Technology and software development has changed the way we view the world. Software, especially cloud-based software, has made things easier for everyone. They use real-time data management to provide live feedback. Let’s delve deep into how software solutions have changed the way hospitality business works nowadays.
So how is this affecting the hospitality businesses around the world? You may have already experienced a few hotels with their very own online booking and management app. How was the experience for you?
Software solutions are changing the hospitality business for all parties. Hotel managers, staff, reception, and guests. Everyone is getting the best of it.
Allow us to give you a detailed walkthrough of these changes brought to the hospitality industry by software solutions.
The Hospitality Business
You may be surprised to know that the hospitality business or industry does not mean hotels only.
Let’s define hospitality first. Hospitality usually means making someone feel comfortable and welcome with service and entertainment. The service can be shelter or food.
Shelter and food fall under the hotel industry. Then again, restaurants can provide you with food and a place to sit and enjoy your food. So a restaurant also counts as a hospitality business, right?
So basically, the hospitality business is a huge umbrella that includes hotels, restaurants, resorts, and even theme parks. Among these, hotels, resorts, and restaurants are able to implement software solutions effectively.
Impacts of Software on the Hospitality Business
Now let us summarize the changes brought to the hospitality business by software solutions.
Personalizing the hotel experience
Software solutions like cloud-based mobile apps are personalizing the hotel experience in every possible way.
Nowadays almost all software has a customization feature. This feature can allow the user to select their hotel booking region, location, preference of the types of hotel, etc. Based on this given information, the server of the software can recommend the right hotels for them. Moreover, the software algorithm can pick up the user pattern of the user and recommend them the best hotels of their choice.
Now on the hotel manager’s end, they can customize their profile in the hotel booking apps and make the customer more welcome and engaged. This allows each hotel to personalize its profile and make its online appearance different from each others.
A better presentation will give the hotels a competitive advantage over the others.
The result is that the customers can choose their hotel with their personalized searches. And the hotels can attract customers with their personalized online presence.
Real-time information
Real-time information has changed the decision-making process of hospitality businesses.
The hotel booking apps can provide real-time information on the status of the reservations. The customers can see how many rooms are available as well as live costs. Some software comes with cost calculators which will allow you to input your criteria and days of stay to see what costs you will incur.
On the other end, the hotel managers can stay well informed about the guests in the hotel as well as their complaints. Using the data of available rooms, the manager can make discount announcements and offerings to new guests.
The real-time information aspect of software solutions is making the hospitality industry more dynamic.
VR
VR, short for virtual reality, is slowly making a big impact in the hospitality business. VR is mainly associated with gaming and entertainment. So how does this software solution fit into the hospitality industry?
VR can fit in very well in remote hotel booking. Some hotels have already utilized this tool.
Just imagine, inspecting the hotel room that you are booking from home via VR technology. This can give you a practical experience of how the room is and you can then make up your mind whether to book it or not.
Then in reception, you can have a virtual reality meeting with the receptionist and make your reservation. This will mimic the real-life experience of booking a room in real life.
But wouldn’t all these be too complicated? For the guests/ customers, not at all. It is as easy as playing a VR game such as a virtual life simulator.
On the other hand, hotels will have to deal with some complications at the start. But once the technology is implemented, it will require very little maintenance and the cost will be significantly less.
VR is getting very popular in the hospitality industry and it can very much affect all the businesses under the umbrella of the hospitality industry. We wouldn’t be surprised to see it implemented in all other service industries outside of the hospitality business.
Increase ROI and Customer Retention
This one goes to the hotel businesses. Smart software solutions can increase their return on investment in many ways.
Investing in new software solutions may seem very expensive at the beginning. We will admit that it is true, but the cost becomes significantly less as time passes by.
Besides, if you have smart software solutions, your customers will love your service. You, as a manager, can also better monitor their needs and take care of them. This will increase customer retention.
The next time the old guests come into town, they will be more likely to stay in your hotel. So, no effort has to be spent to bring them back the second time. So isn’t it an increase in your return on investment?
Because of this higher return on investment, the hospitality business is getting more capital and they are evolving fast to provide better service to their customers.
Conclusion
So that is how software solutions are affecting the hospitality business and it is bringing big changes. The biggest change of them all is the digitalization of their services. Take VR for example. Now customers can take a peek at the hotel rooms remotely before booking them.
The focus of the hospitality industry is also taking a turn. Now they put a good amount of effort into ensuring customer data security.
What we are seeing is a revolution in the hospitality industry. We can hope for the best as we are seeing positive impacts in the industry.