Ongoing conversations with a couple of the responders did highlight some other challenges, however. One was the claim that many sales managers believe their system isn’t really that different from its competitors, and it’s hard to be enthused when “they all do basically the same things”. I see enough different system presentations to reject that argument categorically. Sure, they all handle reservations, check-in and check-out, but every single one has a different take on how to approach that and how to present its information to the users, and every one includes some other feature set beyond these absolute basics that sets it apart.

Keeping up with how your system compares to its peers is never easy, but there’s always something unique to each, something that makes a specific case for superiority in one aspect or another. It’s every vendor’s responsibility to ensure that its sales managers know how to position its system against the others. The sales manager still has to bring the energy and make the case – if you can’t be enthusiastic about the product you’re selling, perhaps a career change may be in order – but the market research behind it is a company duty.

The other challenge to sales enthusiasm lies in the way that hotels often approach the sales process themselves. While any one of several GMSs can functionally satisfy the needs of a limited service property, for example, they’re not commodities to be acquired at the lowest possible price with little thought and with little input from the staff who will use them. Each system brings its own approach and some features beyond the basics, and not thinking about how these might be used to improve operations does the whole investment a major disservice.

It’s like trying to buy a car for someone else. Any mid-size four door sedan may do to get them around with decent reliability, but everyone has different preferences in how a car looks, handles, performs and generally fits their specific needs. Forcing someone to accept something that frustrates them every time they use it is a sure-fire way to reduce their effectiveness significantly. Buying the lowest-cost also sedan limits their capability; spending a little more on a small SUV might give them much more flexibility in getting their duties done. Involve the users in the process; there’ll be a hundred things that are important to them that they’ll find hard to specify up front but will recognize when they see them.

For both sales managers and hotels, doing your homework will always pay off in spades.

This is not to cast aspersions at all sales representatives; most work hard to respond to RFPs and prepare proposals, often laced with enticing discounts. When called upon to make a system presentation, they clearly know their system inside out and can always spend more time than is available going through the functionality list. The problem is that (with a few, memorable exceptions) this is too often passive; “Here’s our system, here are its functions, we think it’s great, can I have the order?”

What’s missing is both a laser focus on the prospective client’s specific needs, and the passion to address them and really make a sales pitch. When there are several viable alternatives (and there almost invariably are) it’s not enough to show the standard system and see how the client reacts; the sales rep should know what their company stands for, where its focus is, what makes it shine and stand out and why it’s the best solution for this specific set of needs. “I understand what you’re looking for. We’ve specialized in that area for years, here are the three functions we offer that truly handle that in depth, and here’s how and where they’re going to make you money!”

In common with my colleagues, I try to summarize each client’s environment and needs for the vendors up front, and list the major scenarios that a new system must be able to handle. But I’ve even had a vendor dismiss that at the start of a presentation, saying “You don’t want us to follow this, do you? We’ll just start from the top of our standard demonstration.” Here’s another quote recounted at our informal round table: “How many systems do you set per year as a sales goal?” “Well, we seem to get about 40-50 a year.” Really? “Seem to get”? If you targeted 80-100 and really went after them do you think you might get more?

We’re not looking for over-the-top razzle-dazzle, glib promises and glossed-over details, just some evidence that the sales person has read the RFP, taken the time to research the property, understood the demo scenarios, prepared the system to show them, focused the presentation with the client’s needs front and center, and really cares, passionately, about meeting those needs and closing the sale. Too much to ask?

I look forward to my next RFP process with interest.

Only then can we begin to quantify this last-minute demand more accurately, and so have the confidence to create packages and price rooms more appropriately to the actual need than to our increasing anxiety as bookings made further in advance stay low.

When generating a new proposal every vendor uses standard worksheets to calculate the price for the client’s specific configuration. This is a complex process, needing to cover all the various software modules and interfaces as well as implementation effort and training time on property. Support costs and (occasionally) transaction-based costs add to the challenge, especially when some are essential but are under the control of a third party.

