Jon Inge » Tech News

Dropping the ball on service cripples the marketing message

Jon — Thu, 17 May 2012 17:50:05 +0000

Managing expectations continues to be one of the hardest things we do. Sometimes in this entitlement-prone society guest expectations are simply unreasonable (“I expect unlimited Internet bandwidth, free!”), in which case all we can do is respond as rationally as we can and trust that the wider audience will understand what’s possible and what’s simply impractical to provide.

Sometimes, though, marketing gets ahead of reality, and we have to constantly navigate the fine line between attracting guests with great photography and appealing amenity offers and promising more than we’re prepared to deliver. Guest feedback sites help keep this in check, of course, quickly pointing out transgressions (e.g. on TripAdvisor, Expedia and others) or posting guests’ own photos to show more typical views (Oyster.com). To maintain trust hoteliers must constantly monitor this feedback and respond appropriately, both on-line to the public and internally to correct service deficiencies. To do otherwise is to risk undermining all the marketing and training effort spent on building up a brand and image in the first place.

This is why it’s especially discouraging to find that the mobile site of a particular chain’s technology-focused flag crashes every time a guest tries to book a hotel with it. And that it’s done so for nearly a year without being updated, judging by the comments posted on-line by frustrated users. No, I’m not going to name it; the brand in question is already aware of the situation, and maybe this will encourage others to make sure reality matches their marketing message a little more closely.

Promising something and then failing to deliver on that promise is worse than not offering it at all.

Why the lack of adoption of fully-integrated hospitality systems? And why no US vendors?

Jon — Thu, 10 May 2012 00:56:22 +0000

There’s a lot to be said for minimizing the number of different systems that hotels have to deal with on property. Whenever data has to be transferred between applications (despite the interface flexibility provided by Web-services approaches) there’s always some potential for inaccuracy, given that the two systems’ designers may have had slightly different intentions for data elements with the same name. Further, staff needing to use multiple systems also have to deal with multiple user interfaces, each usually with a unique look and feel, and often have to research guest data in several systems to see the full picture.

An all-in-one integrated system that provides appropriate functionality across the board for a property’s needs – which is something each must evaluate for itself –has two major advantages. The users will see it as a seamless, uniform tool for all of their needs, and will have confidence in the completeness of the data they see. Further, management will have access, in real time, to accurate data from all parts of the operation in a single database, with all that this implies in terms of effective marketing and efficient management.

While several systems integrate multiple traditionally separate areas – typically GMS, Sales & Catering, Room Reservations and Activity Bookings, sometimes also POS – there are very few that cover the full range, including financial accounting, labor management and payroll, to provide complete, real-time business information. Among these few are Cenium, which has been gaining steady acceptance in the US market and internationally, and IDS NEXT, which recently published a white paper on the value of a hospitality ERP system. Another is Prologic First’s suite, which I recently reviewed in India and which impressed me with its breadth of functionality.

Despite Cenium’s current base in Las Vegas, however, all three of these systems were developed overseas (Cenium in Iceland and Norway, IDS Next and Prologic First in India) and all have found significant success internationally. Why are North American hotels reluctant to adopt this approach? And who will be the first US vendor to offer a competitive product?

Suggestions for a new range of hospitality systems? (contd.)

Jon — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 17:42:14 +0000

More suggestions for our mythical range of hospitality-focused systems, including some from our readers.

- Inn-Ability and Inn-Competence, two options for staff training

- Inn-Sanity, the interface development module (Doug Rice, from HTNG: are you trying to tell us something, Doug?)

- Inn-Opportune, a business generation tool for marketing (Pete Allen, from hyphen)

- Inn-Famous and Inn-Memoriam, two loyalty program/guest recognition modules (Pete Allen)

- Inn-Security, web based streaming video feeds of all hotel exits not used by thieves (Ron Strecker, AJS Hotels)

- Inn-Cognito, providing such seamless integration you won’t even know it’s there (Ariel Herr, Pegasus)

- Inn-Deep, which has more functionality than you know what to do with.

