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Marriott is seeking to become the Red Bull of the hotel industry. While I first thought that this meant that it wanted to become synonymous as a brand with hotels generally, as Red Bull's brand is with energy drinks, what Marriott is actually pushing for is a sophisticated eMarketing strategy. The company is focusing on content marketing by developing and producing (in-house or through contract) its own videos, shows, web series, movies, musical events, etc. and distributing it through their network of properties. The distribution strategy will focus on using Marriott's 4,000 rooms, which are located across 78 different countries globally. In addition to pushing content through in-room TVs, Marriott will also use its rewards program and mobile app to distribute what it produces to its consumers. Marriott does not plan to abandon its print or online advertising; it is simply adding another platform to increase and diversify its global reach and strategy. The ultimate goal is to fill rooms, but with Millennials, creating long-lasting, individual, memorable experiences is important to overall brand loyalty. Thus, content marketing provides a means by which Marriott can offer original, targeted content to its consumers. In the future, it can become a full-fledged development studio providing complete content for its consumers, in turn pressuring companies like Netflix, Hulu, etc. In the short-term, producing content and releasing it through their app will allow Marriott to increase brand awareness, loyalty, and the overall guest experience. Over time, Marriott is not simply pushing a product or service; they are building meaningful relationships with their consumers.

MICROS Systems, a leading provider of information technology solutions for the hospitality and retail industries, is pleased to announce that Morgans Hotel Group has chosen to implement cloud-based MICROS OPERA across its hotel portfolio, which includes 13 locations. The solution will be hosted in the MICROS US Datacenter. MICROS OPERA Property Management Solution (PMS) will be implemented initially at Hudson in New York, and is planned to be deployed at all Morgans Hotel Group properties by the end of 2013.

Morgans Hotel Group recently made a decision to use Micros Opera for their PMS system at all 13, and growing, locations. They made their decision based on the needs of their company and what the future has in store for them. Based on the article, I would say they probably did a lot of research before officially deciding what program to use. When comparing options, I can honestly say that no PMS system or similar is perfect. There will always be something that can be improved and there will always be different pros and cons with each one, it's a matter of determining what is important for your company and what will be beneficial for the future. As frustrated as I may get with some of these systems, I would say Opera is one of the most widely functional systems to use. I have noticed that Micros is good at listening to feedback and seeing where they can improve. If it's feasible, you can usually expect an update somewhere that will help increase their functionality.

This article was a huge help during my additional research on proximity marketing. The article sums up some pros and cons of the software. I think it did a thorough job on explaining some of the points and definitely peaked my interest to do more research. Proximity Marketing seems cool but at the same time it makes me nervous. As consumers we literally don't get a break to simply just function and be normal. This is our new normal, technology overkill that is supposed to help us and make things easier but at times can seem intrusive.

While reading this article, I found that the statistic pertaining to the notion that 82% mobile market penetration will be anticipated by 2020 in the United States is quite significant. Considering that there is an estimated 40 million messages per year, proximity marketing does indeed sound captivating. Thanks to geolocation tags, they can properly attract consumers such as in the article's example of Macy's with Black Friday. Do you think this type of proximity marketing is attractive to all types of consumers? In my personal opinion, there are certain locations which do not specifically mean that the user wants to be bombarded by messages. For instance, an individual may go to a business meeting in Madison Avenue in New York, and due to the geolocations she may receive messages pertaining to nearby sales. However, these may become a bit too intrusive at times.

Technology is providing travelers novel experiences and interactions. The new technologies include: Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), connectivity, and other technology. Artificial intelligence is currently being integrated into chat bots for phone calls, but there are far greater uses. Facial scanning and voice recognition is starting to gain traction. It offers more secure, faster, ad better customer service. Some hotels have even added Amazon Alexa devices for their patrons. The internet of things features hotel guests to unlock the door to their room using only their smartphone. Blockchain and cryptocurrency transactions eliminate the need for third-party mediators. As a result, hotels that utilize blockchain and cryptocurrency can offer better rates to the consumer without affecting profitability. All of the emerging technology frees up the preexisting staff to provide and maintain excellent customer relationships. "Over the last few years, travelers have been meeting robot butlers and concierges in hotels like Hilton's Connie, powered by IBM Watson AI technology." "SoftBank Robotics' Pepper, a humanoid robot developed with IBM Watson, has been introduced at Munich Airport and Václav Havel Airport Prague, where the robot not only informs but entertains passengers by dancing and offering to take selfies." "Gartner predicts that 85% of customer interactions will be managed without a human by 2020." "At Intercontinental Shanghai Wonderland, face scanners enable guests to verify their identity at check-in, pick up a digital room key and gain access to the dining room at breakfast." "Two Roads Hospitality has partnered with Amazon and Volara to develop a customised Alexa for Hospitality platform that facilitates daily tasks for staff, such as identifying maintenance problems or signaling that a room is ready for check-in." "Luxury hotels like The Plaza New York, Aria in Las Vegas, The Torch Doha in Qa

