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With the majority of bookings done through the internet, hotels need to find the best ways to make their websites attractive and engaging for a guest. Here are the ten e-commerce ideas that a hotel should strongly focus on. Number one, high quality images. A guest wants to see your property, and see the amenities that are offered. Provide a clear image of these items to them, so that they are aware of what makes the location great. Two, focus on the location's credibility. and build a reputation of trust for your location. Guests do not like to be fooled, so you must prove that you have integrity to gain business. Three, simplify the booking process. For many people it might not be an issue to navigate through the internet and book a room, but for some people it is. Make sure that the process of booking a room at your sight is very easy, and is comfortable for any guest. Four, integrate customer service channels. If your guests have questions before booking, then try to answer them as fast as possible. This works with the second step of improving credibility. Five, not only should you make the booking process simple, but the navigation process as well. Your layout should be clear, and guests should easily be able to figure out where it is that specific information is found. Six, have only one call to action per page. A call to action is a phrase that when clicked on, creates a certain thing to happen. Like clicking on a button that says "Reserve now", and then being led to a reservation page. It is important to only put one on a page, because several can seem cluttered and confusing. Seven, make the site friendly to cellular devices. Many of the reservations are done last minute, and on a cellular device. Make sure this is easy for your guests to do. Eight, the importance of PCI. There are many threats out there to our finances, and as a place of business it is up to you to secure the financial information of the guests, to avoid any fraud or theft. Nine, optimize o

In today's society it is extremely important for the hotel industry to make use of the e-commerce technology. This article focuses on the ten best e-commerce practices. Best practice number one is to use high resolution photos that are a true representation of your hotel. These photos should be frequently changed and of good quality. Secondly, show your guests that they can trust you and your website, by building credibility. E-commerce is designed to make the process better, thus, thirdly, ensure that it is easy to book a room through your website. The fourth best practice is to ensure that you are clear about ways that your customer can reach out to you for information. show that you are accessible. Next, the author mentioned the importance of making your website user friendly and easy to navigate. Additionally, have one call to action button so that customers are not confused as to where to make their selection or booking. Consumers are now using cellphones more to book hotel accommodations, thus, another best practice is to ensure that your website is mobile friendly. Internet security is a concern for consumers. Best practice number eight is to ensure that your website is secure for financial transactions. The ninth best practice is ensure that you make use of email marketing. Your website should have the ability to collect emails from each user. The final best practiced listed in the article is to use marketing techniques like persuasion elements that go the extra mile to convince guests to book their hotel. The ten best practices outlined were listed for hotel operates to analyze their website and identify ways to improve if necessary.

My company works specifically in the short term rental space, and I wanted to comment on number 9 and offer some insight and results from properly managing your email list. First and foremost, having an email list increases return customers to your platform or rental site by over 300%. Most companies in this space have spent countless hours creating and defining specific messages to potential guests, which begin from the first time they visit the site, all the way until they checkout. Each time these touch points, through email or other communications, increase the likelihood of the guest to use the rental company, condo association, or hotel year in and year out. A new method of communication that is being used industry wide is through text messaging. I believe that this form of e-commerce will enable faster delivery of information to customers and allow managers to personalize experiences at the hotel or property. This follows along the lines of remote locks and other services that are technology based rather than requiring personnel to execute, greatly reducing overhead costs.

This article focuses on the technology innovation regarding electricity in hotels. The article states that the total energy consumption costs for hotels will continue to rise. Luckily, there is an energy saving technology that is worth investing in. Cogeneration, which the article states is known as "combined heat and power (CHP), helps minimize the heat and power from a single fuel source". It takes natural gas and converts it to electricity. This helps the hotel use heat for areas of their operation. This technology supplies 95% of the electricity needed for a standard hotel. Besides helping the hotel's electricity, heat, and power system be more efficient, the CHP helps with financial costs. According to the article, investing in a CHP will bring a payback in about 3 years and this time expected to decrease. This means hotels will receive a return on their investment in a shorter period of time. In my opinion, this is great technology to invest in. It not only helps with financial savings but it is also better for the environment. The business will benefit from it because it helps with operations. Also, consumers will be more likely to want to stay in a hotel with an energy efficient system. It goes hand in hand with the Go Green initiative that has proved to be successful and consumer driven. In all, investing in technology is a risky business. For this specific energy saving technology, I believe it is worth investing in. The cogeneration would be ideal for "hotels with 100 or more rooms, high electric rates, hot water heating system, and high use needs".

