By partnering up with Stayntouch, a prominent leader in the US hospitality market, known for its successful alliances with industry leaders like – Sage Hospitality, Pacifica Hotels, HEI Hotels & Resorts, and the iconic TWA Hotel – Oaky strengthens its presence in North America. For Stayntouch, collaboration with Oaky means more exposure in the European market, where Oaky has established itself as a strong leader in hotel upselling. Together, Oaky and Stayntouch are poised to deliver innovative solutions that optimize revenue and enhance guest experiences.

The two tech providers represent an ideal match, as their shared commitment to enhancing the guest experience is evident in their respective solutions. Oaky redefines the guest journey with its seamless and user-friendly upselling features, while Stayntouch pioneers operations technology with advanced automation, easy and intuitive design, and seamless connectivity. This synergy between Oaky and Stayntouch ensures that guests staying at innovative hotels can enjoy an exceptional experience as both companies work harmoniously to elevate the guest’s journey to new heights.

“We are thrilled to announce the integration of Oaky and Stayntouch, a game-changing collaboration that revolutionises upselling and guest experiences for all innovative hoteliers,” said Clément Dénarié, Director of Strategic Partnerships and Alliances at Oaky. “Working closely with Stayntouch, we have seamlessly combined our expertise to empower hotels with comprehensive upselling capabilities. By combining Oaky’s leading upselling platform with the Stayntouch innovative PMS, we are taking revenue optimization and guest interactions to the next level.”

Reid Webster, Stayntouch’s VP of Strategic Growth, comments, “We are very excited to be partnering with Oaky. Mobile flexibility is a key feature of our cloud PMS, allowing our clients to deliver convenient and personalized experiences to their guests from check-in to departure. Our seamless integration with Oaky greatly enhances our existing mobile upselling capability by allowing our clients to send highly targeted offers to their guests, while also boosting successful upsells among front-desk staff.”

The integration between Oaky and Stayntouch marks an exciting chapter in the hospitality industry, as it brings together cutting-edge technologies and guest-centric approaches to elevate the guest experience to new heights. Guest-obsessed hotels can now look forward to an enhanced upselling process, increased revenue potential, and greater guest satisfaction.

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Stayntouch 2.0 is the culmination of two years of work and $15 million of investment in development. The hotel PMS remains the most significant technology impacting operations, especially in today’s highly competitive labor market. With Stayntouch 2.0, hotels can rely on one trusted vendor to deliver a fully integrated technology stack that includes:

• Stayntouch PMS: Easy to use and easy to train on, the flexible and cloud-native PMS solution now offers an improved group module, advanced allowance and packages functionality, and enhanced multi-property features. Hotels can deliver better service with a fully mobile platform, robust automation, mobile guest check-in, and automated upsells that drive real ROI.
• Chain Management: Now, hotel groups, brands, and management companies can seamlessly manage their entire chain, while delivering on unique concepts and service standards. Stayntouch’s Chain Management features an intuitive Chain Dashboard that allows hotels to easily switch between chain, group, and individual property viewpoints while managing availability across the entire brand.
• Stayntouch Pay: Hotels can now cut out the middlemen and leverage a secure end-to-end payment solution that’s fully integrated with their PMS. Stayntouch Pay handles every aspect of payment facilitation, including processing, acquisition, and settlement — delivering one transparent bill with no hidden fees and direct priority support.
• Stayntouch Booking Engine: With a mobile optimized, easy-to-build, and customizable booking page, hotels can streamline the guest booking experience and drive direct bookings.
• Channel Manager: By optimizing all hotels’ booking channels, the channel manager enables hotels to scale their business globally. With turnkey access to leading OTAs and travel agents, hotels can diversify their revenue, capture high-value bookings, increase occupancy, and eliminate double bookings.
• Stayntouch Kiosk: With a sleek and fully customizable check-in kiosk, hotels can reinvent their lobby into a guest-centric space for socializing, dining, and coworking. Innovative hotels can remove the front desk altogether and reimagine the guest’s welcome and departure experience.

“Our goal at Stayntouch is to provide more control over the hotel experience for travelers and hotel operators, and I am proud that Stayntouch is debuting key new additions to its technology suite that will do just that,” said Dan Hogan, Chief Product Officer at Stayntouch. “Stayntouch 2.0 is designed to solve some of today’s greatest pain points: streamlining the growing complexities of hotel bookings and distribution, simplifying cumbersome payment processes, growing and connecting hotels’ technology stacks, streamlining portfolio management and scaling business. With Stayntouch 2.0, operators can focus on delivering enhanced hospitality and guests have the freedom to control their booking and stay experience.”

