With the increase of number of Private Airlines and tourism infrastructures are getting better; more and more hotels are opening up, and are trying their best to provide best possible customer service and experience.

This is primary achievement by aligning hotel business plan with the right type of technology.

In terms of PMS-‘Property Management System' Hotels are migrating from DOS/Clipper based ‘Fidelio' to robust Oracle based software –‘Opera'. Most of the hotels have either migrated from Fidelio version 6.x to Opera or have schedule to upgrade it. Micros-Fidelio will be putting a stop to any further enhancement and development of their DOS based Hospitality Solutions.

Opera doesn't crash like Fidelio version 6.x. In older version major issues was database maintenance. It required frequent maintenance (regular database indexing). System shutdown becomes the need of the hour even during peak operational hours if Fidelio hangs. Such system maintenance issues are reduced to a greater extent in Opera due to the robust oracle database.

Again unlike Fidelio at night during ‘Night Audit' operations in Opera application doesn't require the system operations to be called to a halt. MICROS Systems' Opera Hotel Edition is a very strong and stable PMS. It is a full-featured, Oracle-based, integrated, web enabled, scalable suite of products. Developed around the industry acclaimed Oracle relational database management system, speed, reliability, functionality and ease of use are built into Opera's design. Oracle is the versatile data management platform which can support customers with very large database requirements and high transaction volumes. Hotel Management software companies takes advantage of the features of Microsoft Windows, Oracle, and Internet technologies, in the passing of information or the centralization of the platform solutions.

With the Hospitality Industry high on the Industry scale every hotel is now intent on gaining the maximum. Where earlier the focus was on selling rooms the same is now shifted to maximization of room yield. Guest room is a perishable commodity. Arriving at a potential value of room when in demand is an art. Most deluxe hotels deploy ‘Revenue enhancement\Yield Management application. Keeping the manual track of a bulk room inventory, looking at the future booking trends and calculating the potential room rate manually is too tedious a task.

This job is eased by ‘Revenue enhancement\Yield Management application as systems looks into current bookings, past history, future booking trends and various events (repetitive and non repetitive in nature) to calculate the best possible rate at which a guest room can be sold. It also prompts the best choice to be picked up from the bucket of market segments to maximizing revenue i.e.-whether to accept a group reservation or accept ‘FIT'-‘Free Individual Traveler' booking in a given scenario.

Few years ago air travel was a luxury. Today with the application of yield management various Airlines in India are able to offer best rates to passengers depending on the current load and increase their PLF (Passenger load factor) creating a win-win situation for both the Airline and the Customer. Many private Airlines have started concept of e-ticketing and advance seat booking.

Websites like expedia.com, makemytrip.com, Yatra.com and Travelguru.com have helped customer plan holidays / business trips within a set budget as they can take advantage of buying tickets available at the lowest fare directly without the involvement of an agent.

Similarly hotel room booking and various other travel-tourism related services could be booked by a customer on-line at the best available rate. Advance IT software and systems make it possible for many agents and operators to provide a bouquet of complete services- i.e. from Airline ticket booking, airport pick and drop to Hotel room booking along with sightseeing at very nominal rates due to consolidation and integration of all travel and tourism related services using various software's and booking engines interface. Due to this integration, booking engines are empowered to great deals to customers online.

This has resulted in the increase of Indians traveling abroad. Surprisingly statistics shows that more Indians are traveling abroad than the number of foreigners that visit our country. Advanced reservations systems like CRS (Worldspan, Amadeus, Galileo and Sabre) have helped guests to book hotels and other services directly at appropriate rates. GDS Connectivity has helped hotel companies to display the true rate and availability of a hotel on the initial hotel availability screen (the shopping display when more than one hotel is available in the requested destination). Competitive feedback has shown that Hotel brands have benefited from incremental revenue, supported by industry feedback that agents prefer to book hotel chains that comply with this enhanced Seamless Next Generation of technical connectivity.

