Infor, the industry cloud company, today announced that the Hotel Am Triller in Saarbrücken, Germany, will deploy Infor Hospitality Management Solution (HMS) in the AWS cloud. By moving its IT infrastructure to the cloud, the owner-managed hotel is reacting to the current digitalisation trend in the hospitality industry and helping secure its competitiveness long term.
Three years ago our talented team was tasked with building the Magnuson Cloud. The assignment? A tech solution for hoteliers that would combine several complex and non-integrated processes into one simple affordable platform.
Village Hotels has selected Volara to voice enable all guestrooms and guest services in its portfolio of hotels across the United Kingdom with Google’s hotel solution. Volara’s conversation-management software and secure integrations hub will enable guests staying at any of the innovative hotel brand’s 32 properties to use simple voice commands to interact with the hotel and personalise their experiences, from making service requests and setting alarms to asking for local recommendations and or hotel information.
ASSA ABLOY Global Solutions as a comprehensive provider of hospitality's latest security access technology, has announced the successful deployment of VingCard Signature RFID door locks and lockers alongside Mobile Access at The Fuzzy Log hotel in Slovenia. An eco-friendly property offering an eye-catching contemporary design along with cabin, capsule or glamping booking options, The Fuzzy Log's adoption of ASSA ABLOY Global Solutions technology ensures that guests can be protected from both physical security threats and germ exposure risks while always guaranteeing total access convenience.
As hoteliers prepare to open their doors next week, new research by the leading hospitality software company Guestline, reveals the future of operations and guest management is firmly digital and contact-free. Implementing effective digital marketing strategies alongside contactless and online solutions, both for staff and guests, are set to play key roles in re-opening plans in the weeks and months ahead. More specifically, of those hoteliers surveyed across the Guestline customer base in the UK and Ireland, when asked what their priority is in terms of technology and operations for the year ahead, over a quarter (27%) stated it was digital marketing (including enhancing the website and social media presence), whilst a fifth (20%) stated it was overseeing and managing a contact-free guest experience (including a more digital approach to guest communications, upselling, utilising feedback and check-in/out).
I fully agree with your students. We still need 50+ applications to run a single business unit (hotel) and it's not even that complicated at least for most of it. Why are there PMSs that can't send an HTML confirmation or do an online check-in?
The idea of "one-stop-shop", a product that does everything, is a flawed one. It looks promising in theory but never works in practice, because no one can do everything well, and therefore companies specialize in specific areas, and clients eventually buy "best-in-class" from different providers.
WhatsApp and the likes are B2C apps, so to make the comparison fair hotel software should be compared with the likes of Salesforce, Workday or Hubspot, all applications that today are fairly easy to activate, but to maximize their potentials, they suggest/require some training and implementation effort.
BeyondTV (BTV), a full-service provider of guestroom entertainment services and solutions for the hospitality industry, has announced the successful implementation of its BeyondTV GuestCast streaming solution at the Aemilia Hotel in Bologna, Italy. Installed by LB Sistemi, one of the first LG Business Solutions vendors to receive BeyondTV dealer Certification in the region, BeyondTV GuestCast will ensure that the Aemilia Hotel can securely meet growing industry demands for personalized in-room entertainment.
RBH Hospitality Management, a UK based hospitality management company which manages over 45 properties across the UK, has selected StayNTouch Cloud PMS and Contactless Solutions for their four Fragrance Group properties totaling over 400 rooms.
SuitePad, Europe's leading provider of digital guest communication systems for the hotel industry, has installed guestroom tablets at Shangri-La Hotel, At The Shard, London, with tablets having been incorporated into all of the hotel's 202 guestrooms and suites, as well as in the restaurant, lounge and bar.
It's in human nature to become defensive every time that we feel threatened. Evolutionarily, this strategy has had a positive outcome for us because we have survived and prospered. However, in the context of doing business, playing safe and not considering the changes occurring in the ecosystem where you are operating has not always resulted in success, especially nowadays when disruptive innovations transform the world and the way we live.
Interview between Guestline and Vicki Jackson, Deputy Hotel Manager at Gisborough Hall Hotel.
Magnuson Hotels is relaunching its offer to the independent UK hotel market with its new Magnuson Cloud platform, which will manage revenue, distribution and marketing for members.