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COVID-19, more than anything before it, has underscored the critical need to protect our businesses from future existential threats. While we could not have predicted the devastation that COVID-19 has wrecked on the hospitality industry and the global economy, we can still imagine the future which awaits on the other side.

What will hoteliers do differently, and how will our industry adjust? What will hotel recovery plans look like? More importantly, how can hoteliers re-evaluate their technology strategy to protect their property well into the future, especially in the face of unforeseen global pandemics?

Identifying Technology That Can Adapt to the Post-COVID World

Dwindling occupancy and waves of temporary closures are forcing hotels of all sizes to make swift adjustments to their operational and investment strategies. These updates include optimizing operations, cross-training staff, re-evaluating internal spending, property updates, cancellation policy changes, pricing adjustments, and audits of existing technological infrastructure.

It’s important to emphasize that hoteliers should still invest in their properties一in spite of the unprecedented challenges presented by coronavirus. While hoteliers will undoubtedly be pressured to cut spending in the coming months, they should still audit their existing technology stack to make sure their existing platforms aren’t increasing costs and limiting operational efficiencies.

Cloud-based mobile platforms have always enjoyed inherent advantages over their on-premise legacy counterparts. Mobile PMS platforms can increase staff efficiency, boost ancillary revenue, and enhance the personalization and convenience of the guest experience. But they will also greatly increase in importance during the post-COVID era.

While the effects of the coronavirus pandemic have been dire, there are increasingly optimistic signs that the worst may be over. In America, the CDC indicates that the COVID outbreak could reach its peak this week, while many European nations mull the possibility of easing coronavirus lockdowns. Historically, the hospitality industry has always fared well in the face of external crises, and experienced healthy rebounds following 9/11, the 2002 SARS epidemic, and the 2008 Great Recession.

After all, human beings do have an innate need to travel and explore the world around them. In fact even today, hotels in APAC are enticing guests with luxury 14-day quarantine packages, while one luxury hotel in Switzerland is offering health-based add-ons such as coronavirus testing and medical care. Of course, these examples underscore one important fact: While travel will eventually return to normal  levels post-COVID, customer behavior will be changed forever.  And it’s up to hoteliers to anticipate these changes, and reflect them in their technology purchases.

A Mobile PMS is Better Suited for a Hospitality Market Focused on Hygiene

When the hospitality industry rebounded after 9/11, it did so with a much greater appreciation for the threat of international terrorism: Travelers willingly submitted to increased security precautions at airports, and hotels began to take a more active role in combating transnational security issues such as human trafficking. A similar shift will happen post-COVID, where guests will be eager to travel一but will expect much higher standards of hygiene and physical interactions.

And this is precisely the environment where a mobile PMS can thrive.

In a traditional hotel, waiting in a cramped line at check-in is the very antithesis of social distancing. Because traditional lobbies are centered around a single front desk, all of their visitors have to congregate at one point to engage in an extended verbal interaction, exposing guests and staff alike to the risk of potential infection. A mobile PMS, however, gives your guests a number of more hygenic alternatives.

On one hand, they can choose to check in through their mobile device, and avoid human interaction entirely. Or they could check in at a guest-facing smart kiosk, which can be strategically placed around the hotel to encourage social distancing. And when outfitted with AI-enabled facial recognition and ID scanning capabilities, these kiosks can minimize the need to touch potentially contaminated screens and surfaces. Other features, such as keyless entry, mobile amenities and room upgrades, and mobile check-out can also promote enhanced hygiene and social distancing.

Room cleanliness will also take on a newfound importance post-COVID.  Hotels will have to employ enhanced cleaning procedures, and then demonstrate that those procedures have been completed to their guests. Singapore has even launched a program to audit over 37,000 hotels to ensure that they employ good health and hygiene policies on COVID-19. This “SG Clean” standard includes appointing proper management to oversee the property’s housekeeping practices, temperature and health screening for employees, policies for dealing with outside suppliers and contractors, and compliance with health advisories and government regulations.

