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Highlights: REPORT FROM THE U.S.-As revenue management becomes increasingly sophisticated and complex, many major hotel companies are rolling out new platforms and tools to help managers at the property level. Description: There are two main applications of property management system in major hospitality management companies. The first approach is to provide service for hotels without a revenue manager. The second prong is to give revenue managers a set of tools to control their own pricing structure at the property level. Besides combining hotels in a same region together, one advantage of property management system is to save related costs. In general, revenue management needs deep skill and expertise, so the price for hiring employees with these abilities is expensive. In addition, this revenue management system helps managers enter the system easily. With the immediately information about the marketing's pace, managers can open or close rates conveniently. And property level managers can sell strategies to various best available rates. Property management system provides brand supports to hotels. Hilton is making efforts to develop this revenue management system, at the same time, they hire more and more persons with skills to use it. This system provides franchises a new tool to learn customer experience or marketing situation of other areas.

As competition has intensified in the hotel industry, hotels constantly invest huge money in IT to differentiate themselves from others, and ultimately win competition. This article talks about Choice Hotels' IT investment. The company decided to put multi-million dollars in IT to accelerate European market's growth. The investment is mainly designed to improve Choice's technology platform, central reservation system (CRS) and to automate back and front office processes. The investment also includes the company's web-based property management system (PMS), which automates front and back office processes, such as check-in/out, invoicing and inventory management. The hotel expects the technology infrastructure to benefit both hoteliers and guests in Europe. As hotels implement new technology, it eliminates certain jobs, such as front desk agents, and changes the way hotels conduct business. Hotels keep investing in IT in order to be more profitable and competitive. Choice's IT investment is an example of how hotels are changing with new technology.

This article looked at the views on IT investments of Hospitality Technology's Editorial Advisory Board. The Board represents a variety of hospitality industries. The article focused on areas of improvement, emerging technologies, IT priorities for 2012, "wish list" IT investments, and more. Among the areas for improvement, guest Wi-Fi and mobile apps, loss prevention technologies, and social media targeting older clientele topped the list. Older guests connecting to and understanding social media are a worry among many of the Board members as well as lack of standardized, secure payment methods. Many also mention that their current systems (POS in particular) tend to hold them back from implementing new IT technologies because they would not be compatible.  Most Board members listed having mobile devices that could be used for a variety of purposes on the guest end as well as on the business end would be top on their "wish list" for IT implementations. With almost everyone owning smartphones today, I think this would be the smartest and most effective IT implementation to invest in. Many customers and guests are looking for easy and accessible ways of navigating through the hotel and restaurant environments without extensive help from others. Since many people, especially the generation coming up, are more and more attached to their phones and tablets, mobile apps for nearly everything seems like the smart way to go.  Cloud-based servers were a close second in terms of what they wanted in invest in. Many of the Board members pinpointed technologies that have been around but are still new, especially in their respective areas, when speaking of useful emerging technologies. Mobile apps, tablet and 73456

this article gives a great overview of the steps leaders in the Hospitality industry are taking towards new technology. In this article members of the industry were interview regarding weaknesses in the current hospitality market as well as emerging trends that each believe is in rapid increase. Some of the answers give very interesting approach towards technology. Although, overall it seems that the number one emerging technology is the use of cloud-based/mobile-based services.

As most famous hotel brand expand their business map globally ,they need more powerful technologies, especially the security and emergency technologies. If the technology can make the whole brand as a whole system, any franchise hotel has something usual ,the headquarter will get the information. There is a trend hotel chains want to develop their security system online similar to bank security online system

A relatively unsophisticated group of hackers stole millions from Subway by hacking through their poorly secured POS systems. These franchise businesses possibly failed to adhere to the standard required by Subway Corporation and failed to establish two points of entry for remote access into the POS system, making it easy for hackers to steal credit card information. These types of crimes are likely to increase in the future as hackers from around the world take advantage of sub-par security systems. Businesses can no longer concern themselves only with the sale of an item, they also need to offer a sense of security to their customers and accept the reality that cyber theft is a rising problem.

It seems everybody should check their online accounts frequently=_=

Jeremy, I can appreciate the transparency of those restaurants. I wish more businesses would be open about their security. People are wound pretty tight about money right now and need to feel that the business world does care enough to protect their information.

Buffalo Wild Wings added QSR's automated kitchen display hardware and software to over 40 of their locations. These locations are currently using a ticket-less automated system in the kitchen and have found there are faster "ticket" times, they are better able to determine problem areas in the kitchen, and are able to evaluate employee performance during busy times in the restaurant.When using a "ticket-less" system it is easier to track orders and/or mistakes that may happen because you do not lose the ticket (which is a common occurrence) I currently work at a restaurant that was looking into QSR's automated kitchen system, but we have not done that at this point, but we will move to that eventually. However we do have QSR's newest seating and wait list management technology and it does make a world of difference when managing seating and a waiting list in a large restaurant.

