Social media has become a primary channel for hotels to market their brand and for guests to share experiences, thus controlling and shaping the reputations of hotels large and small every day. In a crisis, social media can be a critical tool for keeping your customer base informed, but also for monitoring potentially damaging opinions and finding a resolution. Social media can help with real-time, responsive communications, understanding followers' concerns and swiftly allaying them with direct and transparent messaging. READ MORE

What a difference a year made in hospitality technology. For Americans, Chip-and-PIN/EMV appears to be the new Y2K - those who prepared are feeling terribly anti-climactic, and those who ostriched, so far, haven't felt much pain. It did, however, provide more widespread awareness of the need for credit card tokenization, and data security in general. People who previously hadn't moved to the cloud out of fear of losing data security, now started doing so to actually increase it. READ MORE

Hotel guest satisfaction has hit a record high, according to the J.D. Power 2015 North America Hotel Guest Satisfaction Index Study. But we can never become too comfortable. Continuing to grow satisfaction levels will give your property a distinct advantage over others. And, while embracing the latest technology trends offers new opportunities to improve guest satisfaction, it also presents a few challenges. Guests are accustomed to a very mobile world and have more ways than ever to select where they will stay. The manner in which guests assess, select and experience their lodging is changing almost as quickly as technology is advancing. What technologies are you leveraging to serve your guests? READ MORE

Social media influencers are changing the way hotels and hotel brands are promoting themselves in the digital era. In years past, hoteliers could simply consult a short list of available options to promote their products through paid advertising media. Moving beyond the local newspaper, a GDS terminal sign-in message could offer a “point of sale” purchase that directly targeted travel influencers. At the same time, paid consumer advertising meant print space in Conde Nast Traveler or The New York Times travel section. Advertisers could tally the number of impressions the publication declared through the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) that supported their advertising line rates. READ MORE

In 1888, George Eastman introduced the world to the first Kodak camera. Eastman's patented box and roll camera revolutionized photography by providing individuals the ability to capture everyday moments with relative ease. Fast forward to 2010, when Mike Krieger and Kevin Systrom co-founded the modern version of the Kodak camera - Instagram. Within a week of launching, the app drew in 100,000 users. Two years later, Krieger and Systrom sold it to Facebook for $1 billion. READ MORE