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Starbucks invested $25 million to develop movie payment system with partnership with Square. The mobile payment integration with the point of sale solution will be available in November. The point of sale solution mobile app will make customers purchase using their phones through a digital Starbucks card and square will processing all of the Starbuck's credit card - based payments. Meanwhile, Starbucks also revealed its IOS app's integration with Passbook. When you approach a Starbucks location, a Passbook notification will appear on the screen of iPhone and you can then select the starbucks card and swipe your phone to make the purchase. Later Starbucks will integrate Squar's GPS- based point of sale system which should make purchases a breeze and speed up the lines during coffee rush hours. This allow you to select the item with Square app and simply say you name to the cashier to confirm the payment.  An image of your face will present from the profile photo to prevent theft or misuse. Since January 2011 starbucks first mobile payment app has host over 70 million transactions and the partnership with Square has been a mutually beneficial on for both sides. Starbucks will significantly expand Square's scale and accelerate the benefits to business on the platform in the future.

With many clients desiring to stay in "green" hotels, the industry is currently looking for ways to slash waste and promote sustainable practices. Hotels are now conscious of the impact they are having on the environment, and they are looking to minimize this impact.

Today environment become green is more and more important. And advent technology is used in different industries in order to create a green environment. Hospitality industry also applies new technology. If the hotel becomes a green one, it will be a future value of your development. If the hotel becomes a green one, it will be welcome by the guests and increase the customers' loyalty. If the hotel becomes a green one, the staffs will very happy, because the environment is very good at their health and the hotel is very beautiful. It will reduce the turnover because the staffs feel comfortable. Except the feeling of people, another side is energy-saving measures. It is also a very important factor of hotel such as energy management systems, fluorescent bulbs, ceiling fans, linen cards, lights out cards, motion sensors for public rest rooms, meeting rooms, exercise rooms, etc., energy bills are much reduced. If the hotel is green, it means your hotel is responsibility for guests and staffs healthy. If they feel that you really care their health, they must give your some reward, which is benefit for your hotel. There's just no doubt that when odors, fumes, soot, droplets and residues of toxic, poisonous chemicals are not in the air, on our food or on anything we touch, we are not absorbing or breathing them. The green hotel will have a higher quality and price because it green theme which is good for guest and earn more profit because of lower cost which attributes to energy-saving measures.

This article talks about the advantages that the implementation of MICRO'S OPERA ENTERPRISE to all of the MGM properties, will give to the company. By making this, MGM will be able to integrate all the information of their guests as well as the global distribution system. According to Aldo Manzini, EVP and chief administrative officer of MGM Resorts International this integration is an extremely important step in order to become more efficient, it will decrease the training time for employees and it will improve their reward program. This will also create a single image inventory from the main property management system to the different channels. This made it easier for the implementation at the two City Center properties were 1,500 employees were trained on the system. MICRO'S system is used by seven of the ten largest hotels in the U.S. This shows how they are solidifying their PMS market share not only in the U.S but all around the world.

Its really amazing to see how these systems such as Micros and Maestro have evolved. I remember when Micros was simply used as a POS system in the hotel I worked at. But according to your summary it is now fully integrated and used an overall PMS as well. I'm glad to see they are remaining competitive in the market. In the past I had predicted they would become outdated and not relevant in the future market. I was obviously wrong.

It seems they are really customizing the guest experience by offering guests the opportunity to take advantage of their relationship with Live Nation. I like how they get the guests involved in promotions by offering them a cash code, a benefit of being an SPG member.

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.

This article talks about the acquisition of Restaurant POS system company, Breadcrumb, by Groupon. This will provide seamless service to all Breadcrumb and Groupon  customers. This will also allow Goupon to observe customer spending patterns which it was not be able to see before. 

This paper talks about choosing the right POS system for any given restaurant. In today's market top restaurants in general invest heavily in high technology especially in POS systems. There are numerous amounts of benefits a POS system can offer to the hospitality industry. In a restaurant setting, for instance, a POS system allows the business owner to run his/her restaurant more efficiently. In addition, orders are being taken quicker, customers get their foods and checks quicker, staff can serve more tables simultaneously, servers are prevented from giving free food to friends and family. Reports can be run throughout the day to keep track of items missing, food inventory, incorrect pricing, re-ordering products, and so much more. Fortunately, any small or medium size restaurant can buy and use a POS system for the purpose of growing the business. The rewards of this technology are huge. When buying the POS system, there some factors that must be acknowledged.

The  first part of the article talks about how the cloud is being used in restaurants to monitor all transactions. Aloha POS systems has a add on that takes all the transactions to the cloud in 10 minutes intervals, after that they analyse the date to see if a employee has been doing to many voids or gets to much tips, they do this via algorithms in the cloud. Just another way that the cloud makes the life of a restaurant owner that much simpler. 

We can see how the e-commerce and social media is changing the restaurant world, chain execs are seeing the development of this tools as a way to be in direct contact with the customer even when they are not present in the store.

Its interesting that ExactTarget email communication software serves so many different companies with different missions from job search to travel, power and electric to a football team, restaurants to home improvement, etc. Do you know who their direct competition is?