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)

This article reveals that Revel Systems is expanding its point-of-sale products with Beautiful Brand International. Revel Systems is well-known for creating the mobile point-of-sale system for Apple used by numerous restaurants and retails. Other popular restaurants currently partnered with Revel Systems are Camille's Sidewalk Café, Dixie Cream, FreshBerry Frozen Yogurt Cafe and Rex's Chicken. This POS system provides a quicker checkout option for customers and offers hotel/restaurant managers the option of powering the software using the cloud or an iPad application. This provides the company a cost efficient, easy to use program that has the ability to customize payroll, track inventory, email receipts and allow customers to make orders online. Most managers who invest in this program make it a requirement for all their companies to utilize in order to provide a systematic approach to maintaining their database and ensuring all locations are managed the same. This is such a popular and competitive tool that Revel is already making $80 million since its origin in August 2010. A major advantage of this system is that it provides the ease of accessing documents with its reliance on servers hosted in the cloud. These systems are quickly being adopted by restaurants mainly because customers are impressed with the style, speed and reliability. Revel Systems forces busineses to upgrade their POS systems in order to meet security standards. This will result in a $34 billion POS market by the end of 2012. Companies selling these systems make businesses believe they need POS systems in order to run their business efficiently. They explain that with servers hosted in the cloud, management is enabe to see data in real time from any location.

The article talk about a POS company that has developed a complete system for retail or restaurant stores that runs on the IPAD and the Cloud. It lowers the entry barrier by more than 75% compared to a regular MICROS POS system, they do this by not having a in house server and using standard hardware.  One of the advantages of using this system is that you can monitor your sales real time on any location that might be using the system.

What a nightmare! One of the marketing strategies to attract new guests is data mining, the process of drilling through information contained in the data warehouse and analyzing this information, such as; back ground, preferences, and demographics. Unfortunately, hackers also mine this data for customer's credit card information.

This incident has happened more likely in Asia now, especially in my country, Viet Nam. Because Viet Nam is a new development country and we did not have the system like credit score and many banks try to get customers through processing of credit cards; therefore, many information of guests has been collected into server of the bank recently. And the problem associate with that is that the security of the banking system in Viet Nam is not up to date or very loose making many data breach has been reported. I believe this is not just stop at banking industry but other industries as well as Hotel because many information has been saved there. This incident proves that technology played a very important role for all industries not just some technical related industries.

McDonald's has been promoting mobile payments in the Austin, TX. Consumers' experience is not up to par compared to Starbucks mobile payments. Because the level of employees not understanding mobile payments is much different compared to Starbucks. In order to utilize the mobile payments, streamlined payments is the most important. Seconldy, experience should be seamless. Educating employees on how the technology works and creating a strong infrastructure would be necessary.

It gives a discription of how nowadays'  hotels develop and use of their PMS. Some brands develop their own PMS such as Marriott and Starwood; some look more to the independent and resort market expanded their PMS. It seems that we don't need so much kinds of PMS and so many function. According to the analysis of the market and demand, it comes the conclusion that a well- designed, intuitive and well-interfaced PMS module is still the core of operational success at every property.

Great article! I might biased but I love Hilton Chain. In the article they go on to say how they are taking the mobile frenzy to the hotels! They will be implementing not only apps but allowing guests to checkin/out with their phones, and use their phone to open the door. 

Ever wonder what happens to the little soaps you use at the hotel you recently stayed at? Hyatt Hotels Corp. has become one of the major hotels to start recycling toiletries through the organization called Clean the World. When guests are done using their shampoos or soaps at a hotel, the housekeeping staff collects all of the used and unused products and recycles them or donates them to other countries. The organization has only been around for a few years, however other hotel chains are joining the cause to helping the environment and also humanity. It is not just in the United States that hotels are getting involved but it is expanding globally. Hotels are sending used soaps that has been re-sanitized to battered women's center and also to countries like Africa to local clinics and orphanages.

It looks like the industry is taking notice of what they can do and stepping up to the plate. It all comes down to the front line workers though, in this case housekeeping staff. Turning a room correctly is labor intensive and time consuming. Adding the step of separating the used soap and shampoo does take time. 1 minute per room per day in a 200-room hotel at 90% capacity comes out to 21 man hours per week. At $10/hr that's nearly $11,000 per year. I'm not saying it shouldn't be done. I think it's a great idea. It does many people (including the hoteliers) a lot of good. If we consider this as "goodwill" in our operating costs, it probably works out for everyone.

I have never pay attention to where the leftover of the toiletries would go, and it's nice to know that they are going to the charity. This is a great way to recycle, help reduce waste, and help support the people in struggle. Knowing such information doesn't help making the booking decision, but it sure does increase the hotel's reputation.

