ay Carlin, vice president of hospitality strategy and solutions management at software firm Oracle, noted that companies like Starbucks, Marriott International, and Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide are pioneering mobile tools that are enhancing customer loyalty. In a recently released survey, "Millennials and Hospitality: The Redefinition of Service," Oracle noted how 23% of American millennials already manage loyalty programs via mobile. Another 52% want to in the future.

Elevating Hospitality to the Cloud By Dr. Peter Agel, Global Segment Leader Hotels, Oracle - Converting to dynamic, centralized, pay-as-you-go computing is helping hoteliers improve profitability, lower cost, and meet...

More than 20 percent of millennials have used their mobile devices to check into a hotel while 46 percent have booked a hotel stay the same way.

Last week I traveled to Orlando to attend Oracle Connect, which is a little more than a typical users group and still attracts many of its customers from multiple industries. I absolutely enjoyed being there and attended many sessions including one where Marriott was sharing its ongoing installation activity with Oracle, which I am guessing at times has been a bit overwhelming considering how many hotels they are doing each month. It was a great conference that allowed me to bump into so many I knew, and nothing beats face-to-face reconnecting. I thank Oracle for inviting me.

Over 75,000 beers and 21,5000 hot dogs are expected to be served at Levi's Stadium during the Super Bowl. How is technology aiming to streamline the fan experience? Oracle vice president Mike Webster joins Tanya Rivero on Lunch Break.

Over 75,000 beers and 21,5000 hot dogs are expected to be served at Levi's Stadium during the Super Bowl. How is technology aiming to streamline the fan experience? Oracle vice president Mike Webster joins Tanya Rivero on Lunch Break.

Oracle Hospitality Senior V.P. Mike Webster on the latest technology at Levi's Stadium for fans attending the Super Bowl.

Oracle Hospitality Senior V.P. Mike Webster on the latest technology at Levi's Stadium for fans attending the Super Bowl.

Oracle Hospitality Senior V.P. Mike Webster on the latest technology at Levi's Stadium for fans attending the Super Bowl.

"The last thing you want to do is miss part of the action because you're waiting in line to get something to eat," says Oracle's senior VP of hospitality, Mike Webster. "So our cloud infrastructure is a key component of how we deliver concessions." Oracle's onus during an event like this, Webster says, is "efficiently and conveniently delivering concessions during the event." How does Oracle use the cloud to help make sure there are no problems? For one thing, if you order an item from your seat and the nearest stand is low or out of it, Oracle's system alerts the app to source the item from a different stand. Think of it like the Internet of Things -- all the devices, from your phone to the systems at each food stand -- are talking to each other. Oracle's system is in just over half of the NFL stadiums in America, and most of the hotels around the stadium also use Oracle's platform for their reservations.

"The last thing you want to do is miss part of the action because you're waiting in line to get something to eat," says Oracle's senior VP of hospitality, Mike Webster. "So our cloud infrastructure is a key component of how we deliver concessions." Oracle's onus during an event like this, Webster says, is "efficiently and conveniently delivering concessions during the event." How does Oracle use the cloud to help make sure there are no problems? For one thing, if you order an item from your seat and the nearest stand is low or out of it, Oracle's system alerts the app to source the item from a different stand. Think of it like the Internet of Things -- all the devices, from your phone to the systems at each food stand -- are talking to each other. Oracle's system is in just over half of the NFL stadiums in America, and most of the hotels around the stadium also use Oracle's platform for their reservations.

There's more going on behind the scenes than what Beyonce will be wearing Sunday.. Oracle Corp(ORCL) Behind the scene at this Sunday's Super Bowl championship game, it's not just about football, Beyonce and Bruno Mars. Technology from Oracle (ORCL - Get Report) and Apple's (AAPL - Get Report) Apple Pay will play a huge role. "Some of the highlights that are happening at Super Bowl 50 are introductions of new technologies on particularly around how do we help fans stay engaged," said Mike Webster, senior vice president of Oracle hospitality and retail. It's about "the ability to be able to not miss a minute and order food from my seat and mobile device and to designate a location to pick those items up so I don't have to wait on line."

There's more going on behind the scenes than what Beyonce will be wearing Sunday.. Oracle Corp(ORCL) Behind the scene at this Sunday's Super Bowl championship game, it's not just about football, Beyonce and Bruno Mars. Technology from Oracle (ORCL - Get Report) and Apple's (AAPL - Get Report) Apple Pay will play a huge role. "Some of the highlights that are happening at Super Bowl 50 are introductions of new technologies on particularly around how do we help fans stay engaged," said Mike Webster, senior vice president of Oracle hospitality and retail. It's about "the ability to be able to not miss a minute and order food from my seat and mobile device and to designate a location to pick those items up so I don't have to wait on line."