This article showcases the possible merger of Starwood Hotels and Marriott International. Per the article, the merger has not been confirmed but if and when it goes through, Marriott will become the world's largest hotel company.

There are kinds of meeting technologies in nowadays. This article mainly introduced how Mobile Apps affect this industry. It gave a description of two categories of mobile apps which are particularly relevant to meetings. They are meeting management apps and meeting apps for attendees. App use is gaining traction among attendees, particularly when event producers market it well.

This article is about the value of using a travel agent. The article describes several real-life situations that unfolded as borders and countries were shutting down travel.... all while tourists were still visiting these countries. Luckily these tourists booked their vacations using travel agents so they were able to work with their travel agents on navigating home and not with a computer screen.

Technology has become the backbone of today's economy, especially during this pandemic. Technology has become the center of the universe since with the closure of many businesses, and remaining indoors has contributed to people shifting their focus on technology to stay sane and survive (Ovide, 2020). The success of many online platforms during this pandemic like Netflix, Amazon, TikTok has become a worldwide sensation that technology rules the world. This paper will discuss in detail how the aspect of 'Good Enough' contentment in technology leads the world. The article describes how 'good enough' has been embraced, especially in technology, since a company having many small combined Stuff in one platform is more convenient despite them not having something one may need. They have accumulated other Stuff to substitute for that which they cannot offer and package it conveniently and affordably so that it can be useful and a good enough spot to hang out and consume time with (Ovide, 2020). Good enough economy' has contributed immensely to technological growth by creating a balance between content creators and distributors of the information, primarily through the internet, which has become an effective medium in the information distribution-making it easy and available worldwide, as people use it to showcase their talent and share content created during their free time. Companies like Facebook and YouTube have managed to assemble many people since they have a variety of content that, although one content is missing, one can focus attention elsewhere on the pool of the content accessible (Ovide, 2020). In a nutshell, good enough is more appropriate than perfect, which can have extra cost or hard to find. Most companies sell to us what they need us to buy hence keep creating new ideas.

Sustainability has been a primary focus for many hotel companies around the world. There are many initiatives that are being created other than your everyday recycling. Fairmont Mayakoba has implemented a tour in which guest can assist in the transplant of coral to help their growth. Hosteling International USA has also become the first of it's kind to develop a system that monitors shower to last at most seven minutes in it effort to conserve water. These are just some of the many ideas that are taking into effect to further progress sustainability within hotel operations.

As guests are getting more environmentally friendly, being sustainable is an important aspect of hotel operations. Before they book a hotel, a lot of guests will look for or read about the hotel's social responsibility program. Hence, going green would bring in more revenue by attracting more guests.

This article explains several ways that hotels and resorts are helping in the fight for sustainability. Some resorts have completely eliminated the use of air conditioning and other ways to get energy for running electricity. For example, the Jade Mountain resort in St. Lucia has designed all their rooms to be open-air rooms which allows for breezes to come through the rooms and ultimately cool down the rooms. This, in turn, eliminates the need for air-conditioning all together. Some hotels are even offering classes on how to live a more sustainable and eco-friendly lifestyle. Hotels and resorts have worked towards saving coral reefs, energy and water conservation, preserving food and re-purposing waste, and creating eco-minded communities.

This article is about 1 Hotels commitment to sustainable hospitality including their "Save Our Shores" campaign, full-size refillable bottles for toiletries, and using reclaimed materials at their properties.

This article describes Misfit Media's interesting variation on the proximity marketing concept by leveraging Facebook Messenger to target likely customers. The firm has obtained impressive and cost-effective results for clients with techniques that combine advertising, promo redemptions and the collection of customer e-mails, all through a widely-used external app. Repeat business has also seen dramatic benefits.

