Michal Christine Escobar
Michal Christine Escobar is Hospitality Technology’s Senior Editor, with a concentration on the hotel industry. She has more than five years of experience as a B2B journalist. She is responsible for the hotel beat at the magazine and often writes about AI, VR, IoT and other emerging technologies affecting hospitality.
BLOG POSTS BY THIS AUTHOR
February 2019
Feb 08
A Digital Facelift: Micro Apps Yield Macro Results
With the advent of home sharing websites and short-term vacation rentals, many hotels and resorts have struggled to grow revenue.
ARTICLES BY THIS AUTHOR
April 2021
Apr 13
Curator Hotel & Resort Collection Welcomes Sage Hospitality Group as New Founding Member
Sage is joining a group of six other founding members: like-minded hotel owners and operators committed to working in cooperative competition to lift the independent hotel industry and provide incomparable experiences for travelers.
Apr 13
RH-ISAC Announces New eCommerce Campaign for Retail, Hospitality, and Travel Sector
Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council, PerimeterX, SecurityScorecard, Tala Security, and The Media Trust join forces with the RH-ISAC to address eCommerce concerns within retail, hospitality, and travel industry.
Apr 13
How Digitally Enabling Your Frontline Employees Has Become a Necessity
Mission Ridge Ski and Board Resort shares how it kept its teams communicating during COVID-19 and how it is helping them to prepare for reopening in the upcoming season with minimal employee turnover.
Apr 12
Five Tips for Surviving Unsteady Occupancies
From tracking the right metrics to clustering operations, these core principles will help hoteliers navigate the current unpredictable market.
Apr 09
Z-Wave: Hospitality’s Alternative to WiFi for IoT Networks
Connected devices can crowd a hotel’s Wi-Fi frequency, causing bandwidth, interference, and reliability problems. Z-Wave works differently by operating in an entirely different frequency band.
Apr 08
Expedia Group Launches COVID-19 Advisor Tool to Track Global Travel Restrictions and to Help Restore Confidence In Travel
Expedia, Hotels.com, ebookers, Orbitz, Travelocity, Vrbo, and Wotif adopt the latest technology to support travel partners and ensure a frictionless experience for travelers.
Apr 08
Carnival's MedallionNet Redefines Remote Working
Every Princess cruise ship will feature land-like connectivity making remote working, distance learning and more available to all guests. With an access point in every stateroom, as well as all public areas, guests can move freely around the ship as they work without any frustrating signal drops.
Apr 07
Why Investors are Betting on Hospitality Tech
After being turned on its head, it's clear that the hospitality industry will never be the same. However, this disruption has created the perfect conditions for innovation and new companies to emerge, and investors are paying close attention.
Apr 06
A Look Back at the Digitalization of Hotel Management
Executives from Charlestowne Hotels discuss how 40 years of technology advancements have revolutionized the way hotels are run.
Apr 05
Aclaimant CEO: We Want to Help Every Business Be an Expert Risk Manager
The hospitality industry is facing one of the most litigious periods in history due to the pandemic. Technology can help hotels and restaurants to be proactive rather than reactive when it comes to managing risk.
Apr 05
Six Ways Hospitality Can Make a Post-Pandemic Pivot to Leisure
Hoteliers need to change the way they think about their business—customer experiences, marketing, sales, customized content, loyalty programs, and both the “pre-travel” and “post-travel” phases of the customer journey.
Apr 05
How One SaaS Company is Leading the Industry to Contactless, Guest-Centric Transactions
Virdee, whose name is a play on VRD, saw an urgent need for solutions to help hotels achieve operational efficiencies and cost savings in a contactless environment. Its growing popularity shows the hospitality industry has taken note.
Apr 02
Booking.com Fined $560k for GDPR Violation
Booking.com took 22 days to report a data breach in 2019 when GDPR mandates that data breaches must be reported within 72 hours.
Apr 01
HFTP Forms Global Hospitality PII Management Task Force to Develop Guidance on Secure Data Collection and Use
The growing use of high-tech interfaces and digital applications such as AI and facial recognition in hospitality operations present a need for thorough, hospitality-specific direction on data management, thoughtfully developed by the experts who implement the solutions.
Apr 01
MURTEC 2021: Get a Sneak Peak at Taco Bell’s Tech Roadmap
From edge computing to the connected restaurant, native e-commerce, and IoT, MURTEC attendees get a look behind the scenes at what’s happening now and what’s on the horizon.