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems were once referred to as manufacturing requirement planning (MRP) and were mostly comprised of supply ordering functions, but now consist of companyy-wide functions, such as finance/accounting, and even human resources compenents.  (Source: http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/enterprise-resource-planning-ERP.html) This article discusses the leap ERP are taking to cloud-based software and the implications to consider.  This trend means that even small- to medium-sized business can have an ERP software to run their business, instead of (due to high cost associated with it) just large corporations.  Many are finding it beneficial, especially because it's customizable.  A business can choose which components they want or need the most instead of having to take on ones that wouldn't benefit them.  Although it's not as high a cost, it's still a cost, and the writer warns to consider business needs carefully before making the leap, giving extra considerations to the fact going fully Web-based is a security concern for any business. 

This article covers the methodology and findings of a study conducted to examine the factors contributing to fraud risk in publicly traded restaurants. The article discusses factors in the fraud triangle, macroeconomic factors, and internal company factors that may contribute to fraud despite protections implemented per Sarbanes-Oxley. The study ultimately finds that internal company factors are insignificant when considering the impact on fraud risk, while macroeconomic factors, such as inflation or unemployment, drastically impact the level of fraud risk that a company may face.

This article deals with hospitality businesses asking themselves how business will be done in the future and how will stay current or ahead of the curve. It also speaks directly to how to be better prepared for events like COVID moving forward. It states that hospitality businesses need to quit holding on tightly to their old systems and think to the now and beyond by switching to cloud-based systems. It highlights the concept of "high-tech not high-touch", empowering service staff, greater accuracy, and making use of every nook and cranny of a property in the smartest possible ways.

The articles goes over why Hospitality should start making pre-payment the norm in the industry. The examples given are because of high cancellation rates, fraudulent bookings, and cash flow impact.

The article discusses how hotels are one of the E-Commerce industries where payment is predominately received after the service is provided and not at the time of booking/purchase like most e-commerce businesses. This practice has hindered revenue growth over the years due to fraudulent bookings, long lead times affecting cash flow, and high cancellation rate for reservations. Which is why hotels should aim to further encourage payment at the time of booking, which according to D-EDGE (a cloud-based e-commerce company & booking engine) can be done by increasing the number of payment options, exemplified by their partnership with PayPal, that enables hotels to accept payments fast and securely by integrating the widely used PayPal platform to the hotel's website.

This article is about the importance of changing the way payment is done in the hospitality industry. There are negatives to paying after you have completed your stay. It includes people canceling before stays and people booking without any intentions of staying at the hotel.

(1 of 2) "The hospitality sector has always been a popular target for cyberattacks." This is the first line of this Recorded Future article published in January. The article discusses breaches that happened for both Marriott and British Airways and how this is a regular occurrence in the industry as it is such a big target with so many possible points that can be attacked. While the statistics for the hospitality industry have improved greatly in the last decade, in 2019, they were still accounting for 10% of all breaches. Not only does a breach affect the way an organization operates, but also it also severely effects their bottom-line and takes quite a but of time for them to recover. "According to Ponemon's 2019 Cost of a Data Breach Report, the average hospitality data breach costs $1.99 million to contain, at a cost per record of $123. These high costs are due in part to the time needed to adequately respond to a breach. On average, it takes 200 days to identify a hospitality data breach and a further 75 days to contain it." The article continues by stating that hackers are typically seeking payment card data when compromising the hospitality industry.

(2 of 2) The article then discusses the many reasons why it is so difficult for hospitality-oriented companies to secure their assets versus other organizations of similar stature. Some of these reasons include the large, complex networks which are typically publicly accessible and contain many customers in the databases, the fact that customers are always onsite and so are attackers, the high turnover leading to inconsistent training and sharing of credentials, franchisers owning the responsibility of security yet not knowing much about it, and the risk associated with all of the various third parties the hotels do business with. While intelligence has come a very long, "security professionals in the industry are tasked with defending highly complex networks with many endpoints against a constant barrage of attacks and a constantly churning workforce… [AND] they have limited security resources to work with." Comprehensive security intelligence systems are now capable of protecting many aspects of the organization. Some of these updated features include responding rapidly to security incidents, blocking online brand abuse and impersonation, managing third-party risk, reducing breach containment times, and better allocating security resources. Property data security is so important to the hospitality industry. If a business does not take the proper precautions to protect their systems and their customers, then it could lead to a devastating event for the business. While security intelligence has progressed within the last decade, a business needs to make sure that they have chosen a reliable agent to partner with who will produce consistent service. If the business keeps up with their system updates and protections, they should not have to worry about their security system failing.

