Imagine that you come across an industry report detailing what to expect in your field over the next decade – a glimpse of the future. Curiosity piqued, you read through and realize that they are describing your company word for word. Do you know what this means? You work for the future! That is how we felt when we read the “From Chaos to Collaboration” report from Amadeus (which can be read and downloaded by following the link), under the heading “Intelligent Recommendation.” (p.28) “As technologies make it easier to tag and recommend all aspects of the travel experience, travelers will increasingly be influenced by their peers. However, internet search engines and expert advice will be equally important. The combination of the three will make the exploration of niche tastes or interests while traveling more accessible to a wider group of people.” (excerpt, “From Chaos to Collaboration” p. 28) This is what our Recommendation Network™ is all about. We have spent the last 3 years researching the hospitality industry to understand how it is that hotel guests want to be interacted with in today’s digital age. It became apparent very quickly that what travelers are looking for are trusted sources …
Our team had a great time at the 2012 International CES with Dell and Startup America. We can’t say enough about how much we appreciate the support Dell has shown us, and how awesome it has been working with them. It goes without saying that Dell is one of the most-loved success stories in the U.S., but getting to know the people behind the company has been a great experience for our crew at Monscierge. Startup America was launched about a year ago at the White House to help young companies grow in five areas: expertise, services, talent, customers, and capital. One of the highlights of our CES trip was a Google+ hangout that included Startup America CEO, Scott Case, and Dell president, Consumer, Small and Medium Business, Steve Felice. “I think the effort by Dell and Startup America to promote up and coming businesses is to be commended. By promoting and supporting startups, each is helping create jobs in today’s tough economy. Other large corporations should take note and follow Dell’s lead. By giving innovative companies exposure at places such as CES, they are directly and positively impacting the engine behind the US economy, small to medium sized businesses …
Vice President of Customer Development, Amy Morgan How long have you worked for the company?I started with Monscierge in November, 2010. What is your job position and what are your responsibilities? I’m Vice President of Customer Development. It’s my responsibility to maintain all of our current customer accounts, and lead the various aspects of supporting the software and our units. That’s the technical description of my job; but really it’s my mission in life, and in my job, to keep our customers happy, get to know them by name, get a feel for their property and their individual needs, and try to meet those on a daily basis. I want them to LOVE their Monscierge unit, and our company, and be happy about inviting us into their lobbies to help keep their guests happy. Please tell me about your most rewarding or satisfying experience, your proudest moment, since you joined the company. This is a tough question. I’ve been proud at a lot of milestones and moments – this is a great company, making huge progress and always learning as we go, so I’m proud to watch that growth every day. I’d say for me, though, my most rewarding …
hospitality: (n) The friendly and generous reception and entertainment of guests, visitors, or strangers. A literal definition of hospitality seems easy enough to follow. In the industry, each brand strives for a unique realization of the word. Most individuals would like to claim they possess “amazing hospitality”, but in truth it is a difficult accomplishment. I was at a party once where the hostess was so caught up in ensuring the perfection of her itinerary, her dishes, and her presentation that she was quite rude to many of the guests and even had a few of them in tears. Later in the evening, during the toasts, she proceeded to tell a story of her mother’s gift for hospitality and claim how grateful she was that this talent was passed down to her. I was in shock, wondering how in the world she considered herself to be a hospitable person when most of her guests were squirming in their seats, anxious for the earliest appropriate moment to make their exit. It occurred to me later that the beautiful décor, delicious food, and wonderful entertainment were what she was equating with “hospitality.” On an industrial scale, it is easy enough to …
Content Specialist, Elizabeth Robinson How long have you worked for the company? Since September, 2010. What do you do in the course of the work week? My responsibilities include training and monitoring the other researchers and making sure the content they input is done correctly. I answer any questions they might have throughout the week and get them any images they need for new merchants. I also make any and all changes to the content that the hotels request (Amenity image changes, adding menus, new information about their hotel, etc.) and push the updates if needed. I’ve recently learned how to edit the XML files for offsite Monscierge boards to be able to change the airport codes, printer messages, etc., also to connect printers, and change the date and time. Ryan usually does those things but has taught me how to do them for when he is not available. Also, I have been helping with fixing errors that cause problems with some of the 1.8 boards and trying to fix them before sending them off to development. I create the demo devices for the sales team as well as enter all new real devices into Salesforce, creating their username and …