Lodging

HT’s group editor-in-chief Abigail Lorden reflects on how being a new mother has heightened her desire to protect her family’s digital assets. Lorden says it’s a cause that Starwood Hotels & Resorts is taking seriously, too, according to her recent interview with Starwood’s CIO Martha Poulter.

Businesses in all industries have come to realize that their data in their most valuable asset. In a roundtable with HT, subject matter experts offer insight into how hotels and restaurants can harness that data to gain a competitive edge. The panel talks about how to push for better collaboration, how data can be used to set business strategy, and common misconceptions about data. Input comes from Choice Hotels, Church’s Chicken, Oberweiss Dairy, and Adjuvi Consulting.

There’s a real and growing trend among hotel operators to deploy mobile key technology. HT gets input from experienced hotels on some of the latest solutions, plus how they’re managing security concerns.

The majority of consumers, 62 percent, said they prefer chip-and-PIN cards over cards that just use chip and signature, and among Millennials, the preference for PIN is even stronger.

Coastal Hotels selected Execuvue Enterprise Business Intelligence and Targetvue Budgeting and Forecasting; Margaritaville Resort will install Aptech’s Profitvue Enterprise Financial Accounting.

The 'digital log book in the cloud' replaces hand-written notes as a means to communicate between staff, departments and management.

Now, customers can 'stay with points,' but there are plans for the functionality to be expanded so they can 'fly with points,' 'go on excursions with points,' and a range of other options in the future.

New ET50 and ET55 tablets cater to diverse mobile strategies in hospitality, including interactive menus, concierge services and kiosk capabilities.