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 9 November 2005
Profit Opportunities from Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) in the Hotel Sector | By Kate Varini & Hilary Murphy
 Profit optimisation contributes directly to a firm’s success and is a crucial area for all businesses. This can be achieved by increasing revenue, actively stimulating sales and/or reducing direct variable costs, particularly in the short term. Although the widespread availability of affordable technology should enable hospitality organisations to implement tactics and strategies that promote profit optimisation, there is limited research in this area of how investment in ICT can contribute to the bottom line for hospitality businesses.
This research reveals the results of a funded research project that was recently completed on identifying what “experts” predict as profit opportunities. These 25 international hospitality experts were asked to identify and consequently rank the ICTs they predict will impact on the benefit (contribution) hotels can achieve from the sale of their rooms, in the form of a DELPHI study. Though there was initial discussion and contention as to what constitutes “ICT”, the final rounds of the study reveal a focus on both internal ( IT systems& processes) and external (strategic IT partners) and that experts have a level of consensus on the contribution of ICT.
The table below is an extract from the final round of the DELPHI study and highlights the predictions and rankings for long term impact and that revenue management systems are seen as the most critical ICT tool for profitability. The next phase of the study, where case study hotels are utilised, will establish if there is a real return on investment from the ICT ranked most highly by the expert panel, as shown in the table below.
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Hilary Murphy
Professeur, Information Technology
Phone: +41 21 785 14 96
Email: Hilary.MURPHY@ehl.ch
Ecole Hôtelière de Lausanne (EHL)
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