Hospitality Technology

According to this article the Electronic commerce name as :e-commerce, has been allowing the information to fallow a course through the Internet on a worldwide web without any barriers. The fact that it has an enormous cost saving, It is also consider as an advantage for most companies around the world in the hospitality industry. This article also point how IT has become a trend in the Hospitality industry. Most people tend to look-up and travel information and destination online because it is a faster way, cost effective, time consuming most of the time more reliable than other ways. And with the evolution of the technology nowadays, software, hardware, information management, and telecommunications systems have facilitated the process between companies in the travel industry.

I agree with this article that e-commerce helps the airlines companies to save a lot of money and exceed the guest expectation with a fast and convenience service. Even though; at the beginning the companies has to spend a lot of money to implement the latest technology in order to reach markets around the world, but at the long term this investment will give back to these companies high profit.

I completely agree with the idea that e-commerce allows information to spread through out the internet, essentially, without barriers. This results in a vast potential for reaching a target market. The development of e-commerce will facilitate the growth of the hospitality industry.

Smart Web PMS is a web-based PMS. It do not need hotel to install complex software, all you need is a computer with an internet connection. The dashboard displays the new reservations, recent check-in and check-outs, available units and urgent tasks on one screen. Once the information update the change will immediately show to all the users in real time. The reservation board show all the rooms states. Make reservation is simple, all you need to do is click the free unit. It also makes the online booking become more convenient. This PMS connect with most popular reservation platforms. Once the price or the availability of the hotel is changed the information on the reservation platforms will change. Once the platforms generate a booking the information will update immediately on the dashboard and reservation board. The workorder management system will report the existing repair task and problems in real time. It can send notification to the appropriate employees to deal with these problems. With the help of powerful system and filters we can find the information about the client quickly. It protects the data security by set access levels. Employees with different access levels have different aspect of the system can be viewed and edited. You don't need to worry about the security problems by use this system. This system back up the database in two separate servers in order to avoids damage of hardware failure. This system use https to transfer data which is the safest way to handle sensitive data. The servers who store the data are protecting by complex firewalls. I think this PMS is a good choose for hotels especially for the hotel that just start their business because this system charge base on the real number of units in the systems. It cost less than the traditional PMS.

I like the Web-based PMS. If i was the owner of a hotel, I would like to use the Web-based. It would save my money on installation of several softwares and require less IT managers to maintain the system. All changes about rate, status and workorder would be updated to all users in real time.

Yes, compare with the cloud-based PMS. I prefer the web-based PMS, because it keep the data more safe and the monthly cost is lower.

Six of the world's leading hotel companies, Choice Hotels International, Hilton Worldwide, Hyatt Hotels Corporation, InterContinental Hotels Group, Marriott International Inc. and Wyndham Hotel Group, launched Roomkey.com, an innovative new online hotel search engine. It enables consumers to search and book directly with the hotel, and it gives consumers confidence that they have made the right choice by providing accurate hotel information straight from the source. The brain behind this project is John F. Davis III, Chief Executive Officer of Room Key, who is a highly experienced hospitality industry visionary with a history of entrepreneurial successes. The technology platform for RoomKey.com was acquired from hotelicopter, an innovative flexible hotel search and direct platform, which allows Room Key to evolve and enrich the user experience quickly. Additionally, hotelicopter's affiliate platform provides destination marketing organizations with a hotel marketing platform that helps drive more direct bookings to their local hotels, now under the Room Key Solutions brand. Shafiq Khan, Senior Vice President of eCommerce, Marriott International, said, "Room Key's new and unique offering will embody the best of what hotel company websites offer consumers, giving them confidence in their booking decisions - a personalized and welcoming experience that offers flexibility, accuracy, and benefits of booking with the hotel companies' proprietary sites." Now is time for consumers to use new "Rom Key"and make their way to hotel rooms around the world.

As the title, this article is talking about that the MAESTRO PMS was selected by 3 multi-property groups and six independent operators for peak efficiency. They recognized that Maestro PMS increases revenues by cross-selling from single database, perfectly runs two hotels on one system, ties all operations together and the guest history and analytics solutions enable hotels to provide more personalized service.

Good to see more properties take this approach with the goal of more personalized service. The cross sell opportunity is one of the biggest benefits I see...

Mircos is a kind of technology that widely used by restaurants. But, usually for the front of house, now, this system could be implemeted in the back of house. MICROS KDS is mounted in the kitchen or food preparation area to display and time food orders, improving order accuracy and speed of service.

