2007년 11월 10일 토요일
Blog #5
Guest Service Innovation through RFID
by Hanns-Christian L. Hanebeck
@2007 Hospitality Upgrade
Competitive advantage comes from unique things which can be a service style, system or technology. The author of this article introduces one technology which is RFID technology. According to his opinion, RFID technology could take competitive advantage.
RFID is an acronym of radio frequency identification. RFID technology was used during WWII by Britain, and recently Wal-Mart and U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) have mandated their supplier to use RFID on all inbound shipment. Why did they spend hundreds of millions of dollars’ for this technology? It is because to see inventory accurately, whether in motion or in stock, at all the time. Even hospitality chain is not as complicated as DOD or Wal-Mart, how RFID affects to hospitality? This answer is simple: visibility leads to knowledge, which leads to better decision-making and that leads to process efficiency as well as new customer service opportunities.
The author gives an example of using RFID in a hotel. A guest made a reservation via the Internet and she comes into the hotel. She directly goes and enters into her room because she has a RFID card or the reservation system send and authenticated numbers and a room number via SMS. When she enters into her room, front office automatically notices that their guest is in her room right now. Or, we can provide a room key through kiosk in lobby or air port lounge or provide human-assisted process to guests who are not familiar with technology. Wherever guests are, RFID readers are able to track where they are and what they do. It collects date of guests. And the author shows the example of how the data can be used. When a guest is walking into a restaurant, a manager greets the guest with name, offers her favorable table and suggests wine which she enjoyed last time. And RFID card can be a ticket to access the certain event or device for payment. To use RFID technology, the infrastructure investment has been made and we do not know when RFID is going to be deployed in hospitality industry, whoever moves first takes competitive advantage.
It is very surprised technology I have not heard about. Wal-Mart and DOD use this to track their supplies but in hospitality this technology is used to track guests. For me, human seems just like products. Anyway, if this technology is able to use, data collection for guests can be very easy. Before I read an article that a system shares guest’s data with other systems that are in the same property. It is also same idea that offers personalize service but it is needed to enter the data by person. Comparing RFID with that, RFID is automatically occurred so it is easy to collect date. Most considerable thing, just like other technology, is the infrastructure. To make the infrastructure, money is needed and nobody is sure about that technology can make the differentiation with competitors. If we are the first or early adopters, we could take competitive advantages or make a big mistake which can bring a financial loss.
2007년 10월 25일 목요일
Blog #4
Title : On Beyond Open Sesame - Are we safe yet?
Author : Michael Schubach
Source : 2007 Hospitality Upgrade
http://www.hospitalityupgrade.com/_files/File_Articles/HUFall07_Password_AreWeSafeYet_Schubach.pdf
This article basically talks about keeping a password in secure. Some of people think that they are secure because they use a wonderful firewall and a great anti-everything software program with IT professional to protect them. These above things may make them feel secure but imagine that what if the guardian at the gate does not protect the system. It is going to be a disaster. So you need a secure password that actually provides enough protection.
So what is a secure password? They said “between six and eight characters long, contain letters of mixed case and non-letter characters, and cannot be found, in whole or part, in normal or reverse, in any dictionary of words or names in any language. The [user] is responsible for changing his or her password regularly.” And if one thing can be added more, it is “being careful not to repeat any of previous passwords.”
In ancient time, the purpose of the password is “the ability to recognize a stranger as friend or foe,” and the requirement of the password is “sufficiently challenging that foes cannot guess it but sufficiently easy that friends will remember it.” These days it can be a problem. IT professional says to create unique password to access the network but people do not have enough memory to remember passwords for all accounts that people registered. One interesting statistic said that the typical intensive computer user maintains 21 accounts that require a password. So our worst enemy may be us.
To be a good network custodian, we should keep in mind following.
1. Keep security requirements in perspective. We always consider that we have a sensitive data which should not be compromised.
2. Remember that there are alternatives to password security. As the technology developing, the ways of security is also increased. There are biometric options, security device that issues one-time entry codes, systems that remember faces and pictures instead of letters and phones and PDAs that provide encrypted password storage. These devices are good but there is one challenging: You remember the password and are not stolen them.
3. Don’t impose a standard so high that you end up with no standard at all. If your rule of network operation is too strict, your user will circumvent the rule and make their lives easy. It could make your enemy have a chance.
Maintaining system in secure is hard but we have to do. So we train our employees to make better password choice and suggest using acronyms as a password instead of words. There are several ways to keep system secure but I want to mention it instead of them; “It’s a jungle out there.”
