This week we’re diving into something that we’ve all known for a while, but now we’re highlighting the extent of the situation. Tech titans have been growing as a threat across multiple industries, and it’s a known fact that they’re encroaching into the hospitality industry’s territory. Google has made its move into the industry, and now Amazon is entering too. Read on to learn how to stay competitive, how to own your customer, and how data science can help you understand the competition, so you too have a chance to sit on the Iron Throne.
As much more than an online merchandising platform, Amazon has grown into a technology giant and is leading the way in many fields with its advanced technology. AWS, Amazon Web Services, started off with storing data on its cloud-based platform and is now building a team of hospitality and travel professionals, as seen in this article, to help mobilize its move into the industry and start attracting hotel and travel businesses.
With the advanced level of technology entering the industry from companies like Amazon, machine learning has become a more prevalent choice for hospitality companies. As seen here, hospitality companies are starting to use more machine learning to improve their revenue management strategies, upgrade guest experiences, and increase operations performance from upselling to employee satisfaction. In order to benefit from the advantages of machine learning, it’s becoming even more crucial for hotels to use up-to-date technology and systems to ensure smoother transitions. For instance, successful revenue management cannot be conducted to its full potential without proper systems in place, and in turn, machine learning cannot be applied, as seen here. According to the article, 80% of hotels globally are not using any advanced technology for pricing and revenue strategies. With the tech titans of other industries beginning to see the need for technological growth in hotels, the time is now for hotels to step up their technology game and begin to install systems like revenue management systems that are already available to them.
If the entry of Amazon doesn’t scare you, then perhaps the idea of Facebook also joining the technology race of hotels should. When travelers are booking their next trip, they usually look to Facebook or Instagram to look at hotel profiles, destination city guides, and visual content to give them ideas for their trip. Now imagine if they can scroll through an Instagram page of a hotel and book directly from the app. As seen in this article, the future of in-app check-out is already here and hotels are probably next to come. Facebook’s Instagram is now a full-on commerce platform where users can buy products directly from the images seen on company profiles. What’s to stop them from adding a check-out button to the profiles of hotel properties and eliminating the need for any other OTA or direct booking platform?
The need to stay competitive is more applicable than ever today. One way of ensuring your potential guests book directly through your hotel website is by offering features that social media platforms cannot. For instance, as seen in this article, hotel distribution is changing to include attribute-based selling where hotels can bundle or unbundle their inventory and break down room prices to individual attributes. With the transparency offered by this model, travelers will be more likely to use property websites to select individual ancillary products to build a room type they will enjoy according to their preferences.
Still a few steps away from implementing new distribution solutions? Another key method of staying ahead of the game lies in education. Technology is constantly changing and new models become outdated as soon as an improved version is created. In order to avoid building more incurred costs with every new technology purchase, self-educating solutions are one way to keep your technology relevant. According to this article, hotels should look for technology with user interface designs that are easy to self-learn for its users to decrease the amount of time it would take to train employees for every piece of new technology. Want to get even further ahead? Start thinking of investing in overall educational programs, from teaching young professionals or improving the skills of experienced specialists. Education challenges the status quo and allows development to the fullest within the industry.
Transforming your data into wisdom is the key to success in these competitive times as winter is finally here. To illustrate the power of data analytics and what you can really do with data, we have an interesting data analytics article to answer the question: Who will sit on the Iron Throne of hospitality? Ok, no more spoilers, just check it out yourself. But the Data claims it’s…
