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Role of IT in Hospitality
What is the role of IT in the hotel industry?
IT Plays a major role in the industry much like it does in the manufacturing setup or any other
big ERP setup. We use IT in all the internal departments. It is used in Rooms Division to
accomplish all checkin, checkout, and billing functions; in the engineering department for the
building management system and internal guest complaint system; in the Food & Beverage
department for restaurant sale accounting; in finance for the accounting functions; in materials
for all the materials-related functions; and in HR for payroll.
There has been a large amount of IT investments in the hotel industry, and hotels are in the
forefront when it comes to deploying technologies like Wi-Fi.
Travelers have been very demanding as far as the Internet connectivity and speed go. They want
their VPNs to work, and ask for faster connectivity speeds for downloads. In fact among the
business travelers, facilities like Wi Fi really make a big difference. Naturally the uptime also
needs to be high. Given that we cater to a large, number of International business travelers
technology can make the difference between getting or losing the customer.
During the past decade, nearly every facet of the travel and hospitality industry has been
revolutionized by the exciting new capabilities and services made possible by information
technology (IT) systems and the Internet. But, even as you make the changes to accommodate
customers today, you're met with increasing demands for faster service and greater transparency
and capabilities that put even more flexibility into the hands of consumers.
How can you create the type of competitive advantage that sets your brand apart? More than
anything else, you need to unleash the power of information technology. With the right IT
strategy in place, you can create a broad range of benefits:
• Leverage the Internet and e-commerce to win new customers and improve margins
• Increase customer loyalty and satisfaction
• Discover ways to optimize supplies, rates and inventory
• Outsource noncore functions to generate efficiencies while freeing up capital and
management focus
IT can help you create these and other advantages for your company by offering end-to-end
infrastructure, application and outsourcing services that pose the greatest potential for your
company.
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The fundamental change in services, capabilities and expectations that IT has brought to your
business is undeniable. But we believe the opportunities have just begun. Around the world,
we're helping clients find results that exceed their previous expectations.
Traditionally, the hotel industry has prided itself on its provision of quality service and therefore
guest satisfaction. Unfortunately, hotel managers are often reluctant, or even resistant, to accept
technologies, fearing that technologies might change their ability to provide hotel guests with the
personal attention that characterizes a typical hotel business. Hotel managers’ low technical
competence, and the wide adoption of technology-assisted hotel operations, mean that the hotel
industry remains at high risk regarding information technology (IT) problems. IT problems could
have a long-lasting impact on the entire hotel industry. Research findings of this paper should be
of interest to hoteliers to better understand the impact of IT applications in the year 2000 and
beyond.
IT Contributions to the Hospitality Industry & It's Further Scope.
With the increase of number of Private Airlines and tourism infrastructures are getting better;
more and more hotels are opening up, and are trying their best to provide best possible customer
service and experience.
Oracle is the versatile data management platform which can support customers with very large
database requirements and high transaction volumes. Hotel Management software companies
takes advantage of the features of Microsoft Windows, Oracle, and Internet technologies, in the
passing of information or the centralization of the platform solutions.
From the origin of hospitality a customer is always considered a king. Retaining business and
loyal customer is a real challenge for hotel and tourism industry. Storing details of customer
preferences (likes and dislikes) into the system enables customized services which in turn helps
hotels in retaining guest and up selling. MMS, POS, data ware housing and data mining tools
play an important role in this area. Most of the hotels and airlines use these tools to provide
services that go beyond the guest expectations. This also helps hotel sales and
marketing/Revenue Managers to analyze crucial business data for loss of room nights by a
particular company.
To improve operations and record guest feedback hotels deploy ‘Hotel communication system’.
In this application all guest calls are recorded. This helps the Hotel management to know the key
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repetitive issues and challenges that are required to be addressed. This system also helps hotels to
measure the productivity of employees for employee recognition programs.
Internet facility has become a vital factor for the guest in the selection of hotel for his/her stay.
