ENTERPRISE 2004 TRENDS: Tech on Their Menu

The after effects of 9/11 and the subsequent global economic slowdown had
disastrous consequences for the Indian hospitality industry. The first signs of
economic revival coupled with an aggressive campaign by the Indian government
targeted at the global tourists had resuscitated the virtually comatose sector.
While publicity blitz, basic infrastructural developments and the coming up of
new hotels with modern amenities were some of the visible agents of revival, IT
too had played a key role in reversing the fortunes of the Indian hotel
industry.

A Property Management System (PMS) that enables hotel groups to track their
assets across different regions is the key component of IT infrastructure in the
hospitality sector. In most cases, PMS integrates different hotel specific
functionalities like guest check-in, billing, room occupancy and revenue
applications at the level of individual hotels. The PMS is further integrated to
various other stand-alone systems such as the touch-screen based Point of Sales
System (PSS) for creating bills in restaurants, health clubs and laundry.

Serving IT The Taj Group of Hotels has implemented a WAN called TajNet, connecting the group’s 55 properties in India, Nepal and Sri Lanka The Oberoi Group’s WAN operates on 12 VSATs, installed across all the group hotels  Oberoi has Wi-Fi implemented across four of its hotels in Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and Bangalore Most Taj properties across the country have WLAN connectivity

Says P K Mukopadhyay, assistant vice president–Systems, EIH Ltd, that runs
the Oberoi Group of Hotels, "As many hotel chains are now expanding their
operations across the country, it has become imperative to use PMS to monitor
their assets."

The rapid expansion has also made most hotels see the need for a centralized
system. Today different hotels of a chain are being networked and connected to a
central server.

"A centralized system has tremendous benefits," feels Prakash
Shukla, CIO, Taj Group of Hotels. "One, there are greater economies of
scale, especially when the group wants to announce a special scheme for all its
member hotels. Two, the group can monitor the performance of each member hotel
and summarize the sales performance of the whole group."

With customer retention becoming a key critical component of the hospitality
industry, almost every chain is taking the help of CRM to improve efficiency.
Most groups are investing on comprehensive CRM systems that store complete
profiles of their customers. The moment a guest checks in, he fills a form
indicating his various preferences. If he is a regular client, the hotel
immediately knows of his preferences and serves him accordingly. Most hotels
therefore know their customer preferences because relevant data can now be
procured from the systems as and when needed. CRM and software tools for front
line staff have enhanced successful one-to-one relationships.

There are now several cases of successful CRM implementation that have
improved the efficiency of the hotels. While Oberoi has an Oracle-based Central
Reservation System (CRS) that has enabled the creation of a centralized database
of guest profiles from all its hotels, Taj has a customer information system
(CIS) that creates guest-centric processes essential for a CRM.

Wi-Fi adoption in India has found one of its most vociferous votaries in the
hospitality sector. Initially, wireless technology in big hotels was
traditionally confined to the guest room, the business center or conference
rooms. But since this hampered the mobility of business travelers, Mukhpadhyaya
points out that now most groups have started looking at using wireless Internet
services throughout the hotel.

Going forward, wireless communications and mobile computing technologies
would drive the way hotels manage their information.

Rajneesh De in Mumbai