TRAVHOTECH’s Mark Fancourt has contributed to the Hotel Yearbook 2020 Technology edition. Now in the sixth year, the 2020 series was released on the 9th of April and includes publications for Sustainability, Digital Marketing and Technology.
The Hotel Yearbook is a family of publications that call upon a wide-ranging group of senior executives, analysts, consultants and opinion leaders from all over the world to ask, “What lies ahead for the global hotel industry?” In The Hotel Yearbook – whether it is the highly respected annual edition or any of the special editions focusing on such critically important themes as technology, talent development, or the digital world – forward-looking contributors share with readers the key trends and developments that they believe could have an impact on the performance of the hotel industry in the future.
About the Hotel Yearbook
Taking the role of Guest Editor in Chief of the Technology edition was Prof. Ian Millar, Senior Lecturer IT at Switzerland’s Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne. The Hotel Yearbook 2020 – Technology gathers ideas and insights from two dozen senior executives, opinion leaders and academics from all over the world. Among its highly respected authors are Floor Bleeker from Accor and Chris Anderson and Chekitan Dev, both from Cornell.
“This sixth edition of The Hotel Yearbook – Technology is an indispensible compilation of observations and insights concerning the tech trends impacting the way hotels are being managed today – and will be tomorrow,” said Prof. Millar. “It’s an excellent source of valuable ideas that hoteliers can put into action and benefit from.”
Fancourt’s article titled, “Getting it all together: The major challenge for hospitality”, discusses the absence of technology to consolidate product and service inventory and pricing to address improved selling processes and removal of operational siloes.
“When Henri Roelings asked if I could make a contribution the topic was top of mind for me. As far as we have advanced as an industry we are still a highly disconnected business. My view is that the next necessary and perhaps forced step for the industry will be consolidated technology platforms that allow staff to actively sell and deliver the full scope of inventory we have available in hotels and resorts. It will become a matter of business survival. Fancourt noted. “I appreciate the opportunity to contribute my thoughts on this topic. The Hotel Yearbook’s always provide a smorgasbord of food for thought and I am delighted to be included.”
Excerpts from the article appear below and the full article as well as the 2020 series of the Hotel Yearbook can be downloaded from the Hotel Yearbook site.
Hotel Yearbook 2020 – Technology
Getting it all together: The major challenge for hospitality.
Despite the advances in technology the piece that continues to elude the industry is a single selling platform allowing inventory and pricing for all products and services to exist in a homogenous environment.
To expand, a tool that supports consolidation of room, meeting space, dining, sporting operations, lifestyle, recreation and wellness. Services such as transportation, business centers, workspace, kiosks and any other item offered in the hotel operation. Everything.
Compounding operational realities, we have convinced ourselves that the selling process is ‘different’ for each product or service. Therefore, we need to ‘keep it separated’. But is this true? When we examine the range of products and services generally provided in hospitality there is more in common than not.
Mark Fancourt – TRAVHOTECH – Hotel Yearbook 2020 – Technology
The fundamental of distribution; the further a product can be exposed, or in the case of the hospitality industry, inventory, the greater opportunity for consumption of that inventory. If hospitality understands anything it is this principle. Today’s industry is built on this practice with sale of room product becoming a major business for operators and third parties supporting the ecosystem. Yet major parts of the hospitality product are metaphorically sitting on the shelf through a lack of ability to adopt these same principles across the business.
In almost 100% of the hotel operations globally no single place exists for a staff member or guest to visualize the breadth of product a hotel or resort has to offer. Products and services are siloed into departments, business units, P&L’s and levels of technical enablement. In many cases inventory is not digitalized.
Review the full article and the full editions of the Hotel Yearbook on their website.
About TRAVHOTECH – Knowledge | Experience | Execution | Realization –Utilizing 30 years of global current and practical experience. TRAVHOTECH is the next generation travel technology & hospitality technology consultancy for the modern travel and hospitality world. TRAVHOTECH provides consulting services globally to travel and hospitality operators and technology vendors.