Green GamingThe alpha, beta and gamma of becoming an eco-friendly casino
BY Marie-Claude Boudreau and Richard T. Watson
URL : http://www.htmagazine.com/HT/archive/0607/0607_10.html
This article that I found from the hospitality Technology dealt with steps how casinos can save energy cost by going green. As the author says in this article, to go completely green takes changes on three steps, the alpha, beta and gamma change. First step, the alpha change dealt with altering products or processes. Alpha change is more directed at improving products or processes to reduce waste such as sharing servers can save the energy used to spin disks in every desktop. In addition, for casinos, another move would be to move to low energy slot machines or work with suppliers to develop such products. Beta change alters current systems or produces new ones. For example, slot machines and their associated lighting could automatically move into sleep mode when there is no human activity within specific areas of a casino. However, when the area becomes active with customers detecting system reactivates the area. Third the gamma level, the highest level of change, is redesigning physical, managerial and cultural structures. This stage requires the most cost when rebuilding a new structure. Therefore, it is more suitable when implemented in newly constructed casinos.
Reflection
By going eco friendly could benefit not only the casinos but also the whole hospitality industries. Since more and more people are awakening to the global warming, going green (eco friendly) is becoming a major trend these days in hospitality industry and regular life. More and more customers including environmentalists are demanding hotels that are eco friendly and green. By three changes that the author mentioned (alpha, beta and gamma) above casinos and the hospitality industry could definitely benefit from conserving energy (saving energy cost) and sooner the transition is made, there are more chances to achieve competitive advantage and elevate the brand image from others. It is also very important that the casinos and hotels show the customers that how much energy cost has been saved by implementing each stage of changes. As a result, that the customers would also participate in eco-friendly programs at home, such as conservation energy and waste management. However, the whole change has to be introduced gradually, slowly and distinctly from alpha change to gamma change, so that the customers would not be confused and deter by the new system (sleeping mode in slot machines and etc).
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Friday, October 26, 2007
blog 4
Wi-Fi's 5 Step ProgramWireless networks are only as secure as their weakest link
url:http://www.htmagazine.com/HT/archive/0704/0704_5.shtml
In this article author talks about how important the security issue is when using wireless internet access. Demands for wireless access are accelerating rapidly. However, most laptops are not configured for Wi-Fi security and there is no plug-and-play, secure Wi-Fi access, so the potential for help desk problems are multiplied. In addition, no one is clear about who could be held liable for any guest’s security losses. Without a doubt, the potential for big problems is mounting. The author asked some leading hospitality CIO and executives about their experiences and how it could be improved.
Distinct internal and guest networks.
There has to be a separate wireless network between the guest and the hotel. Separate wireless network has to be provided to prevent guest being able to use the restaurant and hotel network (vice versa). Supporting access to corporate’s Virtual private network (VPN) for business traveler’s can be implemented to gain better security.
Give guests Agreement and passwords.
Apart from business travelers who uses VPN through wireless internet, many hotel guests would expect to have an internet access with some security. By providing an ID and a password adds some security level to the property. However guest must agree on access agreement that informs them of internet access security risks and frees the hotel from liability if security problem occurs.
Secure the network at each point
Closely monitoring security on all levels, separating guests from each other on the network also adds security against hackers or any kind of viruses. A system that alerts the customers and the staff can also be applied and increase the security level up to a certain point.
Security issues always arise when using wireless. In this article the author clearly made some points how the security level could be improved and distributed to the customers without disturbing other local or hotel networks. Nowadays, hotel guest uses and access to wireless internet on daily basis, some sort of security level has to provided to maintain in the market and also to create excellent guest value. One step the author mentioned was, providing passwords. Providing passwords can limit the internet users from students who are lounging around the lobby area where the guest should be. Wireless internet access with password would increase the guest security level up to a certain point. However, as the author mentioned, hotel must have an agreement that the guest are using the wireless internet access with their own risk. I like this idea very much since it can eliminate the users who are trying to use wireless access without paying any cost at all. Another idea that I liked was Securing the wireless network at each level by closely monitoring. This would definitely raise the security level. Every network is on its own (which would be easy to monitor and block whenever risk occurs) and whenever the system detects a virus, just by warning the guest additionally to the staff would definitely prevent it from any dangers.
