As digitization in the hospitality industry is a fundamental part of the value chain, this year’s global study has a special focus on digital hotel operations in the area of the guest journey and is based on feedback from 84 unique hotel chains representing more than 2 million rooms worldwide.

While hotel companies and suppliers now offer solid technology solutions that consumers are increasingly relying on, from the perspective of hotel chains, they are still in the middle of the pack in terms of digitalization (on a scale of 0 to 10), leaving plenty of room for improvement in both digitalization and personalization.

Some of our key findings are outlined below:

• Record online direct bookings are driving innovation as guest data becomes more accessible through a growing base of loyal customers who are either enrolled in loyalty or instant gratification membership programs. Data-driven customer insights are strongly supported by hotel chains’ mobile websites and proprietary apps, multiplying service and sales opportunities. While CRM systems were used by only 54% of respondents in h2c’s Global Hospitality Distribution Study in 2022, the share has grown to 76%, making it an essential tool for customer success.

• System integration remains the biggest challenge in digitizing operations. While revenue-generating systems, such as IBE, have reached a high level of integration, more operations-related systems, such as spa, golf and other service management systems, have the lowest level of integration. ORM systems have the second lowest level of integration, which is a missed opportunity as guest feedback could be immediately actionable.

• As inflation and higher supplier wages have taken their toll on hotel chains’ purchasing power, total system cost is a major concern when acquiring new technology. 83% of respondents said system costs were too high, an increase of 14 percentage points in one year compared to h2c’s 2022 survey.

• Within the guest journey, the greatest potential for improving the guest experience through digital operations is in the arrival and stay phases. 34% of chains offer online check-in with digital keys today, and the same percentage (34%) plan to do so in the future. Automated guest recognition is used by 25% of chains and 36% plan to implement this feature. Real-time, on-demand housekeeping is used by only 14% of chains today, but twice as many plan to use it. Digital ordering, on-demand services and energy control are planned by about 30% of chains.

• As system capabilities and their integrations have evolved significantly over the past 5 years, implementing a structured innovation management process that involves all levels of the organization is a must today. Innovation management is not given the priority it deserves, as only 35% of hotel chains have a structured innovation management process in place, leaving room for improvement.

These are just some of the high-level study results. More details can be found in our report, which can be downloaded here.