Hotel Brand Executives Outline Thoughtful Approach to Tech Investment
Hotel Companies 'Not Holding Back at All' in Spending
The hotel industry has a reputation, at least internally, of being behind the times and slow to adopt new technology, but hotel brand executives said that’s not necessarily the case.
Technology is like speed dating in that everyone comes up with an idea, and those ideas need some weeding, Kevin Jacobs, chief financial officer and president of global development at Hilton, said during a general session at the NYU International Hospitality Industry Investment Conference.
“That’s a burden, too, because you now have one more thing that you can do, almost infinitely more things that you can do, and then you have to choose which one of those you’re going to do,” he said.
Prioritization is the most important part because throwing thousands of things in front of guests will just confuse them and make things worse, he said.
The hotel industry isn’t holding back on investing in technology, said Elie Maalouf, CEO of the Americas at IHG Hotels & Resorts. It’s probably the single largest budget item his company has, and he expects other hotel brand companies have similar tech budgets.
Hotel brand companies always have to find the intersection of whether it makes sense for owners to invest in, will it get a return and will guests benefit from it, he said.