Nevertheless, it really helps put the vendor in a good light if the summary page is a clear and straightforward summary of what software is being offered, how much it takes to implement it, and what the monthly support costs will be. Make it too simple and questions arise as to whether something’s been forgotten; make it too complex and it’s a struggle to work out whether everything listed is relevant, especially if all the options not required are listed with the same prominence as those requested. I know that listing additional modules may prompt the client to think whether they might be useful, but I believe these belong on a separate page, not on the summary.

The same apples even more to system presentations. Most systems have so many features and configuration options that it’s literally impossible to show them all in a three-hour time slot, but many demonstrators do their level best to try. It’s hard enough for the client to stay focused on just those few, key scenarios critical to its particular operations and not stray into minor issues; showing more details than necessary is just inviting trouble! There’s definitely value in showing special features the hotel didn’t ask for but which the vendor believes could be really useful, but these must be kept until after the key scenarios have been presented, and they must also be quite clearly aimed at the specific hotel’s needs. Showing neat features with no clear applicability is a waste of everyone’s time.

Overall, I believe it’s best for the vendor first to run through the main basic operations every hotel needs (make a reservation, check in, post charges, check out, make a group block) to show how smoothly the system handles day-to-day operations, and then move on to the specific scenarios and relevant options. Showing too many alternatives at every stage just leaves the impression that the system is overly complex and hard to use.

In both proposals and presentations, balance is the hardest thing to achieve, and the most effective thing to show.

We’ve become pretty good at consolidating data from the many different management systems usually found on property, and are familiar with the advantages of integrated systems that reducethe amount of data translation between systems, but we need to remember the assumptions that are always made when data is recorded in the first place. Context is critical, as when a guest’s requested room isn’t available and the room she actually stayed in is interpreted as her preference. IT consultant Bob Lewis recalls an analysis of a print shop that identified that the most modern and fastest machine actually produced the most errors and took the longest time, which sounded problematic until someone pointed out that it was always given the most difficult jobs to do.

Peter Drucker said that one of the most important responsibilities of a manager is to know when he has enough information to act. You can always conduct more research, check in with someone else’s opinion or add ever more detailed refinements to the information you already have, but at some point it’s just noise. Gathering more of it isn’t going to increase the accuracy, and it just distracts you from the decision you need to make. Business intelligence tools can help by identifying trends amongst all the disparate data points, but then what are you going to do about it?

Sometimes it’s straightforward; this type of guest typically books that type of package at this time of year, so sending such guests a good offer at the right time is likely to be rewarding. On the other hand, even if you identify how the business patterns of the property are shifting, or why some departments are more efficient than others, you still have to decide what action to take, and how to change the way the organization operates to take advantage of it. That’s the other key responsibility of a manager; even if you have all the data in the world, you still need to set a goal and know how to lead people to change in order to achieve it.

The challenges of keeping up in this fast-changing arena are shown by last year’s three Genius brands slipping to Gifted status this year (W was ranked as Gifted last year). There is overall improvement, though, as the Gifted category increased from 11 last year to 21 this and Average dropped from last year’s 20 to 12. However, more chains are “Challenged” (up from 16 last year) and there are still 2 in the Feeble category. L2 comments that those in the lower rankings are not necessarily doing anything wrong, but they are clearly missing out on significant opportunities to reach and appeal to their guests.

Given that L2 also draws a direct correlation between a brand’s Digital IQ growth and the rise in its stock price, shareholders might also be missing out.

Proactive Marketing/Upselling
There were a couple of interesting developments in pro-active marketing and the check-in process. Nor1’s patented PRiME and eStandby Upgrade modules dynamically analyze detailed guest data as soon as a reservation is made to identify specific upsell offers to be sent to the guest; if he or she expresses interest and the offer is still available at check-in, the guest is upgraded and the additional rate collected. This novel approach was integrated with MICROS Systems’ OPERA, Worldhotels’ ResMaster 3 booking engine and Travelport’s itinerary tools, and Six Senses rolled it out for its properties in the Middle and Far East.
B4Checkin gained success and recognition for its software, which provides pre-arrival upsell e-mails, post-stay surveys and, uniquely, online check-in 24 hours before arrival; the latter allows the hotel to pre-key the guest, who can then swipe a credit card to retrieve the key from a kiosk on arrival. B4Checkin was adopted by Le Crystal Hotel & Spa, Sarova Hotels, Resorts and Game Lodges and others, and it received the Editors’ Choice Award for Technology at this year’s International Hotel, Motel + Restaurant Show (IHMRS) in New York.
Travel Tripper added Email Retargeting of abandoned bookings to its RezTrip online booking engine, allowing hotels to send personalized offers to shoppers who abandon the booking process to encourage them to return and complete a reservation.