While some companies are offering checklists to assist hotels in maintaining enhanced housekeeping standards, these need to be integrated with a mobile-first PMS which allows you to run a housekeeping team efficiently from a tablet一instead of a clipboard and walkie-talkie. And because a mobile-PMS will instantly alert your staff when a room is operational, it will take the guesswork out of determining which rooms are “SG Clean,” and which could still be potentially contaminated. A mobile PMS will also let your staff know which rooms are occupied, saving your staff and guests from potentially awkward and risky unintended interactions.

Making Future-Proof Technology Investments

Coronavirus has upended the hospitality industry一but that only means that we’re set for a gradual recovery once the pandemic subsidies. As such, savvy hoteliers are using this downtime to comb through their internal infrastructure and identify technologies that can help them thrive in the post-COVID environment.

Technology is a primary component in driving a hotel’s value proposition, and there are some critical identifiers that hoteliers should keep in mind while future-proofing their property.  Travelers will be increasingly conscious of personal hygiene and social distancing, and a mobile PMS can go a long way towards satisfying both of those demands.

Nicole Dehler is Vice President of Product Management at StayNTouch. Nicole spent more than 12 years in the Regional Divisions of MICROS Systems, divided between Product and Project Management of Property, Sales Force and Central Reservations Systems. She led the Enterprise Team in Asia Pacific as Director of Operations, looking after large scale software implementations as well as managing the regional launch of E-Commerce products and Smartphone applications. Nicole joined StayNTouch in early 2013, spearheading the PMS development, strategy, innovation and growth from the very beginning.

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There is no denying that from a business perspective, travel and hospitality have taken the brunt of the pandemic’s economic impact. Hotels and airline companies have suffered unprecedented losses as escalating numbers of cases spark travel bans and social distancing protocols across the globe. This is a frightening and uncertain time for many of us. However, let me remind you: Our industry has pulled its way through many economic and political hardships, most notably including 9/11 and the 2008 Great Recession. While each of these crises presented the travel industry with enormous short-term challenges, we have always emerged stronger on the other side.

That said, we also recognize that the situation which stretches before will likely be a marathon, not a sprint. While we cannot make any concrete assertions about the timelines we face, the insights gathered from other communities around the globe indicate that containing COVID-19 will take time. How much? We can’t know for sure. All we can do is prepare for the worst while hoping for the best, and work to protect our businesses and our employees to the best of our ability.

And the long-term trends look rosy: By 2030, 5.3 billion people will join the ranks of the global middle class, with spending growing from $37 trillion in 2017 to $64 trillion in 2030. While coronavirus will certainly depress the travel market in the short term, this expanding middle class will be an unstoppable force for growth in the travel industry. And much of this growth will be in Asia, with China and India representing over 43% of the global middle class by 2030. In fact, China is already in the early stages of an economic rebound, according to some indications. Many Chinese companies have already moved beyond crisis response to recovery and post-recovery planning.

The evolving COVID-19 situation is daunting and complex—but by no means does it spell the end of the travel industry. By developing a considered and well-managed response, hoteliers will have a significant bearing on how well they ride the waves. We have put together seven actions to help hoteliers navigate this challenging and unprecedented situation… before resorting to furloughs:

Temporarily Close Down Unpopulated Areas of Your Hotel

Many hotels that are accustomed to 95% occupancy at this time of year are now grappling with the reality of 45% occupancy (or, in some cases, far less). While this is an inevitable byproduct of travel restrictions and the fear associated with the virus, it’s integral for hoteliers to identify those low-traffic areas of their hotel. Whether it be entire floors or, in this case, public spaces that can no longer be utilized, hotels can proactively close certain sections of their property to cut costs. This contingency plan includes the closing of F&B outlets and the reduction of staff based on current infrastructure demand. The use of mobile ordering technology can also help in converting traditional dine-in F&B outlets, to takeout and delivery outlets, to comply with social distancing ordinances.

Alternatively, in some cases, under-utilized space in your hotel that is serving no purpose can also be repurposed for other revenue purposes. Many hotels are partnering with local governments to convert their unused rooms into makeshift hospitals or social isolation spaces. Hotels in Chicago, for example, are offering over 2,000 rooms to the city to serve as a place to safely quarantine first responders, health care workers, the homeless, and victims of human trafficking and domestic violence. While these partnerships will prove invaluable to slowing the spread of the virus, they are also good for business: It’s estimated that the plan will cost the city approximately $1 million per hotel for a 30-day burn rate.

