The hotel industry is fast adopting the latest technologies in a big way, thanks to increasing competition. Chitra Padmanabhan observes that technology acts as a key differentiator to retain international clientele

Recognising that a major chunk of revenue comes from regular clientele, the Taj has deployed customer information systems to service the customer in a better way, says Prakash Shukla

Badly bruised by the September 11 attacks and the ongoing slowdown, the hospitality industry in India is increasingly taking the help of technology to not only cut costs but also lure customers. Today, guests in most five star hotels can access the Internet through their laptops at the poolside or in conference rooms, with equal ease, thanks to wireless LAN (WLAN). Innovations like these that seem like technological marvels today will be commonplace tomorrow as almost all leading hospitality chains will provide wireless connectivity.

Going back
In days gone by it was said that in order to succeed, all a hotel needed was a scenic location and good cuisine. But in today’s competitive environment, a mistake as trivial as not taking down a customer’s order can prove disastrous. As the hospitality industry started looking for ways to improve efficiencies, efforts and investments in the field of information technology intensified. One of the first deployments of IT began at the front desk when receptionists began checking the name of the customer and then allotted a room to him. Big hotels also started putting in place accounting systems and back office software to improve processes. As hotel chains started expanding their operations across the country, it was necessary to monitor their assets. This gave rise to the need for a Property Management System which enabled hospitality groups to track their assets across different regions.

During the same period, hospitality chains also saw the need for a centralised system. This phase saw different hotels of a chain being networked and connected to a central server. The Taj Group of Hotels, for instance, has implemented a WAN called TajNet, connecting the group’s 55 properties in India, Nepal and Sri Lanka. A centralised system has tremendous benefits. One, there are greater economies of scale, especially when the group wants to announce a special scheme for all its member hotels. Two, the group can monitor the performance of each member hotel and summarise the sales performance of the whole group.

Today, the IT initiatives of hotel chains in India have matured, and are being increasingly fine-tuned to serve the needs of the customer. Says Pradeep Khetwal, systems manager, Le Royal Meridien (Mumbai), “Most hospitality chains now realise that technology in the hospitality industry is critical to improve the operational efficiency of a hotel. The industry has moved from the traditional transaction-based processes such as check-in and reservations to features that are built and designed specifically for the customer. Services like providing wireless Internet access to guests will only increase in the future.”

CRM
While IT initiatives like centralised management and automating daily operations are important, the key part of retaining a customer is critical to the hospitality industry, which explains why every chain is taking the help of technology to improve efficiency. Take a look at Le Royal Meridien. The hotel has deployed a check-in system on each floor depending on the guest’s profile. This has solved the problem of long queues of customers at the counter, waiting to fill in details of their preferences.

CRM is also being adopted in a big way by almost all the big hotel chains in India. At present, every major hotel chain in India is investing in comprehensive systems that store complete profiles of their customers. The moment a guest checks in, he fills a form indicating his various preferences. If he is a regular client, the hotel immediately knows of his preferences and serves him accordingly.

CRM and software tools for front line staff have enhanced successful one-to-one relationships, says zahid memon

Says Prakash Shukla, senior vice president, technology, and CIO, Taj Group of Hotels, “Every hotel has a major chunk of its revenue coming from its regular clientele. We too recognise this and have deployed customer information systems (CIS) to service the customer in a better way.” The same CIS can be accessed through any of the group’s properties. A CIS enables the hotel to keep a record of the exact profile of the customer and keep a tab on his preferences during his subsequent visits. CIS creates guest-centric processes that are essential for CRM. And since it focuses on preferences, requests and problems of different customers, it is a boon to the hotel management.

The same database is used to offer loyalty programmes to the customer. Most hotels today offer a customer different schemes based on his profile. In the traditional method, this was done manually with no clear understanding of a customer’s preferences. But now, with knowledge of the customer’s history, a hotel can service a customer more efficiently. Some hotels have even given their regular customers unique IDs to enable them to check their loyalty points on the Web itself.

Says Zahid Memon, systems manager, J W Marriott Hotel (Mumbai), “Most hotels know their customer preferences because relevant data can now be procured from the systems as and when needed. Earlier, data management systems contained only static information, which was used only to enhance efficiency of the hotel staff. But today, with the help of analytical tools, we can provide consistent service quality. CRM and software tools for front line staff have enhanced successful one-to-one relationships.”

In addition, most hotels have also embraced newer technologies with gusto. The Taj group, for instance, extensively uses VoIP and video conferencing tools on its internal network to cut communication costs.

Wireless technologies
One of the best examples of the use of wireless technologies is the hotel industry. Major hotels are betting on wireless services as a new lure for business travellers who rely on high-speed Internet connectivity and wireless services to conduct day-to-day business.

“Initially, wireless technology in big hotels was traditionally confined to the guest room, the business centre or conference rooms,” says Ashish Kale, systems manager, Renaissance Mumbai Hotel and Convention Centre. But as this hampered mobility of a business executive, hotels started looking at using wireless Internet services throughout the hotel.

Pradeep Khetwal says technology has enabled closer interactive relationships with customers and also consolidation of information for better management

Adds Khetwal of Le Royal Meridien, “Wireless technologies deployed in selected areas of the restaurant hampered mobility, and it was impossible to access the Net in any of the restaurants and near the poolside.”

The Taj Group has already introduced wireless Internet access for its customers at Taj Coromandel in Chennai, and is all set to launch this in Mumbai. Shukla puts forward a very valid point: “As in any industry, one has to realise that though different technologies are available, all of them are not beneficial to the end-customer. One has to realise that as customers change their preferences and the way they want to interact, we too have to change with them. Going forward, a hotel which understands a customer’s needs and fulfils it satisfactorily with the help of technology would obviously be a preferred one.”

Another significant use of this technology is seen in wireless-equipped handheld phones called digitally enhanced cordless phones, which serve the purpose of tracking a person anywhere in the hotel premises. This phone is especially useful for mobile staff who can attend to a complaint immediately.

Online reservation system
In the dot-com phase, hotels were attracted to the Web and were expecting major revenues to come from online reservations. But just like other industries, hotels too have been disappointed. Today, websites of most hotels serve only as information outlets, and almost no bookings take place through the Web.

One obvious reason is security, which makes customers reluctant to reveal their credit card details on the Web. Says Shailesh Bhagwat, EDP executive of Orchid, “Proper security systems are a must to avoid fraud in non face-to-face transactions. Though most hotel chains offer customers a secure way of transmitting data, it will be a long time before customers accept this.”

The way forward
Wireless communications and mobile computing technologies are changing the way hotels manage information. In addition to this, strategic decision making coupled with an ability to access information, analysing it and distributing it would be the key to increasing productivity and reducing costs. Going forward, hotel chains could increase the number of value added services without major investments in IT budgets.