Hospitality Technology

Hotel de Paris in opulent Monte Carlo, Monaco pleasantly surprises as a forerunner in the hospitality industry's green revolution. Prince Albert II leads by example after having a 'sustainably' lavish wedding using local and fair-trade products. Even though "mullet carpaccio" does not sound delectable to me; I am sure world renowned Chef Alain Ducasse knows how to transform the ordinary into extraordinary. Prince Albert II went so far to even have his cows supply the milk for his ice cream dessert, I call that dedication. With such excellent leadership and funding in the green initiative the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation addresses three major environmental issues: climate change, biodiversity and water consumption. Because of the Foundation visitors to Monaco participate in the green initiative with or without their knowledge. The casino, four hotels, several restaurants and spas all educate their staff on how to "be green." Hybrid shuttles, organic farming, reclaimed watering, on-site herb gardens and the banning of bluefin tuna are all examples of how the hospitality industry in Monaco has gone green. Monaco's will and initiative in the green revolution is inspiring. I hope that every hotel worldwide can try to adopt some of these practices and look to Monaco as a role model.

This article discusses how Shift4 POS provider and Service Tracking Systems for valet parking have come together to integrate their two systems to make it possible for guests to be charged for valet parking directly to their room folio, instead of splitting up the two charges, which is making it easier for the guests and management on a day to day basis.

This is a really good implementation for hotels. By charging the parking fee to the rooms, it is not necessary for guests to worry about whether they have cash or not. It also saves the time for passing the exit of the hotel.

The added convenience of this feature is great. It is suprising that this has not been in place longer. It seems like a no brainer since hotels have been able to direct bill a room for dinner for so long. Next they should direct bill the tip for the bag courier so you do not need to tip him at the door. Once a guest accepts help to his/her room, the "delivery" fee could be charged directly to the room. This removes the need for a service evaluation when you have just arrived at a hotel. The tip amount could be tasteful revealed to the guest so there are no suprizes.

This article mainly speaks of the positive influences that non-metro cities can have on the income of e-commerce companies. Due to the remoteness of some of these cities, e-commerce is a convenient way for them to purchase some products that would otherwise be unattainable. Although these e-commerce companies see the potential in these smaller cities, they believe that once broadband becomes widely available to the world their sales will increase in all aspects. The convenience of broadband in wide regions would give new locations the potential to buy and sell online.

The NPD Group, Inc., a global provider of consumer and retail market research for a wide range of industries, has reached an agreement with Walmart to receive and analyze its point-of-sale information in the U.S. This new agreetment will be based on the two companies sharing their point-of-sales system in order to analyze POS statistics about what kind of products people prefer to buy. After the analysis, the result will be sent to manufactors so that they can produce more prefered products. And Walmart will increase their sales too.

Opportunities for adopting green initiatives are becoming more and more common in the hospitality industry. IT updates and implementations have become a sustainable practice to reduce cost, provide a better guest satisfaction and environmentally friendly. One of the ways to start off the green initiatives is by effectively reducing energy and paper consumption; this gets done by using smart phones to replace key cards and using emails to reduce paper flow. Another green initiative is the effective technology practice such as energy star which is the system that powers down a computer automatically after it has not been used for a period of time. The use of digital media (social media) instead of print media is a fantastic way to save money while lowering the impact on the environment. Green initiatives are coming up pretty fast and are required to have a strong commitment but all vary depending on the size of organization, demand of business and location of doing business. I have seen many hotels implementing green initiatives in their facilities which at first can become extremely costly but in the long term very cost effective and environmentally friendly and expand the guest experience. I have seen hotels that have a HVAC system which senses the presence of someone in the room, this system puts the AC temperature high when room is vacant and lowers the temperature when it is occupied. Additionally the lighting of the room works the same; it turns on when someone is present and automatically turns off when the room is vacant. Just these two initiatives alone can save the property millions of dollars in a period of a year. In my opinion, going green is a great way to benefit every one involved, the guest, the environment, and cost efficient (long term) for hoteliers. The green initiative has not yet been a giant boom, but in a few years a larger amount of guest will prefer to stay in a green environmental friendly hotel then with a non green hotel. I believ