From the origin of hospitality a customer is always considered a king. Retaining business and loyal customer is a real challenge for hotel and tourism industry. Storing details of customer preferences (likes and dislikes) into the system enables customized services which in turn helps hotels in retaining guest and up selling. PMS, POS, data ware housing and data mining tools play an important role in this area. Most of the hotels and airlines use these tools to provide services that go beyond the guest expectations. This also helps hotel sales and marketing/Revenue Managers to analyze crucial business data for loss of room nights by a particular company.

To improve operations and record guest feedback hotels deploy ‘Hotel communication system'. In this application all guest calls are recorded. This helps the Hotel management to know the key repetitive issues and challenges that are required to be addressed. This system also helps hotels to measure the productivity of employees for employee recognition programs.

Internet facility has become a vital factor for the guest in the selection of hotel for his/her stay. Wi-Fi (short for ‘wireless-fidelity') is no more a Greek word. Wi-Fi is the popular term for a high-frequency wireless local area network (WLAN). Many airports, hotels, and fast-food facilities now offer public access to a Wi-Fi network; these are known as hotspots. Although many charge a daily or hourly rate for access, some are free.

Most of the hotels have started providing both wireless and wired Internet services in guest rooms and public areas which is also known as ‘Broadband' or ‘HSIA'–High-speed Internet Access'. With the availability of Broadband, a guest is able to browse at a much faster speed and download files in a short span of time. In comparison Broadband is definitely 4 times faster than dialup connection. WI-FI offers freedom from wires. 802.11X protocol has become a common feature. 90% of guest carry WI-FI enabled latest laptops which are also known as ‘Centrino' Laptops. Configuration of external PCMCIA card to enable ‘Wi-Fi '-wireless in non-Centrino laptop is a challenge for most of the IT department of the hotel. Installation of this card occasionally takes lot of time encroaching on guest's privacy.

Most of the deluxe hotels in India have 512 KPBS to 4 MBPS Internet speed connections. This overall is a good Internet speed but falls short of satisfying a guest from the western countries who enjoy faster speed in their countries due to cheaper cost of bandwidth achieved by available Infrastructure. Some hotels have started offering bandwidth as per guest demand at an extra cost.

This is done with the help of a managed ‘network switch' in which port-based output can be defined. Like car rental WI-FI has become a major source of revenue for the hotels. Five years back usage of High speed Internet (wired or wireless) was minimal. Today most of the business travelers carry laptop and the number is on the increase. Increased usage of Internet usage has its own share of complaints like- weak signal, no signal, unable to connect and frequent disconnection. To arrest complaints like these most of the hotels are in the process of upgrading their Internet services with respect to better speed, coverage and connectivity.

Looking at this new source of revenue most of the deluxe Hotels have started providing 24 x 7 ‘Technology Butler' or online "e-butler" service to assist guest pro-actively with the Internet and IT related services along with 24x7 multi-lingual toll free helpdesk for immediate specialist assistance in case of any challenge faced during usage . Service providers such as ‘Inter-Touch' provide remote network operation which monitors the status of all installed rooms 24x7x365; fixing problems before it affect guests. Many business hotels abroad have started offering Internet to the guest incorporating the cost in the room tariff.

In room entertainment\Hotel information-Unlike abroad Hotels in India are restricted by certain laws to screen programs that according to the Indian culture would be considered objectionable and hence ‘Video on demand' service is not successful in India.

Plasma interactive televisions have though helped hotels in marketing their services. It fulfills guest's business and recreational needs. It also offers additional services like express check out, details about city, tourist spots, shopping venues etc. Various applications loaded on a common server which connects to ‘set-top of box in the guest room offers additional multifunctional entertainment functions like Games, Music on demand and guest can also listen to FM radio of the country he belongs to or to international radio channels etc. Guests who don't carry laptop and like to browse Internet from their respective room can browse on these interactive TV with the help of cordless (infrared) keyboard.

