Digital transformation is not a mere investment in technology but refers to how companies restructure themselves to adapt and alter organizational culture to empower technology -leveraging technologies and carry their businesses to new growth levels. Nearly every organization has gone through a digital transformation to leverage data, attract talent, increase sales, and innovate.
Hotel owners looking to leverage this trend connect their technology stack to a holistic PMS digital system. A PMS is a prime example of a system that can help accomplish a particular business objective. Effective digital transformation and the correct PMS include focused preparation, targeted technical integration, and professional growth.
Enhanced demand for technological expertise
Hotel schools are seeing more businesses on campus looking for experts in digital marketing and business analytics with preparation. In the hospitality market, work listing sites are seeing a spike in technology listings. And in the last few years, large chains like Hilton have introduced hundreds of technical positions (140 in two years). Perhaps not unexpectedly, the World Economic Forum forecasts that by 2022, 50 percent of companies in the travel industry will be in need of an expanded workforce due to emerging technologies which sounds a bit od since technology usually replaces workforce.
The hotel industry can be appealing from a technological point of view because there is the potential to make large-scale improvements and achieve significant wins in relatively short periods of time. These changes can be sweeping and thoroughly revolutionary, involving big data to empower bold business decisions in the future, when combined with the insight and power of a hotel manager's role.
This new wave of talent is rapidly transforming hotel management from just selling beds and food to creating agile companies that use improved consumer and market awareness to make better decisions, make more detailed projections, and ultimately optimize profit.
New Generation of Hotel Managers
The latest wave of general managers of hotels are changing the hotel market. When it comes to the hotel industry's tech boom, everybody speaks about artificial intelligence and big data. But another force pushes change, a new generation of hotel managers, which gets much less attention and is far more individual.
A hotel general manager (GM) might have had good food and beverage ranks (F&B). Currently, GMs are in business schools with more formal academic backgrounds, entirely based on the influence of data and technology. These company-minded experts are much more focused on strategic thinking and emerging technology, often even coming directly from their technical roles.
The new generation of hotel managers make use of different technical aspects such as big data, automation, integration and outsourcing to achieve the best possible operation environment and performance. We like to refer to these technical aspects as the four key elements of success in hotel management.
The four key elements of success in hotel management
In the hospitality industry, data analytics is a huge boost. Managers are increasingly relying on big data's predictive capacity to make decisions on room pricing, availability, special deals, upgrades and others. Systems of automated property management and revenue management drawing data from all facets of the company permit the reservation/booking of rooms at the most competitive rates while optimizing overall revenue per available room.
Another key is automation, with management looking to maximize staff time and capabilities by offloading machines with routine tasks. Intelligent keyless entry systems, automated check-in and check-out procedures, and automatic booking engines are all becoming increasingly common. But the automation method often applies to back-room procedures that are now done by machine learning algorithms, with complicated tasks such as responding to email bookings.
Perhaps the most significant strategic change to be adopted by the new generation of hotel managers is integrating the numerous legacy structures that have burdened the industry. Only with technological skills can such integration be achieved, and GMs are increasingly looking to outsource the work to highly qualified technology teams with in-depth business knowledge who can quickly and efficiently do the job.
These are broad priorities that require forward-thinking, strategic planning, and courageous decision-making. Knowing your food and drink may have been enough a couple of years ago, but it no longer cuts the difference nowadays if you want to be a GM in the hotel industry.
Using the latest technologies mentioned above, data management, people management, customer service, hospitality management, and overall hotel management is made effective by a New Generation of Hotel Managers.
Godo is an Icelandic software company with focus on hospitality solutions. Our main focus is on providing quick implementations, seamless collaboration and extensions of services. Our goal is to help hotels, guesthouses and other accommodations achieve high performance, data security and cost-effectiveness in their operations with personal and professional service.