24
CLH DIGITAL
Issue 101
Why the Best-of-Breed Hotel Tech Stack is Here to Stay By Tanya Stallard, SHR (www.shr.global), and Paul Griffiths, Infor Hospitality (www.infor.com) But, if there’s one silver lining that has come out of COVID, it’s that hotel tech providers understand what we need to do better. We’re taking the onus off of the hoteliers and embracing the responsibility of making sure their systems are speaking fluently to one another. We only succeed if they succeed.
2. INTEGRATIONS ARE TIGHTER The integration between a PMS and a central reservations system (CRS) is critical because the reservation system has connectivity to all the other distribution channels. Proper integrations ensure that hoteliers can build rates in the PMS and have them automatically flow immediately to the CRS, which then publishes them across all channels. Critical to this strategy is ensuring what the customer sees on your website translates over into the booking engine, so that when they hit the booking engine they're not all of a sudden seeing different things. Integration is critical, especially if you want to have a strong book-direct strategy. Guest comments and payment details, as well as data on any add-on services booked – all of that needs to be shared across systems, otherwise you risk losing the guest with friction at check-in. Having a really strong PMS integration into your CRS and with your booking engine is key.
3. DATA FLOWS MORE FREELY
The theory behind one partner providing a single solution for all of your hotel operating needs – inventory management, accounting, check-in, pricing, marketing, distribution, sales RFPs – sounds ideal. One bill, one point of contact for service, one central storage centre for guest and transactional data. But, as it’s been tested time and time again, we know challenges for one single provider to meet all the needs of a hotel operation are just too great to overcome. What ends up happening with each new “hotel in a box” is that the solution is really good at one or two functions but falls short in all the rest. Thankfully, hotel systems providers that serve a specific role in the greater tech ecosystem have finally come to understand the appeal of a single provider and geared their businesses to act more like them. The movement to open application programming interfaces (APIs) and share data that was once siloed are first steps in the right direction. While, as an industry, we’re not fully there yet, we’re moving to a point where integrations are happening seamlessly behind the scenes, with no finger-pointing or unnecessary toll on the hotelier. And simpler, cloud-based integrations are driving down what ultimately matters most – cost. When chosen properly, your carefully cultivated tech stack made up of deeply integrated systems will act as if it’s one single platform, yet each part will provide best-in-class functionality. The most critical integration in a best-of-breed tech stack is with the property management system (PMS), as this acts as the main hub in connecting much of the back-of-house and front-of-house applications. Below are the key factors to consider when building a well-integrated tech stack.
1. SOLUTIONS PROVIDERS HAVE SHIFTED FOCUS TO THE CUSTOMER We all know the horror stories from the past about technology vendors that wouldn’t work together for the benefit of servicing their clients, and some of these legacy providers are still out there, but for the most part that environment has changed. Now, most providers take advantage of their strengths to work closely with specialists in other areas to in the end offer a better solution to the client. As suppliers, we’re more choosy about our partners. While we integrate with hundreds of providers, we prefer to work with partners that share the same values: excellent customer service and dedicated team support. We try to solve things without involving the client, that way the client doesn’t feel like they need to deal with two different points of contact. We accept that partners in the past haven't worked together for the benefit of the hotelier, and that they’ve often been playing “support table tennis” – going back and forth with blame rather than solving the problem.
Part of what’s driving a new focus around integrations is the fact that hoteliers today are understanding more and more about the guest journey. To optimise the booking process all the way through to check-out, systems can serve data that improve the experience each step of the way. We’re understanding more about the guest journey from the very beginning, in the planning session, when the guest is just interacting with the website or through the call centre application. Knowing the right profile of the guest and their total spend on previous stays is important in knowing how to present the correct offer. Many look at data as the new king, but in fact data is the new soil required to nurture the relationships hoteliers have with their guests. Integrations are required to share many data points to provide the hotelier with a holistic view of their guest. This is driving new valuable recognition and replacing the traditional pointsbased loyalty systems, which have less and less value to the guest. When looking to improve the guest journey, having your CRS and Booking Engine truly integrated with your customer relationship management (CRM) tool and Recognition Programme – and adding an integration with the PMS with no loss of data – allows you to provide truly unique experiences. It’s important for the PMS to ingest booking data from partner applications rather than forcing staff to look in multiple systems instead of focusing on the guest. A CRM and booking engine will gather guest data prearrival, but then it’s up to the PMS to present that information to hotel staff.
