October 19, 2006
Siegel Sez
by: Richard Siegel
Decisions, decisions. We make them and then live with them and regret is not allowed. I am flying to Vancouver for the HFTP Annual Conference, or at least I am trying to. I arrived at the airport late and had a bag to check. But it is inside the 45 minute window to check bags so the Delta agent won’t check my bag. This is bad. But wait, my flight is a half hour late, so now she can check it, this is good. Oh wait, I am probably not going to make the connection in Salt Lake City to Vancouver, now this is bad again. To make it worse, there are no other flights and no other routes they can offer me to get me to Vancouver. Wait, isn’t Vancouver a big city? It is around 11:15 a.m. and they say they cannot get me there? Of course, they will not put me on another airline, that would cost money and I can’t say I blame them. Oh well, I now have to make a decision. Go back home and do this all again tomorrow or go to Salt Lake City and hope the connecting flight is late. If I miss the connection then I am on my own for a hotel (we shall see about this when I get there). Having driven to the Atlanta airport in the pouring rain, there was no way I was going back home. Salt Lake City here I come.
The flight out of Atlanta was very, very late so I was pretty sure I was not going to make the connection to get me to Vancouver. But wait. Delta, for some reason while I was in the air, booked me from Salt Lake to Seattle and then to Vancouver on Alaska Airlines. They have just told me I will get there tonight. We shall see. Who wants to bet if my bag also makes it? They say it will, I say it won’t. The positive thing about all this is everybody on this full flight from Atlanta missed connections. Some ate together, others drank together and everybody bonded waiting for their new flights that all seem to be leaving three hours later than scheduled. Can you tell from this Siegel Sez if I ate or drank?
Anyway, lots of new friends were made, business cards were exchanged and if the past holds true, nobody will ever talk to each other again. But it was a fun day anyway. I say that hoping to make it to Vancouver eight hours after I had planned to get there. I guess this is one more test of my ability to stay positive. I love the HFTP Annual Conference. Out of all that I attend, HFTP has the most loyal members. There’s a lot of great educational sessions offered during this event, but there are also fun, fun times. Hope I get to experience it.
I am looking forward to seeing everyone at the International Hotel/Motel and Restaurant Show (http://www.ihmrs.com/). If you are interested in the Technology Pavilion Sharon still has a spot available. E-mail her at mailto:Sharon@hospitalityupgrade.com or call her at (678) 802-5304. If you have been to our dinner during the show in the past, we are planning it again on Monday night. Also e-mail Sharon for the details. Thank you for helping me kill nearly four hours while waiting for my flights.
Here now is the real reason we are here, Jon Inge’s technology review of the last few weeks. I will see you at the end with this week’s attempt at you-know-what.
Rich@hospitalityupgrade.com
Technology NEWSSTAND
by: Jon Inge
Systems News in Plain English from Jon Inge
TOP O' THE NEWS
- HTNG’s first European conference highly encouraging
---------------------------
Emphasizing both the international nature of HTNG’s approach to hospitality technology’s challenges and the high level of joint hotel and vendor commitment to resolving them, over 150 current and prospective members virtually all of CIO, CTO, GM or regional VP rank, attended its first European conference in Lausanne, Switzerland from October 11-13.
Held at the Ecole Hôtelière de Lausanne, the presentations and interactive sessions focused on the particular challenges faced by European and Middle Eastern hoteliers. These include the many cultural, language and regulatory differences, a tradition of strong, independently minded hotel owners and GMs who often prefer to buy from locally focused vendors rather than follow chain standards, and, especially in the Middle East, a practice of buying through third-party technology companies rather than directly from vendors. As such, the region magnifies the systems integration and acquisition issues that launched HTNG, and it is therefore especially encouraging to see the strong interest shown by both hoteliers and local vendors in working toward their resolution.
Several workgroups reported very positive results from their hoteliers’ use of pre-certification product releases. In response to questions on progress in general, HTNG emphasized that it is not attempting to set interface standards for the industry, nor to address all the major interfaces used or needed. Its goal is to encourage vendors to cooperate in producing various sets of more highly integrated systems, using modern technologies such as Web services, by focusing on specific cases that its hotel members identify as high priority and commit to purchase. The success of these examples is intended to encourage others to follow the same route, and judging from the continued strong interest in joining existing workgroups and setting up new ones, momentum is building nicely.
**
PEOPLE ON THE MOVE
- Joe Tesfai elected to HTNG board of directors
- Suzanne Rainey hired as KoolConnect’s vice president of content
- Caroline Cartellieri joins Expedia.co.uk as vice president and managing director
- Steve Lambert hired as Newmarket’s managing director/EMEA
- Dan Hiza promoted to vice president business development at Newmarket
--------------------------
For more on People on the Move for 10/19/06
MARKETING/MANAGEMENT
- Visual One integrates Clairvoyix’s guest marketing technology into V1 PMS
----------------------------
Visual One has integrated Clairvoyix’s guest marketing technology into its V1 PMS. The launch customer for the combined products was ClubResorts’ Pinehurst resort.
