Alison Guillot
Originally published on PhocusWire
When thinking about a hotel’s current technology capabilities, what comes to mind? Innovation? Long-term growth potential? Guest personalization? Open API architecture? Intuitive design? All of these are essential for operating in today’s competitive landscape.
Technology upgrades are proving to be top of mind this year, as hoteliers using legacy software or those with major gaps in functionality are increasingly worried about being outperformed. As a result, new global research from Amadeus has revealed a strong appetite to spend. Nearly all (91%) travel companies surveyed say they expect ‘moderate to aggressive’ increases in investment in their organizations in 2024.
In order to maximize revenue across the business, hoteliers should focus their budget on elevating the guest experience using advanced reservations, distribution, marketing, and data services. It will take an integrated set of solutions to tackle challenges hoteliers have long struggled with due to aging technology. Here are 5 signs a hotel tech stack is outdated, along with tips on which state-of-the-art solutions to consider instead.
1. Guest personalization is near impossible
Amadeus research shows personalization is not only a top priority for travelers, but for hoteliers too. Some 85% of respondents from the hospitality sector anticipate that personalization could help them to deliver more than 5% growth in incremental revenue.
With so much emphasis being placed on guest personalization, hoteliers need to build their tech stack from the ground up, beginning with a central reservations system (CRS) and booking engine that can recognize users and returning guests. This will allow them to avoid a basic, transactional shop and book process in favor of one that offers dynamic, personalized and tailored experiences.
Hoteliers should think about offering in-room champagne and chocolates for returning couples, reserved tee times at the nearby golf course for larger groups, or an invitation to join the hotel’s rooftop yoga class for a guest that always visits the gym. When travelers feel like a brand knows them and what they want, it increases their likelihood to book and deepens loyalty.
In addition to the web and ecommerce experience, guest management systems (GMSs) can be used at any stage of the guest lifecycle (before, during, and after stays) to keep guests engaged with unique and tailored offers, or discounts and promotions to incentivize a return trip.
2. Upsell opportunities are limited
Similarly to guest personalization strategies, hoteliers could be leaving money on the table if they don’t embrace creative ways to upsell guests on aspects of their stay that are most important to them.
Today’s innovative CRSs and booking engines can support experiential and added value offers. Hoteliers can create additional revenue streams during the booking process by monetizing all aspects of a hotel – spa, pool, bike share program, dining, etc. These assets can all be creatively worked into pricing and upselling strategies during the shop and book process.
Additionally, hoteliers can try incorporating added value offers such as ‘free parking’, ‘% off’, ‘flat fee’, ‘one room left’ or ‘one night free’ language to a guest’s search to introduce urgency, sweeten the deal, and get them to convert.
3. Distribution is difficult to manage
Hotel distribution can feel overwhelming for people stuck trying to update information across multiple sites. That will only lead to rate parity challenges and eat up valuable time.
Having a channel manager will take a lot of stress out of the equation by automatically updating rates, inventory, availability, and other information across all channels. Hotels should ensure their channel manager has a wide, global reach – connecting across all three major global distribution systems (GDSs), online travel agencies (OTAs) and more to increase their online footprint and gain more visibility and bookings.
Based on the needs of the property, hoteliers may also want to consider a dedicated call center staff to complement their current strategy.
4. Marketing and demand generation capabilities are missing
For hotels with limited staff, a strategic marketing plan can be difficult to get off the ground. Plus, how can hoteliers know if their efforts are truly resonating with the people they are trying to reach?
Technology exists to help hotels drive profitable demand with omni-channel digital advertisements that are built to target the right audiences, on the right channel, at the right time. These campaigns can then be thoughtfully tracked and optimized to achieve a measurable return on investment.
Metasearch and SEO programs are two additional marketing strategies that drive real results to get a hotel seen on the most popular internet search engines influencing travelers.
5. Data is siloed
With all of these different systems running in parallel, data-driven decision making is critical. But it can be cumbersome to generate reports from individual solutions, then try and compare the results to achieve an overall performance picture.
Instead, hotels need cloud-based integrated solutions that offer actionable insights into hotel performance, booking trends, pace, and best-selling packages and upsell offers. Multi-views, filters, and data exports allow for further analysis and customized reporting.
Integrated and interactive reporting dashboards are a must in a hotel technology stack to understand which areas of the business are performing well, and which can be improved.
Hotel technology is constantly evolving to better support the needs of the industry, but the most sophisticated solutions in the marketplace today are designed with intuitive features to make hotel management simple. From large resorts to mid-size chains, and independent to boutique properties, there is technology available to help streamline operations and support a hotel’s goals. In a few clicks, hoteliers should be able to activate a new offer, run a performance report, edit the website, or send a loyalty email.
All of this is possible with Amadeus’ iHotelier® Suite – the latest innovation to the leading reservations and booking engine featuring a “build your own” suite of solutions model. Learn more on our website.
