The Future of Online Lodging Bookings

Consumers looking for a low fare at a lodging facility currently flock to discount websites such as Orbitz.com, Priceline.com, Hotwire.com, and Expedia.com. The fare rates, however, include commissions, which in most cases when added into the base fare, can be matched by calling or booking a hotel directly. JackRabbit Systems has created a direct online booking technology which bypasses third party booking websites such as Orbitz.com, Priceline.com, and Hotwire.com, etc. by combing direct lodging facility websites for lowest rates available. The JackRabbit direct online booking interface has found a partner in many convention and visitor bureau websites by embedding itself to allow CVB visitors to view local lodging facilities fares and link directly into the respective lodging facility website to book in the fare.

The emergence of the JackRabbit online travel booking technology may cut into the current Orbitz.com, Priceline.com, and Hotwire.com, etc. clientele in the very near future by offering the patrons a new method of avoiding high commission fees. Convention and Visitor Bureau’s, such as the Ontario, CA bureau, with the development of the JackRabbit interface, now offer the parallel of providing lodging facility bookings to the current city happenings and events offered.

WSJ- Online Lodging Booking Article

JackRabbit Systems

Ontario, CA- CVB Website

CRM Technology in the H & T Industry

The downturn in the economy has required hospitality entities to make every effort to maintain and attract a respective clientele. Electronic Customer Relationship Management software allows for a hospitality entity to track its consumer’s behavior. The results from the tracked behavior are used by the hospitality business to individually tailor its services to the desires and habits of its patrons. The collected data is then refined for businesses to create loyalty programs which provide awards/incentives targeted at repeat visitors. (Studies have shown that over sixty percent of a facilities visitors will select a location based upon the promise that future gifts will be offered upon a next trip). CRM databases use data mining technology to extract a tourist’s purchase behavior, reason for stay, market segment, etc. to personalize consumer interaction and increase customer satisfaction, components necessary for remaining at a competitive advantage in the industry.

m-Travel.com- CRM Article

The New Hospitality & Tourism Sales Agent

Hospitality and tourism sales teams were previously in the habit of gaining a majority of business through cold calls. The most common tool for the manager of today is the internet, which currently offers websites that hospitality and sales teams may utilize to capture new and maintain existing markets. GoogleMaps.com allows for the salesman to find a listing of local businesses in his or her area. GoogleSearch.com allows the representative to find a specific business within a desired area. A keyword search through a search engine such as yahoo! or lycos will allow the executive to find a target market segment. Salesmen can also take advantage of online RFP websites, in which opportunities for business are displayed. A final tool available for the hospitality and tourism sales agent is the availability of online learning websites, such as Hotelearning.com where a sales agent can hone his or her skills by learning of the ever changing trends in information technology.

HotelOnline- Hotel Sales Article

Hotelearning.com

Eco-Friendly Lodging Website

The costs of maintaining a smoke permitted lodging facility are both social and financial. Socially, the economy is shifting to a more eco-friendly society, which is not conducive to the carcinogens produced by smoking in a lodging facility. Financially, lodging cleaning costs are exacerbated when smoking is permitted due to deep cleaning costs and additional maintenance such as the repainting of walls.

Hoteliers looking to stay in line with the calls from society for a more eco-friendly environment and an interest in cutting costs will find themselves at an advantage by eliminating smoking rooms. FreshStay® currently offers a website listing 100% smoke free lodging facilities. The website has become the leading on-line directory of smoke free facilities through an integrated booking process. The integrated booking process offers users interested in booking a non-smoking lodging facility a database of non-smoking facilities by state and/or country with direct links from the selected property to a booking site.

Hoteliers offering a smoke free facility will find that partnering with FreshStay® will offer the opportunity to promote themselves to the growing market of non-smokers, hypo allergic clients, and those interested in a clean environment.

Hotel News Resource- FreshStay® Article

FreshStay®

iPhone Application for Hotels

Cell phone and PDA users constantly rely on these devices to keep appointments and schedules. Choice Hotels has partnered with Apple and the highly sought after iPhone to offer a new iPhone application. The new application allows the current market of eleven million iPhone users to seamlessly search for Choice Hotels in their respective area, create point-to-point driving directions to the desired hotel, learn of the desired hotels features and nearby attractions, and create/update/cancel hotel reservations.