Review Investment Plans

Amidst this crisis, it’s recommended that hoteliers carefully review their investment spending plans to identify opportunities for deferral. Can you proactively pause, reduce, and/or eliminate nonessential investments this year? Is there an opportunity to make the transition from costly inefficient technologies to more cost efficient technologies that provide total cost of ownership?

Identify Opportunities for Improved Energy Efficiency

If possible, take this time to do a utility audit, taking into account on-property lighting, HVAC, insulation, and more. The use of energy-efficient light bulbs, ‘smart-room’ energy-saving automation, timers on lighting, and occupancy sensors can go a long way in reducing utility-related costs at a hotel.

Updated Pricing and Cancellation Policies

Hotels around the globe are also encouraged to reconsider their cancellation policies, shifting away from penalties and fees to embrace a more inviting structure that allows travelers to book future travel without the fear of cancellation fees. Allowing prospective guests to rebook at the same property for a future stay within one year of the original booking date, while offering compelling rates and booking incentives, will help to reinforce your hotel’s bottom line during trying times.

Seek Out Government Help

While some localities have seen limited success in slowing the spread of coronavirus, the policies they have implemented (e.g. social distancing, travel bans, and shutdowns) have had a profound effect on the economy—specifically the hospitality, tourism, retail and restaurant industries. Fortunately, local and national governments, as well as international institutions and private non-profits are stepping in to aid distressed businesses. Agencies like the US Small Business Administration are already offering low-interest disaster loans to businesses affected by coronavirus, while the US Congress is close to completing a comprehensive $2 trillion stimulus package that will include major assistance towards the travel and hospitality industries, including $50 billion for airlines. The major nations of the European Union have also enacted a variety of policies to mitigate the economic fallout of coronavirus containment. Taking advantage of government programs can provide a much needed stopgap until more normal times return to the hospitality industry.

Cut Salaries or Reduce Hours… But Make Sure You Share in the Pain

 Coronavirus is an unconventional crisis, and businesses will need an unconventional response to avoid massive furloughs.  While it’s not an ideal proposition, many hotels will proactively cut costs during this time by making changes to senior executive salaries, while shortening work weeks, and canceling nonessential travel and spending. While this won’t always be favored by staff, these changes are ultimately aimed at their protection.Many properties may also feel the need to defer quarterly dividends that were scheduled for the coming months.

A more palatable approach might be to maintain hourly wages, but reduce the length of the workweek or convert some employees to part-time.  While it is ever important to protect your staff and maintain morale, it’s also essential to optimize labor scheduling, and forecast staffing needs based on day-to-day variations in business volume.  Even a one-day reduction in the work week could reduce labor costs by 20%, and many employees might agree to part-time hours if they knew it would save their job (and also free up time to look for supplementary employment or tend to family members.) This could also be a good time to cross-train employees to ensure staff makers can lend a hand to other departments or tasks when needed.

Before you go this route, however,  make sure you are willing to lead by example: Getting C-suite members and upper management to agree to pay cuts or forgo salary can go a long way towards maintaining employee morale (and might also save jobs in the process).

Finally, if You Absolutely MUST Reduce Workforce, Try opting for Furloughs with a Backup Plan

Although draconian, reducing workforce will significantly reduce your businesses operating costs. Can you reduce service and staffing costs without sacrificing the quality of service your hotel provides? Are you over-staffing any departments? Are there more streamlined procedures that, if put in place, could optimize daily processes at your hotel both now and, more importantly, in the future, when occupancy rates return to normal? Fortunately, those hotels utilizing digital systems (such as a mobile PMS) to manage their operations, will benefit from a more streamlined and agile infrastructure.

If you do decide to reduce staff, opt for furloughing workers rather than layoffs, and make sure you implement a backup plan for your employees. Hilton, for example, recently launched a program to find temporary work for it’s furloughed employees.  While demand for hotel rooms is plummeting, major retail, e-commerce, and grocery brands are experiencing a hiring boom. That’s why HIlton partnered with companies like Amazon, CVS, Walgreens and Publix to create an online portal where furloughed Hilton employees could sign up for an expedited hiring process. Of course, when the crisis finally recedes, Hilton will welcome their furloughed employees back with open arms.

Always Remember to “Keep Calm and Carry On”

It is critical to manage finances over both the short- and longer-term–Especially in the midst of a global crisis like coronavirus. Cutting costs today may help short-term survival, but should not be done at the expense of thriving in the longer-term. Coronavirus will force hoteliers to make some hard decisions about investments, activities, and employment. This will require strong leadership, driven by courage and empathy, and guided by the right data and vision. Hoteliers and their partners need to stand together during this time. With the right contingency plans and proactive measures in place, along with the continued collaboration and support across industry leaders and vendors, we will weather this storm.

