Getting Technical with What a Centralized Hotel Platform Can Enable

Those who know me know that I relish in the technical details of how specific features on software systems work, how integrations are built and how relational databases can be linked to integrate fields or perform valuable queries.

That’s why it was a delight to cooperate with Shiji as part of the latest HN Thematics campaign ‘Single Provider for Seamless Data’ where right from the start, we are rolling up our sleeves to discuss the nitty gritty of what’s possible with a ‘hub and spoke’ systems architecture and unified hotel tech delivers measurable ROI by unlocking the full value guest data.

Key here to grasp is the concept of ‘enabling’. It seems straightforward enough, but it nevertheless deserves reiteration; all hotel tech starts by first imagining what you want to do with it.

A hub-and-spoke systems design means that you have a powerful centralized system (hub) with embedded microservices to ensure informational integrity across different core modules, while also having the flexibility to connect to best-in-class platforms to meet specific operational requirements (spoke).

Combining a hub-and-spoke architecture with a contemporary rethink of operational workflows or business processes then enables the compounding of benefits: better service, upsells, higher total revenue, reduced CPOR and more managerial time.

With this in mind, let’s cover off the use cases that illustrate the compounding benefits of system interoperability when designed around a single source of truth, that being a centralized guest profile embedded with this hub-and-spoke design:

1. Match-and-merge logic, often synonymous with identity resolution, helps to first eliminate redundant profiles which then leads to fewer but richer guest profiles. From there, this can aid in CRM segmentation accuracy for packaging and ancillary upselling as well as on-the-spot service personalization, like having the ability to recognize big spenders in a specific ancillary stream (spa goers or bar frequenters) and make suggestions that these guests will truly appreciate. This alone is complex in that it requires fragmented data from ancillary platforms to be quickly brought into a centralized guest profile that guest service teams can access. At the very least, your guest service team should never be asking the dreaded question for all returning guests, Have you stayed with us before?
2. Real-time interoperability as enabled by API orchestration of POS, check-in and housekeeping systems can heighten the more nuanced aspects of personalized service. For one, consider dynamic suppression of irrelevant promotions, such as asking a guest if they want breakfast even though they already have a B&B package. Everyone is living in an age of information overload, and not only does this piss them off but it’s a surefire way to induce unsubscribes.
3. To expand on what interoperability can enable with a glass-half-full example, consider someone who typically orders late at night. An API call based on automated upsell logic driven by historical POS data could identify this recurring behavior to trigger a late-night F&B offer embedded within the check-in flow or sent out via a guest messaging platform, highlighting something great about the onsite culinary experience.
4. Bringing together all the various events that can trigger contextual interpretation of guest behavior, as enabled by these lightning-fast internal microservices and middleware that can reference full-spend data, then compounds into heightened and, for emphasis, ‘genuine’ loyalty. Think about the logic that can be built into the CRM whereby segmented marketing journeys can be built off of specific triggers like selecting upgraded room categories or spending above certain threshold on F&B. While not revolutionary, when you stack enough of these quick wins together, the effects compound into, for instance, a doubling of the rate of direct bookings from an offer targeting past guests.

While this is a list of just four areas to investigate, I hope that it’s apparent that unified hotel tech is not just about cleaner UIs or better marketing emails. System-level inoperability means enabling teams to finally execute personalized service at scale.

If your systems can’t recognize your highest-value guest, surface context at the moment of interaction or drive revenue-enhancing decisions without human intervention, then it’s likely your hotel isn’t maximizing total revenue per available guest (TRevPAR) or is making silent service faults that will compel guests to be apathetic to your brand. Future-proofing in this sense starts by building from the guest outcome backwards with hub-and-spoke, interoperable, API-first systems.