url:http://www.htmagazine.com/HT/archive/0704/0704_5.shtml
In this article author talks about how important the security issue is when using wireless internet access. Demands for wireless access are accelerating rapidly. However, most laptops are not configured for Wi-Fi security and there is no plug-and-play, secure Wi-Fi access, so the potential for help desk problems are multiplied. In addition, no one is clear about who could be held liable for any guest’s security losses. Without a doubt, the potential for big problems is mounting. The author asked some leading hospitality CIO and executives about their experiences and how it could be improved.
Distinct internal and guest networks.
There has to be a separate wireless network between the guest and the hotel. Separate wireless network has to be provided to prevent guest being able to use the restaurant and hotel network (vice versa). Supporting access to corporate’s Virtual private network (VPN) for business traveler’s can be implemented to gain better security.
Give guests Agreement and passwords.
Apart from business travelers who uses VPN through wireless internet, many hotel guests would expect to have an internet access with some security. By providing an ID and a password adds some security level to the property. However guest must agree on access agreement that informs them of internet access security risks and frees the hotel from liability if security problem occurs.
Secure the network at each point
Closely monitoring security on all levels, separating guests from each other on the network also adds security against hackers or any kind of viruses. A system that alerts the customers and the staff can also be applied and increase the security level up to a certain point.
Security issues always arise when using wireless. In this article the author clearly made some points how the security level could be improved and distributed to the customers without disturbing other local or hotel networks. Nowadays, hotel guest uses and access to wireless internet on daily basis, some sort of security level has to provided to maintain in the market and also to create excellent guest value. One step the author mentioned was, providing passwords. Providing passwords can limit the internet users from students who are lounging around the lobby area where the guest should be. Wireless internet access with password would increase the guest security level up to a certain point. However, as the author mentioned, hotel must have an agreement that the guest are using the wireless internet access with their own risk. I like this idea very much since it can eliminate the users who are trying to use wireless access without paying any cost at all. Another idea that I liked was Securing the wireless network at each level by closely monitoring. This would definitely raise the security level. Every network is on its own (which would be easy to monitor and block whenever risk occurs) and whenever the system detects a virus, just by warning the guest additionally to the staff would definitely prevent it from any dangers.
Sunday, October 14, 2007
blog3
Understanding Basic Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) Security issues
By Eric Janszen
http://www.wi-fiplanet.com/tutorials/article.php/953561
Summary
The author simply describes how important the security and performance issues would be if a property uses the wireless local area network (WLAN).
Security
By using wireless, the property could save a lot of expense that were used to spent for installing and also fixing hardware’s whenever there were defections( loose patch codes, broken connectors and etc). Nevertheless, the security issues arise, as the wireless networking (WLAN) can be hacked easily from the parking lot or the street outside the WLAN property. As the author mentioned in this article, all sensitive applications can be protected and improved with additional security systems such as internet protocol security (IPsec) providing a range of different user authentication and data encryption options so that each user can be given the appropriate level of security for their particular applications.
Performance
WI-FI network shares a fixed amount of bandwidth among all the users. Because this network system serves the users as first come, first served base, it is crucial to make sure that all the users have enough available bandwidth no matter how far or close the user is from the access point. By using QOS (quality of service) built into LAN, it would distribute the signals evenly among all the users, furthermore the working efficiency would increase.
Reflection
I personally think if wireless technology is used appropriately it would benefit the hospitality industries. Applying the wireless technology to the local area network with higher level of security with enough bandwidth that would distribute data’s to users evenly, would benefit the whole property. I predict that many properties would use wireless technology to keep their competitive advantage and maintain in a higher position from the tier market. Ever since, the security is one of the utmost issues when using wireless, wireless network needs to built which offers different levels of security level to meet varying user needs, ranging from simple user name access with no encryption through to a full Internet Protocol Security (IPsec) for sensitive user. In addition, with the high level of security, other features such as quality of service (QOS) within the network have to be developed to provide and allocate bandwidth fairly among the whole network users. However, as the technology improves everyday, the secure level increases. A system that will protect and secure the network with a fluent seamless roaming would have to built or updated whenever it is possible to protect it from any danger.