Proximity marketing is and has become the new method of advertising on a device which virtually anyone has; the cell phone. However, due to its popularity it has turned into something more complex due to the amount of organizations using this feature and the somewhat tight geographic locations. A city like New York is a prime example to how many businesses fight for a glimpse of spotlight regarding proximity marketing. Although, Google plays a huge role in helping locate a business, it does not seem to be an equal opportunist for all hotels, for instance.

proximity accurately represent your location in relation to major points of interest in your area becomes even more important for the guest experience. Imagine that same hotel really tries to drive home the point that is it near Times Square on its website, only to have visitors disappointed that the attraction is really much further than expected and that other hotels are much closer.

I chose this article because it is an opinion article from the Huffington Post about the balance of luxury and being eco-friendly. Joanna Zelman shares her views on green hotels. She presents the question of whether living luxuriously during your hotel visit means sacrificing our planet. She also shares that hotels are indeed recognizing the major amounts of waste they have been producing. Zelman feels that hotels are trying to be green, but in the end they let the guests decide how green they want to be.

"Some hotels now recognize the astronomical amount of waste they produce daily, and a green hotel movement is underway. The Hilton Americas-Houston generates a reported 675,000 pounds of dirty linens per month. With the purchase of an AquaRecycle water recycling system, they reduced their water usage by 75%, from 630,000 gallons to 157,500 gallons per month."

Some hotels now recognize the astronomical amount of waste they produce daily, and a green hotel movement is underway.Element Times Square West is Starwood's most recent endeavor, an "eco-chic" hotel located on W. 39th street in New York City. The hotel proudly touts recycling bins in every room, complimentary bikes, reusable laundry bags, silverware instead of plastic, dispensable bath products, and an organic on-site pantry.But right next to the reusable laundry bag is a plastic laundry bag, beside the ceramic mugs are paper cups, across from the dispensable soap is an individually wrapped bar, and after consuming your organic food, you can rest your guilt-free head on a bunch of down feather pillows. Someone suggests that guests unplug chargers when not in use, turn lights off, and take advantage of linen reuse policies.

Hertz introduces iphone apps to deliver extended travel experience to customers. The app is called My Explore, including 11 major cities in U.S. with most travel information. Each city app includes six categories: explore, Top Must See, Events, Favorites, Tours and neighborhoods. Those probably cover major needs during traveling.

There is no conversation about hotel marketing these days that doesn't center on hotel Internet marketing. In fact, gone are the days of marketing your hotel through magazines, directories and flyers.

The Telemark Lodge, located in Cable, WI, was visited by Anthony Melichorri (host of Hotel Impossible). It was in dire need of serious makeover. Although the Telemark resort "had architectural greatness in its bones, a unique history and a world-class fitness center that trained Olympic hopefuls, it lacked the most basic of systems to run a commercial establishment." This establishment was running its business from a homemade Property Management System (PMS). In other words, it had none. Their PMS consisted of pencil and paper, which had been detrimental to the success of the resort. Melichorri threatened to go back to New York if this problem was not fixed. Fortunately for the Telemark Lodge, Anthony and his crew were able to revamp the place. Most importantly, a PMS was created and installed.

Hotels going green! Why not care about the environment? This article discusses the benefits as well as the common sense to go green in our industry hotels. Not only does going green help to save hotels money, it also helps to make a more environmentally sound universe.

"Hotels may have come late to technology, but recently they have been jumping in as travelers, especially those on business trips, demand to be constantly connected and expect hotels to make that possible. Hotels now see technology as a way to stand out in the crowd of brands." "The No. 1 thing travelers want, she said, is high-speed Internet access and enough bandwidth to download videos, social media and music. According to a 2011 Concur/Global Business Travel Association study, 91 percent of business travelers use a laptop computer, 81 percent use wireless broadband, 73 percent a personal smartphone and 67 percent use mobile travel apps on their phone." Hotels are coming up in the world of IT investment. This article shares about how hotels have benefited by utilizing technology such as interactive computer services such as early check in, valet services, and recreation room instructions. Although certain parts of IT investment remain expensive for hotels, like investing in adequate bandwith for all parts of the hotel, this article proves that the investments have been worth it. "John R. Hach, senior vice president for global product management at TravelClick, a hotel service provider in New York, said that hotels with optimized Web sites were capturing 10 percent or more of their reservations from mobile devices." For hotels, IT investment has proved to be the right decision. Hotels do not want to be left behind in this technological advancement.