Moving to a more efficient use of hospitality technology

Jon — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 19:05:57 +0000

Spring conference season is in full flow. I attended both HTNG’s North American Conference two weeks ago and Rich’s Vendor Summit last week, and learned much from the principal speakers at each. One theme touched on at both was that we still have trouble getting the value of IT across to hotel owners and management, and that greater cooperation across all disciplines is needed if we’re ever to get out from under the restrictions of our current fractured state.

At HTNG, Marriott Global CIO Bruce Hoffmeister encouraged all managers to think of themselves as company leaders, temporarily assigned to specific areas but nonetheless responsible as a team for the company’s success. This helps all think of their projects first in terms of the overall business case instead of specific department gain (or technology coolness factor). Being honest and transparent with each other, and knowing that everyone has the same overall goal, really helps each understand and accept why certain priorities are chosen even when all options are beneficial.

Over at the Vendor Summit, John Burns’ thoughtful presentation on current influences on the hospitality market mentioned the growing presence of venture capital in hotel ownership; Blackwood’s acquisition of La Quinta, Hilton and Extended Stay America is just one example. This impact isn’t yet clear, but such firms aren’t typically long-term investors; they look to improve the efficiency of the businesses they acquire with a view to a profitable sale – and one area where we’re notoriously inefficient is in technology. We’re all aware of our continued use of obsolete systems such as 40-year-old GDSs, not to mention the well-known mix of multiple, un-integrated systems in most properties. Bryson Koehler, following a ten-year career at Intercontinental Hotels Group dealing with these very issues on a daily basis, spoke of his goal of using the funds of Exigen Capital (where he now oversees travel investments) to bring about change in this situation.

No-one knows where and how this will come about, but change is definitely in the air. We stand a better chance of reaching a smoother, more efficient future if we all recognize it as a common goal and cooperate openly to move towards it.

Suggestions for a new range of hospitality systems?

Jon — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 17:41:46 +0000

Vendors strive to come up with a product name that’s catchy and memorable, and it’s often tempting to help by including a reference to this wonderful industry. Kudos to all the vendors who’ve got it right, but in the spirit of being helpful – and mindful that April 1 is approaching fast – I thought I’d offer the following suggestions to help the marketing departments of any vendors still struggling to find the perfect product name. I wonder if we’ll see any of them at HITEC?

- Inn-Decision, perhaps the best business intelligence tool on the market?
- Inn-Discrete, the most understated system available
- Inn-Case, for 24/7 back-ups
- Inn-Deed, the ultimate tool for hotel owners
- Inn-Explicable, the Help Desk module
- Inn-YourDreams, the perfect product for every property
and, inevitably,
- Inn-A-Gadda-Da-Vida, the system that really rocks.

Send me your suggestions for further additions to the portfolio, and I’ll include them in future newsletters.

Windows 8 beta points to better touch-screen interfaces, but will they be any faster?

Jon — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 22:36:08 +0000

Spring is in the air and things are definitely stirring. It’s also a traditional time for new announcements by Apple, whose new iPad is due to be announced tomorrow (as I write this) and which always prompts thoughts as to how we might improve the usability of systems in general and hotel systems in particular. Not to disparage Apple’s aesthetic inspiration, but the directions Microsoft takes are usually more meaningful for mainstream users, and this week’s release of the Public Beta version of Windows 8 is therefore highly significant.

Its tile-based screen design, an enhancement of Microsoft’s Phone software approach, is both visually appealing and intuitively useful, with various tiles displaying brief information on their underlying context such as the number of unread e-mails. The applicability to hospitality management systems is obvious – different tiles could easily lead to lists of arriving guests, in-house groups, VIPs or other categories of information – but I’m just as interested in whether this will lead to a more touch-based interface in general.

