Group items matching

in title, tags, annotations or url

A Central Reservation System (CRS) is software used within the tourism industry for the purposes of marketing and sales.

an integrated central reservation system helps to convert browsers into customers.

E-Booking The first role of the internet in the hospitality industry is online booking. As aforementioned in the past, travel agents were the most common source for booking hotel rooms and other travel components like flight tickets and travel tours. However, the internet has changed this; manual booking and reservations have been transformed to E-booking or online booking via Central Reservation Systems (CRS). As of March 2008, there are over 1.4 billion internet users (Internet World Stats, 2008) and according to the Computer Industry Almanac, this number is assumed to increase to 1.80 billion in 2010 (Clickz Stats, 2005). The Travel Industry Association in the United States stated that in 2002 about 64 million out of 619 million online users were online travelers and used the Internet to purchase travel-related services and products (Zhang, 2004, p.3). "Online leisure travel sales totaled $20.4 billion in 2002 and hotel booked online reached $3.8 billion" (Ibid). In 2005 the online travel revenue reached $27.7 billion in the U.S. alone and has steadily increased (Webmetro, 2005). Now imagine how big these figures would be on a global basis.

Another important role of the internet is the use of it as a marketing tool. Before a hotel can offer e-booking it has to set up its own website. The hotel can apply attractive designs and offer guests a virtual tour of the entire property and show various room types. This strategy is considered a minor but may get a lot of appeal from online users. The internet also allows hotels to reach more customers by using search engine optimization (SEO), which is a tool that helps increasing the traffic and page ranking in search engine results (Hotel Travel Check, n.d.). Another internet marketing strategy for the hospitality industry is electronic customer relationship management (eCRM), which are activities to manage customer relationships by using the internet and web browsers (Hotel Marketing, 2007).

Boston-based Big Night Entertainment Group launched Tabbedout, a secure mobile payment solution that is seamlessly integrated with its MICROS POS system,

Available for free on both iPhone and Android smartphones, the Tabbedout application integrates seamlessly with each venues’ MICROS point-of-sale system

allows users to store credit card information directly on their phone, encrypted and under passphrase protection, instead of on host servers

Hotels, conference centers and other meeting venues are increasing group business with new technology, and it isn’t just a hotel app. To invest in the property’s overall capital, hoteliers are creating cool technology tools that market venues, increase group business and enhance the guest experience. Technology is just another way hotels are winning group business and marketing a hotel or conference center. What are some of these new hot tools for leisure and business travelers?

Investment in Hotel Technology Pays Off with Increased Group Revenue Tuesday, July 10, 2012 by Sarah Vining Hotels, conference centers and other meeting venues are increasing group business with new technology, and it isn’t just a hotel app. To invest in the property’s overall capital, hoteliers are creating cool technology tools that market venues, increase group business and enhance the guest experience. Technology is just another way hotels are winning group business and marketing a hotel or conference center. What are some of these new hot tools for leisure and business travelers? Virtual concierge service on guest room TVs At Hyatt Hotels with in-room HD TVs by Roomlinx Inc., guests are able make service requests, check email/weather, use the Business Center, print documents, and receive customized messages from meeting planners. Service requests like housekeeping and in-room dining are instantly sent through the system, improving the venue’s departmental efficiency. All of these virtual functions are hoped to appeal to new markets and drive group business. More efficient billing In the article, “Insert IACC blog post title URL” we learn that in 2012, meeting and group planners are prioritizing finance as very important during in their planning process (which made the top 10 list for the first time). Hotels making large investments in revenue management systems are taking advantage of new features that automate and process data to improve efficiency and increase revenue for properties. Virtual business centers Socialization through technology and food and beverage outlets is increasing revenue for TRYP by Wyndham in the NYC Times Square South property. Google TVs and access to Google Chrome laptops near the Gastro Bar in the hotel’s lobby offers guests an opportunity to enjoy a dining experience with the comfort of complimentary technology use. On-staff IT team When planners were surveyed, reliability was listed as a top concern of IT services in the white paper “What Do Planners and Trainers Really Want in Their Meeting Service?” All IACC-certified conference centers are required to have an on-site IT team to ensure technology functions properly. Now, the need for a knowledgeable IT team that really understands technology and can cater to individuals and group business is spreading to other hotel markets.   These impressive technology tools improve the guest experience and lead to a quick return on investment, especially in F&B. As we move beyond the discussion of required hotel Wi-Fi services, there will be a focus on technology amenities that provide the same comforts of home or the office. To increase group business, hoteliers are comfortable with this investment knowing there’s a return on investment with generated buzz/venue marketing and satisfied guests. Want to learn about other ways hotels are using technology to build relationships? Check out Enhancing Your Social Networking Site with a Social Concierge! to maximize social media and connect with guests, attendees and planners!

