Guest-Centric Technologies Drive Hotel Budgets
At the recent Hotel Technology Forum, Hospitality Technology magazine’s editor-in-chief presented findings from the 2013 Lodging Technology Study. This benchmark study dives deep into hotel tech budgets, drivers for new investments, top challenges, PCI compliance efforts, and specific areas of IT innovation, including property management, social media, cloud computing, in-room technology, and much more.
One of the major areas that the report focuses on is budgets and where spending is being allocated. Not surprisingly 19.7% of budgets are allotted to guest room technology. Another 10.1% is spent on customer relationship management, which means that 30% of budgets is going towards guest-centric technologies.
This is in keeping with the top five reasons for tech investments which include: driving more revenue, enhancing guest services, improving operations, cost savings, and maintaining or acquiring a competitive edge.
Interestingly in 2013, hotel execs expressed that high expectations on the part of guests have outpaced budget limitations. Overall the executives who were surveyed named this the number one challenge facing IT departments, with 26.4% naming it the top problem. This is compared to 2011, when only 22% said guest expectations were a challenge, but rather said that insufficient budgets were the top issue (39%).
See more highlights from the presentation here, or download the complete report.
One of the major areas that the report focuses on is budgets and where spending is being allocated. Not surprisingly 19.7% of budgets are allotted to guest room technology. Another 10.1% is spent on customer relationship management, which means that 30% of budgets is going towards guest-centric technologies.
This is in keeping with the top five reasons for tech investments which include: driving more revenue, enhancing guest services, improving operations, cost savings, and maintaining or acquiring a competitive edge.
Interestingly in 2013, hotel execs expressed that high expectations on the part of guests have outpaced budget limitations. Overall the executives who were surveyed named this the number one challenge facing IT departments, with 26.4% naming it the top problem. This is compared to 2011, when only 22% said guest expectations were a challenge, but rather said that insufficient budgets were the top issue (39%).
See more highlights from the presentation here, or download the complete report.