You can find resources that can help small independent hoteliers thrive in this data-driven environment with strong relationships with their technology partners
It’s important for hoteliers to have confidence in the staff that they have to provide great service in all areas, including accommodation, casino, restaurants, and other services. They need to be successful and efficient, alike. One way that this can happen is thorough training which is imperative for current properties with expanding complexity and technology reliance on property-management systems. You can find resources that can help small independent hoteliers thrive in this data-driven environment with strong relationships with their technology partners.
The first, and most important step for independent hoteliers, is to ensure all business procedures are written down, easy to locate, and consistent. Technology can help this process. It’s important to invest in technology that helps achieve business goals before investing further in training. This process can take a lot of introspection and open conversations with technology vendors.
If a hotel's PMS supports guest segment setups, they will know what rate to charge. By monitoring on-property technology, the hotel can improve training and efficiency.
It's important for employees to learn by doing and for these practices and procedures to be consistent across all departments. Some hotels guide their employees using up-to-date and consistent best practices, which is what makes hospitality flourish.
The process can be improved with an audit of the hotel's productivity. An audit can show which tools are underutilized and important. With this knowledge, a need is created to use these tools for rate management and customer engagement.
Training for new technologies, processes, and strategies has many available vehicles. Hands-on instructions are usually the initial training but there are more efficient ways to reinforce this information over time. These include webinars and other step-by-step guides that allow hotel workers to train at their own pace or remember key information days or months later.
Hotel employees can self-train on new content more efficiently in their own time, and teach themselves any skills they may need without having to rely on other workers to give them the materials.
Stay up to date
It's going to be hard for your employees to stay motivated and engaged if their training tools and on-property technology are out of sync. If training information and on-property technology are out of sync, it will inevitably lead to confusion when training new workers, which will ultimately cause inefficiencies.
Upgrading your hotel's PMS will include access to the latest features and fixes for past problems, as well as updates for security and internal vulnerabilities.
When should I switch PMS providers? It is not prudent to switch PMS providers without consulting first because it is possible to be missing out on new and useful features as hotel software becomes more complex.
Closer personal connections
Close working relationships with tech partners help hotel partners minimize their confusion about the capabilities of a PMS. Vendors should be sending information about updates alongside patches, but operators are often short on time and have a hard time understanding the updates. This is why live chat or in-person meetings can be helpful for operators to get back up to speed.
As independent properties lack the time and resources for a dedicated team, these properties should have a “champion” designated as the technology leader in order to communicate with vendors, gather information on new updates, and train other members of the team.
When choosing a vendor for your hotel search, it's important to make sure it is engaged in the conversation and focuses on facilitating communication. Choose a company that will help you create sustainable relationships with quality tech vendors when needed.