Clearly many vendors have been moving towards this, as witness the number of tablet-based versions of systems now available. Few, however, have changed the fundamental design of their user interfaces towards a primarily touchscreen approach, with the notable and admirable exception of PAR Springer-Miller’s Atrio system. Most have ported their standard screen designs over to touch-screen devices and left it to the users to cope as best they can with fingers somewhat larger than ideal for the small target buttons. Microsoft’s new approach shows much more promise, although as with Atrio it remains to be seen how far the metaphor can be applied into more detailed functions such as setting up a multi-day, multi-room type group block with complex charge routing.

One thing I am curious about, though, is whether this touch-screen direction will actually produce faster processing of routine functions such as check-ins. When mouse-driven graphical user interfaces were first introduced they were always slower than traditional keyboard-based approaches, due to the need to focus and carefully position the cursor before clicking the mouse. With time, however, a generation of users brought up on Windows and gaming consoles closed the gap and began to see keyboards as the slower option. Will touch-screens be faster or slower? Drop me a line (jonjoningecom) and let me know what you think.

New announcements highlight fresh energy in hospitality tech

Jon — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 22:14:29 +0000

Some years start off slowly, but the news this week is full of innovation and good progress reports. Some of last year’s new systems are gaining good traction, and a number of innovative new ideas have been announced.

For example:
- the eagerly-awaited first installation of Springer-Miller’s new Atrio GMS was announced
- Softbrand’s new HMS now has over 20 systems installed or on order, both in the USA and internationally
- Gogo brings last minute hotel bookings to passengers in flight through HotelTonight
- Nor1 has integrated its software with Opera to provide individually-targeted upgrade offers to guests who have just booked based on their profile and history data, truly getting into to one-to-one marketing
- OpenWays is gaining ground with new orders for its phone-based room keys from the USA and France
- LodgeNet’s new Mobile App lets guests use smartphones and tablets as TV remote controls, with a local channel guide for the hotel where they’re staying. What a useful concept; not only does it make channel surfing so much easier, it means you no longer have to wonder how clean the existing TV remote is…

Only six weeks in and already we’re seeing plenty of excitement and fresh ideas. It’s going to be a good year!

ALIS acknowledges value of technology, so why is it still under-funded?

Jon — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 00:06:45 +0000

As you’ve read elsewhere, this year’s ALIS conference was a happily high-energy event, with a palpable sense of confidence in the recovery of business – in this case, the business of buying and selling hotels. It’s by no means a technology conference, but a couple of break-out sessions brought out how critical technology is to hotel operations, and how little that fact is appreciated by owners.
One was a presentation of the recent AH&LA/STR-sponsored Distribution Channel Analysis survey, given by Cindy Estis Green and Mark Lomanno, both of whom absolutely know what they’re talking about in this area. Their key findings were that marketing doesn’t generate new business overall, it just shifts it from one hotel to another and one channel to another, and that each new entrant into the distribution game (e.g. Google, and possibly Apple) will inevitably add new intermediary costs to the room inventory it offers. Hotels’ distribution costs are therefore likely to increase to generate the same level of traffic. The only way to stay ahead is to know your guests’ profiles and preferences in enough detail to make specifically-appealing offers to them on their preferred channels, and to be very thorough in including all channel costs in deciding how to price and where to place each offer. And the only way to be successful at that is through good technology, to collect and analyze the data and to act swiftly on its findings.
The other session was a discussion on what asset managers have learned from the challenges of the last few years. The panel included representatives from a hotel chain, a management company, two owners and an asset management consultant, and their universal response was the same: “we didn’t use technology as well as we ought to have done.” Yet when asked why their CapEx plans never included funds for management technology (though they do for regular re-painting of the door trim in the front desk area, according to a CapEx survey), the responses were “no-one ever tells me when I need to spend money on it” and “we know we have to spend funds from time to time to bring it back up to scratch, but beyond that…”
The sad part of this is the general perception that despite giving face value to the need to do a better job with it, technology is apparently still too often seen as a burden that will only be addressed when it’s fallen so far behind as to be embarrassing. There’s a real case to be made for a technology CapEx reserve as well as an FFE one, to provide funds for regular updates to stay competitive. Any property or chain occasionally “bringing it back up to scratch” will always be out-performed by competitors who recognize its essential contribution to effective management in a complex and fast-changing world, and thus invest in it regularly to stay ahead of the game.