Oracle Introduces New Cloud Services for Hotels and Casinos New Oracle Cloud services will enable hotels, casinos and other hospitality companies to personalize and improve the guest experience while making operations more efficient. To help hospitality companies personalize all aspects of their engagement with customers while also delivering an excellent guest experience on site, Oracle introduced a cloud services version of its suite of hospitality solutions. The new Oracle Hospitality cloud services enable hotel and casino operators to better manage every aspect of their customer relationships and on-site operations, while simplifying their IT infrastructure and deriving value faster from new innovations.

To help hospitality companies personalize all aspects of their engagement with customers while also delivering an excellent guest experience on site, Oracle has introduced a cloud services version of its industry-leading suite of hospitality solutions. The new Oracle Hospitality cloud services enable hotel and casino operators to better manage every aspect of their customer relationships and on-site operations, while simplifying their IT infrastructure and deriving value faster from new innovations.

To help hospitality companies personalize all aspects of their engagement with customers, Oracle introduced a cloud services version of its suite of hospitality solutions. The new Oracle Hospitality cloud services enable hotel and casino operators to better manage every aspect of their customer relationships and on-site operations, and simplifying IT infrastructure and deriving value faster from new innovations.

To help hospitality companies personalize all aspects of their engagement with customers, Oracle introduced a cloud services version of its suite of hospitality solutions. The new Oracle Hospitality cloud services enable hotel and casino operators to better manage every aspect of their customer relationships and on-site operations, and simplifying IT infrastructure and deriving value faster from new innovations.

New Oracle Cloud services will enable hotels, casinos and other hospitality companies to personalize and improve the guest experience while making operations more efficient.

Oracle has introduced a cloud services version of its suite of hospitality solutions; this platform is designed to enable hotel and casino operators to better manage every aspect of their customer relationships and on-site operations, while simplifying IT infrastructure and deriving value faster, according to the company.

Table-service restaurant operators know from hard-won experience how vital cost controls are to profitability and growth. Factors as diverse as portion control, inventory management, waste minimization, and labor costs all need to be kept in line in order for a restaurant to maintain acceptable profit margins. If one or more of these factors veers too far off, no amount of volume will make up for the imbalance.

The cloud and mobility are other key factors to keep in mind when choosing a new PMS, said Boro Petrovic, architect with Oracle. "Mobility will improve the connectivity of hotel guests and hotel services," he said. "Wireless connectivity will allow hotels to offer better services to their guests."

The cloud and mobility are other key factors to keep in mind when choosing a new PMS, said Boro Petrovic, architect with Oracle. "Mobility will improve the connectivity of hotel guests and hotel services," he said. "Wireless connectivity will allow hotels to offer better services to their guests."

New services accelerate time to insight and enable customers to generate value.

Paul Wallbank listens in on two Oracle customers at Oracle OpenWorld who are wrestling with social marketing. Both are cautious yet hopeful.

Accenture and Oracle have developed a new cloud-based financial solution designed to help hospitality companies improve business management by giving them better access to real-time financial data. The Accenture Oracle business group's new hospitality finance cloud solution enables companies to access financial data in real-time from multiple data sources, such as internal property management systems and external financial institutions, and connects to existing on-property systems to automate workflow approvals and establish standardized operations processes.

Merron's experience is not unusual, says Dr. Peter Agel, Global Segment Leader -Hotels for Oracle Hospitality. But Agel believes that the future is brighter. One of Oracle's main goals, he says is "to reduce complexity and cost by providing cloud based services." Such services, coupled with increasing consolidation in the hotel technology industry, leads Agel to believe that in the future hotel technology will be far more standardized. Agel knows something about consolidation first hand. In September, 2014, Oracle acquired MICROS, one of the leading providers of POS systems used by over half a million hotels, restaurants and other operations. Taking one of the biggest POS providers and marrying it to one of the world's leaders in business software has the potential to create products that will ease the minds of many a tortured CFO.

Oracle (www.oracle.com) introduced the MICROS Workstation 6, using Microsoft Windows Embedded 8.1 and the latest Intel Atom processor. It works in concert with mobile, cloud and social media to deliver consistent, integrated content across multiple sources, and can offer guest recommendations, special promotion rollouts and more. The Workstation 6 incorporates the design elements of a mobile POS in an ergonomic, all-in-one design with a 15.6-inch-wide HD touchscreen, and a spill and impact resistant enclose. Additionally, it can be mounted on a stand that allows staff to adjust the screen angle or swivel it for guest to view. The integrated, three-track magnetic card reader allows for 3DES or AES encryption upon swiping, and includes six USB ports for attaching printers, scanners, cash drawers and more.