Day 3 - Hotel Booking Systems - Research Phase

I am now on day 3 of my research phase and have decided to focus on the customer service aspect of my quest.

I have introduced the concepts of Customer Relationship Management (CRM), WOMBAT selling, Total Quality Management (TQM) and Balanced Scorecard to medium-sized hotels and motels as methods to improve their organization. These are theories that have received a lot of attention over the last few years, but not often enough in the hospitality industry.

Many smaller hotels and motels have not felt that the adoption of these methods would improve their processes or customer service; in fact, many clients have fought against many of the changes I have implemented.

However, once these smaller organizations gained an insight into the role Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) play in achieving increased profitability through common goals and shared efficiency, they were keen to adopt the aforementioned concepts.

The theory I am currently fighting for small to medium-sized hotels and motels to adopt is that of Supplier Relationship Management (SRM). The idea is simple; to reduce costs and improve employee satisfaction you must monitor and evaluate your suppliers.

This is especially important, if not vital, in the area of Hotel Booking Systems:

Hotel Booking Systems are the one area where you can lose new customers easily, deter valued guests from returning, waste a great deal of money on an inefficient program, and create frustration and dissatisfaction within your workforce.

It is vital to trial one or two systems, allow your employees to trial the same software, speak to the suppliers, develop a Supplier Relationship Management system, and build a strong relationship with your supplier.

This is another reason why I have found www.hotelsystems.co.uk to be the ideal solution for small to medium-sized hotels and motels. I am based in China and the supplier is based in the UK. Today, I called ‘Hotel Booking Systems’ and spoke to an extremely helpful advisor. Despite the time difference and the unsociable hour of the call, Tristan was willing to answer my many, many, many questions….

Which is the topic of my next post…

Hotel Booking Systems Quest - Day 1

Having spent a great deal of time working on a consultancy basis for hotel and motel owners, I have often figured that a blog would be a great place to share my thoughts, moments of genius, failures, and grievances with the world… There have, after all, been a large number of them.

For more than a year I have tried to find some time in my busy schedule to get this blog started and now (from my current office in Nanjing, China) I have done so. I feel a new day is dawning.

Most of my work surrounds the formative days of small to medium sized hotels, motels and guesthouses; the days when clients are searching for suppliers, guests, and very importantly, hotel booking systems.

I have discovered a number of great suppliers and booking systems, and these I will share with you in this blog.

I do, of course, have my current favourites. However, as a new day is dawning, a new quest will begin… To discover whether there are any better alternatives to my current preferences.

Let the quest begin…