2011 Year-End Hotel Technology Review (long)

Jon — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 19:18:18 +0000

Well, it wasn’t the year we’d hoped for; initial optimism that we were at last coming out of the recession was replaced by reminders that there was still a long way to go. Nevertheless, many properties took advantage of slow business to upgrade their systems and lay the foundations for more efficient operations once traffic does return, and equally as many vendors enhanced their systems for greater integration and flexibility.
The importance of IT innovation in the hospitality world was recognized once again by InformationWeek’s listing of the U.S.’s 500 most innovative business technology users, which included seven hospitality companies in the top 250. The highest-ranking hospitality company honored this year was Vail Resorts at #10, whose EpicMix Web and smart-phone application appropriately highlighted the integration of guest service with mobile technology.

The year of mobile technology

It was definitely the year mobile devices of all types became mainstream, along with a growing integration of social media sites into more traditional hotel systems. IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group) released iPhone booking apps for each of its seven brands, launched 120 free iPad Concierge Insider Guides and reported a nearly 1,000 percent increase in room night bookings from mobile devices. MGM released Android versions of 12 hotel applications for booking rooms and activities, and Motel 6 released an app for Apple devices. Genares and InnLink released mobile booking engines, Expedia announced an app for the iPhone and iPod Touch, and RIM released a BlackBerry Travel app integrating itineraries, profiles and flight status updates into BlackBerry Calendar.
To help international travelers, FCS’ i-Guest Hotels Finder app played recordings of directions to a hotel in the local language for lost guests to play back to taxi drivers, and Marriott offered its mobile app for Apple and Android devices in Chinese, Spanish, German and French. RateTiger released a Blackberry version of its revenue management RTSuite, and Alloso Technologies ported its hospitality business intelligence app to the iPad.
Bringing social media into the mix, Availpro released a Facebook booking engine and RateTiger used Cultuzz Digital Media’s CultBay to post hotel availability on eBay. Sabre’s SocialConversion product suite helped hotels maximize their social media presence; Appnostic and Genares integrated their hotel booking apps with Facebook, and Regatta Travel Solutions launched a Facebook booking engine tool for Destination Marketing Organizations (DMOs). VFM Leonardo released a Mobile Media Player for its VBrochure, formatting hotel photos, virtual tours, videos and marketing copy for mobile devices.
Protel introduced an iPad “bookatonce” version of its GMS and released its Voyager browser-based mobile app for Apple, Android or BlackBerry. ResortSuite released ResortSuite MOBILE; Resort Data Processing (RDP) announced four new mobile modules. Fuel Interactive’s Guestdesk Mobile Booking Software added mobile booking of tee-times and other activities, as did Open Hospitality for food and beverage, special amenities, event tickets, flowers and other add-ons. W Hotels unveiled an iPhone app that lets guests order room service and request other services, in addition to booking guestrooms; Crave Interactive’s GuestService+ in-room application included food and drink ordering for Room Service or in Hotel restaurants.
POS wasn’t left out; Agilysys released InfoGenesis Roam mobile POS software for the iPod, and Squirrel put its Professional POS system onto Apple iPads. MICROS integrated Tabbedout into its POS systems, allowing guests to pay restaurant and bar tabs with their smartphones. All in all, look for mobile F&B ordering to become much more common in this coming year.
On the guest services side, Acentic’s mobile versions of its high-speed Internet and iTV services platform allowed users to check a hotel’s offering of movies or other services from their own phones and to use them as TV remote controls. Intelity released ICE Mobile for Android, and TAC developed a phone-based loyalty card app. Starwood offered FaceTime video calling for loyalty-club members to contact customer service agents, and GoConcierge released native iPad and iPhone versions of its system. MTech released an Android app for H2GO, its mobile version of HotSOS, and hotel SystemsPro released its hotel ServicePro asset management system for the iPad. Adaco extended procurement system to iPads and touch-screens.
Conference/event software also went mobile. Passkey’s GroupMAX used OneClick Mobile to generate customized mobile sites for events, and released a widget to embed availability on event websites and social networks. QuickMobile launched MobileEvent Express Edition, an iPhone app for meetings and events. StarCite’s Mobile Attendee tool delivered key information (including agendas, logistics, maps and news alerts) directly to meeting attendees’ mobile phones and devices; Swank Audio Visuals released its SwankDraw iPad-based room layout application. Intriguingly, The Knowland Group’s SmartPhone Leads, a location-aware augmented reality app, lets hotel sales teams focus their smartphone cameras on a hotel and see on-screen pop-up bubbles showing groups that have held meetings or stayed there, with contact data.
Speaking of cross-system integration, OTRUM launched its Enterprise portal, combining check-in information with details from a hotel’s CRM database to profile guests as to type, gender, age, language and home country, thereby letting the hotel send customized communications, advertising, service offerings and price points to each individual guestroom TV. MConcierge Systems rolled out a Guest Relationship Management system that links hotel profiles with guests’ social media profiles and rewards guests using the hotel’s mobile application for every activity performed using it, with loyalty points for immediate on-premise redemption.
And if all that wasn’t enough, Marriott even released a hotel-themed online game (My Marriott Hotel) and InterContinental released a Kitchen Cookbook iPad app of its hotels’ recipes. Where will it all end?

