See our connected technology in action
It can be hard to visualise all the different ways connected technology can improve both operations and guest experiences, so we thought we’d show you instead. Click below to explore our connected solutions through the eyes of your customers in our virtual pub, restaurant and hotel, and discover the benefits of integrated hospitality technology at every stage of the customer journey.
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Decoding Hotel Technology Jargon: A Comprehensive Guide
In the ever-evolving landscape of the hospitality industry, technology plays a pivotal role in enhancing guest experiences and streamlining hotel operations. However, navigating through the myriad of technical terms and jargon can be a daunting task.
Our Hotel Technology Jargon Buster is here to unravel the mysteries behind the buzzwords and acronyms commonly used in the world of hotel tech.
Channel Manager
Software that enables hotels to update room availability and rates in real-time across multiple online distribution channels, ensuring consistency and avoiding overbooking.
CRM (Customer Relationship Management)
Strategies, technologies, and practices that hotels use to manage and analyze customer interactions throughout the guest lifecycle, with the goal of improving customer satisfaction and loyalty.
CRMS (Customer Relationship Management System)
Definition: Software that helps hotels manage and analyze customer interactions and data throughout the guest lifecycle to improve customer relationships and drive loyalty.
CRS (Central Reservation System)
A system that allows hotels to manage and distribute room inventory and rates across various distribution channels, including online travel agencies (OTAs) and the hotel’s website.
IBE (Internet Booking Engine)
A tool integrated into a hotel’s website to facilitate direct online bookings by guests.
IoT (Internet of Things)
The interconnection of devices (such as thermostats, lighting, and sensors) embedded with software, enabling them to collect and exchange data, enhancing guest comfort and operational efficiency.
Kitchen Display System (KDS)
KDS streamlines communication between the kitchen and the front of the house, improving order accuracy and kitchen efficiency, enabling operators to do away with paper tickets.
Mobile Room Keys
Mobile apps that allow guests to use their smartphones as room keys, streamlining the check-in and check-out process.
OTA (Online Travel Agency)
Websites and platforms that allow users to book hotel rooms online. Examples include Booking.com, Expedia, and Hotels.com.
PMS (Property Management System)
A centralised software platform that helps hotels manage their daily operations, including reservations, check-ins, check-outs, billing, and room assignments.
POS (Point of Sale) System
Systems that handle transactions between the hotel and guests, including food and beverage purchases, spa services, and other on-site expenses.
Smart Room Technology
Integrating IoT devices and automation to enhance in-room experiences, such as smart lighting, temperature control, and entertainment systems. Immerse guests in a tech-savvy environment with cutting-edge smart room technology.
Table Management System
This system helps hotel restaurants manage reservations, table assignments, and waitlists, optimise seating arrangements and reduce guest waiting times with an intuitive table management system.
Other specialised terms and phrases utilised by professionals in the hotel industry to evaluate hotel performance and effectiveness can sometimes be bewildering. These often revolve around key performance indicators (KPIs) which serve as benchmarks for success. Some of the most common include:
ADR (Average Daily Rate)
The average rate charged per occupied room in a hotel over a specific period, calculated by dividing total room revenue by the total number of occupied rooms.
CPOR (Cost per Occupied Room)
Used in the hotel industry to evaluate operational efficiency and cost management, CPOR represents the total operating costs associated with each room that is occupied by a guest during a specific period.
GOPPAR (Gross Operating Profit per Available Room)
performance metric that evaluates a hotel’s profitability by measuring the gross operating profit generated per available room, calculated by subtracting total operating expenses from total revenue and dividing by the total number of available rooms.
Occupancy Rate
The percentage of available rooms that are occupied during a specific period, calculated by dividing the number of occupied rooms by the total number of available rooms and multiplying by 100.
RevPAR (Revenue per Available Room)
RevPAR is calculated by dividing the total revenue generated by room sales by the total number of available rooms in a given period. It is a crucial indicator of a hotel’s revenue-generating efficiency and helps managers assess pricing strategies, demand trends, and overall performance in comparison to competitors.
Armed with this Hotel Technology Jargon Buster, you’re now equipped to navigate the complexities of the technological landscape within the hospitality industry. As technology continues to advance, staying informed about these terms is crucial for hoteliers looking to provide top-notch guest experiences and optimise their operations.
