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help hotel managers uncover new market segments to promote their products.

GDS Hotel bookings often result in multiple nights stays.

The main purpose of a global distribution system is to help travel agents search for hotel accommodations that fit a set of criteria.

Agent increase in use of GDS systems over the past 2 years:USA- 30%, Latin America- 49% , Europe & Middle East-47%, APAC-64%.

agents have access to live rates and availability

The number of bookings generated through a GDS generally outpaces that of direct bookings.

GDS is an important mix into larger properties’ distribution channels.

在对人类进行技术比较时，必须考虑清洁和维护。

Cleaning and maintenance must be considered when comparing technology over humans. 

无论您可以通过自动化节省多少劳动力，所有操作员都同意必须保持质量。

Regardless of how much you can save on labor with automation all operators will agree that quality must be maintained. 

SmarTender具有完全便携式的A1700系列和永久安装的吧台顶部型号A1600（16种酒）和A3200系列（32种酒）。

The SmarTender can be found in hotel casino’s, stadiums, movie theater, bars, hotels and caterers

SmarTender可使酒吧操作员将酒保人数减少至少1名酒保，从而减少人工成本。

SmarTender在现在提供混合鸡尾酒的电影院中广泛使用。

The SmarTender will allow the bar operator to reduce the bartender count down by at least 1 bartender thereby reducing labor costs. 

SmarTender在繁重的使用环境中效果最好，因此可以最大程度地节省成本。SmarTender通过减少浪费，稳定的质量，速度以及减少的人工成本来达到或超过所有期望。

The SmarTender is used extensively in movie theaters that now offer mixed cocktails

The SmarTender works best in a heavy use environment and therefore will provide the greatest savings.

The vulnerability remained even after hiring a third-party security firm, which is something of concern to any hotel brands seeking to deploy additional security measures and analysis by third parties.

The thieves pretty much had everything they needed to make fraudulent purchases off guests' cards, and were able to access this for over 7 months.

EMV is the technology that is supposed to make credit card fraud more difficult.

But the Washington Post did some research that shows a rapid recent increase in fraud across the European continent.

White Lodging has been transitioning its POS to tokenization, which replaces sensitive information such as the card number with a non-meaningful token for transmission.

Even so, tokenization is an effective means of protecting sensitive transaction data.

The key to successfully managing the risks is to regularly monitor systems for any breaches and updating to the latest software.

Beyond that, insurance is available to protect against costs for data breaches — a solid measure of last resort that reduces the financial burden of a data intrusion.

The BHS FiberPure process features screen, air, optical and artificial intelligence-powered robotic sorters to automate the production of clean fiber. Plastics and metals are also separated without manual sorting. In total, the system contains seven NRT optical sorters and nine Max-AI AQCs.

The plant also makes use of nonrecyclable papers and plastics by producing ReEngineered Feedstock (ReEF), a clean, low-carbon renewable fuel sold to industry, cement and utility customers to replace coal in production processes. ReEF undergoes several quality control steps, including two NRT optical sorters, which remove plastic and metal contamination. The product has been designated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as a nonwaste fuel. 

“RePower South is showing that it is possible, today, to help communities increase recycling of the existing waste stream while also providing the flexibility to adjust to any market condition or opportunity,” says BHS CEO Steve Miller.

Retail model This is the traditional model, ie. how you would work with a retail or traditional travel agent.

Merchant model This model applies to third party service providers that connect you to retail travel agents (by integrating with a GDS) and online travel agents.

Opaque model In this model, your guests don’t know they’re staying at your specific property until after they’ve made the booking.

Small accommodation providers can benefit greatly from using a GDS to connect to retail travel agents and corporate buyers. However, we highly recommend that you steer clear of the merchant model, because you would be paying commission to both the third party service provider and the OTA.

Option 2: Channel Manager

On average, small hotels can cut the commissions they pay in half by using an all-in-one solution

In this kind of business relationship, it’s much better to retain full control of your rates and inventory

In the distribution landscape, Global Distribution Systems (GDS) are just one of the many players involved in selling your rooms to a world of travelers. They are one of the oldest kinds of distributors in the industry, so it’s important that you understand how you can work with them effectively.

A GDS doesn’t work exclusively for accommodation providers – it does the same for airlines, activities, and car rental companies.

Your rooms are sold through all channels connected through the GDS e.g. traditional travel agents. Whoever sells your room earns a standard commission. Your guest pays you, then you pay your agent. An easy way to understand this model is if you think about how you would work with your local brick and mortar travel agency, that caters to walk-in customers. This is the default model used upon connecting with a GDS.

