Hospitality Technology

Romano's Macaroni Grill is rolling out to all 181 company restaurants a system that helps servers boost sales and guest satisfaction by combining data analysis with personalized coaching. Read more: http://nrn.com/article/macaroni-grill%E2%80%99s-interactive-mentoring-system-helps-boost-sales?ad=news#ixzz1lGb0JfiS

I really like this system cause it makes the management so effective. By using this system, manager will recieve information about the areas in which each server has room for improvement weekly which may help managers to figure out the potential problems in their management.

It is a so smart system that makes it easy to analyze and control the operation of restaurant. I think it helps manager save a lot of time and costs due to automated analysis of point-of-sale-system data and comparison with others! What a wonderful system!

This article is a good one that demonstrates how GDS are now more often used than times before. The article states that the 2011 Global Travel Agent GDS study demonstrates how important GDS platform and shopping Displays are to the travel agents. They stated the 84 percent of those who took the survey stated that they are using the GDS just as much or even more than they did in the pass and 35 % of these stated that they were using it more than they did in the pass. The article explained how these numbers have greatly increased since 2009 where only 26% agents admitted that they used the GDS systems more than before. This study is 2011 reaffirmed Travel Click's projection, which was that GDS hotel bookings would surpass %50 million in the year 2011. This was far more than that of 2010. The article goes on to explain how the GDS will improve the booking and services of the industry all around. Furthermore, the article went on to explain a worldwide survey conducted for agents who were among the largest GDS in the world and some 495 responses were collected. The survey was conducted by Phoenix Marketing International, which is and independent marketing research firm Travel agents were indicated that promotional messages were effective and prompt during bookings and 66% of these agents request additional information about it. While, 68% of these agents looked into the GDS for more information. After this survey was complete the agents who were aware of promotional messages, 46% of them made North American bookings within 3 months as a result of the promotional messaging and 44% made non- North American bookings. The survey itself shows that promotional messages were and excellent way to get the agents interested. In the article it is quoted how the promotional messages acts in a chain reaction to reach the agent and then the customer, which allows sales all over the world.

GDS provides a perfect virtual marketplace for travel inventory sellers such as hotels, airlines, and car rental systems to showcase their wares to a global Internet travel audience. The GDS is a natural outlet for hotels, resorts, and even smaller inns that want to increase revenue and online marketing exposure. As the GDS channel produces one of the highest average daily rates of any booking channel, there is a huge opportunity for hoteliers to influence travel agents through the GDS at the point-of-sale.

Yes, GDS is of great importance for tourism development. It provides such a huge market of tourism information for customers, airlines, hotels, travel agents and any parts included in the tourism. Someone said that GDS will end travel agent, however, in my opinion; they have their own advantages and will supplement each other in the future.

The value of our personal information can worth up to $5,000 a year and our information can be used for some market researches and advertisers. After Google stars to adopt one private policy instead of 70, it says it will not give your personal information for commercial use. Similar to Google, social networks are also based on personal information to make money. This article's title attracts my eyes at first site and I am so surprised that our information can worth that much.

This article illustrates how using e-commerce can increase a hotels profits/revenue. In the article three major strategies are being used. Customer acquisition and retention, personalized service and web site upgrade are the three strategies mentioned in the article. The customer acquisition and retention strategy involves of initiation of customer loyalty program, email campaigns, and continues web site improvement and the web site as a single stop shop. The personalized service strategy consists of personalized content presentation and advance customer care. The web site upgrade includes of creation of micro sites, implementation of content management tool and quick web site searches.

This article is discussing the issue, that has been there for over three years with GDS in terms of misuse of rates for the services. To avoid this misuse, there was established a Conduct Code for all the players in the market. And currently the European Travel Technology Services Association is trying to review this Code again due to the number of violations, however, most of the stakeholders are saying there were no violations whatsoever.

This article basically talks about the importance of social media in the hospitality industry and gives us other thoughts beyond just applying a social media monitoring tool.  Managing the social media is no longer an option, but a necessity, particularly for those of us working in the hospitality industry. By using a social media monitoring tool, you may be able to know in real or near-real time each time your property or properties are mentioned online on every major social media network. On the other hand, you need to compile competitor data and compare it to your own so that you can analyze your brand in relation to competing brands. More and more social media consulting companies will crop up and your competitors may also have the tools you have. For a long-term success, make sure that the people who are speaking for you have the tools they need to resolve issues as well as represent your organization properly and find out a way that can make a difference with your competitors.