The only draw back with this is that guest cannot download or copy information on to his personal data device (USB drive or external pocket hard disk). Interactive TV also offers features like-Alarm Clock, View Bills on line, Connect Laptop with the TV, Check-out from the room and others. Its film library permits guest to view a movie anytime with very good picture quality and music library allows the guest to access most of the music tracks. ‘Digital Video recorders' helps guest to watch favorite program in case he missed it due to any prior engagement.

Interactive TV needs infrastructure of Cat 5/6 network cabling in the room. It combines functions of both of television and PC to provide one solution.

‘Information Kiosk' available in many hotel lobbies and public areas also act as a great marketing tool. Hotels have started marketing various products and services they offer via it for example details of various ‘multi cuisines restaurants' available in the hotel, ongoing promotions, spa facilities and other various services i.e. Airport pickup and drop timings and list of functions happening in the hotel etc. Other than hotel information it can also be configured to display useful city information e.g. shopping venues, distance of various landmarks from the hotel, major events happening in the city, tourist spots etc.

‘Banquet function display screen'-Many hotels have started keeping attractive screen before Banquet pre function area, which is interfaced with hotel Sales and catering application from which it directly picks up–‘Events-Functions of the day'.

RFID –In India Hoteliers have not adopted ‘Radio frequency identification' Technology. Firstly the cost of RFID tag is expensive and further the software that captures data (known as Middle ware) is very expensive. RFID technology can help hotel to trace VIP and guest who have higher spending power. RFID tag can track the complete guest profile provided if guest keeps ‘RFID tag' in his valet, which is provided to him by the hotel for availing discounts etc. Identifying guest and providing guest with services in accordance with his personal likes and dislikes can help hotel in retaining guest.

As mentioned earlier recording guest likes and dislikes is an art and different international chains meet this is in different manners. In few hotels designation of a ‘Profile Manager' exists. His job role is to ensure that guest likes and dislikes are properly recorded in the system to go that extra mile in serving guests according to his preferences. Besides the inability of Indian Hotels to move to RFID technology, is their failure to advance from non-IP based telephone/EPABX to IP based EPABX used by hotels abroad and telephone sets.

Another area where no advancement is seen is in the way Material departments operate. Materials department to a greater extent abroad uses e-procurement systems. Unfortunately E-procurement and supply chain management concept is not popular in our country.

Many hotels in India are concerned about ‘Energy conservation'. Hotels have installed various ‘Building Management Systems' or ‘Engineering Management Systems' to conserve and save on cost of energy. For example A.C. in banquets halls switches ON automatically one hour prior to a banquet function start time and switches off automatically at a specified time.

Automatic water sprinklers installed in the guest room help hotels and safe guard property from unlikely events like fire. Many hotels abroad have installed systems in the room which disconnect electricity connection as most often guest forgets to switch off the television, AC and other gadgets (Even though the same has come down with the Key card activation system). In many Hotels the guest body motion sensing device controls the HVAC in the room.

Hotels abroad have started using many Web based–ASP applications which are accessed either by using Hotel private secured WAN-‘Wide Area Network' or via Internet. These applications are either located centrally in Hotel H.Q or maintained by third party service provider. This central management way of operating the PMS software also gives the opportunity to maintain a central reservation office.

For example one central office can take reservations across properties all over country/region with skeletal staff at the property level. Abroad hotels use ‘Central procurement systems'. It gives the advantage to the unit properties to get a better bargaining power with the volume of business that can be generated for the properties across the country. Central data center of hosting hotel management application for PMS, reservation, back office application, central purchase etc are very common phenomenon abroad.

These concepts are not very common among Indian hoteliers. It is expected that this concept will be surely adopted in the near future by deluxe hotel to save on cost though few International hotel chains in India have taken a proactive measure to use Central shared systems concepts to overall reduce cost of unit hotels.