In this model, you would work with online travel agents (OTAs) like Booking.com via the third party service provider. An OTA sells rooms on your behalf, allowing your guests to find and select your hotel, check your availability, and make a booking.

However, this is very costly. As they are a third party provider of GDS services, you would not only pay commission to the OTA (a percentage of each booking), but you would also be paying the third party service provider a commission for use of the system (usually $10-$12 per reservation).

The only difference is, they won’t guarantee it (there is less of an incentive to sell you because there is no additional commission for them), and they will de-emphasise your listing (by placing it at the end of the list, hiding images, hiding room rate, and other strategies).

You set up several rates (usually 25%-45% less than retail rate), selling your rooms based on bids that guests make based on location, star rating, and other attributes. For example, Priceline uses a bidding system, and Hotwire allows guests to make bookings based on discounted rates.

GDSes are great for tapping into the corporate travel market – however, it is being used more for other types of travel than for accommodation.

Hybrid events feature a mix of live and virtual components. In this model, a number of people may be present at a physical location, while the audience at large attends the event remotely. Hybrid events have several advantages: they may attract sponsors who would not have otherwise been drawn to a live event, and if needed, they can be easily modified and turned into virtual events.

Professional events have several key functions: bring brand awareness and revenue for the organiser, sharing up-to-date information, and networking.

With the current technology, anything from scientific sessions to workshops and exhibitions can be delivered virtually.

Do not overlook the social aspect of meetings. Remember that virtual meetings should fulfil two critical functions: circulating information and providing a space for professionals to network.

The PCI Security Standards Council claims that since March, malicious virus-related reports are up 475%. The reason for the uptick is that cybercriminals are trying to take advantage of rapid changes to the payment-card data environment. In addition, 41% of small businesses have said they’ve suffered breaches costing more than $50,000 to fix.

Contactless payment is one of the big changes within the payment data environment. Several restaurant companies – from chains to independents – are offering it because it reduces customers' physical interaction with the restaurant's POS system. As part of this move, some businesses have eliminated credit-card PIN numbers.

Eliot says malicious email is usually the easiest way for cybercriminals to access your networks. The emails typically show up as urgent requests for sensitive information, often pretending to be from the Small Business Administration or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. When the intended victim types in his or her credentials and clicks on a specific link or downloads an attachment, criminals are in.

Anyone looking for easy-to-implement security tips can try these six to start. Reduce areas where payment-card data is stored. The best way to protect against a data breach is to avoid storing any card information at all. With many small operators offering curbside pickup and accepting payment over the phone instead of through face-to-face transactions, it’s important they train employees not to write down payment card details. Instead, have them enter numbers directly into a secure terminal. Use strong passwords. Using weak and default passwords is one of the leading causes of payment data breaches among businesses. Effective passwords must be strong and updated regularly. The most recent guidance is: the longer, the better. Think of it almost as a “passphrase” rather than a password. Use it in the form of a sentence, but mix in different characters within the phrase. It’s much harder to break a long passphrase than it is a short, complex password. Weak and vendor default passwords often result in small business data breaches. Also, don’t repeat your passwords. Update your software often. Criminals look for outdated software to exploit flaws in unpatched systems. Timely installations of security patches are crucial to minimizing the risk of a breach. Whenever updates are available, use them. They will improve performance and close out some of the vulnerabilities cybercriminals are searching for. Enable two-factor authentication. It's so important for restaurateurs, especially where their POS systems or any of their sensitive databases are concerned, to have two-factor or multi-factor authentication enabled. If an instance where credentials are stolen occurs, there will be a second layer of verification the operator can rely on to potentially reduce the chances that information will be breached. Segment your networks. If you are going to store payment data, make sure your POS system has its own separate, secure network. Do not store sensitive documents on public cloud services such as Google Docs or DropBox. If you’re going to store sensitive documents, house them in an encrypted, locked down location.   Be hyper-vigilant. Criminals are going to try to take advantage of this pandemic situation as much as possible. You can protect yourself by not giving out sensitive information, especially within unsolicited emails. Don’t click on links you’re not expecting and do everything in your power to protect all sensitive information.

Retail model

easy way to understand this model is if you think about how you would work with your local brick and mortar travel agency, that caters to walk-in customers.

Merchant model

 you would work with online travel agents (OTAs) like Booking.com via the third party service provider.

Opaque model

your guests don’t know they’re staying at your specific property until after they’ve made the booking.

Small accommodation providers can benefit greatly from using a GDS to connect to retail travel agents and corporate buyers.