This article talks about how there is a serious concern in the hotel industry when it comes to credit card and identity theft. They talk about how all the major brands in the hotel industry were all victims of highly publicized, major breaches in the last year alone. Also, including airline and banks, hotels maintain a wealthy amount of database of personal and financial data. For example, with new technology systems being created, POS systems are a weak security point for many networks because they are constantly in use and are not always updated or even protected from vulnerabilities. The article talks about personal details for hotel guests are frequently stored in a variety of locations including restaurants, facilities, and government buildings, so hackers have a greater possibility to access your personal information. The bigger hotels are in more danger because of the volume of guests that come in and out of the location. Smaller hotels should be concerned not just about their security but also by ransomware, an increasingly favorable tactic to extort hoteliers by hackers who encrypt the hotels data making it inaccessible until ransom is paid for. I believe hotels need a toolbelt of various securtiy technologies that can be used to prevent future malicious attacks. I think by managing and implementing a firewall is essential which helps get rid of dangerous traffic from coming onto the network and preventing sensitive data from being hacked.

MOD 10: This article discusses the main tactics of cyber hackers that target hotels. Point of sale (POS) systems are easy targets for hackers due to their constant use during operation hours and because of that their security measures aren't always up to date. Hotels have large data banks since they're storing consumer profile information such as home addresses, phone numbers and credit card numbers. There's a large risk when it comes to security breaches within franchises because they have access to their parent company's regional, national and global systems. If their systems are hacked and breached, then that puts the whole system of the brand at risk. Security breaches within a system can also damage a brands reputation with the public. According to the article, "Recent major breaches at Fortune 500 companies and household names across the retail, restaurant and hotel sectors demonstrate that anti-virus, anti-malware and firewalls alone are not enough to secure businesses from the ever-evolving threat landscape." Smaller properties are even at a greater risk because not only do they have to monitor their compliance with PCI but also monitoring their security systems for their database and PMS system. Some of the recommended software's that should be used by hotels looking to be proactive with their company's cyber security is File Integrity Monitoring(FIM), Unified Threat Management(UTM), and Security Information and Event Management(SIEM).

This article explores the different tactics hotels should use after a cyber attack. The article mentions several different type of attacks such as Phishing when hackers trick customers into giving up their login credentials. Ransomware, when hackers encrypt data making it unusable and inaccessible for the hotel. Not one solution but rather companies should be equipped with a series of technologies from firewalls to file monitoring programs. Some of these technologies, like SIEM requires an intelligent IT team to have the capabilities of analyzing and monitoring the reports produced. This may be more difficult for smaller businesses to implement and maintain.

Beginning in 2018 the financial accounting standards for hotel business are changing. One of the changes is the way OTAs charge for the rooms. Typically the OTAs operate under two methods the retail model and merchant model. The retail model uses the OTA to reserve the room but the final payment is made to the hotel. The hotel then gives a commission back to the OTA. Under The merchant model the payment is made to the OTA. Then the OTA takes the commission off and sends the remaining payment to the hotel for the price of the room. This comes out as a net transaction. The new standard is saying that the company that controls the transaction for the room has to mark the transaction or sale as a gross transaction. The new model forces the hotels to record the transaction on a gross basis. This can be a big difference for hotels because now they will have to increase the amount of costs and reduce the hotels bottom line.

This article introduces one of the big events about hospitality technology investment, MURTEC. MURTEC is the conference that technology-savvy restaurant companies, top executives, CEO, restaurant group, or independent operators gather to talk about technology initiatives, the limitation of existing hospitality technology and development. It is interesting that this type of event is held regularly for people who are interested in technology development, especially in hospitality industry. Good information about savvy technology will be introduced here and professionals can have chances to hear an explanation about new technology. Of course, the vendors also can experiment whether their technology will be successful or not based on attendees' response and competitors' products. Not only for this but networking can be established through the event. Sometimes though they have good products, their business cannot be successful if they fail to find proper buyers. Considering this issue, both vendors and buyers can have benefits via the event.

The article "Safeguarding a Hotel Property Against Cyber Attacks" is quite insightful as to what attracts cyberthieves in the hotel industry. According to Garfinkel and Kosturek, " International or U.S.-based hotels can be attractive to hackers because of the disruption, embarrassment involved, but mostly for monetary gain." The authors relate recent examples of cyberthieves hacking an Austrian hotel's computer system so that hotel room doors were lacked, and all guests had to wait in the lobby until this security issue was fixed. This showed guests that cyberthieves have significant access and control, which is alarming and frightening. Credit and debit cards are the preferred target of hacking and these are compromised when cyber criminals access POS systems or property management systems with malware. Apart from the monetary aspect of stealing credit card information, cyberthieves are able to attack franchises and invade internal information such as employee check ins and door locks. In my opinion, this is something that hotels should consistently review and anticipate loopholes in which they think hackers can easily access information. To the eyes of the general public, the hotel needs to build trust so that clients can know that they can give out their confidential information.

Revenue Management is a practice that all hotels should have adopted by now, even small independent hotels. Revenue management used to be practiced by only high-end hotels who could afford to have a single job position titled "revenue manager" however, technology has allowed us to see the benefit of having a dedicated revenue manager. Revenue management has allowed hotels to have higher profits than ever, by simply adjusting their prices based on demand. Smaller, independent hotels will typically give the general or front office manager this title, which is where they are making their mistake. Living in this era of online sales, we have to be aware that there can be a lot of missed revenue if we are not educated and practice proper revenue management. Other factors contribute to revenue management as well such as: distribution channels, social media, and technology.