- Email: [email protected]
Future computer developments in the hospitality industry
78
Viewpoint
detail. This should be put over in a handout which people can refer to in discussion and for later reference. The presenter should concentrate on putting over major points in a clear sequence, with his or her objectives clearly stated in advance. These should be open to question or change, however. The presenter should control discussion, keeping to the point and summarising as required. (iii) A presenter is an actor. Distracting habits should be avoided, either physical or verbal. It is important for a presenter to relax. It is vital that the presenter look at the audience, watching reactions, inviting comment and responding to it. The presenter’s delivery should be interested; there is no place here for detailed written notes in a boring literary style, tempting a presenter to read rather than relate to the audience. A presenter’s voice should be modulated, using emphases appropriately, and should not drop at the end of every sentence. (iv) Boring subjects need props to stimulate; these vary from blackboards (which need chalk) through flip charts, physical objects, overhead projectors and slides to videos. These have to be incorporated carefully, and involve a great deal of imagination and energy when first used. But with experience
Future computer developments hospitality industry
in the
Peter A. Jones HQ Director, Army Catm’ng Corps, St Omer Barracks, Alder-shot, Hants, U.K.
Introduction It is difficult to begin to discuss future computer developments in the hospitality industry without establishing the base-line of current systems concepts and the availability of such‘systems to satisfy the specific requirements of the industry. However, in terms of computer technology alone certain generalisations can be made, one being that with so much technology already available, and constantly developing, it can be assumed that future technologies will be as unrecognisable now as the space shuttle would be to the Wright brothers. In the hospitality industry in particular the stage of computer-based systems development is era. !;et still in the bi-plane, canvas-and-wood with the accelerated change in technological Int.J. Printed
Hospitality in Great
Managemenr Britatn
Vol
4 No.
2 pp. 78-82
1985
they can become indispensable to a clear and graphic discussion of problems related to, for example, room layout, dealing with credit cards, or menu display. Results The students who volunteer can marshal1 their ideas in a logical sequence, and can identify where props would be of use to them. They have some problems handling blackboards (standing with back to audience) and overhead projectors (looking at the projected image rather than at the audience) but these can be overcome by practice. Conclusion Having undertaken this ordeal during induction week, students have shown a considerable improvement in self-confidence. They are better able to analyse, research and present topics in a lively way to their peers, and their motivation, in comparison with earlier years, has improved. A connection has been made between academic study and practical skills of self-projection, and the passive habits of earlier education changed.
development, we could reach the hospitality equivalent of the space shuttle certainly within the next two decades. I say could, because much will depend on the willingness and ability of hospitality managers to come to terms with what exists here and now today. It is within the broader context of information technology (IT) (this new science of the collation, manipulation and communication of information) that the rate of change of the technology available to the business of management will be determined. The rate of change will be faster than any technological development we have so far witnessed. The ability to provide a coherent information system with electronic textual communication, both within and external to the organisation, will revolutionalise business activity by replacing the current paper-based systems of communication with electronic systems. The importance of information technology to the future of the hospitality industry therefore. that the hospiIt is vitally important. tality industry rapidly adopts the use of IT, as the changes that are likely to arise will fundamentally 0278-4319/95 01385
$3.00
Pergamon
+ 0.00
Press
Ltd
79
Viewpoint
change the manner in which ‘business’ will be conducted in the future. What is required is a commitment to the concepts and philosophies of computer-based hospitality systems that will ensure that those companies currently satisfying the somewhat limited demand, will continue to provide essential research and development in the hospitality area. If this initiative is lost the computer systems houses specialising in hospitality applications will withdraw to more responsive market sectors; thereby placing the hospitality industry at a considerable disadvantage against It is a measure of the competing industries. reluctance to accept this new technology, that the number of computer installations, especially in the food and beverage area, is but a small fraction of the potential, despite the interest which exhibitions and seminars seem to engender. According to a Hotels and Restaurants International special survey, published in August 1984, the total number of meals served outside the home in the U.K. is in excess of 6 billion per year; 42% of these are in the institutional market with some 24,000 works sites in the office/factory sector alone. Add another 150,000 commercial catering units and the size of the potential can be recognised. I would venture to suggest that the market penetration of food and beverage computer systems has yet to reach 1%. This reluctance is perhaps easy to understand in an industry that takes a pride in its traditional training and actively markets the traditional values of hospitality. These two aims of providing traditional values within the scenario of rapid technological change are not necessarily incompatible. What is necessary