Guest Management Systems

The new breed of GMSs all made progress this year. Agilysys’ Guest 360 officially came out of beta with installations at the Gotham Hotel and two GrandLife Hotels, all in New York City. Infor-SoftBrands’ HMS found its first customers in the Larkspur Landing Hotel in Hillsboro, Oregon and the Fitzpatrick Hotel Group’s two hotels in New York. Dynamique Hôtels Management (DHM), with 150 properties, became the first customer for Amadeus’ new centralized Hotel Platform, which combines central reservation, global distribution and guest management systems. PAR Springer-Miller launched its ATRIO system with a strikingly new visual approach in its user interface, and Stoney Creek Inns was the launch customer for the first module of MICROS’ new OPERA 9 suite, channel management.
Central hosting of management systems continues to grow in popularity, for all the usual reasons of greater data consistency, system security and ease of reporting. Germany’s Rilano Group installed SoftBrands’ Starlight for all five locations, AC Hotels by Marriott picked MICROS’ centrally-hosted OPERA and Simphony POS for 91 properties, as did Cedar Point Amusement Park for its six hotels. Joie de Vivre added MICROS OPERA Customer Information System, Business Intelligence and Sales Force Automation to its already-centralized implementation of OPERA, and Orient-Express Hotels picked MICROS’ OPERA and POS systems for its 49 properties. Hospitality International named SKYWARE its preferred GMS for all 300 franchise properties, and Jebel Ali International Hotels installed protel MPE at all five sites.

Cloud Computing

After the massive hype of the last couple of years, true cloud computing settled in as a viable architecture for specific needs, although some costing issues still need to be ironed out. EZYield upgraded its infrastructure to run on a 40-gigabit InfiniBand network and Amazon’s Cloud, and OTRUM moved all of its Digital Signage services to IBM’s SmartCloud Enterprise. Online travel network TravelShark (née Swiftrank) moved to Amazon’s Web Services (AWS) cloud platform. Libra OnDemand expanded the functionality of its Force.com cloud-based CRM/Hospitality Management System significantly, and Dolce Hotels and Resorts implemented it across all 27 properties.

Guest Reviews

Guest reviews and feedback continued to have high importance. GetThere, with its Hotel Traveler Reviews, let corporate travelers share online hotel reviews, and Starwood launched its own online review function. Lodging Interactive extended its Guest Review System to let hotels collect and share guest reviews directly from their Facebook pages. Whiteboard Labs used FeedMagnet’s social curation technology to power Telltales, allowing hotels to integrate content from social channels into their websites and marketing programs. RateGain launched its BrandGain guest satisfaction and online reputation management system to consolidate and analyze feedback, and, to try to keep things honest, researchers at Cornell University developed software claimed to be able to identify fake hotel reviews by their linguistic structure.

