What a difference nine months makes. Last September, we gathered in Dallas for the first post-COVID HITEC. Or more accurately, some of us did, but many of the usual exhibitors and attendees sat on the sidelines, hamstrung by the uncertain pace of the recovery, budgets, pandemic travel policies, and personal health concerns. The exhibit floor last fall was significantly smaller than in recent years, and attendance was down, even if most of the vendors felt that the quality of attendees was higher. Those who attended were seriously looking to buy, and the vendors I spoke with were mostly very happy with the event despite the downsizing.

In life, the easiest decisions to make are the Boolean ones, those for which there are only two possible answers. When your choices are yes or no, true or false, up or down, and in or out, then you can make your wants and needs definitively known in a matter of seconds – just ask any two-year-old.  

Just as technology has become more ubiquitous throughout our lives, it is now impacting guest service and hotel operations throughout all departments in a hotel. To provide more exposure to the growing costs associated with hotel information and technology systems, the 11^th edition of the Uniform System of Account for the Lodging Industry added a discrete undistributed department to capture these expenses. Prior to the 11^th edition the costs for phone and internet service, payroll for telephone operators and computer technicians, and charges related to information systems were allocated to multiple departments within the operating statement.

The sort of web hosting you select is critical for the website you wish to build. If you are just getting started, you should familiarize yourself with the many forms of web hosting. You can then determine which choice is ideal for your website. 

My last column outlined the challenges of connecting hotel systems in order to exchange the data they need from each other. Where vendor-supported interfaces exist and do exactly what you need, they are usually the best way to get reliable performance. But in many cases, available interfaces may not meet your hotel’s particular requirements, they may not exist at all, or they may be cost prohibitive.