone is not only can be used as a door key but also a control center in guests' hand. "Once inside the room, the same phone can be used to order room and laundry service, book other hotel facilities, and act as an in-room phone extension. " The app has powerful features and I thought it will become a trend in the future.

Jingjia...this is a great article. I agree with you, I am impressed with the functionality of the phone application and how it works. It eliminates the middle man and any room for human error. I wonder how much more we can do with our phones. On this article listed below, it talks about how you can start a car directly from your IPhone (http://www.wired.com/autopia/2009/10/start-your-car-from-your-iphone/). Soon, we will be able to do many things with simply the touch of a button.

Nowadays global distribution systems interconnect almost everything within the hospitality industry, from hotels to car rental companies and travel agencies. There are four major GDS available: Amadeus, Galileo, Sabre and WorldSpan. Some of the advantages provided by GDS are their availability (99,9% of the time), their response times (up to a fraction of a second), their multiple booking capability, as well as their top of the line architecture. On any given day, a GDS will be capable of accessing over 50000 hotels and approximately 1000 airlines. Through GDS systems, people are able to book various hotel rooms, tours, airline seats, cruises and even limousines.

This article discusses what travel agents think about the enhanced ability of both corporate and leisure based travel agencies to sell airline ancillaries because of improved Global Distribution Systems' technologies. Ancillaries are products and services that airlines sell to gain additional revenue on top of your ticket price. Ancillaries have become increasingly popular in the airline industry because of the sky rocketing price of jet fuel. To keep ticket prices down airlines are "unbundling" items from the overall experience. This presents them with an opportunity to turn a profit by charging fees for bags (carry on, checked, additional), on board food and drink, credit card purchases, headphones. It seems like everything you encounter from when you arrive at the airport to when you disembark the plane has a fee. This phenomenon is especially present in Low cost carriers such as Spirit, Air Tran, Jet Blue, etc. However there are consumers who disagree with this additional costs as is apparent in Southwest's continuous marketing campaign. I'm sure everyone has seen the commercials with Southwest representatives 'flagging' down unnecessary fees in order to promote their 'bags fly free' campaign. Anyhow the reason I am explaining ancillary revenue is because travel agents are now starting to sell more ancillary products such as hotel accommodations, travel insurance, rental cars because of GDS technologies. They can track the sale of fees through EMD (Electronic miscellaneous Documents) which is the current industry standard. In the article some agents state that the EMDs are hard to understand and use. I believe until the EMDs become "seamless and easy to use" there will exist some hesitation to sell airline ancillaries. However on the other hand the article states that Travelport is working towards a simple and uniform platform called Travelport Universal API/Desktop. Once this comeplete perhaps more agents will feel comfortable selling ancillaries. This is a goo

I still remember when most airlines used to include breakfast or dinner for their passengers including alcoholic beverages well that doesn't happen any more. I believe when Travelport Universal Desktop becomes available it would become more clear to travel agencies the transaction process and for the consumers what products and services they are ofering.

I too miss the days of free sodas and peanuts. "Sigh-" sometimes its the little things in life that bring the most joy. I agree I think the new Travelport Universal Desktop will be a valuable tool if utilized correctly.

The Sabre Eco-Certified Hotel Program builds upon Travelocity's Green Hotel Directory, launched in 2009, and extends the program company-wide to recognize hotels that are certified as sustainable according to the Global Sustainable Tourism Council's guidelines. Travelocity is still the only major online travel company that helps users find green hotels with an eco-friendly tag.The program addresses travelers' growing desire for environmentally responsible accommodations and includes more than 4,700 hotels certified by globally-recognized certification programs. The 4,700+ hotels participating in the program will be clearly distinguished in Sabre's Global Distribution System (GDS) and reflected in other Sabre platforms. Sabre is keenly focused on the economic, social and environmental sustainability of the travel industry and we are committed to providing our customers with products and services that help them promote these same long-term values throughout their businesses." In addition, Sabre's resolve that standards are important for the travel industry directed an industry-leading path for standards with the introduction of carbon calculation and reporting tools for airlines, hotels, and car rental companies.