Hotels are going through radical changes in 2021 with even stricter health and safety guidelines in place for almost all kinds of hospitality businesses. Hoteliers especially are looking into simple solutions like precooked meals and mobile room keys to make the guest experience safer and more convenient at the same time.
Hotel operators are increasingly becoming interested in what technology management has to offer their assets in 2021. Technology has transformed every aspect of hotels from the back office to guest rooms over the last decade.
In 2021 hotels face completely new challenges including managing the increasing number of technology & data assets, maintaining consistent guest technology experiences, securing hotel technology, and ensuring compliance for these systems.
A successful technology management strategy must address the entire hotel tech-ecosystem ensuring its security, maintenance, compliance, access rules, authorization, policies, and management.
Technology Gap Assessments
A technology gap assessment is essential for every hotel that hosts different technologies like mobile room keys, self check in machines, POS & digital payments, mobile apps, and back office automation systems.
A technology gap assessment is an essential step performed by certified technology professionals that gauges the efficiency, security, and vulnerabilities of hospitality technology assets.
In 2021, hoteliers will be well forced to reassess their entire IT and technology infrastructures to assure safety and gain competitive edge through professional technology planning & management.
At AHT Inc. our professional technology assessment team perform comprehensive assessments of hotel IT and tech infrastructures that allow hotels to gain competitive advantage and establish cost-efficient operations in 2021.
PCI Compliance V4.0
After careful discussion with stakeholders the PCI Council finally decided to roll out strategic updates to empower their 12 rules. The recent changes will eventually begin rollout in the second quarter of 2021, with full implementation planned for 2024.
The recent updates include several changes including:
- Revisions to Access Management
- Modifications to the Risk Assessment Process
- Adjustments for New & Evolving Technology
- Testing data and documentation for assessors
- Scoping documentation for PCI implementation
- Advanced and Updated Staff Awareness Training
- Enhanced monitoring standards for cardholder data with evolving technology
- Enhanced encryption methods to be applied to all card holder data
PCI Compliance v4.0 should be one of the top priorities for hoteliers formulating their technology management strategy for 2021. It will be an essential step for hotels to not only secure their own IT assets and guests but also their staff.
The version 4 update to the PCI rules is essentially a great step towards securing payment card data, enhancing its security, upgrading staff knowledge about cybersecurity and making way for new technology.
Data Management & Security
Hotels are constantly acquiring, validating, storing, processing, and then utilizing guest data on a daily basis. Big data is allowing hotels to make more informed decisions and gain insights on guest behavior making it easy to create delightful hotel experiences.
Data management remains one of the most critical technology management strategies for hoteliers to adapt. The acquisition, storage, processing, and access to guest data must be strictly monitored to assure quality guest services today.
We can take lessons from the Marriott-Starwood event that was identified in 2014 and led to a $120 million lawsuit. In 2021, hotel operators are increasingly understanding privacy principles and the importance of data in their business strategies.
Developing and enacting a sound technology strategy for data management will lead the way for hotels. Hoteliers can then harness the power of this data to improve services, make better and faster decisions, and make way for new ways to deliver services.
Technology Planning & Budgeting
Planning for the right technology and creating realistic budgets remains one of the most important aspects of successful hospitality in 2021. As strict health and safety rules remain in place, hospitality operators are looking for cost effective ways to enhance their services.
This is usually expertise handled by a professional technology manager or a hospitality technology company. Professional tech providers can procure real time data that allows the development of realistic budgets leading to more efficient planning.
Hotel operators cannot host every single technology that they find useful. The planning and budgeting processes are an essential element of the overall business strategy that provides owners a realistic idea of what they actually need.
In 2021, hotel owners are actively looking for professional technology management professionals who can deliver financially viable planning and budgeting services. This essential step is critical to ensure hoteliers can grow revenue in the post-COVID world while addressing important questions like convenience, service consistency, quality of services, health safety, and cost efficiency.
Conclusion
AHT Inc. offers hotel operators an end to end technology management solution that allows them to assess their existing tech infrastructure, plan for technology renovations, test technology in real time, identify & manage liabilities, and provide comprehensive PCI compliance for all solutions.
Our team is available over Live Chat, over the phone and over email to answer all your questions, talk to us today to know more about our services.
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.
