There are two facets of information technology that are key in the hotel construction phase:
1: Ensuring you are following the latest trends and best practices
2: Ensuring you are complying with hotel brand requirements
For major hotel franchise brands (like Marriott, Hilton, Holiday Inn, Wyndham, Best Western, Choice, etc.), management must be familiar with both the latest technology trends and brand standards & compliance (S&Cs) specific to information technology. These brand standards address both guest-related technology and hotel operations technology.
Updating hotel technology to meet new brand standards is no insignificant task given most technology vendors that install back-of-house equipment, PMS & POS systems, WIFI,
guest-room entertainment, digital key cards, VoIP & phone systems, security, and other IT vendors don’t work together unless they are instructed to do so. Mistakes made in technology planning & deployment often have significant costs, and if the mistake involves infrastructure, it could result in delayed openings and lost revenue.
Typically, third-party vendors have their interests to serve. Unless you are keeping up with each specific technology and managing these vendors throughout the project, you’ll have to follow the vendors’ advice, that is often more beneficial to them than to you. This is especially true during construction when we can serve as your general contractor of technology and coordinate your IT implementation based on best practices.
Our vast experience in hotel technology has allowed us to establish best practices for each technology module, plus how it should be planned and deployed to work efficiently based on your hotel type. We use years of knowledge & experience when vendors submit their plans to ensure they meet the brand standards for your hotel.
But even after construction, you must keep up with continually updated brand S&Cs. That’s why, as your GC of technology, we transform to become your information technology partner and manage your daily technology needs after you open the doors.
Hotel Brand Standards and Compliance
Information technology brand S&Cs significantly vary among hotels, and franchisees are expected to comply with brand standards. These brand S&Cs maintain a consistently positive and predictable experience for guests.
Unhappy guests lead to fewer guests, and technology is now a big part of everyone’s daily life that exceeding guest technology expectations is a key factor in providing a delightful experience.
Consider guest WiFi for instance.
Internet access is the most important amenity today because of the breakthrough in smart devices and technologies. Because of this each brand has specific requirements for hardware and support to better control the quality of internet access at each of their properties. Evolving standards are constantly changing thus require hotels to stay competitive and continually find vendors to implement new technology solutions. Independent technology vendors are also required to go through an approval process with each brand, making it even more stringent.
You would think that with such strict technology requirements, selecting a vendor would be easy and offerings would be similar. That’s far from the case.
As each vendor prioritize their interests, if you contact five IT vendors for guest WIFI for the same hotel, you will see five different designs with variable cost outlays. Many of the designs submitted will already be outdated but still, meet current brand standards. Investing in outdated technologies often results in hotel owners having to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to upgrade.
Making IT Comparisons: Apples to Apples
A good hotel IT provider designs your systems based on current trends with brand standards in mind. And although this is a good start, an IT solution provider who designs a future-proof infrastructure will not just save you money but also build one that can easily scale and adapt.
A best practice Request for Proposal (RFP) process is first to design the technology infrastructure based on current trends, best practices, and specific brand requirements. Then, have different vendors bid for the project. Only then, can I.T. providers truly be compared side-by-side with the same scope of work, materials, and systems be compared. This has been our practice at Advanced Hospitality for over 20 years.
Technology Beyond the Brand
Beyond meeting brand technology, S&C’s hotel owners must also monitor, upgrade, and manage their hotel’s internal operations. From new point-of-sale and guest management systems to robotic maids and digital concierges, hotel owners are regularly being required to upgrade their systems to remain on top of changes in the hospitality industry.
The question to ask here is ‘how much time can hotel owners invest in being technology experts by themselves?’
Advanced Hospitality Manages your Hotel Technology – Today and Tomorrow
As your General Contractor of technology, we understand your hotel technology needs. IT issues don’t go away when construction ends, and nor should your relationship with your IT provider. Aside from supporting the day-to-day I.T. operations, we work with hotel owners and brand representatives to keep our clients’ hotels up-to-date on any new brand-mandated technology standards.
We use the brand guidebook when designing, implementing and maintaining your I.T. infrastructure. We invented the exclusive best practice protocols for creating a standard scope of work for I.T. provider comparisons. For these reasons, many of our clients continue to contract us as their I.T .managed service provider (MSP), after our role as GC of technology has ended.
How Advanced Hospitality Technologies Can Help
At Advanced Hospitality Technologies we specialize in delivering premium hospitality technology solutions to elevate the technology experience in the hotel industry. Established since 1996 with over two decades of experience, we are an innovation hub of hospitality technology offering hotels breakthrough solutions for their complex needs.
As certified general contractors of technology, we strategically plan & execute our innovative solutions to delivery world-class hospitality tech solutions. Advanced Hospitality Technologies Inc. is a Microsoft Gold Partner and a certified PCI Compliant solution provider to guarantee the security of our clients. Our esteemed clients include Hilton, Hyatt, Four Points, Choice Hotels International, Starwood, InterContinental Hotels Group, Independent Hotels, Best Western and Hotel Management Companies.
Advanced Hospitality Technologies is a leader in Hospitality Technologies. We have an award winning benchmark for providing affordable, reliable and most advanced hospitality Technology Solutions.
