SPECIAL REPORT
mind’. I think the end in mind is, we need a profitable hotel, a profitable business. “There are two strands: we have to be
effective and we have to be efficient. We have to be effective in the guest journey, because that’s about relationships. You can only be effective with a person, but you can be efficient with systems and processes. So, in terms of planning, we always look at how do we be effective with the human side of things?’ And how do we be efficient with all the other stuff? “It’s important to employ a good
management team. They can be effective and they can look at the efficiency of the business. Once you’re efficient in terms of everything you do, you’ll have profit at the end of it.”
What technologies are you
looking at most to help the future of your business?
GREGOR RITCHIE “For technology, we’re looking at a customer retention and lost-booking analysis. We’ve got to figure out lost bookings: why has it not come in and why is it not converting? “We don’t yet have the people to do
something about it. We’re recruiting a team that can look at the data to say ‘let’s improve, let’s become more efficient, let’s chase only high-value last-minute bookings’. We need to get to the sweet spot because they’re the most profitable.”
What products or tools do you
think would most improve any aspect of your business, from customer service to operations?
ROB MCGLYNN regional general manager, Supercity UK
“Tech in hospitality is very much like your iPhone. All these apps and systems have to be able to plug in. What I’m finding with the bigger players is their lack of willingness to
evolve their products. It’s very much a case of needing to be willing to innovate. You’ve always got to be willing to find out what your customers are looking for and think of how you can trial something new, like allowing a business to create a customisable system.”
JONNY SIBERRY group revenue manager, Sarova Hotels
“We put them into a couple categories to keep it simple: are tools going to make jobs easier or support staff do their job? And is it going to make it better than anything we do currently? We’re looking at customer retention, customer management and keeping in contact with third-party guests. “Currently, it’s a manual intervention of
harvesting data through OTAs. And on our wish list is a car park management tool.”
What’s your focus area of hospitality tech over the next year?
JONNY SIBERRY “We’ve tried systems in the past and they haven’t worked and so we’ve taken them out again. There’s a lot of stuff
ORyan Haynes is director of PR and marketing consultancy Haynes MarComs and host of the Travel Market Life podcast. The debate was held at The Rembrandt hotel, London
out there and they don’t necessarily make the staff more efficient. “There’s a whole new system for them
to learn. Some people struggle with technology. It’s a big decision to make.”
Haynes rounded off the insight with his own thoughts. He said: “It’s clear that hoteliers and accommodation providers are looking for ways to focus their teams on the guest, with technology a tool to address the pain points around collecting guest data and managing reservations etc. “For most hoteliers, technology is not
to replace the human but to aid efficiency so they can be effective. Therefore, it’s imperative that suppliers are able to integrate with key systems and share the right level of data to support automation. “The guest journey is paramount
to achieving this while simultaneously looking at how to make hotel jobs more enjoyable and fulfilling for staff.”
TRAVOLUTION.COM — OCTOBER 2024 — 25
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