October 12, 2018
Siegel Sez
by: Rich Siegel
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When in Las Vegas, I will occasionally put twenty dollars into a slot machine, and I know before I do it that the odds are overwhelming -- that my wallet will become twenty dollars lighter. So why do it? I guess because, well … occasionally I do win. Slot machines today can be pretty fun with all the flashing lights, the music playing and the dreams of free spins. I bring this up because I just spent two days at the Global Gaming Expo. G2E exhibits what seems like football fields of companies showing off their next generation slot machines, and like my occasional twenty dollars, most of them will never make it to the casino floors. It really is amazing how creative they can be in trying to get your twenty dollars.
Slot machines aside, the big push at G2E this year was sports betting, now legal in some states and continuing to grow as a market. If you want to place your bets in the states where it is legal, New Jersey being the first, you have to either go to a horse racing track or a casino. As a horse guy, I assumed anything that attracts people to the horse world is a good thing, but then I started thinking of what it will be like once more states have legalized it. Will sports betting be limited to only these locations? Why not the local tavern? Or who’s to say some traditional hotels wouldn’t take advantage of these football weekends to pack their hotels if they could offer sports betting? Even though you can bet on any sport, the real betting is always football, and the sports books in Las Vegas will confirm this. Some of the sports betting ideas from the multitude of companies exhibiting at G2E seemed crazy, but then again, they know more about this world than I do. Maybe they are onto something -- we will see. While at G2E, I did visit with more traditional exhibitors of the hotel industry who have a strong presence in the gaming market; Agilysys, Infor, Oracle, NEC and KEYPR/Intelity. I always enjoy catching up with customers on the tradeshow floor to gain insights as to where they are going. G2E is always interesting to attend, and Hospitality Upgrade is proud to be a media partner.
I must add, with regards to horse racing, our ‘horse that could’ actually now can. I’ve had a lot of people ask me about Hoboe, who took a year off for an ankle issue. Well … he is now back, healthy as can be and full of run. On Oct. 4th at Belmont Park, NY he made his comeback and won the race. He might also run again at Belmont Park on Oct. 20th, but that has yet to be confirmed. It’s a big race with very fast horses, and we might decide to wait for something a bit easier. But then again, it is Hoboe, so we may take a chance. So, for many of you who reached out and asked, Hoboe is back. The future is looking bright, and our fingers are tightly crossed. Thanks for checking!
And now for the real reason we’re all here, the latest technology happenings with opening comments by consultant Ron Hardin. As for me, I’ll see you at the end with this week’s attempt at ‘you-know-what.’ Go Hoboe!
Rich@hospitalityupgrade.com
Introduction
by: Ron Hardin
As the remnants of Hurricane Michael blow through the Atlanta area, I’m reminded of one of the more boring aspects of hospitality technology management: disaster recovery (DR) and business continuity. Human nature being what it is, most good DR plans are formulated after a disaster, based on lessons learned the hard way. A few years ago, I sat through an enlightening presentation on the subject of DR planning failure in the wake of a chlorine gas spill from a train wreck in Graniteville, S.C., in 2005. The presenter had been the IT director for the Avondale Mills Gregg plant, a large textile manufacturing facility near the crash site, and he recounted the grim reality of a true disaster. Nine people died, 250 were treated for chlorine inhalation, and 5,400 residents within one mile of the crash site were forced to evacuate for nearly two weeks. Seven of the nine fatalities were Avondale Mills employees. Avondale Mills had plans for business continuity and disaster recovery, but their plan included several faulty assumptions:
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People would be available to execute the plan. In reality, some key employees were among the dead and injured, and many of the rest scattered in the wake of the evacuation.
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Key staff would be accessible via landline or cell phones. In reality, both landline and cell phone service were disrupted locally, and people were displaced from their homes (and landlines).
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Facilities would be accessible unless damaged by forces such as fire or water. In reality, the main facilities were in the evacuation zone and not accessible.
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Critical digital business information would be backed up and stored safely off-site. In reality, the company was in the middle of a change in backup technologies and they had just brought all of their recent tape backups into the Gregg facility to transfer the data onto the new media. The chlorine gas destroyed the magnetic tapes.
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The plan assumed several disaster scenarios: fire, flood, tornado, loss of power, etc. The plan did not contemplate any risks from a hazardous material spill even though the Gregg campus was adjacent to a major freight rail line.
