Hospitality Technology

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.

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 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.

Cloud based accounting for the hospitality induatry can save more money and spaces. The financial data can be stored in a sfae place.It can reduce the deliver cost. Also it's more accurate. Some night auditor may don't have stay all night to figure the data and figures.

The termination of South Carolina Hospitality Association's director of accounting and membership, Rachel Duncan, is the latest development in the Tom Sponseller suicide investigation. CEO Tom Sponseller, leader of the South Carolina Hospitality Association for the past twenty years, was found dead last Tuesday in the company's parking garage after a suicide note was found in his office desk. Although the Feds have been conducting an ongoing investigation into the agency's finances, Sponseller was not their person of interest. The hundreds of thousands of dollars missing from the South Carolina Hospitality Association is tied instead to Rachel Duncan, the agency's former director of accounting. An outside audit of the association's finances is still being conducted however there are several sources of money embezzling being brought forth. Who is to say this tragedy may have been avoided if the Hospitality Association had outside parties conducting internal audits on a regular basis, but it would most definitely have shed light on the situation sooner.

This is a POS system named AccuPOS which has come to Android, you can download it in your phone. And it is a full featured solution that is ideal for whatever type of restaurant you manage. such as buffet, fast food restaurant. Also, AccuPOS includes features like guest tracking, detail order histories, contact management and automated delivery addresses on to-go-receipts and it is easy to learn and use. And this software system is designed to perform with the best quality hardware and proviede wireless device support, the it is good for kitchen area operation and receive the order from FOH. The last, this sysem can analyze the sales data that can be approached from a variety of time periods to ensure you have a bird's eye view of your business.

This appears to be a good solution I like the integration with accounting package and that the system can work with phones and other hand held device. The fact that this system can manage time and attendance means that a stand alone restaurant would not need to get another system for this function.

The Atlanta Airport Marriott just completed event space renovations that will enable event planners to host any size party/ meeting with the most updated technology. The Georgia hotel features 28,300 square feet of event space, including two ballrooms and 27 breakout rooms. The hotels lobby features a complex monitoring system for flight tracking information and departures by Delta Airlines. Touch screen kiosks have also been installed at concierge stands that will allow planners and people attending events to search for nearby restaurants and attractions. Additionally, the most recent renovation included in the installation of multi-use TV screens in the rooms. The screens allow guests to hook up iPods and other music devices. Guests may also use the new TV's as computer monitors. This connectivity is becoming more common in event spaces and visitor centers. I personally know that similar technology was recently installed in New York City's Central Park. Touch monitors enable park visitors to navigate their way around more efficiently. Additionally, tour guides have been equipped with handheld devices to track visitor usage and access information quickly.

This is great, This hotel is certainly utilizing technology that will be most convenient for meetings and events. Multi -use TV screen are very nice. More and more hotels now are investing in Ipod docking stations. Love the idea of the touch screen kiosk at the concierge stand.

As of today, travelers can now book a room at any of Best Western's 4,000 hotels in 100 countries without ever leaving Facebook. The hotel giant has become the first global brand to try to leverage its popularity on Facebook with the ubiquitous social network's 800 million active users by creating a special booking tool. This is a great innovative way to integrate online booking to social networking. I believe it will be a great success.

This is another great way of making customers book a hotel directly. Even though Best Western doesn't see sales growth in a short time, it would be a terrific marketing tool and/or a way to stay in touch with potential customers.

Good move by Best Western. It would be interesting to see number of confirmed booking compared to the hotel chain's official site. I am sure other hotels will follow suit. It seems like having fans follow page on Facebook is a great idea. I am surprised that Best Western has more followers than some of the larger chains.

The article talks about one of the most popular provider of pricing and revenue management for hospitality industry, which announced today a new pricing system -IDea. It offers effective and affordable pricing to any hotel. System is well-known by simplified and intuitive approach and requires minimum training and interaction to learn and operate the system.