Seem slike a good fit for them in terms of the fully integrated approach. Less maintenance also would be required from having to service numerous systems when you can just have one that does it all.

LodgeNet Interactive Corporation just launched on Monday their new mobile app which allows hotel guests to control the television with a smartphone or tablet. The application can be downloaded online before check-in or at check-in in a hotel lobby or in-room via an on-screen QR code. Each guests receives a unique code to enter into the app, then the TV system matches it with their personal device. You can see the programming TV schedules, access information about the hotel and local restaurants and even call the front desk to set up a wake-up call. Not to mention, you will avoid the spread of germs by doing all this from your own smartphone or tablet!

E-commerce is based on the process of buying and selling products or services on the internet or other computer networks. Ecommerce rapid growth in these last years can be accounted to very important key factors, such as: Technology, thanks to this important factor now computers are not the only way for ecommerce, you can also use mobil phones and handheld PCs to make any transaction. Easiness, is another important factor, thanks to it you can order anything with the same day delivery option. Price factor, with ths option you can compare prices with the rest of the world so you can decide which is more convenient for you. Safety/Guarantee, online sellers provide safe product delivery guarantee. Online Gift Shops, you can book gifts like flowers, cakes, perfumes, stuffed toys, etc. and send it to your loved ones anywhere in the world. Thanks to their focus on comfort ness, easiness and tension free shopping ecommerce will keep going further and improving their sales.

Yea, I agree with you. Ecommerce proved its significant based on the fact where time is important. In the commercial markets, time plays an extremely important role to both the business and consumers. From the business perspective, with less time spent during each transaction, more transaction can be achieved on the same day. As for the consumer, they will save up more time during their transaction.

In this article we find out how the British Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) is challenging the authenticity of Tripadvisor as a result of a complaint by online reputation specialist, KwikChex Ltd. The ASA is complaining that Tripadvisor is allowing hotels to submit their own reviews to boost their reputations, compromising the legitimacy of the website's "honest travel reviews." The ASA and KwikChex believe that consumers are not aware of the difference between honest and hoax hotel reviews on the site. The website is fighting back saying that the large number of users that visit the site help balance out the small amount of fake posts. In addition, they state that they have fraud detection systems in place to weed out illegitimate reviews. But most importantly, they argue that those reviews that do manage to creep in do not carry much weight because users read an average of 12 reviews before making final decisions. Tripadvisor is one of the most popular websites among consumers making purchasing decisions because it is founded on real, consumer hotel reviews. Consumers today, specially the millennial generation, rely on peer reviews for important purchases such as travel and hotel stays. As consumers it is vital for us to remain educated and alert, specially when we cannot prove the legitimacy of the contents' authors.

The e-commerce is facing the same problem as the on site retailer when it come to competition and sustaining their business. They constantly have to come up with new strategies in order to stay in the competition. So far the only company that has been   successful at sustaining the competition on has been Amazon with his plan, which offers a discount to the subscribers, which allow them to save on the shipping cost. Diapers.com also adopts a new technology, which consist on a discount rate for overnight shipping because after surveying their consumers they realized that most of their costumers wait until the cost of diapers is almost done to order a new stock therefore they will still make a profit even though they offered a discount. To be in the e-commerce business one always have to change its  strategy.

Amadeus, has announced that it will partner with HRS a leading hotel portal for corporate travelers. The decision to create a strategic alliance will mark a first for hotel portals to become available through a global distribution system. This connection will allow over 250,000 hotels, to include 50,000 independent properties to join in a major distribution system around the world. Through this integration, it will ensure the customer experience is less laborious and provide a even playing field for independent hotels to the advertise to business travelers around the world. This is expected to be completed by the second quarter of 2012. I believe this strategic move will allow Amadeus, to position it's self to remain as a GDS leader, which will allow them to obtain a larger market share. Additionally this integration will set the scene for future collaborations across the hospitality industry.

This partnership between Amadus and HRS will bring a lot of business to both of them and good proftis by letting independent hotels advertise their products and services. As you mentioned before this partnership will position Amadeus as the leader among GDS.

