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Opportunities presented by technology and cost pressures were the main topics covered at the BW Hotelier IHA Conference in India, where RMS Cloud hosted an industry-leaders panel to explore these trends. Experts from Lemon Tree Hotels, Clarks Hotels & Resorts, Olive Living, Sarovar Hotels, and Hotelzify discussed their views on tackling critical challenges and using tech to their advantage. Here's what they had to say:
Table of contents:
Running multiple hotels on different technologies can mean dealing with disjointed systems and too much data. Aryavir Kumar, Managing Director of The Clarks Hotels & Resorts, one of India's fastest-going hotels, said this is a common problem:
"In terms of technology, we still have a long journey ahead. While we've made strides in reputation management, CRM, CRTs, and the PMS, the reality remains—it's fragmented."
Fragmented systems make daily tasks difficult and slow things down.
However, there is a beacon of hope. Kumar believes in leveraging technology to unify data and simplify the tech stack, paving the way for a more efficient and streamlined future: "Consolidating technology is essential for progress."
"Simplifying tech stacks is key,” says Vivek Gangishetty, Vice President of Sales & Marketing at RMS Cloud. “There's a fine line between complication and complexity. When complications entangle us, achieving the optimal level of complexity becomes nearly impossible. Technology must step in to address this."
RMS Cloud aims to capture 150,000 to 200,000 keys in the Indian market by 2027, rapidly aligning with market growth and providing a simplified technology solution to hoteliers.
Key Takeaway: Moving from a mix of platforms to a unified hotel management system can cut down complexity, save time, and let you focus on growing your business while keeping guests happy.
Going digital isn't just about new tech; it's about using technology to help you achieve your digital transformation objectives. Tejarshi Roy, Vice President of Strategic Initiatives at Lemon Tree Hotels, one of India's leading hotel chains, says, "Digital transformation is an ongoing journey of transformation, preparing a business to thrive in the digital age."
But everyone knows that any digital transformation project is lengthy, costly and often slow.
Lemon Tree thinks AI can help: 'We're trying to build a model where you have the front-end applications and the back-end platform— your hardware and data—and we're trying to embed AI applications between those two layers.'
Key takeaway: A clear strategy for digital change ensures that every tech investment aligns with the broader business strategy. AI can help connect complex systems and accelerate large transformation projects.
Small, independent hotels don't have the revenue or cash of the big hotel chains and operate with minimal resources. Technology has helped Olive Living rethink its operations and operate a profitable business.
Starting with a digital screen in their receptions to check in guests, they then centralised their receptions in their head office.
Kahraman Yigit, CEO of Olive Living, says, 'When you build a tech stack like this, you can migrate the front office and the mid-level management to a central system and squeeze out any inefficiency.'
Another innovative use of tech was to leverage video conferencing capabilities. For those very few late-night check-ins, which in the past would have required a full-time staff member on-site, they implemented AI-enabled video conferencing, allowing guests to communicate with someone without requiring a physical presence.
Similarly, when it comes to rates management, AI and technology can improve the visibility of rates in the market, whether the rates are accurate, and implement continuous pricing.
Key takeaway: Smart technology implementation can drive cost efficiencies and healthy operating margins while maintaining a great guest experience and high levels of hospitality.
Is there anything more disheartening than a bad review of your property on a public website at the end of a guest journey? Hoteliers often wish they had been able to intercept and correct any issue the guest was facing.
AI analytics tools can help assess guest sentiment while they are still at your property, allowing you to rectify any issues.
But sometimes, the guests need help to even reach you in the first place.
Sarovar Hotels faced a mere 28% of guest calls being answered in time. They chose to invest in an IVR (Interactive Voice Response) solution. Akshay Thusoo, Senior Vice President reports: "Using IVR and cloud technology, our call pick-up ratio improved from 28% to 97% in just one year."
There are better ways to keep your staff engaged and motivated than sitting at an empty reception desk late at night.
Employees at all levels and functions thrive when they have clearly defined goals and a well-balanced workplace, enabled by the use of technology that Olive Living demonstrated earlier.
Upskilling staff is another component of keeping them engaged. While AI is set to create millions of jobs soon, ensuring your employees are trained on AI capabilities and able to use your systems correctly is critical to their future success and careers.
Innovative technology could also help address one of the industry's main headaches: how to attract aspiring staff in a mid-market property and compete against top-end luxury brands.
'Another great AI use case is marrying hotel primary data - guest data - to the USP of your property', says Anirudh Ganesh, Co-Founder and CEO of Hotelzify.
AI can help surface guest patterns in your Hotel Management System so that you can serve them targeted and relevant ads for increased conversion and revenue.
Hotelzifi has also seen the value of a sales concierge powered by a chatbot engine. The concierge answers 70% of guests' questions immediately without an agent handoff.
Key takeaway: Hoteliers can drive down acquisition costs by attracting better-quality traffic through enhanced marketing targeting and using a website-embedded chatbot to increase conversions.
Technology requires investment. Akshay Thusoo, VP of Commercial at Sarovar Hotels, perfectly sums it up: 'There are no free lunches.'
While most properties invest first in guest-facing technology, Sarovar Hotels takes a different approach. They choose to invest in back-end technology, visible to staff only, to drive revenue up. Then, they invest in technology to drive down business costs, such as a human resources management system (HRMS). It is only then, when they see the financial impact of their investment, that they invest in guest-facing technology.
Key takeaway: Think about the order of your investments and what to prioritise so that your technological investment can be financially sustainable and allow you to grow at scale.
Tune into the panel discussion below for all the insightful details, insights, and expert tips.
