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Cvent, the world's largest cloud-based provider of event management, venue selection and web survey solutions, operates the number one marketplace for group meeting business in the works and has driven $3.4 billion in meeting spend through the Cvent Supplier Network through the first half of 2012. The strong network provided by Cvent gather the international booking outside of North America and increase 42% meeting volume based on its strong network. Vice President of Sales for the Cvent said the network bring all market participants together and to improve the sourcing process and deliver value for everyone invloved. The value includes more than 200,000 hotels and special event venues worldwide, providing one-stop shopping for meetings buyers and sourcing professionals. The network also extends suppliers' reach to new customers helping hoes maximize their existing Sales & marking resources and increasing their opportunities overall. Cvent also developed a platform hotels can use to help hotels develop response templates to provide faster answers to planners, allowing hotels to pre-populate RFPs with basic information and clone responses to common requests. It also proactively guides planners, helping them create better RFPs by, for example, sending a warning prompt when a venue cannot satisfy a request such as number of sleeping rooms.

The number of customers making reservation on the webpage of the hotel become more and more in nowadays. And the reservations flowing to hotels through the channels of the global distribution systems and the Internet. The electronic outlets become the biggest challenge for the director of sales and marketing. They should face the challenge of understanding and managing the system and using it to make profit for the property. The hotel electronic distribution network association plays an important role in the hotel operation. It contains ads, mails, public relations and sales calls which can help the ptoperty increase profit. So understanding and maximizing a hotel's electronic dutribution is very important.

This interview talks to Gareth Gaston, senior VP of Global E-comerse in the Wyndham Hotel Group, about recent trends in E-comerse.He believes that E-comerse should be apart of every department in the hotel, Front Office, Sales, Marketing, and the departments should help the Online Travel Agencies to draw more guest. Mr. Gaston believes that hotels need to start to create a partnership with online travel agencys(OTA) and begin to create a better system for price consolidations online rather than fight them at every turn for overbooking or under-pricing.

This articles is a wake up call to many hotels that are looking for ways to increase profit. The concept of upsale has been around for a very long time. It is time for hoteliers to go back to basic marketing concepts but utilizing the latest technologies. Property management systems contain so much valuable information about the guests. Hotels need to utilize this information to offer unique experiences.

This article is a case about how digital menu helps the restaurant increase sales. There are several benefits by using digital menu. The most important one is that digital menu enable customers to better know the dishes. The restaurant could use full-motion video to show more details. Another advantage is the easier way to control the updating and changing of the menu. 

This article provides a brief overview of the emerging trends for hotel management information systems. The trends focus on easy mobile access, unattended point of sale, radio frequency identification and near field communications. An increasing number of hotel are using the the cloud for on the go mobile connectivity to their POS systems and revenue management software SaaS. You can manage your hotel from anywhere and be up to date instantly. This trend and the next eliminates the need for desk or office time. Lilipad has created an I-product that allows guests to perform their own transactions at I-Pad kiosk which eliminates time at the front desk. The other large emerging trend is tracking devices that can be implanted in phones or even loyalty cards that link to bank and credit card accounts replacing the traditional wallet. While other articles say there is no rush to cellphones replacing wallets just yet, hotels like Aloft are using RFID's in there loyalty cards eliminating the issue of room keys. Notice in all these trends that the face to face contact with guests that we hospitality students enjoy and train for is decreasing with every new technology.

3 Multi- Property Goup and 6 Independent operators select Guest-Centric PMS. This PMS help hotels increase revenue by cross-selling from single database. By using this system, the hoteliers can operate two hotels through one system to increase more business for both. It also provide more personalized service to the guests by integrated PMS and Spa and Activities Management System. Moreover, Maestro was the only vendor offering the total integration which maximize sales and efficiency of the hotels.

here is the highlight part: Maestro True Multi-Property PMS increases revenue by cross-selling from single database. 'No other system was able to provide the flexibility and functionality we needed' Total integration and the best multi-property tools to maximize sales and efficiency

This article is a good one that demonstrates how GDS are now more often used than times before. The article states that the 2011 Global Travel Agent GDS study demonstrates how important GDS platform and shopping Displays are to the travel agents. They stated the 84 percent of those who took the survey stated that they are using the GDS just as much or even more than they did in the pass and 35 % of these stated that they were using it more than they did in the pass. The article explained how these numbers have greatly increased since 2009 where only 26% agents admitted that they used the GDS systems more than before. This study is 2011 reaffirmed Travel Click's projection, which was that GDS hotel bookings would surpass %50 million in the year 2011. This was far more than that of 2010. The article goes on to explain how the GDS will improve the booking and services of the industry all around. Furthermore, the article went on to explain a worldwide survey conducted for agents who were among the largest GDS in the world and some 495 responses were collected. The survey was conducted by Phoenix Marketing International, which is and independent marketing research firm Travel agents were indicated that promotional messages were effective and prompt during bookings and 66% of these agents request additional information about it. While, 68% of these agents looked into the GDS for more information. After this survey was complete the agents who were aware of promotional messages, 46% of them made North American bookings within 3 months as a result of the promotional messaging and 44% made non- North American bookings. The survey itself shows that promotional messages were and excellent way to get the agents interested. In the article it is quoted how the promotional messages acts in a chain reaction to reach the agent and then the customer, which allows sales all over the world.

