Hospitality Technology

Telecommunication is a kind of trasmission and information. In old times, smoke signal or colorful flags were used as telecommunications. Nowadays, telecommunication involves use of electrical devices such like telephones and videos.  I think there are lots of people among us working in restaurant right now. So I want to ask a question: Does it frequently happen  that the phone rings when you are crazy with customers' orders? I am always struggling in such crazy situation which leads me to bad working mood. In this article, it mentioned telecommunication method that help servers in restaurant handle with phone calls in rush hours. Instead of voice message, Automated Attendant will send voice messages directly to managers' emails, which means not have to pick up the phone to hear voice mails. It really makes sense because sometimes servers even have no time to listen to the voice mails in phones, which will let restaurant miss some important dinner reservations. So as a server in restaurant, I do think telecommunication is helpful and significant.

AirTight that is the provider of wireless intrusion prevention (WIPS) rated very positively in 2012 Marketscope for its prevention systems. In today's developed Internet based society, wireless networks are getting significant and using universally with the people's demand for convenience. Wireless networks are, of course, more convenience networks than wired networks, but they are obviously less secure. Because of this fact, the wireless networks users need to consider the security vulnerabilities, and take a proactive approach to detecting the vulnerabilities and responding security incidents quickly. This is AirTight who provides the tools called WLAN IPS for the users in order to help them solve these growing concerns. To be specific, AirTight systems provide both on-premise and cloud WIPS and secure WIFI access to detect and classify all wireless device on the network automatically. By doing so, they can forbid unauthorized devices from accessing the network. I feel that sometimes, the companies or people try to overlook the significant risks because of the conveniences. The wireless networks security might be also one of these kinds of risks. Therefore, I think the systems offered by AirTight are helpful for the companies or people to keep their sensitive information safely.

The partnership of AutoClerk, Inc., Technology At Work, and PhoneSuite is changing the approach to technology packages for hotels. This technology addresses the issues of solely-based cloud based solutions by additionally offering "premise-based property management solutions". Its application for property management and phone systems is most compelling. The software extends its use to smaller boutique hotels, B&Bs, and larger corporate hotels with its variety in package solutions. For international guests, the use of Interactive Voice Response allows for the use of their own native language, tailoring the hotel experience to the individual and group needs.

The three companies AutoClerk, Inc., Technology At Work and PhoneSuite. They provide complete techonology packages for hotels. The packages mainly include software, hardware, IP-based Private Branch Exchange phone system and network design. The package could use the same computer to run the hotel's Property Management system. It is able to offer could-based and premise-based property management solutions. The AutoClerk could interface to many standard systems, such as Internet reservations or restaurant Point-of-sale. The PhoneSuite developed a server-based hotel phone system called Voiceware. It coud run both administrative and guest room Session Initiation Protocol phones.It can be hosted "in the cloud" as a server.

Heritage hotels and resorts, regarded for their culturally distinct hotels, made a strategic decision to leave its representation service, switch to RezView NG from Legacy CRS, and begin to use Pegasus connect for global distribution. The brand's use of the global distribution systems has yielded a 23% increase in year-to-date revenue. Heritage hotels and resorts initially left its representation service in order to renew its focus on offering its unique and independent hotels, which are tailored to the property's unique local culture. Heritage was forced to make a decision regarding how to maintain global visibility. Kathleen Cullen, who is the vice president of revenue strategies for Heritage hotels and resorts, talks about how flexibility was one of the biggest factors considered when researching the new platform. She also talks about customer service being an important factor, and how as a young company they needed to go with a business partner that would help Heritage grow their business. Pegasus' RezView NG was the first major redesign to the CRS in more than 20 years. It won several awards, and was implemented by more than 8000 properties. Cullen states that RezView NG allowed Heritage hotels to redesign their revenue management strategy, affording them the flexibility to allow their hotels to structure themselves in the best possible ways for their unique destinations. Also, Heritage chose Pegasus distribution through Pegasus connect, allowing Heritage properties to their rates, availability, and overall hotel experience to online travel agencies, corporate travel departments, and tour operators. Overall, since the implementation of these new technologies, Heritage has seen a 23% growth in revenue generated through the GDS, which further increases solid gains realized last year.

Now with Peagsus CRS system any budget constraint property has the opportunity to market globally. Attracting a foregin market would certainly give the hotel an edge over it's local competition especially in a state like New Mexico.