One of the latest innovations to be launched in the customer security market within the hospitality industry is non-contact Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology. This allows guests to access the hotel and their rooms simply by waving their room card, rather than having to insert it into a lock.

The RFID cards can also be extended to lift-systems with cards encoded to allow guest’s access to only the floors that they are entitled.

This means that visitors can be rest assured that from the front door to their rooms, their safety is of the utmost concern, which will only enhance the customer experience.

There is a great demand for information from customers and hospitality service provider so hotel industry stared adopting computer based IT facilities to enhance its operational efficiency, control and reduce costs, and improve service quality

A new Internet-based procurement system which is considered flexible and user friendly has been implemented by IHG group. 

Problems with Micros 1)       When the systems crashes down then the checks has to be manually posted which is like duplication of work and time, there are even discrepancies sometimes and in that the company loses the revenue. 2)      If there is a crash, it needs to be done by the help of a main server computer. But if the problem prevails there is a need to contact the vendor for his service. 3)      The micros system sometimes get frozen which affect the overall performance of the server and the team.

Technological advancement should be aligned with guest expectations to stand out from your competitors.

Technological advancement should be aligned with guest expectations to stand out from your competitors.

Swipe cards have been replaced with smartphones and apps to ease check-ins and reduce loss of key.

A point-of-sale (POS) transaction is what takes place between a merchant and a customer when a product or service is purchased, commonly using a point of sale system to complete the transaction.

In its most basic definition, a POS system is a combination of POS hardware and POS software to create a POS machine for processing a transaction and payment.

a POS terminal is the electronic equipment performing the sales transaction and processing the credit card payments. Used in most storefront businesses, a computer terminal combined with the POS software helps to manage everyday sales transactions and operations.

Beacon technology has been generating buzz since Apple unveiled iBeacon in 2013.

Beacons allow brands to push messages to their customers who have consented to them, and engage with them in a more personalized manner. The customer effort here in driving the engagement is minimal as brands could communicate without them having to do anything at all.

Beacons are championing a new paradigm for communications between brands and customers.

The purpose of this paper is to examine and provide insights into one of the most influential technologies impacting the tourism and hospitality industry over the next five years, i.e. big data and analytics. It reflects on both opportunities and risks that such technological advances create for both consumers and tourism organisations, highlighting the importance of data governance and processes for effective and ethical data management in both tourism and hospitality

This paper identifies and examines key opportunities and risks posed by the rising technological trend of big data and analytics in tourism and hospitality. While big data is generally regarded as beneficial to tourism and hospitality organisations, there are extensively held ethical, privacy and security concerns about it. Therefore, the paper is making the case for more research on data governance and data ethics in tourism and hospitality and posits that to successfully use data for competitive advantage, tourism and hospitality organisations need to solely expand compliance-based data governance frameworks to frameworks that include more effective privacy and ethics data solutions.

Technology (and its rapid development) is one of the key megatrends and driving forces that are seen to shape the future of tourism (Yeoman, 2012, 2018; Yeoman and McMahon-Beattie, 2018) via changes that will impact the way tourism and hospitality providers interact with travellers.

Perhaps most valuable for Disney is the personal information it hopes to collect from use of the wristbands and from the Web site and app, on an opt-in basis. Personal information could be encoded on the chip of the MagicBands, allowing, for example, Disney employees to greet young visitors by name, according to published reports. The costumed employees might have a hidden contactless reader, though the bands reportedly will store “no personal identifiable information,” Disney reportedly said.

Good news for the security of hotels and travelers: Onity, whose keycard locks can be found on at least four million rooms around the world, has a plan to fix a security flaw

Black Hat security conference by Cody Brocious, a Mozilla developer who showed that he was able to insert a device he built for less than $50 into the data port on the underside of Onity’s locks, read their memory to find a decryption key, and use it to gain access to the lock’s firmware and trigger its open command in a matter of seconds.

The company’s response to that epic security bug has two parts–a quick fix, and a more rigorous one, both of which it plans to make available by the end of August: First, it’s issuing caps that cover the data port Brocious’s hack exploited, which can only be removed by opening the lock’s case.

Approximately 15 to 25 percent of guests who book rooms at participating hotels engage with Flip.to, and for every 100 engaged guests, an average of 10 to 20 additional room nights are booked within six months.

We like to pick our phone, our apps and our data plans and customize them to best meet our needs.

And we like the fact that we have multiple options when it comes to where to buy our phone and services, understanding that we benefit from competition, technology and the free market at work.

Rather, they now can customize their experience based on what they value and need, opting for choices such as in-flight WiFi, priority boarding, premium seating, meals or doubling their miles, among other criteria.

One of the top strategies for hotel e-business is evolving from selling to engaging the customer

Another strategy is engaging the customer through social computing, which Harteveldt calls the fifth generation of electronic distribution

The sixth generation for electronic distribution is mobile technology. Mobile phones are becoming ubiquitous in many countries.