APRIL 26 - MAY 16, 2006
TOP O' THE NEWS
- One month to HITEC; what’s your hot topic to check out?
Only a month to go to HITEC, and it’s already feeling like there’s not enough time to plan it properly! There’s always more to see than time available, so pre-planning both specific vendor meetings and a way to see all those booths that are important to you are more important than ever. Kudos to HFTP for making the floor plan available on its HITEC Web site ahead of time.
One area I’ll be focused on is seeing what progress vendors have made in working with each other’s systems. HTNG will, as usual, have an excellent display of integrated technology arising from its formal workgroups, but the growth in vendor cooperation through IP communications and XML interfacing - and in hotel demand for better-integrated systems - seems to be taking off on its own as well. Sales and catering vendors are hooking up with PMS companies and revenue management specialists, PMS vendors are linking up with distribution channel managers, and so on.
There’s still very much to be said in favor of all-in-one systems which can satisfy quite complex hotel requirements from a single vendor, but at the same time best-of-breed combinations are becoming a lot more effective. Whatever the priorities you’ll be researching there, I look forward to seeing you on the floor.
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PEOPLE ON THE MOVE
- Doug McCurdy named CHTP of the Year
- Mike Kistner promoted to COO at Pegasus Solutions
- Brian Garavuso, Barry Robertson appointed to HFTP International Board of Directors
- Morissa Pawl joins Lanyon as Vice President of Corporate Sales
- Randy Eckels joins CBORD as Senior Vice President of Sales & Marketing
Doug McCurdy will be honored as Certified Hospitality Technology Professional (CHTP) of the Year at HITEC’s Tuesday General Session on June 20. Originally from Toronto, Mr. McCurdy is Regional IT Director for the Four Seasons Resort in Maui, Hawaii. His previous experience includes positions with the Grand Wailea Resort, Hyphen ISM and independent consulting. The CHTP of the Year award recognizes the person who scored the highest in a given year on HFTP’s CHTP exam.
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Mike Kistner has been promoted to chief operating officer for Pegasus Solutions. Mr. Kistner joined Pegasus last year as senior vice president of operations and technology; he had earlier served as CIO at Best Western International as CIO, as well as in executive roles at Cendant Corp., Super 8 Motels and HFS Inc.
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Brian Garavuso has been appointed to Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals (HFTP) International Board of Directors, effective immediately. Mr. Garavuso is senior vice president and chief information officer for Hilton Grand Vacations Company; he fills the remainder of the 2005-2008 position recently vacated by Mark Hedley.
HFTP also confirmed the 2006-2009 appointment of Barry Robertson, currently senior vice president of finance at the Venetian Macau Limited in Macau, China.
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Morissa Pawl has joined Lanyon as Vice President of Corporate Sales. Ms. Pawl was most recently Corporate Sales Manager for RFP Express, and has managed and owned various travel agencies.
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Randy Eckels has joined The CBORD Group, Inc. as Senior Vice President of Sales & Marketing. With over 20 years of sales and marketing experience with major technology companies, Mr. Eckels was most recently Senior Vice President of Business Development & General Manager at Knowledge Planet. He had previously held senior level positions at Sprint, including Director of Product Management and Director of Engineering and Network Planning, and earlier with GTE Corporation and AT&T.
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PROPERTY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS
- Hospitality International names MSI’s Enterprise PM as “preferred” PMS for 300+ properties
- Mariners Landing Resort and Conference Center chooses Springer-Miller SMS|Host
- Resorts East Chicago Hotel and Casino picks Agilysys’ LMS and MMS
- MICROS again named #1 information technology company based in the DC area
- Agilysys, Bally, IBM, InfoGenesis and SSA Global partner to offer integrated suite in Asia
Hospitality International has designated Multi-Systems, Inc. (MSI) as a preferred vendor relationship for its newly released Enterprise PM system. Hospitality International franchises over 330 Scottish Inns, Master Hosts Inns, Red Carpet Inn, Passport Inn and Downtowner Inns. (www.msisolutions.com)
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Mariners Landing Resort and Conference Center has chosen PAR Springer-Miller Systems SMS|Host Hospitality Management System for their planned resort community at Smith Mountain Lake in Virginia. Mariners Landing includes an 18 hole golf course, three pools, tennis courts, restaurant, conference center, children’s playground, fitness center, fitness trails and private beaches. (www.marinerslanding.com, www.springermiller.com)
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Resorts East Chicago Hotel and Casino in East Chicago, IN has selected Agilysys’ Lodging Management System (LMS) and Materials Management System (MMS) for its 293-room property, a subsidiary of Resorts International in Las Vegas. (www.agilysys.com)
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MICROS Systems, Inc. has for the second consecutive year been ranked the #1 information technology company based in the Washington, DC area, in the 2006 Post 200, conducted by the Washington Post.