This article outlines some best practices in the hospitality industry. These include: Talent Mgmt. & High Levels of Customer Centricity, Executing Enterprise-Wide Transformation, and Lessons from Industry Leaders.

Network redundancy is the process of adding network devices and other instances of communication lines to help ensure network availability and reduce the risk of failures on critical data paths. One of the first steps in the network redundancy plan is to create a network strategy that reviews the existing infrastructure. A high-quality hosted data center should have an extensive backup system to ensure that it is always available. All valuable data should be backed up regularly, preferably in another location. By using multiple data centers, companies can ensure that even if certain disasters occur, they will be able to proceed with minimal losses. In addition, a well-maintained UPS system ensures that the server can be switched from power to backup generator power without losing any data or applications.

A network outage whether it is due to a cyber attack or simple human error can be devastating to a company. It makes them look very bad, damaging their reputation, and can cost the business millions of dollars. Network Redundancy can help ensure network availability and decrease the risk of failure. There are 2 forms of redundancy. Fault Tolerance where there is a mirrored backup system that takes over with no loss of service, and High Availability where the backup servers take over and restart applications that were running on the failed server.

The chosen article provides an overview of proximity marketing and its benefits for improved consumer satisfaction and loyalty. Particularly, the article suggests that proximity marketing helps to personalize the consumer experience and provide a sense of connectedness with the brand they are purchasing from. Businesses that manage from a specific location may issue coupons or offer discounts applicable to the consumers within a store to enhance purchasing experiences. Proximity marketing is commonly implemented by hospitality organizations, where various on-site events are arranged or individual purchase-based rewards are offered to consumers. Similarly, restaurants engage their consumers in fun activities and games as well as introduce new discounts and promotions while they wait for food. Real-estate businesses also use proximity marketing to create high-value where need and preference-based homes, office spaces, and rentals are offered. However, advertisers need to be aware of consumer preferences to offer useful and effective personalized services. Geo-targeting is an impactful proximity advertising technique where location data is used to tailor offerings as per the identified local trends and behaviors.

To summarize, this article states that, it should not come as a surprise that the cost of a data breach has also increased to an all-time high in a year marked by significant increases in energy prices and worldwide inflation. According to IBM's Cost of Data Breaches Report 2022, the average overall cost is $4.5 million. Additionally, even if ransomware isn't garnering as much attention as it did a year ago, it still poses a serious danger to many businesses. Credential theft and phishing emails are still the major threat vectors, therefore it's critical to keep spreading awareness through public awareness campaigns and business training. Finally, the situation in Ukraine is demonstrating the potency of cyber weapons in sabotaging command and control in a fight.

Cloud PBX is a great communication tool that is becoming more relevant after the pandemic hit. Cloud PBX is now the go-to platform for different industries including hospitality is able to offer high-quality voice and call recording to an intelligent call routing.

Areas USA has selected the MICROS Simphony Enterprise Solution as its standard SaaS, cloud-based point-of-sale system across its United States airport and turnpike operations. It provides the organization with a robust enterprise system, web-based reporting, and business intelligence functionalities with a high level of flexibility. MICROS's Simphony also seamlessly interfaces to Areas USA's Corporate Infrastructure systems. Simphony is centralized, allowing for the entire system to be managed from one application. The solution is also being hosted in one of MICROS's worldwide data centers, removing Areas USA's onsite servers and the responsibility of managing the servers from its internal IT department. MICROS and Areas USA have been partners for years, with the MICROS 9700 Hospitality Management System (HMS) installed at many locations. The sites with the MICROS 9700 HMS will be converted to the MICROS Simphony platform.

This is a very interesting article related to how employees interact with one another. Industry leaders such as Russell Brumfield, CEO of Wizard Studios Global Events, are using gadgets and apps to improve team building with employees on a constant basis, even when the individuals can not be in the same place at the same time. By using this technology, they believe that the process of bonding and learning becomes more interactive and therefore more fun. The article mentions that the addition of these technologies are especially beneficial in motivating "jaded employees." As Ian Fraser mentions, the game element of these apps is attractive to modern day employees; it just makes sense to integrate a technology that everyone is already craving in their daily lives. It is also mentioned the advantages of being able to connect massive amounts of people simultaneously. Lastly, the article touches upon the fact that these technologies are not meant to replace face to face interactions; instead, this is meant to improve upon this by extending the ability to interact and therefore continuously develop teambuilding.

