We have a lot going on here at the Hotel & Restaurant Technology UPDATE (remember this name...for now) with the start of trade show season.  Do you ever attend trade shows? If so, why? Shopping? Networking? For seminars to learn what changes are happening?  Do you go just because it is expected? Why is it I am always able to come up with the questions and never the answers? 

As you know from my last email, I was in Lausanne, Switzerland for the EURHOTEC Conference, which is a European technology show. It has become a high quality, but smaller show that attracts “the right” attendees, but not the masses. With much of HITEC’s growth coming from outside the US, hotel technology has only limited opportunities to get really big in other places. Anyway, this is one man’s opinion.

Speaking of shows, for those whose lives are touched by central reservations technology, ResExpo is a must.  No I am not on their payroll, I just really believe this. They offer great seminars where end users and vendors participate.   I like it when vendors present educational sessions.  Everyone thinks vendors are unable to do this without promoting themselves, but I have never heard this complaint about ResExpo. This is a very high-end show, with representatives from the airline, hotel and other related industries.  If you want to know what is going on in the world of reservations, I recommend you attend this show. The show is March 28th and 29th at the DFW Hyatt. For further information call 1-888-GARRETT or visit http://www.garrett-comm.com.

Okay, here now is the news, I will see you at the end with this weeks attempt at......you-know-what!

IH&RA Think Tank calls for hospitality industry to invest in customer-focused technology Website developer Interactive Sites recognized with 17 awards from HSMAI The key message from the fourth International Hotel & Restaurant Association (IH&RA) Think Tank on the Future of Hospitality Technology was that the hospitality industry must overcome its general reluctance to invest in new ideas and technologies and look for applications that will drive the bottom line. These include developing new and better customer information sources, and using technology to bring customers what they want, wherever and whenever they want it. 

The two-day Think Tank, held in Lausanne, Switzerland, from 14-15 February and comprising around 50 senior executives, technologists and academics from the hospitality and other industries, discussed three major issues: 

• Investment in technology, and the need to develop a cost-benefit analysis model that’s usable in a fast-changing environment
• E-commerce, especially using technology to attract new business and increase business from existing clients, calling for a greater focus on customer relationship management and loyalty building. 
• Commoditisation, and how to use technology to differentiate properties in an environment of increasingly uniform hotel products, compounded by the arrival of Priceline.com and similar intermediaries selling on price only. These are seen as leading to significant erosion of traditional brands, and the potential growth of competition as the intermediaries gather and control information on their clients, potentially becoming brands themselves. 

PROPERTY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

The Grand Hinckley Inn, Minnesota, has ordered an AREMIS Property Management System for the second of its four hotels, the 284-room Grand Casino Mille Lacs.  The first AREMIS was installed at the Grand Casino Hinckley Resort in November 1999; future plans include the creation of a central reservations office and the installation of AREMIS Central Reservations System linking each property.

RESERVATIONS

Multi-category Internet superstore Buy.com has launched its first service-related Website, www.buytravel.com. The new site will feature discounted fares and rates from United Airlines, the first time these have been available directly on a Web site other than www.ual.com. Buytravel.com offers inventory from approximately 500 major airlines, 30,000 hotels worldwide and 45 car rental agencies, as well as travel books and guides, cameras, portable music devices and other travel-oriented products.  WorldRes.com, the leisure-focused online hotel distribution network, signed separate agreements to develop automated interfaces between its WorldRes.com network and property management systems from 14-year industry veteran Multi-Systems, Inc. (MSI), and relative newcomer GHS Global Inc.

The interface with MSI’s property management system (PMS) will allow hoteliers to maintain up-to-date rates and availability in the WorldRes.com database, and let consumers make real-time confirmed reservations, directly uploaded into MSI’s property management system through any of WorldRes.com’s network of distribution partners. The interface, scheduled for completion later this year, will include rate and availability updates, automated processing of new reservations, reservation modifications, and cancellations.

Under the agreement with GHS Global Inc., a similarly-capable automated interface called NetLink will be released in March between GHS Global’s G4 Accommodation management system and the WorldRes.com network, integrating the G4 System directly with WorldRes.com’s booking engine.

Finally, WorldRes.com and TRUST International recently agreed to integrate TRUSTS’ complete hotel inventory into WorldRes.com. TRUST, a joint venture of media giant Bertelsmann and SRS-Worldhotels, supplies central reservation systems and services for up-scale hotels, including private label telephone lines, connectivity to all Airline Reservation Systems and to various web sites and Internet platforms.

