Percipia Collaborates With Amazon’s Alexa Smart Properties Hospitality to Launch VIVA+
PERCIPIA | September 16, 2024
The Top 7 Pain Points in Hospitality Procurement and How to Overcome Them
Johannes Vocke | July 24, 2024
Technology
Champion Hotels Taps dormakaba for First IHG avid™ hotel, First Tru by Hilton
dormakaba | August 28, 2018
dormakaba Electronic Door Locks Help Nation's Largest Privately Held Hotel Operator Provide a Secure, High Quality Guest Experience August 28, 2018 – Champion Hotels opened the world's first IHG avid hotel in Oklahoma City this month. It also opened the first Tru by Hilton in mid-2017. Champion installed dormakaba's Saflok Quantum™ mobile ready RFID electronic door locks at both properties. Champion Hotels is the largest privately held hotel operator in the US with over 180 franchised locations. Its brands include Marriott, Hilton, IHG, Wyndham, and Choice. dormakaba provides secure Saflok™ and Ilco™ electronic d...
Fairmas wins hotel Ritz Paris as financial planning software customer
Fairmas GmbH | August 28, 2018
Ritz Paris uses FairPlanner from Fairmas to optimize financial planning The traditional luxury hotel Ritz Paris, one of the two privately owned Ritz hotels apart from The Ritz London, is now using the financial planning software FairPlanner from Fairmas GmbH based in Berlin. By integrating FairPlanner into their existing IT software environment, Ritz Paris is standardizing and automating the processing of their financial data for budget and forecast planning, with the aim of making the hotel's financial planning process more efficient. By utilizing FairPlanner, the hotel management is digitizing processes that are hardly visible to ...
OpenKey and Runtriz Create Global Partnership
OpenKey | August 28, 2018
Pairing brings mobile key and guest services to hotels in 140 countries DALLAS, TEXAS and LOS ANGELES, CA (August 28, 2018) – Runtriz and OpenKey have teamed up to elevate the digital guest experience in hotels around the world. OpenKey is the industry standard for universal mobile access in hotels and Runtriz is the leading guest engagement platform powering digital and mobile experiences for the world's leading hotel, resort and casino brands. The partnership brings significant advantages to hotel ownership and management companies in particular through combining flexible guest services such as requests for housekeeping or maint...
Consumers Want Amazon to Be a Travel Booking Site – What Can Hotels Learn?
Steffan Berelowitz | August 27, 2018
By Steffan Berelowitz Amazon dominates the world of e-commerce. Could it do the same in online travel bookings? Consumers would happily use the platform to book their travel plans if given the chance, according to a recent survey by flight travel intelligence company OAG. OAG surveyed 2,164 U.S. travelers to find out which platforms and methods they would be comfortable booking travel through. Amazon was the clear winner, with 44% of respondents saying they would consider using the e-commerce giant to book travel if it offered the service. This result is particularly impressive considering that the second most favored option was Faceboo...
Royal Caribbean International Gives High Approval to Videotel Digital
Videotel Digital | August 23, 2018
SAN DIEGO, AUGUST 27, 2018 - Creating waves of the best kind on the open seas, Videotel Digital receives a great review from Royal Caribbean International cruise lines. Having come on board with their PUSH Interactive Digital Signage Solution with the VP71XD Media Player, the company lends a hand in an unforgettable entertainment experience for those sailing. Proving to be essential in the hospitality industry for the personalized way guests can be intrigued during visits to venues, hotels, resorts, cruise lines, trains, bars, restaurants, and the like, the company takes center stage. "Videotel's equipment has been a proven solutio...
Are Travelers Falling out of Love With Airbnb?
Nancy Huang | August 23, 2018
By Nancy Huang The sharing economy came with the promise of revolutionizing the way we purchase goods and services, creating a frictionless world where buyers are connected to sellers, thereby cutting out the middleman and bringing down costs to consumers. The promise came to fruition. Today, an innovative breed of startups are giving consumers more choice, control, and convenience than ever before — nowhere more so, than in the travel industry. Yet there are signs that sharing economy accommodations are losing appeal. Since launching a decade ago, Airbnb has become the undisputed poster child of an alternative form of travel. Its...
How to Measure Social Media ROI: A 4-Step Plan for Marketers [Infographic]
MDG Advertising | August 23, 2018
Are you unsure about how to measure the return on investment of your social media marketing? If so, you're not alone. According to The CMO Survey, only 23% of senior marketers say they can determine the impact of their social efforts quantitatively. This struggle is understandable: assessing all the various types of organic social engagements that happen across multiple platforms can often feel like impossible task. The truth is that it's not. While measuring social ROI does take some time and work, it's absolutely achievable for firms of all types. So, how can brands tackle this problem? To find out, check out the key findings below, a...
Intelity X KEYPR Meet Guests’ Mobile Demands
Intelity | August 23, 2018
Study shows despite guests ongoing requests for more mobile engagement, few hotels are offering functionality everywhere guests want it; Intelity X KEYPR can help According to Hospitality Technology's 2018 Customer Engagement Technology Study, hotels are slow to adopt the mobile functionality guests want. Over 40% of those surveyed want to do one or more of the following: use their smartphones and tablets to manage reservations, control the guest room environment, check in/out, request services, order room service, unlock their rooms, and more. However, fewer than half of all hotels currently offer a majority of these mobile feature...
