The world is riding a digital wave. From smart phones to iPads, today’s public is thirsty for the latest technology. People want to be entertained and engaged.

How can hoteliers and government agencies stay relevant and ride the digital wave? One word, Video.

Video engages users on a level that stimulates the mind and emotions.

Instead of telling a guest why they want to entertain your service, tease them with a video that whets their appetite for more.

As of February 2010, YouTube alone had over 48.2 million users, a statistic that does not include the number of non-users who browse the site each day.

The first step to ride – and leverage – the digital wave is to formulate a plan of action to utilize video. Here are 3 ways hoteliers and government agencies can step into the visual world of video:

1) Show service benefits in a real environment. Allow the public to experience a service without seeing it in person.

2) Bundle video with your other marketing content. These include eNewsletters, press releases, and banner ads.

3) Provide “how to” product-and service-related information. Video excels as a virtual how-to for complex services and products that may require step-by-step training.

At Softscribe, we embrace the Video World for our clients in three ways: flip videos, more complex motion graphic videos, and soon – multi-themed videos from Vipe.

How are you currently using video in your marketing mix?

Would you like to know the Five Best Practices to Build a Successful Video? Stay tuned for Part II of the “Video World” Series.

Photo Credit: Apple.com

My friend and colleague Glenn Hasek asked me to guest blog for his Green Lodging News site, which has over 175,000 viewers per month. It is the definitive portal in hospitality and travel for anything green.

If you want to get your green hotel message out consistently and to the right channels while keeping your staff fresh and effective, check it out.   Here’s the beginning and click through to read more.

“In my experience, your hotel can achieve its green-oriented marketing goals when your team uses public relations as the organizing principle.

Our company does this through a simple approach that prioritizes:

Content, Search, and Social Media.

An added benefit is that this approach helps members of your marketing team stay more effective and fresh. They can leverage the pressure of daily deliverables instead of being swamped by them.

I will take these priorities one at a time and also share a key hub-and-spoke organizing idea.

Read More.

Photo credit: daisykate14 on flickr

I was I was one of the 4,500 hospitality professionals who attended HITEC  in Orlando in late June, and it was an upbeat experience.

My one-word synopsis? Digital.

Two of the coolest offerings, though, were not even on the show floor. They were seed ideas in the wings; watch them grow.

I liked the Clarabridge sentiment engine, which I saw in the Aptech Computer Systems booth (disclaimer: Aptech is a long time Softscribe client. I have their permission to share this secret sauce).

It was the first time I’ve seen business intelligence data and actionable guest sentiments (“Had a great stay but the refrigerator leaked all over.”) on the same page. That combo is easy on a marketer’s brain power and eyeballs. Similar solutions overload with too much information.

Also in the wings and discussions was XIPWIRE, which lets you “Mobilize Your Wallet.”

Remember how you donated $10 to Haiti Relief, texting on your cell phone and paying via your phone bill? Imagine being able to pay your restaurant tab the same way – from your table, via your cell phone and bill. Talk about sidestepping PCI compliance. And I hear tell it turns a table eight to ten minutes faster.

Mobile payment, digital anything and sentiment engines that measure emotion – not words – are just a few of the ideas that brightened up HITEC 2010.  Vendors were happy.

Softscribe’s hotel technology clients are part of the industry’s DNA.  Join us next year at HITEC 2011, set for June 20 to 23 at the Austin Convention Center in Austin, Texas.

Mainframes →Minis → High-speed RISC computing → PC LANs → ASP cloud →Handheld.

The force behind mobile-ready development, iPhone apps, and having a mobile-ready website goes way beyond being cool.  It is about company survival and meeting travelers where they are with effective tools to make business decisions.

Fast-moving business travelers today are not hairy-knuckled laptop draggers.  They use a handheld and breeze through airports stroking an iPhone, Android or Droid X to do their work.

Business travelers are power users. Mobile by definition, they use web phones to search flights, hotels and car rentals, and book millions of dollars in reservations based on what they see in their hand.

This is why mobile solutions, including iPhone apps and iPads, dominated this year’s HITEC (Hotel Industry Technology Exposition and Conference) in Orlando in late June.  Hospitality tech vendors know their solutions must be mobile-ready.  No one whips out a laptop to book a room or check a flight anymore.

The handheld future of travel is coming from companies like TripCraft with its mobile total enterprise platform.  This new system enables travelers to see an entire hotel chain with regional attractions, availability, and instant reservations for loyalty-powered bookings.  Its integration with Cendyn’s eCRM suite also lets travelers access their frequent-stay profile to personally engage the chain. (Cendyn is a Softscribe client)

With technology evolving to a smaller and smaller physical presence, the question is: what is next?  We give you a view into the future in our next blog entry – stay tuned.

What did you see at HITEC 2010? Let us know.

Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stevendepolo/

Are you under pressure to post positive and truthful hotel and government numbers? Here are four tips to make that happen:

1) Just the facts ma’am. Report the actual numbers but without the context of past years. Standing alone, they may appear stronger and more optimistic.

2) Look for the silver lining. Both the government and hospitality sectors have had one hopeful quarter/month when things were on the up tick. Highlight that finding. Look for an industry guru who believes this is a sign of better times to come.

