It is officially budget season again, and the growing list of priorities and considerations for a successful 2020 is currently top of mind. From my own experience, I know that with so many investment options, it is difficult to know what will truly deliver the greatest success in 2020. Personally, I like to rely on data and research to guide my strategy because otherwise, it is a shot in the dark.
Beyond the standard items required for daily
operations, I have put together a few tips and suggestions on what to consider when planning your hotel budget for 2020.
Analyse past performance to improve the future.
There is no better strategy for planning the future than analysing the past. Whether you are a hotel owner or operator, you need to be aware of how your business is performing, what is working and what needs improvement.
One of the best ways to assess your hotel’s past performance lies in guest reviews. Your guests are the people your business serves, and they are also the ones constantly evaluating it. Their thoughts and impressions are available online and have the power to influence other travellers’ future booking decisions, so paying attention to your guests is not only a nice thing to do, but also necessary.
Take this as a challenge and an opportunity to develop and improve further, as well as to determine exactly where to invest in the future. Guest feedback is generally full of valuable information, and sometimes guests can point out things that may not be so obvious to management.
Try to see things from their perspective and look more closely at what they emphasise in their comments. Are several guests complaining about Wi-Fi speed? Or about the booking process? Then it may be time to invest more in those areas.
If the process of digging into these reviews sounds daunting, do not be discouraged just yet. With a reputation management solution, the collection, analysis and understanding of guest insights are handled automatically through semantic
technology. More specifically, through what we call “impact scores”. The average rating for each category (Wi-Fi, service, amenities, etc.) is based on all review content assessed by guests, making it easier and faster to filter and analyse a large volume of feedback. When an overview of your guests’ impressions is compiled into an easy-to-understand score, it becomes easier to identify, understand and focus on the areas of the hotel that need adjustment.
Let technology trends guide you
Certain trends come and go, but in hospitality
technology, it is best to take them with a grain of salt. After all, we are now talking about new generations of travellers who were born into the technology era. Not only that, but many technology trends are designed to help hotels better organise and manage their daily
operations.
Hotel systems and the technology associated with them are definitely an investment—one that must be planned carefully. To do this properly, you first need to divide them into two categories: must-haves and nice-to-haves.
Especially if you have a limited budget, I recommend sticking to must-have technologies and ensuring that you choose the ones best suited to your hotel. Keep in mind the three key benefits that any hotel software should provide: helping to generate direct bookings, improving guest satisfaction and increasing revenue.
Many of these technologies started out as trends and nice-to-haves, but quickly became must-haves, proving once again that technology trends should be continually monitored and considered. Particularly during the on-property stage of the guest journey, technology can truly help strengthen your efforts and make a positive impression on your guests.
Among this year’s most influential trends, we can mention the greater reliance on
artificial intelligence, mainly in the form of chatbots, as well as the focus on voice-enabled devices. In addition, communication between hotels and guests is being reshaped by technology trends that emphasise omnichannel direct messaging.
Keep in mind that technology is designed to simplify operations and increase efficiency and, in many cases, is one of the best investments you can make as a hotelier. Determine which technologies your hotel should use and which are worth both the hype and the investment.
Invest more intelligently by connecting your systems
Your hotel’s technology stack may therefore be the destination for most of your future investments, but that can raise a new concern. What do you do with so many systems at your disposal? How do you find the time to implement and use each one? And how will information be shared between them?
When considering your hotel technology, it is important to view it as a whole. Everything should resemble a puzzle, with each piece fitting perfectly with the next. This is the best way to ensure that daily operations are fast and efficient, and that the data stored in hotel systems are up to date and accurate.
Many software solutions can easily interconnect with one another through APIs. An online booking system and a channel manager, for example, can automatically exchange information about a reservation made through any online portal. This leads to fewer errors and overbookings, and ensures that your guest data are transferred and processed securely and easily between hotel systems.
The same applies to integrating multiple functions within an “umbrella” technology tool. As with guest feedback management, rather than using multiple software solutions to collect online reviews, manage and respond to them, analyse the results and communicate with guests, a single all-in-one platform can integrate all these functions within its capabilities.
At the end of the day, it is about making smart decisions, connecting systems for a smoother operation and finding the best possible way to multitask with maximum efficiency. Make the most of today’s system connectivity and interconnect them as you see fit, in a way that saves you time and budget while supporting daily operations and improving your bottom line.