GDS provides a perfect virtual marketplace for travel inventory sellers such as hotels, airlines, and car rental systems to showcase their wares to a global Internet travel audience. The GDS is a natural outlet for hotels, resorts, and even smaller inns that want to increase revenue and online marketing exposure. As the GDS channel produces one of the highest average daily rates of any booking channel, there is a huge opportunity for hoteliers to influence travel agents through the GDS at the point-of-sale.

Yes, GDS is of great importance for tourism development. It provides such a huge market of tourism information for customers, airlines, hotels, travel agents and any parts included in the tourism. Someone said that GDS will end travel agent, however, in my opinion; they have their own advantages and will supplement each other in the future.

This article discusses what travel agents think about the enhanced ability of both corporate and leisure based travel agencies to sell airline ancillaries because of improved Global Distribution Systems' technologies. Ancillaries are products and services that airlines sell to gain additional revenue on top of your ticket price. Ancillaries have become increasingly popular in the airline industry because of the sky rocketing price of jet fuel. To keep ticket prices down airlines are "unbundling" items from the overall experience. This presents them with an opportunity to turn a profit by charging fees for bags (carry on, checked, additional), on board food and drink, credit card purchases, headphones. It seems like everything you encounter from when you arrive at the airport to when you disembark the plane has a fee. This phenomenon is especially present in Low cost carriers such as Spirit, Air Tran, Jet Blue, etc. However there are consumers who disagree with this additional costs as is apparent in Southwest's continuous marketing campaign. I'm sure everyone has seen the commercials with Southwest representatives 'flagging' down unnecessary fees in order to promote their 'bags fly free' campaign. Anyhow the reason I am explaining ancillary revenue is because travel agents are now starting to sell more ancillary products such as hotel accommodations, travel insurance, rental cars because of GDS technologies. They can track the sale of fees through EMD (Electronic miscellaneous Documents) which is the current industry standard. In the article some agents state that the EMDs are hard to understand and use. I believe until the EMDs become "seamless and easy to use" there will exist some hesitation to sell airline ancillaries. However on the other hand the article states that Travelport is working towards a simple and uniform platform called Travelport Universal API/Desktop. Once this comeplete perhaps more agents will feel comfortable selling ancillaries. This is a goo

I still remember when most airlines used to include breakfast or dinner for their passengers including alcoholic beverages well that doesn't happen any more. I believe when Travelport Universal Desktop becomes available it would become more clear to travel agencies the transaction process and for the consumers what products and services they are ofering.

I too miss the days of free sodas and peanuts. "Sigh-" sometimes its the little things in life that bring the most joy. I agree I think the new Travelport Universal Desktop will be a valuable tool if utilized correctly.

POS can energize the hotel service cycle. POS system offers an ideal opportunity to move from a manual system to technology that stores customer data, which can be mined for business intelligence and thus facilitates improvement and efficiency at customer touch points. POS system can be fully integrated with room service and front office to ensure accurate and faster billing. It is fairly easy to use, getting staff acquainted with the application and interface will help to ensure faster ROI on installation. Using POS software, hotel staff can spend less time on formalities and more on delivering better customer service. It is integral for both order generation and tracking inventory shrinkage. Proper implementation of POS functions increases business profitability by providing management with details on fast moving products, time of sale and profitability. Now apps with Android market enhanced the use of POS. In the future, POS systems are going to get smarter, faster and better.

The compeat restaurant management system is a cloud based highly configurable system which is developed by Compeat and the founder of ReMACS. By utilized this system, the restaurant managers can operate the business more effectively than before. It provides real-time "Deshboards" and "Alerts". The employees can simply access the internet through "myworkforce" to view the work schedules even pick up or change the schedule which save the time of the manager to communicate with each of the employees to comfire the scehdule. Meanwhile it provide a new channel for the employee to communicate to the managers. Especially for the chain restaurants, this system offers inventory control, food cost analysis, cash and sales management, forecasting, time& attendance.

According to the article,  Compeat Enterprise is a targeted solution for restaurant chains looking for a highly configurable system that can be tailored to their specific operations and easily integrated with their existing systems. Compeat Enterprise is centrally hosted (a cloud based application) requiring only Internet connectivity and a browser in the restaurant. Compeat Enterprise will provide chain restaurants with inventory control, food cost analysis, cash and sales management, forecasting, time & attendance and labor scheduling. Enterprise includes real-time "Dashboards" and "Alerts" for managers in the restaurants as well as executives above the restaurants. Enterprise also includes a Portal (myWorkforce) that employees access via the Internet (desktop or mobile) to view their schedules, pick up shifts, request schedule changes, and communicate with their manager.