By Eric Janszen
http://www.wi-fiplanet.com/tutorials/article.php/953561
Summary
The author simply describes how important the security and performance issues would be if a property uses the wireless local area network (WLAN).
Security
By using wireless, the property could save a lot of expense that were used to spent for installing and also fixing hardware’s whenever there were defections( loose patch codes, broken connectors and etc). Nevertheless, the security issues arise, as the wireless networking (WLAN) can be hacked easily from the parking lot or the street outside the WLAN property. As the author mentioned in this article, all sensitive applications can be protected and improved with additional security systems such as internet protocol security (IPsec) providing a range of different user authentication and data encryption options so that each user can be given the appropriate level of security for their particular applications.
Performance
WI-FI network shares a fixed amount of bandwidth among all the users. Because this network system serves the users as first come, first served base, it is crucial to make sure that all the users have enough available bandwidth no matter how far or close the user is from the access point. By using QOS (quality of service) built into LAN, it would distribute the signals evenly among all the users, furthermore the working efficiency would increase.
Reflection
I personally think if wireless technology is used appropriately it would benefit the hospitality industries. Applying the wireless technology to the local area network with higher level of security with enough bandwidth that would distribute data’s to users evenly, would benefit the whole property. I predict that many properties would use wireless technology to keep their competitive advantage and maintain in a higher position from the tier market. Ever since, the security is one of the utmost issues when using wireless, wireless network needs to built which offers different levels of security level to meet varying user needs, ranging from simple user name access with no encryption through to a full Internet Protocol Security (IPsec) for sensitive user. In addition, with the high level of security, other features such as quality of service (QOS) within the network have to be developed to provide and allocate bandwidth fairly among the whole network users. However, as the technology improves everyday, the secure level increases. A system that will protect and secure the network with a fluent seamless roaming would have to built or updated whenever it is possible to protect it from any danger.
Friday, September 28, 2007
blog2
Systems supporting guest loyalty
By Paul Manley
3/14/2007
URL: http://www.hospitalityupgrade.com/_magazine/magazine_Detail.asp?ID=95
Summary
Guest loyalty program in hospitality industry started from mid 1970s for guest recognition, direct mail, pre populating name and the address information for direct reservation. During the 1990s, as technology evolved, large hotel companies were giving points to the customers each time when the guest stayed in the property (similar to the airline point programs). Beside the point system, benefit program providing services such as upgrade room, concierge level service and guaranteed reservations were also added into guest loyalty program lately. Point system, benefit system or combination of both, are a component of customer relationship management strategy where the goal is to maximize a customer’s lifetime value. The technology components that support the guest loyalty program which is mentioned above can be grouped into database, application and integration technologies.
Database
Core of the database system; there is a loyalty base system which keeps data associated with member address, tier status, points of transactions, partners and data associated with business rules. There is a transaction database that records the period of stay, the member number and etc. Data marts are produced to serve specific group (marketing department) to effectively analyze the data.
Applications
Applications support the business requirements for guest loyalty program and it can be divided into three groups. Firstly, enrollment of new members and maintenance of demographics is covered by the member profile management. Secondly, accounting tracks all earnings and reimbursement. And lastly, member services covers the call center and web applications for member profile management.
Integration
Depending on the context that is used, integration can be either technically oriented or user oriented. It is called technical orientation when one system (core loyalty program) passes data to another system (various systems such as corporate database). User orientation associates more with the business process engineering (example; reports dissatisfaction to prevent in the near future time).
