Speaking of shows, the Technology Pavilion that UPDATE Magazines has put together for the International Hotel/Motel and Restaurant Show in NY November 6-9th came out great. The best thing is there is such a wide variety of solutions that will be shown. Companies will range from IBM Global Services, who will be there showing their new Sell-off and Auction Solution, to Hotel-Online, the creators of this wonderful (until I got involved) system. There will be the latest and greatest in the world of Call Accounting, quite a few high-speed Internet solutions for both the guest and meeting rooms, Internet solutions for the room that includes a PC, Internet access through a kiosk in the lobby, e-commerce solutions, Business to Business solutions via the Internet and also some new PMS solutions from the U.S. market and some coming in from Europe.  One day in our Technology Pavilion and the rest of the technology section of the show will enlighten you to the latest and greatest things that are happening in our industry. I think this is going to be quite cool. 

Okay, here comes the news. I will be back at the end with my attempt at humor and words of wisdom. Since I mentioned that I did my first ever interview with a female CIO-type in our fall issue, (that is currently at the printer) I decided it was time to do a blond joke....with a twist. By the way, if you are not on our mailing list, please email your address to mailto:[email protected] and include �subscribe� in the subject line or just go to http://www.updateplus.com/and click on register for our products. I will �see� you in a bit.

Top o� The News 

Kudos to Dick Johnson, the founder of the very same Hotel-Online which brings you this newsletter. He's just been awarded the sole 1999 Telman MasterTech Award, given, to quote Dan Prosser, CEO of Telman, "to hotel management companies, hotel companies or individuals in the hospitality industry who are producing unprecedented results through bringing people and technology together." The fact that you're reading this at all is itself a testimonial to the power and effectiveness of Dick's vision in founding the newsletter, which now reaches about 20,000 subscribers. 
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MICROS Systems, Inc. has acquired hotel yield management system vendor OPUS 2 Revenue Technologies, Inc. The acquisition fills a gap in MICROS-Fidelio's product range, and offers an intriguing glimpse into the future possibilities of integrating revenue management technology into combined CRS, PMS, S&C and POS operations. 

MICROS has already announced that it will integrate OPUS' TopLine PROPHET system with its OPERA suite, Central Reservation System and Front Office Version 6.0 systems. Existing OPUS 2 customers include Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Grupo Posadas and Sunburst Hospitality Corporation. 
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Eltrax Systems kicked off a major restructuring by splitting itself into two major operating groups (Technology Services and Hospitality Services) and announced that it is actively evaluating "other options" including refinancing, possible asset sales and strategic mergers. The Technology Services Group will have three operating units: 

Technology Solutions will provide strategic assessment, application and network design, custom application development and integration, network management, support and maintenance. 

Customer Care will continue to provide Eltrax's internal 7x24 help desk, training and installation services, and will now also offer them on an outsourcing basis. 

Application Services will provide outsourcing and remote delivery of applications including network and application management - the "software for rent" approach that is a current hot topic in the industry. 

The Hospitality Services Group will continue to provide software, training and installation services to thehospitality industry, and includes the "SQUiRREL" POS system, Medallion PMS and Senercomm energy management system. 
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Following its Power Up PMS program with another large-scale gesture in property technology, Cendant Corp. is offering 4500 interactive property Web sites to franchisees within its Travelodge, Ramada Inn, Days Inn and Howard Johnson brands. The initiative, offered via an exclusive, three-year agreement with Netopia Inc., a provider of Web site, e-commerce and DSL equipment, is intended to jump-start the properties into the Internet world, helping them expand event business, partner more efficiently with local and regional attractions and institutions; and respond more quickly to various travel promotions. 

Raising the technology bar even further, Cendant is also offering high-speed, Internet access technology to over 700,000 rooms at more than 6,000 properties in its Ramada, Howard Johnson, and Days Inns chains and resort properties affiliated with Resort Condominiums International (RCI), its timeshare exchange company, via a five-year agreement with CAIS Internet and VirtuaLINC. The broadband links will also be made available via public area Internet kiosks in select Cendant franchised properties. The high-speed, Internet access system will include CAIS and VirtuaLINC's joint deployment of IPORT Internet kiosk and meeting room broadband access; guest room connectivity and portal content will be solely based on CAIS's broadband network, which uses each property's existing phone wiring. Meeting room services will include interactive video communications through the use of the V2PN network (Virtual Video Private Network). The project is slated to begin roll-out in January of 2000; properties will also benefit by sharing in user fees and revenue generated from electronic commerce activities associated with guest use of the system. 
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While we're talking about awards, online travel services provider TRIP.com announced its second annual BOOT (Best Of Online Travel) Awards, recognizing industry leaders that have made significant impacts on business travelers through technology, tools and services. Among the winners, selected by a "panel" of more than one million high-tech travelers, were: 