Embrace the tech revolution and make your hotel a beacon of innovation in the competitive world of hospitality!
blog
Loyalty schemes in hospitality: What top CEOs think
Loyalty is currently a hot topic in the hospitality industry but there remains a lot of confusion. What do consumers mean when they say they are loyal to on-trade brands? Is it the same as for other retail brands? How can the sector create and maintain customer loyalty? Does it genuinely add value to the bottom line – or does it really just boil down to discounting? To answer these – and more – questions, we gathered eight of the industry’s top operators for a chat about all things loyalty.
Influence, loyalty and technology: Key guest trends from 2023
An in-depth end-of-year review of the key findings from our 2023 GO Technology consumer research series
Consumer expectations of the pubs, bars and restaurants they visit are ever-changing, and 2023 has proven to be no exception to the rule. This year, consumers have been quick to change their behaviours to match the tightening of budgets brought on by the cost-of-living crisis, and as more and more consumers become digital natives, the shift towards more digital-led touchpoints has continued to grow.
In this in-depth review of our 2023 consumer research series, we explore the three key themes identified from our surveys of 5,000 hospitality consumers; from the influential consumers who make the decisions on where to eat and drink, to when guests prefer digital touchpoints to human interaction during the customer journey, and how guest loyalty has changed as a result of the cost of living crisis.
Download this report to discover:
- 2023’s key hospitality consumer trends
- What factors most influence consumers’ decisions on when and where to go out to eat and drink
- What makes consumers loyal to a brand or venue
- How technology can help enhance the guest experience
Explore our 2023 consumer research in full
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In Conversation: Social media's role in boosting direct bookings
Our recent GO Technology research Holidaying at Home: What guests want from hotels in 2023 uncovered social media as an increasingly important discovery and booking tool for guests searching for accommodation, with 60% of guests aged 18-34 looking at a hotel’s social media pages prior to making a booking, and 43% of consumers agreeing that a button to reserve direct through social media would make their booking journey easier.
In this episode of In Conversation, we sat down with the Institute of Hospitality and their members to explore the role social media can play in driving direct bookings for hotels, including how hotels can leverage their online presence to encourage guests to book, reaching the right audiences and the importance of responsiveness in building trust with guests.
Watch the discussion for actionable insights, including:
- What should a hotel’s social media strategy look like?
- The importance of optimised websites, booking journeys and social media in driving direct bookings
- How social media can provide a ‘safety net’ for guests’ bookings
- The role recommendations and reviews play in guests’ decision making
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Provenance Inns transforms guest experiences and operations with Zonal's High Level PMS
Introducing The Provenance Collection
Founded in 2010
9 distinctive venues across North Yorkshire
Ranging from village pubs and inns to 25-room boutique hotels and private shooting lodges
Emphasis on locally sourced, fresh produce
“We wanted something user-friendly with a good support network and ultimately the ability to manage remotely. With the head-office function, we can set pricing, analyse sales data and manage everything back-of-house centrally.”Chris Cartledge, Former Head of Operations, Provenance Collection
The business challenge
With a commitment to excellence in customer service, accessibility, and the delivery of exceptional value to their guests and community, the Provenance team needed a solution that could replace three separate systems to manage their accommodation operating across all nine sites.
It became evident that they required a versatile and robust PMS that could meet their needs, including the provision of reliable data, the standardisation of pricing structures across all nine of their diverse venues, the centralisation of essential data, and the simplification of user management processes.
A strong support element was also a must for the Provenance team, as was the ability to manage the system remotely, enabling their head office team to manage pricing, access detailed reporting on sales performance and control back-of-house operations.
By embracing Zonal’s High-Level Property Management System, Provenance aimed to streamline their operations, ensuring that they could consistently deliver top-tier experiences to their guests.
“Having a fully integrated tech stack is really useful, it helps us share data across different departments within the business, but more importantly, allows us to move that data towards marketing and attracting new guests.”Chris Cartledge, Former Head of Operations, Provenance Collection
The solution
As an established Zonal EPoS customer, the adoption of Zonal’s PMS solution, High Level, was a straightforward and seamless process for the Provenance Collection, with support from the HLS team throughout the transition resulting in a smooth rollout with no issues for their front-of-house staff. The integration of Zonal’s High Level PMS with their existing Zonal EPoS system and Airship CRM allowed them to easily capture and utilise data centrally, enabling them to deliver more effective, targeted marketing to their guests.