4. MORE SYSTEMS DOESN’T MEAN MORE WORK Part of the appeal of an all-in-one solution is time savings, but we’re confident that choosing best-in-class providers that are each focused on automating as much as the process as possible will make you most efficient. We understand there's a staffing crisis and our focus has shifted to saving you as much time and helping you operate as efficiently as possible. Maybe automating part of your distribution or pricing processes can help you eliminate a position that you can’t fill. When we talk with clients, we find it’s taking them about 90 minutes per day to manage their systems. We want to get rid of the barriers that technology is introducing due to the fact that systems aren’t speaking with each other.
5. SPECIALISATION IS A GOOD THING A “best of breed” approach means you’re choosing to work with partners that have proven to be excellent in their field, providing best-in-class functionality. These providers understand they don’t have the resources to develop, support and evolve solutions across the entire tech stack, rather they choose to do a few things really well.
Greene King Launches Sixth Hive Pubs Site Following £260,000 Makeover Greene King Pub Partners has launched its sixth Hive Pubs site. The Peacock in Boughton, Chester has been transformed into a Hive Pub following a £260,000 makeover and will be run by new franchisee Peter Boardman. Hive Pubs is the new franchise pub concept from Greene King Pub Partners. The Peacock has been transformed with a complete refresh throughout in line with the Hive Pubs brand and concept to create a modern look and feel with community at its heart. Peter Boardman, franchisee for The Peacock, said: “As a Hive Pubs franchisee, I
have been able to open a new pub business without the risk or large investment usually needed. The ready-to-go proven concept Hive Pubs delivers allows me to focus on running and growing my pub business.” Andy Wearn, Business Development Manager at Greene King Pub Partners said: “We’re really pleased with the transformation of The Peacock to a Hive Pub following our £260,000 makeover. The pub now represents everything Hive Pubs is about – community and delivering the best local pub experience. “This is our sixth Hive Pub site and we look forward to rolling out more in the coming months and year ahead.”
A Quarter of a Billion Meals Redistributed by FareShare During Pandemic The UK’s biggest charity fighting hunger and food waste, FareShare, has revealed that it redistributed the staggering equivalent of a quarter of a billion meals (250m) throughout the Covid pandemic. FareShare takes delivery of surplus good-to-eat food, which is unsold or unwanted by the food industry, sorts it in one of its 30 regional warehouses, and passes it onto a network of nearly 10,500 charities and charity groups. These organisations then turn this nutritious food into meals for vulnerable families and individuals. Between March 23rd, 2020, when national lockdown measures were first announced by the UK government, and 24th February 2022, when legal restrictions relating to Covid-19 ended, FareShare provided 105,000 tonnes of food to people going hungry across the UK. That’s the equivalent of 0.25bn (250m) meals. This good-to-eat surplus food came from across the food industry as suppliers and retailers faced the uncertainty of foodservice shutdowns, regional lockdowns, changing customer habits and challenging supply chains. It was the support of Manchester United and England footballer Marcus Rashford at the start of the first lockdown, over FareShare’s campaign to highlight the plight of children dependent on free school meals, that helped catapult the charity into the national limelight. Lindsay Boswell, FareShare CEO said:
“A quarter of a billion meals is testament to the incredible hard work of every single one of FareShare’s volunteers, members of staff, food partners, donors, business partners and all our supporters, during what was an incredibly challenging time for everyone. “This milestone was achieved in partnership with the UK voluntary sector, and support from the food industry, asl well as the UK, Scottish and Welsh governments. The charities and community groups who receive our food kept their vital community work on the Covid frontline going, despite facing considerable difficulties and health risks. “I would like to thank every single individual, food business, funder, volunteer and staff member who helped to support the FareShare network face into the pandemic, when the vulnerable communities who rely on charitable support across the country needed it most. “But despite the end of Covid restrictions, the demand for our food remains as high as during the pandemic, with that demand exceeding supply.” Rises in the cost of living thought to be one of the main factors in the continuing high demand for surplus food. Seven million people (including two million children) are said to be in food poverty in the UK. But despite that, two million tonnes of good-to-eat surplus food is wasted across the food industry each year. FareShare is currently surveying its network of more than 10,500 charities and community groups about the impact of the cost-of-living crisis and will be releasing the findings later this month.