Loyalty Begins With a Smile
Alan Young | August 22, 2018
How a trip to Budapest reignited my love of travel By Alan E. Young, CEO, Puzzle Partner Loyalty begins with a smile. It sounds simple enough however it can be a challenge to receive a smile in today's hectic, overly self-indulgent environment. We focus on selfies, Facebook, Instagram and have slowly lost touch with what is most important, creating face to face relationships that can last the test of time. The hotel industry faces this challenge daily. While reading an article on Skift titled, "Google Finds Customer Service Beats Loyalty Programs," I saw this as such a basic point. Of course, great service will trump a loyalty program e...
Another Move by the OTAs That Is Harmful to Hotel Profitability – What You Need to Know
HEBS Digital | August 22, 2018
By Max Starkov Background: Two recent events in hotel distribution created a mild media buzz, but unfortunately were ignored by some hoteliers and quickly forgotten by the industry: Expedia's Add-On Advantage and Booking.basic. Below we will discuss the issues with these two new initiatives by Expedia and Booking.com, reminiscent of the old Wild West times of hotel distribution and the early years of unruly OTAs, before rate parity and best rate guarantees. Both OTA initiatives use package or wholesale rates in clear violation of package and wholesale rates contract terms. We feel compelled to remind hoteliers how detrimental these new ...
Cloudonix Certifies Cetis VoIP Hotel Phones
Cloudonix | August 22, 2018
August 22, 2018 (Netanya / Huntsville) Cloudonix, the game changing cloud communications backbone, has certified the new Cetis GEN3 IP Hotel Phones. This certification comes after rigorous testing of the new Cetis VoIP phones to ensure ease of connectivity and the best quality service for customers. The Cetis VoIP phone joins over 20,000 devices and VoIP providers that have been certified to work on the Cloudonix platform. The Cetis phones were connected as end-points on for an application running on the Cloudonix platform. Certification testing included call inception, call completion, and call quality. "Cloudonix is pleased to certify...
ALICE and the Government of Puerto Rico Create the Ultimate Traveler’s Experience Platform: “My Puerto Rico” Redefines Hospitality and Elevates
ALICE | August 22, 2018
My Puerto Rico Campaign Overview 3 min 32 sec video "My Puerto Rico" will revolutionize the local industry by becoming the first tourism destination to adopt a customer service platform designed to elevate the visitor's experience. August 22, 2018 – ALICE, the hospitality industry's leading operations platform, has partnered with the Government of Puerto Rico's Tourism Company (PRTC) and Roca Marketing to develop an innovative destination concierge service and trip planning platform available to every hotel and visitor. The new mobile hospitality app, "My Puerto Rico," will improve hotel performance and the guest experience, an...
Of Battlegrounds, New Channels and the Need for the Right Strategy
Vera Lye | August 21, 2018
By Vera Lye Over a couple of beautiful winter days Down Under, hotel practitioners gathered at the Sydney Exhibition Centre at the No Vacancy Accommodation Expo 2018 to listen to experts discuss changing trends and challenges faced by the industry. In such company, a discussion about the battlefield with new soldiers will inevitably ensue. This time was no different. The hospitality distribution chain was once again described as a "battleground" – a fight for customers and for ownership of those customers. A panel, entitled "Airbnb vs. hotels vs. OTAs," looking at the upsides and the downsides of the distribution landscape, starte...
Enseo Makes the Inc. 5000 for the Third Time
Enseo | August 21, 2018
Sustained Growth Earns Enseo Listing for Back-to-Back Years Richardson, TX – Aug. 21, 2018 – Inc. magazine revealed that Enseo, Inc. has once again been recognized as one of the nation's fastest-growing private companies. This is the third time for Enseo to rank on the Inc. 5000. The list represents a unique look at the most successful companies within the American economy's most dynamic segment—its independent small businesses. Enseo one of is the fastest growing provider of technology-based services with an 18-year history in innovation, spanning markets such as hospitality, education, hospitals, and government insta...
Shiji Group Expands to the USA, Opens International Office in Atlanta, Georgia
Shiji | August 21, 2018
Atlanta, GA: 21 August 2018, Shiji Group continues its international expansion and opens a new office in Atlanta, Georgia USA. The office, led by Greg Berman, COO Americas, consists of over 40 specialized staff focused on sales, service delivery, software development, and customer support for Shiji Group products and services. By the end of 2018, the Shiji international office in Atlanta will grow to include 100 staff. "For Shiji Group, act local - be local is part of the company DNA. It didn't take long for us to realize that we needed a strong on-site team to support the day to day operations for our US hospitality customer-base," sai...
