Hotels’ investment in operational management focuses on two main objectives: first, to achieve significant process improvements, and second, to establish various strategies to differentiate themselves from their competitors.
According to studies examining the outlook for hotels in Spain over the next few years, each establishment is expected to increase its investment in technology by 18,000 euros.
Of this amount, 48% of the budget will be allocated to new proposals that will take less than 24 months to implement.
In the following sections, we will analyze this data in detail.
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Reasons why hotels are increasing their investment in operational management
There are two main reasons why hotels are deciding to invest in new technologies: on the one hand, process optimization (around 31%) and also to differentiate themselves from the rest of their competitors (29%).
The remaining reasons relate to the implementation of cross-selling, upselling, or customer loyalty strategies (21%), as well as strategies related to the development and growth of the corporate sector (15%).
It is estimated that 3 out of every 10 hotel chains believe they should implement technological improvements to help them increase efficiency when optimizing their processes, which will allow them to provide better customer service, increase employee satisfaction, and, overall, run their business much more efficiently. Unfortunately, only 1 in 10 hotels has an operational or logistics management solution that fully harnesses the business’s potential.
What obstacles do hotels face when investing in technology for operational management?
Implementation and maintenance costs
63% of the surveyed chains stated that the most significant obstacle they face is the cost of implementation and maintenance, followed by the difficulties encountered when initiating a training process for their employees (so they can use the tools correctly). The third obstacle they face is overcoming the challenge of ensuring customers understand how to use these tools and the added value they bring to the experience.
Investment costs
Delving a little deeper into the economic figures, we find that 71% of hotel chains expect to invest more than €10,000 annually, 44% plan to invest between €10,000 and €20,000, 15% will invest between €20,000 and €50,000, and finally, only 12% plan to make an investment exceeding €50,000.
Execution times
As for the average time expected to make these changes, it is usually no more than 5 years, although the vast majority (48%) want to make this investment before two years have passed.
