A new report identifies three key trends driving the hotel industry: globalization, a new breed of customer and new technologies.
The clear message from this report is that the hospitality industry is undergoing a period of unprecedented change and will continue to transform. Customers are changing; technology is changing; markets are changing. Yet this is also a period of unparalleled opportunity,†said Antoine Medawar, Managing Director, Amadeus Hospitality Business Group.
One of the key findings of the report was that today’s traveler wants to have experiences built around their personal needs. “The hotel industry recognizes that it must go further in its adoption of social networking,†the report says.
“The more demanding customer of the future will want to engage with a hotel across all touch points where appropriate. Hotels will need to capture and store more data, yet access to it must be faster and more targeted in order to personalize the guest experience,†the report says.
Other key elements:
The globalization impact is in large part from emerging markets – particularly Russia, India, China and the Gulf – which offer significant opportunities, but cannot be treated as a homogenous whole, according to the report. “The notion of brand integrity is crucial: hotels will need to supply consistent service in a global environment, while adapting to support customers with new cultural background and sensitivities in local markets,†it said.
As distribution, channel and content management becomes more complex, “ensuring tight integration between these core systems will become an even higher priority for hotels. Applications, databases and networks must integrate more easily with each other and third-party systems to facilitate collaborations with partners. “
Amadeus commissioned Inspire Resources to conduct the report called “A blueprint for the future of the hospitality industry.â€
They interviewed a targeted selection of senior hotel executives, consultants, academics and researchers to identify the key issues and concerns facing the market. The hotel executives included a mix of C-level executives as well has those with direct responsibility for IT, distribution, revenue management, marketing and sales.
Report by David Wilkening