Apr 01
Burritos or Bitcoin: Chipotle to Give Away $200k in Free Burritos and Bitcoin to Celebrate National Burrito Day
The brand is teaming up with Stefan Thomas, the tech founder who notoriously lost his Bitcoin login worth $387 million earlier this year, and calling upon fans to enter for a chance to win on April 1.
March 2021
Mar 30
MURTEC 2021: How Another Broken Egg Cafe Increased Off-Prem Sales
COVID hit breakfast concepts especially hard, but CEO Paul Macaluso and his team at Another Broken Egg Cafe found a way to increase off-prem from 2% to more than 15%, all while creating here-to-stay incremental revenue streams.
Mar 30
Rōti Partners with GetUpside to Reach New Customers
GetUpside matches customers with local businesses and encourages them to transact using personalized cash back offers.
Mar 30
RH-ISAC and CISA Announce First Retail, Hospitality, and Travel Industry-Wide Cybersecurity Exercise
Top trade associations in retail, hospitality, and travel partner with RH-ISAC and CISA to support the first industry-wide exercise focused on communication, coordination, and decision making.
Mar 30
Jet's Pizza Introduces Text-to-Order Technology
In partnership with Ordr AI, Jet's Pizza has already done more than 1 million text orders and launched in more than 75% of stores.
Mar 29
How Restaurants Should Leverage POS Data to Capitalize on Game Day Ordering
Many restaurants are leaving money on the table by not mining their POS data for valuable insights.
Mar 29
Why Your Outdoor Dining Area Needs a Tech Upgrade
Embracing technology can help create a better dining experiences for customers which will lead to increased revenue for your brand.
Mar 26
Casino Hotels Address Pandemic-Related Customer Concerns About Smoking Odors in Guest Rooms
New technology improves casino hotel guest satisfaction and eliminates remediation costs.
Mar 26
3 Reasons Why UV-C Is the Future of Disinfection in the Hotel Industry
Efficiency, ROI, safety and sustainability all play a role in making UV-C disinfection tech ideal for hospitality.
Mar 26
Chipotle Invests in Autonomous Delivery Company: Nuro
Nuro uses robotics in their fleet of on-road, occupantless and autonomous vehicles to deliver everyday consumer goods.
Mar 26
2021 and the QSR Customer Experience
Successful QSRs will understand how to leverage their mobile technology programs to accommodate modern customers.
Mar 25
Hoteliers Opt for Onsite Tech Training Despite Pandemic
Operators say it’s important to lead by example and show businesses that it’s safe and viable to attend live meetings when health and safety protocols are followed.
Mar 25
Off-Premise Is Here to Stay
With various vaccines promising light at the end of the tunnel, guests surveyed said that the convenience afforded by off-premise channels would remain an essential fixture of their spending habits.
Mar 25
AHLA Integrates HTNG, Strengthening Technology Expertise, Advocacy Focus
HT’s exclusive interview with HTNG sheds light on how, why this partnership came to be.
Mar 25
A Fresh Breath of Air: Why One Restaurant Installed an Air Purifier
Minimizing risk and providing peace of mind for the owner, staff and patrons was a large driver behind the air purifier installation.
Mar 25
Learn How Bloomin' Brands and Uncle Julio's Virtual Brands Have Taken Center Stage
From optimizing tech to lessons learned, you'll hear how these newest brands are fanning the flames of profitability and popularity, and teaching old brands new tricks every step of the way.
Mar 24
How the Hospitality Industry Can Benefit from President Biden's Buy American Executive Order
In four steps, the hospitality industry could prepare itself for a significant revenue stream in the near future.
Mar 24
Affordable, Accurate and Instantaneous: The Future of Multilingual Customer Support Has Arrived
International business, including hotels, often find that their number one challenge is providing customer support in a variety of languages. The answer to that question may just have arrived.
Mar 23
Here's Why a Super App Could Reinvigorate the Business World
The super app brings a mobile-first focus to a mobile-first generation — a process that will only accelerate as we move past the pandemic.
Mar 23
3 Ways QSRs Will Benefit from Ultrafast EV Charging Stations
Widespread adoption of EVs and the next generation of ultrafast EV charging stations promise to generate revenue for QSRs and align their brands with energy efficiency and environmental stewardship.
