78% of Hotels are likely to increase their IT budget. What about you?

We are currently seeing a lot of activities around hospitality technology adoption by hotels globally. The competitive business landscape and rapidly evolving guest expectations have made them invest more in digitization. According to recent statistics, hotels globally allocated about 3%-4% of their revenue toward IT in 2022, slightly better than in 2021. The upward trend continues, and as per our latest finding, 78% of hotels are getting ready to increase their IT spending by more than 3% in the next six months. 

This blog will look at how they are going about it and what technology solutions they plan to adopt. 

Let’s find out more about this. 

#1. Cloud Hotel PMS System

This is at the top of their to-do list. Digitization starts with a hotel property management system [Hotel PMS]. They will earmark a sizable chunk of their IT budget on adopting a Cloud-based Hotel PMS System. Because they have understood that Cloud Hotel PMS is the only way to automate processes, save time, slash software ownership costs, reduce errors, and improve efficiency to drive growth. It has now become evident to them that old on-premises systems no longer help them realize their business goals.

#2. Channel Manager Solution

After operational automation, hotels are concentrating on online distribution. They are, in fact, right in doing so, as a majority of guests today are booking their rooms online. In this case, their goal is to get maximum bookings via third-party sales channels like OTAs. Now this is where they need a channel manager solution, to be very precise, one that seamlessly integrates with their Hotel PMS. Through this, they want to update rates and inventories across multiple OTAs in real-time to avoid overbookings and losing business opportunities. This is also key to improving their OTA ranking and visibility to attract potential guests.

#3. Revenue Management Solution

Revenue management is another area that has recently caught hoteliers’ attention. We understand that they are now paying special attention to their pricing strategy and will spend on revenue management tools. They want intelligent solutions that can dynamically and automatically  set their room rates to optimum by considering competition pricing, local demand, and their own property’s occupancy and guests’ length of stay, among other parameters. Simply put, they want to increase profitability by selling more rooms at the best rates.

#4. Contactless Solutions

Although it may seem cliché, it is worth repeating that nearly all guests nowadays prefer to stay at hotels that provide various contactless services. Many hotels have acknowledged that today’s guests want to manage their stay with smartphones. Keeping this in mind, hotels will offer them contactless services around pre-check-in, check-in, mobile/keyless entry, self-check-out, service request management, payment, etc. The objective is to enhance guests’ experience by offering what they want from a hotel. 

#5. CRM Solution

With guest preferences changing rapidly, hotels must keep track of their guest data to offer personalized services to win over their loyalty. This has led to increased Customer Relationship Management [CRM] tool adoption among hotels. It helps them in collecting and analyzing guest data like their likes and dislikes to offer them tailormade service everytime they stay with them. Plus, it also assists them in rolling out targeted marketing activities to their past and potential customers via emails and push notifications, etc. It is also a key piece of solution that enables hotels to engage with their guests before, during, and after their stay, ensuring a memorable experience.

With the right technology solutions, hotels can expedite their digitization process to drive growth and revenue while exceeding guest expectations. It helps them stay competitive and attractive. It assists them in addressing labor shortage issues while retaining the best of their staff. As mentioned above, about 78% of hotels like yours will spend more on technology. What are your plans? 

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