Reflection
I really enjoyed reading this article because it had showed me the brief idea of how guest loyalty program is used, organized and works in reality. However, the article itself used too many jargons; hence, it was difficult to understand the whole article from my perspective. Guest loyalty programs are used as strategy for customer relationship management in hospitality industry. And to provide better service and product that will exceed customer’s expectations, there have to be a supporting system that will provide every bits of information that the property needs to serve and satisfy the guest. Understanding the support system and how it is structured can be useful for the future hotel managers to facilitate the system. For example, when a guest opt out a specific function such as marketing communications hotel managers may offer a product or service package with an email or direct mail by using data marts. Data marts (one part of database) that are created to serve specific department can develop an analyst on trends, preferences or profiles in detail. Also, to acquire new members it supports several marketing campaigns such as seasonal promotions, emails and/or direct mails.
By, personalizing the marketing campaigns in detail, it would increase revenue to the property and also guest satisfaction.
By Paul Manley
3/14/2007
URL: http://www.hospitalityupgrade.com/_magazine/magazine_Detail.asp?ID=95
Summary
Guest loyalty program in hospitality industry started from mid 1970s for guest recognition, direct mail, pre populating name and the address information for direct reservation. During the 1990s, as technology evolved, large hotel companies were giving points to the customers each time when the guest stayed in the property (similar to the airline point programs). Beside the point system, benefit program providing services such as upgrade room, concierge level service and guaranteed reservations were also added into guest loyalty program lately. Point system, benefit system or combination of both, are a component of customer relationship management strategy where the goal is to maximize a customer’s lifetime value. The technology components that support the guest loyalty program which is mentioned above can be grouped into database, application and integration technologies.
Database
Core of the database system; there is a loyalty base system which keeps data associated with member address, tier status, points of transactions, partners and data associated with business rules. There is a transaction database that records the period of stay, the member number and etc. Data marts are produced to serve specific group (marketing department) to effectively analyze the data.
Applications
Applications support the business requirements for guest loyalty program and it can be divided into three groups. Firstly, enrollment of new members and maintenance of demographics is covered by the member profile management. Secondly, accounting tracks all earnings and reimbursement. And lastly, member services covers the call center and web applications for member profile management.
Integration
Depending on the context that is used, integration can be either technically oriented or user oriented. It is called technical orientation when one system (core loyalty program) passes data to another system (various systems such as corporate database). User orientation associates more with the business process engineering (example; reports dissatisfaction to prevent in the near future time).
Reflection
I really enjoyed reading this article because it had showed me the brief idea of how guest loyalty program is used, organized and works in reality. However, the article itself used too many jargons; hence, it was difficult to understand the whole article from my perspective. Guest loyalty programs are used as strategy for customer relationship management in hospitality industry. And to provide better service and product that will exceed customer’s expectations, there have to be a supporting system that will provide every bits of information that the property needs to serve and satisfy the guest. Understanding the support system and how it is structured can be useful for the future hotel managers to facilitate the system. For example, when a guest opt out a specific function such as marketing communications hotel managers may offer a product or service package with an email or direct mail by using data marts. Data marts (one part of database) that are created to serve specific department can develop an analyst on trends, preferences or profiles in detail. Also, to acquire new members it supports several marketing campaigns such as seasonal promotions, emails and/or direct mails.
By, personalizing the marketing campaigns in detail, it would increase revenue to the property and also guest satisfaction.
Sunday, September 16, 2007
blog 1
Technology in Hospitality
Fits, Frustration and Failures
By Michael L. Kasanava Ph.D
URL : http://www.hospitalityupgrade.com/_magazine/magazine_Detail.asp?ID=100
Summary
The author specified 12 main reasons why fits, frustration and failures happen in technology of hospitality industry
1. insufficient training – training sessions are normally conducted by the representatives of the vendors in different formats such as classroom, on site and online training which is very expensive.
2. Managerial apathy – lack of interest from the management participation in project planning, installation and implementation.