CRS

Google got serious about the hotel market with the launch of its Hotel Finder search tool, a rival to several meta-search engines, but the traditional CRS vendors saw strong growth as well. Regent Hotels & Resorts properties and Vantage Hospitality Group switched to Sabre’s SynXis, and Castle Resorts & Hotels (25 properties) and Kosmopolito Hotels International (22 hotels) went with TravelCLICK. Destinations of the World joined Amadeus and took it past the 100,000 property mark. Orient-Express Hotels picked Pegasus’ RezView NG for 40 properties, and relative newcomer Whiteboard Labs picked up Centerstone Inns, Hotels and Plaza Hotels for its Windsurfer CRS, along with a number of independent properties.

Revenue management

Revenue management showed strong growth, as properties not only expanded their use of it but began integrating it into more of their guest management and marketing operations. EZYield had a strong year, picking up Swiss-Belhotel International (20 properties), Fairmont/Raffles (100+ hotels), N. Daskalantonakis Group (30 Grecotel Resorts and Classical Hotels), Lindner Hotels (34 properties) and developing an interface with Passkey for conference rooms booking. IDeaS integrated with RateGain’s ChannelGain and PriceGain as well as SiteMinder’s Channel Manager, and gained Dusit International (13 properties), Scandic Hotels (chain-wide) and Anantara (15 hotels). Toga Hospitality installed EzRMS in fifty properties, Guoman Hotel Management in another 37 and Brazil Hospitality Group in 20.
RateTiger launched RTSuite Content to distribute and manage marketing content centrally, Brook Hotels implemented its RTSuite channel manager at 12 locations and NH Hoteles adopted RTConnect for all 400 properties. China’s New Century Hotels & Resorts picked RateGain’s ChannelGain for 14 properties, PROS built Lixto’s competitive price data into its price optimization software, and Best Western International adopted Lixto for all 4,000 properties. TravelClick added over 200 Hotelligence360 clients in Europe in two months alone, in July/August.

RFID

RFID seems finally to have become a mainstream technology, especially for guestroom door locks in all sizes of property. VingCard’s Signature RFID locks were adopted by Starwood’s Aloft flag, the 500-room Royal Palm Plaza in Campinas, Brazil, the Holiday Inn City of Knowledge, Panama City and Kyriad Marseille Centre-Rabatou in Marseille, France, two Starwood properties in Greece and, brand-wide, by Mexico’s first extended-stay brand ExtendedSuites. KABA’s Saflok RFID locks were installed by the Peabody Orlando (1,641 rooms), the Holiday Inn Knoxville, Hotel Harrington in Washington, DC and Howard Johnson Admiral Inn on Tybee Island, the Comfort Hotel Xpress in Oslo, Norway (with OpenWays acoustic couplers built in), the YOTEL New York (669 rooms) and the 70-room Arnold Palmer’s Bay Hill Club & Lodge.
Peninsula Hotels is replacing the guestroom door locks in all properties with Saflok RFID units, and is reported to be looking at much wider use of RFID for guest services. Looking further ahead, ASSA ABLOY introduced its Mobile Keys Platform for the NFC (Near Field Communication) mobile phones as they come into more widespread use, and partnered with RIM to develop NFC-enabled door key software for Blackberry phones. Outside of locking systems, InvoTech’s UHF-RFID version of its GIMS uniform and linen tracking system gained several new orders as its viability and cost-savings became apparent.

