Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals (HFTP®) is set to sponsor the "HFTP-iHITA Best Research Paper Award" at the 2015 International Hospitality Information Technology Association (iHITA) Annual Research Conference. The award will be the highest honor presented at the event and will recognize the top ranked research paper submitted.
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide (NYSE:HOT) today unveiled Starlab, the company's new brand innovation studio located in Manhattan's pioneering Garment District. Design-led with the spirit and agility of a start-up, Starlab brings together a cross-section of the company's digital, design and luxury brand teams in one urban office for the first time. The 46,000 square foot, bi-level office is an evolution of Starwood's approach to new style workspaces, following the debuts of the Starwood Experience at the company's global headquarters in Stamford, CT as well as its former Tribeca-based design center.
Marriott International has decided to withdraw as a party to the petition seeking direction from the FCC on legal Wi-Fi security measures. Our intent was to protect personal data in Wi-Fi hotspots for large conferences. We thought we were doing the right thing asking the FCC to provide guidance, but the FCC has indicated its opposition. As we have said, we will not block Wi-Fi signals at any hotel we manage for any reason. And, as of January 15, we provide free Wi-Fi to all members of our Marriott Rewards program who book directly with us. We're doing everything we can to promote our customers' connectivity using mobile and other devices, and we're working with the industry to find security solutions that do not involve blocking our guests' use of their Wi-Fi devices.
Hotel WiFi Test has released a new report that ranks cities, countries, and world regions by WiFi quality. Two characteristics of hotel WiFi are considered: the quality of the WiFi and whether in-room WiFi is free.
We understand there have been concerns regarding our position on the FCC petition filing, perhaps due to a lack of clarity about the issue. To set the record straight it has never been nor will it ever be Marriott's policy to limit our guests' ability to access the Internet by all available means, including through the use of personal Mi-Fi and/or Wi-Fi devices. As a matter of fact, we invite and encourage our guests to use these Internet connectivity devices in our hotels. To be clear, this matter does not involve in any way Wi-Fi access in hotel guestrooms or lobby spaces.
Virgin Hotels, the lifestyle hotel brand by Virgin Group founder Sir Richard Branson, announces the launch of The Know a hotel preference program. Members of the program will receive personalized service and recognition, and be the first in "the know" about what is happening with Virgin Hotels and its partners.
Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE: CHH), one of the world's largest hotel companies, has announced it is hiring 100 new IT positions following recent technological successes. Choice will be holding a career fair and open house on December 10th from 4–7 p.m. MST at the company's Phoenix, Arizona office, where its IT operations are headquartered.
The New York Marriott Marquis has always been at the hub of excitement in Times Square, now its Broadway façade will become even brighter. On November 18, the world's largest and most technologically advanced digital LED screen will be activated with an impressive generative art exhibition by digital artists Universal Everything, a world-class multidisciplinary studio collective focused on using technology to invent new forms of design and moving image.
As the hotel industry ramps up its use of technology for guest service, a nagging question involves whether technology improves guest satisfaction, or whether technology gets in the way. A new study from the Cornell Center for Hospitality Research (CHR) demonstrates how to combine technology with personal service to maintain guest satisfaction. The study, "Cyborg Service: The Unexpected Effect of Technology in the Employee–Guest Exchange," by Michael Giebelhausen, is available at no charge from the CHR.
Hilton Worldwide is opening more doors for its guests through the scaled deployment of its latest innovation: mobile-enabled room key. Beginning in late spring of 2015, Hilton HHonors members staying at U.S. properties of the Hilton Hotels & Resorts, Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts, Conrad Hotels & Resorts and Canopy by Hilton brands, can simply and securely use their smartphones to access their rooms.
It's a mobile office. It's a virtual wallet. It's a lifeline. And now, it's a hotel room key. Today, the smartphone will get a whole lot smarter – especially while on the road. Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG®), the award-winning loyalty program from Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE:HOT), introduces SPG Keyless, the hospitality industry's first mobile, keyless entry system allowing guests to use their smartphone as a key. Rolling out to Aloft, Element and W Hotels around the globe, SPG Keyless makes its official debut today in 10 hotels in markets including Beijing, Hong Kong, New York, Los Angeles and Doha.
Gartner, Inc. has revealed its top predictions for IT organizations and IT users for 2015 and beyond. Gartner's top predictions for 2015 begin to examine a shift in the age old relationships between man and machine due to the emergence of digital business.