This transition enabled them to overcome the complexities that can arise with multiple and diverse venues to manage, providing them with a unified and efficient approach to property management, pricing, and user administration across their expanding estate.
With their integrated suite of solutions now in place, the Provenance team has benefitted from centralised reporting across the entire business, enabling them to forecast, budget, and identify data trends for smarter decision making.
The Provenance Collection now benefit from:
- A powerful integrated EPoS system with robust reporting functionality utilised across their entire estate
- A fully integrated PMS with reporting used to manage accommodation across nine venues
- A scalable and user-friendly solution
- Detailed reporting and analytics that can be shared easily with key stakeholders within the business
- A fully integrated hospitality CRM that enables greater usage of customer data to drive more effective digital marketing campaigns. Data is collated centrally from EPoS, PMS, Bookings, and even guest WiFi.
- Full access to dedicated support, available 7 days a week, 365 days a year, 8am – 12pm
“The ability to share data across all of our sites and use it centrally was important to us. We have the full suite of Zonal products, we have been users of Zonal’s EPoS system and Airship for several years now, implementing HLS has really tied the whole piece together.”Chris Cartledge, Former Head of Operations, Provenance Collection
Results
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Ask the Expert: Creating a successful hotel social media strategy
With 60% of consumers aged 18 to 34 checking a hotel’s social media accounts before they book, and 43% of overall consumers stating that being able to make a booking through social media would make their booking journey easier, social media presents a massive opportunity for hoteliers looking to drive increase occupancy and drive RevPAR.
We sat down with Stewart Moss, Managing Director at High Level Software, part of the Zonal family, to explore how hoteliers can ensure they’re capitalising on the opportunities social media brings, from engaging with your audience and responding to queries and feedback, to leveraging your social platforms as a revenue driving channel.
- How important is social media for hoteliers?
Social media is extremely important for hoteliers in 2023. It’s become an integral part of the hospitality industry, playing a significant role in shaping the guest experience and influencing bookings.
Social media provides a direct line of communication between hoteliers and guests, both current and future, enabling hotels to engage with their audience before or after they stay, respond to reviews (both positive and negative) in a consistent tone, and really demonstrate their commitment to guest satisfaction before you get there as it puts a safety net around the booking.
Reputation management is a really important part of social media as well. Hoteliers really should be responding quickly and in a consistent tone of voice to anything that customers leave on their pages, and the opportunities to drive direct bookings are sizeable from there – especially with people using Facebook to book their hotels, and researching hotels through Instagram prior to staying.
- What role does social media channels play in the booking journey?
The fact that 60% of those 18 to 34 year olds are visiting social media pages before they’ve even made their decision highlights the importance of these platforms.
People are now gathering information and assessing your reputation before they stay with you, and when you talk about Gen Z in particular, they want to see different things from your business than what’s been highlighted before. They want to know about sustainability, they want your venue to be accessible at all levels, and they want to know how it’s going to extend their wellness or improve their lives in some way.
So people are gathering information and assessing what you’re about before they’re staying and the you’re giving them some authenticity to really add credence to their search, and this does really influence decision making. Positive reviews, engaging content, and captivating visuals on social media can really greatly influence the decision-making process. Showcasing the hotel’s unique features and highlighting the positive experiences guests can have, really helps provide guests with peace of mind knowing that they’ve made the right choice before they even arrive to stay with you.
- What should a hotel’s social media strategy look like?
Hoteliers should have a well-defined social media strategy that aligns with their overall marketing goals. This strategy should include clear objectives about target audience identification, content themes, posting schedules and performance metrics. Think “what are we aiming to do with all this time and work?”.
Share compelling visual content, and especially make sure to leverage user-generated content. If a guest has stayed in a lovely hotel and then posts about their experience, the hotel should then be responding and re-sharing this content, again lending credence to future guests that they will have a great experience staying here and giving them a prescription of how they can spend their time at the hotel, and that they won’t be let down.
Taking The West Park Hotel in Harrogate, part of the Provenance Collection, as an example – it’s very close to the Yorkshire Dales, so I’d be looking to target groups with an interest in walking and hiking, as well as dog owners and walkers as it’s a dog-friendly hotel. I wouldn’t be selling, I’d be communicating or engaging with the audience to show how great the property is and that the experiences offered here align perfectly with their interests.
