Survey: How technology will change the future of hotels - five key findings

Leaders in hotel management have identified five key areas where hotels must make improvements in order to survive in today’s highly competitive online travel marketplace, as outlined in a new whitepaper written by Peter O’Connor Ph.D., Professor of Information Systems at ESSEC Business School. (CLICK HERE to download.)

With the hotel sector in a state of turmoil, how and where hotels sell to the customer is quickly evolving. Competition is increasing from OTAs, sharing economy players like Airbnb, and larger, more marketing-savvy hotel brands. Technology is evolving at blinding speeds and consumer expectations are shifting in new, unforeseen directions.

Such dramatic change makes it challenging to understand what is happening within the hotel distribution and online marketing environment. Many hoteliers are struggling to keep pace, and to assess the implications of the latest developments in distribution, marketing and operations.

As previously announced, Revinate and SiteMinder hosted an executive breakfast in November 2015 to help address this issue, bringing hospitality industry leaders together to discuss the future of hotel distribution and online marketing.

The highly interactive session included peer discussions with representatives from a variety brands like B&B hotels, Apax Hotels, Rixos Hotels and Magnuson Hotels. Peter O’Connor moderated the session. The goals of this session were to assess the current state of hotel distribution and online marketing, forecast future trends, and assess how the sector might develop in the short term.

The results? By tapping into the wisdom of the crowd, researchers were able to identify the key distribution and online marketing challenges faced by hoteliers today. They also established the relative importance of each issue so as to be able to identify which should receive the most urgent attention from the industry as a whole.

The five key findings that the study yielded :

1. Focus on the guest experience:

To compete in today’s marketplace, we as an industry need to move away from solely distributing and marketing hotel rooms to focus more on managing guest relationships. Far too many hotels invest their all too limited time and resources driving one-off transient bookings, leading to very high customer acquisition cost. Instead, hotels should focus on understanding their guests so as to be able to create the personalised experiences that encourage brand loyalty and repeat bookings.

2. Integrate technology systems:

The collection of customer data is further complicated by the lack of integration between the different technology systems typically used in hotel marketing, distribution and operations. While information technology based systems are widely used, many tend to operate as ‘islands of automation’, rarely consolidating their data to present a single view of the customer. Without proper data integration, creating an accurate and reliable profile of the guest for use in marketing and customer service initiatives becomes impossible.

3. Improve data collection and security:

To develop a deeper understanding of each guest, hotels need to be able to collect, store, analyse and use increased quantities of guest data. This task is complicated by the absence of adequate standards and safeguards to protect sensitive digital assets like personal data. Additionally, hotels are increasingly being targeted by hackers and other cyber criminals, making consumers reluctant to share the very data needed to create the above mentioned personal experiences.

4. Modernise team organisation and management:

The three above challenges are amplified by how teams are typically organised in the hotel sector. Sales, distribution, revenue management and online marketing often operate independently, with little coordination. Coupled with the highly conservative nature of managers throughout the hotel sector, this makes creating and implementing a climate of change and service innovation difficult. A new breed of manager, with broader competencies in digital marketing and distribution as well as a more strategic viewpoint, is needed to break down the walls between these functional silos and take hotel distribution and online marketing to the next level.

5. Drive urgency:

Facing renewed pressure from the OTAs, hotels need to find ways to provide enhanced customer service and differentiate themselves from the pack. This is possible if hoteliers can get to know their guests more personally and subsequently use this information throughout their marketing and operations. However continuing to fight today’s battles with yesterday’s solutions is unlikely to bring success for the future.

Read more here.

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