How strategic use of technology drives guest loyalty and hotel revenue

Technology is creating new opportunities and challenges for hospitality brands, and the ones that use it effectively will be rewarded with a loyal following of guests and, ultimately, more profits.

That was one of the messages from the general session Tuesday morning at HITEC, the Hospitality Industry Technology Exposition and Conference.

The panel:

• Cindy Estis Green, co-founder and CEO of Kalibri Labs
• Mark Carrier, president of B.F. Saul Hospitality Group and chair of the American Hotel & Lodging Association
• Barry Goldstein, executive vice president and chief commercial officer at Wyndham Hotels & Resorts
• Ash Kapur, senior vice president of hotel asset management and chief revenue officer at Starwood Capital Group
• Michael Levine, chief operating officer at CitizenM, served as moderator

When asked about technology strategy in the hospitality industry, several of the panelists said it is lacking - and instead brands resort to a piecemeal approach.

“Today’s technology in the hospitality space, I believe, is extremely myopic,” Kapur says.

“It’s very important you have that vision, a sense of where you want to be two, three, five years down the line and you partner with organizations that can help you get there. And I don’t see that happening."

Technology integrations - whether in the back office or customer-facing - are deemed successful when they facilitate guests having a seamless, positive experience.

Green urges attendees to use that filter to evaluate all potential new technology products, and to steer clear of adopting technology just because it seems cool.

“There is the part the guests see and touch, but then there is the whole part they don’t see,” she says.

“And I think it’s the stuff they don’t see that can have even more impact on their experience.”

As apps and personalization have become so commonplace in a variety of consumers’ day-to-day interactions, the bar is now higher than ever for travel brands to get it right.

“The challenge is you don’t get a lot of chances,” Goldstein says. “Once you get it wrong the first couple of times you will potentially lose that customer.”

But exploring and implementing new technology takes knowledge and money, and Carrier says hotel owners are looking to their brands to lead the way.

“They have the scale, mass, infrastructure to innovate,” he says.

“Sixty-five percent of hotels in America are small businesses. The vast majority of hotels are smaller groups that look to their franchise leadership as people that can deliver leadership in technology. But I don’t believe that owners necessarily have a challenge paying for that if the strategy is well-thought-out and includes the franchise community as part of the decision-making process.”

The payoff is that a successful technology strategy can be substantial, says Kapur, allowing hotels to increase their profits and drive more direct bookings.

“Brands have worked very hard in increasing their distribution presence,” he says.

“We have to look intrinsically. If I can own the whole aspect of the guest having a brilliant stay every single time, if I’m very consistent in my service … and technology helps me enable that every time - I will eventually own the guest.”