When I was reading this article, I thought that how many accounts I have and the passwords of that accounts. I have several accounts which I regularly use and the passwords are similar each other. I tried to change the password before but changing the password is worse than not to change, because I could not remember it several days later. Therefore I spent more time to remember or find out the password by asking to system administrator.
Password security is always challengeable. Even if a new way is developed, there is one weak point that we remember at least one password to use it. That password should be creative and unique. Password security is continuously considerable.
Author : Michael Schubach
Source : 2007 Hospitality Upgrade
http://www.hospitalityupgrade.com/_files/File_Articles/HUFall07_Password_AreWeSafeYet_Schubach.pdf
This article basically talks about keeping a password in secure. Some of people think that they are secure because they use a wonderful firewall and a great anti-everything software program with IT professional to protect them. These above things may make them feel secure but imagine that what if the guardian at the gate does not protect the system. It is going to be a disaster. So you need a secure password that actually provides enough protection.
So what is a secure password? They said “between six and eight characters long, contain letters of mixed case and non-letter characters, and cannot be found, in whole or part, in normal or reverse, in any dictionary of words or names in any language. The [user] is responsible for changing his or her password regularly.” And if one thing can be added more, it is “being careful not to repeat any of previous passwords.”
In ancient time, the purpose of the password is “the ability to recognize a stranger as friend or foe,” and the requirement of the password is “sufficiently challenging that foes cannot guess it but sufficiently easy that friends will remember it.” These days it can be a problem. IT professional says to create unique password to access the network but people do not have enough memory to remember passwords for all accounts that people registered. One interesting statistic said that the typical intensive computer user maintains 21 accounts that require a password. So our worst enemy may be us.
To be a good network custodian, we should keep in mind following.
1. Keep security requirements in perspective. We always consider that we have a sensitive data which should not be compromised.
2. Remember that there are alternatives to password security. As the technology developing, the ways of security is also increased. There are biometric options, security device that issues one-time entry codes, systems that remember faces and pictures instead of letters and phones and PDAs that provide encrypted password storage. These devices are good but there is one challenging: You remember the password and are not stolen them.
3. Don’t impose a standard so high that you end up with no standard at all. If your rule of network operation is too strict, your user will circumvent the rule and make their lives easy. It could make your enemy have a chance.
Maintaining system in secure is hard but we have to do. So we train our employees to make better password choice and suggest using acronyms as a password instead of words. There are several ways to keep system secure but I want to mention it instead of them; “It’s a jungle out there.”
When I was reading this article, I thought that how many accounts I have and the passwords of that accounts. I have several accounts which I regularly use and the passwords are similar each other. I tried to change the password before but changing the password is worse than not to change, because I could not remember it several days later. Therefore I spent more time to remember or find out the password by asking to system administrator.
Password security is always challengeable. Even if a new way is developed, there is one weak point that we remember at least one password to use it. That password should be creative and unique. Password security is continuously considerable.
2007년 10월 14일 일요일
Blog #3
Title : Mobility Movement -The Impact on Hotel Services
Author : Ashok Kumar
Source : Hospitality Upgrade 2007
This article is about the personal mobile equipment and how it impacts to hotel service. Millions of portable devices were sold in 2006 and more than hundred millions of wireless subscribers are using them and it will reach up to 228 millions of subscribers by year 2010. More hotel guests bring their own portable devices and expect to use them during their staying. So hotels should operate a service to satisfy the guests’ expectation.
Radio and phone usage in hotel guest rooms is getting decreased and guests are prefer to use their own cell phone and portable music players like iPods. It is significant in younger generation and expected to increase of portable media players up to 40 million units by 2009. WiFi service is offered in more than half of the hotels and the numbers of hotels are getting increased to offer this service and expand the area of the wireless service. Lastly video contents delivery service was stared in commercial and major TV networks were also participated in mobile TV service. It will impact to pay-per-view TV in guest rooms just like cell phones and iPods instead of phones and radios in guest rooms. In-room video service is needed more than technology. Guests bring their own laptop and contents to wish to watch. They will download the video contents whatever they want and wherever they use and expect to watch via HDTV in their guest room. So hotels should negotiate with the video service provide in proper terms to allow guests to view personalized contents. One potential area to innovate in hotels is the electronic door systems. A guest can download a bar code for his/her guestroom after checking in by him/herself or in the front desk. And the bar code is used for entering the guestroom by the bar code reader.
