Hotel News Now’s Tech Impact Report each month features a news roundup from the hotel technology sector. Subscribe to the free monthly report here.
Expedia picks new CEO
After previous CEO Dara Khosrowshahi left Expedia to head ride-hailing service Uber, the online travel agency promoted CFO Mark Okerstrom to take over as chief executive, according to CNBC. Expedia officials expect a seamless transition.
“Prior to Dara leaving, Mark Okerstrom was his principal partner in operating the company—and therefore this transition is as natural as water flowing down a snow-packed mountain. There was no other candidate that the Board considered,” Expedia Chairman Barry Diller said in a prepared statement, according to CNBC.
The door lock hack that lead to a crime spree
Wired recently took a look at an infamous crime spree that began after an enterprising criminal discovered a way to exploit a common vulnerability in hotel door locks. The spree began in 2012 when Aaron Cashatt discovered a technological workaround to unlock electronic hotel doors, allowing him to steal everything from televisions to guests’ luggage to towels and sheets.
The crime spree for a period left authorities utterly baffled.
“Everything’s gone. No prints. No forced entry,” Tyler Watkins, a Tempe, Arizona, police detective told Wired. “It was like a ghost had slipped in and slipped out.”
How artificial intelligence can translate to hotel revenue
The combination of artificial intelligence and business intelligence can be powerful in finding revenue generation opportunities, according to a group of experts who spoke at the 2017 Hotel Data Conference in Nashville. Hotel News Now’s Bryan Wroten reported from the “TMI? No way. AI + BI = Trackable ROI” panel that the process must start with targeting insights and actionable items.
“There’s nothing that says here are the three or five things the data tells us,” said Romy Bhojwani, EVP at HotelAVE. “Part of what we do is to bring clarity to the data and conversation.”
Marriott including wearables in accelerator
Wareable reports that two companies, My Brain Technologies and Mymanu, that focus on wearable technologies “have been shortlisted as part of Marriott Hotels Testbed accelerator program.”
This is the second year of the program, which is designed “to find cutting-edge technologies that can transform our guest experience.”
Compiled by Sean McCracken.