Nicole Dehler is Vice President of Product Management at StayNTouch. Nicole spent more than 12 years in the Regional Divisions of MICROS Systems, divided between Product and Project Management of Property, Sales Force and Central Reservations Systems. She led the Enterprise Team in Asia Pacific as Director of Operations, looking after large scale software implementations as well as managing the regional launch of E-Commerce products and Smartphone applications. Nicole joined StayNTouch in early 2013, spearheading the PMS development, strategy, innovation and growth from the very beginning.

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Fortunately, according to the recent Skift Hotel PMS Systems Landscape 2020 report, considerable changes to the PMS landscape are on the horizon, indicating an influx of cloud computing, open API marketplaces, middleware layers, enhanced connectivity, and so much more. This can only be a good thing for the hotel tech space in the long run. It would seem that this critical piece of the hotel stack is in the midst of a long-awaited makeover with the help of next-gen vendors determined to shake up the market in 2020 and beyond.

Key Findings from the Report:

• PMS technology has evolved slowly, limited by one-off integration costs and legacy infrastructure
• Legacy PMS vendors have contributed to the problem by leveraging integrations as a revenue stream
• The past decade has seen major changes in technology, as we welcome the shift to cloud computing, mobility, open API, middleware, and more
• These changes in technology, along with the influence of evolving guest needs, will change the role of the Hotel PMS
• Modern PMS systems can now truly offer hotels a customized solution
• While open APIs are gaining momentum, we have yet to achieve full-scale standardization
• Legacy PMS systems are playing catch-up, and disruption is integral to continued innovation

What Does the PMS Mean to Hoteliers Today?

Traditionally, and still today, the PMS represents an integral piece of technology for hoteliers, central to the core functioning of a hotel’s operations. While smaller hotels may have, historically, relied on only a PMS, large-scale properties would often build out a more robust technological ecosystem that included a PMS, CRS, CRM, channel manager, and more. Today, many hoteliers are working closely with vendors to establish customized ‘stacks’ of critical platforms to ensure they can readily meet the wide-ranging needs and expectations of guests.

Formerly, the question commonly on the minds of hoteliers and vendors was, “Will the PMS soon take a backseat to other platforms, as we strive to better utilize and leverage guest data?”. The answer, according to Skift’s research, is ultimately, no.

However, the role of the PMS is still changing.

While the PMS still holds true as the operational centerfold, it’s become clear that modern systems will adopt a more focused model, integrating tightly with customer relationship management (CRM) systems and central reservation systems (CRS). In this sense, the PMS will continue to play a vital role; but one which is continuously enhanced by open APIs, marketplaces, and middleware technology. The report indicated that the PMS received the single highest budget allocation among surveyed hoteliers in 2019, with 26% of hotel IT software budgets going to the PMS. Even further, it was found that 30% of respondents were looking to change their PMS in 2019.

The Role of Open APIs in Modern Connectivity

Today, as guest needs continue to evolve and our industry experiences rapid growth, it has become undeniably paramount for the PMS to offer open connectivity to a property’s other critical systems and platforms. While each ‘stack’ of operational technology may differ depending on the hotel, the overarching demand remains the same: seamless integration across applications, enabled by an open API.

Perhaps more than ever before, an open API is essential to survival. The modern PMS platforms currently disrupting the marketplace are scalable, flexible, and equipped with core functionalities. These new-age functionalities empower hotels to increase operational efficiencies and staff productivity, manage and amplify group business, effectively manage revenue, and collect and action guest data in a highly personalized manner. This, paired with a finely tuned and user-friendly reporting dashboard that provides management with a clear and accurate view of their business performance 24/7, is revolutionizing the PMS as we know it.

Moving to the Cloud

The days of on-premise systems are, in large part, behind us. Modern PMS players currently pioneering the latest in management software rely on cloud computing, effectively decreasing costs while empowering a more agile infrastructure. That being said, this has been a slow transition, as legacy vendors struggle to rebuild and reform existing technology without losing features along the way. Legacy systems were often laden with barriers and ultimately inflexible, which lead to a slow adaptation to cloud technology.