This writer Jeff Wuorio elucidates the many reasons as to why the point of sale system is so significant and important to any business. The article explains that it might be best to just step away from these old cash registers and step up to POS; such as, the Microsoft Dynamic Retail Management System. It is a computer software and hardware network that helps record sales as they are occurring, that way you can keep track of your inventory and pay more attention to your customers. The seven reasons are one your loss of inventory doesn't go undetected, You can keep track of which items that have been marked down, Promotions are easily tracked, it can automate host of functions when the boss is not present, your prices are consistent from one location to the next, you can get ma many tools from this single package such as payroll time clocks and a customer data preference data base, and lastly the best advantage to the POS system is the freedom, because it can now allow your employees to devote more of their time for better customer service.

A leader provider of outsourced staffing solutions for the hospitality industry, Hospitality Staffing Solutions, announced that it has completed the sale of its assets to HS Solutions Corporation. HS Solutions Corporation is an entity formed by LJC Investments 1, LLC and a group of investors including Littlejohn Opportunities Master Fund,LP, Caymus Equity Partners and Management. This transaction allows HSS to reduce its outstanding debt and responsibilities. It also gives the opportunity to emerge with strong financial backing of a new owner.

This article is about a new revolution software in the Quick service industry especially in the Drive-thru area to increase speed of service and customer satisfaction. The new technology called Emprise allows the digital menu board to become a one-on-one sales tool for the quick service provider. Also Emprise has the ability to recognize guests' preferences, personal information and based on that, recommend menu items for customers.

This article gives a few examples of how POS systems can help to prevent theft from employees and even from customers. By implementing POS systems in restaurants owners are able to track orders, how much is paid, how much was comp'ed and so on. This helps owners to keep track of products and sales whereas with a paper system, receipts can be lost, written incorrectly and maybe all sales aren't logged.

According to the article, Bluebird Global has introduced one of the most advanced iPad-based POSs, known as the Revel System, to its base of multi-establishment and fast-paced businesses. Running this many business called for an advanced upgrade from its former POSs. Studies show that software unreliability and lack of accurate data are obstacles to market growth for operators. Introducing the Revel System provided a feature-rich package including inventory management, intelligent reporting, and payroll management. This POS is the only native iPad based app with True Offline and full PCI compliance, also allowing for access and storage to it's cloud system.

Smokey John's Bar-B-Que is a family-owned and operated restaurant. Current owners Brent and Juan recently installed a POS system to aid in the processing of day-to-day operations and data-gathering, including but not limited to table assignments, sales, orders, and server flow and timekeeping. The result has been savings in overtime by being able to track it more accurately; ability to track revenue streams between catering and in-dining; calculation of taxes; implementation and tracking of a loyalty program; and wireless credit card processing that has improved the overall customer experience.

It is hard to forget how thousands of Target customers financial information was compromised last year due to a breach in security of the company's POS. Target is not the only company that has been infected with this program that steals credit and debit card information. Actually, there have been more than a thousand businesses affected by this malware that has come to be called "Backoff." The malware targets POS systems and has stolen millions of credit card numbers as well as personal information on millions of customers. A large majority of cybercrime is focused on attacking business's POS systems. The malware attacks systems by going through a list of common passwords until it is able to hack the system. "Backoff" then disguises itself as a compatible Java component and collects credit card information. However, Apple has recently announced Apple Pay and many believe this can diminish a lot of cybercrime.

It is hard to forget how thousands of Target customers financial information was compromised last year due to a breach in security of the company's POS. Target is not the only company that has been infected with this program that steals credit and debit card information. Actually, there have been more than a thousand businesses affected by this malware that has come to be called "Backoff." The malware targets POS systems and has stolen millions of credit card numbers as well as personal information on millions of customers. A large majority of cybercrime is focused on attacking business's POS systems. The malware attacks systems by going through a list of common passwords until it is able to hack the system. "Backoff" then disguises itself as a compatible Java component and collects credit card information. However, Apple has recently announced Apple Pay and many believe this can diminish a lot of cybercrime.

"The partnership between the two leading hospitality software specialists will help hotels streamline their sales by using only one integrated platform for seamless distribution management."

Beginning in 2018 the financial accounting standards for hotel business are changing. One of the changes is the way OTAs charge for the rooms. Typically the OTAs operate under two methods the retail model and merchant model. The retail model uses the OTA to reserve the room but the final payment is made to the hotel. The hotel then gives a commission back to the OTA. Under The merchant model the payment is made to the OTA. Then the OTA takes the commission off and sends the remaining payment to the hotel for the price of the room. This comes out as a net transaction. The new standard is saying that the company that controls the transaction for the room has to mark the transaction or sale as a gross transaction. The new model forces the hotels to record the transaction on a gross basis. This can be a big difference for hotels because now they will have to increase the amount of costs and reduce the hotels bottom line.