Hospitality Technology

HFTP (Hospitality Financial And Technology Professionals) have started developing a global hospitality user's guide. This is a three step process: 1) Students at Ecole Hotelierre De Lausanne in Switzerland are gathering data and surveying hotels and putting together words of reference; 2) Distribute assembled data to regional teams of industry professionals and then they will create sample charts; 3) Finalization of the project by authoring a discussion on similarities and differences of allocations. Initially the guide will be published in English, with other languages being published later on.

How are the students at Ecole Hotelierre De Lausanne in Switzerland surveying hotels; i.e. what methods are they using? A great idea in an increasingly globalized world economy.

That's an excellent question! The article did not go into detail about how the students will survey the hotels, it just mentioned that they would collect data and survey hotels.

This article talks about the many different roles of being a hotel accountant. As the article stated, every hotel has its own financial department that has their own criteria. It is impossible to get a specific detail on how or what is it that you will be doing at your job. Each hotel and hotel chain chooses to employ their finance team's talents, since many hotels utilize their financial employees in different ways and hotels of various sizes have differing department structures. According to the article, the three major broad categories that you may fall into working as a financial accountant for a hotel are; accounts receivables, guest service, audits training, and month end reports. Work done in accounts receivables is basically retrieving debts that are owed to the hotel by different companies who hold a credit to the hotel. Guest services includes dealing any financial guest service issues. Last but not least, auditors include counting inventory, reviewing financial paperwork and investigating discrepancies found in the expense ledger.

I don't understand the title of this post. Specifically "BUsing." Please clarify.

I am also confused with the title, but I really interested in this article. It is true that it is impossible to give a detailed description of how each hotel or hotel chain chooses to employ their finance team's talents. Nowadays, many hotels utilize their financial employees in different kinds of ways.

This article basically talks about an outsourcing accounting company, Indevia Accounting and how its accounting program works for small businesses.  The list of services Indevia offers is long, from recording and reporting daily and weekly sales, to offering accurate bank and credit card reconciliations, and everything in between. Indevia reports in real time, offers consistent reporting. Operators can see their food and labor costs and they can vary those based on where they find inefficiencies.  The owner of Indevia accounting was an accountant and he even designed himself a 20-point review checklist to catch mistakes in any of their reports so that they could learn what they need from the clients.  This article seems a little bit advertising but I could think that it is important to have a personalized accounting program that will best fit our specific needs.

That's a good sign that he took the initiative to implement essentially a system of checks and balances with the 20-point review checklist. Just knowing that he accepts that there may be some flaws but he is being preemptive would make me more confident in investing in his program.

Hospitality Finance and Technology Professionals (HFTP) is creating an accounting system users guide to create a global resource for the hospitality finance industry. This is going to be a great resource for companies to use as a benchmark when compiling accounts, comparing differences with competitors and defining the value of their operation. Although it will not be used as mandatory protocol that all companies must abide by, it is a great tool to use as guidance. It will consist of a glossary, accounting charts and provide examples.

This article explains how the hospitality industry is taking their own twist on accounting. Similar to GAAP, the hospitality industry will use the Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals' (HFTP) global hospitality accounting system users guide. HFTP is a global professional association dedicated to financial and personal in the industry. It is implementing a benchmark that stakeholders can use to gather accounts, compare regional differences, and set the value of operations. It will have a glossary of inventory terminology, charts, and benchmark specific regions of the world. HFTP plans to create this in 3 steps. The first step is to gather bachelor students at Ecole Hoteliere De Laudanne to gather data from hotel operations and assemble the terms. The second step is to distribute the data to regional teams that will create sample charts of accounts for the local areas. The third step is to discuss similarities and differences in allocations. I think this great for the hotel industry because will have a common accounting principle to reference to. It will allow hotels to better be indexed and compared to one another.

This article outlines one software suite that can be used in a vast array of functions for the hotel industry. As shown in this article the ASI program includes everything from accounting to reservations and even a point of sale system. Other features include data mining software and call logging.The latter are used to build consumer profiles for the hotel to use in later visits. Overall this is a good alternative for smaller boutique hotels that still includes all the necessary programs of a full PMS. The accounting software is definitely up to par and can perform all necessary functions such as night audits and running supply counts.

Accounting is very essential in any business. If not done correctly and accurately this can destroy a business. Hospitality Accounting Services is a multi-faceted company that is specializes in accounting procedures for the hotel industry. Furthermore, they provide clients with internal control auditing, data archiving and report automation systems and hotel information systems consulting.