Most of the deluxe chains have started their own or outsourced reservations. Today guest from any where in India can dial a common toll free number for make booking instead of calling respective property directly. This helps guest in accessing the central reservation office for room booking.

Abroad hotels have started using PDA's in the restaurants, which make the F&B order taking simpler and faster. This speed ups restaurant operations i.e. reduced delivery time of the ordered food and also helps hotel management to keep tight F&B control. PDA's are also used for stores, mini bar inventory stock take and for check-in of the guest right from the airport etc.

The odd part of IT in hotels is that Hotel industry world wide use various application for different operational areas i.e. PMS, POS-‘Point of Sale', Spa Management, Sales and catering, Yield Management, Back office and materials management application, Time attendance\Payroll and data mining\reporting tools.

Most of these applications are separate and operate on different databases and platforms unlike industries like production and FMCG where they use one database for their complete business needs. Using different applications duplicates the job for reconciliation as at times figures don't tally between different applications. There is a need of one application in hotel industry, which can serve the purpose of all departments for better and faster extraction of business information for business intelligence and MIS purpose.

It is sure that a day will come when hotels will swipe guest credit card for issuance of room key and gain access to paid services in the hotel (e.g. Access to club lounge, Discotheque, health club etc.) Hotel Technology companies' need to explore this concept.

To summarize, hotels that provide personalized service have an edge over other hotels in earning more revenue.

The following are the websites of various Hospitality Solution providers-

Indian Hospitality software firms-

• shawmansoftware.com
• prologicfirst.com
• alifsystems.com
• idsfortune.com
• datamateindia.com
• knowcross.com
• ideas.com

International Hospitality software firms-

• micros.com
• softbrands.com
• hotelinfosys.com
• protel-net.com/site/index.html
• springermiller.com
• redskyit.com/hospitality/index.htm
• infrasys.com.hk
• radiantsystems.com/index.htm
• squirrelsystems.com
• infogenesis.com
• hogatex.com
• myhotelsoftware.com

Harish Chandra

Harish Chandra
Manager Information Technology, South West Asia
Cell: +919810199490
InterContinental Hotels Group South West Asia
Tower B, 11th Floor Unitech Cyber Park, Netaji Subhash Marg, Sector 39
Gurgaon – 122001, Haryana, India

Technology related matter which can be further added in the article-

Technology has enabled hotels to provide 'Automated mini bar' where a guest is charged automatically as and when guest consumes any items from the mini bar.

Electronic door lock system - It records who has entered guest room. Incase of pilferage it helps to track who has entered in the guest room.

Cameras-recording, guest safety and security

Check-in takes just a few moments.

VIP guest - Profile photo of guest - Staff cafeteria/Notice board. Handle with care guest. Special guest

TIV-Call accounting - Enhancing the revenue of telephone

Telephone revenue is dropping in hotels as most of the guest use their cell phone.

POS-KOT/ speed of service, Operation and Control

Latest trends in CRM, Loyalty and Customer Service-CRM strategy, offer a consumer-centric service, secure higher retention levels and develop a revenue-generating loyalty program.

1. Loyalty - deploy profitable loyalty programs which achieve increased customer retention

2. Personalization - engage customers through a personalized approach and customized content. Is this the right strategy for the business.

3. Website Optimization – Optimized hotel website appeals to valuable customers and hotel synchronize their website with CRM strategies and capabilities Web sites of some hotels even offer virtual presentation with moving pictures.

4. Customer Retention - Dramatically improve customer retention rates by building loyalty and consistently delivering on your brand promise across all consumer touch-points

Information Technology (IT) enables hotels and restaurants to reap maximum rewards from minimum investment. Hotel industry in India have recognized the importance of ‘Information Technology' and are in the process of implementing solutions that are helping hotel operations, reducing cost and enhancing guest experiences. I have written this article more as an Hotelier and Business Manager than as an 'IT Manager'.