Guest-Contributed by Margaret Ady, Co-Founder, apaleo.
Originally published on the apaleo blog.
Kevin considers himself a pretty smart guy. Last Sunday, he stayed up late watching Game of Thrones. Tired but amped up from the action, he got on Amazon. One weird recommended item led to another, and then he clicked “Buy Now” without really thinking...Don’t be like Kevin. We know, we know. You probably wouldn’t order this shower curtain, but we're willing to bet that you've felt the sting of buyer's remorse after clicking without thinking at some point. While it's easy enough to shake off the regret of poor shower curtain choices, when it comes to your hotel's technology, it probably makes sense to think things through.
It's time to beat the last-minute munchies we can all be prone to. It’s especially important to slow your roll when your tech contract is ending. In the next five years, 60% of hotels plan to change their PMS. Currently, just 10% of hotels have moved to Cloud-based PMS, which mean their relying on legacy systems that don’t play well with new technologies (Hotel Tech Report). Further, 6 out of 10 hotels are missing 20% of the CRS services they need. This is all to say, there’s going to be a lot of core technology change happening for hotels very soon, so it’s never been more important to review your buying process so you don’t end up shaking your head over an astro cat.
You need to learn important things to avoid, like going with the safe bet instead of the smart bet (and how to tell the difference). And how to wrap your head around all the costs, keeping in mind that soft costs like support and training often aren’t clear from the outset (but they can really add up!). There’s also a good bit about avoiding system overlap, which is becoming a big problem with many tech providers adding overlapping functionalities.
When you Stop before you make a #facepalm purchase, you’ll go back to your business objectives, your demographics, and the foundation of your business to determine the smartest next steps. When you Think through your vision and how to get mission-critical systems that flex with your growing hotel business, you’ll be happier and your operation will generate more revenue and efficiencies. You’ll also consider your users, the ones you’re depending on to adopt the technology. Then, when you finally Shop for tech thoughtfully, you’ll do it by future-proofing your property with a solid RFP process and the right amount of time built in.
Though he didn’t read the fine print, it turns out Kevin can return this shower curtain. But tech doesn’t always work this way. And it’s the foundation of everything your hotel is doing these days, so it pays to learn to shop smarter and build a stack that will be a powerhouse.
