Why winning guest loyalty is top priority
Some industry experts claim that hotel guests are inherently disloyal, are interested only in the best deal, and, inevitably, end up booking with the OTAs — where they find the lowest rates.
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Too Many Systems, Too Little Time: How Hotels Can Simplify Tech and Empower Teams
A guest walks up to the front desk. The receptionist glances at the screen and already knows the guest prefers feather pillows, skipped housekeeping during their last three stays, and charged over $600 in spa and F&B services the last time they were here. Housekeeping’s mobile device pings with an early arrival request. Meanwhile, the marketing team receives a real-time trigger to offer the guest a spa voucher tailored to their usual treatment. All of this happens without a single email, phone call, or Slack message.
From Patchwork to Platform: The Case for Unified Hotel Systems
It usually starts with a simple fix. One team wants better upsell options, so a new CRM is added. Another needs richer analytics, so in comes a reporting tool. The spa needs its own booking interface. The restaurant team demands a POS that talks to the kitchen the way they like. All good intentions.
Beyond points: Building a customer loyalty strategy that drives direct revenue
True hotel customer loyalty reveals itself in moments like this: A guest walks into your lobby after a long day of travel, and your front desk agent greets him by name, Welcome, Mr. Johnson! It’s so nice to have you back for a third visit with us. Would you like me to send up a late-night snack? Maybe a slice of that chocolate cake you loved last time?
Getting Technical with What a Centralized Hotel Platform Can Enable
Those who know me know that I relish in the technical details of how specific features on software systems work, how integrations are built and how relational databases can be linked to integrate fields or perform valuable queries.
Emailing at the Right Tempo for Fewer Cart Abandonments and More Winbacks
Email fatigue is a clear and present problem for practically everyone under the sun who isn’t a monk abstaining from the temptations of the internet. All of us are opted in to blanket, impersonal newsletters that pile up in our inboxes, with this digital noise only further compounded by junk texts, social media direct messages, and telemarketers.
How Unified Systems Supercharge AI in Modern Hotel Operations
AI isn’t magic. Rather, it’s pattern recognition at scale. And like any pattern recognition system, its output is only as good as its input. Which is why AI’s promise of personalized experiences, automated service flows, real-time recommendations often fall flat in fragmented tech environments. If your PMS, POS, CRM, and housekeeping tools aren’t talking to each other, then your AI is only guessing.
Do’s and Don’ts of Converting Travel Browsers Into Bookers
It happened again: A potential guest landed on your hotel’s website, spent time browsing your room options, checked availability, and even clicked through to your booking engine. But then they left without completing their reservation.
ChatGPT Booked My Hotel While I Made My Coffee
Earlier this morning, a hotel reservation was made under my name. But to be accurate, I didn’t make it. It was executed on my behalf by the recently launched ChatGPT agent, an autonomous AI system capable of parsing ambiguous input, retaining contextual preferences, scanning through massive datasets in real time, and translating a loosely expressed intent (in this case: “find me a place to stay in Rome”) into a concrete, optimized, executable outcome.
AI Alone Won’t Save You: Why Hospitality Tech Still Needs Structure
There’s a popular myth making the rounds in hospitality tech circles that AI will fix everything. That you can plug in a chatbot here, an algorithm there, and suddenly your operations are running on autopilot and every guest gets a “wow” moment.
OTAs aren't stealing your guests. You’re giving them away.
A hotel general manager is scanning her monthly report, once again feeling growing frustration about the rising number of OTA guest bookings her properties are experiencing - and the fees that came with them. Direct bookings were down last month and OTA commissions were higher than ever, leaving her feeling like the OTAs are winning.
The Rebel (Adopted) Child of Marriott: A "Jam Session" with Michael Levie
Note: Each section title is a distorted echo of a punk anthem. Some are obvious, some are deep cuts. Let’s see who gets them all. Winner gets a beef, paid by yours truly. Promise.
How Cendyn Uses Hospitality Net Membership to Stay Top-of-Mind All Year
Vendors and suppliers in the hospitality industry all face the same challenge: how to remain visible and relevant to hotel executives and decision-makers throughout the year. A Hospitality Net membership provides a framework to amplify communication, establish thought leadership, and drive engagement at the right moments.
From Crown Jewels to Compliance: 5 Ways to Buid a Cyber‑Resilient Hotel Tech Stack
Picture a scenario where a hacker poses as an employee and tricks IT support into resetting credentials, bypassing multi-factor authentication and gaining access to core systems. That’s exactly what happened to one of the world’s leading casino brands in 2023, when a social engineering attack brought down everything from check-in kiosks to room keys and slot machines. Operations were disrupted for over a week, costing the company more than $100 million in lost revenue and leading to a $45 million class-action settlement.
A Single Device, Endless Possibilities: Shiji’s IPORT Integration for Hotels
Shiji Group’s latest IPORT integration is redefining what all-in-one devices can deliver for the hospitality sector. Moving beyond traditional food and beverage solutions, the company has developed a hardware-agnostic platform designed to support workflows across an entire property – from POS and PMS to reputation management and HR applications.
Whitney Spratt on the Power of Customer-Driven Innovation at Tripleseat
Whitney Spratt, General Manager of the Hotels Division at Tripleseat, sat down with us at HITEC 2025 to share how technology can unlock growth, improve guest experiences, and preserve the soul of hospitality.
Simone Puorto in conversation with Whitney Spratt
Agilysys VP Tim Hansen on 19% Growth, Tech Consolidation, and the Magic of Human Hospitality
Tim Hansen, Vice President of Sales – Hotels & Resorts at Agilysys, joined us at HITEC 2025 to talk about the company’s impressive growth, the evolution of tech stacks in hospitality, and the delicate balance between automation and human connection.
Tim Hansen in conversation with Simone Puorto
Interview with Ryan King (Shiji Group): Why Experience Is the New Currency
At HITEC 2025 in Indianapolis, we sat down with Ryan King, Senior Vice President for the Americas at Shiji Group, to unpack how hotels can measure, interpret, and act on guest experience data. Ryan explained why reputation now depends as much on real-time feedback analytics as on human service, and how tools like the Guest Review Index (GRI) are helping hoteliers identify both standout moments and systemic breakdowns. He also weighed in on AI’s growing role in the industry - not as a replacement for people, but as a tool to enhance guest experience and operational focus.
Ryan King in conversation with Simone Puorto
Fix the Data First: Why AI Alone Cannot Solve Hospitality’s Content Challenges
At HITEC 2025 in Indianapolis, we sat down with Natalie Kimball, Vice President of Strategic Accounts for Americas and EMEA at Shiji Group, to explore the evolving role of hotel content management, data accuracy, and distribution, particularly in the complex Chinese market. Natalie also shared her candid views on AI in hospitality, the importance of operational control, and the risk of losing the entry-level roles that built today’s industry leaders.
Natalie Kimball in conversation with Simone Puorto
Connecting the Dots: Shiji’s Approach to Seamless Data
Hotel technology can get complicated. If I had to explain why this is to a kid or a golden retriever, I would say it’s because we used the best tools at our disposal at the time, stitching things together as best we could over years or even decades, and then tried to continuously pivot to newer, better systems while keeping the engine running.