Guest WiFi – Demand Never Stops
One of the biggest challenges for all properties continues to be satisfying the huge demand for in-house Internet bandwidth. A TripAdvisor survey reported that the availability of WiFi is a critical selection factor for 85% of travelers, and demand is made worse both by the increasing number of devices guests want to connect and those devices’ increasingly heavy bandwidth needs. As an example, the Mandarin Oriental New York had to supplement its existing distributed antenna system – already an advanced approach to property-wide coverage – with a Ruckus device in every room providing four additional wired network ports and a WiFi access point.
It seems that more flexibility in Internet access options is inevitable, with guests having to pay for faster download speeds. One option came from Quadriga’s new Personal Media Network, which allows hotels to configure multiple service level and price options to guests on both TVs and personal devices. The Personal Media Network received the Equip’Innov Award for most innovative technology product at Equip’ Hotel, and Concorde Hotels selected it for all 25 hotels in Europe.

Social Networking – Interesting But How Effective?
Attempts to leverage social networking for increased bookings continued, though with mixed success.
Pipeline Social Media Solutions’ SocialCEO Facebook booking and management application helps hotels measure ROI and monitor “friend” interactions, and several GMS vendors offered FaceBook engines. Flip.to lets hotels offer coupons or other incentives to guests who comment favorably online about bookings they’ve just made, with additional incentives for referrals converted into bookings. Brilliant integrated Flip.to into its RezExchange channel management and distribution system, Pelican Hotel Solutions integrated it into its booking engine and The Riviera Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas also implemented it.
Appnostic announced a similar “Plus-U” add-on for its SocialBooker marketing and in-Facebook booking platform, allowing Facebook users to receive commissions for booking travel for groups of friends.  Lodging Interactive subsidiary CoMMingle announced its Social+ service to manage a hotel’s social presence on Facebook, Twitter, You Tube and other social media channels, and Newmarket released a MeetingBroker app for Facebook to help hotels and venues connect directly with meeting and event planners there.
However, a RateTiger-sponsored survey by Ecole Hoteliere de Lausanne (EHL) Research reported that despite interest in social media as a marketing channel most hotels were still focused on offline and direct sales. While social networks were recognized as new forms of digital marketing and very much worth tracking, their actual impact on bookings was seen as still uncertain.
The importance of monitoring a hotel’s online reputation was unquestioned, though. REBEL Travel released its Social Profile Manager to help properties manage their social media profiles, Milestone Internet Marketing released its 3rd generation eBuzz Connect social media/reviews monitoring software and Wyndham Hotel Group announced its own WynReview consumer comment management tool. Circos Brand Karma made its Blackbook analyses of the online reputation of destinations and individual hotels available in two editions, and newBrandAnalytics released version 3.0 of its social market intelligence software, which analyzes and categorizes unstructured online customer feedback. Taking a different tack, Infor released TrustYou-based social sentiment measurement widgets for its HMS dashboard, allowing properties to track individual guests’ postings as well as general sentiments.