Fortunately, the industry-wide shift to open APIs and cloud-based systems helps to mitigate the occurrence of costly, one-off third-party integrations and updates while allowing for cost-effective enhancements. StayNTouch was at the forefront of this movement, representing one of the first feature-rich cloud-based PMS companies to deviate from the conservative stance of legacy vendors in favor of a more agile, scalable, and mobile-first solution.

Integrations, Marketplaces, and Middleware

There are three types of integrations to consider in the realm of the PMS:

• Core modules of the PMS
• Integrations that need close data communication but aren’t integral to the system
• Integrations to on-property devices such as phone systems, TVs, and more

Still a relatively novel concept, PMS marketplaces offer hoteliers access to hundreds of integrations, acting as an affordable platform for vendors to market their product. There are advantages to PMS marketplaces, specifically to small PMS vendors who don’t have enough pull to attract the major integration partners. Marketplaces can also create platforms where integration partners can showcase their products to a wider audience of buyers.

Marketplaces also face serious difficulties delivering on their central promise: To date, the notion of an instantaneous, one-click PMS integration is mostly a pipe dream. Like almost everything in life, the devil is in the details: Some PMS integrations are enormously complex, involving multiple connections and 2-way data flows that need to be scoped and mapped effectively. Because of these complexities, hoteliers should seek out PMS vendors who have a strong and established partnership network built on a commitment to enhancing the customer’s system connectivity, ultimately to the benefit of their business’ bottom line.

Middleware layers, on the other hand, help to buffer the limitations of one-off integrations. Acting as an intermediary that sits between the PMS and other platform vendors, this technology allows hoteliers to manage multiple integrations from a single port. Playing the role of integral middleman, middleware layers help to mimic the experience and benefits of an open integration model, even where it does not exist.

The ideal solution for hotels is to combine the qualities of a fully-functional and featured PMS, with the flexibility of open APIs and middleware systems. A robust PMS comes with a range of functions, including guest information and folios, room distribution, pricing and revenue management, reservation details, advanced group functionalities, guest check-in/out, housekeeping and more. This broad functionality can send a wealth of pertinent guest information (including guest profiles, reservation data, and more) to their relevant integrations, to create a more complete and seamless guest experience. It will also create a tech stack that has enough features to handle current business needs while being flexible and scalable enough to stay ahead of emerging technological trends.

The Future of Hotel PMS

A modern, cloud-based PMS model can and should offer hoteliers the core functions they need to run their business and operations effectively, while also providing seamless integrations. This ensures that those hoteliers looking to create a highly customized ‘stack’ of solutions can quickly do so without friction or hassle.With enhanced connectivity, hoteliers can readily facilitate the communication and the transfer of data between all vital systems of a hotels’ operations. In turn, this inspires a culture of scalability. Modern guests expect hyper-personalization across all touch-points, with a recent Google and Phocuswright study revealing that nearly six in 10 travelers believe brands should tailor information based on their personal preferences or past behaviors. Furthermore, 90 percent of travelers worldwide say they expect a personalized experience when they book their travel. Hotels can only achieve this standard of personalized service with the continued aggregation of data, reporting, and insights across various collaborative platforms.

Key-Findings: What to Expect in 2020

Historically, the evolution of legacy PMS systems was often hindered by integration costs and limitations. However, the more recent rise of integration-rich, cloud-based platforms is creating a future tech ecosystem that is more streamlined and agile. With the steady standardization of open APIs, cloud computing, and enhanced mobility, vendors can finally start offering hoteliers a flexible and customizable system.

Taking a page from the retail industry’s notebook, the hospitality industry is adopting a more customizable booking model for guests who crave a unique, attribute-based experience. Looking to Hilton and IHG as early adopters, the PMS will undeniably play an integral role in this shift to appeal to increasingly tech-savvy customers with a penchant for innovation and unique features. There is simply no ‘one-size-fits-all’ solution in the realm of hospitality technology; our landscape and our guests are incredibly diverse and, as such, demand dynamic offerings and continued transformation. Those vendors and hoteliers who adapt accordingly will remain relevant while those who stay unjustly tied to rigid infrastructure, will not.

The final take-away? The hospitality industry is experiencing an era of dynamic change. As we continue to welcome disruption to the landscape in 2020 and beyond, open APIs, collaboration across vendors, and a mobile-first approach will set the stage for a more innovative hotel PMS future.

