Editorial Board   Guest Author

Ms. Grennan

Kim Grennan

Co-Founder & CEO, FindSideGigs.com

Kim Grennan is the Founder and CEO of FindSideGigs.com, a free lead generation service for freelancers and those wanting to make extra money part-time. Ms. Grennan is also the CEO of Axle Eight, a marketing and strategy agency for tech start-ups. Over her career, Kim has worked with 100+ companies in a variety of industries helping launch and scale their businesses. Prior to starting FindSideGigs.com and Axle Eight, Ms. Grennan worked at a sell-side investment bank in Chicago specifically focusing on deals within the plastics, chemicals, and packaging industries. Wanting to get more into the tech world career-wise, Ms. Grennan transitioned from investment banking into corporate strategy where she joined Verizon's Global Innovation Team working at the Verizon Innovation Center in Boston. Here she focused on crafting organization-wide strategies for entering new non-core B2B markets such as healthcare, education, IoT, digital media, virtual reality, augmented reality, energy, and transportation. She was also responsible for building strategic partnerships and sourcing venture capital and M&A deals within these non-core B2B markets. After Verizon, Ms. Grennan wanted to focus more on working directly with start-up companies so she made the switch to a private design and innovation agency and built out their first market research and strategy business unit. Here she worked with more than 50 companies to bring their products to market. She holds her M.B.A. from Loyola University Chicago and her Bachelors in Economics from The University of Arizona. Ms. Grennan currently lives in Scottsdale, AZ with her husband and her English Lab named Nellie. In her spare time she actively advises several start-up companies, is a personal finance nut, and an active real estate investor.

Please visit http://findsidegigs.com for more information.

Ms. Grennan can be contacted at 480-225-7178 or kim.grennan@gmail.com

Coming up in January 2019...

Mobile Technology: The Future is Now

Mobile Technology continues to advance at a relentless pace and the hotel industry continues to adapt. Hotel guests have shown a strong preference for mobile self-service - from checking-in/out at a hotel kiosk, to ordering room service, making dinner reservations, booking spa treatments, and managing laundry/dry cleaning services. And they also enjoy the convenience of paying for these services with smart phone mobile payments. In addition, some hotels have adopted a “concierge in your pocket” concept. Through a proprietary hotel app, guests can access useful information such as local entertainment venues, tourist attractions, event calendars, and medical facilities and services. In-room entertainment continues to be a key factor, as guests insist on the capacity to plug in their own mobile devices to customize their entertainment choices. Mobile technology also allows for greater marketing opportunities. For example, many hotels have adopted the use of “push notifications” - sending promotions, discounts and special event messages to guests based on their property location, purchase history, profiles, etc. Near field communication (NFC) technology is also being utilized to support applications such as opening room doors, earning loyalty points, renting a bike, accessing a rental car, and more. Finally, some hotels have adopted more futuristic technology. Robots are in use that have the ability to move between floors to deliver room service requests for all kinds of items - food, beverages, towels, toothbrushes, chargers and snacks. And infrared scanners are being used by housekeeping staff that can detect body heat within a room, alerting staff that the room is occupied and they should come back at a later time. The January Hotel Business Review will report on what some hotels are doing to maximize their opportunities in this exciting mobile technology space.

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