Revenue Management becomes even more critical
The wild proliferation of distribution channels, ever- narrower market segments and the shorter lead times brought about through mobile bookings has made revenue management even more essential, both to set rates appropriately and to distribute them to the right channels at the right time, and this is reflected in last year’s strong activity. EzRMS had an excellent year; NH Hoteles extended its use of it to an additional 100 properties, bringing its total to over 200 sites, AMResorts picked it for its 30 resorts and Far East Hospitality implemented it at all 8 properties. EzRMS announced that it had over 1,000 properties using its Product Suite, and was acquired by Infor.
Perennial rival IDeaS also did well, landing strategic planning contracts with China’s BTG-JIANGUO Hotels & Resorts (100 hotels) and Jin Jiang International (810 properties). Lindner Hotels & Resorts extended IDeaS to its remaining 11 properties, and Thompson Hotels, Rocco Forte Hotels (13 hotels) and Macdonald Hotels & Resorts (40 hotels) all committed to IDeaS portfolio-wide.
RateGain had a good year; Accor selected its PriceGain rate intelligence for all Motel 6 and Studio 6 properties, Swiss BelHotel International picked it for 80+ properties, Best Western chose it for Asia & Middle East and Marina Hotels signed for its 10 hotels. RateGain also launched its RezGain channel management software. Relative newcomer SiteMinder saw its channel management services adopted by Britain’s De Vere Group (37 properties), Rocco Forte Hotels (13), Lifestyle Retreats (3), Regal Hotels Group (6), Bespoke Hotels (properties in the UK, Europe, Thailand and the Caribbean), ONYX Hospitality Group (22 properties in Thailand) and Genares chose it for direct, two-way connectivity with leading booking sites.
Hyatt significantly expanded its use of Maxim’s Revenue Management at U.S., Canada and Caribbean properties. Wyndham announced its MyRequest self-serve tool to help properties manage rates, inventory and content to the right distribution channels. Amadeus launched its Hotel Optimisation Package of services and technologies for large travel agencies and travel management companies; Mahindra Holidays and Resorts India installed RateTiger at 40 properties, both Premier Hotels of the World and Spain’s H-Top Hotels Group partnered with Availpro, and Vincci Hoteles implemented EZYield’s Fuzionlink across all 35 properties
Among new products were TravelClick’s Rate360 rate shopper, Duetto Research’s cloud-based Duetto Edge (being tested by Sonesta’s new ES Suites), Travel Tripper’s channel management functionality for its RezTrip CRS, and Rainmaker’s GroupREV group forecasting and pricing software (in pilot test with Omni Hotels & Resorts). GMS vendors also got into the act; IQware launched its IQlink, Prologic First released integrated channel management for its WISH GMS, Hetras announced a channel management module and IDS NEXT launched its RezNext division. Inntopia extended the reach of the technology with YieldView, offering yield management for activities, lift tickets, etc.
Integration between vendors continues: EzRMS partnered with Availpro to apply its rate recommendations instantly, online, via all distribution channels, and RateGain partnered with The Rainmaker Group, InnLink, Reconline AG and Thomas Cook’s Hotels4u.com.

Guest Services
Personalization of the guest experience continues to be a major battleground, as every property strives to stand out through personal service. Intelity’s ICE continued to be a popular choice, being implemented by the Radisson Blu Aqua Hotel in Chicago, Aloft Hotels (lobby kiosks planned in all 26 hotels) and Peninsula Hotels. Intelity extended ICE to cover all western and double-byte character-based languages, has fully-certified integrations with twenty-five hospitality management systems, and launched ICE Instant, a Web-based service allowing hotels to create their own version of Intelity’s ICE virtual concierge for guests to download for guest service management. Ritz-Carlton launched a mobile app with GPS recognition of when a guest enters a Ritz Carlton property (to provide location-specific information and offers) and the ability to display personal guest-experience advice and information by scanning QR codes at each property.
Other guestroom suites also proved popular. Hyatt signed a master agreement with Roomlinx to provide its iTV integrated in-room entertainment, high speed Internet and High Definition TV programming in up to 60,000 rooms.  In addition to the usual TV channel, Internet and guest service offerings, Roomlinx provides include the ability to send directions to a mobile device, and to edit and print documents. KoolConnect announced its VU offering, which converts a regular hotel TV into an Internet-equipped “Smart TV” and includes an Electronic Programming Guide (EPG), direct channel tuning from the programming grid and an array of TV “Apps” such as Netflix, Pandora, USA Today, etc.  SuiteLinq introduced a single-platform range of digital services, including Mobile on-site amenity purchases and room environment control, and the new Revel resort in Atlantic City installed SuiteLinq’s Q|Vision and Q|Touch services in all 1,898 guestrooms. Allin Interactive ported its integrated cruise ship DigiHD ITV and DigiMobile platform to the hospitality industry, starting with The Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa in Atlantic City. Otrum launched Otrum Touch, its first hospitality application for smart devices and Smart TVs.
The ability to control a guestroom TV from one’s smart phone arrived with LodgeNet’s Mobile App, which also displayed an Interactive Program Guide, allowed booking of in-house and local dining and entertainment options, ordering room service and checking-out from the hotel. Guest-tek followed with its similar myAway mobile application, also including personal calendar integration, flight information and world radio connectivity. FCS Computer Systems integrated its i-Guest mobile application with Swisscom Hospitality’s ConnectedHotel TV & IPTV systems, replacing the TV remote control with the guest’s phone and linking guest service requests placed through ConnectedHotel with FCS’ e-Connect and c-Connect for staff fulfillment.
Guest-request management systems saw some new arrivals. Q’d Up Systems released its Bell Desk/ Valet Automation System, India’s DigiValet launched a guest service integration application based on guestroom-located Apple devices, Prologic First launched its @Your WISH guest response management system, as did Digital Alchemy with its iNeed module. Blynk Systems launched its Blynk iHotel guest services mobile app, and Monscierge announced its Monscierge|Connect system.
JANUS added impressive glasses-free 3D technology and content creation services to its digital signage products through a partnership with Dimenco Displays. And two of the quirkier offerings this year were the Aloft Hotel Charlotte Ballantyne testing a holographic concierge with stick-on QR codes for hotel/local information and special offers, and the Ushuaia Ibiza Beach Hotel adding Pay-Touch finger-print recognition technology to allow registered users to pay for items at the hotel’s outlet POS terminals with a single two-finger swipe.