3) Gaze into the crystal ball. Even when the current numbers are grim, it’s often the case that predictions five years out or longer are much more positive and promise real growth.

4) Peer into the distant past. Couch the current numbers against a time when your operation was just beginning. Even if the data represents a dip from past highs, it still shows tremendous growth from initial numbers.

BONUS: Rachel’s Quote of the Day: “Summer afternoon … summer afternoon … the two most beautiful words in the English language.” Henry James

As a professional public relations and marketing writer, I know that I can struggle at my desk for 20 minutes to find the perfect introduction to a piece. Yet if I take a break to walk around my yard, the words tumble into place after a few moments with the sun on my shoulders.

It is one of the great ironies of writing, especially when you are creating an eyeball-catching online ad, marketing blog, or digital marketing presentation: What you do away from your desk can make all the difference.

Here are some tips for keeping your writing spot on when you face a deadline:

1.    Read, read, read. Keep your vocabulary fresh by reading everything you can get your hands on. Find inspiration in the muscular, intelligent prose of Jon Krakauer’s adventure books, Rex Stout’s brilliant and funny Nero Wolfe mysteries, Raymond Carver’s less-is-more short stories.

2.    Color outside the lines. Studies show that our brains stay healthy not only when we build knowledge in our chosen field, but when we learn to do new things. Learn a second language, play a new sport or musical instrument to stay fresh from 9-5 and beyond.

3.    Get on the ball. Have you ever tried an inflatable exercise ball as a desk chair? By encouraging good posture, it can help you avoid “writer’s slump.” It is also good for taking short exercise breaks to stretch your neck, back, and leg muscles. Yes, writing is a full-body pursuit.

4.   Vacation more. “The more the pay, the more vacay” aptly describes the need for execs in high-pressure positions to take more time off to recharge. If a week away from the office is not your style, try more long weekends in places where you have to work to find an Internet connection.

Guarding our wellness is an important part of producing excellent work at Softscribe. What’s your favorite way to recharge and keep your life in balance?

Bonus points by Mike: I recently found a fine example of a company’s response to changing customer preferences in the bread aisle at my local supermarket. Earth Grains’ multi-grain thin buns, about 1/3 as thick as regular buns, are low in calories and make a welcome less-is-more addition to your next backyard barbecue—another good way to recharge yourself.

Hospitality tech companies that handle credit card data have invested time and money to earn compliance certification for the Payment Card Industry Payment Application Data Security Standard (PCI PA-DSS).  These vendors and their hotel company clients are focused on July 1, 2010 when the payment card industry’s penalties (http://ow.ly/17WoX) for non compliance kick in.  Vendors affected by the PA-DSS data security mandates have worked hundreds of hours and spent thousands of dollars to help clients pass certification reviews.  Who pays for all this?

Two Softscribe clients serving different segments of the hotel business recently earned their compliance certification and it was costly.  They did it because the payment card industry mandates that for businesses to be PCI PA-DSS compliant they must only use compliant systems.  If these businesses are not certified before July 1, significant financial penalties will be assessed by the payment card industry – so tech vendors must be compliant for their clients to be compliant.

Okay, who pays?

Our tech vendor clients are giving the PA-DSS upgrade free to users that have standard maintenance agreements.  They see this as a cost of doing business.  What about other vendors?  We spoke to industry insiders and learned that giving away the PA-DSS upgrade is exemplary.  Several hotel system vendors, including the largest tech providers, are only offering their PA-DSS compliant functionality in the latest system version.  But their PA-DSS upgrade is not backward compatible, so all users must upgrade to the newest version – and pay substantial fees for installation, training and possibly new hardware.  Some companies can get away with turning the PCI mandate into a major profit opportunity.  Maybe it is appropriate the cost be shared with properties.

What do you think?  Should the PCI development costs be shared with properties?

Nearly every hotel operator has heard of PCI and some have already complied with its mandated requirements.  But if you run a hotel and still have questions about what PCI involves, this blog post is for you.

What is PCI and When is The Deadline?

PCI is short for Payment Card Industry, and refers to the Payment Card Industry’s Payment Application Data Security Standard (PA-DSS).   Compliance with the standard is mandated by the payment card brands – but not by the PCI Security Standards Council (http://ow.ly/14ly2) – to help businesses protect customer information with security measures.  Visa and other payment card companies are calling for the new security policies because hackers want this data for identity theft and to create counterfeit payment cards.

For most hotels, the mandate stipulates that by July 1, 2010 credit card acquirers must ensure that merchants, including hotels, use payment application software (PMS and POS) and secure processes that have been reviewed, validated and certified as meeting PA-DSS requirements.  Sound complicated? Fines or penalties associated with non-compliance and confirmed security breaches are defined by each of the payment card brands. For specific information on penalties, contact your payment card brands.

You can find the list of brand URLs here: http://ow.ly/14miZ.

If your property is not compliant today, you have ample time to be certified PCI compliant if you begin now to implement the certification requirements.

What Are The Rules?

