Hotel Technology Conference focused on latest innovations and controversies

BEIJING - Shangri-La International Hotel Management Limited and Assila Investments on 16 November signed a contract for the management and operation of a 236-room hotel and serviced residences development in Jeddah, the second-largest city in Saudi Arabia and the principle gateway to Mecca. Slated to open in early 2018 Shangri-La Hotel, Jeddah will be the first Shangri-La in Saudi Arabia and an iconic landmark in the Middle East.

Shangri-La Hotel, Jeddah will be housed in a prominent 65-storey development located on Jeddah Corniche Road facing the Red Sea. The group will also manage and provide services to the 122 apartments that range from two-bedroom apartments to the top floor penthouse. Offering stunning views over the water, the hotel will feature four restaurants, function areas totalling 2,118 square metres, luxury spa and fitness areas, a swimming pool, children's club and several lounges.

The building's dramatic design, by global architecture and design firm Perkins+Will, was the recipient of the 2009 MIPIM Architectural Review 'Future Project Award' for 'Best Tall Building'. The tower is situated perpendicular to the shoreline to maximise water views and optimise solar exposure, and its exterior 'skin' features synthetic fabric architectural sails that shade the interior spaces, protect balconies from wind, maintain privacy and house LED lights that create a distinctive pattern over the surface of the building.

"We look forward to working closely and cohesively with Shangri-La and are confident that they will manage the premium development to its maximum potential," said Abdullah Alissa, the CEO of Assila Investments.

"By partnering with such a respected investor as Assila, who clearly supports our growth strategy, we are taking a significant step in strengthening our brand in the Middle East region," said Shangri-La President and CEO Greg Dogan. "Jeddah is an important commercial hub being both a Saudi Arabian port city and the country's second largest city."
SINGAPORE - The Hotel Technology Conference (HotelTech) – Asia’s only dedicated platform for hotel CIOs, CTOs, Information Officers and E-commerce Directors – welcomed 25 speakers, more than 150 hoteliers and 1 world-renown robot in Singapore on October 22. Organized by international conference powerhouse Questex Hospitality Group, the conference brought hotel technology leaders on a journey to exceed guest expectations and empower internal efficiency.

Anthony Wai, Regional SE Director – APAC from Aruba Networks (an HP Company) opened the conference with the keynote “How to Enhance the Guest Experience?” The presentation explored various innovations that hoteliers could leverage and capitalize on, including internet access, proximity marketing and mobility. “Guest satisfaction score is affected by their wifi experiences,” said Wai. He further cited network architecture, management, dynamic guest access management, remote support and applications as top consideration points in implementing mobility solutions.

In the Mobility Panel, a well-rounded group of stakeholders discussed how mobile technology impacts guest experiences. Leading the discussion, Marriott International VP information Technology, Asia Pacific Martin Bookallil commented that Marriott is all over mobility, having recently launched a real-time chat channel as well as realized mobile booking channel as a revenue driver. Marina Bay Sands Senior Vice President – Marketing Maunik Thacker pointed out the importance of incentivizing guests to download and use the hotel mobile app. “Entice people; create value for the guests along the way,” said Thacker. “Marketing is as important as technology. Tell guests what the technologies could do,” agreed Robert Honerkamp, Director Network Operations, DOCOMO interTouch. SilverNeedle Hospitality Senior Vice President, Information Services Sudhir Abdul Rahman noted that staff adaptation and buy-in is also essential to the success of hotel mobile apps.

At the Internet Access Panel, panelists agreed that bandwidth provisioning is essential and a freemium model is the direction. Constance Hotels and Resorts Chief Information Officer Roshan Koonja suggested hoteliers to use tiered model as well as work with internet service providers (ISP) for flexible bandwidth in resort settings. ANTlabs Pte Ltd Product Director Toh Teck Kang urged hoteliers to rethink bandwidth management. “Hoteliers should set how much bandwidth per guests, not devices,” said Toh. “Now you can predict how much bandwidth you need.” When asked about TripAdvisor, Premier Inn Southeast Asia Head of Information Systems, Whitbread Hotels & Restaurants International Judyanto Gunawan commented that it gives good indication of the internet services at their hotels, as compared to their competitors.

Ken Kline, Senior Director of IT & Security APAC, Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group presented a Myth Buster session on low guest satisfaction for internet access. Based on Kline’s research, bandwidth is not as important as internet access points. Having commercial access points and branded high-speed internet access (HSIA) providers both contribute to higher guest satisfaction. As such, hoteliers may justify the investment for better wifi infrastructure because of the impact on satisfaction and hence revenue.