Mobile is Everywhere
All management systems now need to be usable on mobile devices, be they phones or tablets, as their convenience makes them ubiquitous for guest access and for staff admin purposes. Online bookings of leisure/unmanaged business travel reached 47% in the UK, accounting for 28% of total European online leisure/unmanaged business travel gross bookings. Gogo partnered with same-day booking specialists HotelTonight to offer last-minute deals to in-flight passengers, and more than 300 Preferred Hotel Group properties implemented Sabre’s Mobile Guest Connect booking engine.
Radisson Edwardian Hotels implemented Optii Solutions’ Optii Keeper iPod-based housekeeping management system in all 14 company-owned sites; Kempinski also chose Optii for its Hotel Adlon property in Berlin. Newmarket announced a partnership with TripCraft to develop mobile applications for the hospitality industry, and integrated Intelity ICE into its Cloud Services platform for Event Data. Omni Hotels & Resorts released a customized tablet application for meeting planners to use while conducting meetings at any of its hotels. Digital Alchemy introduced its Mobile Life suite of four cloud-based mobile applications: iNeed guest requests, MXPRESS mobile site, XPRESSGUIDE meeting/conference info and mSurvey for guest feedback.

Chain-wide systems standardization continues.
Chains continue to implement standard systems across their portfolios wherever practical, for greater uniformity of data and reporting and easier support. Amongst other deals, MICROS was favored by Aston Hotels & Resorts (OPERA Enterprise in 27 properties), Moran & Bewley’s Hotel Group (MICROS cloud-based systems for 10 hotels), Orient-Express Hotels (OPERA Sales and Catering system in 37 hotels) and Portugal’s Pestana Group (OPERA for 9 properties in Brazil). Protel was designated as an approved supplier for Design Hotels AG’s 200 affiliated partner properties, and Clarenco and Cheval Residences each implemented protel’s Multi-Property Edition (MPE) for six properties. Shearings Holidays deployed Infor’s Classic Starlight GMS at 48 properties, centrally hosted, Carefree RV Resorts picked RDP for 39 RV resorts, and the UK’s Champneys chose ResortSuite for its four resorts and eight day spas. Starwood chose Newmarket’s HIS Premium View market intelligence for its 1,100+ properties worldwide.
Passkey’s GroupMAX was the choice for The Info Salons Group across its event portfolio throughout Asia, China & the Middle East, and InterContinental launched it in 23 Australian and New Zealand properties. Highpointe Hotel Corp implemented hotel SystemsPro’s hotel SalesPro across its 15 properties. Krushiker Hospitality Group chose Aptech’s Profitvue and Webvue enterprise accounting software for seven hotels, Strand Development upgraded Aptech’s Execuvue Business Intelligence system for its 65-property operation and Texas Western Hospitality implemented Execuvue at 53 properties. Island Hospitality Management picked M3 Accounting Services’ business intelligence and analytics software in over 80 additional hotels.