• Most Connected Carrier -- American Airlines 
• Best Corporate Concierge -- Marriott 
• Most Wired Inn -- Marriott Hotels, Resorts and Suites 
• King of the Road -- Hertz 
• Best Techno Terminal -- Denver International Airport 
• Best Real-Time Resource -- Yahoo! 
• Mobile Must Have -- Sony Discman 
• Best Digital Downtown -- NYC (www.nycvisit.com) 
• Best Mileage Maniac -- FrequentFlier.com, (www.frequentflier.com) 
• Best Passport Partner -- Microstate.net 

The survey covered more than 200 business travelers in the United States who travel at least four times a year. Over 43% of those surveyed reported increasing frustrations from canceled or delayed flights, unruly crowds, long lines, and uncomfortable airline seating, and 63% stated that travel hassles were having a growing, negative impact on their ability to be effective.  54% believed that the Internet is becoming a viable alternative for meetings and presentations, and could reduce their total travel requirements by nearly 20%. The survey indicated that conference calls are being significantly enhanced by the Internet. Nearly 80% of those surveyed felt that Web conferencing, which lets browser-linked conferees see and participate in presentations, product demonstrations, and whiteboard discussions while talking over a standard voice conference call lines, is very cost-effective. These results are consistent with a similar survey commissioned by MCI and cited in a recent Meetings in America 1999 research report, where over 70% of managers and executives indicated they expect to use the Web for meetings or presentations in the coming year.  

Execs in the news: 

Telman appointed Guy McPhail as its new president and chief operating officer, replacing Telman�s founder Dan Prosser who will continue to serve as Chairman and CEO.  Mr. McPhail had served as vice president of Telman since June 1998, and had previously spent over nineteen years in finance, management and consulting services. 
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Cendant Corp appointed Robert Mason as Executive VP & CIO, replacing David McNicholas who is retiring; He will report to Stephen P. Holmes, Cendant Vice Chairman & Chairman and CEO, Cendant Travel Division.  Mr. Mason was most recently CIO and President of MicroAge�s Services Group, and previously held similar positions at Anheuser-Busch and GE Lighting. 
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Lexington Services promoted John Schackmann to CIO from his previous position as VP of Information Technology.  Before joining Lexington in 1997, he had spent six years at ENSERCH Corporation, maintaining and supporting one of Texas� largest voice and data networks, and had managed telecommunications and voice and data networks for Murray Financial 
Corporation. 

Internet Reservations 

Infoseek Corp. has added online reservations to WorldRes.com�s 9,000 properties to the Vacations pages of its GO Network GO Travel site. The WorldRes PlacesToStay addition provides detailed property information, including photos and descriptions, as well as search and real-time booking capabilities. 
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WorldRes.com also contracted with seven more statewide destination marketing organizations (DMOs), bringing its total to 36 states. The new DMO partners are: 

• Delaware Hotel-Motel Association;
• Louisiana Hotel-Motel Association; 
• Montana Innkeepers Association; 
• North Carolina Hotel & Motel Association; 
• Rhode Island Hospitality and Tourism Association; 
• Tennessee Hotel & Motel Association; and 
• Vermont Lodging & Restaurant Association. 

MapBlast! has incorporated on-line services from Hilton Hotels Corp. into its driving directions and street-level map Website; by clicking on the Hilton button, users will be shown a map of their travel destination with nearby participating U.S. Hilton locations on it and be able to access detailed property information and make reservations. 
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WizCom International announced that both SynXis Corporation, a Web-based eCommerce and software solutions company, and Vagabond Inns, a western U.S. hotel brand, signed on to use its Wizdom Global Distribution System (GDS) reservation system. The Wizdom GDS switch will provide both companies with extensive global distribution system connectivity, including interactive Type A processing, seamless connectivity, on-line rate updates and availability processing.  