is to appreciate that computerbased systems can be used to complement, enhance and extend the range of management strategies to the hospitality manager. In discussing the future it may be useful to place that future into realisable time frames, firstly, the immediate future of the next two to three years and thence to several generations of computers hence, within the next two decades. In this most rapidly developing technology, that which is novel and unique today wilt become the commonplace of tomorrow. But allied to this will be radical if invisible changes in the management of our business. Sir George Jefferson, Chairman of British Telecom has suggested that ‘Information Technology is not just an adjunct to management. It is largely concerned with what management is about’. The hospitality industry needs to assess the importance of IT in the light of the fundamental effects it will have on the nature of its business. It could mean a different way of structuring and managing that business; changes in the availability of information can lead
process, to changes in the decision-making perhaps devolving responsibility further down the hierarchical organisational structure. What is essential is a sound understanding by middle and senior management of what this new technology is likely to bring. The integrated
electronic
hotel
It is pertinent to continue this discussion in terms of practical examples by relating the developments in IT with applications to the hospitality industry, and to concentrate on the immediate future before speculating on the next decades. Computers are currently utilised to support those tasks that are mainly clerical and custodial and consist of the processing of large volumes of historical data. This is not a very imaginative use of the processing power available, but even at this stage it can have fundamental effects on business operations. Financial accounting, front office systems, food and beverage systems are all now being used as isolated clerical processing areas. By extending the range of interlinked or interface devices, these clerical machines can become the centre of a network of a timely and pertinent information gathering system. The addition of point-of-sale terminals that record cash receipts, and actual sales, while decrementing stock holdings, and prompting for re-order levels, will allow management to be aware immediately of the performance of the operation; this for the whole, not merely a functional part. The current trading picture of any department or the total business will be available to both departmental and general managers as required. Potential sales as against actual, gross profits against budget targets can be made immediately available, graphically and statistically, comparing previous periods, actual against budget and so on. By extending this concept of an integrated electronic information gathering system, to the peripheral, yet none the less important, areas within a hotel operation we can envisage the type of integrated system that is depicted in Fig. 1. Such integration can be achieved by a network of cheap micro-computers, in turn interfaced with larger back office or head office systems. By interfacing the point-of-sale terminals with both the food and beverage system and the front office system, not only will all guest bills be tracked and correctly posted, but the sales information against actual consumption will allow dairy reports of gross profits for all food and liquor outlets, without tedious manual stock checking and calculation. The need for the manual compilation and then physical transmission of bills to
80
Viewpoint
the front office for manual posting to accounts will disappear. Sales and cash reconciliations will be available immediately and the need for the oft-used phase ‘did you have breakfast or anything from the room bar?’ will disappear from the receptionist’s vocabulary. By extending this integration not only forwards to the customer but backwards throughout the administrative and support areas, the collation of information can be achieved to put that information at the immediate disposal of the management. Some examples of the unrealised potential can be seen in the following:
Such systems can be defined as those that have the developed ability to optimise goals and predict responses appropriate to the current business environment. Such ‘expert’ developments can only be based on the collation of a data-base of appropriate business information. It is from this that the decision-aiding system is provided with an appropriate memory, a necessary component for learning and adaption. The goals of this decision-aiding two-fold;
system can be
l
l
The integration of room status and electronic security systems with the front desk; l Energy management with internal and external sensor devices; to monitor and control ambient temperatures in public and occupied rooms; l Bar dispense system to record and monitor all liquor sales linked with point-of-sale terminals; l Food and beverage control system linked to off-line data capture devices.
At the basic functional level, to automate routine and repetitious decisions, e.g. inventory control; l At the tactical and strategic level, to extend or augment the manager’s capacity for problem-solving and decision-making. From these systems concepts it will be possible to develop accurate ‘forecasting systems’ that will assist the hospitality manager in his strategic planning by forecasting such items as: l
In all these examples we have not yet moved away from what is technologically possible now, nor what would be fundamentally an integrated clerical computer system, because in all that, the systems are only recording historical activities, although now as they actually take place. As the value of this array of captured information becomes more apparent to the hospitality it may prompt a move towards the manager, tactical and strategic hospitality computer systems, described by Gamble in his book Small Management as Computers and Hospitality gradually emerging from the mid-198&1990s.