Nicole Dehler is Vice President of Product Management at StayNTouch, A Shiji Group Brand. Nicole spent more than 12 years in the Regional Divisions of MICROS Systems, divided between Product and Project Management of Property, Sales Force and Central Reservations Systems. She led the Enterprise Team in Asia Pacific as Director of Operations, looking after large scale software implementations as well as managing the regional launch of E-Commerce products and Smartphone applications. Nicole joined StayNTouch in early 2013, spearheading the PMS development, strategy, innovation and growth from the very beginning.

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The new solution allows Nuvola’s platform and StayNTouch’s PMS to work cohesively as a digital assistant for staff to manage daily tasks and provide guests with better overall service.

The new integration allows hotels to seamlessly migrate reservation data from StayNTouch to Nuvola and vice-versa, leading to benefits that stem from staff task management to the guest experience. When both dynamic cloud-based systems work together, it decreases tedious, manual work and increases staff productivity, enhancing information sharing across both hotel departments and with their guests. The technology developed by Nuvola and StayNTouch is customizable to fit specific property needs – ensuring resorts and hotels of all sizes can benefit from this new offering.

“For a two-way operating system to be successful, it is imperative that both partners perfectly align in robust solutions and development processes,” said Nicole Dehler, VP of Product at StayNTouch, A Shiji Group Brand. “Nuvola’s intuitive and innovative software complements the PMS system we have created for hoteliers and has made them an ideal company to partner with to offer a dynamic and complete hotel-focused solution. We look forward to now being able to offer our clients the Nuvola platform working cohesively with StayNTouch.”

Recognizing that equipping staff with a mobile and consistently easy to use software is the key to elevating the guest experience, and the integrated solution focuses on mobility for staff members. Employees within a hotel can access and edit, in real-time, either system from the convenience of their phone or mobile device – and all information is stored and visible on traditional desktop devices too. Staff can complete and track tasks instantly, providing hoteliers something they can usually never get back—time.

“The synergy in terms of product development and goals for the solution align in a way that makes StayNTouch the ideal partner,” said Juan Carlos Abello, CEO and Founder of Nuvola. “The PMS technology created by StayNTouch works perfectly with Nuvola’s mobile-friendly platform in such a way that we will effectively simplify hotel optimization while simultaneously creating a more efficient way to manage daily tasks for hotel properties worldwide. The notion of consolidation in hospitality from a technology standpoint is a trend that is picking up momentum in this industry, so we are thrilled to partner with StayNTouch and bring to market a fully comprehensive two-way hospitality-focused operating system.”

Simple in design and easy to use, the partnership and combined solution between Nuvola + StayNTouch is intuitive and can be up and running across a hotel’s various departments and team members in as little as a few days.

Does your company have news it would like to share with our readers? If so, we invite you to review our editorial guidelines and submit your press release for publishing consideration.

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Each of these numerous touchpoints — from pre-stay, to arrival, to post-stay — create countless opportunities to connect with or enhance the experience of guests.  With the help of new technology, making the most of each primary touch-point seems easier than ever before. From mobile check-in, to better front of house management, enhanced convenience, data-backed personalization and more, connecting with each guest feels more accessible than it did in the past, while confined within limiting legacy infrastructure.

With these technological advancements in mind, many hoteliers as how they can best capitalize on each touchpoint, to create a truly exceptional guest experience.

But what if we told you the answer lies in breaking down those moments to something smaller, but even more impactful?

With the steady rise of mobile, we come to understand the importance of ‘micro-moments’ in the guest journey. These occur when guests reflexively turn to a device (often, their smartphone) to learn something, do something, discover something, watch something, or buy something. These are intent-rich moments when guests will share their preferences, and make decisions. And as you might imagine, these micro-moments can influence almost every stage of the new guest journey.

Imagine the guest journey as it existed before the mobile revolution: When considering a trip, a prospective guest would likely flip through travel magazines, and make an appointment with their local travel agent to discuss options. Once flights and hotels were decided, the agent would confirm their reservation details. When they arrived at the hotel, the guest would make their way to the front desk, wait in line, (eventually) retrieve their room key, and make their way to their room. If the guest needed anything during their stay, they would have to either phone the front desk, or physically flag down a nearby staff member. At the end of their trip, they would bring their belongings downstairs and manually check-out with the front desk, returning their room key and settling any outstanding charges on their profile.

