Reed Travel Exhibitions (RTE), the leading provider of events in the global travel and tourism industry, is delighted to announce the launch of World Travel Market Latin America – the first global event for this increasingly important region for travel and tourism. The first World Travel Market Latin America will take place in São Paulo in April 2013. RTE is working with the Brazilian tourist board EMBRATUR over a hosted buyers programme for WTM Latin America.

NCR Corporation today launched NCR Express Keya hotel check-in kiosk that lets guests who have checked in online or via a mobile collect their room key without queuing at reception, meeting consumers" needs for the same convenience and speed they get with airline and car rental check-in.

Marriott International, Inc. (NYSE: MAR) today announced it has reached the milestone figure of 250 open and signed hotels in Asia, with the 250th hotel to be located in Bo"ao in China. This represents 129 open hotels plus our development pipeline of 121 projects - totaling more than 75,000 rooms in 15 countries.

Interview: Getting results from an online advertising campaign may not be easy but Barbara Pezzi, Director of Analytics & Search Optimisation at Fairmont Raffles Hotels International, says it is possible. Here she shares some tactics for delivering online advertising benefits in a multi-channel world with EyeforTravel"s Ritesh Gupta

New York"s Roger Smith Hotel is now driving mobile and Facebook reservations through tools provided by Pegasus Solutions. The Midtown Manhattan boutique has launched a mobile site leveraging OpenFlex from Open Hospitality, a division of Pegasus, and has tapped the OpenView booking engine to capture "Facebookings."

Newport Hospitality Group (NHG) held its 21st annual General Manager Conference at Kingsmill Resort on April 15 to April 18, 2012. The conference ran three days with marketing presentations, idea sharing sessions and safety and security workshops all designed to promote continued improvement in the 35 hotels managed by this Williamsburg based hotel management company. The conference culminated on its final night with the annual awards dinner where NHG leaders recognized the exceptional performers of 2011.

The U.S. lodging industry recovery may have begun in 2010, but it wasn"t until 2011 that the improved prosperity was shared by nearly all hotels in the country. In 2011, 80.5 percent of the properties that participated in the 2012 Trends® in the Hotel Industry survey enjoyed an increase in total revenue, while nearly three-quarters (72.3%) of the participants achieved growth in profits.

ST. GEORGE, Utah – May 17, 2012 – ContactPoint today announced an alliance partnership with Kennedy Training Network (KTN) to integrate its LogMyCalls platform into KTN training, call assessment and coaching services. This means that KTN now offers its training, coaching and mystery shopping clients a new alternative to traditional "shop calls."

While many businesses may be engaged in Pay Per Click advertising, there may be a few who are not taking advantage of using negative keywords. In this article, we will outline the importance of using negative keywords, and we"ll begin by listing the adverse effects of not doing so.

I read an interesting post today from Michelle Schumate who is a Regional Director of Operations with The Hamister Group. Michelle and Hamister"s idea about "Treating Guests As Friends In The Extended Stay Industry" helps to remind all of us who are involved in the hospitality industry that hotel guests deserve attention that goes well beyond check in, a clean and comfortable room, and a receipt upon check out. So the question becomes is technology beginning to create barriers that are isolating hoteliers from their guests?

Data trends on cheapest hotel rates as well as median rate for three months of three, four and five star hotels across some of the major cities in Europe. This set covers May to July 2012, taken in the 1st week of May 2012 (all rates are in US dollars for two adults for a one-night stay).

Hotel rate parity trends for May to July 2012 of three, four and five star hotels across some of the major cities in Europe. The report shows the percentage of hotels with cheaper rates on their own brand site compared to their rates on other OTAs.

Safemark Systems, the hospitality industry's leading provider of guest room safes, has appointed Steve Davis as president. In his new role, Davis will work alongside Safemark CEO George Oelschig to implement growth and profitability initiatives across multiple channels and markets.

In spite of a stout and continued rebound in the hotel industry, when it comes to negotiating hotel management agreements, it’s the owners who are still in the driver’s seat. That is the sentiment according to panelists on the forthcoming “Negotiating the Hotel Management Agreement” workshop at the NYU Hospitality Conference in New York. “We are looking at it over a longer period of time, not how things have changed from 2011-2012,” said Keith Pattiz, who is chairman of the real estate practice group and managing partner at New York law firm McDermott Will & Emery LLP. Pattiz is also the moderator of the discussion. “The group consensus is that the pendulum has swung in the direction of owners. Even though the economy is improving, looking back to 2007, changes were made and there’s no going back.”

The total active U.S. hotel development pipeline comprises 2,770 projects totaling 292,806 rooms, according to the April 2012 STR/McGraw Hill Construction Dodge Pipeline Report. This represents a 9.0-percent decrease in the number of rooms in the total active pipeline compared to April 2011. The total active pipeline data includes projects in the In Construction, Final Planning and Planning stages but does not include projects in the Pre-Planning stage.

Lodging Interactive's Guest Review System provides an easy way for hoteliers to collect and respond to comments in real time while CoMMingle monitors social media channels such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+, YouTube and blogs; A FREE trial of Lodging Interactive's Guest Review System is available now through June 28

Sheraton Hotels & Resorts in cooperation with Wine Spectator magazine today announce the global launch of Sheraton Social Hour, a first-of-its-kind, brand-wide premium wine program. The new program, developed by today"s premier wine experts and the brand"s global food and beverage team, offers guests a specially curated menu of premium wines and weekly tasting events at more than 240 participating Sheraton hotels around the world. In North America, the program will feature 90+ rated wines by Wine Spectatorserved in Riedel stemware to ensure that each varietal is presented in the perfect stemware that artfully enhances the wine"s flavor and aroma.