I personally think robots is a far stretch for hotels. I do however think that automation and self service will make its move into Hotels at a faster pace than previously, for 2 reasons: First, it's what guest want. You can do anything on a phone, so why not check in to your hotel room, buy an upgrade or order room service, the guest "becomes it's own robot" so to speak, tasks done previously by hotel staff are now done by the guest.
Whether we like it or not, hospitality is fast becoming a tech industry now. Robotics, AI, mobility, IoT devices and contactless check-in tech are being adopted across the industry at a very fast clip. The digital transformation is already changing the industry and the current crisis have accelerated it by 7 years (McKinsey & Company).
Robots No!, No!, No! so no R2D2 coming soon in a hotel. But automation yes as a first step. Hospitality is ripe for RPA and many benefits can be taken from that. Maybe one day physical robots will in hotels but positioning this as a labour cost reduction option and really seeing this wrongly.
Shiji Group has recently announced that UK-based Atlas Hotels has selected its Infrasys Cloud POS solution for all 50 hotel properties the company operates under IHG Hotels & Resorts. With over two decades in the industry, Shiji's Infrasys Cloud POS, has built a game-changing cloud-based point-of-sale system with the ability to work on most existing hardware with additional offline capabilities. Atlas Hotels is currently Europe's biggest franchisee of IHG Hotel & Resort's Holiday Inn Express and owns and operates 50 properties, in addition to one Hampton by Hilton property.
Infor today announced that Estonian hospitality leader Metropol Hotel Group has invested in Infor Hospitality Management Solution (HMS) in the cloud. The group consists of the 155-room Metropol Hotel and the 137-room Metropol SPA Hotel, both in the popular Rotermann quarter of the Estonian capital, Tallinn. Infor HMS replaces a legacy property management system that no longer supports the Metropol's ambitions for growth.
Hotel Internet Services (HIS), a full-service provider of internet services and solutions, has announced the implementation of a high-speed Guest Wi-Fi service at Hotel Mariposa. A newly constructed luxury boutique property situated near some of the most popular attractions in Los Angeles, Hotel Mariposa's adoption of industry-leading Wi-Fi technology by HIS notably ensures that it gains a competitive edge in addressing the top guest priority of instant access to a fast and hassle-free online experience.
OYO Hotels & Homes (www.oyorooms.com) has connected its first group of UK hotels to Sabre's SynXis Central Reservations System, following a global partnership signed between OYO and Sabre Corporation, a leading software and technology provider powering the global travel industry. More than 80 OYO hotels in the UK, representing more than 2,500 rooms, are now connected to all major GDSs through Sabre's advanced hospitality solutions.
Throughout the last year, we have witnessed an extreme increase in online traffic and consumer trends, which has been entirely controlled by the pandemic and lockdown measures that have been implemented. Shifts in people's day to day and landscapes have been unprecedented, with one main change being 86% of people working from home. One prominent trend the team at The Branding Spa has observed is how impactful YouTube and TikTok videos have influenced future travellers' booking decisions. A Walker study found that by the end of 2020, customer experience had overtaken price as the most crucial part of the decision process.
Infor today announced that luxury serviced apartments provider STAY has deployed Infor HMS property management system for its 169 apartment properties in Camden, London. The application will help deliver customer service excellence and provide a platform for new processes including flexible, contactless check-in.
Post-crises, only those hoteliers will succeed who a) understand that we are dealing with exceedingly tech-savvy customers who are even more tech-demanding compared to just a year ago - the pandemic has accelerated digital transformation by as much as 7 years (McKinsey), and b) invest in technology to ensure contactless guest experience and improve operational efficiencies via automation, AI, IoT and robotization to lower labor costs, now consuming as much as 87% of RevPAR (CBRE).
Adding digital interaction guests should continue to come more and more to the forefront for hotels, as that is what guests want. Guest, like any other human being, like to be in control. With their phone, they can. A simple innovation is converting the offerings of an early arrival and late departures from often complimentary last-minute front desk discussions to pre-arrival digital offerings.
I am of the view that a significant technology shift is on the cusp of the broader hospitality industry. The catalyst, as Martin points out, is the customer/guest and the world that they are living in. The further we progress the overall hospitality experience, in a digital sense it will become an extension of the guests' life as compared to a step away from their existing lives.