The development
of ‘expert’
systems
At this stage of future developmnent we should see the measure of business success in the manner in which individual hospitality businesses have adopted the use of computers and to what areas of their activity. Those corporations and businesses that have the foresight to recognise the value of an integrated network of computers deployed throughout all the areas of activity suggested in Fig. 1 will have a distinct competitive edge over those who are still questioning the use of computer systems for other than their routine custodial accounting. By developing models involved in the decision-making process into those relevant to the hospitality industrv wc will begin to move towards the concepts ot ‘artificial intelligence’ (AI) and ‘expert’ s\‘stems.
Occupancy rates, by week, period, season, annual, type of guest; by customer type, day, l Average spends, week, period, year, etc; l Meal take-up by dish type, price and seasonality; l Relative percentages of sales by functional areas, e.g. ratio of room sales to total sales, food sales to beverage sales, food production and scheduling requirements. Such systems cannot function within the closed concepts of the integrated internal systems so far described. What are now necessary are computer systems that have access to and can utilise the relevant external market information, to optimise the selection of operational alternatives. Such external information systems are already beginning to emerge, the use of viewdata systems, for could provide timely information on example, food commodity prices, the all important exchange rates, likely tourist arrivals from travel agents, pre-bookings and so on. With such planning, and decision-aiding the manager will then be able accurately to measure and deploy the personnel and material resources to satisfy that demand. No organisation can exist in isolation; it reacts with the external environment. The hospitalit\, industry reacts by responding, to these externai demands. The skilful predict the emerging demands and respond promptly: the rapid pace of technoiogical change and the development of expert systems will allow the skilful to become more skilful and flounsh while the less-responsive
81
Viewpoint
Food
and
Personnel pcy and record system
Fig. 1. Schematic
representation system.
will enjoy a rapidly diminishing market share and then vanish altogether.
0
0
Summary 0
I have attempted to provide a rather generalised view of future developments in the hospitality industry and confined my thoughts to the types of integrated electronic hotel system that are of the near future, whilst then looking at the creation of ‘expert’ systems of the long-term. I have deliberately avoided predictions on the shape of the technology, the development of systems, touch sensitive speech recognition VDUs, the speed of printers, the type of rapid communication systems including electronic mail and facsimile transmission, and concentrated on the type and manner of the application of the technology whatever it may look like. But I would like to finish with at least one tangible idea for a specific technological concept. A smart
card room key
Smart cards are credit or charge cards with an embedded micro-processor. They were first produced by CII Honeywell-Bull in 1977 although invented by a Frenchman Roland Mereno in 1974 and have found a number of applications in France, Norway, the U.S.A. and Japan where pilot schemes are testing their use in electronic banking, electronic funds transfer and remote electronic shopping. Currently three types of card are available;
of an integrated
hotel
Simple memory cards cards with a memory state that can be written to and read; Cards with custom logic, that can restrict access to the memory state; Chip cards containing both memory and a that can be programmed. micro-processor, Such cards are ideal for high security application.
The use of electronic room keys especially as a measure of increasing security is now expanding throughout the hospitality industry. If this electronic room key were also a chip card, that could be programmed with a unique code relating to a particular customer and room, it would result in a unique room security system. Not only would the hotel have a room key, but the guest would also have a charge card/identification card which could be used to charge all bills to his account terminals throughout the from point-of-sale hotel. This smart key would have a unique identification and time/date authorisation, that could be verified via the smart reader every time it is presented for payment. Not only would all guest billing at points of sale be recorded on the card, but the networked point-of-sale terminals would post the appropriate charge to the smart key account. Pre-set credit limits could be set on each card, much in the way credit card accounts are now. On checking-out. the guest would present smart key to the receptionist who would, via reader. verify the charges posted against account. up-date from the card any charges
his the the not
82
yet posted and thence cancel the card. No further charges could then be posted to that unique account. The smart key is retained and reprogrammed with the new guest name, room number and identification code only as and when the next guest checks in. Fraudulent use of the smart key could be avoided by electronic time/date stamping, to show time/date of arrival and expected checkout. Guests wishing to extend their stay would return
Viewpoint
to reception and have the smart key endorsed. Master smart keys would be validated for use on a daily basis and cancelled daily, after recording the rooms and times entered with that smart key. This type of technology is being developed now; it does not represent some futuristic science fiction of the ‘Hotel 2000’, it represents the rapid speed of change in technology that the hospitality industry must come to terms with now.