However, we highly recommend that you steer clear of the merchant model, because you would be paying commission to both the third party service provider and the OTA.

n this kind of business relationship, it’s much better to retain full control of your rates and inventory, and cut out the middle-man by using an integrated channel manager to sell rooms through your OTAs.

It is high time now for the hospitality industry to consider building gamification apps to engage their customers. You can create games that help customers win discount coupons of the nearby restaurants or theme parks.

Using augmented and mixed reality headsets,  such as Microsoft Hololens, companies can show all this information to the manager and employees in real-time.

Many hoteliers have leveraged augmented reality to make the hotel environment more enjoyable to customers. For example, one of the leading hotel chains,

Augmented reality can help facility managers to increase their engineers’ productivity and decrease costs to keep them safe. Incorporating AR mobile app into EAM and CMMS solutions can help them work more efficiently.

Hoteliers can use this technology to create virtual keys that allow customers to unlock their rooms when they come near one.

The ways attendees' expectations have changed is due largely to technology in the event space.

"The expectation for attendees is that they can be engaged. From the easy stuff — polling, contests, social curation — to environmental changes, such as how IBM has changed their product-demonstration approach at events, or a recent augmented-reality experience we created for UPS … to nuances like RFID tags that personalize digital signage, people expect to see themselves as part of an event."

With that as a given, now comes a newer drive on the planner's side: To place more control of events in their audience's hands.

She's talking about app and online tools that allow for text-to-screen and text-to-moderator communications, so that moderators have more control over what questions are being asked and who's asking them while on the podium.

"We started using apps for all of our events: No paper, no welcome book, no paper agendas — everything digital. That way no one has anything in their hands, which encourages them to interact."

"We use live polling at our events via social media. In our workshops, we tell people to tweet at the speaker or use a hashtag when they ask a question. That way the speaker can constantly receive and answer questions in real time."

already key to the personalized experience is the advent of beacon technology within the event space. In essence, beacons detect attendees' mobile devices and then push relevant information to those screens

"While GPS and geocaching are still popular for scavenger hunts, augmented reality has proven to be a huge step forward in location-based mixed-reality games for corporate team building," Shackman says, regarding how AR intersects with event activities.

From on-site wristbands that allow participants to capture moments and information — say you like a sample of a dish at a food event and the wristband can send the recipe to you — to BYOD opportunities surrounding devices such as Google Glass, we're at the front end of a potentially profound shift toward hands-free tech at events.

Mobile-app usage in the messaging and social-media space increased some 203% last year. Recently, this kind of functionality is "becoming geo-enabled," says Shackman, "which helps attendees enhance their experience based on their location at a given moment.

Old models are falling away and technology is giving both planners and event participants an opportunity to grow and revisit the underlying ideas about how event spaces work.

Using an app during the events, she says, makes everything more seamless.

Camera drones are becoming an incredible technology used in various industries, and the event space is one that will soon take full advantage.

Old models are falling away and technology is giving both planners and event participants an opportunity to grow and revisit the underlying ideas about how event spaces work.

"With this kind of technology, attendees can now ask unlimited questions, and moderators can quickly filter out ones that don't make sense or that disrupt the flow. Furthermore, because speakers can clearly see the questions being asked, they do not get lost among the noise of status updates."

"When anyone who has a Bluetooth-enabled device walks past the hotspot, it automatically triggers some sort of video, push notification or message. It's particularly great for welcome tables, so you can send a welcome message, or if you want to announce a retail opportunity, like a special product on sale, somewhere at your event."

"Instead of playing on a [map layout], you can walk around in the real world as you look at your screen. And you can do more than simply collect items: You can take over territory, collect virtual items and use them to become more influential."

Wearable tech

for our industry, the Metaverse can be (and probably will) be a fully functioning economy. "Individuals and businesses," Managing Partner of EpyllionCo, Matthew Ball, wrote on a series of must-read articles on the topic, "will be able to create, own, invest, sell, and be rewarded for an incredibly wide range of work that produces value that is recognized by others."

owners take as a "give

"We are aiming for places that have a huge turnover of clients, such as sports events, festivals or nightclubs," he says

One of its Yanu robots is currently making alcohol-free cocktails at the Estonian pavilion at the World Expo event in Dubai.

To help affected human bar staff do just this it launched an initiative in the US in 2019, whereby for each sale of one of its units it would give a barman or woman $1,000 (£747) towards helping them retrain.

