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The technology life cycle provides a model to assess how and when companies and individuals adopt new technologies. Pioneers are generally the first to acquire new technologies and take the greatest risk. A second category of technology users -- leaders -- adopt relatively unproven technologies, but the risks are known and accepted.

In terms of costs and benefits, the best balance appears to be with the leaders who invest significantly less than pioneers and incur reduced risks, yet their technology investments can yield similar benefits.

The desire of operators to improve the guest experience.

The jury has returned its verdict in US Airways’s $134 million antitrust lawsuit against travel technology giant Sabre.

The airline’s lawyers successfully argued that Sabre had threatened it, saying that it had to accept a contract on Sabre’s terms or else be cut off from a network of thousands of travel agents worldwide who depend on the inventory that the tech giant provides via desktop software.

During contract negotiations, Sabre never offered a deal for less than full-content, the airline said. Full-content contracts typically require an airline to provide the same fares it offers via any other channel, such as its own website, to Sabre, too.

Hotels are part of the hospitality industry, where providing good customer service is essential. A hotel’s reputation is staked largely on the guest experience, and investing in proper security services plays a central role in ensuring guests feel safe and protected. It also protects owners from the damages and costs that may arise from criminal activity such as theft.

Security officers patrolling the hotel’s grounds can look out for suspicious activity. Hotels should have security officers regularly patrol the hallways, stairwells, lobbies, parking lots, restaurants and bars.

Security officers can handle unruly guests or visitors and prevent negative situations from spiraling out of control. Officers can also provide additional protection to VIP or controversial guests of the hotel that might attract public attention or protests.

One benefit is that since it keeps track of the company's existing inventory, it automatically generates orders when the stock reaches a certain level. No one has to remember to check those levels manually, because that is done for them and thus it prevents inventory levels of crtical items from running out.

Another important benefit of purchasing software is that it simply speeds up the purchasing process.

Furthermore, the software eliminates confusion that sometimes occurs when orders are received.

Proximity marketing exploits activities that consumers are already involved with — and enjoy — to offer retailers a new path to reach their audiences, affording a higher level of interactivity that didn’t exist before. Proximity marketing expands the scope of interactive marketing in public places — malls, food courts, cinemas, airports, etc. — to offer a more spontaneous and direct interaction. Think of it as taking location-based marketing to an even greater level of "local," and being contextually relevant in absolute terms. Proximity marketing allows retailers to leverage their strengths and create an even more memorable interaction for consumers and, by extension, motivate return visits and increase ROI.

aimed at decreasing the hospitality industry’s carbon footprint, as well as its energy bills.

Philips’ 7 W GU10 master LED lamp with DimTone has been developed to meet these requirements, mindful of the need to provide a solution for spaces with high daily light burning hours, while also retaining an inviting and intimate atmosphere for guests.

DimTone has a significantly longer life span than traditional lighting solutions, lasting 40 000 hours, compared with a halogen lamp’s 2 000-hour life span,

What should hotels look for in their financial management system then?Handling currency complexity

Handling multiple languages

Handling multiple entities

The popularity of VoIP has grown substantially in the last several years and the rise will no doubt continue.

With Hosted PBX, your provider handles the problems for your hotel through the cloud and monitors how the system is operating. Plus, you can enjoy quite a few features of a Hosted PBX setup. These reasons should cement Hosted PBX as a trend throughout 2015.

an employee's mobile device becomes the primary VoIP handset

Leading the way to more efficient paperless businesses are technologies like cloud accounting software, digital payments processors, web-based payroll solutions and accounts payable/receivable software

digital payments processors like Square, Stripe and Braintree in recent years have been a godsend for businesses

making it faster and easier for them to accept money from customers in exchange for goods and services

At some sustainability-focused hotels, sweating the small stuff makes a big difference.

The project reinforced the need for an initiative that Pfister launched about seven years ago to eliminate all single-use plastic straws at all of the Cayuga Collection’s eight luxury sustainable hotels in Costa Rica and Nicaragua

The company pays 10 cents per straw, which it tacks onto the cost of each drink.

