HFTP Connect

New this year, HFTP Connect is looking for several hospitality professionals who would like to write original and educational blog posts about their HITEC experience for the blog.

HITEC 2012 is June 25 – 28 in Baltimore, Md.

Here are some details on the opportunity:

Disclaimer: As an association, HFTP may not endorse or promote a product or vendor. HFTP Connect is educational in nature and blog posts must not be sales-oriented. Products or vendors may only be mentioned in an educational format.

HITEC Official Blogger Benefits:

1. A Complimentary Full Conference Registration.
2. HITEC Press Access – Access to all the education sessions, an Opening Party pass, access to the exhibit hall and an invitation to be one of the first to view the new version of GUESTROOM 20X.
3. Internet access in the HITEC Press Room to write blog posts (blogger must have own laptop).
4. Credit as the author of the blog post and links to blogger’s web site, social media accounts, etc. Read More »

ASK is not an acronym.

ASK is what we need to do more.

So many hospitality professionals arrive to their workplaces with enthusiasm and passion.

We are proud of what we do and where we work.

We have embraced the challenges of our organizations as merely complications, not limitations.

We commit fully.

We engage with purpose and integrity.

We influence others to their highest potential.

What we do is who we are.

So why don’t we ASK?

As HFTP members, we have access to training at the helm of our industry — technology, leadership, worldwide trends and more are all available to us.

We can choose to be at our own desks for this training, yet we have access to a greater network beyond our corporations and brands.

This network stretches across the globe and can be face-to-face for us: If we just ASK.

If you have not ASKed yet, get started today.

Check out the cost to attend a conference. Get it into your budgets this year.

HITEC 2012 — the largest hospitality technology conference in the world — is right around the corner and a great place to get started in this journey.

ASK to become an HFTP member (attend an HFTP conference this year, including HITEC, and you save $100 off your registration fee by becoming a new member of HFTP).

You would do this for your colleague. But now it is time for you: Time that you get clear about what you want and what you need to be renewed and continue in this dynamic industry of hospitality.

Just ASK.

Then…keep ASKing.

Esther Fullen is controller of two hotels for Charlton Resorts in Banff, Alberta, Canada. She is the chair of the HFTP Social Media Advisory Council and is active with the HFTP Southern Alberta Chapter. You can follow her on Twitter @EstherFullen.

As a global association, HFTP strives to provide services to our members around the world — whether it’s through networking, education or resources.

And one of our more popular member benefits are the free webinars we offer twice a month. The beauty of webinars is that you can get education on popular topics from a convenient location (wherever you have Internet access).

And since webinars are free for HFTP members, they are a cost efficient way to get continuing education without having to travel.

Typically, HFTP hosts webinars during work hours in the US. That’s great for members in the Western Hemisphere, but can be hard for members in other parts of the world to attend.

That’s why HFTP is starting to offer more online education geared towards specific regions, at times that are convenient for that region.

Starting this month, HFTP is hosting a series of webinars focused towards Asia. Here’s a sneak peek at the first webinar in the series:

Show Me the Money, Career and Promotion

May 23, 2012, 3:00 p.m. SGT Singapore Time

If you are a student, young professional or someone who is thinking about changing careers, this webinar is for you. James Lee, director of finance for The Regent Singapore, a Four Seasons Hotel, will discuss:

• The difference in profession, job and career?
• Importance of time in career planning
• Knowledge and skill requirements
• Trends and current developments
• Experience and salary
• Career fit and interest

Register Now>

And be sure to check the calendar often for updated listing of webinars.

Steven Stout, CAE, is director of meetings and special events for HFTP.

As we lead up to HITEC 2012 in June, HFTP Connect will be talking to various hospitality professionals about hospitality technology through the Ask the Experts column.

A Distribution Professional’s View on Hospitality Technology

Valyn Perini is an experienced travel professional with more than 15 years in hospitality and travel operations, sales and marketing, systems, consulting and software development. As CEO of OpenTravel, Perini oversees the operations of the organization, including developing and executing strategies to reach the goal of standardizing electronic distribution of traveler information in the travel industry. She is a member of the HITEC Advisory Council.

How is your specialty changing? How will it evolve over the next two-five years?

My specialty is distribution, and it’s hard to quantify all the changes going on right now. The pace of change is just breathtaking — for guests and hoteliers.

The industry has evolved from the GDS being the primary electronic channel of distribution to the incredible proliferation of channels and business models.

In the next two years (who knows what distribution will look like in five years?), we’ll continue to have the discussion of mobile sites vs. apps, and sites like Room77, hoteltonight.com and other niche hospitality distribution sites will either take hold or fail, depending on the market. Read More »

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 »