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This article discusses the collaborative creation of hotel chains such as Hilton and Marriott, RoomKey.com. It is an OTA site that provides benefits to users who choose to make reservations with the partnered hotels. It is different from other OTAs in that loyalty program points can be used, users are aware of the hotel at which they are making the reservations, the prices are lower, RoomKey provides detailed views of the location and rooms, and there are no hidden fees. I thought this was an interesting article in that it displayed some of the hotels' efforts to compete with OTA websites.

A venture capital firm investing in hospitality technology companies and Thayer Lodging Group have formed a new entity called Thayer Ventures. This company will focus on investment funds for technology companies in the hospitality industry."Our mission is to help entrepreneurs build profitable global companies by providing smart funding,hands-on-cousel,strategic insights and industry connections" said chris Hemmeter, general partner of Thayer ventures.This company is to promote innovation in technology and to change hospitality.

This article is talking about a distribution system called Amadeus. It gives agents easy access to a hotel listing and view its multiple offers from different source, which is similar to Google hotel finder. however, a day after the announcement of this system, HRS announcing to all hotel partners a commission increase from 13% to 15%

This is a news about the cooperation agreement between German protel hotel software and Design Hotels.  Since both protel and Design Hotels are regarded as the top brands in their business area, they can have a perfect technological match with providing high quality services for customer.

This article is really interesting because it incorporates two concepts that we have touched on in class, cloud systems and Points of Sale (POS) systems. Cloudtise, is a type of cloud advertising service that is part of the new online marketing trend that allows businesses use real time data for advertising to consumers. Its versatile form allows both users and consumers to instantly update and gather information. By partnering up with Revel System's cloud based Apple iPad POS system, it will help businesses obtain data about client trends. The coalition enables Cloudtise to mold their data based on the geographical area and use data to create ads in real time for specific areas. Using the POS system, Cloudtise will be able to give businesses information so that they can target ads to demographics in local and specific areas that are the most likely to buy the products. Businesses will be able to track inventory levels, customer characteristics, and details from local competitors that will boost their knowledge of what products sell best and to whom. The overall advantage will be providing information what advertising campaigns work and which do not. I think this is a great way for businesses to gain a competitive advantage in their market because consumers are moving toward an instant gratification plane, where they expect products and services immediately. Using cloud and POS systems as an advertising tool will enable users to specifically target consumers and adapt to them instantly.

Microsoft announced that they have partnered with Yelp to enhance their search results.  Google being the number 1 search engine, others are always looking for new ways to compete and possibly take over the number 1 spot.  Yelp is a website that provides users with reviews on businesses such as restaurants, hotels, bars, etc., like most free search engines, Yelp makes their money based off of advertising on their page. Aside from the addition to Yelp, Bing also added a Facebook connection to their search results.  If someone looks up a certain company that has a Facebook page, that page and user reviews will also come up in their search.  Recently Google added a feature called "The Knowledge Graph".  This feature can help distinguish the difference amongst your search if the topic you are researching has various meanings.  Bing came up with doing a "Snapshot" of the pages you search for to help you see more information about what you are searching for.    

Delphi, by Newmarket Inc., is a Property Management System that continuously improves its ability and popularity year after year. As of November of 2014, Delphi has released its latest version, Delphi 2015. Globally speaking, there are over 100,000 Newmarket technology users that access these systems in over 150 countries daily. Delphi is a PMS system that can collect, distribute and manage RFP distribution within any set of properties. Recently, they adapted StarCite RFP integration and are announcing a partnership with MeetingBroker, another reporting engine. Both StarCite and MeetingBroker allow proposal requests to automatically populate in selected Delphi accounts, bridging the gap between consumer and seller much more quickly and accurately. I have personally used Delphi on a daily basis over the past year at work and I can honestly see the huge benefit these types of systems can have. It's ability to interface with Synxis, Opera and other room reservation systems is crucial in successfully reaching perfect occupancy numbers. On an event management level, it can merge legal-binding documents specific to that event. At the same time, it can hold a certain amount of guestrooms or certain event space for certain prices at certain times. These room holds interface with reservations and front office departments while the space holds interface with catering, banquet, accounting, and convention services departments. Delphi is an incredible tool that is the true foundation to property-wide events. It's ability to manage rooms, space, menus and revenues is a lifeline to the success of many properties.

This talks about a Pizza company that is partnering with a POS company known for is cloud based services.

I'm now used to seeing a lot of partnerships among hospitality companies -- making it a worldwide trend. The partnership of hotel company, Marriott, and e-commerce conglomerate, Alibaba, resulted in expanding the online travel footprint of both companies. As a result, Chinese travelers find it easier to book hotel rooms across all the brands managed by Marriott. In addition, travelers are able to use Alibaba's mobile payment platform during their stays at Marriott-branded hotels. It's a win-win situation! This partnerships broadens the level of services available to consumers. It comes to show that Marriott and Alibaba have used the proper e-business strategies to succeed in our digital economy.

