Third-Party Integrations: The Key To Unlocking Seamless Operations At Small Hotels
2024 has been positive for the hospitality industry: Travel numbers are set to go back to pre-pandemic levels by the end of the year. This uptick has been marked by more intraregional and domestic trips, and new kinds of travelers emerging worldwide.
Travel in Europe continues to make a recovery with people spending more on holidays, and the US is expecting an increase in travelers compared to 2023. While the positive news is encouraging for chain hotels that took losses in the past couple of years, how will smaller hotels fare?
As the influx of guests reaches maximum capacity, boutique hotels, hostels, and other types of small hotels must reach peak operational efficiency as well. And, as younger generations begin to travel, hotel managers should start thinking about catering to all guests’ diverse preferences with traditional and tech-enabled services.
Although most hotels run on hotel management systems, not all of them use technology’s full potential to streamline aspects like payments, reservations, event hosting, and more. In peak seasons, this could result in booking errors, slow downs, and displeased guests. This is where third-party integrations can solve headaches for small businesses in the travel industry.
Let’s explore the advantages these integrations offer, overcoming adoption obstacles, and what this means for guests.
Exploring Essential Integrations For Small Hospitality Businesses
Travel and hospitality businesses, especially smaller hotels with two to five employees, are increasing their technology budget by 73% in 2024 — hotel software management being their most common investment. Proper guidance is essential to ensure budget allocations to technologies fit the agile and unique needs of smaller lodgings. Third-party integrations enable small hotels to customize their operations to get exactly the services they need.
There’s something rustic about a paper-based guest book, but when it comes to number-crunching your annual successes, automation can be a pleasant addition. Two reservation systems making waves as a result of their user-friendly interfaces and efficiency are Cloudbeds and ResNexus. These platforms help managers easily handle reservations, schedule housekeeping, and set rates all in one place, offering mobile apps for them to multitask as they go.
Moreover, the best change a business can undergo is updating its payment methods to receive digital transactions rather than just old-school manual credit card processing and cash handling. To start, businesses can adopt emerging services like Stripe for quicker payouts and PayPal to diversify beyond traditional bank payments.
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platforms like Salesforce and Zoho also service small businesses to keep up with guest preferences beyond hearsay, connecting data from multiple sources to personalize services, communications, and targeted marketing efforts.
Modern hotel systems such as Property Management Systems (PMS) or Central Reservation Systems (CRS) often have built-in or marketplace integrations. The key is finding one that works with your hotel's setup. For example, smaller boutique hotels might want more personalization and unique guest experiences, whereas hostels, which cater to a younger, more tech-savvy crowd, might prioritize mobile check-ins and enhancing social interaction and connectivity through community-building apps.
Overcoming Adoption Challenges and the Vetting Process
Implementing more technology into your small business isn’t an overnight change — it takes practice and getting everyone on board. From a skills gap to cybersecurity concerns, there are some challenges we must address.
Lack of technical expertise might be the most common issue to tackle. This is especially true when small hotels don’t count on in-house IT services, and management becomes a one-person show. As such, it’s key to choose integrations with strong customer support, detailed onboarding, and possibly hiring a consultant to make the transition process smoother.
When vetting services, make sure you know about their cybersecurity practices and whether they comply with data protection regulations like GDPR in Europe or CCPA in California. Do they offer encryption? Do they have visibility of your customer data? If these questions aren’t answered on their website, make sure to connect directly with the company to clear up these crucial doubts — such oversights might result in headaches like data breaches and downtime.
Lastly, small businesses don’t necessarily count on pools of additional cash to spend. Thankfully, today’s technology is for everyone, with services evolving enough to target several price ranges. Here, it’s important to start small and build up, so the most essential integrations, like payments and reservations, are good places to start, and then hire other services as your budget allows.
You should expect monthly pricing structures and initial setup costs. Many of these integrations also offer discounted bundles as opposed to individual purchases, encouraging faster scaling at a better price. Ultimately, this technological investment yields high returns in customer satisfaction and operational efficiency that make the expense worthwhile.
The Benefits of Catering To All Audiences
Almost half of all current travelers are Millennials (22%) and Gen Z (21%). Both are tech-savvy, and the latter have expressed their preference for spending on experiences rather than goods — 25% have made travel purchases in the last three months at the time of Hopper’s survey.
So, as their budget slowly but surely grows, they’ll want to flock to smaller accommodations that prioritize unique experiences and take special care of guests. This is the opportunity for boutique hotels and hostels to shine, providing them with digital-first solutions they can manage with a few taps on a screen.
Small hotels have a fantastic opportunity to create truly special guest experiences with technology. By combining classic hospitality with modern integrations, guests and staff can enjoy smoother operations. With strategic selection, vigilant vetting, and team training, smaller accommodations have the chance to enhance their special lodging experience even during high demand.
About the Author
Kirimgeray Kirimli, is President at Flatiron Software.