HFTP Connect

The latest generation of automatic minibar technology is simplifying hotel operations while improving guest satisfaction and enhancing the hotel’s bottom line

For decades, the minibar has been a staple of hotel guestrooms, from mid-scale chain properties to luxurious independent resorts. But as minibars have proliferated in the industry, so too have its operational challenges.

Fortunately, tech-forward hoteliers are discovering ways to streamline minibar operations and increase guest satisfaction, while maximizing profits through automated minibar technology.

Automatic minibars are simpler to manage, enhance a hotel’s cache with guests and increase operational efficiency. Most importantly, automatic minibars offer profit potential that traditional manual minibars just can’t match.

Following are some common challenges that hoteliers have faced with traditional manual minibars, with explanations about how the automatic minibar is changing the paradigm for this important hotel offering. Read More »

This is an excerpt of an article that was originally printed in the April/May issue of the Bottomline. It is part of a PCI Compliance series that is leading up to HITEC 2012.

The hospitality industry has been targeted by cyber criminals seeking to steal credit card information for years — primarily because of the volume of transactions and the potential ability to propagate to multiple locations within the hotel chain.

In fact, for the past three years, Trustwave has identified the hospitality industry as one of the top targets for cyber criminals in Trustwave’s annual Global Security Reports (2009 – 2011).

Unfortunately, to-date the hospitality industry as a whole has been slow to identify breaches.

In most cases, hotels are alerted after customers call to complain that their card has been used fraudulently or the credit card processing bank alerts the hotel about the potential credit card breach.

How Hotels Are Alerted to Potential Breaches

When a certain percentage of credit cards that have experienced fraudulent activity have been processed through a hotel’s payment environment, the Payment Brands (i.e., Visa Inc., MasterCard Worldwide, American Express, Discover Network and JCB) will flag the hotel as the source of a potential breach and issue a Common Point of Purchase (CPP) report.

The payment brands alert the hotel’s processing bank, which then contacts the hotel about the potential breach.

Regardless of how the breach occurred, the hotel is required to enlist a PCI Forensic Investigator (PFI) to identify the details of the breach and the necessary remediation activities.

When processing banks request an official forensic investigation, only the PFIs can conduct the investigation. Additionally, hotels can only use PFI companies that are approved by the PCI Security Standards Council.

7 Guidelines for Choosing a PFI

There are presently only 15 PFI approved companies around the world. Here are some guidelines to consider when choosing a PFI: Read More »

How the EHL’s Student Business Project added value to a project of global importance

Cleverdis recently interviewed Frank Wolfe, CAE, CEO of HFTP for their Hotel Innovations & Technologies publication. The following is reprinted with permission from Cleverdis.

The world’s top hospitality organizations “leverage” Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne (EHL) in Switzerland as a prime research resource for major projects. How does it work?

At the outset of a Student Business Project phase, each participating company makes a presentation, “pitching” their project to the students, and thus competing with all other companies on the podium, as it is the students who select which project they will undertake.

One can therefore imagine how tough it is to sell accounting to students, when a number of more “fun” projects are on the table.

Could you please explain your project to us and why you’ve decided to work with EHL?

The project — Global Hospitality Accounting Standards User Guide (GHASUG) — is a global hospitality accounting project. There are many types of accounting, but it’s very difficult for someone to come in and compare hotels in different parts of the world, because there is no standardized system. Read More »

The HFTP Texas Regional Conference is being held in Austin, Texas this week — which also happens to be the headquarters for HFTP.

So HFTP’s Global Treasurer, Jerry Trieber, CPA, CHAE, CFE, CFF was visiting our office yesterday before he attends the conference. During his visit I was excited to share with him some exciting HFTP certification news.

This week, HFTP reached a new certification milestone. Read More »

The HITEC show floor has so much to offer from point-of-sale systems to mobile applications and more from over 300 companies.

Walking in the door, you HAVE to have a plan. Despite being given three days to explore the massive technology solutions marketplace, sometimes attendees only have time to speak to a few vendors — perhaps some of them are old contacts and sometimes they are new ones.

The hospitality technology vendor community spends a great deal of time and money on research that they want to share with the industry. The HITEC Advisory Council realizes with all of that accumulated knowledge in one place on the show floor, it only makes sense to use our vendor partners to help educate HITEC attendees.

This is where the TechTours come in to play. Read More »

Starbucks Knows Coffee, Tea and E-mail Marketing

I don’t drink coffee. Coffee upsets my stomach and makes me jittery. And yet, I love Starbucks.

While enjoying a fine cup of tea the other day at my local Starbucks, I reflected on why I feel so connected to Starbucks and how this connection could help hospitality professionals.

My conclusion: Through frequent, friendly and financially rewarding communication, Starbucks makes me want to visit its stores and buy its product.

Communicate Frequently

Starbucks sends me an e-mail once or twice every week. Sometimes I am too busy to look at the e-mails, and sometimes I have a minute so I take a peek. I think that Starbucks counts on this and contacts me frequently enough so that there is always something new for me to look at.

The title of the e-mail always gives me a clue as to the content. For example, “Send Starbucks Give eCards This Valentine’s Day,” or “Get a Free Drink When You Buy Starbucks Blonde Roast Coffee.”

