In the previous part of this blog series, we discussed Guest Sentiment and your Online Presence. In the 3rd and final part of the blog series, Building a Revenue Centric Culture in your Hotel, we will discuss the topic of Integrating Hotel Technology to Drive More Revenue.
Back in 2008 while I was working for Starwood Hotels & Resorts, I remember my boss always saying Speed to Market is the key to driving market share. She was a champion for technology development and always looking for the best, quickest and most seamless ways to integrate hotel technology in order to drive more market share. It was a lesson for me early on that technology is a key component in the hotel eco-system and driving revenue.
It is incredible to see the great advances in hotel technology we have made over the last decade. It is true, as an industry, we had to adapt to such rapid growth. However, many experts also say that as an industry, we are still way behind on technological advances.
A study by EY Global pointed out that internet travel booking revenue has grown by more than 73% over the past five years. At the same time, the competition to gain control of the distribution channel has intensified. Through acquisitions of property management and digital marketing platforms, online travel agents (OTAs) are providing additional services to encourage hoteliers to distribute rooms on their sites.
As the big chains have the budgets for technology and marketing power to address these issues, many independent hotels or smaller chains are left feeling overwhelmed in trying to make similar advances in technology. Because of this, it´s imperative that hotels understand the options available to them. Find the solutions that work the best for you and your staff and at the same time, understand that hotel technology is a very valuable investment. Do not rush into the decision and take your time to explore the different providers and what kind of integrations/interfaces are possible between the various systems so that everything is “talking”.
According to the Hotel Tech Report, The average hotel runs on more than 20 different technology systems and that number continues to grow with the shift to cloud architectures and open API environments. Although that number might be a bit lower for stand-alone and independent hotels it is still a staggering statistic and brings some light to the fact that we must look for a more holistic approach to hotel technology development. Let us explore a few ways that you can start building a revenue centric culture through technology developments in your hotel(s).