The customer service is the most important than anything else among the hotel services. Hotel should keep concentrating on trends and guests’ needs to offer convenience and personalized service. It was very interested to me that using cell phone to enter the guest room by downloading bar code. I used use it in Korea to go to the theater. I usually made a reservation for movie tickets and downloaded a bar code for tickets. Then in the theater, I do not need to go to the reception desk or print out the ticket by the ticket machine just buy popcorn and coke and enter into the theater using the bar code pass. It is very convenience and do not need to stand in line to enter. I thought that when a guest make a reservation by Internet, the reservation system offers the downloading bar code service by cell phone to guests who completed reservation and they use it in front desk to check in. It will be very fast and convenience for both parties. And the reason why I chose the cell phone among varieties of portable device is that cell phones are the most spreadable portable devices which most people have.
I am not sure about video contents delivery but demands of mobile TV service could be increased. There is a DMB (Digital Multimedia Broadcasting) service which sends multimedia to mobile devices such as cell phones. In Korea, it started by cell phone via satellite then terrestrial transmission. People view multimedia with their cell phone or PMP (portable multimedia player) in anywhere and anytime. It is very attractive and will impact to in-room guest systems in any way.
Author : Ashok Kumar
Source : Hospitality Upgrade 2007
This article is about the personal mobile equipment and how it impacts to hotel service. Millions of portable devices were sold in 2006 and more than hundred millions of wireless subscribers are using them and it will reach up to 228 millions of subscribers by year 2010. More hotel guests bring their own portable devices and expect to use them during their staying. So hotels should operate a service to satisfy the guests’ expectation.
Radio and phone usage in hotel guest rooms is getting decreased and guests are prefer to use their own cell phone and portable music players like iPods. It is significant in younger generation and expected to increase of portable media players up to 40 million units by 2009. WiFi service is offered in more than half of the hotels and the numbers of hotels are getting increased to offer this service and expand the area of the wireless service. Lastly video contents delivery service was stared in commercial and major TV networks were also participated in mobile TV service. It will impact to pay-per-view TV in guest rooms just like cell phones and iPods instead of phones and radios in guest rooms. In-room video service is needed more than technology. Guests bring their own laptop and contents to wish to watch. They will download the video contents whatever they want and wherever they use and expect to watch via HDTV in their guest room. So hotels should negotiate with the video service provide in proper terms to allow guests to view personalized contents. One potential area to innovate in hotels is the electronic door systems. A guest can download a bar code for his/her guestroom after checking in by him/herself or in the front desk. And the bar code is used for entering the guestroom by the bar code reader.
The customer service is the most important than anything else among the hotel services. Hotel should keep concentrating on trends and guests’ needs to offer convenience and personalized service. It was very interested to me that using cell phone to enter the guest room by downloading bar code. I used use it in Korea to go to the theater. I usually made a reservation for movie tickets and downloaded a bar code for tickets. Then in the theater, I do not need to go to the reception desk or print out the ticket by the ticket machine just buy popcorn and coke and enter into the theater using the bar code pass. It is very convenience and do not need to stand in line to enter. I thought that when a guest make a reservation by Internet, the reservation system offers the downloading bar code service by cell phone to guests who completed reservation and they use it in front desk to check in. It will be very fast and convenience for both parties. And the reason why I chose the cell phone among varieties of portable device is that cell phones are the most spreadable portable devices which most people have.
I am not sure about video contents delivery but demands of mobile TV service could be increased. There is a DMB (Digital Multimedia Broadcasting) service which sends multimedia to mobile devices such as cell phones. In Korea, it started by cell phone via satellite then terrestrial transmission. People view multimedia with their cell phone or PMP (portable multimedia player) in anywhere and anytime. It is very attractive and will impact to in-room guest systems in any way.
2007년 9월 25일 화요일
The Bandwidth Revolution
Source: Hospitality Upgrade, 6/1/2007
Author: David Shanks
http://www.hospitalityupgrade.com/_magazine/magazine_Detail.asp?ID=112
The author of this article reminds us that the use of Internet is getting increased and the need of the bandwidth is also increased. He gave us an example of an article which is in TechNews World November 2, 2006, “Jupiter Research asked business travelers which items would most likely motivate their hotel purchase decisions…[free] Internet access beat out every else-including free breakfast, room upgrade and personalized rooms.” It is true. The guests expect to use Internet where they are staying so hotels have to provide that service. However the primary internet service equipment can not satisfy the guests sometimes. If a guest uses many kbps in a limited pipe with any reasons, the other guests have to share the left pipe. A heavy traffic in cyberspace may be able to occur a guest complain simply, or make no returning guests in real. So the author suggested two ways of managing bandwidth. The first way is the adding more bandwidth.