Usually, mobility involves a handheld device, such as a tablet or a smart phone.

Furthermore, mobile POS technology ensures secure credit card transactions without the hefty fees often incurred with traditional systems.

This allows for instant communication from table to kitchen, and can even allow tableside payment acceptance, as the credit card remains in view of the customer at all times. 

What should hotels look for in their financial management system then?Handling currency complexityRapid globalisation means that hotels are likely to report in more than one currency. Thus it would be a tremendous help if hotel accounting software can handle multiple currencies. However, it is worth noting that currency translation is not as simple as it looks. Complexity arises when different categories of exchange rates are required depending on circumstances. This is especially problematic when hotels have to follow more than one set of accounting and business rules. Handling multiple languagesEven though English is the default business language globally, it is not necessarily the case that everyone in an organisation grasps all English terminology and statutory reports, especially those that handle day-to-day operations. They are more likely to do the work in their own language. Moreover, different countries have different units of measurements and formats, which need to be reported as well. Hence, it is vital that hotels’ financial management software can handle all of these. Handling multiple entitiesA hotel chain with various branches in different countries or jurisdictions has the extra workload that entails complexity. As a helping tool, a hotel financial management system should be capable of consolidating results from discrete entities for statutory reporting and tax purposes. In other words, it should help the mother company and its subsidiaries keeping track of one another’s financials without interfering with their various legal structures.Supporting multiple charts of accountsAccording to Ventana Research 2011, “maintaining multiple charts of accounts may prove to be both simpler in the long run and more productive” despite some saying that it is best to have one chart of accounts only. The rigid approach of a single chart of accounts is especially unsuitable for companies with different lines of businesses, those in joint-venture arrangements or those acquiring businesses in different countries. Thus, accounting software for hotels should be able to handle simultaneous charts of accounts.Handling multiple calendarsIt is a fact that businesses around the world do not operate on the same fiscal year. To save time from having to recast figures into different calendars, hotels with multinational operations should implement a financial management system that can create local, regional and consolidated reports as needed for management or statutory purposes.Handling tax complexitiesFor hotels operating in various countries, their accounting software should be able to handle the complexities associated with different tax regulations and help defending tax audits. Apart from addressing issues such as multiple entities, charts of accounts, calendars and depreciation schedules, their system should be configured to be tax-aware. In other words, it should provide hotels with automated maintenance of rules and rates.Reporting using multiple accounting standardsGAAP, IFRS and local accounting standards require different accounting treatments. Thus, accounting software for hotels should allow different books for recording transactions under these various accounting rules. Automating the process from closing these books to creating financial statements and reports using multiple accounting standards also helps hotels save time and effort without risks of errors.Supporting different levels of corporate reportingA multinational hotel’s accounting system should be able to create a consolidated headquarters view as well a consolidated statement of several subsidiaries at an intermediate level. Management should be able to view and analyse these reports right at the source.Supporting global accessFinancial management software that allows web-based access can help hotels avoid incurring costs from installing the system individually at all branches or at branches with limited on-premise support. Having a system that can be installed locally, deployed centrally and accessed globally gives hotels a competitive advantage without compromising security and reliability.

While most thought a 24-hour turnaround was acceptable, others were willing to let matters slide longer—potentially incurring dissatisfaction from customers and coworkers.

Adjusted EBITDA decreased by $1.1 million from the comparable period in 2010 primarily due to renovations at Delano and Hudson

During 2011, the Company sold its ownership interests in five hotels while retaining management and terminated its management and ownership interests in the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas

During 2011, the Company reduced its consolidated debt by approximately $232 million

Many event planners continue to rely on older methods such as in-person registration and surveys to monitor attendance and gather feedback from guests, limiting their insight into the real-time status of events.

According to IDC’s latest forecast, the wearables market is expected to grow by 8.2 percent throughout 2018, escalating to double-digit growth in 2019 and beyond — and smartwatches are leading the charge.

Wearables offer an unprecedented balance of digital access and personal contact, because they can deliver quick nuggets of must-have info in a controlled environment, instead of sending guests to their phones — which incur all sorts of distractions from the event.