Over the past 5 to 10 years, consumer behavior has changed. Technological advancements from smart phones to super-fast data has placed power in the customers’ hands. Customers now have raised expectations on what is acceptable customer service and what is not, and companies are expected to meet the consumers where they are and satisfy their sophisticated needs – and this trend is not about to change.
Last week at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2018 in Las Vegas, technology experts revealed that newer advances in technology and new generation devices with ridiculously fast data connections will continue to fuel consumer behaviour and expectations – and data will be right at the heart of meeting those expectations. As Steve Koenig, senior director of research for the Consumer Technology Association highlighted, “We are progressively building towards the data era of consumer technology… 5G, artificial intelligence, augmented reality, and smart cities are all heralds of that coming data age. Increasingly every action, every decision, every choice, every interaction has more and more data behind it.”
Basically, data has become the new oil – it’s a hot commodity available in high abundance. Those collecting data are creating an opportunity to get ahead of the competition “and, because of the compounding nature of the technology, those who get ahead early can quickly be propelled into strong positions of industry leadership,” Matt Gibson, CEO UpThink.
Looking at the hospitality industry it has seen rapid changes over the past few years from a market, guest, staff and product perspective but the technology which the industry currently operates on has mostly stayed the same. Systems are often founded on legacy technology that may be close to two decades old, isolated with siloed data between departments, which has led to inefficient, costly ways of doing business and has not only limited the understanding of the guest journey but is unable to meet guest demands which are only becoming more and more sophisticated. Clearly the current approach to how hoteliers manage their operational technology is no longer enough.
Hoteliers need to invest in technologies to improve the guest experience; technology that will improve operations, enable more data-driven decisions and provide the tools to support the experience of the connected traveller. With the introduction of the Cloud and SaaS PMS, hoteliers now have the chance to grow at the cadence that the industry and guests require but also be able to be flexible to handle new technologies as they arise.
Success in hospitality has always relied on knowing the customer, and using that knowledge to create new revenue streams and deliver unbeatable service. That idea hasn’t changed but the tools we can use to achieve this have become much more efficient and sophisticated. As appetite and expectation for better customer service continues to grow, hoteliers that invest in the right technologies that put consumer needs first will give them the competitive advantage tomorrow.
Our advice to you is, if you’re in the market for a better PMS to run your hotel, then invest in the future with a SaaS PMS, not the past.
Sign up for a free demo of our mobile hotel PMS and see how you can streamline hotel operations and improve the guest experience.