When you send e-mails to your members or your guests, does the e-mail title always describe the contents? Are you sending communication in a consistent time frame so your recipients know when to expect the next note from you? Read More »

The HFTP Asia Student Chapter, in collaboration with a local community group — Teck Ghee Youth Executive Committee — is organizing a community outreach project to help 50 needy households on April 14.

The project’s objective is to engage the students to give back to the community.

It is also a working project for the students to experience leadership, organization, communication, finance, compassion and planning through their involvement.

The student volunteers will prepare a grocery gift pack to deliver to each household consisting of white rice, cooking oil, sugar, salt, rice vermicelli, Hi Fibre Cracker, Instant Oatmeal, tonic drink and toilet rolls.

The organization of the project by the student chapter involves:

1. Planning and management
2. Volunteer recruitment and training
3. Public relations and communication
4. Event organization
5. Fundraising and finance

The students are actively engaged to a successful event on April 14.  HFTP Asia Chapter members are supporting the students by volunteering, sponsoring and donating to the project.

This will be the inaugural community project by the student chapter, and it is our hope that we can sustain this project every year for the students to give back to the community.

James Lee, FCCA, CPA, is director of finance for Regent Hotel. He is a founding member of the HFTP Asia Chapter in Singapore and currently serves as the chapter’s president. He also serves as adviser to the HFTP Asia Student Chapter.

Contact James Lee if you’d like to learn more about how you can support the student chapter.

In 2010, HFTP launched the HITEC 2010 mobile app — which provided helpful conference details for HITEC attendees. The reviews were positive, with app users telling us how convenient it was to have all the information they needed on their mobile device.

Last year, many of our HITEC app users complained of slow loading times, so we knew it was time to find a new partner to re-develop the app.

We found that partner in Bally Technologies, a leader in developing mobile apps for the hospitality industry. Bally Technologies (formerly Macroview Labs) has built popular apps for many hotels, casinos and conferences.

Since we are a technology-based association, we also wanted to provide the same mobile service to HFTP members and attendees of HFTP events.

That’s why we came up with a separate HFTP mobile app.

This official free HFTP mobile app will make it easier for members and other hospitality professionals to get instant access to information about membership, certifications, HFTP events and other important HFTP resources.

Download the Free App

The HFTP Moblie App is available for download now. If you don’t have an iPhone, iPad or Android, the app also works as a mobile web site for all devices.

Apple Store (iPhone and iPad)

Android Devices- Google Play Store

Mobile Site – For all other devices, visit mobile.hftp.org for the mobile site.

On the app, you’ll find: Read More »

In February, I had the opportunity to travel to the Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne (EHL) in Switzerland and present HFTP’s Global Hospitality Accounting Standards User Guide (GHASUG) project to a group of final year bachelor students.

Once complete, the global guide will provide the industry with a comprehensive glossary of inventory terminology, charts of accounts and will benchmark common allocation for specific regions of the world.

I was one of 26 that made presentations to the students on February 10. After the presentations were completed, the students then selected the project they wanted to work on for their Student Business Project.

On Monday, February 13, I met with the team that was selected to begin the research on our project. We spent most of the day discussing the project and telling stories. They will be gathering data, surveying hotel operations and assembling terms of reference.

I was so impressed with these five young women so I wanted to introduce them to you. I am quite certain you will be seeing these ladies in top positions in our industry. Read More »

It’s been a long day…  How many times have we heard that in the workplace?

But earlier this week, I had a long day that was different.

It was a long day filled with excitement, energy and spectacular insight from people who have a passion to represent HFTP to the global membership and hospitality community.

Honestly, who wouldn’t want to represent an association that allows you continual hospitality education on so many levels, and can benefit you personally and professionally in so many ways?

Earlier this week was the first ever HFTP Train the Trainer Seminar held in Dallas, Texas. Led by a tremendous panel of instructors – we, as a collaborative group, learned how to effectively present the review for the CHAE (Certified Hospitality Accountant Executive) and CHTP (Certified Hospitality Technology Professional) exams to chapters and individuals who are interested in pursuing their HFTP certification.

Can I get an Amen?

Being a certification holder myself, I know the dedication required to study and test. As an added plus, there’s all the anxiety and pressure we put upon ourselves to achieve highly.

Each professional has their reasons for certification — some want personal achievement accolades, some desire to pursue/elevate their careers, some want to keep the jobs they have and others just like to show people they know what they’re talking about.

Whatever your reason, you now have at your disposal a TEAM of HFTP representatives that can assist your chapters to offer the CHAE and CHTP reviews — so utilize us.

If you currently serve on your local Chapter board – get out there! Let the membership know how valuable certification can be.

To be the best, you have to integrate and establish yourself with the best.  Duh – that’s why I came to the HFTP Knowledge Exchange in Dallas, Texas this week.

Jessica Vint, CHAE, is regional controller for The Hotel Group in Edmonds, Wash. She is also a director on the HFTP Global Board.

The learn more about HFTP Certification — like upcoming reviews and exams, study guides, online practice exams and more — visit www.hftp.org/certification or e-mail Bryan Wood, director of Certification.