Creating points of interest that encourage guests to share their experiences at the hotel can be another great pillar of your social media strategy. Taking The West Park Hotel as an example again, they’ve put a living wall in their excellent F&B area, putting something in place that encourages guests to engage with you and talk about you – which essentially results in free marketing.
People want to talk about the great stay they’ve had, and giving them a series of things to ‘tick off’ throughout their stay increases the likelihood they’ll share their experience of staying with you with their networks.
- How should you respond to comments on social media?
It’s extremely important to be responsive to both the good and bad comments you get on social media, because the guests that may be looking to book with you in future will be reading what you’re saying and how you respond to those questions.
The areas where we think it’s especially important is brand visibility and awareness, social media allows you to reach a wider range of people than ever before so it’s key to ensure you’re presenting the best version of yourself; and customer engagement and relationship building, always think about having maybe two or three members of staff responding rather than a lot of different people to build that authentic, consistent tone of voice, as well as show potential guests how much you care about their feedback about your business and the time they’ve spent with you.
If you’d like to find out more about how Zonal’s hotel technology can deliver success in your business, get in touch today for a technology consultation and one of our experts will be happy to talk you through what’s possible!
By Stewart Moss
Managing Director at High Level Software
With an intensive understanding and passion for the hotel sector and more than 20 years' of hotel knowledge and expertise in hotel management, operations as well as sales and marketing for brands, Stewart leads Zonal's hotel division.
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The key role of social media in the hotel booking journey
Social media serves as a pivotal tool for enhancing brand visibility and awareness and has evolved into an integral part of the hospitality industry’s marketing mix.
It is also becoming a vital part of the guest booking journey – and not just for research purposes, either. Channels such as Facebook and Instagram are increasingly influential as booking tools in their own right. Hoteliers must therefore review and develop their social media strategies with this in mind, if they are to make the most of the opportunity.
Social media now needs to be seen as more than a mere shop window for the business and more of a way of driving revenue via direct bookings.
What guests are looking for
Just how influential are channels such as Facebook and Instagram in engaging potential guests, and how does this differ between generations?
When researching hotels to book, older consumers prefer using hotel websites, but younger adults are turning to social media. Three in five (60%) of those aged 18 to 34 say they visit a hotel’s social media pages before making a booking — that’s 18 percentage points higher than all other consumers. With younger adults being much more frequent users of hotels than older ones (more than a third of 18- to 34-year-olds have visited a hotel at least monthly in the last six months, and nearly a quarter have done so weekly — twice the average among all consumers) this trend is worth bearing in mind.
Price and location are by far the biggest factors in booking a hotel, but consumers are also looking for amenities, and so it makes sense for hoteliers to look to showcase these on their channels. According to our research, the most desirable amenities are: WIFI (66% of consumers say this is a must have), a restaurant and/or bar (57%), parking (57%) and in room amenities such as a TV or an iron (also 57%).
When looking at younger guests and Gen Z specifically, sustainability, inclusivity, wellness, corporate social responsibility, and employee welfare are also a priority. While these aspects have always held significance, they are evolving into more pivotal factors for this generation, having a significant impact on their decision-making. Consequently, businesses aiming to engage this group must earnestly address these concerns, and social media is a perfect platform to communicate this.
Leverage the power of social media to drive revenue
Social media is also beginning to play a more pivotal role when it comes to encouraging people to click that ‘book now’ button. Forward thinking hoteliers should therefore be looking at ways to use social media to drive direct bookings, in order to boost profits, as well as avoid commission fees from third-party booking platforms.
Hoteliers would benefit from using their social media as more than just ‘shop windows’ for their business. Thinking strategically about what they share via these channels will be vital to encouraging people to hit that all important ‘book now’ button. Firstly, showing aesthetic images of hotel rooms, lobbies, and other communal spaces is a great way to demonstrate the hotel’s best features and encourage people to stay at the hotel. Including a link in your Instagram bio that clicks through to the hotel’s booking platform will also help facilitate direct bookings, turning those looking for a hotel into new customers.