Wi-Fi (short for ‘wireless-fidelity’) is no more a Greek word. Wi-Fi is the popular term for a
high-frequency wireless local area network (WLAN). Many airports, hotels, and fast-food
facilities now offer public access to a Wi-Fi network; these are known as hotspots. Although
many charge a daily or hourly rate for access, some are free.
Most of the hotels have started providing both wireless and wired Internet services in guest
rooms and public areas which is also known as ‘Broadband’ or ‘HSIA’–High-speed Internet
Access’. With the availability of Broadband, a guest is able to browse at a much faster speed and
download files in a short span of time. In comparison Broadband is definitely 4 times faster than
dialup connection. WI-FI offers freedom from wires. 802.11X protocol has become a common
feature. 90% of guest carry WI-FI enabled latest laptops which are also known as ‘Centrino’
Laptops. Configuration of external PCMCIA card to enable ‘Wi-Fi ’-wireless in non-Centrino
laptop is a challenge for most of the IT department of the hotel. Installation of this card
occasionally takes lot of time encroaching on guest’s privacy.
Most of the deluxe hotels in India have 512 KPBS to 4 MBPS Internet speed connections. This
overall is a good Internet speed but falls short of satisfying a guest from the western countries
who enjoy faster speed in their countries due to cheaper cost of bandwidth achieved by available
Infrastructure. Some hotels have started offering bandwidth as per guest demand at an extra cost.
This is done with the help of a managed ‘network switch’ in which port-based output can be
defined. Like car rental WI-FI has become a major source of revenue for the hotels. Five years
back usage of High speed Internet (wired or wireless) was minimal. Today most of the business
travelers carry laptop and the number is on the increase. Increased usage of Internet usage has its
own share of complaints like- weak signal, no signal, unable to connect and frequent
disconnection. To arrest complaints like these most of the hotels are in the process of upgrading
their Internet services with respect to better speed, coverage and connectivity.
Looking at this new source of revenue most of the deluxe Hotels have started providing 24 x 7
‘Technology Butler’ or online "e-butler" service to assist guest pro-actively with the Internet and
IT related services along with 24x7 multi-lingual toll free helpdesk for immediate specialist
assistance in case of any challenge faced during usage . Service providers such as ‘Inter-Touch’
provide remote network operation which monitors the status of all installed rooms 24x7x365;
fixing problems before it affect guests. Many business hotels abroad have started offering
Internet to the guest incorporating the cost in the room tariff.
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In room entertainmentHotel information-Unlike abroad Hotels in India are restricted by certain
laws to screen programs that according to the Indian culture would be considered objectionable
and hence ‘Video on demand’ service is not successful in India.
As mentioned earlier recording guest likes and dislikes is an art and different international chains
meet this is in different manners. In few hotels designation of a ‘Profile Manager’ exists. His job
role is to ensure that guest likes and dislikes are properly recorded in the system to go that extra
mile in serving guests according to his preferences.
Another area where no advancement is seen is in the way Material departments operate.
Materials department to a greater extent abroad uses e-procurement systems. Unfortunately E-
procurement and supply chain management concept is not popular in our country.
Many hotels in India are concerned about ‘Energy conservation’. Hotels have installed various
‘Building Management Systems’ or ‘Engineering Management Systems’ to conserve and save on
cost of energy. For example A.C. in banquets halls switches ON automatically one hour prior to
a banquet function start time and switches off automatically at a specified time.
Automatic water sprinklers installed in the guest room help hotels and safe guard property from
unlikely events like fire. Many hotels abroad have installed systems in the room which
disconnect electricity connection as most often guest forgets to switch off the television, AC and
other gadgets (Even though the same has come down with the Key card activation system). In
many Hotels the guest body motion sensing device controls the HVAC in the room.
Hotels abroad have started using many Web based–ASP applications which are accessed either
by using Hotel private secured WAN-‘Wide Area Network’ or via Internet. These applications
are either located centrally in Hotel H.Q or maintained by third party service provider. This
central management way of operating the PMS software also gives the opportunity to maintain a
central reservation office.
