The summer of 2023 isn’t even over yet, and it’s already shaping up to be a big one for the travel industry.
The summer of 2023 isn’t even over yet, and it’s already shaping up to be a big one for the travel industry.
In a recent survey, 85% of respondents said they intend to travel this summer — 5% more than last year. Perhaps more interestingly, 42% of people said they planned to travel more than they did last summer.
This means a lot of flights, a lot of money spent, and a lot of new business for hotels. It’s also a valuable opportunity for hotels to learn more about the current market and make key changes to prepare for the future.
One such lesson is how to build the right tech stack for your hotel. In this article, we’ll look at 6 key lessons we can learn from summer 2023 about how to prepare the best possible tech stack for your hotel going forward. Let’s dive in.
1. Prepare your Central Reservation System to handle crowds
Your hotel’s Central Reservation System is, at times, the main thing standing between the orderly running of your hotel and complete chaos.
A well-managed CRS allows you to stay on top of bookings, occupancy, cancellations, and your online activities. It helps you use overbooking effectively, as a tool, while minimizing the risks, and ensures the smooth and efficient running of your property.
During busy times — like we’re facing in 2023 and likely into the future — your CRS needs to be on point, properly set up, and ready to handle large volumes of travelers. Do this right and the running of your hotel will be far less stressful and allow you to provide a much better experience to your guests.
2. Be mobile-friendly
Every year, the number of bookings made via mobile steadily increases.
Make it as easy as possible for your guests to make bookings through their smartphones. Here are some ways to do this:
- Make sure your website is mobile-friendly
- Support mobile check-in and keyless entry
- Support mobile payment methods such as Apple Pay and Google Pay
- Offer mobile-exclusive deals and incentives
With the right booking engine, it’s much easier to make the booking process easy to access and complete from a mobile, making it easier for your smartphone-using guests to reserve their stay.
3. Communicate seamlessly with your guests
During busy periods, it’s easy to let communication with guests slip. But these are also the times when communication is more important than ever — to minimize stress and friction and give your guests as rewarding an experience as possible.
This requires some foresight. Invest in the right communication and engagement tools like chatbots, automated messaging, and having a team of customer service staff available to deal with tricky issues.
4. Use a channel manager to boost your presence
In a competitive travel market, you should be doing all you can to stand out. That means establishing a strong presence across third-party booking sites like Booking.com, Expedia, and Agoda.
The right channel manager makes this much easier, allowing you to stand out and connect with more potential guests than ever before and make the most of this travel frenzy.
5. Tighten up your cybersecurity
Unfortunately, it’s not all good news in 2023.
Cybercrime is constantly evolving, and new, sophisticated threats are emerging all the time. Cybersecurity is no longer something you can take for granted as a hotel (or any business) — it’s essential to take a proactive and informed approach to defence.
The good news is there are lots of powerful tools at your disposal here, from firewalls and antivirus software to data encryption, proper employee education, and frequent security audits.
6. Make the most of data
Hotels in 2023 have access to more data than ever before in history, and if you know how to use it this data can be extremely useful.
Your data can allow you to make predictions about trends and customer behaviour, personalize your communications, and tighten up your operations to deliver better experiences and services throughout your business.
The craziness of 2023 has taught us that more efficient operations and better customer connections are incredibly valuable, and the smart use of data can get you there.
The Hotel-Spider solution
Hotel-Spider is packed with features to help you act on all six of these lessons. Our booking engine, channel manager, central reservation system, and many other tools allow you to deliver better experiences to customers and improve the running of your hotel — allowing you to capitalize on busy periods instead of being overwhelmed by them.