Counterfeit and stolen credit cards are a headache for businesses of all kinds, but hotels, like other businesses, can protect themselves by following the credit card companies' mandated procedures. However, hotels have another problem that John E. Nichols, vice president of internal audit for Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. in Phoenix, describes as "the biggest issue I see in the hotel industry." This article goes into detail of the trials and tribulations that go into protecting businesses from credit card fraud, especially at hospitality establishments. The idea is, that by having an internal auditor at each and every major business, you decrease the risk of this happening, because you have someone constantly monitoring the ins and outs of your daily worklife.

The article basically is talking about the e commerce in India, more and more people in India start to shop on line and the number of shoppers is five times increased than it had before. Within 2 years, e commerce growth numbers has moved from nothing to billion dollars per annum. In the future, e commerce still play an important role and effect the way people shopping, also more and more promising companies will emerge.

This is a great article that discusses the upcoming technology that restaurants are looking into (and starting to use). There are five trends when it comes to the industry's technology: Energy Reduction, "Smart Operations", Multiuse equipment, Custom Equipment, and Mobile Ordering. This article shows how technology can help on reducing waste, but even the technology itself is smarter and greener, using less energy and recycling the energy it has already used (reclaiming steam from a dishwasher to use in future washes-an example of energy efficient equipment ). Mobile ordering saves wait time for consumers and reduces waste from tickets/receipts being printed. "Smart" equipment is assisting in reducing food waste in kitchens. And Multiuse equipment is reducing energy use/costs. This article is a perfect example of how technology is helping to reduce waste and energy.

"The Motorola Solutions 2011 Hospitality Market Barometer reveals that 91 percent of hospitality decision makers realize the increasing importance of mobile and wireless technology, while 78 percent recognize the role mobility plays in ensuring a competitive advantage for their business. As a result, hospitality venues are investing in new technology, as well as powerful wireless networks to handle greater data volumes and increasing demands for high-speed access from the customer and mobile workforce. "

The article analyzed why hotels do investment to It in 2011. It concluded three main reasons, which are elevating the guest experience, empowering the mobile worker, and enabling operational efficiency. It's already 2013 now and things can become different. Hotels should invent carefully according to its specific necessary and customers' necessary.

Dear team! I found an article, very old but to me, very actual and interesting about how the Internet Technology is improving and progressing, and the investment bring benefits only. In 2011 , only 4 years ago, we can see that the companies were having a clear plan to improve the communication system. By introducing wireless, tablets, WLANs , to improve network reliability... Today we have it all on hands. We are using all the devices online , wireless and with no problem to access. No cords on the floor, no telegrams ... Internet technologies is a big progress in our century and is developing and growing, by leaving some of us behind. :)

This articles talks about the nature of the hotel industry, which is inherently wasteful. when we see from energy and water use to waste generation, the guests in the hotel consume more resources than they do at home. Unless and until the hotels don't take steps to reduce waste and over-consumption of resources, this industry will have a large environmental impact on the world. the hotels which have green lodging standards reduce the impact of their operations and the bad part is that majority of the hotels have not even adopted these standards. the reasons could be either the management doesn't know the impact on the environment, or they believe the process is costly and time consuming, or the person who holds the responsibility is not doing his/her job right. Just like the law of science says "every action has equal and opposite reaction". similarly we can say, that managers and their managing practices can make a big difference in climate changes of the environment. Most of the hotel rooms say to recycle our towels, is it to recycle or to save their costs ? There could also be a possibility of having a wrong manager at the wrong position, who is not willing to widen his/her scope and learn about green initiatives, because in the end, these investments will generate benefits, financial, social and environmental.