The new application provides Choice Hotels a competitive advantage for capturing the technologically savvy clientele. The iPhone in turn will generate a wider consumer base as hotel guests realize the new feature available on the iPhone, however not offered in its competitive cell phone market. The alliance of Choice Hotels and Apple is sure to stem similar alliances with competing hotel chains and cell phone and pda providers as society continues to rely on information technology. The future will only show more advances and alliances in the information technology and hospitality and tourism segments.

Hotel News Resource: iPhone Hotel Application Article

Apple Inc. iPhone Appstore

Choice Hotels Intl., Inc.

Tech Concierge- A New Hospitality Career

Frequent changes in technology have led Crystal Cruises to develop a new position entitled Technology Concierge. The responsibilities of the technology concierge include helping guests with their use of iPods, kindle electronic readers, and other personal electronic devices. The technology concierge will also assist guests in the use of the ships 25 state-of-the -art computer center workstations.

New upgrades in technology in current times and in the near future are leading to the removal of human jobs; however Crystal Cruises has been instrumental in the retention of careers through the installation of opportunities of work in technology instruction and use. Tough economic times and cost-saving strategies lead hoteliers to determine whether or not to make cutbacks in staff; however it is necessary to make every effort to salvage human resources as in the case with Crystal Cruises.


Mercury News- Tech Concierge Article

Crystal Cruises

Digital TV Transition: A Hospitality Solution

The June 12, 2009 termination deadline for analog broadcast televisions has led hoteliers to explore facility redesign costs in regards to outlaying prospective operations with digital televisions. Hoteliers’ currently offering analog televisions have a limited chance in these tough economic times to find the most economic television offers for re outlay while providing enough aesthetics to present a competitive advantage.

Samsung Electronics has rolled out an exclusive hospitality digital television line including the 450, 457, and 550 LCD series. The television line can be tailored to all market segments from budget to luxury. The televisions’ offer a 60% power consumption reduction which in turn will provide cost-savings. The televisions’ slick and glossy design also provides guests with an at-home feeling experience.

Hoteliers looking to upgrade their facilities from analog televisions to digital televisions per the mandatory government mandate will find that the Samsung hospitality television line offers a cost-effective method to remain at a competitive advantage.

Newswire Korea: Samsung Hospitality TV's Article

SAMSUNG Electronics Co., Ltd

Leave Your Chargers at Home

Travelers often forget to pack cell phone, camera, and/or laptop charges when away on business or leisure. Travelers’ conversely leave charges behind during lodging visits as an inventory of any lodging facilities’ lost and found/housekeeping department will display. Hotels must find a way to cater to guests needs for chargers as technology moves forward rather than relying on in-house inventory.

The Powermat, Ltd. Company recently showcased a new product at the January 2009 Consumer and Electronics Show- a wireless charger with the ability to charge iPhones, iPods, Blackberry’s and other mobile phones, GPS units, handheld games, and laptop computers. The unit allows users to plug in their unit to one of its ports, which simultaneously allows for the power charger to conduct electricity to repower the unit. The unit eliminates the use of power cords as its source of energy is created magnetically from the touch of a blackberry, etc. The unit may also be used as a power source rather then the traditional power strip, which would decrease the cases of electric shock as the unit can only be powered by the magnetic touch of an iPhone, etc.

A hotel which determines to outline its guest rooms with the Powermat charger/power strip will see improvements in space, as cords are eliminated, and electricity costs, as power is magnetically transferred through unit to source connectivity. The future may see a transition in the way items are powered and charged as the Powermat comes to the market in 2009.

Powermat Ltd.

VoIP: The New Hotel Phone System?

Hotels have long since used the PBX switchboard system and PBX operator as a source of phone communication. The advent of the internet has led to an alternative phone communication network know as VoIP. VoIP communication allows for users to employ designated internet connections in lieu of fixed phone lines. Proponents of the VoIP communication method argue that it provides a life cost significantly less than the PBX method would offer due to more efficient long and short distance call expenses.