In May 2006, Avondale Mills went out of business, citing the gas spill and the loss of the Gregg plant as one of the key factors, along with declining competitive position of the US textile industry. The painful lessons learned from the Graniteville disaster focus on the simple fact that the health and safety of people rapidly becomes more important than business continuity and disaster recovery. Our plans need to factor in the realities of what may actually happen in a widespread disaster, and what people do when faced with disaster. I also recall when, as a young hotel IT manager at the Sheraton Bal Harbour on the beach north of Miami, I was tasked with updating the hotel’s hurricane plan for all the newly-installed computer systems. The hotel had a hurricane team, and the first paragraph of the plan stated that the team would report to the hotel when an evacuation was declared. I never had to respond during my tenure there, but I always wondered if, when faced with that decision, I would have gone against the flow to get into the hotel or packed up and headed for higher ground with all the smart people.
Ron Hardin, CHTP
RonHardin.TECH Consulting
Ron@ronhardin.tech
MERGERS and ACQUISITIONS
- Hyatt to Expand Brand Footprint and Pipeline with Acquisition of Two Roads Hospitality
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Hyatt to Expand Brand Footprint and Pipeline with Acquisition of Two Roads Hospitality
Hyatt Hotels Corporation announced an agreement to acquire Two Roads Hospitality, an international lifestyle hotel management company with a unique collection of distinctive brands, properties and a robust development pipeline around the globe.
www.hyatt.com
www.tworoadshotels.com
PEOPLE ON THE MOVE
- Hyatt Hotels Corporation Announces CFO Transition
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Hyatt Hotels Corporation Announces CFO Transition
Hyatt Hotels Corporation announced that Patrick Grismer has resigned as chief financial officer, effective Nov. 2, 2018, in order to assume the CFO position at Starbucks Corporation.
www.hyatt.com
GUEST MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS
- Maestro PMS Launches Integrated System Support: Staff Learn Fast, Performance and Productivity Boosted with New Instant Online Chat and On-Demand Training
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Maestro PMS Launches Integrated System Support: Staff Learn Fast, Performance and Productivity Boosted with New Instant Online Chat and On-Demand Training
Maestro PMS, a preferred cloud and on-premise PMS solution suite for independent hotels, luxury resorts, conference centers and multi-property groups, launched a new expansion to their group of system-integrated, online support and training tools for users.
http://www.maestropms.com/
RESERVATIONS
- Okada Manila Selects Rainmaker Solution Suite to Drive Guest Bookings, Outperform Competitors and Increase Profitability
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Okada Manila Selects Rainmaker Solution Suite to Drive Guest Bookings, Outperform Competitors and Increase Profitability
The Rainmaker Group, a leading provider of cloud-based hospitality revenue management software, announced that Okada Manila has selected a comprehensive solution suite, including guestrev®, grouprev®, revcaster® and revintel®, to optimize hotel revenue and drive competitive advantage at the 993-room world-class luxury property. The agreement marks Rainmaker’s expansion in the Asia-Pacific hospitality market.
www.LetItRain.com
REVENUE MANAGEMENT
- iVvy Partners with IDeaS to Help Meetings and Event Venues Maximize Revenue
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iVvy Partners with IDeaS to Help Meetings and Event Venues Maximize Revenue
iVvy Inc., the award-winning global Venue Management software company, has joined forces with IDeaS Revenue Solutions, the leading provider of revenue software and advisory services, to bring powerful meetings and events revenue management capabilities to iVvy clients.
www.smartspacestrategy.com
GUEST SERVICES
- Hapi Achieves Oracle Validated Integration with Oracle Hospitality OPERA
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Hapi Achieves Oracle Validated Integration with Oracle Hospitality OPERA
Hapi, a Gold level member of Oracle PartnerNetwork (OPN), announced that it has achieved Oracle Validated Integration with Oracle Hospitality OPERA 5.5.
http://www.hapicloud.io/
PERSONALIZATION/GUEST EXPERIENCE
- Great National Hotels and ReviewPro Mark a Year of Partnership
- Oracle Food and Beverage Enables Continued Innovation with Omnivore Integration
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Great National Hotels and ReviewPro Mark a Year of Partnership
Guest satisfaction continues to be a key objective for Great National Hotels and Resorts (GN), who employ ReviewPro’s Corporate Dashboard to monitor guest feedback across 32 of their hotels.