Room Key launches, Other CRS Activity Continues
The biggest change in the booking environment came with the launch of the Room Key booking engine, a joint effort by six major chains – Choice, Hilton, Hyatt, InterContinental, Marriott and Wyndham – and with Pegasus founder John Davis as CEO. Other than offering low rates by pulling inventory and rates directly from the chains’ own-brand sites, Room Key has built traffic by referring travelers leaving its Web site without making a booking to the brand sites of its members, to see if they can find an alternative there. Best Western joined Room Key almost immediately, followed by Preferred Hotel Group, and Trust International and Sabre implemented interfaces to their own CRSs. In October RoomKey added La Quinta Inns & Suites, Millennium Hotels & Resorts and The Leading Hotels of the World (LHW), effectively doubling the number of properties available, and later Vantage Hospitality added its 1,000-plus inventory.
Other than Room Key, there was the usual round of new and renewed CRS deals. Desires Hotels chose Whiteboard Labs’ Windsurfer CRS, and Sceptre Hospitality Resources migrated its 600-plus hotels to Windsurfer before acquiring Whiteboard Labs itself a month later. Germany’s ACHAT Hotels switched its 27 properties to Sabre Hospitality’s SynXis CRS, and the Hotel Okura Co. added its 25 member hotels in Asia, North America and Europe to SynXis to join the 54 hotels it acquired with the JAL brand.
Amadeus gained 250,000 hotels from corporate accommodation specialist HRS, and Travelodge brought 490+ properties more from the UK, Ireland and Spain. Steigenberger Hotel Group moved back to Trust International’s CRS after a five-year hiatus; the Ringhotels consortium transferred all 130 of its members to Trust, as did ONYX Hospitality Group (34 properties in Asia) and Far East Hospitality.
Pegasus Solutions launched a Vacation Rental Switch (VRS) in partnership with the Vacation Rental Managers Association (VRMA) and completed a connection with China’s TravelSky Technology, making Pegasus’ inventory of nearly 100,000 hotels available for booking in China by the 7,000 agents using TravelSky. Centric Hospitality Group has switched its CARINO Hotels and Resorts Worldwide properties to its own myCRS system, with two-way guest management system integration and OTA direct connects.

New GMSs Gained Traction
The new generation of GMSs saw growing acceptance during the year, with the sad exception of Agilysys’ Guest 360, which was pulled off the market for rework. The Hotel Diva in San Francisco, CA implemented PAR Springer-Miller Systems’ first ATRIO guest management system, which later also found a home at the Lahaina Inn on Maui. Pegasus’ ResView NG was added to the ATRIO Platform Partner Exchange (APPX) program as Atrio’s preferred central reservations system.
Infor’s HMS Hotel Management System met with steady demand all year, ending up with close to 100 customers worldwide. Infor released its latest version, Infor10 HMS, with a more consumer-style UI, as well as a versatile HMS Hotel Check-In iPad app. HMS received an Equip’Innov Award for one of the most innovative technology products at Equip’ Hotel, and was triple-listed as a Champion, Trend Setter and Best Overall Value in this year’s Vendor Landscape reports from the Info-Tech Research Group.
Hotel Concepts – Brilliant enhanced its cloud-based iTesso system, including an integrated channel management and booking engine, a complete switch of the user interface from Silverlight to HTML5, the introduction of an integrated eLearning Module and a staff-facing Web app. hetras’ cloud-based HMS went into the citizenM Bankside hotel, hetras’ first London installation and citizenM’s fourth hetras system; citizenM has committed to use it for three additional hotels in London, two hotels in New York City, plus one each in Paris and Rotterdam. Multi-Systems, Inc. (MSI) released its CloudPM next generation cloud-based guest management system, and integrated it with Sceptre’s Windsurfer CRS.
ERP systems began to be more appreciated for their end-to-end control of complex hotel operations. Cenium’s system found customers in The Mark Anthony Group in Canada, for its Mission Hill Family Estate winery in the Okanagan Valley and five retail locations across British Columbia, and at the Silver Reef Hotel Casino Spa, Bellingham, WA, where it replaced twelve separate systems and became Cenium’s first interface to a casino player tracking system at a North American property. India’s Prologic First and IDS Next and Spain’s Indra all introduced their ERP systems to the North American market at HITEC.
And just to emphasize the point that cloud-based GMSs are reliable, Choice Hotels International deployed the 5,000th instance of its choiceADVANTAGE cloud-based guest management system.