The article I read was called, 'Why the Future of Online Hotel Marketing is Cloud-Based Utility Computing.' In the article, it says that technology is moving super fast these days and companies are trying everything they can to keep up, for example building websites and starting blogs, but they feel that it's not enough. Up until now companies could not manage all of their marketing efforts from one place but now they can and it's called utility computing in-the-cloud. "Utility computing is a broad concept that encapsulates cloud computing and software as a service (SaaS)."Some hotel owners feel intimidated because a website does not seem as permanent as owning something. One example that I really liked that they gave in the article was, "When I rent a movie from Blockbuster, I have a limited selection (whatever fits in the store) and when I'm done with the video, I have to return it and rent it again to watch it again." Compared this to Netflix, where you have access to hundreds of thousands of videos and you can watch them as many times as you want and for any long as you want for no additional cost. When you embrace SaaS, you gain million dollar technology that never grows outdated, compare this to a website that is only built on thousand-dollar technology and can get outdated, and it sounds like a great investment!

This news tells us that the hotel management corporation upgrades online booking system. Oriens Travel & Hotel Management Corp., is an International Boutique Hotel Brand Operator operating hotels world-wide. On September 6th, it announced they had completed to upgrade its Online Booking System. As all we know, online booking system is an easy to use, web-based internet reservation system used internationally by a diverse range of accommodation providers. The upgrades included payment gateways for processing credit cards, PayPal payment solutions, Google Payment Solution, 128bit security encryption, and a more user-friendly backend platform being used by hotel revenue managers on a daily basis. What's more, the mobile App is being integrated into the system. These upgrades will make the booking progress more seamless and easier.

In this article, Michele McDonald describes how the IATA Organization which represents thousands of travel agents across the world and GDS Companies are butting head over merchandising capabilities with GDS systems. Travel Agents are starting to feel the impact of technology with GDS systems. The IATA organization describes today's GDS screen much like a screen from the 1970's. The IATA members' main concern is the capability of the system; Brewer a member of the advisory board of Everbread, an air fare shopping company explains how airlines and consumers are becoming more sophisticated with technology and with the outdated GDS's systems consumer trends are being hindered. The major GDS's companies do not agree with the IATA organization, they feel that their systems are adequately able to perform the role. Should GDS's companies switch to more web-based systems allowing travel agents to perform their roles more efficiently? This is probably a question that Sabre, Amadeus, and other companies should keep in mind as technology continues to advance. I also feel that both the airlines and GDS's companies should partner with the workforce; the travel agents who are the frontline to determine what things should be updated if needed.

This article is talking about the E-Business in modern society. The internet has completely reshaped customer relationships. The transformation began with the dot-com boom, which spawned a new type of company whose entire business model was predicated on Web acceptance and usage. Soon, traditional " brick-and-mortar" enterprises realized that to survive, they too had to satisfy customer expectations to procure goods and services over the Internet. Out of this, the traditional differentiation between B2C and B2B emerged. For some time, the differentiation existed. Today, however, in this new internet world, the line between B2C and B2B e-Business is blurring. Faced with the demand for greater personalization, B2B and B2C make a lot of improvement. While the merger of B2C and B2B will have a powerful impact on business, it will not erase the differences that exist among different markets. Still the key is that sameness exists in the need for companies to provide their customers with product and service catalogs. The Internet has raised the bar on consumer expectations. Companies who understand this will succeed, and in turn, provide a Web experience that meets the unique preferences of each of their customers whether they are B2C or B2B.

/This article was interesting because it talk about how the Regal Hotels Group was able to connect their custom built PMS to the world via Room Distribution Exchange, a direct connectivity platform. This new technology helped Regal Hotels to gain two-way access to the world's leading booking sites. Regal did not have to change its existing PMS system which could have been costly. RDX gives hotels with traditional PMS the opportunity to reach the world.

Building their own PMS puts Regal Hotels Group above everyone else; making them more efficient thus reducing cost and impacting their bottom line. Its interest how a company can see the big picture in technology advancements and implement those cost saving features.

Sabre's AgentStream has now surpassed 10,000 members and launched in the Asia Pacific region. AgentStream allows agents to collaborate with other travel agents around the world and obtain useful tips from a global community; talk virtually with other global AgentStream users or communicate exclusively with members of its own private sub-community; gain and share insights on suppliers, destinations and properties. These power can all help agents provide the very best service to their customers. 

Use of property management system PMS cost money in terms of upfront investment or maintenance or fees for using a vendor's system but the money generated by the use of the system outweighed the costs. Hotel rooms are perishable and any empty room means waste of resource and therefore using PMS to fill up as many rooms as possible is wise. Likewise empty restaurant costs the owner money to cover the fixed cost including the minimum labor to keep it open.

This is a great way to collect the preferences of your customers, it definitely gives them new options that were not available before, the hospitality industry is constantly changing, technology becomes more important every day. This technology can also be a tool for management to keep track of sales and minimize theft.