This website introduces a hospitality accounting system, Profitvue. This system can serve both hotel groups and individual hotels. Not like other accounting software, the Profitvue is very easy to learn and the chart on this website can help you understand how it works. It also introduces its extensive cloud-based system, which is called the Webvue. This system allows hotel to access its statistical data base and generate reports via the internet.

What hotel call accounting does is to track, manage, and bill or allocate phone calls made by guests or employees. It has played a critical role in the lodging industry for decades. By the mid-1980s, call accounting was a very profitable source for most of hotels/motels because it generated thousands of dollars each month. However, hotel call accounting has been less important due to the presence of cell phones, decrease in long distance rates. At this point, hoteliers may wonder if they really need call accounting systems. The author emphasizes that hotel call accounting is still important and beneficial for hotels/motels in many ways: billing hotel guests for all phone calls, detecting phone misuse or abuse, decreasing billing errors, etc. Mostly, revenues from call accounting alone can cover the costs for phone equipment and service, so hotels do not take any risk. The author also stresses that call accounting has a bright future. Even though the importance of call accounting has decreased, hotels still need a way to track and bill phone calls to guests and departments as PMS and phone systems get more advanced, as Internet and VoIP are used more and more.

                  This article talks about the importance of call accounting in hotels. Call Accounting is a hotel's ability to track and analyze the phone calls made from its grounds.                   Call Accounting is a software that is still a necessity even though it no longer makes as much money as it used to. Warner says, "Now that cell phones are everywhere and long distance rates have significantly decreased, call accounting does not allow properties to bring in nearly as much revenue as before. For many hotels/motels, call accounting has been forced to take a back seat in their organization."       Call Accounting shouldn't be eliminated simply because the ROI is less. Tracking where a 911 call originated and providing quality customer service is more important than money. If you provide proper customer service, the money will come.          In another article on Ezine articles, Warner said, "Without a call accounting system, hotel managers do not have the information needed to quickly resolve guest concerns and may be confronted with headaches and disgruntled customers. However, by using a call accounting system, managers can have the added security and peace of mind that they have the information needed to help their guests and to understand, manage, improve, and control telephone activities."                  

Hotels and restaurants that have gone green, try to analyze how to effectively market the facet of their operation or how to market themselves going green. Some factors they would have to acknowledge about going green are how the practices can affect them and also where these supplies come from. Hotels can follow concepts of restaurant that focus on supply chain and local sourcing which might be an effective way of communicating environmental priorities. Front line employees are the best way to start with convincing customers that the establishment is committed  to being green.

This article discusses several technologies in which all hotels should invest in, in order to stay competitive within the market. The author goes on to discuss technologies such as: interactive television, increasing bandwith, RFID sensors, mobile application technology, and energy management. I think the article brings up valid points in awknowledging that the identity of the traveler is changing and becoming more "tech-savy". In essence, to keep attracting guests hotels must invest in these technologies in order to have a competitive advantage among those who haven't yet invested in such new innovations.

IT investment are pushed forward now and days more so for guest satisfaction. A recent Motorola Solutions Inc has uncovered a study that fifty six percent of hospitality organization plan to increase their mobile investment and wireless technology with greater data volumes and high speed access. This will increase drastically competitive advantage for the business and customer experience. Some find it a challenge in convincing upper management to approve investing in to the latest technology. As well as demonstrating that a proposed technology investment will be beneficial for their business and will assist in continuous up to date trends and market competition. I highly agree that technology is a must in this industry, especially how fast it is changing. In order to stay within the competitive advantage and provide convenience for our guest it is necessary to invest and update into the latest technology. The initial investment might be extreme especially if you have been out of date from any recent technology however, with time the results will be returned with satisfied guest and fast paced PMS systems.

Information Technology is indispensable in the hospitality industry for several reasons. This article discusses how many hotels are increasing their investment in I.T because of its abundant advantages, especially guest satisfaction. It particularly states how mobile and wireless technology will aid in guests pleasure but ensure competitive advantage as well. They looked at a study of Motorola Solutions Market Barometer of 2011 where they fundamentally determine the emerging trends in the industry and opportunities. They then came to understand that businesses are investing more on hospitality information technology to not only assist in customer retention but to have an overall high-quality system that can manage their daily duties such as inventory, budget, and status of room reservations.

