Here is my second entry.
Name of the author: Jon Inge
Title of the article: “The Electronic Guestroom”
Magazine name: Hospitality Upgrade
Issue: 3/1/2006
URL of the article: http://www.hospitalityupgrade.com/_magazine/magazine_Detail.asp?ID=56
Summary:
This article focuses on the issue of electronic guestroom in the hospitality industry. Since an increasingly sophisticated technology people have at home, it is no doubt that they have relatively higher expectations of the guestroom in hotels. However, with a fast pace of change of technology, it is hard to predict and plan for the demand in the future. Two key answers that authors mentioned about are Internet Protocol-based standards and central systems management. The purposes of using it are producing more cohesive system flexibly and efficiently at an affordable price. There are five general categories for the guestroom systems: The first category is the audio-visual entertainment which included flat-panel displays with connectors to hook in guest’s personal music and video players, 5.1 theater-style surround-sound set-up, a variety of program channel and pay-per-view digital movies. Second is the guest service which included mini-bars that monitored by central management systems, in-room safes and electronic do-not-disturb/maid service indicators. The third category is communication which included voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phones and wired, wireless or both high-speed 802.11 Internet access (HSIA). Forth is security and environment control which included intelligent thermostats and electronic locks by using biometric controls, radio-frequency ID (RFID) keycards or smart cards. Lastly, infrastructure simply means hotel networks. The development of a separate all-in-one guestroom control unit will be a potential outcome in the future.
My Reflection:
It is true that guestroom technology has become a critical issue for hospitality industry. The goal is as functional as possible at an affordable price. In my opinion, all five categories which are mentioned above are highly demandable. However, the high-speed Internet access (HSIA) is definitely essential. Nowadays, wired connection is not enough. Many hotels are providing wireless access in order to achieve larger range of coverage since many more access points are needed. Streaming programming from inexpensive online movie libraries becomes very common by combining HSIA with flat-panel displays. It can even extend the usefulness by integrating with other hotel systems. Guests can access the hotel information to make dining reservations, order room service, access concierge services, enter wakeup calls, check their meeting agenda and room location, view diagrams of the resort layout and focus on specific attractions, view folio information and check out and so on. However, this flexibility does have the drawback. The obvious one is causing a data traffic because of the heavy usage. To solve this problem, hotels can limit their consumption by providing free HSIA for reasonable usage such as e-mail and general surfing but charging for continuous heavy usage for streaming video. With the good use of information technology, it will be a multiple benefits to all of us.
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Back to the Future and Leaping Ahead
Today I read an article in Hospitality Upgrade. Here is my first entry.
Name of the author: Jon Inge
Title of the article: “Back to the Future and Leaping Ahead”
Magazine name: Hospitality Upgrade
Issue: 6/17/2006
URL of the article: https://mycourses.udel.edu/SCRIPT/HRIM450_050_07F/scripts/student/serve_page.pl/HRIM450_050_07F/assignments/blog_assignment.htm?1156632400+1157344260+OFF+resources.htm+
Summary:
Due to the improvement of the tools nowadays, it is far easier to satisfy our increasingly sophisticated guest’s expectations. However, those expectations have become so wide-ranging. It means we need to have a better understanding of our changing business models. In this article, author emphasized eight interlinked trends at work. First, “continuing demand for more complete data” is required for the future marketing and booking approaches. To have a more completed guest’s profiles, many vendors are developing IP-based integration engines to acquire “more data analysis” accurately, which is the trend number two. This trend is particularly used by multi-property chains to simplify the task to ensure all properties use the same data fields for consistent input and to analyze cross-property information. Third, travelers are beginning to use the flexibility of the “web-enabled access to data”. In addition to the sites will need Internet-query access to the various hotel data bases, add links on other peer-review sites and blogs will be a great way for marketing. Forth, “increased focus on the individual guest” is continued growing. To better tailoring the guest’s specific preference, special-offer e-mails, individual e-mailed follow-up surveys and web packaging can drive their recognition. Fifth, “wider application of revenue management” is critical to remain competitive. Now, it is being extended from its guestroom focus to cover more aspects of booking. “More centralization of systems” is the sixth. It gives a better support and easier data analysis, with a growing concern of the security. Seventh, “more efficient vendor operations” allows more flexible integration and speeds up implementations through remote control. Finally, “guestroom technology” has many aspects which included flat panel displays, hook-ups for guest devices and the integration with the Internet, phone, PMS and many other systems.