The article states that future Revenue Managers must be very tenacious in balancing the power of technology and managing the data process. With the advances of technology, social networking, e-commerce, online travel agencies, and mobile technology e-business have a great impact in our industry. Mourier claims "Already schooled in the way in which mobile has radically altered the air travel booking and in-flight entertainment experience, hotels guests are using everything from social media to online travel agents, (OTAs) to seek out and locate the best value." With the influence of social media, e-commerce, and travel review sites such as tripadvisor, Revenue Managers have to consider the impact those have in their businesses. Revenue managers need to understand what drives potential customers to stay in their hotels. The future Revenue Manager should possesses technological skills, understand the global market conditions, advances in technology, being cost effective, understand the importance of overall package deals and incentives, familiarize himself with the great impact of social media and advances in technology. "What's the cost-benefit analysis of launching a mobile-enabled web page versus an app and is having both redundant? Admittedly, there's no single answer to these questions and no one size fits all so the sooner RMs and hotel executives begin this conversation, the better," and have great leadership skills. It is really important that hotel managers understand that in todays' world technology can be a competitive advantage of their hotels if the use it adequately.

Your description of the article is very enlightening. Revenue managers really need to step up their game if their hotels are to remain in the running. This places a lot of pressure on them, but I like how you addressed their meeting with hotel executives. Perhaps the need for review of e-commerce and social media along with travel review sites will create a new position within the organization, it seems like too much for one RM.

This article discusses what travel agents think about the enhanced ability of both corporate and leisure based travel agencies to sell airline ancillaries because of improved Global Distribution Systems' technologies. Ancillaries are products and services that airlines sell to gain additional revenue on top of your ticket price. Ancillaries have become increasingly popular in the airline industry because of the sky rocketing price of jet fuel. To keep ticket prices down airlines are "unbundling" items from the overall experience. This presents them with an opportunity to turn a profit by charging fees for bags (carry on, checked, additional), on board food and drink, credit card purchases, headphones. It seems like everything you encounter from when you arrive at the airport to when you disembark the plane has a fee. This phenomenon is especially present in Low cost carriers such as Spirit, Air Tran, Jet Blue, etc. However there are consumers who disagree with this additional costs as is apparent in Southwest's continuous marketing campaign. I'm sure everyone has seen the commercials with Southwest representatives 'flagging' down unnecessary fees in order to promote their 'bags fly free' campaign. Anyhow the reason I am explaining ancillary revenue is because travel agents are now starting to sell more ancillary products such as hotel accommodations, travel insurance, rental cars because of GDS technologies. They can track the sale of fees through EMD (Electronic miscellaneous Documents) which is the current industry standard. In the article some agents state that the EMDs are hard to understand and use. I believe until the EMDs become "seamless and easy to use" there will exist some hesitation to sell airline ancillaries. However on the other hand the article states that Travelport is working towards a simple and uniform platform called Travelport Universal API/Desktop. Once this comeplete perhaps more agents will feel comfortable selling ancillaries. This is a goo

I still remember when most airlines used to include breakfast or dinner for their passengers including alcoholic beverages well that doesn't happen any more. I believe when Travelport Universal Desktop becomes available it would become more clear to travel agencies the transaction process and for the consumers what products and services they are ofering.

I too miss the days of free sodas and peanuts. "Sigh-" sometimes its the little things in life that bring the most joy. I agree I think the new Travelport Universal Desktop will be a valuable tool if utilized correctly.

It introduce that as the reservation online, GDS become more and more important. It makes booking tickets more efficiency than travel agents. Global Distribution Systems is a worldwide computerized reservation network which used as a single point of access for reserving airline seats, rooms, rental cars, and other travel related items by travel agents, online reservation sites, and large corporations. From this article, the news is that now advertisers have a new level of sophisticated functionality and transparency for GDS ad placement that is currently unrivaled elsewhere online. Both the ad serving and travel agent hotel shopping environments have been identified and leveraged unique predictive characteristics in travelclick and doubleclick. About the result of the research and corresponding development there are two improvements for advertising on the GDS. The first one is DRU, Dynamic Rate Update, instantaneously inserts a hotel's BAR-specific to actual check-in date-into the ad copy displayed to the audience. And the second one is a next-generation methodology isolates and identifies advertising-enabled travel agencies and measures the hotel booking revenue that they produce in participating GDS. Now the American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) has been helpful in developing travelclick's DRU and advertising-enabled hotel booking methodology. Because today market competition is very high, best available rates to travel agents for bookings made on the GDS is very necessary.

Yes. I really like the Global Distribution System which makes our life more easier. When I plan for a vacation, I could search the information from the system and choose from different options and make the decision to book tickets and make a reservation in hotels.