A panel of hotel chief information officers debated the value of having a preferred technology vendor list. Tony Yeoh, InterContinental Hotels Group VP Global Technology AMEA cited standardization, consistency, integration and reliability as primary reasons for having a mandatory list of vendors. Travelodge Hotels (Asia) Pte Ltd. VP Information Technology & Systems Tim Waterhouse disagreed. “For particular brand, functionality or integration requirements, we should just have the requirements,” said Waterhouse. For Raymond Dumanauw, VP of Hotel Technology and Systems, HPL Properties Pte Ltd, the need for preferred vendors depends on the systems. “For critical systems, hoteliers should not take risk. For other systems, such as hardware, procurement decisions should be based on performance specifications,” said Dumanauw. IGB Corporation Berhad Senior General Manager – Group IT Tony Wong concurred, “Technology is moving so quickly. We cannot rely on a fixed list of vendors.” Wong, who works for hotel owners, also noted that he needs to deliver value to ownership and it could be challenging for him to justify purchasing from preferred vendors when they charge premium over non-preferred ones.

For the first time ever, Hotel Tech incorporated an interactive roundtable session. Led by Tony Lee, Vice President, Business Process & Infocomm Systems, The Ascott Limited, attendees discussed various hot hotel technology topics including generating ROI on technology, differentiation hotels through technology, the roles of TV and telephones, as well as staff adaptation.

Relay, the state-of-the-art robot designed for autonomous delivery of items between people, participated in Hotel Tech, marking its Asia debut. Relay formed an integral part of the HotelTech program, fetching amenities for delegates in the refreshment area and presenting gifts and drawings during the conference.

Other heavyweight speakers include Gregory Spicer, Chief Executive, Xn Hotel Systems; Michael Lee, Former Chief Information Officer, Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts; John Lim, CISA CISM CGEIT CRISC, President, ISACA Singapore Chapter; Steve Cousins, CEO, Savioke; Andrew Khoo, Director of Business Development and Operations, ABR Holdings Limited; Doug Carr, Executive Director of Distribution, FRHI Hotels and Resorts; Melpo Wong, Director of Digital Distribution, Dorsett Hospitality International; Brijesh Paleri, Director, Sales Automation and Lead Prospecting, Asia Pacific, Starwood Hotels and Resorts; Tejveer Singh Bedi, Group Revenue Director, Park Hotel Group; Devdutta Banerjee, Director, Revenue Management & Distribution, Banyan Tree Hotels and Resorts; and Declan Monahan, VP Sales, Asia, Fourth.

HotelTech will return to Singapore in Oct 2016.

Hotel Management Singapore Summit Helped Hoteliers Boost Productivity and Anticipate Future Trends
The Hotel Management Singapore Summit (HMS Summit) welcomed more than 35 speakers and 150 delegates in Singapore on October 22. Organized by international conference powerhouse Questex Hospitality Group, the summit is a one-stop strategic platform geared towards senior hoteliers including CEOs, COOs, CFOs, VPs, GMs, Financial Controllers, and executive committee members.

Harish Shah, “The Singapore Futurist” opened the conference with the keynote “Anticipating Game-Changing Travel Trends for a Successful Future”. Using credible Future Studies methods, he helped hoteliers envision future events or developments and position themselves to minimize the stresses and shocks from the resulting impacts. Harish highlighted generation change, sharing culture and technology, amongst others, as disruptors to the industry.

A “Productivity Panel” featuring leading hotel operations and finance executives from worldwide hotel brands reinvestigated existing hotel operating processes and service offerings. “Do we still need multi layers of management for a generation that has been living in this sphere of absolute and utter information transparency?” asked Sara Kearney, SVP of Operations Asia Pacific at Hyatt Hotels. “Take information from the systems that you use to define better processes. Identifying where those processes are actually removing value instead of adding value, optimizing technology to enable instead of hinder, looking for those hurdles that get into the way, could potentially find new areas of productivity that don’t necessarily require investment.” “Eliminate things you do repeatedly but don’t add more values,” agreed Kempinski Hotels VP Finance - China Soo Hin Yeoh. Yeoh further suggested that Asian hoteliers need to boost delegation of authority, citing empowerments of front line employees to make decisions up to a monetary value in Europe and North America as the direction forward. Marina Bay Sands Senior Vice President Hotels Operations Ian Wilson stressed the importance of measurement as a foundation for productivity gains. “At its very root and foundation is doing a better job of measurement. That will be measuring our processes more effectively, as well as our outcomes, measuring from the departmental level all the way to the individual level.”