"The Human Resource Information System (HRIS) is a software, an online solution for the data entry, data tracking, and data information needs of the Human Resources (HR) and management functions within a business. Normally packaged as a data base, hundreds of companies sell some form of HRIS and every HRIS has different capabilities."

The Hospitality industry is known to have very high attrition rates. This makes it all the more critical to have a robust HR information system (HRIS) in place. HRIS has emerged as among the most crucial aspects of hospitality IT. No hospitality management system can be considered complete without an effective HRIS system. An efficient HRIS system manages the recruitment, staff-shifts, time & attendance, and many other aspects of your hospitality HR requirements. It should be able to drill down to history files and provide e-leave application & training management. Immerauf has partnered with Greytip software to bring you one of the industry's best Folklore HR software to suit all your HR needs including a resume bank to store a active database of prospective employees.

HRIS solution in hospitality industry is crucial. it makes managers save time and money to pursue the high profitability. this software can collect the employee information or interviewers information and choose the best employee who are suitable for hotel. this solution can compare the employee working experiences like how long this employee works in hospitality industry, what his job was before, what his position was before. using this software, managers can have a clear understanding of the performance of the employee.

As technologies are evolving at all times, providing a good and reliable high speed Internet for hotel properties has become a challenging task. The ultimate goal of every hotel is to provide exceptional service to guests therefore the expectations for having a fast and reliable Internet are high as well. According to the Internet Access article by Jeremy Rock, there are a few factors that need to be considered when a hotel is planning to partner with an industry solution provider. The first factor is a hotel needs to consider is understanding the providers. As stated in the article, "the key difference between many of the providers come down to the backend solution, technical capabilities and overall support." The second factor is bandwidth management, which discusses is the number of devices that can be attached to the network. It is critical for a property to have the right amount of bandwidth to serve their guests. The next factor regards the usage of Wi-Fi. As we are moving forward with our technologies, more of our systems are connected to wireless network in a hotel and service providers have to ensure a secure storage and access of all of our data. The last key factor is the infrastructure and overall network design to ensure effective coverage throughout the hotel to ensure all of our guests can easily access the network at all designated areas. As we look at all the factors important in providers' selection, whom should we choose? We can either select guest Internet service providers, who provide consistent Internet service in guests rooms which is connected to the PMS for charging purposes. We can also select IPTV solutions providers who "have the ability to combine video and Internet access into single packages" as stated in the article. The last choice would be audiovisual companies that deliver solution between meeting spaces and guest rooms. In my opinion, this article was extremely educating and interesting. When we come to a hotel nowa

High-tech can really make life easy.

This article discusses how GDS is declining with Travek agents but GDS bookings within the hotel industry is increasing. GDS allows the hotel industry to reach bigger markets to increase hotel bookings. This article has very good facts it states that in 2012 GDS "fell to 72 % in 2012 , down from a high of 90% in 2005" GDS is great because you reach cover more ground allowing to reach more future clients then traditional target markets.

The article highlighted states that every business should have a cash management system either POS or cash register. The traditional cash registers will be adopted by smaller business; however, more developed systems should use a POS. The cost could be high but the life expectancy of the system is very long. To make a decision about which POS system to choose, the decision maker needs to do his/her homework to determine the business' needs including how much it will grow in the future. The system will benefit the business to generate detailed reports, track inventory, easy menu updates and others.

With the development of technology, there are many softwares and machines help business imporved. The POS is a good system, which chould be used in the hospitality and retail industries. It has the ability to save money, quickly process a customer's transaction and accurately keep records. However, it charged more than installing a cash register. When considering about whcih one need to adopt, it's better for the business do a self analysis first. No matter what kind of technology we use, we need focus on provide personalized and customer focused service.

if the owner use the cash register, he can get the money directly. he does not need to take out the money out of the bank when he faces to the emergency situation. also the cash register is more reliable and more real. it does not have high risks of fraud and cheat except the fake money. compare to the POS system, the Pos system is convenient and easy operation. customers only need to swipe the credit/debit card that they can pay for the goods. so the customers do not need to bring much money when they are out of home. it is safe for the customers. nowadays, everywhere can receive the master card and almost everyone has one or more debit/credit card. this behavior promotes the development of POS system. easy to carry and consume make people use this way to buy the goods instead of using the money.