Kiosks
There’s a renewed interest in kiosks with the emergence of more on-line check-in options, but more as table-top key-issuing devices for pre-registered guests rather than full-service (and bulky) floor-standing devices. NCR launched its NCR Express Key device, which allows guests who have checked in online or via a mobile device to collect their key by scanning a printed or mobile-delivered barcode, or using an NFC-enabled mobile device or a mobile acoustic key. Concorde Hotels & Resorts launched its Smart Way e-check-in /check-out system based on Ariane Systems’ technology and plans to roll out the system throughout its hotel portfolio. At the smaller end of the scale the 78-room HomStay Suites in Williston, ND also installed interactive Ariane kiosks, integrated with its Micros Opera GMS and Onity locks. The kiosks offer full check-in and check-out functionality, along with keycard delivery and credit card payment.

Data Security
Concerns over the security of credit card and personally identifiable information increased, with many vendors upgrading their encryption/tokenization offerings and much attention being focused on moving credit card processing off-property to minimize the burden of PCI compliance. Merchant Link’s Payment Gateway, TransactionShield encryption and TransactionVault tokenization were popular; Transaction Resources, Inc. (TRI) integrated them for more secure payment transactions for lift ticket sales, food and beverage, hotel bookings, spa services and more. MICROS Systems announced Point-To-Point Encryption (P2PE) and Tokenization for its OPERA Enterprise and Restaurant Enterprise systems, using new encrypting and tamper-resistant card readers and Merchant Link’s software, and XPIENT Solutions also integrated Merchant Link modules into its restaurant POS system. Merchant Link also partnered with Phoenix Managed Networks to let it offer its customers Phoenix’s PCI DSS firewall service coupled with breach insurance, and added support for ID TECH’s encrypting card readers to its TransactionShield encryption service.
Shift4 was also busy, integrating its payment services with eBay’s Magento e-commerce platform to provide an outsourced tokenization service, announcing a Point-to-Point Encryption (P2PE) service for the secure processing of credit, debit, third-party gift cards, and split-processing direct to American Express and partnering with FoundryLogic to provide secure mobile payment to users of Retail Pro versions 8 and 9. Shift4 also released its 4Res and 4Word software to help hotels remove cardholder data (CHD) from their environment. 4Res sits between Central Reservation Systems and hotel properties, removing any clear-text CHD from reservations before they enter the hotel environment and optionally providing Shift4’s encrypted TrueTokens in their place before being sent to the property; TravLynx integrated 4Res into its InnLink and InnVite CRSs. 4Word is a secure way to share payment data with an authorized third party that may be outside of Shift4’s North American service area.

POS
The concept of remotely-hosted POS systems became more acceptable (there is no system more demanding of being on-line for customer satisfaction than an F&B POS) with MICROS Systems Simphony POS system being selected by both Moran & Bewley’s Hotel Group (10 hotels in Ireland and the UK) and Wynn Resorts (for its Wynn Las Vegas and Encore casino resort properties, covering over 100 revenue centers across the two properties). Payment by mobile phone also made an introductory appearance, with MICROS integrating Isis’ SmartTap into its Simphony POS (ARAMARK’s Basking Ridge location was the pilot F&B site for this). Google Wallet was integrated into MICROS POS systems (for yogurt retailer Pinkberry) and Shift4 announced Google Wallet interfaces for four Ingenico PIN pads.