"Data tells an important story, you just have to know how to present it." This business insight comes from Ms. Joanne Pearson, Director of Corporate Reporting for Sandals Resorts International. Sandals operates a total of 22 luxury resorts carrying the Sandals, Beaches and Grand Pineapple brands and employs 10,000 people. She is also crystal clear when it comes to managing by the numbers, "The only way you can maintain company profitability is to know precisely where you are against budget and how you got there." Ms. Pearson, a Fellow of the Chartered Association of Certified Accountants, should know. Prior to 2003, Sandals manually collected and analyzed data for an international property portfolio that extends from Jamaica to the Bahamas, Antigua, St Lucia, and Turks. "We relied on hand-populated spreadsheets. There was no way to gather and process all the data we needed from our entities in a reasonable time to make intelligent business decisions," Pearson said. Sandals brought Mrs. Pearson onboard expressly to develop a timely standardized process of key performance analysis reporting. "The first thing the executive team and I ascertained was that Sandals needed a dedicated hospitality business intelligence system that would automate data gathering from our entire Hotel Group, which had multiple systems, and perform timely, in-depth what-if analysis and performance reporting." In 2003 Sandals" executive team implemented the Execuvue® web-based hospitality Business Intelligence system (BI) developed by Aptech Computer Systems, Inc. "The right tools are essential to carry out the extensive analysis required for an enterprise as large as ours. The BI automates the daily data collection from our entities and we created KPIs for occupancy, staffing, food costs, utility use and other expenses, as well as spend-per-room," Pearson said. The system consolidates data from all Sandals" resorts in a data mart where Pearson and her team access and analyze it. The data that once took a month to collect is now in their hands daily. Sandals focuses on operating performance and how to increase it "Since property information is available and current each day, we focus our attention on analyzing performance and how to increase it," Pearson said. "We generate daily management reports that include month-to-date (MTD) revenue, staffing, F&B and utility costs and forecasts with comparison to budget, YTD, and same period last year. This data enables us to monitor performance daily and take corrective action by mid month so we can address trends before they become problems." Pearson"s team also creates weekly reports for revenue managers that show revenue spending with actual sales performance and MTD vs. budget evaluation for all profit centers. To keep a tight rein on expenses, Sandals pulls data from all property P&Ls with side by side comparison to budget for current period, prior MTD, and YDT totals. "Property expense reporting goes straight to our managers for review and corrective action if necessary," Pearson explained. Pearson gained so much expertise shaping Sandals" data analysis and reporting that she suggests new BI development ideas to Aptech. Sandals is unique among most North American resort companies because it operates in three currencies. "I discovered how to input our different currencies – Jamaican dollars, USD, and Eastern Caribbean dollars – with current exchange rates for set-periods and then perform analysis to assess performance in multiple currencies. I also learned how to use Execuvue to create budgets at month-end with updates from current property data," she said. "With so much data to analyze, it is essential to report it in understandable, actionable formats, this is one reason we upgraded to the newest Execuvue version. The system lets me create more attractive reports and send them as password-protected Excel spreadsheets, graphs, and PowerPoint extracts so our managers can act on the information more quickly," Ms. Pearson says. "With complete performance data at your finger tips you can plan proactively for the future and execute more effectively on your plan." About Sandals and Beaches Resorts Sandals and Beaches Resorts has a worldwide reputation for providing two people in love with the most romantic vacation experience in the Caribbean. Currently, there are 16 Luxury Included® Sandals Resorts located in Jamaica, Antigua, St. Lucia and The Bahamas plus 6 Beaches Resorts in Jamaica, Turks and Caicos and Antigua. Each offers stunning beachfront locations; a choice of à la carte restaurants, from white-glove dining to barefoot elegance; all premium brand wine and spirits, including an exclusive partnership with California's legendary Beringer Vineyards; luxurious accommodations in a range of categories; unrivaled watersports including the Caribbean's largest PADI certification program; Butler Service for truly indulgent pampering; Sandals Weddings by Martha StewartTM; and signature Red Lane® Spas, with services and treatments inspired by the region. Sandals Resorts has been voted the Caribbean"s Leading Hotel Brand at the World Travel Awards for 16 years in a row, and World's Leading All-Inclusive Company for 14 years in a row. For more information, call your local travel agent or 1-800-Sandals (1-800-726-3257) or visit www.sandals.com. Going to HITEC 2012 in Baltimore? Visit Booth 1813 to meet the Aptech team and get a personal demonstration of all Aptech"s systems.

The Madison Concourse Hotel and Governor"s Club had been having trouble communicating electronically with guests. The CRM software previously in use by The Madison Concourse was sending booking confirmation emails too slowly—often 30 minutes after booking—and the lag was making customers nervous, resulting in unnecessary follow-up phone calls and even duplicate bookings.

MICROS Systems, Inc.(NASDAQ:MCRS), a leading provider of information technology solutions for the hospitality and retail industries, is pleased to announce thatG1 Group plc, a leading leisure operator in Scotland, has selected MICROS as its technology partner for its estate of restaurants, bars, clubs, cinemas and hotels. All 40 of the G1 outlets will implement MICROS RES, MICROS Materials Control, MICROS Enterprise Management, MICROS XBR Loss Prevention, and rugged MICROS point-of-sale hardware. The G1 hotels will implement MICROS OPERA, with its largest sites utilizing Mobile MICROS.