IN ASSOCIATION WITH
THE NEXT FIVE YEARS
Commentators expect to see the trend towards cloud-based systems and use of mobile devices gather pace. Kevin Edwards at Avenue 9 says:
“A high proportion of employees in hospitality are in their 20s and used to mobile technologies, but property management systems are not enabling a smooth transition to new technologies because they are not intuitive. In the future, I expect to see more agile property management systems as we see data standards become more open; so the PMS is not just about booking in, but also about enlarging its scope to work with other systems.” Big data tools will have a much larger
role to play, according to Aditya Sanghi at
Hotelogix.com, as operators continue to seek to understand their guests and their expectations. He also predicts greater use of revenue management technology to help hotels sell their rooms at the right price. For Calum McIndoe at Infor, it’s the look
and feel of the PMS that need to change. “We are now in the age of apps, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram – these solutions are lovely and sleek-looking,” he says. “Corporate software is typically ugly and has some catching up to do. It needs to look like a consumer app so it is more intuitive for the next generation of hotel staff and managers.”
SPONSOR’S COMMENT: ORACLE
Increase revenues and boost margins with cloud-based distribution services. Today, hotels around the world face slimmer margins as they rely increasingly on bookings through third-party intermediates such as online travel agencies (OTAs), meta-search engines and global distribution systems (GDAs). How do hotels differentiate their brand, properties and services on these channels?
www.thecaterer.com
How do they personalise the travel shopping experience? How do hotels optimise the inventory they position on these channels? Today’s cloud solutions for distribution can
help you connect to OTAs and GDSs without worrying about managing infrastructure and connectivity. Hotels can view sales in near real time and optimise the allocation of inventory to each channel, maximising room occupancy.
Hotels can also manage the rates they offer through each partner, boosting margins. Look to the cloud. Take the complexity
out of your hotel systems and meet the competition head-on with a modern, nimble, solution that will improve the guest experience, boost margins and increase customer loyalty.
Technology Prospectus 2016 | 13
Gutteridge says: “Each app will
have a different pricing model. Some are more expensive for guests to download, while others are free but take a commission on any attrac- tions that are booked through them.” The latest app that Guestline has incorporated is Keez, which lets guests check into their pre-assigned room, open their door and order room service – all from their phone.
Right for the business With so many technology choices on
the market, and seemingly more arriv- ing each day, hoteliers face a daunting task in choosing the right PMS and add-ons
for their operation. Kevin Edwards, managing director of independent IT advisory firm Avenue 9, says it’s not just choosing a system that matters, but also how you use it. He says: “Every property has a PMS of some description but are they maximising the use of it? Many businesses tend to use the software out of the box and do not truly engrain it into their business. This happens even in large chains. But every single business is different and the same product is not right for all environments.”
Edwards says that instead of leaving the PMS project with the IT department or contractors, key people from the business should sit down and carefully consider what
“The hotel industry is becoming highly
fragmented – there are
more than 20 million rooms and 600,000 properties worldwide. The technology has to have some kind of standardisation, and a cloud-based platform will allow this”
Peter Agel, Oracle Hospitality
they require from a system before any PMS is implemented.
One approach that Edwards takes when working with hotels to find the right PMS for them is to focus not on a particular brand or well-known system, but on functionality. One methodology he applies is “blind scoring” – removing
all product references and branding and assessing different systems against criteria
set by the business. He explains: “There is an emotional attach- ment to certain technology brands, but if you remove the branding and focus on the technol- ogy you get a much better idea of whether the technology will provide the functionality and cater to the requirements of the business.”
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