Viewpoint
detail. This should be put over in a handout which people can refer to in discussion and for later reference. The presenter should concentrate on putting over major points in a clear sequence, with his or her objectives clearly stated in advance. These should be open to question or change, however. The presenter should control discussion, keeping to the point and summarising as required. (iii) A presenter is an actor. Distracting habits should be avoided, either physical or verbal. It is important for a presenter to relax. It is vital that the presenter look at the audience, watching reactions, inviting comment and responding to it. The presenter’s delivery should be interested; there is no place here for detailed written notes in a boring literary style, tempting a presenter to read rather than relate to the audience. A presenter’s voice should be modulated, using emphases appropriately, and should not drop at the end of every sentence. (iv) Boring subjects need props to stimulate; these vary from blackboards (which need chalk) through flip charts, physical objects, overhead projectors and slides to videos. These have to be incorporated carefully, and involve a great deal of imagination and energy when first used. But with experience
Future computer developments hospitality industry
in the
Peter A. Jones HQ Director, Army Catm’ng Corps, St Omer Barracks, Alder-shot, Hants, U.K.
Introduction It is difficult to begin to discuss future computer developments in the hospitality industry without establishing the base-line of current systems concepts and the availability of such‘systems to satisfy the specific requirements of the industry. However, in terms of computer technology alone certain generalisations can be made, one being that with so much technology already available, and constantly developing, it can be assumed that future technologies will be as unrecognisable now as the space shuttle would be to the Wright brothers. In the hospitality industry in particular the stage of computer-based systems development is era. !;et still in the bi-plane, canvas-and-wood with the accelerated change in technological Int.J. Printed
Hospitality in Great
Managemenr Britatn
Vol
4 No.
2 pp. 78-82
1985
they can become indispensable to a clear and graphic discussion of problems related to, for example, room layout, dealing with credit cards, or menu display. Results The students who volunteer can marshal1 their ideas in a logical sequence, and can identify where props would be of use to them. They have some problems handling blackboards (standing with back to audience) and overhead projectors (looking at the projected image rather than at the audience) but these can be overcome by practice. Conclusion Having undertaken this ordeal during induction week, students have shown a considerable improvement in self-confidence. They are better able to analyse, research and present topics in a lively way to their peers, and their motivation, in comparison with earlier years, has improved. A connection has been made between academic study and practical skills of self-projection, and the passive habits of earlier education changed.
development, we could reach the hospitality equivalent of the space shuttle certainly within the next two decades. I say could, because much will depend on the willingness and ability of hospitality managers to come to terms with what exists here and now today. It is within the broader context of information technology (IT) (this new science of the collation, manipulation and communication of information) that the rate of change of the technology available to the business of management will be determined. The rate of change will be faster than any technological development we have so far witnessed. The ability to provide a coherent information system with electronic textual communication, both within and external to the organisation, will revolutionalise business activity by replacing the current paper-based systems of communication with electronic systems. The importance of information technology to the future of the hospitality industry therefore. that the hospiIt is vitally important. tality industry rapidly adopts the use of IT, as the changes that are likely to arise will fundamentally 0278-4319/95 01385
$3.00
Pergamon
+ 0.00
Press
Ltd
79
Viewpoint
change the manner in which ‘business’ will be conducted in the future. What is required is a commitment to the concepts and philosophies of computer-based hospitality systems that will ensure that those companies currently satisfying the somewhat limited demand, will continue to provide essential research and development in the hospitality area. If this initiative is lost the computer systems houses specialising in hospitality applications will withdraw to more responsive market sectors; thereby placing the hospitality industry at a considerable disadvantage against It is a measure of the competing industries. reluctance to accept this new technology, that the number of computer installations, especially in the food and beverage area, is but a small fraction of the potential, despite the interest which exhibitions and seminars seem to engender. According to a Hotels and Restaurants International special survey, published in August 1984, the total number of meals served outside the home in the U.K. is in excess of 6 billion per year; 42% of these are in the institutional market with some 24,000 works sites in the office/factory sector alone. Add another 150,000 commercial catering units and the size of the potential can be recognised. I would venture to suggest that the market penetration of food and beverage computer systems has yet to reach 1%. This reluctance is perhaps easy to understand in an industry that takes a pride in its traditional training and actively markets the traditional values of hospitality. These two aims of providing traditional values within the scenario of rapid technological change are not necessarily incompatible. What is necessary is to appreciate that computerbased