SynXis offers a low cost, web-based hotel reservation system that maintains a single, real-time representation of a property�s inventory. SynXis and WizCom are also in discussions to develop the first HITIS compliant seamless interface for GDS distribution. Vagabond Inns has over thirty properties throughout California, Nevada, and Washington. The chain currently processes bookings manually via Sabre and Galileo only. 
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Galileo International announced the availability of a new Internet self-help tool for its U.S. travel agents. Web Based Help offers Apollo system users online assistance with instant access to highly-searchable online reference documentation, trouble shooting tips, answers to frequently asked questions, and real-time communication of Atlanta Customer Support Center (ACSC) Help Desk hold times. Galileo�s traditional customer service will continue to be available 24/7 to travel agents by calling the ACSC Help Desk. 
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Ariba, Inc. is integrating Web-based travel booking capabilities from GetThere.com (formerly Internet Travel Network) into its ORMS intranet-based Travel and Expense eCommerce system. The integrated solution will provide ORMS users with the automated creation and pre-population of travel expense reports. 
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Concur Technologies also added GetThere.com�s on-line travel booking and management facilities, to its Concur eWorkplace corporate environment, as the Concur Travel Network for 24x7 access to booking air, car, or hotel reservations, and viewing air schedules and fares. In addition to the Travel Network, Concur eWorkplace includes Concur Expense for travel and entertainment expense management, Concur Procurement for Web purchasing, and Concur Human Resource for HR processing and self-service, and is used by over 235 companies worldwide. 
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REZsolutions enhanced its GDS connectivity by providing expanded seamless connections to AMADEUS for Utell, Axcess, Summit Hotels Resorts, Golden Tulip Worldwide, Taj Hotels and Ian Schrager. This will provide travel agents with direct access to real-time room availability for REZsolutions� member hotels worldwide via Amadeus� Complete Access Plus. REZsolutions implemented both Galileo Inside Availability and SABRE Direct Connect Availability earlier this year. 
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Topaz Hotel Services announced that BookAbility.net, its Web-based reservations product, is now fully operational with Joie de Vivre, The Kimpton Group, and Personality Hotels. BookAbility.net provides the hotel�s Web site with reservation and booking capabilities based upon real-time availability and rate information, and can handle various rate tiers, length of stay restrictions and other property-unique variables. 
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Sight & Sound Software has added eFusion�s Push to Talk technology to its BookSmart 2.0 online travel booking engine, providing voice-enabled customer service for online travel Web sites. Push to Talk enables Internet users to make calls to a standard telephone or to a call center agent without interrupting their Internet session. 
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Diners in Minneapolis and St. Paul can now make restaurant reservations on-line at participating locations, using Time4.com�s new Internet-based service. Pilot restaurants include Rainforest Cafe at Mall of America, Bobino, and Fiddleheads Bistro, with Table of Contents in both Minneapolis and St. Paul coming online shortly. Guests can check availability and make confirmed reservations instantly 24 hours a day, either at the Time4 site or through the various restaurant Web sites. 
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PhoneLink plc launched a licensing package for its Internet travel software, Ticket Window Internet, offering travel agents who have a Galileo link their own branded Internet presence. This provides user with Internet access to real-time pricing and availability of flights and hotels, and the ability to accept bookings online directly from the website to the agent. The first international licensee is Dutch agency Advanced Travel Partners (ATP).  Licensee travel agents can either brand PhoneLink�s solution as their own and incorporate it within their existing Website, or use PhoneLink�s branded site. Ticket Window Internet will also allow travel agents to promote their own fares/rates for tickets, as opposed to giving out those published by the airline/hotel, and to build a database of travelers� profiles, both corporate and FIT. 

Sales & Catering, Meeting Planning 

Newmarket International announced it has linked the Delphi systems at the ClubCorp Resorts properties at Barton Creek, Texas, and Pinehurst, North Carolina, to Global SFA 7.2, its first implementation replicating a global sales database to property-level sales automation systems.  ClubCorp�s global sales database (which runs on Microsoft SQL Server 7.0) is updated automatically when bookings are created at the property level; it will eventually link to a total of five resort properties. 

Newmarket also announced that Wyndham International has installed its Global SFA 7.2 system at a specially created data center at Wyndham�s corporate headquarters in Dallas, and will use it to to unite its five national sales offices, located in Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, New York, and Washington D.C.  Global SFA 7.2 will be launched in November with the rest of 
Newmarket�s 7.2 product line, all of which employs MS SQL Server 7.0, and includes Delphi Multi-Property Edition and Delphi 7.2. http://www.newsoft.com/ 

Guest Services 

Guestroom Internet-access traffic is up, especially if the price is right; STS Communications announced that September usage for Extension 2000 at the Marriott Denver City Center grew by 89%, with an average of 45 Internet sessions per weekday. Guest usage costs $4.99 per day for unlimited connectivity to a T1 Internet connection. Internet access is currently provided in approximately 100,000 guestrooms in the US. Jupiter Communications predicts that by 2002, 4,000,000 guestrooms will include some kind of Internet access. 
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PCRoomLink vendor Solar Communications Group appointed Paul R. Hager as Senior Vice President of International Business. Mr. Hager previously served as a co-founder and Senior Partner of two Baltimore-based consulting companies, The Venture Group and The Bolton Group, LLC, and served for eight years as the Special Assistant to the Director of the National Security Agency. 
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LodgeNet Entertainment Corp announced that its services are now being delivered to more than 750,000 guest rooms in hotels, casinos and resorts worldwide. 
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Teledex will integrate Tut Systems Inc.�s HomeRun high-speed, Internet access technology into its TeamNet option for its voice and data telephones, offering hotel guests an all-in-one, plug-and-play device to receive an �always-on�, high-speed Internet connection. The new TeamNet accessory is an upgrade module which attaches underneath Teledex�s Diamond, Milenium and Opal telephones, allowing for high-speed, Internet access using the hotels� existing telephone wiring. 
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Liberty Media is acquiring Ascent Entertainment (Nasdaq: GOAL), majority owner of On Command Video (Nasdaq: ONCO). Ascent�s sports properties are not included in the deal, which will tie On Command�s hotel room base to Liberty�s existing programming and distribution resources. The all-stock transaction values Ascent at $513.6 million, or $17.26/share, a modest discount to Tuesday�s closing price. News of the transaction sparked a steep climb in competitor LodgeNet Entertainment (Nasdaq: LNET) share price, while Seachange International�s price actually dropped. 
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Bass Hotels and CAIS Internet announce CAIS� selection as preferred broadband provider to Bass Hotels & Resorts. This agreement gives CAIS access to Bass� 400,000 hotel rooms worldwide. Coupled with the Cendant and Hilton agreements, CAIS extends it�s lead in the hotel company master agreement race to lock up guest room real estate for Internet access. 