It is interesting to see how the hospitality industry is also globalizing their business in order to tap into new markets. Marriott has successfully expanded thanks to its Starwood acquisition. Its partnership with Alibaba will create a stronger presence in China. They have forecasted that their customer base will grow to 2 billion customers in the next 20 years and will tap into Alibaba's loyal customer platform. According to Marriott CEO Arne Sorenson, "What we want to do is make sure that a Chinese traveler has what they most want when they show up at our hotels". I think they will be able to achieve this with the inclusion of Alipay, Alibaba's wallet-free travel program which is commonly used. Understanding what customers' preferences and needs are will surely attract and possibly lead to more room for expansion.

This article discusses Expedia's continued mission to create different hospitality technology, including a PMS-type system called ALICE. This is a three part vision bringing competitive platforms in operations, revenue management, and utilizing the massive amount of booking data they are sitting on. While they have had a version of these same goals for a while now, at their recent partner convention there was renewed excitement and some impressive demonstrations. 

The network firm, The Hotels Network has partnered with Hoteliers.com in order to increase the conversion rate. This Conversion Booster has increased one brand's direct bookings by 55%.

Partnerships are important in business. It's better when it creates a smooth and easy booking process for guests. That would increase revenue.

In this article, the author discusses four hotel accounting challenges and solutions with Scott Watson, Executive Vice President of Sales and marketing from M3. According to this VP, hotel finances and accounting can be complex and come with challenges. We will discuss the challenge and solutions to the four listed issues: Enterprise Resource Planning, Staff Variations, Data Overload and Core Challenges. Firstly, the challenge with enterprise resource planning is how do hotels implement affordable and scalable solutions. Scott believes partnering up can cut costs. Secondly, staff variations and labor demands and the importance of staying within the budget. Scott's solution to this is real-time monitoring for labor. Cloud- based reporting can help manager monitor the daily labor costs and other payroll functions in real-time. Thirdly, data overload. The challenge here is how to do hotels present that data collected. According to Scott, the solution here is having a centralized platform. This allows for a check and balance system and may assist in monitoring cash flows, etc. Lastly, the fourth challenge are core challenges such as guest service, sales, operations and cash management. The main challenge here is how to hotels monitor the core competencies that generate revenue. The answer, according to Scott, is to outsource it. Outsourcing can be an efficient and cost-effective solution but it is not for everyone.

This article talks about how cloud computing can solve many problems for an organization, such as protecting sensitive data and reduced the costs and risks associated with storing it. Some of the advantages include increased security (though many think otherwise), protected data in natural disasters (the cloud provides many back up solutions for data), flexible payment options for storing and protecting data, cost efficiency, creating unique platforms for businesses based on cloud applications, increased mobility of data and operations, increased collaboration capabilities with other employees and sectors of your industry, and increased technical support from cloud professionals.

Innoviti Payment Solutions announced that it will start extending its cloud-based reconciliation technology to full-service restaurants, that need payments to be collected at a customer's table with automatic reconciliation with the bill. Innoviti processes over US$ 6.5Bn of payments annually from over 1000+ cities in India and is backed by major financial investers like Catamaran, India, Bessemer Venture Partners, USA, and SBI Venture Capital, Singapore.

OYO will be able to connect to Sabre's GDS, the largest in the world, providing them with new opportunities.

This article is about the Design Hotels, which is an independent Marriott brand, has recently partner up with StayNTouch, a global cloud hotel PMS and contactless technology. StayNTouch will be providing their cloud PMS, guest Kiosk, and guest mobility, all to more than 3000 boutique Design Hotels. The Design Hotels will benefit from this partnership by having them raise their service level, drive revenues, and reduce costs.

This article points out that hotels are still a huge target for hackers. Hotels need to make sure they reduce the temptation on standalone point solutions. Hotels should focus on having a security framework that stops data from moving outside of he country. To limit hacking as well, hotels should not store information locally. It was surprising to read that 74% of hotels lacked breach protection.

Accounting trends in the hospitality industry are always evolving with technology. Hotels are looking for technology that will catch their data and analyze it all while delivering it in a more user friendly app. Apps, Automation & Analytics are the A's of hotel accounting and technology.

Accounting cannot be without data. In my opinion it is mainly about data analysis. With automation and analytics, it will be more reliable and descriptive. Apps helps mainly in its portability and time efficiency.

The article talks about three future trends called A's - apps, automation, and analytics. It makes examples of their function and works. In my opinion, the A's can use in any industry, not only in hospitality. They can help us work more efficiently and shorter working hours.

This article jumps into some challenges facing the hotel industry with respects to accounting. It touches on various topics we have gone through as a course, and ends with an emphasis on technology.

This article talks about the need for hoteliers to be up to date with technology. By having systems that have all the data in one place, helps owners make better decisions. Also having an accounting system that helps with making decisions and offer the proper tools is imperative. When it comes to accounting it is important to be prepared for the worst case scenario.

Although I'm not a 100 percent fan on the cloud base systems, technology is ever changing and i somewhat believe that we should keep up with it providing that it is in out best benefit personally or from a business security point of view. We see how this article reveal to us challenges and how technology helps alleviate some of them.