Adding more bandwidth is seemed to be very simple and the easiest way to solve the problem. But if hotels have to spend $6000 annually for additional internet service equipment, they might think again. There is a new technology which the author introduced that is much less expensive than the fastest transmission but is less reliable performance than primary equipment. However this technology enables to be harmonized with any of various circuits into a existing network environment. It can satisfy the guests with a little added expense and the hotel has insurance and keeps all data without the guest’s complains.
The second way is the controlling bandwidth. Because of the limited budget cannot allow to the hotel expand the bandwidth to the guest network, the hotel should manage or control the bandwidth. The way to control the bandwidth is by controlling the use’s IP address, MAC address or application/port.
This article concluded by encouraging the hotel adopts a new technology for satisfying the guest demands. Have a firm strategy of broadband service and take advantage of the new technologies.
Roughly I agree with the author. The use of internet by guests is increasing day by day especially it is essential for business travelers. People used to access internet fast and they expect to use same speed of internet when they are staying in the hotel. So the hotel should provide fast internet access even adding more bandwidth but it should be planed carefully under the firm strategy.
Almost end of the article the author said that the additional broadband service could make financial benefit which is to charge by levels of internet speed. Up to 254 kbps is free to guests and then offering fee-based speeds of 512 kbps, 1Mbps, and etc. I think it is not a good idea. Normal tourist guests could be satisfied with general speed. They do not need to download a big size of file or share the file in the hotel. People who need fast internet access are the business travelers. They are pressed for time and need to access internet regularly or all the time for their business. In the meeting or convention with buyers or investors, or for the important video conference, business people need high speed internet. If the hotel charges for fee-based speeds, business people will be a big part of user. The hotel needs to remember that business people can be regular guests and their consumption can not be compared with travelers. Business travelers spend more money than travelers and use many facilities in the hotel; it could be a good chance to advertise and give a moment of truth of the hotel.
Author: David Shanks
http://www.hospitalityupgrade.com/_magazine/magazine_Detail.asp?ID=112
The author of this article reminds us that the use of Internet is getting increased and the need of the bandwidth is also increased. He gave us an example of an article which is in TechNews World November 2, 2006, “Jupiter Research asked business travelers which items would most likely motivate their hotel purchase decisions…[free] Internet access beat out every else-including free breakfast, room upgrade and personalized rooms.” It is true. The guests expect to use Internet where they are staying so hotels have to provide that service. However the primary internet service equipment can not satisfy the guests sometimes. If a guest uses many kbps in a limited pipe with any reasons, the other guests have to share the left pipe. A heavy traffic in cyberspace may be able to occur a guest complain simply, or make no returning guests in real. So the author suggested two ways of managing bandwidth. The first way is the adding more bandwidth.
Adding more bandwidth is seemed to be very simple and the easiest way to solve the problem. But if hotels have to spend $6000 annually for additional internet service equipment, they might think again. There is a new technology which the author introduced that is much less expensive than the fastest transmission but is less reliable performance than primary equipment. However this technology enables to be harmonized with any of various circuits into a existing network environment. It can satisfy the guests with a little added expense and the hotel has insurance and keeps all data without the guest’s complains.
The second way is the controlling bandwidth. Because of the limited budget cannot allow to the hotel expand the bandwidth to the guest network, the hotel should manage or control the bandwidth. The way to control the bandwidth is by controlling the use’s IP address, MAC address or application/port.
This article concluded by encouraging the hotel adopts a new technology for satisfying the guest demands. Have a firm strategy of broadband service and take advantage of the new technologies.
Roughly I agree with the author. The use of internet by guests is increasing day by day especially it is essential for business travelers. People used to access internet fast and they expect to use same speed of internet when they are staying in the hotel. So the hotel should provide fast internet access even adding more bandwidth but it should be planed carefully under the firm strategy.
Almost end of the article the author said that the additional broadband service could make financial benefit which is to charge by levels of internet speed. Up to 254 kbps is free to guests and then offering fee-based speeds of 512 kbps, 1Mbps, and etc. I think it is not a good idea. Normal tourist guests could be satisfied with general speed. They do not need to download a big size of file or share the file in the hotel. People who need fast internet access are the business travelers. They are pressed for time and need to access internet regularly or all the time for their business. In the meeting or convention with buyers or investors, or for the important video conference, business people need high speed internet. If the hotel charges for fee-based speeds, business people will be a big part of user. The hotel needs to remember that business people can be regular guests and their consumption can not be compared with travelers. Business travelers spend more money than travelers and use many facilities in the hotel; it could be a good chance to advertise and give a moment of truth of the hotel.