"While the online marketplace is gaining ground in channel mix for hotels, especially for established hotel companies, the Global Distribution System (GDS) still contributes significantly to hotel distribution revenue-approximately 27 percent, according to TRAVELCLICK's latest eTRAK report. Also, GDS hotel promotions-appearing when agents search the air, car and hotel availability screens within their GDS-continue to have a growing influence on bookings, particularly in today's unsettled economy." The above paragraph is from the very beginning of the linked article. I believe it is a good summary of the topic that follows throughout the article. Global Distribution Systems have always been a must in the industry and have continuously provided hotels with direct revenues. One of the major and most important benefits to using GDS is that it builds reservations through influence. This influence, with the help of marketing, ads, promotions, and special packages, can differentiate your specific hotel and pull customers away from competing markets.

Unified Computing System (UCS) technology is widely used byStation Casinos Inc., which is a one of high-tech Station Casinos Inc. invested and do a good implement in their properties. It not only help this company do a good business and also help the it employees keep their jobs.

Hotel guests are a captive audience and are often looking for the convenience factor when making their purchasing decisions, such as where to eat that night. If hoteliers take the initiative with their WiFi solution, they could be soon be reaping the financial rewards.

Implementing the right technology can bring a company back to business therefore it is really important to Know what technology is the best for the organization in order to improve productivity and attract potential clients.

This article talks about how social media helps hotels not only to promote their public image but also provide customers a two-way road of comments and suggestions about their stay. The three websites that are best suited for hotels are Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare. Using these resources a hotel can give its clients and potential guests the freedom to freely interact with the company itself. Facebook serves greatly to allow people to comment on their recent stay and provide feedback. Twitter enables the marketing department to promote deals and upcoming special events. Foursquare is a tool similar to reward accounts. People can check-in to Foursquare at the actual location and depending on a set amount of check-ins, a guest can be awarded with a discount or special arrangement, for example, a complimentary bottle of champagne can be offered for five check-ins. Social media is an always evolving tool that goes hand-in-hand with marketing advancements and the growing use of gadgets. Iphones, blackberries and tablets are present in almost every home of travelers and are heavily used to interact, find deals and leave reviews. Hotels that use this media weapon and its technology to the fullest are on the upper hand compared to their competitors that rely on traditional advertisements.

That is a good way for hotels and restaurants to invest more in social media. Almost all people have their facebook pages they can a lot of information from facebook. People talk about everything on the facebook and share their experiences with friends. If somebody is sharing his great hotel experience with friends, that would be like a great advertisement that does not requires much money and all friends would believe this advertisement more than others.

The social media is a good way to promote itself from word of month. It is an easy way to get the feedback from their customers, and improve itself. The hotel can become more competitive base on the social media because it contains the real evaluations from the previous customers rather than the unconvincing advertisement.

This article is talking about the green actions at Marriott and it got a reward from Computerworld magazine. Marriott International, Inc. is ranked number 12 on Computerworld magazine's " Top 12 Green IT Companies" list and is only lodging company to make the list. A highlight of Marriott's IT environmental achievements include a new cooling system for the data center and improved temperature management, which allowed a 5 to 7 degree temperature increase. Building on more than 20 years of energy conservation experience, Marriott is committed to protecting the environment. It is planning to further reducing energy and water consumption by 25% per available room by 2017. What is more, Marriott has been recognized for its environmental leadership in the hotel industry by several groups. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently awarded Marriott its Sustained Excellence Award for the third straight year. Marriott is trying to leading going green persistently in hospitality industry.

The explosion in mobile devices has created a new distribution channel for hotels. Approximately 55% of United States households have a smartphone and 44% a tablet, according to the Consumer Electronics Association. The difference is how you make your apps work to your advantage. In this article, Michelle Grant identifies couple of hotel operators using different strategies in their app developments focusing on brand strategy, loyalty / reward programs and different market segments. It is an interesting article.

Another interesting article about the integration of Maestro PMS and the interface SYNKROS that will certainly enhance guest service and loyalty. This system allow members to wipe their honor cards and their information as a valuable customer is promptly recognized and pint can be accumulated at any outlet of the property. This system will certainly will reinforce brand and guest recognition. This new interface system can be implemented in various aspects of the hospitality industry!

swipe(ing) = wipe. Like the idea of RFID recognition for reward collection.

In keeping up to its standard of maintaining high customer service, the Ritz Carlton has a new idea to do just that. As we know with a hotel, there are many hands on the assembly belt to make the hotel run smoothly. Since the guest experience is their main priority, they don't want to leave anyone excluded. So the company has released an app, ((CHIME)), to assist event planners during their event. Sent to the planner three days prior to the event, the Event planner is able to make any changes necessary. On the day of, if something was to malfunction or hotel assistance was needed, instead of the planner panicking, they are able to use ((CHIME)) to get what they need done. Whether it has to do with food & beverage, audio / visuals, seating arrangements, or room relocation, within minutes the event planner can have a request put in and a hotel employee will be there to fix the issue. Just another way of keep guests returning and to ensure a successful event.