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The Patent Troll Problem: U.S. Public Transit Agencies Targeted by Patent Assertion Firms

by admin in Legal. Posted May 14, 2015

July 3, 2013 Patent trolling, a fairly new method of coercing money from large companies, has put several U.S. transit agencies in an uncomfortable spot. So-called patent trolls, otherwise known as patent assertion agencies, are companies that don’t actually produce anything for income; instead, they purchase patents and then demand licensing fees from other companies ...

The Invisible Killer: Carbon Monoxide Safety and Hotels

by admin in Insurance & Loss Prevention, Lodging, Safety & Security. Posted May 14, 2015

Carbon monoxide has been in the news recently in the wake of a series of gas-related deaths in a North Carolina hotel. While statistically rare, carbon monoxide poisoning nonetheless presents a serious problem for both hotel operators and their guests. This gas—odorless, tasteless, and colorless—can emit from malfunctioning furnaces and water heaters. If inhaled in ...

Celebrating the Top Crisis Management Teams from the 2014 Global Congress on Travel Risk Management

by admin in Safety & Security, Travel. Posted May 14, 2015

Click here to view photo gallery We applaud the determination and innovative thinking of our corporate travel risk teams during the Immersive Crisis Management Training (ICMT) segment of the 2014 Global Congress on Travel Risk Management. They hit the ground running and successfully took on two devastating crises, the Tsunami on Jaeson Island and the ...

The Perils of Hotel Balconies

by admin in Hotel Development, Legal, Lodging, Safety & Security. Posted May 14, 2015

Many people enjoy having a balcony when staying at a hotel; between the outside air and sweeping views, there isn’t much to dislike. However, apart from general security concerns, this favorite amenity has a dark side that rears its head from time to time when tragic accidents permeate the news. On September 1, in St. ...

4 Best Practices for Food and Beverage Operators

by admin in Food & Beverage. Posted May 14, 2015

I’ve been noticing some trends in the feedback I hear from both food and beverage operators and the customers they serve. The operators know what works, and the customers know what they like. If you’re involved in the food and beverage business, I encourage you to review and consider the following best practices: 1. In ...

3 Ways a Government Shutdown Would Affect Travel and Hospitality

by admin in Travel. Posted May 14, 2015

On Monday, September 30, the U.S. House of Representatives will find itself facing a Congressional deadline; either the House approves the Senate-ratified version of a government spending bill by midnight, or the U.S. government shuts down due to lack of funding authorization. This event would trigger a number of nationwide effects, including the furlough of ...

Drones: Asset or Liability for Developers?

by admin in Technology. Posted July 28, 2014

Over the past decade, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs, or “drones”) have grown increasingly more sophisticated and affordable. With the pairing of drones and similarly flourishing digital video capture technology, many commercial real estate developers have embraced drones as a quick, inexpensive method for surveying vast tracts of property. For example, the popular DJI Phantom quadcopter ...

Hotels, Restaurants, and Firearms

by admin in Safety & Security. Posted July 18, 2014

On July 9, the Crime Prevention Research Center (CPRC) reported a marked increase in permits to carry concealed firearms. Citing official state reports as its sources, the study describes a 130-percent increase (p.4) in the number of Americans with concealed carry permits from 2007 and 2013. In 2007, 4.6 million citizens had a concealed carry license (CCL); in 2013, that number increased to ...

Ebola Examined: The History of a Viral Scourge

by admin in Safety & Security, Travel. Posted June 30, 2014

In 2014, we’ve seen epidemics and pandemics portrayed extensively in film and theorized about in mass media. Despite the low fatality rates associated with real-life outbreaks like modern-day H1N1, pandemics are typically portrayed as diseases with a devastating fatality rate. Just when we’re ready to chalk up the exceptionally high body counts of the plagues in Contagion and 24 Days Later to ...

To the World Cup and Beyond: Efective Risk Management

by Paula Bonavides in Insurance & Loss Prevention. Posted June 1, 2014

Effective risk management (against calamities such as political unrest, violent crime, health problems, ransom kidnapping, automobile accidents, building fires, and the like) is correlated with intelligent decision-making. Sending off employees to a foreign country might expose them to the risk of contracting diseases they had never before imagined, or to completely different laws and traditions—or ...