I used Maestro in my first position in the hospitality industry as a front desk agent in a Boutique Hotel. We also used Micros for the POS system for the in-house restaurant but they were two separate entities at the time. I am happy to see the advancements that have been made to this now highly efficient system. After reading this article and doing some research on Maestro's website I feel Maestro outshines its competitors by providing excellent 'Diamond Plus' service to its clients. Compared to the Webrezpro system that I just analyzed for our Discussion assignment, Maestro provides several free tools and resources twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. An impressively North American based Help Desk is available 24/7 to ensure smooth operations of the system and optimal staff training. In addition Maestro provides install, staff training, transition assistance, refresher training, online tutorials, webinars, productivity audits, upgrades, enhancements and much more. Maestro management strategies collaborates with Hotel Executives and staff to increase performance, deliver high quality guest services and increase profits. Their professional team also addresses issues such as under-utilization of the system and ways to get the most value for your investment. Since Maestro supports platform and database independence updates occur instantaneously. To help Hotels save time, increase efficiency and have higher levels of staff productivity Maestro is the chosen tool for the job. Maestro clearly puts their clients' needs first and is therefore trusted by several Hotels worldwide.

Maestro appears to be a good product based on the article. I would say though that both this and webrezpro do have some similarities of operating on cloud computing. The key is that depending on cost and application a company may choose what works best for them.

In 2007, in the last round of GDS negotiations; American Airlines and Delta Airlines warned that they will pull out Of major GDS if they didn't get to have their way. American Airlines threaten once again to pull out, due to other airlines pushing messages; stating that "the airline-GDS business model is broken and must change, leading up to negotiations next year". GDS seems to spite airlines by lowering the travel agents incentive fees, because the airlines lowered their fee that they pay out to GDS that year. JetBlue's vice president mentioned how much the industry took baby steps in the last sets of negotiation. There is a disturbance between the travel agents and JetBlue, in this situation. JetBlue was making profits off GDS, but at the same time GDS is releasing flight seats to travel agents; that don't need help to be filled. Therefore travel agents are making more profits because they are receiving these seats at a higher distribution cost. There are also concerns among the airlines about the GDS financial model that have been broken, and needed to be fixed. The engineer that is over this, stated that it will be fined tuned; and things will adjust. My observation with this entire article is that the airlines that were mentioned are money hungry, and competitive with wanting their own way. They are concerned about the GDS; because travel agents are reaping many benefits that they think only should be offered to them in regards to the distribution cost. It seems, like the airlines just want to be in control of everything. They have to accept that many people purchase through third parties and don't directly go on their websites.

As mentioned in the article the GDS model should be examined based on current trend. American Airline now is directing clients to its direct connect site so all parties need to come together and negotiate in a way that will be beneficial to all including the consumer. It was interesting to read in the article that even though JetBlue is a low cost airline it saw benefit for corporate travelling through GDS.

This article introduces a new system by Squirrel Professionals, which is basically a POS system that can be used and accessed through an I Pad or tablet. The system was released on February 27th and is available through various APP Stores. The company explains that the user interface is very user friendly and therefore no training is necessary for implementation. Squirrel has been a leader in POS systems and was one of the first companies to introduce multi-touch screen POS systems. The company hopes to have another big hit in their new tablet program.

This is a great app for restaurant as it should improve communication and speed. The only challenge is how quickly servers will manage this. This will be great with a workforce that is younger and is not shy with technology. One again apple is on the cutting edge with partnering with this app for mobile access.

The use of wedding apps is making life easier for the frantic bride or wedding planner preparing for the big day. These apps help organize all aspects of planning. One of the most useful parts of these apps is one called task manager that allows the planner to keep up with each step of heh wedding planning through e-mail updates and scheduling calendars. It will be interesting to see if a tech savvy generation will even need people to help plan their wedding. Maybe digital wedding planners will overshadow the traditional wedding planner.Technology is changing the face of the industry and it will be interesting going forwards to see how the industry evolves over the next few years.

This is the perfect app for all those bridezillas out there. For people who have to be in control of everything this allows them to have access to the things they want. I personally would think it is a good idea on keeping things for the wedding in order but I would definitely want someone to plan the wedding and not just an app.

I can see the young independent bride of the digital age welcoming this technology especially if they are on a budget. I do believe though for the high end bride as well as older couple may opt for more personal contact. These apps are great for starters. I particularly like the wedding Genius that is linked to vendors eg styles for wedding dresses ect.