http://www.visualonesystems.com,
http://www.clairvoyix.com **
GUEST SERVICES
- HIS and Diversified Computer complete two-way interface between epitome and GuestWare
- OTRUM integrates 3C Communications’ payment processing into its in-room hotel services
------------------------
Hotel Information Systems (HIS) and Diversified Computer Corp. have completed a two-way interface between their epitome PMS and GuestWare applications. New reservations and impending arrivals are transferred to Guestware for checking against its profile database; profile data in GuestWare (e.g. preference data, guest classification or loyalty level) are automatically updated in the epitome PMS. New profile matches identified in GuestWare are also sent back to epitome to simplify guest history maintenance. Kimpton Hotel & Restaurant Group has been testing the interface since earlier this year, and plans to roll it out to all properties over the next few months.
http://www.hotelinfosys.com,
http://www.guestware.com **
OTRUM has integrated 3C Communications International’s payment processing services into its in-room hotel services offerings, allowing guests to pay directly with their credit cards for services they want to access.
http://www.otrum.com,
http://www.3cint.com **
SECURITY
- Canada’s Hotel Arts (Calgary) and Playa del Sol Resort (Kelowna) install VingCard’s Signature locks
--------------------
Two Canadian luxury properties, the 185-room boutique Hotel Arts in downtown Calgary, Alberta and the new 283-suite Playa del Sol Resort condominium resort in Kelowna, British Columbia, have installed VingCard’s Signature guestroom locks.
http://www.vingcard.com **
PROPERTY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS
- Visual One acquires GolfPro
- Visual One integrates Clairvoyix’ guest marketing technology into V1 PMS
- MSI’s two-way interface with Best Western Nova Plus PMS to begin beta testing by year end
- HIS and Diversified Computer complete two-way interface between epitome and GuestWare
--------------------------
For more on Property Management Systems for 10/19/06
RESERVATIONS
- Select Marketing Hotels switches 200 hotels to SynXis’ RedX
- Key West Inns extends contract with InnLink for another three years
- La Quinta implementing Pegasus Solutions’ RezView central reservation system
- International Plaza Resort & Spa signs with GenaRes
- Turkey’s Dedeman Hotels & Resorts International implements TravelCLICK's iHotelier
- Lodge at Torrey Pines in La Jolla, Calif., implements TravelCLICK’s iHotelier
-------------------------------------------
For more on Reservations for 10/19/06
REVENUE MANAGEMENT
- Maritim Hotels installing IDeaS’ v5i revenue optimization solution at 13 of its hotels
- Kor Hotel Group selects EZ Yield’s V2 SPIDER channel management system
- Fairmont signs with Hotel Booking Solutions Inc.
----------------------------
For more on Revenue Management for 10/19/06
SALES & CATERING, MEETING PLANNING
- VisionTree and iBAHN partner to offer Conference Enterprise event network software with real-time audience response
---------------------------
VisionTree Software has partnered with broadband provider iBAHN to offer its VisionTree Conference Enterprise turnkey event network software that provides real-time audience response during meetings. Conference participants can use their own Internet-enabled handheld devices and laptop computers, or they can be provided with wireless personal digital assistants (PDAs) loaded with the Conference Enterprise software. The system allows panelists to gain immediate audience feedback through custom surveys and free-text input, collaborate in real time while gathering relevant data, and present the data in the form of graphs and charts for immediate analysis.
http://www.ibahn.com,
http://www.visiontree.com **
F&B/POINT OF SALE
- InterContinental’s The Barclay New York implements Capton’s Beverage Tracker
- InfoGenesis named to Deloitte & Touche’s Technology Fast 50 Program for Los Angeles
---------------------------
InterContinental’s The Barclay New York has implemented Capton’s Beverage Tracker pour management system.
http://new-york-barclay.intercontinental.com,
http://www.captoninc.com **
InfoGenesis has been named to Deloitte & Touche’s Technology Fast 50 program for Los Angeles, a ranking of the 50 fastest growing technology, media, telecommunications and life sciences companies in the area. Rankings are based on the percentage revenue growth over the five years from 2001–2005.
http://www.infogenesis.com **
SPA/GOLF/LEISURE ACTIVITIES
- Visual One acquires GolfPro
------------------------
Visual One has acquired GolfPro, the golf management application which it had integrated into its V1 PMS and for which it had been the exclusive distributor for several years.
http://www.visualonesystems.com **
You-Know-What
And now for you-know-what…
Paddy staggered home very late after another evening with his drinking buddy, Mick. He took off his shoes to avoid waking his wife, Brigid.
He tiptoed as quietly as he could toward the steps leading to their upstairs bedroom, but misjudged the bottom step. As he caught himself by grabbing the banister, his body swung around and he landed heavily on his rump. A whiskey bottle in each back pocket broke and made the landing especially painful.
Managing not to yell, Paddy got up, lowered his pants, and looked in the hall mirror to see that his back side was cut and bleeding. He managed to quietly find a full box of Band-Aids and began putting them as best as he could on each place he saw blood. He then hid the now almost empty Band-Aid box in a drawer and shuffled and stumbled his way up the stairs to bed.
In the morning, Paddy woke up with searing pain in both his head and bottom, and Brigid staring at him from across the room.
She said, "You were drunk again last night weren't you, Paddy?"
"Why would you say such a mean thing?" Paddy replied.
"Well," Brigid said, "it could be the open front door, it could be the broken glass at the bottom of the stairs, it could be the drops of blood trailing through the house, it could be your bloodshot eyes, but mostly, it's all those Band-Aids stuck on the hall mirror."