Owners, Asset Managers Emphasize Need for Leadership in Revenue Strategy
Mark Brandau | August 17, 2018
By Mark Brandau Hotel owners and asset managers led the charge at RSS 2018 for revenue-focused leadership that would help them and the major brands whose flags they carry. A more holistic Revenue Strategy that maximizes profitability is within reach, RSS attendees said, but it requires greater collaboration among all stakeholders, as well as all departments of a property. Highlights from RSS show that hoteliers recognize and emphasize the needs in the industry for greater alignment, leadership development and investment in technology. Aligning the Hotel Industry for Revenue Strategy The prevailing sentiment about Revenue Strategy, share...
How Technology Is Driving Transparency in Real Estate
Real Views | August 17, 2018
From buildings filled with sensors tracking employees, to software that monitors reams of leasing documents, new technologies are rapidly being incorporated across the commercial real estate industry. While no two tools are the same, they share a common output: data. Big data, and the technology driving it, are promising huge leaps forward for the real estate industry. While broad-based data collection requires requisite caution, the eventual outcome is likely to be greater transparency, especially in markets where information remains tightly held, according to JLL and LaSalle's Global Transparency Index. "Property is in the midst of a ...
3 Hotel Website Designs That Are Inspiring Guests to Book
Nina Simons | August 16, 2018
By Nina Simons A hotel website is not a pretty banner that showcases the facility's best assets – it's actually the place where the guest experience begins nowadays. Through design and content, the website can present your hotel and the experience it offers effectively, making it your best tool for establishing trust and encouraging direct booking. Now, we can have different opinions on which website "looks good" and which details of its design we like. But our subjective opinions on the intricacies of design are completely irrelevant to the question of conversion. The user experience is what essentially drives conversions, and a good...
The Critical Alignment of Systems: The History of Hospitality API
August 16, 2018
By Jos Schaap CEO and Founder - StayNTouch It's no secret — providing a high-level guest experience requires the support of high-level technology. As we shift into a mobile-centric, hyper-personalized era led by the digital demands of the modern consumer, the pressure for hotels to continuously introduce new technology and advance their existing offering(s) is staggering. While the adoption and timely implementation of new technology is undeniably paramount in a hotel's appeal to the modern consumer — the success of this new technology relies largely on whether that technology is built on an open API. Think of it this way: i...
Vizergy Digital Marketing Turns 20 Years Young This Month
August 16, 2018
Digital Marketing Firm Celebrates Two Decades of Success in August Vizergy, the hospitality industry's leading digital marketing and technology company celebrates it's 20th anniversary while enjoying record growth and revenues. The company, originally branded as Secure-Res, started in 1998 with a goal of helping hotels and resorts solve a common problem: understanding how to capture customers and generate revenue in the early years of the Internet. "Our founder Joe Hyman really was a bit of a visionary in our space. He developed a piece of software that allowed consumers to make online reservations before platforms like Travelocity and ...
ALICE Creates Eye-Opening Insights to Housekeeping Operations for Hotel Wailea
ALICE | August 15, 2018
Hotel Wailea, Hawaii's only luxury adults-only resort, has selected ALICE to enhance their internal communication and align their staff task management within the most exclusive retreat community on Maui. ALICE is the hospitality industry's leading operations technology, connecting every department of the hotel with one platform for all staff communication and guest requests. Last year, ALICE acquired concierge software provider GoConcierge to augment its technology and customer service offering. Prior to implementing ALICE, Hotel Wailea used radios for communication across their 15 tropical acres and printed checklists to assign staff ...
The Potential and Pitfalls of a Hotel Management Takeover
Gary Hogan | August 15, 2018
By Gary Hogan Taking over an underperforming property can seem like a daunting task. After the excitement of being awarded a management contract, the transition period that follows can be filled with roadblocks — from distrustful employees, to outgoing management diverting their bookings to other hotels, to owners placing unrealistic expectations on performance. While it takes time to rebuild a property to its full potential, leveraging the right opportunities can help you establish quick wins that may ease the transition and create a solid foundation for success. Communicate with your employees Be prepared to encounter rumors, go...
INFOGRAPHIC: 10 Tips to Close Group Business
Cendyn | August 15, 2018
Shorten the sales cycle with proposals that win more groups & events Congratulations, your hotel is on the short list for that big group or event. But even sales pros who "always be closing" know a door can easily slam shut or stall, leaving your team on the hook for group business stuck in the pipeline. How you finesse the proposal is everything. See are our top 10 tips to help you shorten the sales cycle and win more hotel business with proposals and closing techniques that help you seal the deal quickly. ...
Phonesuite Releases Voiceware 3.0 as an Upgrade to Its Existing Hotel Communication Platform
Phonesuite | August 15, 2018
Enhanced software helps hotel managers monitor one or more properties more efficiently using new cloud-based tools to track call data, metrics, and hotel staff (Broomfield, Colorado) – August 15, 2018 – Phonesuite, a leading provider of communications solutions for the hotel industry for more than 25 years, announces the release of upgraded Voiceware 3.0 software, the next iteration in its leading IP-PBX hotel management platform. This major release represents Phonesuite's commitment toward developing innovative tools that help hotels function more efficiently and profitably through cloud-based technology delivery. A signif...