According to a recent Google whitepaper, the number of mobile users researching travel via their mobile devices is expected to grow 51% in 2012. The case is equally compelling for mobile booking in APAC, with more than 15% of travellers projected to book travel products and service by 2013. This article was very interesting it discussed the up coming technologies that are effecting travelers. Mostly in airports and business travelers. They discuss a technology called NFC technology which is near field communication. with this technology in our phones we will be able to pay for lunch, tickets, and everything else just by swiping our phones at the registar. They discuss in the article something that we discussed in a group, whether it is good to be an early investor our wait and rid fit out and make sure that it is a good investment. As for mobile technology in travel they definitely said that the early adopters are reaping the benefits and seeing a major cash inflow from investing. So in this situation it would have been a better idea to adopt early, because now that it is so popular it is more expensive to get the technology up on running.

Oracle launches a new data Management Model that will allow airlines to optimize the collection and analysis of passenger data in order to enhance and personalize the travel experience. With this model Airlines will be able to consolidate data collected by legacy systems, simplifyng it's analysis in order to support all aspects of it's business.

With the implementation of Oracle Airline Data Model airlines will have all data needed to maximize the passenger experience and create a competitive analysis to reduce cost.

Microsoft Dynamics GP is a financial accounting system for small to mid-sized businesses that has expanded to encompass a range of functionality increasingly consistent with a complete enterprise resource planning (ERP) suite. The product has been extended by a large network of partners focused on a range of vertical markets.Microsoft Dynamics GP has applications for financial management, human resources management, manufacturing planning, supply chain management, field service, business intelligence, collaboration, compliance, and IT management. It provides a online training and support for company, and it can build a big net work for data analysis, and the connection for the third party.

From this article,I think it is amazing to have such revolution of POS system. First of all, POS system itself is wonderful for the hoteliers all these years. The latest i-trends and NFC put it much further step to not only free the employees,but also bring efficiency to the customers. It is said that "the point of sale on the move" which free the employee to use the mobile device to control everything it matters of the business. It makes hoteliers more flexiable and at the meanwhile, it provides quantity information. The other innovation here is that there is one IPAD POS kiosk which allows self-service card swiping system so the customers can complete their own transaction. Though this technology is the only IPad enclosure, it help eliminate theft and tampering. Then ,when the growing trend of Near Field Communication comes, it free the customers another further step to eliminate the necessity to carry money/credit cards to pay their bills. This technology is also come with the smartphone by just swiping the mobile device across a special kiosk at the counter, and the payment is done quickly. This technology also developed another growing technology "RFID" card readers. Another name for the NFC is the digital wallet means that a customer's device can store all their bank account details and credit card information with no need for a real wallet. That's amazing for the people who are not good at financing. This technology can really impact the hotel market and bring the competitive advantages for the hotels. It's a new trend for the hotel to update themselves to level-up. This trend is also fit the market nowadays, the consumer is more and more younger, they curious about the high-tech things, the success of Apple proves this trend. In order to meet with the customer needs in current hotel industry, this technology is worth to have a try.

This article talks about the importance of POS systems in the hospitality industry and the new technological trends that are affecting it. POS systems are extremely important to hoteliers primarily to keep track of sales and bookings. With recent technological developments though, POS systems have revolutionized that hospitality industry by increase efficiency and production. The newest trend in these accounting and POS systems are cloud-based technologies. I believe this type of technology will allow for busy hotel managers to track all accounting information through either a smart phone, PC, or even tablet. This type of technology, as stated in the article, would allow for managers to keep track of sales data and profits even when they are away from the office. All in all, I believe this is a very helpful technology for hotel operations and will benefit the industry in the long run.

Allow the customers to to use smartphone across a special kiosk at the counter to pay may benefit restaurants a lot. It may reduce the stress of the servers in the peak time. Customers no longer waiting a long time for the servers to get their bill, they can pay by themselves through mobile devices. Moreover, the customers do not need to bring their wallets to the restaurants which may improve the security of the restaurant environment.