RFID
RFID technology made great strides into the industry last year, in two main areas: the rapid spread of RFID guestroom door lock systems, and for linen/staff uniform tracking. InvoTech Systems’ GIMS UHF-RFID uniform tracking was implemented by the Statler Hotel on Cornell University’s campus, the new Revel resort on the Atlantic City Boardwalk, the Odawa Casino Resort and the Mandarin Oriental, Boston. InvoTech also added a portable UHF-RFID handheld reader to its system. FOUNDATION Logic Systems’ RFID Uniform Manager was implemented in the Star Casino Australia and Vail Resorts.
RFID locks have become almost a de facto choice for their convenience and security, and showed increasing versatility in integrations with other systems. The Hyatt Regency New Orleans implemented Saflok Quantum RFID locks, interfaced with Schindler Elevator PORT Technology, and the Grand Hyatt San Francisco selected VingCard’s Signature RFID locks. The Grande Colonial Hotel in La Jolla, California, upgraded to VingCard Elsafe’s Classic RFID locking system, and VingCard Elsafe interfaced its RFID hotel systems with SKIDATA, an Austrian provider of access-management and ticketing for ski resorts, airports, sports venues and tourist attractions, letting skiers use their RFID-enabled ski pass as a guestroom key at surrounding hotels and resorts.
Kaba Ilco’s RFID locks were chosen by Les Hôtels JARO (5 properties), Sun Suites (all 20 properties), Loews Hotels & Resorts (all existing and new-build properties over the next 3 years) and Insignia Hospitality Group (all future properties plus 12 to be retrofitted). OpenWays announced its MOBILE KEY TRIO option, which combines RFID and Pure NFC card-reading functions with its unique CAC (Crypto Acoustic Credential) access.
And to really emphasize what an integrated world we’re approaching, VingCard Elsafe, BMW and Micros showcased the ability of BMW drivers to book rooms at Micros-equipped hotels from their cars, and then by-pass the hotel front desk by using their NFC-equipped car keys to access their guestrooms.

M&A
I thought last year’s tally of mergers and acquisitions was unusual; this year has been busier still.
- Expedia’s Egencia division acquired French Web/mobile developer Traveldoo and VIA Travel, the largest travel management company in the Nordic countries.
- ezRez took over Topguest, which helps users earn loyalty points on Facebook, Foursquare, Instagram and Twitter from check-ins, photos and updates.
- Whiteboard Labs partnered with R&D Intelligent Hospitality’s HotelIQ business intelligence, and was then acquired by Sceptre Hospitality Resources’ parent company, City e-Solutions Limited.
- The Active Network bought StarCite to be a leading component of its new Business Solutions division, and promptly signed Worldhotels’ 500 affiliated properties.
- Ericsson completed its acquisition of BelAir Networks.
- Infor purchased Easy RMS, adding revenue management functionality to its Infor10 hospitality offerings.
- Newmarket International acquired MeetingMatrix.
- Honeywell International tokk over INNCOM.
- Back office system vendor Fourth acquired Adaco.
- TigerTMS acquired Innovation Technologies Worldwide.
- Lodging Access Systems picked up RFID Hotel, a supplier of RFID keycards and credentials to the hospitality industry.
- HotelTonight bought PrimaTable, and will incorporate its restaurant demand forecasting and pricing tools into its own last-minute hotel yield management system.
- Kelso & Company acquired Swank Audio Visuals, merging it with PSAV.
- ZENO Controls acquired Verve Living Systems.
- France-based IPTV provider Locatel took over Docomo Intertouch Europe.
- Priceline.com purchased meta-search engine KAYAK.
- NAVIS acquired LMG Data Mining.
- RedPrairie merged with JDA Software.
- GoConcierge.net acquired Gold Key Solutions

Don’t Forget The Human Element
Finally, a cautionary word on technology; new research confirms that you only get the best out of your investment if you train your staff in how to use it, regularly, and the difference is measurable in the bottom line. According to new research from Hilary Murphy and Karolin Pucciani at Ecole Hoteliere de Lausanne, hotels show higher occupancy levels when they allocate more budget to training for their GMSs, and are higher still when a combination of both in-house training and GMS vendor training is employed. Statistically significant relationships also indicated that as the GMS training budget is increased, hotel revenues increase as well and in a much higher ratio than the input budget. Revenues of hotels are much higher as the GMS training budget rises above 5,000 Euros per year.
So there you have it. Keep an eye on how mobile technology will affect your operations – because it will – and on how you integrate your property systems more effectively, and for Pete’s sake, once you’ve invested in new technology keep your staff thoroughly and regularly trained on it.