Can hospitality integration hubs save our industry from legacy tech nightmares?
15 experts shared their view
Many existing legacy technology installments in hospitality are closed systems they are reluctant to open up to third-party integrations, applications and solutions, depriving the property and its guests from some very innovative and much-needed applications and services.
In the near to mid-term, any full-service 3-4-5-star hotel will need over 100 plus APIs (application programming interface) with third-party tech applications and solutions to be able to function and meet the basic needs and wants of today's tech-savvy travelers. These include mobile and contactless guest experience, mobile locks, issue resolution apps, guest messaging, virtual concierge, IoT devices and utility management, smart room technology, entertainment hubs, CRM programs, etc.
Until recently, this type of connectivity has been close to impossible or super expensive to achieve for properties with legacy technology installments of PMS,RMS, CRS, CRM and other components of the tech stack, which are hostile to any third-party interfaces by default.
Luckily for our industry, the future is already here in the form of two types of third-party technology integration platforms:
- Cloud PMS with Open API like Opera Cloud PMS, StayNTouch, Protel, CloudBeds, Mews, etc. and their integration platforms, and
- Independent integration hubs, like Impala, Hapi, APS, NoniusHub, etc., which are focusing on serving properties with existing legacy tech stack.
The question is, can the new integration hubs save our legacy tech-prone industry and elevate it to meet the demands of today's tech-savvy travelers?
I think this discussion is becoming redundant. It's not a question of IF anymore, but of WHEN. I've said several times that we live in a transition period, at least on a technological level. This question will be utterly irrelevant in five years, as -by then- hoteliers will be forced to adapt their tech stack to meet today's travelers' demands, whether they like it or not. I am also skeptical that the solution will come from integration hubs. Simply put, there will be no need for hubs when the standard for hotel tech (and tech in general) will be the adoption of open APIs, microservice infrastructures, and -of course- cloud computing. So really, I don't even consider this whole "legacy Vs. cloud" thing as a problem worth discussing anymore. If you're running a legacy system, just change it. You'll have to, anyway, sooner or later. The pros? It will keep your hotel in business and we'll be able to move on and talk about something else.