Immaculata University in southeast Pennsylvania has replaced 20 standard water fountains with new "hydration stations." In addition to the regular spout, there is an outflow at the top. The fountains' tap water is supplied by Elkay, an Illinois-based water supply company. Each fountain has the ability to keep track of the number of refills and displays it as the number of water bottles that are NOT going into a landfill as a result. Putting a number to this green initiaive is a great way to get people involved and make them more aware of how much they can contribute by doing simple things like reusing a water bottle. It also encourages students to drink more water instead of sugary sodas and other carbonated beverages. With about half of the students using refillable bottles last year, the university's environmental club plans to hold events and give away refillable bottles to increase the use of these fountains.  I think it is great that you can see the contribution you are making with the tracker on the fountain, as I am all for doing my part to reduce waste headed to landfills. I just wonder how much waste is being produced by replacing the still-working standard fountains. 

1/5 of travel businesses make more than 50% of their revenue from sales outside the GDS booking system, and as they do this, payment transactions are more unreliable and vulnerable opening bigger risks to the customers

Travel Agents are now faced with the situation where they have to utilize all channels to stay afloat. The market has gotten so competitive with more airlines going the direct booking route. Travel Agents now have to be flexible though they face the risk of multiple accounting systems. This could potentially increase the cost of doing business and they may have to input information in multiple system which of course per article may lead to mistakes. GDS may need to look at their approach and some of the fees charged if this trend continues.

The majority of guests don't want to hear about a hotel's greening efforts around reductions in water, waste, energy and chemicals. Happily, the same is not true when it comes to food-a good story around food that's local creates a unique and memorable dining experience, and adds great value to a guest stay. Celebrating food that is local, and exposing a sense of your hotel's community, with support for local vendors and growers, is an important part of sustainability. Sharing what is unique about your community, and introducing visitors to local people, traditions and local food makes it a richer guest experience.Bringing community members together to work in collaboration can benefit both the environment, the community at large and becomes a compelling story around food for your guest. Inn by the sea green lodging certified,The goal is to preserve overly fished species, and to highlight and create demand for less expensive and underutilized seafood that is delicious and abundant.It is hoped the awareness will also benefit fishermen economically.

This news talk about the benefits of the CPA model to the international hotel sector that for management accounting to add value to the business decision-making process, the information presented should be perceived to have relevance to the decision maker. To be seen to be relevant, the information should reflect both the decision-maker's responsibilities, together with the nature of the product and/or service to which the information relates.

Does hospitality technology get your gigabytes moving? Do you enjoy pints of Guiness and a sea of Green? You might want to check out this link. Two companies in Ireland are hiring for research and development positions for international travel software and Internet products and services. Their products and services are used by OTA's airlines and hotels around the world. If this is your niche, apply soon! This is exactly what this class is about. Slainte!

This weeks module is about learning the green terms for hospitality. Therefore the first link I have provided is the vocabulary of the concept of Cradle to Cradle. Cradle to Cradle is a concept that ends the linear model of resource extraction to product manufacturing to land fill instead it becomes a circular model that eliminates the concept of waste. It follows the Triple Bottom Line of profits, planet, people in the design of products energy resource. Hotels can purchase Cradle to Cradle or C2C certified products from carpet and flooring, building exteriors to laundry detergents that are made to be reabsorbed into the circular model. This website is worth checking out. This link below is a summary of C2C in their own PDF Design for the Future http://www.mbdc.com/images/Design_For_C2C_Future.pdf

This article discusses the "Green Hotel" award that is presented every two years to Asean resorts. The purpose of this award is to bring awareness to hotels about the importance of being eco-friendly and preserving our environment. Thousands of hotels compete for this award based on criteria including water efficiency, air quality management, collaboration with local organizations and external communities. I personally love that collaborating with external communities is a criteria for this award because I find that to be very important. Well-known resorts should help smaller organizations and team up with them to show they care about those around them. Once of the recipients, Daluyon Beach and Mountain Resort, focused on protecting and sustaining the rich ecosystem surrounding their resort by constructing their resort using eco-ethical materials and placing priority in sustaining its environment-friendly atmosphere. The hope is for these awards to be an incentive to improve the tourism industry and to provide awareness to the hospitality industry regarding global warming and other important natural effects hotels are having on our environment. While it promotes healthy competition in the tourism industry, it also improves the quality of the hotels in Asean countries which in turn will lead to more tourism and financials for the country.