Six of the largest hospitality firms around the world (Hilton Worldwide, InterContinental Hotels Group Choice Hotels International, Hyatt Hotels Corporation, Marriott International, and Wyndham Hotel Group) have joint to create a new online hotel search engine. Roomkey.com is the name of this new search engine and its main purpose is to enhance the hotel booking experience for customers. As it is described in the article Roomkey.com expects to differentiate itself from other search engines by providing accurate information straight from the source. They believe choosing a hotel is a personal decision and the more information customers can feel more confident in there booking decision. In the near future it is intended for this page to be an interactive site where people can comment and plan or compare their vacations with others. At the beginning it will focus only in U.S travelers and then it will expand to English speaking countries.

Basically the article is talking about how people are starting to fly a lot more now since the economy has improved a little. Domestic travel has increased from 1.9% to 2.4%. The article also talks about how the airlines have compelled the GDS providers to lower their fees before and possible have to force them on doing it again. Which in turn reduces travel revenue for the CDS companies

This article introduced the new website of the Four Seasons Hotel, what the new functions are added to the new website, and how the new website help the hotel attract new customers. There are some differences between the old hotel website and the new one. Six key features of the new website can respect the strengths of the new website which are Ease of booking, On the go, Access to review, Every property has a story, Location and Personalization. Four Seasons Hotel also unveils its Four Seasons Luxury Trend Report. Some of the insights from the report include: Luxury is back, Branding moves to the social sphere, E-commerce is king, The rise of the iPad. Nowadays, most customers choose to use website to get to know a hotel, so the website has a great meaning for the hotel. The website not only needs to have enough information, images, but some unique functions to attract customers and provide better service through the internet. Like the Four Seasons Hotel's new website, it allows for multi-destination, multi-hotel, and multi-person reservations, it will paint an authentic picture of the local culture, and it will collect guests' personal interests, related content and recommendations, this information will become available on a guest's next visit and over time, delivering a completely personalized experience. Four Seasons Hotel notices that E-commerce is the king, as Seventy-eight percent of the affluent participate in social networking sites, with more than half using social media to connect with a brand. The luxury consumer is increasingly going online to research and make purchases. It is important for the hotel the keep up with the latest technology such as the iPad. According to the Four Seasons Luxury Trend Report, One-third of wealthy consumers own a tablet or e-Reader. Four Seasons revenue generated from the iPad and other tablets has grown 200 percent from 2010 to 2011. The new technology has a close relationship with the hotel and the e-business.

This article discusses the importance of ecommerce becoming a more personalized experience for customers. It talks about how Amazon and Netflix do a great job in finding items their customers may be interested on based on their past purchases and recent searches. I found it interesting how social networks such as Facebook are being targeted to assist with ecommerce. Companies want to take what Facebook members put on their page and use it as data for when they visit their website. That way they already have some information on the customer before they even visit. Companies are being challenged in the way they maintain this data. Many companies are having issues figuring out how to store the data they receive from their customers. I think it's a great idea and absolutely love when online shopping sites show me items similar to what I was looking at. A majority of the time I click on what was suggested and purchase it or at least like it. I agree that ecommerce needs to become more personalized because it is the future of shopping. Many people are lazy and find it easier to just purchase items via the Internet than actually visit a store. The internet needs to find a way to provide that customer service feeling that customers are provided when they visit a physical store.

A very interesting website that allows users to post an existing hotel reservation and then receive "bids" from other hotels in the area to give the user better offers and deals. It essentially allows the hotels to pursue customers, allowing them to take advantage of offers such as upgrades and amenities. As mentioned in the article, the website is very user friendly and transparent - allowing users to get a good feel for the hotels that are "bidding" on them. I believe this website is a very interesting and creative application. The company has put an innovative twist on e-marketing that allows for the user to feel "wanted" by the hotels. By giving a customer so many options, they are able to create a competitive lodging market and hopefully, in turn increase profits in the industry.

The GlobRes support team is very helpful and efficient. GlobRes gives us easy and efficient access to the GDS and IDS worlds. GlobRes works to ensure your hotel gets the best from GDS connections guaranteeing you receive the maximum number of hotel reservations. GlobRes provide an advanced training session available for hoteliers in 5 languages, full consultation when you sign up for GlobRes GDS, controlling your hotel rates and room availability from one simple web-based control centre. Each hotel is assigned a dedicated account manager to lead the hotel through implementation and is available at all times should there be any questions or concerns.

GDS systems began in the 1960s with the airline industry in order to track, schedule, check availability and pricing for flights. The first two GDS's that were created was SABRE which was owned by American airlines and Apollo owned by United. GDS provides a perfect marketplace for the travel industry, helping them increase revenue and online marketing exposure. According to researchers travelers that book packages which include hotel, airfare and special events tend to stay longer at destinations and spend large amounts of money. Large and small businesses that sign up for GDS systems to be accessed in their property may receive a small amount of online reservations. Smaller properties can expect 10-20 reservations per month, larger properties may receive as many as 5-10 per day. One of the factors which reflect on the amount of reservation your property may receive consists of your location, unique amenities and services which may appeal to travelers. I have worked in the industry for over 2 years and numerous times I have had to handle reservations made by expedia, travelocity and other third party reservations and room types are not guaranteed. Guest usually arrive to the hotel stating how they have requested double beds and unfortunately on a night where the hotel is sold out the guest has to be told that their request can not be meet because with third party companies room types are not guaranteed. Guest are constantly upset and expect to be compensated in some sort of way, although they are paying approximately $200 dollars on a room that is going for $400. In my opinion GDS are great for saving money and providing the hotel with occupied rooms, but can really cause an inconvenience for those guest that are not able to receive what they requested.