So there is SOME risk... Microsoft’s Expedia online travel company announced that it will take a third-quarter charge of $4 million to $6 million to pay for purchases made with stolen credit cards. Expedia said that, while the charge represents less than half of 1% of tickets sold, it is working with federal law enforcement agencies to fight a recent increase in fraudulent purchases.  Charlestown Management Hotels (CMH) announced that it is now taking real-time on-line reservations for its nine properties, using Topaz Hotel Services’ BookAbility.net system. Topaz now has over 70 hotels using BookAbility.net.

Extensity Inc., a provider of Internet-based workforce optimization systems (which include management of travel and expense, procurement and billable time), has joined the OpenTravel Alliance (OTA), a group working to set technology standards for the electronic exchange of travel related information. The OTA’s goal is to help customers be more efficient in researching and booking travel online, using standards built on XML specifications. Extensity clients include Cendant Business Services.

China’s first Internet-based travel service is open for business after a three-month test-run, announced officials with the Guangzilu Intl. Travel Service Co. Ltd. in Guangzhou, capital of south China’s Guangdong province. While travelers can make all travel arrangements, including on-line payment and tour scheduling, and can forward questions to consultants at website cnto.com, only those who hold credit cards issued by banks in Guangdong may use the on-line payment option.  Expedia and Reed Elsevier’s Cahners Business Information division have settled the suit that Reed Elsevier Inc. filed against Expedia, Inc. and Microsoft Corporation over a 1998 contract relating to the Expedia hotel directory. According to the settlement, the parties agreed to dissolve their relationship, with Expedia assuming the advertising contracts that Cahners had originated for the Expedia Hotel Directory. It is anticipated that advertisers will be unaffected by dissolution of the relationship.  HARS Systems’ subsidiary VIP International Corporation has added inventory and flight reservations functions from Galileo International to its proprietary website, www.carsandhotels.com. This will increase the number of hotel properties and car rental locations available for booking on VIPs site from 3,400 to more than 60,000, and will add flight bookings for over 500 airlines.

REVENUE MANAGEMENT

Millennium Hotels and Resorts announced that it is installing the IDeaS yield management solution at more of its properties in Europe, following successful results at two pilot hotels in London, the Millennium Gloucester Hotel (610 rooms) and the Millennium Chelsea Hotel (224 rooms).  Millennium and Copthorne Hotels operate 45 properties worldwide. 

SALES & CATERING, MEETING PLANNING

A recent survey conducted by NetReflector for PlanSoft Corp. highlighted that online offerings haven’t completely replaced word-of-mouth among professional meeting and event planners when it comes to finding potential facilities. But in an anonymous survey of approximately 200 meeting and event planners, 95% indicated that online technology has helped them do their job (54% said it helped “greatly”). As regards the way they plan meetings, 96% indicated that online technology made it easier to find new information, with 88% feeling that finding new facilities was easier and 70% claiming that technology helped locate new vendors. 

Some additional findings include: 

• 74% stated that online tools currently help when searching for planning tips and ideas,
• 60% indicated that online technology has helped in submitting Requests For Proposal, with 82% believing this will improve even further in the future. 

• Word of mouth referrals: 71% 
• Magazine ads/articles: 63% 
• Convention and Visitor Bureaus: 55% 
• Hotel presentations: 48% 
• Online web sites: 45% 

• 75% have seen no change in contract negotiation methods with the growth of the Internet.
• 71% still select sites based primarily on previous experience with the facility. 

Passkey.com, a provider of Internet-based group hotel reservation, event registration and travel services for the meetings and convention industry, added two more CVBs to its client roster with orders from the Greater Phoenix CVB and the Tampa Convention and Visitors Association (TCVA). 

POINT OF SALE/ACTIVITY TRACKING

ClubCorp selected several applications as standards to support its individual clubs, including:

• ProphetLine, for point of sale management at all retail shops, golf, tennis, and athletics operations.
• eteetime.com, an Internet-based tee time scheduling system that interfaces with ProphetLine.
• ScoreCast Windows-based tournament management software, and
• Golfnet, for handicap administration and reporting. 

Instill Corp announced Foodscape by Instill, an e-commerce website aimed at independent restaurants, customizing Instill’s existing e-procurement solution with relevant content, analytical tools, and third party services such as alliances with Hewlett Packard and Visa U.S.A. 