On the technology front, Marriott International Senior Vice President SVP Operations Asia Pacific Bart Buiring admitted that technologies become obsolete quickly and it poses risks to hotel owner’s earnings. “We spend so much money on technology that it is sometimes a challenge to keep the hotel current. We are looking to change technology from capital expenditures to operational ones.” When asked how they could keep pace with the changing technological requirements of hotels, Nikhil Nath, CEO of productivity technology supplier Knowcross said, “We keep our eyes on the tech world and listen to our customers.”

For Lothar Pehl, SVP of Operations and Global Initiatives at Starwood Hotels Asia Pacific, boosting productivity is a team effort that spans across every department in the organization. “Past thinking of productivity was often associated with what people produce. This focus shifted as we now think of productivity by how much net current and future benefit/value we create out of your investment in a blend of people, equipment and time of use. In this conversation you consider carefully what is the right technology for your business, what are the services you have, how do you view operating standards and branded promises. It is a subject that involves multiple stakeholders, from human resources, IT, engineering, finance to the general manager. It is no longer a functional exercise, but a team exercise where everybody comes to the table to find out where the next boundary is,” said Pehl.

At the “Hot Debate”, hoteliers sought directions to maintain high service standards while delivering the return on investments that hotel owners have come to expect. The panelists agreed that creating a culture of service excellence among employees is the key to delivering high customer satisfaction. “The most important thing for us when we open any hotel is to ensure that the philosophy and culture are ingrained into the hotel, as fast as we can, and as pervasive as possible, because if you don’t have that foundation of philosophy and culture, you are not able to drive service excellence,” said K. C. Moy, EVP and Secretary of Board at Capella Hotel Group. Frederic Flageat-Simon, CEO Asia of Commune Hotels, believes that hotels should adopt leaner management structures. “Our industry has always been very traditional, and we need to revolutionize the way we manage people in our industry. In Commune, we want to focus our energy on making someone’s day, creating a culture of helping your employee create a guest day and realizing this is what makes a difference, this is why you should come to work,” said Flageat-Simon.

This year, HMS Summit also featured a new productivity technology showcase where representatives from hotel suppliers SALTO Systems, Xn Hotel Systems, and Fourth presented practical case studies.

Other heavyweight speakers include Bobby Hiranandani, Managing Director, Royal Group Holdings; Marc Dardenne, CEO, Patina Hotels & Resorts; Ronald Tay, CEO, Ascott Residence Trust; Gaurang Jhunjhnuwala, Director, and CEO for Australia and New Zealand, Naumi Hospitality; David Topolewski, CEO & Mobile Learning Evangelist, Qooco; Yim Choong Hing, Managing Director, Mojoojoo Pte Ltd; Michael Ma, Group CEO, IndoChine Group; Symon Bridle, Chief Operating Officer, Rosewood Hotel Group; Ananda Arawwawela, Executive Vice President, Hotel Assets Management, City Developments Limited; Jurgen Ortelee, Vice President – Revenue Performance, Pan Pacific Hotels Group; Fanie Swanepoel, Vice President - Revenue Optimization, Marina Bay Sands; Rachel Grier, Managing Director Asia, IDeaS – a SAS Company; Antoine Chahwan, Regional Vice President & General Manager, Four Seasons Hotel Singapore; Jeannette Ho, Vice President, Revenue Management & Analytics, FRHI Hotels & Resorts; Nicolas Kurban, Vice President, Food & Beverage, Asia Pacific, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts and Fabrice Blondeau, Vice President Global, Food & Beverage, Luxury and Upscale Brands, AccorHotels.

“We are grateful for the overwhelming industry support received in a time when Singapore hoteliers are in need of innovations,” said Questex Hospitality Group Vice President Ben Isenberg. “With a strong speaker line-up and interactive discussions, HMS Summit proved to be crucial for the future success of the industry.”

HotelTech 2015 and HMS Summit 2015m are partner events of TravelRave. TravelRave 2015 provides a dynamic platform for business leaders and industry professionals to convene, share knowledge and insights, network and discover new business opportunities and celebrate Asian tourism at its best.

is a partner event of TravelRave, Asia’s premium travel and tourism week. TravelRave provides a dynamic platform for business leaders and industry professionals to convene, share knowledge and insights, network and discover new business opportunities and celebrate Asian tourism at its best.

sourced:traveldailynews.asia