Jennifer Axness
The final week of June, 2023 will be an exciting one in the hospitality industry as two important events occur simultaneously: the Hospitality Industry Technology Exposition and Conference, or HITEC, and AHLA’s brand new, industry-wide hospitality event, The Hospitality Show.
In its 31st year as the world’s largest hospitality technology event, HITEC 2023 will take place June 26-29 in Toronto, hosting thousands of industry professionals from over 60 nations. Amadeus will be on the show floor in booth #1001, where our knowledgeable team will share innovative ways to help customers deliver memorable guest experiences, drive profitable demand, and increase operational efficiency. Katie Moro, VP Data Partnerships, BI & Data Products will speak at the co-located HSMAI ROC conference, on a panel addressing Evolving Consumer Segments: Insights for Revenue Management on Wednesday, June 28 at 10:30 am. Schedule a meeting with us at HITEC here.
Bringing together hospitality industry executives, operators, and tech partners for three days of networking and learning, AHLA’s inaugural event, The Hospitality Show, will happen June 27-29 in Las Vegas. Our on-site team will be hosting guests in booth #431, speaking to them about Amadeus’ hospitality platform and answering questions about how our technology solutions can help grow their businesses. Listen to Joe Youssef, Executive Vice President, Commercial for North America participate in a panel discussion on “The Demand Generation: Asking for Everything!” on Wednesday morning, 8:50 am, and hear Sara Duggan, VP, Product Go to Market-Business Intelligence, share her views on “Real-Time Data and Smart Tech to Influence Your Distribution + Marketing Strategies,” on Wednesday at 3:30 pm. Schedule a time to meet with us here.
A new age of travel
The world of travel, not surprisingly, has changed substantially over the past four years. This new era, explored in Amadeus’ recent research, Catalysts for Change: Building the Hospitality Ecosystem of the Future, is one in which travelers want greater personalization in their journeys, first and foremost, but also more flexible and sustainable travel options, the support of greater technology to plan their trips, and, overall, more memorable experiences.
Amadeus is helping the hospitality industry meet these evolving expectations, and be fully prepared for the future, by enabling an ecosystem approach across travelers, travel sellers, hotels, mobility, and travel insurance. The benefits of collaboration within the industry can be great, with travel providers finding success by being able to personalize offerings, and travel sellers thriving by having access to integrated content and technology-driven solutions.
Personalization
Travelers nowadays expect more unique experiences when they book their trips and as they travel than ever before. In fact, according to our Traveler Tribes 2033 study, personalization and innovation for travelers of today as well as for future travelers are at the forefront of their priorities.
Hoteliers can accelerate their success as they present customized offers through enhancements and upsells that create more memorable stays for guests. One individual may desire a certain type of bedding, or a particular room, for instance, while another may be drawn by third party offerings such as restaurant reservations or theater tickets, and yet another, by extras such as chocolate-covered strawberries. Hoteliers connect with their target audiences by offering value-added features such as these and delivering experiences to guests that fulfill their desire for more individualized stays. Service Optimization (SO) technology helps hotels more effectively handle guest requests and preferences at a time when highly personalized and anticipatory service really matters to most guests.
How can hoteliers face these new trends head on? Putting the right personalized offer in front of the right guest at the right time and in the right channel is paramount. Accessing insights from on-the-books data through Business Intelligence (BI) solutions can further enable hoteliers to build strategies for driving demand to their properties.
Elevating guest satisfaction by improving operational efficiency
Elevating the guest experience is the goal of every hotelier. Ensuring a high level of guest satisfaction, especially versus what the competition is able to offer, enables a hotel to see more guests making return bookings and recommending the hotel to others.
Labor shortages, a hot topic since the pandemic, have continued to create challenges for hoteliers as the demand for leisure, business, and group travel has surged back. Solutions such as Amadeus HotSOS allow hoteliers to maximize operations by helping them manage tasks, unlock staff capabilities, and deliver a higher level of personalized guest services – such as chocolate-covered strawberries, an extra firm pillow, or the like.
Group travel
Group travel, an important aspect of hotel business, has also evolved. Shorter lead times, smaller groups, more scheduled downtime, and an expectation for increased engagement with attendees will require hoteliers to rethink group management. Sustainability and personalization will be major themes for group planners going forward – following the trend in the hospitality industry overall – as well as other timely topics such as bleisure, or blended travel, as more and more guests look to combine work with relaxation time.
By recognizing specific guest preferences for meetings and events, especially in this new era of group travel, an ideal strategy for a hotel would include leveraging sales and catering software to efficiently organize and manage group events.
Amadeus’ hospitality team will be present at both events, and we look forward to the opportunity to introduce you to our team, chat with you about your business needs, and show you how our latest solutions can help you deliver memorable guest experiences, drive profitable demand, and increase operational efficiency.
Are you headed to HITEC? – schedule a meeting with us in advance.
Attending The Hospitality Show? – reserve a time to meet with one of our product experts.
