'In the hotel of the future, you know exactly what your guest wants and expects' 

Excelling is never easy - and in the hotel industry certainly not. Those who want to take the next step will have to know very well what their guest wants and expects. Maarten Pluim is Sales Manager at AFAS. He talks about customisation per guest and how to make sure your employees can actually deliver that. 

"Of course, the hotel industry has always been about guests, but the focus will become much sharper in the coming years. It has to be. The supply is growing, and consumers are becoming more critical. With standard service you no longer distinguish yourself. The norm will be customisation, service tailored to individual guests."

"You no longer deliver that customisation solely by feel. You also need hard input for it. You get that from a guest profile, in which you keep track of all the information about your guests. From contact details to questions asked. And from transactions and previous reservations, to comments by colleagues, generated turnover and, for example, cancellations and no-shows. This gives you insight into your guest's behaviour and preferences."

"Such an overall view does not roll out of the system by default at many hotels now. If only because there is almost never talk of 'the system'. A hotel is a complex operation, with almost always different software for hotel management, checkout, Business Intelligence, and Finance and HR. If those systems can talk to each other well, the entire organisation reaps the benefits. And so you can ALSO build on your guest profiles."

"For communication between those systems, you need links. Fortunately, at AFAS we have that well organised. We are quite fond of having the back end in order - so you can focus on what's important at the front end. That includes links. Think of hotel management software, POS systems and of course insights through BI dashboards. This allows us to really look ahead together with the industry."

"With your guest profiles, you obviously have to work with them in practice. Or more precisely: your employees can work with them. It may sound contradictory, but if you want to achieve the best for your guests, you have to put your employees first. They shape your guests' experience. And it's up to you to make sure they can do that to the best of their ability. Fast and smooth onboarding is part of this, as are binding, engaging, good training and continuous access to information. From the guest profiles, for instance. And by extension, you also need to help managers. With quick insight into performance and planning. And by automating as many standard tasks as possible. That is actually nothing more than having your basics in very good order. By doing so, you create air and space to focus on customisation. For your employees and your guests."

"For instance, standardisation and rational data help deliver customised service. But a truly special experience for a guest obviously doesn't just come rolling out of a computer. I find that a fascinating consideration: what do you do based on reason, and what do you decide based on feeling? I think they reinforce each other. The better you get the rational side of things right, the better the choices you can then make on feelings." ■

A great example is Bastion Hotels. Marianne van der Sterren (HR/ICT manager at Bastion Hotels) tells you more about it in the video. 

www.afas.nl/bastion