"Robots will not replace traditional [human-staffed] bars," says Jan Hiersemenzel, the head of marketing for Swiss firm F&P Robotics, which makes a robot bar server called Barney Bar

The bar staff themselves, he adds, often have the unenviable task of dealing with "obnoxious drunk people"

Harry Gordon Johnson once said: "The greatest accomplishment of a bartender lies in his ability to exactly suit his customer."

The company says that each unit can be filled with 70 litres of different types of spirits, and that it can serve up to 120 cocktails per hour.

Enter Cecilia, a robotic bartender that mixes and serves cocktails, and uses artificial intelligence (AI) to talk to customers in much the same way that Alexa, on an Amazon Echo speaker, or Siri, on an iPhone can respond to you.

Customers can either buy a Cecilia for $45,000 (£34,000), or hire one for $2,000 a month.

It’s less about gimmicks and more about giving guests the option to choose how they want to interact and when. It’s about greater convenience and efficiency. It’s about building connections that optimize guest experience before, during, and after their visit. 

service has enabled the restaurant chain to move cost-eff ectively from a low bandwidth network to a higher-speed, dual broadband solution across all its sites

in-restaurant and online experience for customers include deploying guest Wi-Fi networks, individual entertainment systems for diners and leveraging new networking technologies such as SD-WAN for optimizing bandwidth utilization. Better connectivity can directly infl uence the dining experience, for instance, by supporting servers in using handheld devices to take table orders.

the company is now able to reach and train many more staff through the use of video content shared and streamed across its new, high-speed network.

60% of American adults agree that restaurant technology such as smartphone applications, tableside tablets and order kiosks increases con v enience

In the U.S., more than six in 10 millennial diners would like to see restaurants use technology to make ordering and payment easier.

With its pervasive stay-at-home orders, mandated dining room closures and persistent labor shortages, COVID-19 has only accelerated this trend.

DoorDash, Grubhub and UberEats dominate the market

“At the start of the pandemic, there was a rush for every restaurant to do their own ordering app, which is like everybody trying to do their own internet,” Quinn said. “Restaurants quickly realized that their efforts were better spent elsewhere, and many opted into the larger ecosystems that third-party delivery services provide.”

Shortly after its launch in 2013, DoorDash decided to migrate its IT infrastructure to a cloud-native solution, which allows it to quickly scale as it continues to grow. It also gives the company access to various cloud-based applications that help it collect, track and analyze data about its customers’ ordering habits — a trend that’s sweeping the restaurant industry and informing creative strategies for combatting losses due to COVID-19, according to Quin

Ghost kitchens — sometimes called virtual or dark kitchens — allow restaurateurs to cut costs by foregoing real estate, labor and dining room expenses in favor of small, focused operations that prepare food in shared commercial kitchens exclusively for delivery. Companies like UberEats use delivery data to help restaurants determine where market opportunities exist.

n recent years, digital ordering kiosks and tablets also have become popular, and full robotic kitchens might not be far behind. This fall, for example, White Castle will deploy Flippy, its first robotic fry cook. Halal Guys and Applebees, meanwhile, are in the early stages of testing DrinkBot, a robot that mixes pre-set beverages in just 20 seconds. Even autonomous delivery robots have hit the streets in big cities and college towns across America

potential to add $13 trillion to the global economic output by 2030.

Crowne Plaza deploys a robotic butler to deliver food and drinks to hotel guests

Royal Caribbean Cruises introduced robotic bartenders that mix two drinks per minute from an endless list of cocktail combinations

identify four intelligence types: mechanical, analytical, intuitive and empathetic.

Service robots are currently perceived as at a disadvantage regarding executing emotionally complex tasks. Consequently, a well-trained human workforce still performs such tasks better

point out that service robots should not look too human, because if they do, people will expect them to act like real humans

Henn na Hotel in Japan, which is mainly staffed by robots. At the front desk, polyglot robots greet the guests and help them check in or out. A robot stores the guests’ luggage in their rooms, for which they do not need a key, since the hotel uses a face recognition system

Of these projected at-risk jobs, it is estimated that automation will put approximately 30% of service and sales workers’ jobs at risk. This risk is projected to triple from 10% in 2027 to 30% in 2037

jobs across all industries are at risk.

the use of service robots and AI will be competed away in reasonably efficient markets and lead to an overall increase in consumer welfare. Increases in productivity, wealth and income due to AI and robotics should also stimulate the creation of new jobs

for the level of technology that is currently available, simple robots that do repetitive, predictable tasks, like room delivery, luggage carrying, or vacuuming, tend to fare better in the hotel work environment. Robots that had to handle more customer service interactions, or complex tasks, had more mixed results.