3. Resistance to change – employees who will oppose to the new tech due to the complexity of procedure and process
4. Data conversion – previous historical data’s are not installed properly when the new system is purchased and installed
5. Application difficulty – applications appear too complex to initialize (may create the management to operate without complete information)
6. Improper scalability – assumptions of linearity has lead failure to applications (application systems differ from sizes of the premises)
7. Interface complexities – hardware can be connected easily whereas interconnect components can not, especially while their trying to share data.
8. Insufficient budgeting – the budget for technology to maintain the property is insufficient
9. Product underbidding – just to win from the bidding, a salesperson from the vendor would give a product with less programming or less than the optimal amount of equipment
10. Lack of ongoing training – most of the properties do not have a ongoing training sessions after the time of installation.
11. Inadequate vendor relations –to have adequate support service from the vendor, it must have a good constant and continous relationship with the property.
12. Non existent benchmark – technology being falsely evaluated.
Reflection
I strongly agree with the author’s article very much. Technology has been used not only in hospitality industry but also through out our whole life. It had made it possible to us to do such things in a very convenient, fast and efficient way, when it is used in a proper way. By knowing and learning from the pass mistakes, as what the author mentioned specifically 12 main reasons from this article, we can avoid those same things in the future. For example, interface complexities. From my past experience, I worked in one of the Starwood hotel which used Opera PMS(Property Management System), where as all the other Starwood property in that region used Delphi PMS. It was hard to communicate with other properties since they were using a different system. It took a lot of hassle, time and effort just to convert a simple data from their system to our system. In addition, lack of continuous training was also big conflict that we faced and arose very much in our property. Whenever a new employee was hired, appropriate tech application training session did not take place in any of the training session. Obviously, working efficiency of the new employee automatically declined.
Therefore, it is crucial and important to know how to implement and consider when using tech applications from the very beginning and throughout the operation.
Fits, Frustration and Failures
By Michael L. Kasanava Ph.D
URL : http://www.hospitalityupgrade.com/_magazine/magazine_Detail.asp?ID=100
Summary
The author specified 12 main reasons why fits, frustration and failures happen in technology of hospitality industry
1. insufficient training – training sessions are normally conducted by the representatives of the vendors in different formats such as classroom, on site and online training which is very expensive.
2. Managerial apathy – lack of interest from the management participation in project planning, installation and implementation.
3. Resistance to change – employees who will oppose to the new tech due to the complexity of procedure and process
4. Data conversion – previous historical data’s are not installed properly when the new system is purchased and installed
5. Application difficulty – applications appear too complex to initialize (may create the management to operate without complete information)
6. Improper scalability – assumptions of linearity has lead failure to applications (application systems differ from sizes of the premises)
7. Interface complexities – hardware can be connected easily whereas interconnect components can not, especially while their trying to share data.
8. Insufficient budgeting – the budget for technology to maintain the property is insufficient
9. Product underbidding – just to win from the bidding, a salesperson from the vendor would give a product with less programming or less than the optimal amount of equipment
10. Lack of ongoing training – most of the properties do not have a ongoing training sessions after the time of installation.
11. Inadequate vendor relations –to have adequate support service from the vendor, it must have a good constant and continous relationship with the property.
12. Non existent benchmark – technology being falsely evaluated.
Reflection
I strongly agree with the author’s article very much. Technology has been used not only in hospitality industry but also through out our whole life. It had made it possible to us to do such things in a very convenient, fast and efficient way, when it is used in a proper way. By knowing and learning from the pass mistakes, as what the author mentioned specifically 12 main reasons from this article, we can avoid those same things in the future. For example, interface complexities. From my past experience, I worked in one of the Starwood hotel which used Opera PMS(Property Management System), where as all the other Starwood property in that region used Delphi PMS. It was hard to communicate with other properties since they were using a different system. It took a lot of hassle, time and effort just to convert a simple data from their system to our system. In addition, lack of continuous training was also big conflict that we faced and arose very much in our property. Whenever a new employee was hired, appropriate tech application training session did not take place in any of the training session. Obviously, working efficiency of the new employee automatically declined.
Therefore, it is crucial and important to know how to implement and consider when using tech applications from the very beginning and throughout the operation.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)