systems can be used to complement, enhance and extend the range of management strategies to the hospitality manager. In discussing the future it may be useful to place that future into realisable time frames, firstly, the immediate future of the next two to three years and thence to several generations of computers hence, within the next two decades. In this most rapidly developing technology, that which is novel and unique today wilt become the commonplace of tomorrow. But allied to this will be radical if invisible changes in the management of our business. Sir George Jefferson, Chairman of British Telecom has suggested that ‘Information Technology is not just an adjunct to management. It is largely concerned with what management is about’. The hospitality industry needs to assess the importance of IT in the light of the fundamental effects it will have on the nature of its business. It could mean a different way of structuring and managing that business; changes in the availability of information can lead
process, to changes in the decision-making perhaps devolving responsibility further down the hierarchical organisational structure. What is essential is a sound understanding by middle and senior management of what this new technology is likely to bring. The integrated
electronic
hotel
It is pertinent to continue this discussion in terms of practical examples by relating the developments in IT with applications to the hospitality industry, and to concentrate on the immediate future before speculating on the next decades. Computers are currently utilised to support those tasks that are mainly clerical and custodial and consist of the processing of large volumes of historical data. This is not a very imaginative use of the processing power available, but even at this stage it can have fundamental effects on business operations. Financial accounting, front office systems, food and beverage systems are all now being used as isolated clerical processing areas. By extending the range of interlinked or interface devices, these clerical machines can become the centre of a network of a timely and pertinent information gathering system. The addition of point-of-sale terminals that record cash receipts, and actual sales, while decrementing stock holdings, and prompting for re-order levels, will allow management to be aware immediately of the performance of the operation; this for the whole, not merely a functional part. The current trading picture of any department or the total business will be available to both departmental and general managers as required. Potential sales as against actual, gross profits against budget targets can be made immediately available, graphically and statistically, comparing previous periods, actual against budget and so on. By extending this concept of an integrated electronic information gathering system, to the peripheral, yet none the less important, areas within a hotel operation we can envisage the type of integrated system that is depicted in Fig. 1. Such integration can be achieved by a network of cheap micro-computers, in turn interfaced with larger back office or head office systems. By interfacing the point-of-sale terminals with both the food and beverage system and the front office system, not only will all guest bills be tracked and correctly posted, but the sales information against actual consumption will allow dairy reports of gross profits for all food and liquor outlets, without tedious manual stock checking and calculation. The need for the manual compilation and then physical transmission of bills to
80
Viewpoint
the front office for manual posting to accounts will disappear. Sales and cash reconciliations will be available immediately and the need for the oft-used phase ‘did you have breakfast or anything from the room bar?’ will disappear from the receptionist’s vocabulary. By extending this integration not only forwards to the customer but backwards throughout the administrative and support areas, the collation of information can be achieved to put that information at the immediate disposal of the management. Some examples of the unrealised potential can be seen in the following:
Such systems can be defined as those that have the developed ability to optimise goals and predict responses appropriate to the current business environment. Such ‘expert’ developments can only be based on the collation of a data-base of appropriate business information. It is from this that the decision-aiding system is provided with an appropriate memory, a necessary component for learning and adaption. The goals of this decision-aiding two-fold;
system can be
l
l
The integration of room status and electronic security systems with the front desk; l Energy management with internal and external sensor devices; to monitor and control ambient temperatures in public and occupied rooms; l Bar dispense system to record and monitor all liquor sales linked with point-of-sale terminals; l Food and beverage control system linked to off-line data capture devices.
At the basic functional level, to automate routine and repetitious decisions, e.g. inventory control; l At the tactical and strategic level, to extend or augment the manager’s capacity for problem-solving and decision-making. From these systems concepts it will be possible to develop accurate ‘forecasting systems’ that will assist the hospitality manager in his strategic planning by forecasting such items as: l
In all these examples we have not yet moved away from what is technologically possible now, nor what would be fundamentally an integrated clerical computer system, because in all that, the systems are only recording historical activities, although now as they actually take place. As the value of this array of captured information becomes more apparent to the hospitality it may prompt a move towards the manager, tactical and strategic hospitality computer systems, described by Gamble in his book Small Management as Computers and Hospitality gradually emerging from the mid-198&1990s.
