With the rebound in tourism, hotels worldwide are looking at ways to streamline and bring in new technologies to make guest stays more comfortable and personalized. From music device docking stations to super-smooth self check-in's, hotels are going all out to ensure that guest needs are met in the easiest, most flawless way possible (a difficult task by any means, esp. when it comes to technology).

"Some chains like Starwood's (Research) Sheraton hotels have installed kiosks that allow guests to swipe their credit card, get a room key in minutes, and bypass the front desk altogether.
Intercontinental's (Research) Holiday Inn chain is testing its "eCheck" system in Duluth, Ga., that allows guests to print boarding passes as they head out for the airport."

Read the article here: Checking into the hotels of the future - Feb. 15, 2006

tags: hospitality

AOL and Yahoo may soon start charging companies the equivalent of postage to assure that emails get to the recepients for sure...bypassing the junk and bulk mail folders and spam guards.

While the companies claim this will be a good way to reduce the ever-increasing amount of spam, it seems clear that companies like Yahoo and AOL will definitely be the biggest winners in such a scenario.. not only will they net millions of dollars in rvenues for such e-"postage" fees, but this realistically speaking, is not the best way to protect consumers. After all, email marketers and other companies could very well spend their budgets on such "direct-marketing" efforts to reach consumers .. but is this really very different from spamming? Or will this be the era of paid, assured SPAM!?

Read the story here: AOL and Yahoo put price on e-mail - Technology - International Herald Tribune

tags: email