My Comments:
Nowadays, technology is inseparable from our life. This article gave me a complete picture of eight interlinked trends at work in 2006 in order to satisfy higher expectations from the guest. From my point of view, “web-enabled access to data for new approaches to marketing and booking” and “Increasingly individualized guest contact” is my best two. For “web-enabled access to data”, it is true that some peer-review sites and are far more powerful than any other advertisements. For example, on the TripAdvisor.com, it is easy to find out how the hotel is by the other traveler’s comments. Therefore, taking care of those comments and showing a sincere concern by response is the only way to maintain a positive image and a high rank. “Increased focus on the individual guest” is another critical element nowadays. From my past experience, as a room service trainee in a five-star hotel in Zurich, we do take care of the guest’s specific catering preferences. Every people have their different needs. Some of the guests prefer to drink a hot water while eating; some of them prefer us to just leave the table outsides without disturbed; some of them prefer to have their favorite flowers in the room before they arrive. However, all these needs have to be fulfilled.
Name of the author: Jon Inge
Title of the article: “Back to the Future and Leaping Ahead”
Magazine name: Hospitality Upgrade
Issue: 6/17/2006
URL of the article: https://mycourses.udel.edu/SCRIPT/HRIM450_050_07F/scripts/student/serve_page.pl/HRIM450_050_07F/assignments/blog_assignment.htm?1156632400+1157344260+OFF+resources.htm+
Summary:
Due to the improvement of the tools nowadays, it is far easier to satisfy our increasingly sophisticated guest’s expectations. However, those expectations have become so wide-ranging. It means we need to have a better understanding of our changing business models. In this article, author emphasized eight interlinked trends at work. First, “continuing demand for more complete data” is required for the future marketing and booking approaches. To have a more completed guest’s profiles, many vendors are developing IP-based integration engines to acquire “more data analysis” accurately, which is the trend number two. This trend is particularly used by multi-property chains to simplify the task to ensure all properties use the same data fields for consistent input and to analyze cross-property information. Third, travelers are beginning to use the flexibility of the “web-enabled access to data”. In addition to the sites will need Internet-query access to the various hotel data bases, add links on other peer-review sites and blogs will be a great way for marketing. Forth, “increased focus on the individual guest” is continued growing. To better tailoring the guest’s specific preference, special-offer e-mails, individual e-mailed follow-up surveys and web packaging can drive their recognition. Fifth, “wider application of revenue management” is critical to remain competitive. Now, it is being extended from its guestroom focus to cover more aspects of booking. “More centralization of systems” is the sixth. It gives a better support and easier data analysis, with a growing concern of the security. Seventh, “more efficient vendor operations” allows more flexible integration and speeds up implementations through remote control. Finally, “guestroom technology” has many aspects which included flat panel displays, hook-ups for guest devices and the integration with the Internet, phone, PMS and many other systems.
My Comments:
Nowadays, technology is inseparable from our life. This article gave me a complete picture of eight interlinked trends at work in 2006 in order to satisfy higher expectations from the guest. From my point of view, “web-enabled access to data for new approaches to marketing and booking” and “Increasingly individualized guest contact” is my best two. For “web-enabled access to data”, it is true that some peer-review sites and are far more powerful than any other advertisements. For example, on the TripAdvisor.com, it is easy to find out how the hotel is by the other traveler’s comments. Therefore, taking care of those comments and showing a sincere concern by response is the only way to maintain a positive image and a high rank. “Increased focus on the individual guest” is another critical element nowadays. From my past experience, as a room service trainee in a five-star hotel in Zurich, we do take care of the guest’s specific catering preferences. Every people have their different needs. Some of the guests prefer to drink a hot water while eating; some of them prefer us to just leave the table outsides without disturbed; some of them prefer to have their favorite flowers in the room before they arrive. However, all these needs have to be fulfilled.
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