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Agilysys, Bally Technologies, IBM, InfoGenesis and SSA Global have partnered to offer a fully integrated suite of solutions in Asia based on IBM's System i platform. The suite integrates the following vendor applications:
* Agilysys – Property Management, Inventory & Procurement, Document Management, Guest Express Kiosk & Wireless Solutions.
* Bally Technologies – Casino Management Systems, Slot Management Systems, Table Management Systems.
* IBM – System i hardware, database software, storage and security.
* InfoGenesis – Point of Sale, Cashless Payment, Dining Management, Dining Reservations, Self-Service Solutions.
* SSA Global – Financial Management, Human Capital Management, Customer Relationship Management, Corporate Performance Management, Workflow.
The Las Vegas Hilton currently uses the same combination of products. (www.ibm.com/hk, www.agilysys.com, www.BallyTech.com, www.infogenesis.com, www.ssaglobal.com)
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RESERVATIONS
- Hilton launches new travel agent information and booking portal
- SynXis opens two customer contact centers at Sabre’s existing facilities in Texas and Uruguay
- Cendant TDS lists HotelClub, RatesToGo and OctopusTravel with Bezurk.com
- Hotel Arena implements TravelCLICK’s iHotelier CRS for website and GDS reservations
- OneTravel Holdings signs long-term distribution and technology agreement with Worldspan
Hilton has launched a new travel agent information and booking portal for its 2,800 hotels worldwide. The new portal provides access to proximity searches, full hotel information and side-by-side comparisons, client-negotiated rates and Net Direct Rates, commissionable/non-commissionable rate display, commission policy and payment status, and the Unlimited Budget travel agent incentive program. The commission inquiry functionality is currently available for hotel bookings in North America and the Unlimited Budget travel agent incentive program is available to U.S. agents for hotel bookings in North America. (www.hilton.com)
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SynXis has opened two customer contact centers, leveraging its parent Sabre Holdings' existing customer contact facilities in Southlake, Texas and Montevideo, Uruguay. Services include 24 x 7 voice sales capabilities, after hours support and call overflow coverage. The SynXis call center in Montevideo has been handling calls for Peninsula Hotels since the start of 2006. (www.synxis.com)
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Cendant Travel Distribution Services has made inventory for its HotelClub, RatesToGo and OctopusTravel sites available to Asia/Pacific travel search engine Bezurk.com.
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The Netherlands’ historic 127-room Hotel Arena has implemented TravelCLICK’s iHotelier Central Reservation System for website and GDS reservations. The hotel also uses TravelCLICK’s market intelligence, distribution management and marketing services. (www.travelclick.net)
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OneTravel Holdings has signed a long-term distribution and technology agreement with Worldspan for travel transaction processing services and global travel content for its onetravel.com, cheapseats.com, discounthotels.com and 11thhour.com travel sites. OneTravel will use Worldspan XML Pro technology to link to the GDS, and has already deployed Worldspan’s e-Pricing fare shopping technology SecuRate Air Plus negotiated fares management system. (www.onetravelholdings.com, www.worldspan.com)
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MARKETING / MANAGEMENT
- Leonardo to launch WebGallery online marketing application in June
- Lanyon to expand Exchange for Business corporate travel management software system
Leonardo announced its WebGallery online marketing application, which uses flash technology and custom business logic to animate static images for display as branded pop-ups or for integration into a Web page. WebGallery will launch next month and be available to all travel/distribution channels, offering over 100,000 moving images from 20,000 hotels. (www.leonardo.com)
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Lanyon announced plans to expand its Exchange for Business corporate travel management software application to include mission critical bid renegotiation functionality, expanded reporting capabilities and other enhancements related to managing the RFP bid process. (www.lanyon.com)
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REVENUE MANAGEMENT
- Unique Vacations to use HBSI’s Demand Management at 16 Sandals, Beaches Resorts and Royal Plantation properties
