Now! Why now is a great time to Stop Hesitating and Invest in Hospitality IT perfectly understandable that many properties are feeling overwhelmed right now. Business is tight and has been cut to the minimum. Everyday operational challenges have become too complex to manage effectively, and you have no time to focus on the outstanding guest service everyone says is the key to success. The only way out is to use some form of technology to help you manage the workload, but the thought of having to buy and learn yet another system can be pretty depressing. And where are you going to the funds? Actually, that last easy. To paraphrase IT consultant Bob Lewis, the answer to how much a hotel should invest in information technology is pretty simple. None. What it must invest in is bringing in more revenue, reducing costs and managing risks. While these investments often require new or information technology, a different matter. a host of different ways technology can support all three goals. Some produce excellent ROIs, all provide tangible and discuss several in the following sections. But logic always enough; also look at some reasons why hoteliers so often have making a decision to implement these tools, even those with a crystal clear ROI. More Revenue Obviously, the only way out of a recession is to generate more revenue. While you can and should cut costs and improve you save your way to you have to get more new bookings, increase the revenue Hospitality Upgrade Fall 2011 from each stay and improve the amount of repeat business. Good approaches for this were discussed at length in an earlier article Sell! Fall 2009), and will just be summarized here. More Bookings The key to generating more reservations lies in combining customer relationship management (CRM) and revenue management (RM) skills. The former helps you consolidate information on your guest mix (including groups) and identify the most segments at a very detailed level, so you can pursue them with closely targeted package offers. The latter the channels they use to look for accommodation and activities, how far ahead they book and at what time of day, all to help you make those offers available at the right times on the right channels. The essential starting point, though, is accurate, appropriate data. This be over emphasized; success today requires targeting small differences between microsegments of the market, and data errors can quickly distort an analysis. Begin by making sure your guest management system is with the right data for your current business mix and that the data in them is appropriate, accurate and consistent. Monitor detailed reports for outliers (e.g., Tokyo, United States) and missing information (email addresses, etc.), reward staff for complete and accurate data entry, and clean data regularly through resources such as the national change of address database. It takes constant effort to keep it clean, but a critical chore. Effective CRM requires the most comprehensive guest possible, preferably one compiled in a single system to minimize duplicate data entry. Fully integrated management systems such as Cenium and, to a lesser extent, Visual One, PAR Springer-Miller Host, IQWare, ResortSuite and NORTHWIND-Maestro PMS, among others, provide such full More limited GMSs can achieve good results in partnership with separate systems such as Libra OnDemand. Specialist systems focusing on one aspect of CRM, such as compiling guest databases for marketing analysis, are also effective; examples include Cendyn, Digital Alchemy and ZDirect. At the very least, export your guest and booking data into Excel and try sorting and it in different ways to out just who your guests are; they might be different from the ones you think seeing or that used to be your main segments. If the GMS track important details such as the reasons reservations are denied, start recording those in Excel. Similarly with forecasts, if not getting the reports you need from your GMS and systems directly, combine their data in an Excel worksheet. You have to know what segments are in your guest base today and how your marketing efforts are impacting future business. no longer enough to sit back and expect that your traditional business level will just materialize. www.hospitalityupgrade.com