Great article mentioning the detail of GDS cost; an initial one-time sign up fee, a recurring annual maintenance fee, 10% per GDS reservation to the travel agency or travel website that provided the customer reservation. To make consumers book their trip or room through your own website, make sure you have a well designed website, easy to use navigation.

This Article based on an Apple iPhone App for Swiss hotel Students is about how some 80 international students from IMI University Centre in Luzern collected data to create the world's first crowd-sourced student guide. The iPhone app is connected with Luzern Tourism, which contains its own tourism guide of the city. The app itself also collects many insider tips for the students who currently live in Switzerland. This Iphone App is free and is categorized in 7 different ways one is "Top Info" which is essential for all international students, "Top Rumors", "Why Luzern?" which explains the ten top reasons for why Luzern is the best place to study, "Do's and Don't's" explaining the things that are important to know about Swiss culture, "Education", "Food", and "Student Gems" which are special tips and selections of all students who participate at version 1.0.

GDS system keeps innovating, improving, and cover or exceeding the customer's needs will be in the market for years. The GDS has agreement with airlines, hotel, etc in order to reach new markets around the world.

According to the article, cloud computing has huge potential for achieving saving and promoting integration and will play an important role on integrating computer and information system to share more data securely. Clapper said" over the next five years, we will make some serious and notable changes in systems for labeling, tagging, monitoring and accounting for information shared across agencies. Also, intelligence agencies are trying to separate more sensitive information from substance that operatives, analysts and officials need. The US government also will monitor its information system in order to prevent from unauthorized access. The objective is to offer better information with fewer concerns about security.

Last week, one of the leading web-based property management systems announced a partnership with the world's largest B2B deal community in order to save hotel owners and managers money. The partnership comes between management software company, Frontdesk Anywhere, and B2B services and software community, GroupPrice.com. It is a partnership that Frontdesk Anywhere founders are promising will allow managers and hotel owners to cut their costs and grow their business faster. Frontdesk Anywhere customers are getting a special discount of 15 percent off their first GroupPrice buy. Things like social media, PR, and video are being offered at the best deals through the partnership that should allow for increased revenue and profit. I believe the whole idea of software partnerships will continue to become more popular as the use of the Internet is becoming more widespread in the hospitality community. Packaging of several different services can increase productivity. Frontdesk Anywhere has reportedly managed hotel stays for more than 60,000 guests. This cloud-based software makes it simple to add other features, like combining other company software, in order to create the best experience for the business and the customer.

There are many posts about Green hotels. If you are interested in the process for your hotel in Florida please go to the Florida Green Lodging website and click on the designation application link. There are also helpful links to Best Practices, Designated Properties, and Webinars. I was fortunate to sit in on their meeting with the AHLA in Miami with Professor Scanlon and I learned a wealth of information most of which can be accessed on this website. Start your green team today! Angela Before You Apply [PDF - 94KB]Review this document before beginning the application to learn more about the Florida Green Lodging Program. Application Instructions [PDF - 67KB] [DOC - 31KB] Please follow these instructions when completing the Designation Application. Designation Application [PDF - 1,388KB] This application is a comprehensive evaluation tool that details the requirements of the Florida Green Lodging Program.

"Introducing ISISPOS, a revolutionary hospitality Point of Sale system that combines Apple innovation with powerful business logic to offer a fully featured and easy to use solution designed for the Restaurant industry." If you are interested in finding out more about this system, you can also go to www.isispos.com. This revolutionary new way to take orders at restaurants is going to change the hospitality industry. The Isis system is far less expensive than Micros and Touch POS systems because everything is built into ONE, using Apple's technology, costing just over $5,000, versus $28,000 for a restaurant that seats 150. It has a $200/month maintenance fee, and this includes all system upgrades, whereas Micros does NOT. Check it out!

This article focuses on the cost savings a biometric fingerprint scanning POS can have on a restaurant. It eliminates employees from clocking in early and holds everyone accountable for what they do. It makes life easier for management since they can look at all the transaction data and know exactly who to talk to if something doesn't add up.  I think this is pretty cool software. It was less expensive than I would have guessed. The article said the average price for one of these systems is about $2,000. Depending on the restaurant, that can be a small or large amount but I think in the long run that is a small price to pay from a management point of view.