2007년 9월 15일 토요일
Vantage Point: Too much hotel technology?
July/August 2007 - Hospitality Technology
Vantage Point: Too much hotel technology?
Customer service goes a long way towards curing tech-frustrated hotel guests
Customer service goes a long way towards curing tech-frustrated hotel guests
By Bradely Schmidt
Alighting system so complicated you need a manual just to figure out how to keep every light in the room from turning on at once; a preprogrammed iPod on the fritz; walkie-talkies for keeping track of children that produce only static. These are just a few of the problems detailed by unhappy hotel guests in a Wall Street Journal piece titled “The Heartbreak of High-Tech Hotels” (May 3, 2007).
The article posits that hotels, flush with cash from record consumer spending, are engaged in a “technological arms race” that is leaving frustrated guests in its wake. Smith Travel Research, in fact, indicates that 2006 saw the third-highest increase in revenue per available room in 20 years.
From a passing glance at the article, it would seem that the lodging industry is haphazardly implementing the latest technological advances in a dangerous game of one-upsmanship, without consideration of guests’ needs and abilities to cope with such technology. However, as the article continues, discussion turns from these more interesting and peculiar instances of consumer dissatisfaction, to focus on trouble with Internet access and the age-old problems of poor television picture quality and false room charges.
The diagnosis
On the one hand, it seems there is a need for the lodging industry to address the phenomenon of implementing technology for technology’s sake. On the other hand there are the age-old problems that guests and hoteliers alike have dealt with for years. So, in the end, just how big of a problem is hyper-techuality? Actually, not very.
“Think about your last twelve months of travel. Have you run into problems with a preprogrammed iPod in your guest room? I’m willing to bet you probably haven’t,” says Dr. Dan Connolly, assistant professor of information technology and electronic commerce at the University of Denver’s Daniels College of Business. “I know cases such as these exist but they’re a small percentage of the total market.”
Indeed, the cases of the complicated lighting system, broken iPod and staticprone walkie-talkies took place at two boutique hotels and a Mexican resort, not exactly a representation of the average hotel stay. In fact, many of the examples offered of new high-tech implementations by various hotels are atypical.
The article also cites Hilton Hotels’ Sight+Sound Room pilots in 55 guest rooms in Chicago and San Francisco and the fogless bathroom mirrors with embedded 13-inch flat screen televisions at Marriott International’s Renaissance Schaumburg Hotel & Convention Center in Schaumburg, Illinois.
Even if one were to give as much consideration to these examples as more common problems like poor television picture quality, the issue at heart is a very simple one: hotels need not worry as much about technology as the customer service that supports it.
While the article does finish with a bit of discussion about the role that customer service plays in mediating the problems guests have with hotel technology, the overall tone of the piece suggests that the technology itself is primarily to blame, rather than hotel management for not ensuring that a technology is running properly and efficiently.
The cure
Connolly believes the latter is the true culprit. “Oftentimes I think there are issues not because a user doesn’t know how to do something, but because the technology doesn’t work as promised,” he explains, citing the familiarity of Generation Xers and Yers with new technology. “Hotels need to make sure that a technology is working.”
In the Wall Street Journal article, Bjorn Hanson, lodging analyst for Pricewaterhouse-Coopers, indicates that “Generation Xers are now traveling at a higher per capita rate than baby boomers” and that their techsavvyness is why the U.S. lodging industry is expected to invest $5.5 billion in capital spending in 2007.
This lends credence to Connolly’s assertions about the need for hotels to have a firm focus on customer service; however, he acknowledges that there will always be a segment of travelers who won’t understand how to use certain hotel technologies. For Connolly, this is not an occasion to say that hotels should dumb down technology to make it accessible to all, but to emphasize that the service structure be oriented in a way that allows guests to choose whether they will use a particular technology rather than be forced into an encounter.
“Offer choices for those that feel comfortable with a technology and want to use it, and choices for those that don’t feel comfortable and don’t want to use it or don’t have the knowledge,” states Connolly. “That provides the best of both worlds because it allows the individuals at the front desk to help the people that actually need more personalized service.”
2007년 9월 10일 월요일
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