Hotel Technology Next Generation (HTNG), the membership association that unites the world's hospitality companies and technology innovators to solve industry challenges, is closing entries for its fifth annual competition in one week. Hoteliers will then vote on the most innovative technology launched for hospitality last year and HTNG will announce the winners at its North American Conference on March 6, 2014.

With the continuing growth of tourism in Bali local accommodations of all sizes have a challenge to deploy their energy and resources in the most effective way possible. By developing a partnership with RateGain, Bali Hotel Guide has taken steps to help the Bali hotel market more efficiently access the large volume of potential guests seeking useful information and full-service assistance for their Bali vacation.

ALPHARETTA, GA. — Jan. 16, 2014 — Agilysys, Inc. (Nasdaq: AGYS), a leading provider of innovative hospitality software solutions and services, today announced InfoGenesis Flex, a new mobility solution that offers full point-of-sale functionality on the Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet 2. InfoGenesis Flex provides a sleek and modern alternative to traditional POS installation and rounds out the Agilysys technology offering to food and beverage outlets, which includes mobile point-of-sale, inventory and procurement and workforce management solutions.

IDeaS Revenue Solutions, the leading provider of pricing and revenue management software, services and consulting, today announced that Restel Hotel Group has implemented IDeaS Revenue Management System (RMS) in a further five of its key properties as they look set to recover from Finland's recession.

Agilysys, Inc. (Nasdaq: AGYS), a leading provider of innovative hospitality software solutions and services, today announced that Le Duff America, a Dallas-based restaurant group, has selected the Agilysys Eatec® inventory and procurement system and the Agilysys Workforce Management Solution™ (WMx) to enhance efficiency and reduce costs at 145 Mimi's Café locations across the country. Le Duff America currently uses the Eatec and WMx solutions at 66 la Madeleine Country French Caférestaurants nationwide.

IDeaS Revenue Solutions, the leading provider of pricing and revenue management software, services and consulting, today launched the latest versions of its cloud-based revenue management solutions – featuring the hospitality industry's first integrated mobile app with capabilities to view, update and deploy hotel pricing information.

Online travel is the most successful consumer e-commerce category in India accounting for over 80% of the entire Indian e-commerce market. Online Travel Agencies (OTA) are evolving from being mere ticketing agents and are striving to become one-stop destinations for all travel and holiday-related needs.

MICROS Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:MCRS), a leading provider of information technology solutions for the hospitality and retail industries, today announced a new strategic global collaboration with Microsoft, Dell and Intel to reimagine the hospitality and retail mobile experience for employees and customers alike. Taking advantage of recent trends in technology such as the "Consumerization of IT", MICROS is introducing an ultra-modern mobile solution that blends the best of a rich user experience, lower cost tablet devices with extended battery life, and all of the enterprise-grade capabilities provided by MICROS software. MICROS' Simphony™ Enterprise for Food & Beverage, Xstore™ for Retail, and OPERA™ for Hotels, will be the first MICROS solutions available on this new platform.MICROS software, running on Windows 8.1 technologies, coupled with a new tablet by Dell incorporating the latest Intel® Atom™ processor, bring a fluid, beautiful, touch experience to hospitality and retail operators around the world. The solution offers a highly customizable experience allowing any staff member to perform multiple activities from one device. Among other benefits, staff can dock the tablet onto the MICROS mStation, which provides reliable connectivity to peripherals such as cash drawers, scanners, scales and customer facing displays, and then go mobile for clienteling, to show specials of the day, upcoming customer events, and of course, to take orders. Managers can use the same device with access to different information such as analytics, restaurant wait lists and reservations, and to track and manage such metrics as sales and costs, inventory orders and receiving, or labor utilization. This consistent experience across devices and the flexibility of the solution will help hospitality and retail professionals to be more productive and offer better experiences to employees and customers. TheMICROS tablet experience is yet another example of how mobile devices can transform businesses with new revenue models, new ways of communicating with customers, and new ways of inspiring employees."We are excited that our collaboration will enable MICROS to expand the MICROS mobile experience for our clients with a game-changing user interface and affordable, high-performance tablet solution that doubles as a stationary workstation when docked with the MICROS mStation," stated Russell Butler, Senior Vice President of Global Research & Development, MICROS. "This collaboration exemplifies MICROS' strategic imperative to remain innovative and continually provide its clients with the latest technologies." "Dell is pleased to work with industry leaders such as MICROS, Intel and Microsoft to offer an affordable and high performance solution based on the tablet by Dell," stated Joyce Mullen, Vice President and General Manager, Dell OEM Solutions. "Dell OEM Solutions has been in business for over 15 years helping companies like MICROS bring its own ideas and technology to market by leveraging Dell hardware and services.""The opportunity for mobility in hospitality and retail is to deliver innovation that both inspires us and deliver solutions which are optimized for enterprise grade deployments," said Paul Butcher, Retail and Hospitality Strategist, Intel. "Customers of all sizes can benefit because our common commitment and understanding of business processes and business worthy solutions.""In retail, we all know that customer service is paramount and everyone wants to spend more time with the customer, and less time with technology," said Tracy Issel, General Manager Worldwide Retail, Consumer Goods and Hospitality at Microsoft. "MICROS is developing highly customizable solutions built on Windows 8.1 and Windows Embedded 8.1 Industry Pro that give businesses a beautiful, modern experience that is consistent across all devices. Whether used by a server or a manager, this solution helps operators spend more time in front of customers."Prototypes of the MICROS-Dell tablet solution will be demonstrated at the 2014 annual NRF "BIG Show" which will be held at The Jacob Javits Center in New York City, January 12-14, 2014. Visit Dell at Booth #3139. MICROS is targeting Summer 2014 for product/solution availability.

After a year of recovery and growth, hotel company executives took a break to talk about challenges and what is important. Aptech's team spoke with managers from three operators who agree that taming data overload is at the top of their “challenges” list.

PCI compliance – prime reasons to ensure you do not get caught out! Did you know that in 2012, 54 per cent of all credit card breaches and fraudulent activity worldwide occurred within the accommodation and food and beverage industry?* Regardless of the penalties any hotel could face from a compliance point of view, this statistic is still worrying and potentially very damaging to any business.