Multiple-property orders

Many chains extended a single-system philosophy by placing chain-wide orders for all types of application. Roadchef rolled out Guestline’s suite at 14 properties across UK, Richfield implemented ProfitSage Financial Business Intelligence throughout its portfolio of 500 hotels, SKY Hospitality selected Aptech’s Execuvue business intelligence system for nine Microtel Hotels, and Ameristar Casinos picked Teradata Data Mart Appliances for its seven casinos. Royal Caribbean selected InfoGenesis for additional seven ships, and Resort Collection of Panama City Beach picked Springer-Miller for six condo properties. The Trump Hotel Collection standardized on MICROS’ OPERA and Newmarket’s Delphi MPE across all seven properties, and Lindner Hotels and Resorts moved 32 properties on OPERA and myfidelio.net to MICROS’ Data Center. Lane Hospitality implemented hotel ServicePro across 19 properties and Loews migrated all 18 properties to MTech’s HotSOS.

Guest services

Integrated guestroom services continued to gain ground. Intelity had a banner year with its ICE product winning HTNG’s 2010 Most Innovative Hospitality Award and being implemented by many properties, including the Plaza Hotel, JW Marriott Indianapolis Downtown, Mondrian Soho, Hotel Beaux Arts, Miami, Eccleston Square Hotel, four Chicago hotels and the Hilton Inn at Penn, Morgan’s Delano in Miami and Hudson in New York, the Four Seasons Los Angeles at Beverly Hills and the Dorchester Collection’s Hotel Bel-Air, and its first properties in Asia (L Resort Krabi, Thailand ) and South America (three Hoteles Charleston Colombia). Runtriz was adopted by The Westin Riverfront Resort Spa at Beaver Creek Mountain and the Hôtel Americano in New York. Roomlinx was adopted by Prime Group’s new 610-room Chicago property and the 216-room Holiday Inn Resort Orlando – The Castle. iRiS unveiled its Personal Valet Application for iPads and smart phones, ZDirect’s Mobile Passport offered guest services via smart phones, and SuiteLinq interfaced with MTech’s HotSOS for fulfillment of guest requests. KoolConnect announced that its implementations in the first nine months of 2011 significantly exceeded those of any previous full year, and introduced its 1Connect concept covering FTG TV, HSIA, TVs, iPad/mobile apps, network services, digital signage, single-remote control, PVRs and more.
WiFi became an even more essential service; although the cost of providing ever-increasing bandwidth to meet guests’ demands is significant, an iPass survey indicated that hotels may very well lose business travelers through bad Wi-Fi offerings. iBAHN launched dynamic Bandwidth Management to help hotels provide tiered pricing for different service levels. Swisscom’s ConnectedHotel TV/digital services platform gained several new clients, as did iBAHN’s IPTV application (ETVi).
Digital display boards expanded their functionality; JANUS added boarding pass printing to its Concierge Board touch screen display, enabled an interface to guests’ and meeting coordinators’ tablets, and released motion-triggered signage using a Kinect device. Courtyard unveiled version 4.0 of its GoBoard digital lobby display, developed in partnership with Four Winds Interactive and expanding the range of interactive guest services offered.

Inventory/procurement

Keeping an eye on cost controls, many hotels implemented inventory/procurement systems. Wyndham Worldwide deployed Adaco’s .NET system enterprise-wide, the Imperial Treasure Restaurant Group picked Eatec for 13 locations in Singapore, and relative newcomer Yellow Dog Software found success with five independent clients.

Energy management

Energy management seems to be keeping up its slow but steady growth levels, with some interesting developments. The Peabody Orlando, for example, integrated HotSOS with Control Green guestroom monitoring to pro-actively deal with rooms running at less than optimal efficiency, and both Encelium Technologies and Verve introduced new low-voltage occupancy sensors, the latter being self-powered. Telkonet’s SmartEnergy platform was adopted by the Springhill Suites Las Vegas and Crowne Plaza Times Square Manhattan. The Waikiki Beach Marriott Resort & Spa installed INNCOM’s Deep Mesh Network, and the Atlanta Marriott Marquis installed Inncom Guestroom Occupancy Sensors in all 1,569 guestrooms.