The development
of ‘expert’
systems
At this stage of future developmnent we should see the measure of business success in the manner in which individual hospitality businesses have adopted the use of computers and to what areas of their activity. Those corporations and businesses that have the foresight to recognise the value of an integrated network of computers deployed throughout all the areas of activity suggested in Fig. 1 will have a distinct competitive edge over those who are still questioning the use of computer systems for other than their routine custodial accounting. By developing models involved in the decision-making process into those relevant to the hospitality industrv wc will begin to move towards the concepts ot ‘artificial intelligence’ (AI) and ‘expert’ s\‘stems.
Occupancy rates, by week, period, season, annual, type of guest; by customer type, day, l Average spends, week, period, year, etc; l Meal take-up by dish type, price and seasonality; l Relative percentages of sales by functional areas, e.g. ratio of room sales to total sales, food sales to beverage sales, food production and scheduling requirements. Such systems cannot function within the closed concepts of the integrated internal systems so far described. What are now necessary are computer systems that have access to and can utilise the relevant external market information, to optimise the selection of operational alternatives. Such external information systems are already beginning to emerge, the use of viewdata systems, for could provide timely information on example, food commodity prices, the all important exchange rates, likely tourist arrivals from travel agents, pre-bookings and so on. With such planning, and decision-aiding the manager will then be able accurately to measure and deploy the personnel and material resources to satisfy that demand. No organisation can exist in isolation; it reacts with the external environment. The hospitalit\, industry reacts by responding, to these externai demands. The skilful predict the emerging demands and respond promptly: the rapid pace of technoiogical change and the development of expert systems will allow the skilful to become more skilful and flounsh while the less-responsive
81
Viewpoint
Food
and
Personnel pcy and record system
Fig. 1. Schematic
representation system.
will enjoy a rapidly diminishing market share and then vanish altogether.
0
0
Summary 0
I have attempted to provide a rather generalised view of future developments in the hospitality industry and confined my thoughts to the types of integrated electronic hotel system that are of the near future, whilst then looking at the creation of ‘expert’ systems of the long-term. I have deliberately avoided predictions on the shape of the technology, the development of systems, touch sensitive speech recognition VDUs, the speed of printers, the type of rapid communication systems including electronic mail and facsimile transmission, and concentrated on the type and manner of the application of the technology whatever it may look like. But I would like to finish with at least one tangible idea for a specific technological concept. A smart
card room key
Smart cards are credit or charge cards with an embedded micro-processor. They were first produced by CII Honeywell-Bull in 1977 although invented by a Frenchman Roland Mereno in 1974 and have found a number of applications in France, Norway, the U.S.A. and Japan where pilot schemes are testing their use in electronic banking, electronic funds transfer and remote electronic shopping. Currently three types of card are available;
of an integrated
hotel
Simple memory cards cards with a memory state that can be written to and read; Cards with custom logic, that can restrict access to the memory state; Chip cards containing both memory and a that can be programmed. micro-processor, Such cards are ideal for high security application.
The use of electronic room keys especially as a measure of increasing security is now expanding throughout the hospitality industry. If this electronic room key were also a chip card, that could be programmed with a unique code relating to a particular customer and room, it would result in a unique room security system. Not only would the hotel have a room key, but the guest would also have a charge card/identification card which could be used to charge all bills to his account terminals throughout the from point-of-sale hotel. This smart key would have a unique identification and time/date authorisation, that could be verified via the smart reader every time it is presented for payment. Not only would all guest billing at points of sale be recorded on the card, but the networked point-of-sale terminals would post the appropriate charge to the smart key account. Pre-set credit limits could be set on each card, much in the way credit card accounts are now. On checking-out. the guest would present smart key to the receptionist who would, via reader. verify the charges posted against account. up-date from the card any charges
his the the not
82
yet posted and thence cancel the card. No further charges could then be posted to that unique account. The smart key is retained and reprogrammed with the new guest name, room number and identification code only as and when the next guest checks in. Fraudulent use of the smart key could be avoided by electronic time/date stamping, to show time/date of arrival and expected checkout. Guests wishing to extend their stay would return
Viewpoint
to reception and have the smart key endorsed. Master smart keys would be validated for use on a daily basis and cancelled daily, after recording the rooms and times entered with that smart key. This type of technology is being developed now; it does not represent some futuristic science fiction of the ‘Hotel 2000’, it represents the rapid speed of change in technology that the hospitality industry must come to terms with now.