Mar 22
ASJ Homes to Build Shipping Container Micro Hotels
Company introduces a new cryptocurrency called Container Tokens, which can be used to book a room, suite or event space at shipping container boutique micro hotels as well as pay for food, drinks and spa sessions.
Mar 22
South Korea: Hyundai Teams Up with Woowa Brothers to Create Restaurant Delivery Robots
Woowa Brothers, operator of South Korea's largest food delivery app, to develop robots that can carry meals from restaurant to door.
Mar 19
Redefining Communications for Today’s Mobile Workforces
Now that COVID-19 has all but eradicated traditional in-person relationships and many in-office team members are now working remotely, keeping everyone synced is an even more daunting task.
Mar 18
How Event Organizers Are Using Tech to Have Successful In-Person Events
Key Takeaways: Hotels will need to offer high bandwidth, an onsite IT technician, and a lot of flexibility.
Mar 18
Thinking of Mandating the COVID-19 Vaccine for Your Hospitality Employees?
Not a great idea; try incentivizing it instead, says labor and employment attorney.
Mar 18
Sonesta Completes Acquisition of Red Lion Hotels
Sonesta Hotels now has 1,200 hotels and more than 100,000 rooms diversified across 15 brands.
Mar 17
Healthy Building Solutions that Should Be on the Top of Your Reopening Checklist
Before any systems or technologies can be implemented, it’s crucial for hospitality managers to perform extensive assessments to establish their safety KPIs and understand what their facilities need to meet them.
Mar 16
Disney Announces MagicMobile Tech
After announcing in June 2020 that MagicBands will be ending in 2021, Disney has rolled out what many assume will be replacing them: smartphone tech.
Mar 16
Blackstone and Starwood Capital Group to Acquire Extended Stay America
Extended Stay America, Inc. (“ESA”) and its paired-share REIT, ESH Hospitality, Inc.
Mar 16
The Future Is Here: Conversational Messaging Platforms & Hospitality
Get on board or get left behind, there is no middle ground.
Mar 11
Google Says No More Cookies in 2022: How Should Hotel Marketers React?
Consumer privacy advocate Matt Voda of OptiMine says: “If you have under-invested in first-party data, you should begin to feel nervous sweat right now.”
Mar 11
Google's Free Hotel Booking Links: What It Means for You
Google Hotel Ads must now become an essential part of your direct booking strategy.
Mar 10
How Communication Technology Can Enhance the Hospitality Experience in 2021
Digital signage, wayfinding and other communication technology can be leveraged to make hotel guests feel more comfortable.
Mar 09
7 New Rules for Increasing Guest Satisfaction
Transparency, seamless experiences and resolving guest issues as they happen are just a few ways hospitality brands need to rethink the guest experience.
Mar 08
What can Hospitality Learn from Clubhouse?
The invitation-only audio-chat iPhone app allows users to listen to and actively participate in live, unscripted conversations and could provide hospitality with the opportunity to connect with their audience in a personal and intimate setting.
Mar 05
Sarona Holdings CTO Shares His Predictions for Hotel Tech in 2021 and Beyond
Contactless technologies – including the humble QR code – will continue to be a staple in 2021 says R.P. Rama, but don’t expect to see robots popping up in hotels just yet.
Mar 04
Hotel Tech: Solve for Pain Points
It’s not just about doing what’s hip and new, but it’s about actually helping consumers solve problems.
Mar 03
Hospitality Technology is a Catalyst for Business Agility: Here’s How to Take Advantage
A lack of business agility directly correlates with immature FP&A capabilities in hospitality businesses.
Mar 02
The Role of Revenue Performance in the COVID-19 Rebound
With 2021 underway, many questions remain unclear, such as when travel restrictions will ease, when demand will return, and how to effectively price inventory when traditional revenue management approaches are no longer reliable.
Mar 02
Royal Caribbean's Odyssey of the Seas to Be First Fully Vaccinated Cruise
Both crew and guests above the age of 16 will be vaccinated against COVID-19.
Mar 01
Retriggering Spontaneity Is Key to Reviving the Travel Industry
The real challenge for travel brands in 2021 will be finding ways to balance the message that it’s once again safe to go out with compelling offers that will trigger people’s spontaneity and make them want to travel again.