Another restaurant-focused e-commerce company, Restaurantpro.com, has been launched, led by one-time resort developer Chris Hemmeter and by Jed Smith, founder of Drugstore.com. The company aims to offer an online marketplace for restaurants, suppliers and vendors. 

Culinary Software Services Inc. announced the latest release of its ChefTec application. Enhancements in ChefTec and ChefTec Plus Version 4 include the ability to attach photographs, diagrams, logos or video files to inventory items as well as recipes, new graphical reporting for pricing trends on specific inventory items, and an improved user interface. Sales data can now be scheduled to import automatically into ChefTec Plus from point-of-sale systems, making it simple to manage this function during off hours. 

Fairmont Hotels has gone live with InfoGenesis Revelation point-of-sale (POS) systems at its Banff Springs Hotel and Chateau Lake Louise properties in Alberta, Canada. 

Polcari’s North End restaurants, within the Boston Restaurant Associates group, have installed Aloha TableService and the Aloha Labor Scheduler, both from Ibertech, Inc. 

Computrition Inc. released its latest Foodservice Operations Management (FOM) software package, a component of the Hospitality Suite product line. Components of the latest release include menu planning, purchasing guides, inventory control, production planning, recipe management, costing and nutritional analysis.

GUEST SERVICES

U.S. Franchise Systems, Inc. has selected ImOn Hospitality, Inc. to provide laptop computers and high-speed wireless Internet access to every guestroom in its Hawthorn Suites chain. ImOn will also provide a standard PC in each hotel’s Hawthorn breakfast area, for guests to participate in the chain’s promotional online auctions.

Carlson Hospitality Worldwide has expanded its contract with LodgeNet Entertainment Corp to designate it as the sole preferred provider of television-based interactive entertainment and information services for all Radisson and Regent corporate owned, managed and franchised properties in the United States and Canada. LodgeNet currently serves more than 22,000 of Carlson’s 60,000 North American guest rooms. 

Telecom provider Property Technologies Ltd. (PTL) has selected Darwin Networks as its vendor for high-speed Internet access (HSIA) to the lodging industry. As a strategic solutions provider, Darwin will provide sales, surveys, installation and maintenance. PTL’s first two installations of HSIA are scheduled later this month at Holiday Inns in Kentucky and Virginia; it was earlier selected as Bass Hotels’ preferred telecoms vendor for proeprties with less than 175 rooms.

The 80 suite/20 room Avalon Hotel, at the northern periphery of New York’s Silicon Alley, has installed high-speed Internet service from Show Digital, Inc., in every room, including slim, all-in-one desktop computers in select guest rooms. 

Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts has selected Singapore-based ViewInternet.com Pte Ltd. to provide its hotels with high-speed guestroom Internet access both through the TV and notebook plug-in ports. The service will be implemented in stages with a completion date targeted for mid 2001. Shangri-La currently manages 37 hotels and resorts in 10 Asian countries. 

The 71-room Shoney’s Inn & Suites in Houston has installed wireless Internet connectivity from Wayport, Inc., throughout the hotel, including the pool area. 

PURCHASING

Zoho Corp (formerly DMC1 Corp.) launched an online marketplace for the hospitality industry, the Zoho solution. Offering more than a product-centric approach, Zoho combines buyers, suppliers, transportation and finance companies on the Web.

Zoho is also offering a complete suite of support services targeted to buying and supplying organizations, including site tailoring, process mapping and integration with back-office business applications. 

Stratton Warren Software Inc. has signed an exclusive contract with e-commerce service provider Networld Exchange Inc. to add online purchasing capabilities to its materials management software for the hospitality and gaming industry. The new features will be released in Q1, 2000; Networld Exchange will electronically connect Stratton Warren customers to their suppliers. 

Evolving technology trends are forming a pattern for the future that will impact hospitality and travel operations very soon.  We are being led toward a handheld wireless culture in continuous communications with the Internet.  The Internet link will provide our handheld schedulers with airline and hotel reservations complete with lowest-bid pricing negotiated by our bots, guaranteed on-line against our credit or debit card.  The smart card in our Palm or phone will track our location with GPS signals and automatically check us in as we enter hotel lobbies or walk onto our flights – all without human contact and via technology already developed.   If there was more room in this column we could talk about real-time CRM, because AOL knows who you are—with or without guest history.

And now here’s this weeks attempt at humor.