Social media can also be used to encourage people to spend across other arms of the business. Hotels that have F&B outlets, for example, can leverage their social profiles to drive awareness of the great experiences on offer in their bars and restaurants and encourage further footfall from guests and locals alike. Social media is also a great place to promote exclusive deals and promotions on food and drink to encourage people to not only book at the hotel, but to make the most of the on-site restaurant as opposed to dining out.
What’s more, we know that one of the main reasons guests will choose to book with a hotel directly is down to trust. This presents a unique opportunity for hoteliers. By promoting their brand, their company values and their great experiences via social media – and ensuring they are communicating regularly with people whether that is via posts or responding to comments and messages – hoteliers can establish trust with potential future guests, turning lookers into direct bookers.
Now more than ever, consumers want the brands and businesses they interact with to have a human quality to them. Social media is a great way to build trust and demonstrate the qualities that consumers want to see and to encourage them to stay. From engaging regularly with guests, answering queries in a timely manner, to running engaging social media campaigns, demonstrating a business’ authenticity is a fantastic way to drive bookings.
Not only do hoteliers need to frequently communicate with consumers, but their booking platforms need to be user-friendly, up to date, responsive and secure. While only small numbers of consumers have booked a hotel via Facebook (11%), Instagram (11%) and Twitter (9%) currently, many more indicate they would be interested in doing so in the future. In fact, 43% of 18 to 24-year-olds agree that a button to book a hotel directly from social media accounts would make their booking journey easier. Fortunately, it is not difficult to integrate a booking button onto Facebook pages and this is something operators should be looking to do.
Capitalise on guests’ desire for experiences
All this points to the growing influence of social media in the hotel industry but with the channels developing and changing fast, hoteliers need to be ensuring they are future-proofing their approach.
For now, Instagram and Facebook remain the most useful platforms to our sector but, as Gen Z get older and younger generations come through, the importance of TikTok and other channels is likely to increase.
The growth of ‘creator content’ is also important here. Hotel social media channels need no longer be full of self-generated content, marketing teams can harness the power of creators by developing “Instagrammable” moments and experiences. Thoughtful and creative interventions, whether it’s strategically placed artwork or an innovative decorative space, can prompt guests to share their experiences, effectively amplifying the hotel’s reach with their target markets and, in the end, driving revenue.
And, as the desire for ‘experiences’ over products continues to gain momentum among consumers, crafting a purpose-driven strategy, grounded in engagement, and tailored to diverse target groups, hotels can position themselves as more than a mere accommodation-provider. Hotels become creators of desirable and memorable experiences.
As we can see then, as social media continues to evolve, the principles of targeted content, channel-specific strategy and driving direct bookings from the channels themselves will become ever more key to boosting hotel revenues.
By Stewart Moss
Managing Director at High Level Software
With an intensive understanding and passion for the hotel sector and more than 20 years' of hotel knowledge and expertise in hotel management, operations as well as sales and marketing for brands, Stewart leads Zonal's hotel division.
Subscribe to get the latest news, product announcements and industry updates
Assessment 2:
Driving revenue
Zonal’s Driving Revenue self-assessment
Answer a few short questions to identify whether your tech helps you increase upsell opportunities and open up new revenue streams. At the end you’ll get personalised guidance to help you boost customer spend, both in-venue and at their homes.
Take our other self-assessments to see if you score just as well across other key areas.
1: Reducing administration tasks
Find out if your tech helps you remove manual tasks that sap time and resources, and enables you to improve speed and…
3: Speeding up service
Fast service is a key factor in improving the customer experience and turning more tables. Our third 5-minute…
Hotel Property Management System Buyer's Guide
Discover the key features and functionality you should be looking out for when choosing a PMS provider
Your PMS is the beating heart of your hotel’s operations, and choosing the right solution that meets all of your requirements amongst a variety of providers can seem like a daunting task. To help you navigate through the world of hotel PMS systems, we’ve put together this helpful buyer’s guide to help you choose the right system for your business.
From front-of-house to back-office, OTA connections, housekeeping and managing bookings, the right PMS can enable you to effectively manage all aspects of your hotel seamlessly from one system, providing significant time savings to you and your staff and enabling you to focus on providing exceptional hospitality to your guests.
What's included in this guide?
- The main benefits of PMS software for hotels
- The core features and functionality you should look out for when choosing a hotel PMS
- Key questions to ask hotel PMS providers when evaluating a new system
- Typical pricing models and implementation timelines