For example one central office can take reservations across properties all over country/region
with skeletal staff at the property level. Abroad hotels use ‘Central procurement systems’. It
gives the advantage to the unit properties to get a better bargaining power with the volume of
business that can be generated for the properties across the country. Central data center of
hosting hotel management application for PMS, reservation, back office application, central
purchase etc are very common phenomenon abroad.
These concepts are not very common among Indian hoteliers. It is expected that this concept will
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be surely adopted in the near future by deluxe hotel to save on cost though few International
hotel chains in India have taken a proactive measure to use Central shared systems concepts to
overall reduce cost of unit hotels.
Most of the deluxe chains have started their own or outsourced reservations. Today guest from
any where in India can dial a common toll free number for make booking instead of calling
respective property directly. This helps guest in accessing the central reservation office for room
booking.
Abroad hotels have started using PDA’s in the restaurants, which make the F&B order taking
simpler and faster. This speed ups restaurant operations i.e. reduced delivery time of the ordered
food and also helps hotel management to keep tight F&B control. PDA’s are also used for stores,
mini bar inventory stock take and for check-in of the guest right from the airport etc.
The odd part of IT in hotels is that Hotel industry world wide use various application for
different operational areas i.e. MMS, POS-‘Point of Sale’, Spa Management, Sales and catering,
Yield Management, Back office and materials management application, Time attendancePayroll
and data miningreporting tools.
Most of these applications are separate and operate on different databases and platforms unlike
industries like production and FMCG where they use one database for their complete business
needs. Using different applications duplicates the job for reconciliation as at times figures don’t
tally between different applications. There is a need of one application in hotel industry, which
can serve the purpose of all departments for better and faster extraction of business information
for business intelligence and MIS purpose.
It is sure that a day will come when hotels will swipe guest credit card for issuance of room key
and gain access to paid services in the hotel (e.g. Access to club lounge, Discotheque, health club
etc.) Hotel Technology companies’ need to explore this concept.
To summarize, hotels that provide personalized service have an edge over other hotels in earning
more revenue.
The following are the websites of various Hospitality Solution providers-
Indian Hospitality software firms-
• shawmansoftware.com
• prologicfirst.com
• alifsystems.com
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• idsfortune.com
• datamateindia.com
• knowcross.com
• ideas.com
International Hospitality software firms-
• micros.com
• softbrands.com
• hotelinfosys.com
• protel-net.com/site/index.html
• springermiller.com
• redskyit.com/hospitality/index.htm
• infrasys.com.hk
• radiantsystems.com/index.htm
• squirrelsystems.com
• infogenesis.com
• hogatex.com
• myhotelsoftware.com
Technology has enabled hotels to provide 'Automated mini bar' where a guest is charged
automatically as and when guest consumes any items from the mini bar.
Electronic door lock system - It records who has entered guest room. Incase of pilferage it helps
to track who has entered in the guest room.
Cameras-recording, guest safety and security
Check-in takes just a few moments.
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VIP guest - Profile photo of guest - Staff cafeteria/Notice board. Handle with care guest. Special
guest
TIV-Call accounting - Enhancing the revenue of telephone
Telephone revenue is dropping in hotels as most of the guest use their cell phone.
POS-KOT/ speed of service, Operation and Control
Latest trends in CRM, Loyalty and Customer Service-CRM strategy, offer a consumer-centric
service, secure higher retention levels and develop a revenue-generating loyalty program.
1. Loyalty - deploy profitable loyalty programs which achieve increased customer retention
2. Personalization - engage customers through a personalized approach and customized content.
Is this the right strategy for the business.
3. Website Optimization – Optimized hotel website appeals to valuable customers and hotel
synchronize their website with CRM strategies and capabilities Web sites of some hotels even
offer virtual presentation with moving pictures.
4. Customer Retention - Dramatically improve customer retention rates by building loyalty and
consistently delivering on your brand promise across all consumer touch-points
Information Technology (IT) enables hotels and restaurants to reap maximum rewards from
minimum investment. Hotel industry in India have recognized the importance of ‘Information
Technology’ and are in the process of implementing solutions that are helping hotel operations,
reducing cost and enhancing guest experiences. I have written this article more as an Hotelier
and Business Manager than as an 'IT Manager'.
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