CCRA has made modifications online to assist travel agents in increasing their income. CCRA offers a 15% commission to all travel agents, and works with hotel partners to ensure travel agents are offering a better price than what consumers can find online themselves.

This is a very interesting article about the hotel room control systems, which are expected to be more of a mainstream feature with the 2-wire bus push button modules. these units can be installed in any hotel build or refurbishment, and suitable for standardized rooms and also boutique hotel settings. such kind of modules are often found in luxury hotels than sub-five star hotels. also due to the expense and complexity of the system. But with this 2-wire bus push button, hotels can offer their customers centralized switching/dimming of lights, curtain/blind controls and do not disturb indicators in a single wall mount unit, without the cost or disruption of installing a full control system. This will allow middle market hotel operators to deliver that wow factor to their customers in a simpler and a cost effective way. they are also available in range of designs to complement the hotel rooms interiors. and even multiple units can be installed in one room, for example near the bed, near the door with the same assigned controls.

In Amazon's last quarter, net income dropped by 57 percent from a year ago. Sales for the three months before December 31 came out to $17.4 billion, lower than Wall Street expected over the traditionally busy holidy season. It is predicted that for the next quarter outlook, there could be anywhere from a gain of $100 million to a loss of $200 million. While Amazon continues to profit in sales of its best selling Kindle devices, there were a variety of factors that contirbuted to its losses. The flooding in Thailand slowed down production for many tech companies. Third-party sellers (which give a 13% commission to Amazon as oppsoed to 100% commission when Amazon sells themselves) were used more than usual. Promotions such as the Amazon Prime program which allows the customer to pay a fixed rate and get umlimited two-day shipping hurt the retailer hard over the busy holiday season with shipping costs. Other reasons were lower demand for skimwords

A significant change since the study in 2009, it says that there is a significant change that more than 26 percent of travel agents stated that they used their GDS more often. It means that GDS has become more and more important in the hospitality industry, since the generation has changed to 80's. Travel agent has once again confirmed their confidence in GDS shopping.

This article is about GDS and cruise industry. What this article talks about is that UK's cruise market leader P&O Cruises, Cunard and Princess Cruises, will end its distribution through Amadeus, which is one of the largest GDSs in the world, in November 2011. The reason behind this is because these cruise lines figured out that almost 95 percent of its cruises are sold via its own website so they think GDS is no longer necessary for them. However, other major cruise lines such as Carnival Cruises, Royal Caribbean Cruises, and Norweigian Cruises will still continue to feature on the GDS. According to a spokesman of Amadeus, the company keeps investing in distribution solutions, easier and more secure cruise booking application for cruise lines. This article shows how cruise distribution in the UK is shifting. This change would probably affect not only cruise lines but other sectors such as hotels, airlines, etc. Yet, it is still uncertain if the impact of the change on cruise industry worldwide will be significant. Still, most of cruise lines including the three major cruise operators which have large market share in the cruise industry use GDS; as well as, it is doubtful if cruisers are willing to go on a same cruise ship over and over. Cruisers look for various cruise options while booking online so they will be more likely to visit GDS-based website where they can search for various cruise ships throughout the world; rather than to visit website where there are much less cruise options. Everything will be clear after we see if the UK's cruise operator is successful.

This article shows us the initial stage of web-based PMS launched by BookingCenter. It integrates Property Management Systems, Central Reservations and Global Distribution together, which is a simple yet smart application which minimizes the investment and common risks of PMS software and hardware. It displays most benefits, such as Flexibility * Transparency * Immediacy * Customization* Simplicity * Savings * Fixed Cost * Deployment * Standards* Security * Centralization. MyPMS makes it easy to manage rates via channel, tiers, sources, and room type from anywhere for the revenue manager. Besides, it is useful and easy to learn so widely, from front desk staff, to property owners, management companies and franchisors, to global distribution partners and individual and group guests.

I'd be interested to see how many other properties jump on board. I didn't see anything in the article about the software's ability for additional systems such as integration with rms and pos software. The property mentioned in the article must not have had a restaurant in the hotel or is fine with his rms system working independent of the pms.

Yeah，it just focus on introducing the advantages of the system. Actually in this software it accomplishes the following tasks: Reservations Guest History Group Bookings Guest Accounting House Accounting (house folios and reporting) Night Audit and Automatic billing Content and security control Inventory Sales and Packages Invoicing for Direct Bills Distribute corporate/AAA/AARP rates, net rates, Consortia rates, through all 4 GDS systems, Pegasus, and other networks Maybe I should have bookmarked two links.