Technology in the Hotel Management
One of the projects that I worked on was during my internship, where we were to work in groups of five to come up with an advertisement for a new service that was being introduced in the company. The service being introduced was online payment and reservation of rooms. In the area, most of the local people were not quite familiar with such systems as such; awareness about the approach was to be created through advertisement. Our team was diverse; there were three female members of the team and two male ones. Three were of Caucasian descent, while one was of Asian and the other Africa decent. We held our first meeting on the same day we were assigned the task as we had one week to give feedback. In this meeting, we brainstormed advertising ideas and the major challenge experienced was communication because some of the team members interrupted others as they talked.
Owing to this challenge, we elected a group leader who coordinated the meeting and was tasked with the responsibility of ensuring the collaboration of the group until the end of the project. For our next meeting, we settled on using simple fliers and posters to reach out to the community since a majority of the clients from the region were elderly as such were unfamiliar with social media and other online schemes. By the third day, we had printed the fliers and posters. We hang the posters on the restaurant and on other notice boards in the streets, then we talked to individual clients, and by the end of the day, we had signed up more than seventy persons for the company app and showed them how to pay using an online system.
Adopting Technology in the Hotel Management
One of the industries that have become fiercely competitive is the hospitality industry. There is increasing competition amongst hotels in diverse aspects such as attracting new clients, acquiring and retaining skilled staff, sale of rooms, maximization of profits, and improving their offers, among others. With such high competition, there is a risk of failure and being thrown out of business, especially when traditional management approaches are used. The hospitality industry, like every other business organization, has now adopted technology as a means of managing its business in order to make it grow. Hospitality industries that are managing their operations manually, like using excel sheets to handle the operations, or communicating verbally with the employees are prone to errors which place such companies at risk.
The need to adopt technology in hotel management has become a necessity in the hospitality industry as *** highlights. For the long-term success of such a business in the face of competition, technology is critical, and though it may be costly, it plays a major role in the management of the hotel. Where a system such as a smart cloud-based hotel management system is used, operational costs are reduced because by owning the software, no more investments on servers and IT personnel will be required. Furthermore, the system upgrades and updates its self, unlike traditional approaches, which ensures error reduction in the system associated with the use of an outdated system. In this fast-paced business environment, it has become important to adopt technology as a means of maximizing the capacity of the company. One of the ways through which technology aids in the management of hotels is communication. The adoption of technology has made communication between the employers and employees and their clients as well as easy. Platforms such as telegram can be used to convey real-time information of a business, or instance, how an employee relates with the clients, and the information is instantly sent to the employer. Proper communication promotes clarity and resultant business growth.
An increasing number of consumers are also seeking for online services, which means that if a company fails to adopt online systems such as booking and securing or rooms, handling inquiries such as the pricing of food, rooms, and other services that the organization offers, the customers will opt to user hotels which offer them such services online. The demand for the online hotel industry is because most people are unfamiliar with the location. International visitors, for instance, will book their flights online, an expect that hotels offer their services online as they are not familiar with the location, and by using Google maps and other Google services, they are in a position to choose the hotel that best fits their needs such as proximity and cost. To get to the hotel, cab services will be used. This means that hotels that have no websites or do not offer their services like bookings online are least likely to be visited by international tourists. The use of technology and social media is one of the solutions to competition in the hospitality industry.
There are several technological options that hospitality industries can adapt based on the financial capacity of the company. Cloud-based PMS, for instance, offers hoteliers great values, although it is quite expensive. A hotelier can opt to switch from this on-premise management system to one that is free to cut on operational costs associated with the adoption of technology. Since the application is free, some of the features that may be given include access to Hotel PMS and data of the hotel from remote places. Although this aids in the operations of the hotel, the management of issues such as housekeeping from the front desk will not be possible. There will also be challenges in handling hotel reports, and also security cannot be guaranteed. An upgraded software system will be able to handle these limitations, and also ensure that there is a real-time flow of information and integration capabilities are present. The opportunity to drive more direct bookings will also be presented through platforms such as the company website as the system has an integration of web-booking engine. Support will also be timely, and multiple POS outlets can be handled.
There is a need to adopt technology in the management of hotels because it aids in the automation of business processes. Through technological connectivity, various businesses that are interrelated can be easily handled owing to communication and real-time conveying of information. Technology has shifted the way businesses operate, and for the hospitality industry to chase after its objectives and goals, it is important that some investment is made to adopt the appropriate technology for the companies to meet with the demands of consumers. It is the era of mobility, and there are people moving from continent to another and technology is what makes it easy for them to navigate, unlike in ancient times. Thus, by adopting technology and technological processes, hotel industries will not only be making a positive impact for themselves but will also be simplifying the mobility process for commuters.