M&A

It was an unusually active year for mergers and acquisitions. Sabre Holdings acquired GMS vendor SoftHotel and its 4,500-strong client base, NCR took over Radiant Systems, Infor picked up Lawson Software, Newmarket acquired both MTech and Libra OnDemand, and RTP was taken over by The Active Network. GMS vendors AutoClerk and Bay Lakes Information Systems merged, as did InnPoints Worldwide and CARINO Hotels and Resorts to form Centric Hospitality.
EZYield was acquired by TravelClick, which also took over Rubicon. PAETEC acquired XETA Technologies. Passkey International gained UK-based Velvet Software, and Safemark Systems acquired Best Lockers. Xn Group sold its Leisure Systems subsidiary to Jonas Computing, and Philips transferred its television business to a joint venture set up with TPV Technology. Web developers were in demand; Pegasus took over Open Hospitality, Cendyn acquired RoundTableHQ, eRevMax acquired Lunar Logic Polska and TripAdvisor bought GPS-app developer EveryTrail and mapping vendor Where I’ve Been before being spun off from its parent, Expedia. Quadriga acquired pay-TV specialist SmoovieTV and Los Angeles-based NxSystems, intending to use the latter’s NXTV brand as the basis for its entry to the Americas market.

Overall

Overall, a surprising amount of progress was made in what turned out to be a much more difficult year than most in the industry had hoped for. We’re not out of the woods yet, but my sense is that last year’s optimism that “this year will be different” has been replaced by a much more solidly-based and confident “we’re going to make this year different.” I think the industry has turned a corner, and we’ll see many more systems and technology developments and upgrades than in recent times. One thing’s certain, though; we’ll all need more WiFi bandwidth!

Can truly personal offers exist when CRM must be automated to cope with the huge volume of personal data?

Jon — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 05:51:24 +0000

With the ever-growing emphasis on gathering information about us from as many sources as possible, I’m curious as to whether we’ll ever get a good handle on CRM. By this I mean a way to gather complete (or at least pretty full) and accurate information about our clients, analyze it properly to understand what’s really significant to them and then provide truly meaningful personalized service to them based on that information.
We can now pull in data from a guest’s social network to gather information on their travels, preferences, regular Twitter posting topics, past employers, etc. but how many hoteliers have the time to analyze all this on an individual basis to make truly personal special offers to them? It has to be automated, but automation based on incomplete or inaccurate data can lead you to the wrong conclusions. Tech writer Robert Scoble talked about this (http://scoble.it/vrIngR) in relation to Facebook’s latest intrusion into our private space, its ability to repost your activity on sites such as The Washington Post, Spotify and about 60 other sites (at the moment) for all to see what news articles you’re reading, what music you’re listening to, and so on. Except that it doesn’t; it reports what your device (PC, phone, tablet, etc.) is displaying whether or not you’re actively looking at/listening to it, have let it play while you’re doing something else, or have let a friend borrow it.
This necessary reliance on automation makes it especially important that the humans who write the CRM rules for action base them on a holistic view of the guest, using their general information trends rather than specific, one-time actions, and go beyond simple responses based on one or two criteria. For example, two people in the last week alone have mentioned to me that they’d cashed in frequent-stay points accumulated over many, many stays to book family vacation rooms, and had been given small rooms next to the elevator and the ice machine. Is this really the message the chain wanted to send loyal guests? To show them in front of their families how little they value past loyalty, even if they did get a “free” room on this visit?
Call me cynical, but maybe we need to accept that the vast, increasing, incomplete and inaccurate data floating around about each of us makes it virtually impossible for vendors – including hotel marketing departments – to really care about us as individual humans instead of individual sources of revenue. In a bottom line-driven world, they’ll be happy as long as they can increase revenues through getting “personalized” special offers right for enough people most of the time. Those annoyed by the inevitable blunders will be seen as just the cost of doing business, leaving it up to the hotel staff to recover from an increasing number of marketing gaffes. We the people will recognize and accept the artificial nature of these marketing offers – and will place ever more value on the level of truly personal service and care we experience once we arrive at the hotel. No amount of automated CRM personalized offers can replace a real connection with someone who cares.