If you notice a pattern, it’s that the guest’s decisions can only be implemented through a limited number of macro-actions — flagging down a staff member, calling the front desk, etc. The entire wealth of the guest’s options, preferences and impressions are lost to the hotel. As you might imagine, the rise of mobile has allowed hoteliers to access the full range of micro-moments, allowing them to change the guest journey dramatically.

Mobile Technologies Influence Every Stage

From the ‘research’ stage to guest bookings, check-in, digital keys, mobile concierge and more, hoteliers now have an abundance of opportunity to better engage with guests, while guests can interact with the hotel in the manner of their choosing.

To better capitalize on this rich new hospitality environment, hoteliers should ask the following questions:

1. Are you offering compelling imagery and helpful information on your social media and booking channels to captivate prospective guests during their inspiration and research stage?
2. From a booking and check-in/out perspective, is your mobile app user-friendly and intuitive? Does it offer the same functionality to mobile guests, as it does to guests booking through a desktop?
3. Are you pro-actively engaging with, managing, and promoting the conversation surrounding your brand on multiple platforms?
4. Do you offer your guests keyless entry, and/or 24/7 support via a mobile concierge in the palm of their hand? Do you offer your guests a variety of ways to communicate with the hotel, including mobile SMS and chatbots?
5. Is your staff empowered by mobile technology to better serve and respond to guest requests and communicate across departments?

Ultimately, the question comes down to: Are you present in every step of the journey —and are you useful?

A recent study conducted by Google and Phocuswright revealed that customers are using mobile devices to research products across all types of markets — from clothing shopping to international travel. This is especially true in hospitality, where over 70% of U.S. travelers agree that they ‘always’ use their smartphones when traveling. Often, guests use their mobile device to gain inspiration for future trips (think glamorous vacation shots on Instagram), or to research activities, attractions and hotel reviews (think searches to Google Maps, or the review section of Tripadvisor).

When 76% of travelers say their smartphone is the most important travel companion, hotels had better take note: over one-third of smartphone users regardless of market will view a brand negatively if their mobile experience is slow, and even a “short,” 5-minute wait at check-in can lower a hotel guest’s satisfaction by 50%. Fortunately, implementing a mobile check-in/out system can decrease front desk wait times by 20%.

In the world of hospitality, mobility is undeniably powerful.

Never Underestimate the Power of Mobility

Mobile platforms are allowing hoteliers to reimagine the guest journey, and connect with their guests on a deeper, more responsive and personalized level.  To win guests’ business, hoteliers have to ‘be there, and be useful’ across the entire guest journey. During the pre-stay, ask yourself: Is your brand showing up in common searches? Who is your competition, and what are they doing differently? When your brand does show up, what does that content look like? Is it a strong representation of your hotel, and what your property offers? Does it effectively elevate your service offering from a prospective guests’ perspective? Does it provide guests with all the information they need to make an informed decision? Is all of the information and functionality available on your desktop webpage, also available on the mobile version with the same user-friendly ease?

Once a guest makes the decision to book with your hotel, it’s crucial to provide them with a variety of mobile options for check-in, check-out, payment and in-house messaging. Is your app easy to navigate, does it offer guests push notifications and customizable settings? Does it streamline communications, along with the check-in, key retrieval, and check-out process? Does it offer targeted advertisements for room upgrades and amenities? Does it offer guests self-service options to ensure they are in complete control of their journey? Does it inform continued guest personalization for a more relevant and intuitive on-property experience? If a guest encounters a problem, are they able to text a staff member or concierge for quick resolution?

As a hotelier, these are some of the questions that should be driving your selection of mobile solutions. The guest experience is made up of many integral, intricate micro-moments, none of which should be neglected or dismissed. Ultimately, the key to reimagining the guest journey, is to develop a technological infrastructure that is proactive, responsive, and personalized to each individual guest’s needs.

Are you tapping into those micro-moments to enhance revenue, loyalty, and reviews? Are you truly leveraging the power of mobility to enhance the guest’s journey? The bottom line is this: If you don’t do it, your competitors will.

Nicole Dehler is Vice President of Product Management at StayNTouch, A Shiji Group Brand. Nicole spent more than 12 years in the Regional Divisions of MICROS Systems, divided between Product and Project Management of Property, Sales Force and Central Reservations Systems. She led the Enterprise Team in Asia Pacific as Director of Operations, looking after large scale software implementations as well as managing the regional launch of E-Commerce products and Smartphone applications. Nicole joined StayNTouch in early 2013, spearheading the PMS development, strategy, innovation and growth from the very beginning.

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