Tech Talk

Recent posts

Definitely Doug 3/24/23: Is This a Real-Life Hotel Innovation Lab?
Posted: 03/24/2023

This week I want to focus on an emerging tech-forward hospitality company that is pushing the envelope of innovation. Most of its technological developments service its own unique needs in a market that has yet to emerge. But several of its core technologies could well be applicable in mainstream hotels. My crystal ball is not clear enough to say which ones, how soon, or who will find success with them, but to me they are well worth watching.

One of the key challenges facing today’s hoteliers is that of high tech vs high touch. Does technology conflict with personalized service? Is it possible to offer both during the same visit? And can hotels that utilize technology in favor of human interaction achieve guest loyalty?

Business travel is picking back up and families may be taking their first or second real vacations since the pandemic cancelled so many plans just a few years ago. To ensure that guests have the best on-site experience possible, hoteliers are increasingly looking to new technologies to make their stay more comfortable than ever. With an advanced property management systems (PMS) and integration platforms, hoteliers can increase operational and staff efficiency, but also meet changing guest expectations for a high-value but relatively low-touch experience. We looked ahead to see what changes we expect to see sweeping the hospitality industry this year.

Long-term readers of this blog know that I rarely focus on a single company or product. My goal is to help readers understand new and emerging technologies, when and why they might be useful, and what to consider if you are buying them.

Read More +

The Future of Hotels
Posted: 02/21/2023

Hotels have always been a high-touch low-tech business. Today, and into the foreseeable future, hotels are moving away from the pure ‘people serving people’ model towards a more high-tech low-touch business, and doubling down on digitalization. In the paragraphs below, I envision ways in which tech can innovate and enhance the guest experience throughout the guests’ 6 stage hotel journey: Imagine-Book-Stay-Report-Recommend-Return.

Read More +

comment on this article

Which Hotel Brands Rank Highest for Travel Website Security?

05/29/2018 Tagged as: data breaches, security, travel websites

by Geneva Rinehart

Many reading this are in the overachieving travel superhero club, balancing between hotel technology guru implementing your own brand’s marketing and technology and frequent traveler yourself. You may have half a dozen (or more) travel websites that you use regularly. We NEVER ever would use the unsecured public Wi-Fi connection, but have you ever given security a thought when logging onto your favorite travel website – how secure is it?

With all the news about data breaches, a recent study ranking the security of travel websites caught my attention. Perhaps the time has come to force users to create more secure passwords, and from the travel side bring in technology to make access more secure. As a hotel industry, let’s grab that top ranking spot back from AirBnB.

The study was conducted by Dashlane researchers from April 16 – 20, 2018 (full disclosure – Dashlane is a digital security company that manages passwords). The researchers evaluated five security criteria on 55 popular travel related websites. A site received a point for each criterion they met for a maximum score of 5/5. A score of 4/5 was deemed as passing and meeting the threshold for strong user password security.

The rankings, which examined password and account protection security on 55 of the world's most popular travel-related sites, found that 89 percent of sites leave their users' accounts potentially exposed to hackers due to unsafe password practices.

The highest ranking for 2018 travel website password security went to AirBnB with a score of 5/5.
Honorary mention goes to Marriott, Hilton and Royal Caribbean for scoring a good 4/5 ranking.
Average ranking went to Best Western, Hyatt, Booking.com, KAYAK, Priceline and Travelzoo with a 3/5.
Below average, with a ranking of 2/5, are Disney Cruise Line, Expedia, HomeAway/VRBO, hotels.com and Travelocity.

In the set we can just label “needs improvement” (receiving a 1 out of 5) are Accor Hotels, Choice Hotels, IHG, Carnival Cruise Line, Hotwire and Trivago.

There is definitely room for improvement when we look at the results of this study. Recommendations to travel sites include providing two-factor authentication (2FA) and requiring users to update passwords that exceed 8 characters with a mix of letters, numbers and special characters.

"Big names in the travel industry often come under fire for their physical treatment of customers, receiving public blowback on social media for flight delays, egregious treatment of passengers, or even foodborne illnesses," said Emmanuel Schalit, CEO at Dashlane. "In many cases the result is a close examination of business practices and positive shift. The travel industry should treat their cybersecurity failings in much the same fashion, and make the necessary changes, such as adding 2FA, in order to protect customers' digital privacy."

To read the press release and study, click here. My next assignment is to visit my favorite travel sites to update some passwords.

About The Author

Geneva Rinehart
SVP, Managing Editor
Hospitality Upgrade

Geneva Rinehart is the managing editor at Hospitality Upgrade. For two decades, she has followed the world of hospitality technology. On occasion she will chronicle hospitality technology issues, technology trends, and new technologies for Hospitality Upgrade on LinkedIn and Twitter: @genevarinehart