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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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BLH /BOM1 /IT/0708repetitive 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 entertainment\Hotel 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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BLH /BOM1 /IT/0708be 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 attendance\Payroll and data mining\reporting 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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BLH /BOM1 /IT/0708 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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BLH /BOM1 /IT/0708VIP 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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