Will Air Travel Ever be Free?

This question is exactly what Wired Magazine asks in its most recent cover article. Sure it seems like everything online is free now from Gmail to Firefox but how cheap could something like air travel really get. If you are not familiar with Ryanair, get your head in the game! $20 to fly from London to Barcelona is the deal of the century. This isn't the only dirt cheap flight they offer either. The company has been very successful in offering these low rates and then charging for every other service related. For example, check two bags..$30. And to be more efficient the company boards all flights from the tarmac to reduce airport gate fees. All in all though not a bad deal. For now though, there's no love for us Americans. Be sure to click through to see the complete breakdown by Wired.

Via Wired

Star Wars Style Hotel Hits Azerbaijan

Surprisingly, this beauty isn't from a "place far far away" but rather a design concept fora new hotel in Baku, Azerbaijan. The 35 story hotel will house 382 rooms and a full array of retail space around the rest of the complex. Not sure how likely this is to be built any time soon, but if and when it's completed, every Star Wars convention will be held here.

Via Skyscraper News

Crazy Creative Hotel Rooms

It's not often that a hotel room really blows you away with a creative design. Sure all those Vegas hot spots think they're revolutionizing the hotel room, but just throwing over the top amenities and technology in a room doesn't necessarily make it creative. Thanks to the people over at freshome you can see what a truly over the top design is. These rooms are all located in the Fox Hotel in Copenhagen and go for only about €120! All are designed by noted artists and their skills definitely show.

Click through to read whole article
freshome- Creative Rooms

Microsoft Surface can Change Hotels and Restaurants

And I know it's nothing crazy new, but Microsoft's Surface technology is one of the coolest computer technologies. It's not just for high-tech junkies but something that anyone can use. Starwood and Harrah's are the first hospitality companies to bring this technology to the public. The completely dynamic touch screen is intuitive. I'm most excited to see how this technology will be used in our industry. Imagine a completely interactive virtual concierge where you can browse through tons of info and load information right to your phone. Or how about ordering your food and drinks right from your table. A wine list could become something more than a listing and provide guests with vintage information and what menu items it will go well with! Bring on the revolution.

Brand New

I'm going to try and convert this blog from a simple class assignment into a presence in the online community. I want to bring my thoughts and insight about hospitality, hotels, cruises, as well as technology that goes with them into one place. I'm no genius or industry hotshot, just a college student with an interest and passion who wants to distract himself from things like homework. Hopefully this becomes a place of interest for people or at least a good joke among friends.

Staying Cool While Cutting Costs

This article is about being energy efficient in order to control costs. It focuses primarily on minibar systems and in-room refrigerators. These simple appliances have come a long way and are now more technologically advanced. They are more efficient and “smarter” which makes them more of a sound investment for hoteliers looking to upgrade. The key to these appliances becoming more efficient is a combination of improved cooling technologies and more sophisticated energy management systems. Both of these products have the ability to be monitored via the internet and constantly regulated so that motors do not work more than necessary and power is saved. Energy Star rated products are approved as efficient products and are an easy way for purchasers to evaluate efficiency. Minibar systems seem to have progressed the most. New wireless technologies improve inventory control and even can provide maintenance reports. When items are removed a system can track this and provide necessary inventory needs for attendants. Some systems are even able to communicate without any need for a wireless local area network or a hardwired network. Each minibar can communicate with each other all the way back to a main server. Essentially each minibar becomes a node on a circular network. This kind of technology coupled with more efficient appliances means a more valuable product for today’s hotelier.

I found this article very intriguing because I have first hand experience with how difficult minibars can be. I worked in a very large hotel with antiquated hardwire minibar systems. They constantly were reporting false purchases or failing to report at all causing a loss in revenue. Also, many of these appliances would break without anyone realizing it, causing products to be warm and unhappy guests. I am sure that these old machines were guzzling energy and inflating utility bills which is very costly considering today’s energy costs. It is great to offer either a minibar or refrigerator to guests but it is counter productive if they cause problems and eat up valuable energy. The most innovative idea that was presented in the article was that these appliances could create their own network. This would allow new installations to be done quickly and easily because nothing would have to be done except plug in each unit and start up the server. It is also great because it would not use valuable bandwidth on either the local area network or Wi-Fi network. I wonder if this technology could be used in other applications in order to better serve hoteliers. As long as my coke stays cold I’m happy to invite tons of technology into a minibar.

Albright, B. (September 18, 2007). Staying cool while cutting costs. Hotel Motel Management. Retrieved February 4, 2008, from http://www.hotelmotel.com/hotelmotel/In-Depth%3A+Technology/
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