Hospitality Technology

PCI DSS compliance to privacy to data security

Statistics on credit card fraud to support why PCI compliance is important to protect consumers

It is increasingly important for businesses in the tourism industry to safeguard against cyberattacks. As technology advances, vulnerabilities increase. Companies must remain vigilant, stay aware, and keep abreast of the latest safety measures to protect their data and the data of their clients.

EHL Insights is a Swiss based company that dove into what leaders in the Swiss hospitality industry believe in regard to disruptive innovations for the global industry. The article interviewed a few different leaders and got their take, like Wilhelm Konrad Weber, who believes that technology is affecting the hospitality industry but also poses a threat because hotel leaders are not necessarily ready to adapt/adopt to ever-changing technology. OTAs were mentioned as an example of the industry falling behind as these websites help eliminate loyalty. Weber also mentioned that innovation in the industry is evolutionary rather than disruptive due to the demands and expectations from investors and analysts. One person, Zia Chisti, is a skeptic when it comes to artificial intelligence and works for a company that utilizes AI. He argues that AI is not disruptive as it has existed for awhile and is a slow and steady process. The argument made by Chisti is that guests expect a service with real people rather than machines. Overall, there will be technological advancements but it will be slow and steady. It's just up to hoteliers on how quickly they want to implement it.

This article is about a futuristic hotel concept, which combats automatic reset that flexible space and mechanical services, sense and satisfies suite that senses the condition of the guests and provides enough assistance to guests and uses advanced technologies in-room control. Then the rebuildable buildings are ably reused to sustain the business and as restorative resorts that offer renewable energy and service to the guests. The augmented reality-based property that flexible in giving an excellent view to the community based on AR tech. Lastly, the energy center distributes energy to the community, engaging the communities around and supporting the supply chain in multiple ways.

This article discusses 20 disruptive trends in the hospitality industry bought on by scientific advances and the pandemic. Hotels must be on a par with the latest technology to satisfy customer demands and stay competitive. The Internet of Things (IoT) in hotels rooms provide guest with customization options.

With many POS systems updating, some companies need to upgrade the POS system to speed the customer process for their restaurants. Toast created a mobile dining solution where customers are allowed to order their food and process payments right from their mobile device. With added features, there is more possibility for restaurant owners to build guest loyalty and increase employee wages.

Research estimates that AI can save £26,000/$32,000 per year. The article specifically mentions chatbots and automated financial reporting as AI areas, but it also mentions that hospitality leaders lack confidence in implementing new tech and also fear job losses. The study also asked consumers - 1 in 10 would like more personalization which can be driven by AI tech.

The advancement of technology is improving daily. As a business personnel it important to constantly improve customer satisfaction and the operation of business. It is important to create a cost and benefit analysis on devices to overlook their operations. On the other hand, it should be a priority that it can develop improvement to the front and back office operations. Digital transformation has methods that can be used to enhance operations, in the area's of strategy, innovation, experiences, operations and trust.

Highlights: 1) Computers are used extensively by lodging managers and their assistants to keep track of guests' bills, reservations, room assignments, meetings, and special events. In addition, computers are used to order food, beverages, and supplies, as well as to prepare reports for hotel owners and top-level managers. 2) As for front desk, these computers have an intricate soft ware called the Property Managemen System (PMS) to do all the check ins, guest accounting, and etc. 3) In the restaurant, lounge, or bar is a new computer entirely called a Point of Sale System (POS). This will collaborate with a PMS to bill guests for a meal and etc, but can also be used as a cash register. 4) The computer in the sales office, which software is most likely DelPhi which is a booking terminal. 5) Nowadays hotel without a computer is like a bank without a vault. 6) The PMS may interface with central reservation system(CRS) and revenue or yield management system.

This article talks about the various types of computer systems in the hospitality industry, as well as their usage and benefits. Most of the common computer systems in the hospitality industry are PMS, POS, CRS, and DelPhi. A computer systems may be link to another to ensure streamline process. For example, the POS system at a hotel's restaurant can be linked to the PMS system at the front desk. That way, the guest's restaurant bill can be directly charge to his/her folio. Most of the large hotels do use computer systems. As the author mentioned, "a hotel without a computer is like a bank without a vault." In my opinion, hotels will not be able to deliver exemplary guest service without inventing in computer systems in today's competitive market.

This article summarizes a panel conversation about cloud functionality and how it can help in the hospitality industry. They point out that hospitality outlets can use cloud tech for operations, efficiency, guest experience, kitchen monitoring, waste reduction, sustainability, data analytics, predictive maintenance. They highlight that while 91% of hospitality leaders say that cloud is essential, only 29% would say that their company is on track, and that companies need to bring along employees for the advancements.

This article reviews advantages and disadvantages of tech advances: tech can replace human workers but this often leads to customer dissatisfaction. Tech is constantly advancing so companies need to stay competitive. The "ripple effect" means tech advances affect other fields where disruption is often rarely anticipated (his example is driver-less cars leading to less business for drive through restaurants).

Amadeus has a new full-suite of programs aimed at helping hospitality companies use data for projections and customer retention. Aimbridge, which is a large management company, has adopted this full suite. This product and adoption highlights how hospitality companies realize the importance of fully-integrated but also useful data capture and translation for increasing revenue and repeat customer business.

This article goes into great detail about how Covid-19 is affecting hotel security. With budget cuts, security personnel are being limited, but the need for security is more important than ever. The article talks about how suicides in hotels are higher than ever as well, making it all the more important to have a solid security presence.

In this article, it discusses the decline of the hotel industry following the COVID-19 pandemic, and how things have only slowly begun picking up again. However, the security burden is as great as it has ever been, and in many ways, it is even harder. Despite hotels closing their doors amid the pandemic, occupancy levels have only recently recovered to a consistently high 40%, with many still closed for months.

AI continues to evolve in fast food locations. McDonalds is piloting voice recognition systems in their drive thrus hoping to hit their 95% accuracy benchmark before deciding whether to roll this out to 14,000 McDonalds locations. The technology is improving ordering processing on average by 20 seconds per order and could reduce human labor hours by 9 hours per day.

In this article, it is described why hotels are not as open to new innovative technology. Although they are now competing with companies like Airbnb, hotels still have a hard time adapting to new technology as they may need to change their infrastructure, or it cost too much to obtain. Overall, this article makes it clear that in order for hotels to compete in this new competitive market, they will need to continuously keep up with new forms of technology to stand a chance.

This article explains how and why hotels went from being in the bottom 13% to the top 3 most targeted industry for cyber attacks. It talks about how the implementation of technology to handle customer date has made the industry vulnerable and also how corporations are battling the issue by using separate third party companies to store data and handle credit card information.

This article includes advice from a former intelligence officer when it comes to travel and hotel safety. Today we rarely see guests take these precautions even though it could be the difference between life and death in an emergency. When traveling it is crucial to be aware and knowledgable or your surrounds in the case an incident or emergency does occur.

Network upgrade for POS, financial systems, employee management systems and payment transactions. SD-WAN

SD-WAN secondary connection when primary internet fails. 4G to LTE for wireless connections.