Embracing Technology
Love it or hate it, technology is an ever growing—and ever changing—part of the hospitality industry. This edition of Southern Hospitality Magazine™ takes a look at some of the newest ways hoteliers and restaurateurs are using technology to simplify their operations and wow their customers.
Apryl Chapman Thomas has donned her researcher’s hat to uncover the latest high-tech services available for restaurants. Menus are going digital, patrons can swipe their credit or debit cards at the table and owners and managers can receive instant feedback to improve their customer service. It all adds up to a better experience for the guest and increased profits for the restaurant. You can’t beat that! Get the scoop on page 8.
If you’ve been in the industry for any time at all, you’re probably familiar with POS/PMS, but I like to spell out acronyms for the uninitiated. In this case, we’re talking about point-of-sale and property management systems. Southern Hospitality Magazine™ interviewed hospitality-side leaders and surveyed supplier-side experts to guide our readers through the process of finding the best POS or PMS for their operations. See page 10 for the results of our research.
Web 2.0: Do you know about SEO? There’s another one of those pesky acronyms. Better known as search engine optimization, SEO is all about helping customers find you on the Internet. Apryl offers a great overview of the topic on page 12, plus regular contributor Jaime Forth has looked into the ways the Internet, laptop computers and even the changing role of motherhood have permanently changed the way businesses do business. It really is whole new world out there!
Technology is great, but the hospitality industry will always be all about people. We round out this edition with two terrific management topics: “Assembling a Top-Notch Team to Win Over Guests, Increase Profits” (page 16) and “Training Staff on Innovation” (page 18). Training specialist Pam Simos offers a step-by-step process for finding the best people to add to your team, and Jeannine DeMicco gives us a behind the scenes look at how W Atlanta Midtown approached its unique hiring and training process so each employee would be ready to offer the W experience from day one.
As always, we’ve also included interesting news from around the country in our state scene, national scene and people places things features. And we didn’t forget the recipes. I hope you’re enjoying from the kitchen as much as I am. It’s always fun to try something new!
TAFN (That’s all for now),
Debbie Dewell, Publisher
Debbie Dewell
Publisher
P.S. Don’t miss our 2008 Buyers Guide! It’s the best-valued buyers guide in the industry, and it begins on page 20 … |