Purchasing 

The Marketplace by Marriott, the procurement arm of Marriott International, Inc., signed an electronic purchasing program contract with PurchasePro.com to develop a private �e-marketplace.�  This will enable Marketplace customers and suppliers to participate in a single interactive trading community supported with electronic catalogs, embedded corporate purchasing rules and robust reporting and archiving features.  A pilot test will link a 
test group of vendors and approximately 25 Marriott properties throughout the USA. 

Communications 

Premier Hospitality Management, Inc. has signed a five year contract with Telman for its nine hotels to use Telman's Focused Scorecard, an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) class of software for the hospitality industry. Focused Scorecard uses a hotel's information with a discreet set of metrics to establish a fundamental structure for better management practices. Premier Hospitality intends to use the Focused Scorecard to integrate its property management systems with its corporate office accounting systems, and help their hotels control payroll costs as well as manage day to day key operations. 
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Teledex Corp and TT Systems Corp have joined forces with investment firm The Jordan Company to form a manufacturing and sales company marketing industrial, business, and consumer telecommunications products worldwide. This will be effected through the formation of a common holding company, Telecom Industries LLC, with the business operations of Teledex and TT Systems as separate subsidiary companies. Telecom Industries' President will be Ron Lesniak, formerly President of Teledex; he will be succeeded by Dan Seale, who moves from his former position as Teledex Vice President of International Operations. 
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Swiss telemanagement product vendor ComTelco has acquired Telephone Management Systems Ltd (TMS), a major UK and Belgium-based manufacturer of telephone call management and voicemail systems for the hospitality industry. The acquisition will provide ComTelco with a UK based outlet for it's own products and access to TMS' considerable hotel user base throughout Europe, Middle East and Africa. ComTelco aims to expand TMS' products into the Asian and American markets. 

E-Business 

Office Depot has announced a strategic relationship with Purchase Pro.  The relationship fuled by an equity investment by Office Depot will profile Office Depot on Purchase Pro�s stable of business-to-business e-community marketplaces.

Got a call today from a ASP/VPN gal who is linking several CRM systems and an SFA package.  They powered-up a new NOC and are debuting a site put together by 20 hot HTML geeks with hundreds of URLs and JPEGs, but they are still having a few problems with their HTTP launch, and, more importantly, PCM. 

We talked for a long time, and I never let on that I was writing down her acronyms...because I only understood about half of what she was saying.  So here is the Did You Know decoder 

• ASP - application service provider
• VPN - virtual private network
• CRM-customer relationship management (a very hot buzz word)
• SFA - sales force automation
• NOC - network operations center
• HTML - hypertext markup language
• URL - uniform resource locator
• JPEG - joint photographic experts group
• HTTP - hypertext transfer protocol
• PCM - product change management

Remember when I told you that I was at Hospitality Solutions in London a couple of weeks ago? I was at a dinner and there were about 14 people at our table. Someone at the table was asking everybody what their plans were for New Years. It was interesting since almost everybody said that they were going to be home or at neighbors. Of course, when I was asked, I said heck, I don�t even know what I am doing this weekend, how could I possibly have plans for New Year�s Eve? Since most of our readers are in the hotel industry and will probably be working, I guess nobody out there has really been worrying about this. But, if you would like to comment or share some thoughts on what you expect will happen or what you might be planning, then send me an email at :[email protected]. If I get some good ones, I will use them in upcoming Siegel Sez Online. Do remember, you will be sharing them with nearly 20,000 people so do think of the repercussions that might come with that. Or, tell me to keep them anonymous, and I will do that. Hey, this could be fun. 

OK, in honor of my doing my first female interview in our upcoming issue of the UPDATE, here is my twist on the infamous �blonde joke.