Apple has made an announcement regarding the release of the iPhone 5 this Friday September 15.  How does this affect hospitality?  With all of the enhancements that apple has pressed forward with this new iPhone, hospitality will feel pressure to adapt and change with the times and you nailed it, they will have to continue to buy new tech.  If apple is able to make their iPhone 18% thinner and 20% lighter while making it larger and more durable, the hospitality industry will have to respond in their own tech.  Also, this new technology enables hospitality firms to direct their efforts more effectively with better tech.

On January 2012, President Obama announced an executive order that would allow travelers from Brazil and China to receive travel VISA faster than before. A study from Huffington Post.com showed that on 2010 Brazilians spent $5,400 per visit, more than any other tourist. This executive order will help increase tourism travel across the nation that will help the economy. The order will help the travel industry, retail and housing. The property that I work at Walt Disney World hosts the majority of Brazilians that visit Walt Disney World. You can spend eight hours in our lobby in the afternoon, and you can experience the amount of money Brazilian guests spend on shopping inside and outside Walt Disney World. Stores like Best Buy and Wal-Mart are the most popular; online shopping has also become very favorable for guests. During the summer season, the hotel processed over 6,000 packages received from Amazon.com and other online stores that were purchased prior to arrival. It is amazing to see the items received and how much luggage guests take with them. With this economic boost, more job creations will occur. The most popular US cities visited by Brazilians are New York City, Las Vegas and Orlando (http://www.traveltobrazil.org/post/20-most-visited-places-by-brazilians-in-brazil-and-abroad.html).

In today's society, travel distribution environments and electronic reservation services are consistently moving toward global and complicated marketplace. Thus, travel marketplace needs a more and more globalized and comprehensive system for customers. And, I think GDSs well reflect this trend. The article show the example of the utilization GDS in travel industry. Travelport introduces a new travel product called Travelport Drive Me to Galileo-connected travel agents in Asia. The joint creation of Travelport and two major car rental companies, Travelport Drive Me was developed in response to the demand for chauffer-driven car transfers in Asia. This product enables travel agents to book chauffer-driven car transfers through Travelport's GDS for international airports in Asia. This new product would provide advantages not just for travel agents, but also for customers. With this product, travel agents save time and cost through the automated process. Plus, customers experience satisfied traveling by eliminating concerns about language, security, and public transportation issues in Asia.

Most future trends for Customer Relationship Management are predicted to be online marketing and competition. However, companies realized they are losing touch with customers, which brings up attention on customer service. So more and more companies are trying to mix technology with customer service. For example, mobility is still coming on strong and a long way to go with Microsoft announcing strong mobile options in the last month. The customization of IT and the "Bring my own device" movement add new pressure to mobilize CRM. Social CRM is a long way to go here with increased investment in linking Social analysis into CRM via customer sentiment as well as networking and key decision matrices through connectors to LinkedIn becoming popular. However, all the apps or software designed for CRM solely emphasizes from management perspective, such as marketing, pricing and reading reviews, which lost reaction with consumers. Instead of only reading customer reviews, we should arrange more agents to respond to build two-way communication.

This GDS allows over 300 major airlines to get connected with thousands of points of Sale and this platform, consisted by only 3 major ticket distributors known as a GDS other than the airline website. Airlines are paying around $7 billion dollars per year for using GDSs. This is a huge amount and consumers have to pay this.  But at this moment, GDS is still needed as a neutral technology platform especially for small travel agencies.  

Chang, Great Post! Technology continues to advance daily, with new technological advances we will be able to book airline tickets different ways and the need for GDS will continue to reduce. Southwest Airlines has been able to maintain cost by the limited involvement the company has with GDS's. Hopefully by decreasing GDS's cost, we will be able to afford cheaper airlines tickets with other carriers (http://blog.compete.com/2011/01/26/american%E2%80%99s-gds-gamble/).

This article tells the definition of what is a green---- an environmentally friendly property. And it also lists several tips that may help encourage hotels to go GREEN. These tips are mainly focus on using a energy saving facilities and operating the hotel in a low-carbon way. It also give the reason why hotels should take steps to go green, it figures out that the green concept can lean to cost saving and also makes the hotel more liable for their wasting.

According to this article, Starbucks is working with biorefinery scientists to turn its used coffee grounds and bakery food waste into bioplastics, laundry detergents and other everyday products. The food biorefinery process works by blending the baked goods with a mixture of fungi. Then bacteria convert the sugars into succinic acid which is a key material used to make products to bioplastics. Another environmental benefits of this technology is that fewer pollutants will enter the atmosphere because the waste isn't incinerated. Finally, Starbucks has a goal of offering front-of-store recycling in all of its company-owned coffee shops by 2015. And it says it's looking into turning used cups into serving trays.