Cover Story

With the application of digital technologies, an executive leadership position is also emerging. The role of CDO or chief digital officer is proving to be one that's part technology, part marketing, and part business.

Social media offers a sprawling, picture window view into consumer opinion, and hotels and restaurants have overwhelmingly joined the discussion. Managing social channels and the vast data they provide, however, is largely a manual, time intensive process. HT research has found that many hotels and restaurants struggle to measure and manage social activity; we anticipate social reputation management (SRM) technology will become increasingly important as the industry aims to build out integrations between social content and loyalty programs. In this special feature, HT talks to hotel and restaurant operators that are using SRM — including Domino's, Shangri-La Hotels and others — to get insight into the tools that are helping them manage and mine high-value social data.

In the competitive lodging and travel industry, hotel operators are seeking innovative ways to drive business and enhance the service they provide to guests. Technology is increasingly becoming a key differentiator. Hospitality Technology has selected three lodging operators to honor with 2014 Hotel Visionary Awards. Red Lion Hotels for its inspired website and booking channel, La Quinta Inns & Suites for its performance management solution, and Mandarin Oriental for its physical IT test lab that mimics an actual guest room. This month's cover story offers exclusive interviews and profiles of each award-wining initiative.

By the end of 2015, order-and-pay tablets are being mounted at the table, and check settlement for all purchases will be integrated into a single transaction at all of Buffalo Wild Wings' 1,010+ locations. HT talks to Karen Bird, VP of IT, about the project, as well as evolving mobile trends in restaurant technology.

Two years ago, Interstate Hotels & Resorts was at a crossroads. Facing aging storage servers and the high costs associated with maintaining legacy systems, the company decided to move its infrastructure to the cloud. Today, CIO Jim Lamb is reporting that the wide-spread transformation is paying back in both financial savings and operational benefits, chief among them mobile access to the company’s business intelligence system. In this exclusive interview, Lamb offers insight into Interstate’s infrastructure transformation, plus tips for selecting and working with cloud-based technology suppliers.

Technology is helping Canada's number one casual dining chain shift its loyalty program from offering points to creating experiences. Boston Pizza recently completed an extensive assessment that revealed marketing dollars could be better allocated. A sophisticated technology infrastructure will be central to the company's new strategy. Alex Green, vice president of marketing, shares Boston Pizza's new plans for loyalty, the research findings that sparked the company's transformation, and what it's like for a marketing executive to jump head-first into technology strategy.

HT unveils the 2014 Industry Outlook, an annual check-in with our Advisory Board on the top tech and trends impacting their hotels and restaurants, right now. The Board answers HT's questions about technology that's got potential, and technology that's falling flat. Plus they share details on the projects topping their own to-do lists.

Hospitality Technology's annual POS Software Trends Report polls restaurant operators about the major business drivers influencing point of sale technology, and asks them about the functionality they'll be shopping for in their next POS upgrade. Plus the POS software vendor community reveals their 2014 plans. This year's results overwhelmingly indicate that restaurant operators and suppliers alike are focusing on mobile POS strategies, and are looking to add everything from mobile payment to tablet-based ordering to their repertoires.