This article talks about how hotel companies are starting to invest more in information technology to provide a more enhanced guest experience. A survey done by Motorola Solutions found that 56% of hospitality companies are looking to invest in more mobile technology. While companies are looking to invest more in technology, it has been challenging to convince higher management levels to make the investment. Radi Karnib with Rotana Hotel Management said that it's important to demonstrate the benefits of the investment. Daniel Haijar with Layia Hospitality agrees and goes on to say that it's important to differentiate between what's an investment and what's an expense.

This article in USATODAY published in 2011 talks about the cost benefit analysis of RFID tags and hotel linens. Hotels are using this technology to keep an accurate count of all their linens: bathrobes, bed sheets, towels, bathmats, pool towels, etc. The benefit of having an accurate count is especially significant today with the rising price of oil which in turn raises everything including cotton. By investing an additional dollar per towel the Hotel can cut down on labor costs and improve housekeeping productivity. The initial investment is high which is why many hotels cannot afford the technology. I would recommend that high-end luxury hotels invest in the RFID tags however because of the higher prices of luxury linens. By preventing asset pilfering the Hotel will retain their initial investment in linens.

I saw that and I enjoyed your cruise ship article very much. However I am glad that cruise ships are still making RFID wrist bands optional because of privacy concerns, the last thing you want to worry about while on vacation.

In my opinion it's an ideal solution but a bit impratical. Is it worth spending that one extra dollar on all the linens in a hotel just to prevent 5% to 20% known loss? Intention of cutting losses might end with increasing cost. Don't forget the tracking RFID also requires maintenance, which also costs extra.

Fiji is working on its tourist-attracting image. There are a lot of countries where tourism is the main financial sector of economy, so when the good tourist image is lost the economy of the whole country goes down. That's why Fiji now is trying to find a way out after the events of 1987 and 2000 which cost them their reputation and the country lost a lot of potential tourists. The main goal now is to provide security travel advisory to tourists and provide a safety service to them. By now this policy resulted in the rise of tourist arrivals. "According to figures released by the Bureau of Statistics tourist arrival figures rose from 631,868 in 2010 to 675,050 in 2011"

I think Fiji gets to the point. If one country relies its economy on the tourism, the government should put much emphasis on finding a way for the tourists, developing the safety plan for them in order to make sure their safety.

I do agree with you but in my opinion not all countries have enough finances for building the perfect service.

Room serve technology in hotels - research for paper 

This article basically talks about a successful adoption of HRIS system for Wente Family Estates. This company is comprised of numerous business units including a vineyard and winery, a restaurant, and a world class golf course. Their HR team and managers are responsible for a wide range of people, jobs, and related to the company's workforce. So they needed a solution for better talent management, sustainability, and improved time management and selected the Ultimate Software's HRIS system. The HRIS system enables HR team to easily assess employee performance against measurable goals and job competencies, create employee development plans, identity high performing employees for key positions, and build an environment that maximizes talent and rewards their best performers. Besides, it enables their employees to go online to view relevant details about their hours worked and schedules. It also enables managers to log on to the system at any time to stay on top of hours and labor costs so that they can quickly make decisions such as modifying schedules or job responsibilities, if needed, to control costs.  This type of cloud based HRIS system will bring many benefits to companies comprised of diverse business units to manage their human capital.

For large corporations is indispensable to count with the right HRIS that will assist the companies to organize in a logical order all the such as employment activities and job analysis.

The article talks about how the most important gastronomic event in Brazil "The Pernambuco Restaurant Week" was promoted to attract a large population. This festival started 20 years ago in New York and nowadays it takes place in 100 cities around the world. By marketing the festival through different media channels and promoting it through e-marketing the participating restaurants are expecting exposure, brand recognition and an increase of business "The festival is aimed at warming the sales of the restaurants that, in turn, undertake to transfer part of the profit to a social institution. This year the organization was chosen as the Child Citizen Orchestra Boys of coke, which serves 130 youths, between 4 and 19 years." The main sponsor of this famous event was MasterCard giving the brand popularity, position, and exposure in the Brazilian market.

Thank you for sharing this. I love Brazilian food. I will have to see if there is any restaurants in the area that are participating.

Should brands be using Facebook Timeline? Yes they certainly should. With the ability to post photos and videos, brands are given a great oppotunity to advertise themselves with more than just plain words to see a significant boost. Comments and likes from fans and non fans will increase the popularity of a brand. Facebook Time like has become the new way for marketing at a low or no cost.

It would be interesting to see their growth because of the chronological set up of Facebook Timeline. Pictures are also very effective.