The mandated PA-DSS standards are an extensive set of international security requirements that govern all areas of sensitive guest payment card data processing, such as:

• The magnetic card stripe
• Security codes and passwords on all property applications, including Windows
• The PIN that results when a transaction is authorized
• The physical security of printed reports, including those cardboard boxes full of daily packets in the controller’s office.

Hotels must meet specific requirements to earn certification before July 1, 2010.  These requirements include standards for:

• Network security, firewalls and password configuration
• Using only secure PCI-certified system applications, and
• Restrictions on cardholder data access both electronically, and physically.

What Do You Have to Do?

To be certified PCI compliant, operators must pass a security review prior to the deadline and then be re-certified by periodic reviews at least twice a year in the future. Work with a Qualified Security Assessor (International list here: http://ow.ly/14ZTO) to guide your operations team through a property PA-DSS evaluation and assign a team leader to manage the compliance process.  Select a person who is familiar with your entire operation since the process will include a review your internal procedures, your property management and other technology-vendor products, your network, and physical document storage.  The Assessor will provide guidance and when all measures are taken, validate that your property internal systems and procedures meet the PA-DSS guidelines that govern data handling.

12 Compliance Requirements

The PCI DSS website (http://ow.ly/14mWh) provides this simplified list of what your property must do to be compliant.

1. Install and maintain a firewall configuration to protect cardholder data
2. Do not use vendor-supplied defaults for system passwords and other security parameters
3. Protect stored cardholder data
4. Encrypt transmission of cardholder data across open, public networks Requirement
5. Use and regularly update anti-virus software
6. Develop and maintain secure systems and applications Requirement
7. Restrict access to cardholder data by business need-to-know
8. Assign a unique ID to each person with computer access
9. Restrict physical access to cardholder data
10. Track and monitor all access to network resources and cardholder data
11. Regularly test security systems and processes
12. Maintain a policy that addresses information security

PCI compliance is important, both to protect guests’ personal information and to prevent your property from being penalized by the payment card industry.  More details are at http://ow.ly/14oQE.

At Softscribe, we draw on our thirty years of hospitality industry experience to give you a head’s up on issues like this that can keep you profitably adding heads to beds. If you would like to discuss more ways to boost profitability, guest loyalty and RevPAR, feel free to contact me now. 

What about you?  What is your #1 question about PCI compliance?

College graduates can offer new energy and a fresh skill set to your marketing team. Here are tips on how to find and recruit a young, talented professional.

1. Build relationships with faculty.

Email faculty to introduce your company and convey your interest in finding talent. Ask about presenting to student groups and attending campus networking events.

Relationships with faculty will help your hotel recruit the “star” graduates.

2. Create a paid internship program.

You also can gauge skills and “fit” before making a full-time hire.

The best communications students typically have several internship offers. Compensation attracts top talent.

3. Provide a detailed job description that conveys a career path, not just a job.

Consult with your marketing team to develop a detailed job description and ensure the team agrees on the role of the new hire.

College graduates are interested in a career path beyond the entry job. Convey opportunities for growth and your company’s culture.

4. Assess the candidate’s personal brand and social media expertise.

Look for a credible online presence.

Candidates should demonstrate an understanding of how to effectively use social media and mobile technology in a marketing program.

5. Test critical thinking skills.

Create an exercise based on a current marketing challenge for your hotel to evaluate the candidate’s ability to develop strategic recommendations.

Ask the candidate to present recommendations to gauge presentation skills and confidence.

6. Hire graduates with strong interpersonal skills and an energetic attitude.  Good communications skills are crucial.

Hospitality knowledge can be easier taught than communications skills and attitude.Look for successful experiences as leaders and team players, as well as documentation of delivering results.

Recent graduates have limited interviewing experience. Expect nervousness. Assess if the candidate clearly articulates experiences and conveys enthusiasm.

At Softscribe, although we hire only seasoned professionals, attitude is all. We put care in every detail, and stay fresh with ongoing training.

What about you? Have you recently hired a college grad? How did it pan out?

HITEC is the world’s largest hotel technology tradeshow.

The event attracts hundreds of vendors and thousands of hotel tech buyers and influencers.

It is the definitive sales opportunity for many suppliers.

Vendors who pony up thousands of dollars to fly their teams, equipment, and booths to Orlando for the show (June 22 – 25 ) will determine their success by their actions this week, before HITEC.

Will they have a profitable show or will they be sitting in the booth eating their own mints?

The secret to success at HITEC is how you and your sales team communicate with prospects and clients today, now, before the show.

- Call every prospect in your database now – personally invite them to meet at your booth

-  Call every client and offer to introduce them to your C-level execs and engineers. Do this to inoculate them against competitor sales pitches at the show and to strengthen your relationship.

-  Create a booth-meeting schedule. Book qualified prospects into meetings now.   Follow up before the show to confirm what they want from their meeting.

-  While in the booth, answer prospects’ questions clearly with benefits, no one wants a sales pitch.

Note: Do not use email. Make the call yourself to establish a personal relationship.

You will guarantee a successful HITEC that pays off your show investment with future closed business if you spend two days on the phone this week. Small tips are worth big money.

If you have HITEC sales tips, feel free to share with our readers. Thanks and good selling.