Unique Vacations has contracted with Hotel Booking Solutions Incorporated (HBSI) for Demand Management services at 16 Sandals, Beaches Resorts and Royal Plantation properties in five Caribbean islands – Jamaica, St. Lucia, Turks and Caicos, Bahamas and Antigua. Unique Vacations will use HBSI’s Demand Gateway to manage its many tour operators and online distribution channels from a single two-way interface directly into the company’s proprietary reservation system. (www.beaches.com, www.hotelbookingsolutions.com)
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SALES & CATERING, MEETING PLANNING
- Certain Software’s Register123 event management software certified by United States GSA
Certain Software has been certified by the United States General Services Administration (GSA) to offer its Register123 event management software directly to U.S. federal agencies through the GSA IT Schedule 70. Certain Software’s Government Services Division recently signed several new customers in the government sector, including a renewed contract with the U.S. Army for its annual Birthday Ball, with Standard Technology for the annual Department of Defense TRICARE Conference, the Air Force Security Assistance Center for its annual International Corporate Conference and Exposition, the New York State Board of Law Examiners for registration for the 2006-2007 State Bar exam, and the Center for Innovative Technology for the annual COVITS conference. (www.certain.com)
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F&B/POINT OF SALE
- HSI releases version 7.02 of Profit Series POS
MICROS’ Hospitality Solutions International (HSI) division has released version 7.02 of its Profit Series Point of Sale (POS) system. Enhancements include a new user interface, increased security, employee break compliance features, high-speed gift card processing via Paymentech, and the ability to use a POS terminal in a remote location without network connectivity by voluntarily taking the terminal offline. Increased security features include Visa USA PCI Data Security compliance, Network Backup instead of using hardware-based backup devices, and support for wireless and USB printing devices. (www.hsi-solutions.com)
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GUEST SERVICES
- Eleven Wireless and IP3 Networks partner to offer on-demand software management for broadband networks
Eleven Wireless and IP3 Networks have partnered to offer Eleven’s on-demand software for broadband networks with IP3’s broadband access control devices. Hotels with IP3 gateways can now use ElevenOS to manage their locations centrally, organized by region, IT administrative staff, hotel flag or brand. Reporting, portal pages, purchasing plans and options can be centralized and managed with all locations. (www.elevenwireless.com, www.ip3.com)
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ENGINEERING
- Interstate installs MTech’s PMWorks in all 94 Crossroads Division properties
Interstate Hotels & Resorts has installed MTech’s PMWorks preventive-maintenance software in all 94 of its Crossroads Division properties, which operate under brands such as Homewood Suites by Hilton, Courtyard by Marriott, Residence Inn by Marriott, Holiday Inns, Holiday Inn Express, Country Inn & Suites and Ramada. PMWorks is powered by MTech’s ASP-technology HotSOS (Hotel Service Optimization System) hotel maintenance software. (www.ihrco.com, www.m-tech.com)
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SECURITY
- Hospitality Safe installs over 8,500 Challenger series in-room safes this year
- Kauai Beach Hotel and Resort selects Signature by VingCard electronic locks
- Milenium Grupo Hotelero Mexicano designates Safemark as preferred vendor for in-room safes
Hospitality Safe Corp has installed over 8,500 Challenger series in-room safes this year, at properties including The Flamingo Las Vegas, Omni Hotels and the Atlantic City Tropicana. (www.hospitalitysafe.com)
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The Kauai Beach Hotel and Resort has selected Signature by VingCard electronic locks as part of its ongoing $13 million renovation. The locks will be installed in June on all 350 guestroom and suite doors across four buildings. (www.kauaibeachhotelandresort.com, www.vingcard.com)
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Milenium Grupo Hotelero Mexicano has designated Safemark Systems as its preferred vendor for in-room safes. Milenium Grupo is the largest Intercontinental Group franchisee in Mexico with fourteen properties; initial installations will be at seven Holiday Inn Express and Crowne Plaza properties in Monterrey, Victoria Tamps, Torreón, Silao, and Guanajuato.
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