The article talks about the new green hotel, which is currently under construction, but will soon be opened to public. Everything in this hotel will be constructed from the green-wise point of view: starting from water heating systems, ending eco-packages and special offers. A must stay for every ecologist.

It appears that American Airline is about to remove itself from the tradition global distribution system and introduce its own distribution system. American Airlines is advocating for distribution companies to utilize AA direct connect which is a direct link into AA's host reservations system. Currently American Airlines fares are no longer available on Expedia or Orbitz sites. This is because no contractual agreement was reached for the distribution of AA products. Travel professionals are waiting to see the result of this bold move by American as this has great implication for the future of airline distribution systems. If American Airlines pulls away from the mainstream GDS, consumers and travel specialist alike will be faced with the inconvenience of going to a separate reservations system to compare fares. Although travel professionals are now urged to use direct connect on a trial basis, the general feeling is that eventually they will be charged to sell American Airline flights. To defend this move American Airline is only saying that direct connect will make it easier for them to tract ancillary fees like priority seating. It was noted in the article that Southwest Airline for the most part is a stand alone reservations system but they do not negotiate with the GDS companies to sell their flights. It is therefore quite evident that this move by American is really to reduce expenditure by eliminating the middle GDS companies while increasing revenue by charging travel partners for utilizing direct connect. American Airlines clearly wants to globally control their distribution system and maximize revenues. Contract renewal for both world span and sabre are due and the experts are waiting to see if American will renew with them. Sabre is owned by American Airlines so its a wait and see game to see how all this will be panned out. The real problem for the consumers and travel specialists are that if other airlines are to follow this move by American the tra

This article explains the distribution route American Airlines is taking to sell their flights. Due to not seeing eye to eye with the two most probably used websites for travel, Expedia and Orbitz, American has now taken their products away from both airline distribution sites. American suggest that all travel agencies and distribution companies begin using Direct Connect, which is a system for only American Airlines flights. If this would happen, travel agencies and companies will then begin having to pay for the system in order to sell Americans flights. At the moment you can still book flights through other distribution sites, but until when will that be? They already stopped Orbitz and Expedia, what's not to stop the others. The future of global distribution systems will be up in the air if all airlines choose to sell their own systems to be able to sell reservations. The only positive that was pointed out in this article was that if this system takes over, then more consumers will have to go back to using travel agents to secure the best reservations for flights and such.

With the contracts for major global systems, Worldspan and Sabre, being up for renewal in the near future, this article analyses the possible outcomes for airlines, and alternatives should they choose not to forgo continuing use of GDS

This article illustrated that a creative way to produce electricity and at the same time to encourage guests to do sports. The Crowne Plaza Hotel in Copenhagen provides the guests with the equipments just like the bicycles. Guests will have to produce at least 10 watt hours of electricity - roughly 15 minutes of cycling for someone of average fitness. This is a new idea for the hotel to propagandize the green hotel concept and benefits of doing sports. The most important, the hotel uses the free meal to encourage guests to join this interesting activity. Actually, the hotel has already applied the solar panels to produce renewable energy. I think this is a fantastic idea. Firstly, in this environment friendly way, the hotel gets electricity. Secondly, it encourages the guests to do more sports and it is good for their health. As people nowadays do not pay enough attention to sports and this way can encourage them do some sports. Thirdly, it also put the "green hotel" concept into practice and in this way to encourage more and more hotels to generate new ideas to promote the environmentally friendly hotel development. Moreover, this new idea can help the hotel build a good image, as people pay more and more intention to the environment. The practice of the new idea is good opportunity for the hotel to advertise itself.