Thing5 LLC, a provider of next generation voice solutions provider, currently provides VoIP service to 1,700 hotels in North America. Thing 5 LLC, in an effort to cut hotel long-term communication costs and allow for a transition from PBX to VoIP, currently offers potential hotels an agreement of paying a flat monthly service fee for its VoIP service. (Thing 5, LLC will waive the costs of materials and installation of the VoIP service). The company argues that an update of a current PBX system for modern use in a hotel would cost the hotelier over $30,000.

Tough economic times leave hoteliers with many cost saving and budget cutting questions to answer. A hotel transition from PBX to VoIP may provide significant costs in a Proprietor’s budget, however the owner must consider the added cost of retraining staff to manipulate the new technology, and the revenue lost from transition time during the upgrade period.

Tippit, Inc: Thing 5 VoIP Article

Thing5 L.L.C.

The Hospitality Company Website: A New Trend?

The state of the economy has led players in the hospitality industry to develop new marketing strategies with the help of IT to capture new clients and secure existing customers. Potential hospitality patrons are first captured through the reservations process as well as word of mouth. The reservations process in the hospitality industry previously involved consumers calling or walking into a hotel, restaurant, or other facility based upon chance, facility appearance, or word of mouth. The advent of the internet has led companies in the present-day to provide current and potential consumers a glimpse into their respective organizations. Online hotel websites, for instance, currently offer an outlook of amenities available, prices per relative room layouts, existing packages and deals, and easy access for on-line bookings.

Morgan’s hotel group has developed a website which is geared toward a particular segmented traveler. The hotel group has identified its clientele as consumers interested in hotel design and the origin of its particular hotel designers and used those ideals to provide a website offering commentary on its hotel designers and hotel designs. The Morgan hotel group has strayed from the current trend in hotel website offerings by targeting its marketing efforts at a clientele equipped with a more disposable income.

Hotels must determine in the impeding revamping of websites to hone in on a particular market as the Morgan hotel has decided, or to offer a broad array of prices and opportunities for consumers. The state of the economy will continue to play a key factor in hoteliers’ decisions to market price over features or vice versa in website development and design.

Fast Company: Morgan Hotels Blog

Morgans Group L.L.C.

Wireless Access: An Asset in the Hospitality Industry

Internet kiosks and business centers featuring hard-wire access computers in the hospitality industry’s lodging facilities have moved from an amenity featured only in select properties a few years ago to a standard feature today. Consumers are now seeking destinations which will offer them wireless access for fast and efficient internet use in pda’s, lap top’s, gaming consoles, and other wireless devices.

Ruckess Wireless, which offers state-of-the-art wi-fi technology, has recently partnered with Hotel Internet Services, an internet service and system provider, to detail hotels, resorts, timeshares and various other sites throughout the United States.

Hospitality entities must choose to take advantage of enterprises which can offer wireless capabilities for their respective properties. The forthcoming years will require hospitality and tourism lodging facilities to offer wireless capabilities throughout their properties as a standard. Entities which act now and align themselves with wireless service providers will instantly offer a service which is a core competitive advantage to their current and potential clients. Establishments should choose to act now rather than later to remain a key competitor in their respective markets.

PR Newswire: Ruckus Wireless Article

Ruckus Wireless, Inc.

The End of the Concierge?

The hotel concierge has been a core staple of hospitality in the hotel industry since its very conception. The concierge is responsible for providing guests with an array of recommendations and reservations in regards to current and upcoming hotel features/services/events, local attractions, restaurant suggestions per guest preference, and current and upcoming city events. The expansive knowledge of a highly competent concierge will allow for his guests to have all needs meet while being lodged away from home either for business or leisure purposes.

Intelity, LLC has created ICE, an interface system which provides guests with concierge features at their fingertips, either through a guest cell phone, guest laptop, or guest in-room television. The interface system will allow for guests to make restaurant reservations, check on the status of the availability of a room to check-in before arrival, and even review a hotel bill.

The features of the ICE system will provide guests with more ease in knowledge and use of hotel and city amenities and hoteliers with a reduced cost to the hotelier in the long-run as a concierge will no longer be utilized. The question the hotelier must consider is whether the savings of the ICE system will outweigh the priceless value of the personal “hospitality” touch of the concierge.

Plannerwire: Intelity ICE Article

Intelity, L.L.C.