Technology

In short, yes, but the problem hotels will have is the quality of the data and getting it into a repository in a meaningful, normalized, standardized way. Many legacy hotel systems are hell-bent on not allowing hotel staff to get at their own data, at least not at a reasonable cost.

Before data scientists can to their job properly we need to find structured ways of collecting and consolidating our data. It's true that we have a lot of data floating around our industry but it still sits in many different places and even the ownership of the data is unclear.

Data scientists or “Data whisperers” will be a key part of successful hotels in the future. Data-driven decisions will become the norm and gut feeling and the “we have always done it that way” will disappear. As we are getting better with technology and the acceleration of adoption has happened because of COVID-19, we must start utilizing the data that is available to us both internally and also externally.

My top 5: 1). Session specific: As these will be online, make the sessions very specific. So not “what will be the future of hotel wireless infrastructure” but “what will WIFI 6 mean for your hotel guests and the three things you need to know”.

Thanks HFTP for virtualizing this year's edition of HITEC! It would have been very hard, especially for non-US based hoteliers to join this year for obvious reasons. What I have enjoyed most at HITECs in the past was the opportunity to network, catch up with old friends, and make new connections (remember the HotSOS parties?).

In my view, the trickiest part of Cyber HITEC will be the organization and online presentation of the trade show. Keynote speeches, sessions, workshops, and seminars can easily be organized via online conferencing technology like Zoom.

I believe there are three immediate action steps hoteliers, especially independents, can implement in a relatively fast and inexpensive fashion: 1. Develop a “Here is how we make your stay with us safer than ever” program with sanitation and safety protocols at the property, including: Infrared fever detection for each guest arrival (devices on Amazon start at $299)Contactless guest servicing technology applications such as mobile-check-in and virtual concierge as well as mobile assistants in the guest rooms, etc.

First and foremost, building trust is the most imperative factor to get your guests in the rooms. Physical sanitation of rooms and common spaces on a regular basis should be made routine. SOP's need to be designed around room dining and buffet break fasts can be replaced by in-room service.

The main things that could or should be done are. 1: guest communication platforms, either a Whats App for business or a dedicated platform, guest's communication should be digital and remove the need to go to the reception or concierge.

I am a firm believer that hoteliers should stay focused on their core competencies to prosper in today's complex, hyper-dynamic environment. Unfortunately, technology is not and has never been one of hotelier's core competencies.

To develop your own solutions, a big and expensive team of specialists is required. A typical software development cycle has project managers, product managers, developers, testers, security specialists, DBAs, and functional and technical analysts involved, amongst others.

Life long tech investments and systems are a thing of the past. The average age of any new technology is five years. Today technology disrupts verticals and human behavior. The total cost of owning technology has come down considerably with mobile and cloud solutions.

1) No the one stop shop is not already here. Some vendors do cover multiple products but there is no all in one. 2) The biggest barriers for vendors has been geographical presence and legal / compliance per country, language and support.

When we worked with retail, education, theme parks and licensing businesses we needed a handful of systems to manage all their business processes. ERP, CRM, POS and much more is done on a single platform. In hotels not so much...

The hospitality industry has a “tech vendor deficit disorder” in the sense of being overwhelmed by the number of tech vendors and solutions out there. The existing fragmentation of the industry: stakeholders, technology and data, is exacerbated further by the super fragmentation in hotel tech vendors.