Marriott has a strong interest in ensuring that when our guests use our Wi-Fi service, they will be protected from rogue wireless hotspots that can cause degraded service, insidious cyber-attacks and identity theft. Like many other institutions and companies in a wide variety of industries, including hospitals and universities, the Gaylord Opryland protected its Wi-Fi network by using FCC-authorized equipment provided by well-known, reputable manufacturers. We believe that the Gaylord Opryland's actions were lawful. We will continue to encourage the FCC to pursue a rulemaking in order to eliminate the ongoing confusion resulting from today's action and to assess the merits of its underlying policy.
Today, in advance of World Space Week, global travel search site Skyscanner released the third and final part of their Future of Travel 2024 report, predicting that the heights of the Earth's orbit and the depths of the world's oceans will become vacation destinations over the next decade. Part three of the report, "Destinations and Hotels," reveals that by 2024 space will be the final frontier for intrepid travelers taking them to the outer edges of our planet's atmosphere. The report highlights new destinations around the world they'll be traveling to and predicts how travelers' social media profiles will enable hoteliers to create a truly tailored experience, based on each individual's needs and desires.
Several of the gaming industry's most innovative mobile solutions providers today announced the formation of the Resort Mobile Solutions Alliance (RMSA). RMSA was formed to help resorts and casinos to: a) understand the opportunities for enhancing operational efficiencies and improving customer service using enterprise-class mobile technology, and b) select the most appropriate mobile apps and infrastructure to bring them to life at their properties.
This white paper is one in a series exploring the trend toward voice channel growth—why it's happening, and how operators optimize it to increase bookings and revenue, drive more demand through their direct channel, and reduce their dependence on OTAs. In particular, we will analyze how one multi-property resort company boosted its revenue dramatically by leveraging the mobile trend. The company added a prominent 'click to call' option on its mobile site to increase voice traffic to its reservation team and consolidated individual property call centers into one central reservation voice sales center.
Savioke CEO Steve Cousins discusses how robotic labor is checking into hotels. He speaks on Bloomberg's "Taking Stock." Last week, Starwood announced the hotel Industry's First Robotic Butler Reports for Duty at Aloft Cupertino in Silicon Valley. In this role, A.L.O. the Botlr will be on call as a robotic operative where it will be assisting the Aloft talent in delivering amenities to guest rooms. Professionally "dressed" in a custom shrink-wrapped, vinyl collared uniform and nametag, A.L.O. will modestly accept tweets as tips as its wheels whizz from task to task.
Wyndham Hotel Group, the world's largest hotel company with approximately 7,540 hotels and part of Wyndham Worldwide Corporation (NYSE: WYN), today announced the launch of a new on-line learning management system aimed at enhancing and expanding training opportunities for thousands of franchisees. Available at no additional cost to hotel owners in the U.S. and Canada—with plans to expand internationally later this month—the system, known as the SoHO Learning Zone or SLZ, provides hotel general managers with easy access to a wide variety of self-paced training courses as well as live and pre-recorded webinars covering nearly all aspects of the hospitality business. The system also provides managers with the ability to enroll new team members, create customized learning paths and monitor team progress, all through one central portal. The system is administered by the Wyndham Hotel Group's School of Hospitality Operations (SoHO). "In designing and developing this system, we wanted to ensure that we are providing franchisees with one of the most comprehensive and robust training systems available," said Annemarie Fairweather, senior vice president of Global Learning and Development at Wyndham Hotel Group. "Not only is the system simple and easy to use but it provides our hotel owners with a highly effective and efficient way of managing their professional development and the development of their teams." Nearly 100 training courses are available through the new system, all of which were either developed by Wyndham Hotel Group or licensed for use through the American Hotel and Lodging Association. Course topics are diverse and range from everything from front desk operations and service culture, to online reputation management and marketing, to best practices in housekeeping.
Today Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts launched Waldorf Astoria Driving Experiences at six of its landmark properties in the United States. The new driving program offers hotel guests the unique opportunity to get behind-the-wheel of three incredible supercars under the guidance of world-class professional racecar driver Didier Theys.
Hotelwifitest.com has released a new report that ranks hotel chains and cities by the percentage of hotels with poor WiFi performance. This type of ranking makes perfect sense from a practical standpoint. For most travelers, having super-fast and consistently stable WiFi is a great bonus, but the first priority is ensuring that the basic quality expectations for Internet access are met.