reviewpro.com
corporate.greatnationalhotels.com
Oracle Food and Beverage Enables Continued Innovation with Omnivore Integration
Oracle Food and Beverage has collaborated with Omnivore, a universal point of sale (POS) connection for restaurant app development and a Gold level member of Oracle PartnerNetwork (OPN), to encourage restaurant operators to develop differentiated customer experiences and further streamline operations with their Oracle Food and Beverage investment.
www.Oracle.com/Food-Beverage
BACK OFFICE
- ProfitSword Reinforces Management Team Structure as Part of Planned Growth Strategy
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ProfitSword Reinforces Management Team Structure as Part of Planned Growth Strategy
ProfitSword, hospitality's premier developer of business intelligence and data integration software, has shored up its top management team in response to the company's rapidly growing market share and increasing demand for its proprietary solutions.
www.profitsword.com
COMMUNICATIONS/INFRASTRUCTURE
- Broadband Hospitality Enters Las Vegas Market to Help Crescent Hotels & Resorts Keep Pace With Evolving Technology Standards
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Broadband Hospitality Enters Las Vegas Market to Help Crescent Hotels & Resorts Keep Pace With Evolving Technology Standards
Broadband Hospitality (BBH), a preferred provider of unified technology solutions for hotels, and Crescent Hotels & Resorts, a leading hotel and resort management company, announced that they will partner together in the Las Vegas market to upgrade technology at Crescent’s SpringHill Suites Las Vegas Convention Center property.
www.broadbandhospitality.com
F&B/POINT OF SALE
- Agilysys Announces New Guest-Facing Mobile Ordering Solution rGuest® OnDemand
- ShopKeep and Epson form Strategic Partnership
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Agilysys Announces New Guest-Facing Mobile Ordering Solution rGuest® OnDemand
Agilysys, a leading global provider of next-generation hospitality software solutions and services, announced the release of rGuest OnDemand, a new and powerful mobile solution allowing guests to place food and beverage orders directly from their personal mobile device.
Agilysys.com
ShopKeep and Epson form Strategic Partnership
Epson America, Inc., a leading supplier of value-added Point of Sale (POS) solutions, announced that it has entered into a strategic partnership with ShopKeep, a top-rated tablet-to-cloud payments and point-of-sale platform chosen by over 25,000 independent retailers and restaurants.
https://epson.com/point-of-sale
PAYMENT PROCESSING
- EFI Partners with FreedomPay to Deliver First P2PE Payment Solution for Self-Serve Devices
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EFI Partners with FreedomPay to Deliver First P2PE Payment Solution for Self-Serve Devices
FreedomPay a global leader in secure commerce technology for stadiums, lodging, gaming, retail, restaurants and other hospitality merchants has been selected by EFI™ as a secure credit card payment gateway provider for the EFI Self-Serve M600 station, a system that lets customers easily copy, scan or print from a variety of sources and securely pay in a completely self-serve environment.
www.freedompay.com
SECURITY
- Dimension Development Company chooses VENZA®
- Sarova Hotels is committed to protecting guest data
- Luxury Pursell Farms Trusts dormakaba USA Inc for its Electronic Lock System
For More Information of Security for 10/12
HOSPITALITY EVENTS
- Hunter Hotel Investment Conference Announces Denise Lee Yohn as Opening Speaker
- HSMAI ROC Middle East Launches December
- HSMAI Remembers the Legacy of Neil W. Ostergren, CHME
For More Information on Hospitality Events for 10/12
PIQUED OUR INTEREST
- Gender Diversity - a True Value Added for Companies
- Blockchain Powered Online Hotel Booking Platform Unlocks Over 400000 Hotels
- Why Hospitality Should Hire Candidates With No Previous Hotel Experience
- The Best of Times, the Worst of Times — for Hospitality
- Future of Downtown Disney Businesses Uncertain After Hotel Plans Scrapped
For More Information on Piqued Our Interest 10/12
You-Know-What
And now for you-know-what … A few points to ponder ...
Little Johnny is always being teased by the other neighborhood boys for being stupid.
Their favorite joke is to offer Johnny his choice between a nickel and a dime Little Johnny always takes the nickel.
One day, after Johnny takes the nickel, a neighbor takes him aside and says, "Johnny, those boys are making fun of you. Don't you know that a dime is worth more than a nickel, even though the nickel's bigger?"
Johnny grins and says, "Well, if I took the dime, they'd stop doing it, and so far I've made $20!"