Group items tagged

Faster innovation With cloud-based hotel PMS, hotels can bring new properties online more quickly. Each new release brings new capabilities to help deliver great guest experiences, improve operating efficiency, and increase employee productivity. Lower IT complexity and costs With cloud-based hotel PMS, hotels can lower upfront capital expenditure on software and hardware. By going above-property, hotels can also reduce IT complexity and IT costs. Increase in RevPAR and ADR With cloud-based hotel PMS, hotels can effectively manage rates and allocation of rooms to various distribution channels, helping to maximize occupancy, rates, and revenue. Enhanced customer lifetime value With cloud-based hotel PMS, hotels get a single customer master with comprehensive guest profiles that allow them to personalize and differentiate guest experiences.

Until recently, hotel PMS solutions were often managed on premises. On-premises solutions include hardware that can take up a lot of space. Resources were needed to manage the systems and software updates, upgrades, and patches needed to be scheduled and installed manually by onsite staff. Cloud-based, mobile-enabled hotel PMS platforms offer hotels an innovative way to engage with guests while enabling hotels to reduce IT costs and simplify their infrastructure.

ncrease housekeeping efficiency with instant updates on housekeeping mobile devices when customers check out, freeing up rooms for cleaning

is now a critical business operations system

that replaced time-intensive, paper and spreadsheet-heavy processes.

seamless guest experience.

Enhanced customer lifetime value.

Hoteliers are challenged with providing a personalized guest experience

olutions help hoteliers deliver the experience guests want, while efficiently managing their business.

Connect operations and financial processes by leveraging prebuilt integrations

Increase room occupancy and ADR through real-time rate

ster innovation.

Lower IT complexity and costs.

aditionally, a hotel property management system was defined as a platform that enabled a hotel or group of hotels to manage front-office capabilities, such as booking reservations, guest check-in/check-out, room assignment, managing room rates, and billing.

rease in RevPAR and ADR.

OPERA Cloud hotel property management system offers hoteliers capabilities to enhance operating efficiency and deliver exceptional guest experiences. The platform integrates emerging technologies with ease, accelerating innovation to meet ever-changing demands. Hotel PMS Defined

The benefits of cloud-based hotel PMS solutions include:

r

Hotel PMS now integrates to other onsite services that impact the guest's complete experience, including:

T

OPERA Cloud hotel property management system offers hoteliers capabilities to enhance operating efficiency and deliver exceptional guest experiences. The platform integrates emerging technologies with ease, accelerating innovation to meet ever-changing demands.

Provide anytime, anywhere service to your guests using a mobile-enabled cloud-based hotel PMS.

Centralize and secure customer data and improve the quality and accuracy of guest profiles with reporting and analytics.

Empower managers to improve ADR with extensive options for setting rates and advanced rate-management features for manual and semiautomated revenue management.

With a cloud hotel PMS, hotels get a single customer master with comprehensive guest profiles that allow them to personalize and differentiate guest experiences.

By making use of cloud computing, as a hotelier, you pay only for what you demand. It specifies that your upfront costs are kept low as you are only paying for the computing power and cloud storage which your hotel actually needs.

The need for hardware overload in your hotel is brought down, because of which your electricity bills are also reduced by a huge margin.

also shortens the project time resulting in costs cutting and higher productivity.

An added advantage of cloud computing is that it frees your staff from their otherwise fixed terminals and lets them work independently and even more efficiently.

increased in the speed at which the guests access the products and services, thus only creating seamless hotel experiences for them.

Also, one of the major benefits is the real-time update — it makes the process much smoother and cheaper, and saves a lot of time.

However, when you put your hotel process and management on the cloud, it provides you with the flexibility to access it and work on it from any part of the world — all you need is a steady internet connection and a smart device (a laptop, or a computer, or mobile phone or tablet.)

When it comes to the benefits of cloud computing in the hospitality industry, the list includes enhanced guest experiences, massive reduction in costs, faster services and their seamless access, software and service security, and more flexibility.

cloud computing has transformed businesses

hospitality industry, cloud computing has done wonders

reshaped the structure of the industry

from increasing operational efficiency to lowering the management costs.

better guest experience and increase the revenue of the property.

ringing down costs like energy, hardware and operations

increasing inclination towards the use of cloud computing in the hospitality industry, they don’t need to always rely on travel agents all the time

hotel check-ins can be done from smartphones or tablets

cloud computing has transformed businesses

cloud-based services are now replacing the old and traditional systems at all levels. Infrastructure as a service (IaaS), Software as a service (SaaS), and platform as a service (PaaS) have all become the first choice of cloud computing services for many hospitality businesses. And they are all charged up with the amazing benefits of cloud computing.

Over the past few years, cloud computing has transformed businesses from across the world, irrespective of their industry. Today, the demand anytime, anywhere access has skyrocketed, and cloud computing is delivering just that — all you need is an internet connection with good bandwidth.

businesses don’t have to burden themselves by storing data in traditional in-house servers; rather, they can opt for a cloud service that would store their data in secured data centres.

There are several benefits of using the cloud and they have helped several hotels across the world to strengthen up their business — from increasing operational efficiency to lowering the management costs.

Advantages Of Cloud Computing For Hotel Industry

In the hospitality industry, Cloud Computing is a mixture of PaaS, SaaS and IaaS. It operates on the model of Use, Builds, and Migrate.

By making use of cloud computing, as a hotelier, you pay only for what you demand. It specifies that your upfront costs are kept low as you are only paying for the computing power and cloud storage which your hotel actually needs.

Hoteliers Can Cut Huge Business Costs With Cloud Computing

cloud computing can benefit hoteliers by bringing down costs like energy, hardware and operations. The need for hardware overload in your hotel is brought down, because of which your electricity bills are also reduced by a huge margin. Cloud computing in the hospitality industry also shortens the project time resulting in costs cutting and higher productivity. Hence, if you shift your software services to the cloud, your hotel business would witness a significant number of opportunities.

Cloud Computing Leads To Improved & Enhanced Guest Experiences

The two main purposes of an efficient and effective hotel PMS are: offer the hotel staff the best set of management tools assist you to ensure the top-notch guest experience

An added advantage of cloud computing is that it frees your staff from their otherwise fixed terminals and lets them work independently and even more efficiently.

Being on the cloud also means that hotel check-ins can be done from smartphones or tablets and not only through the hotel front desk.

Direct Bookings Are Made Easy With Cloud Computing

There was a time when hotels used to payout huge commissions for bookings to the online as well as offline travel agencies. However, with the increasing inclination towards the use of cloud computing in the hospitality industry, they don’t need to always rely on travel agents all the time. Hotels can upgrade their hotel website with cloud-powered services such as web booking engine that can be integrated to the hotel PMS. Also, one of the major benefits is the real-time update — it makes the process much smoother and cheaper, and saves a lot of time.

Cloud Computing In Hospitality Industry Makes Working Remotely Possible When you as a hotelier is not present in the property, managing the operations gets a little tougher. However, when you put your hotel process and management on the cloud, it provides you with the flexibility to access it and work on it from any part of the world — all you need is a steady internet connection and a smart device (a laptop, or a computer, or mobile phone or tablet.)

Over the long-term, the result is the same: a massive, impending re-architecting of how properties are managed.

. “If I look at it from a city hotel perspective, absolutely; there’d be no downfall to cloud.”

. “If I look at it from a city hotel perspective, absolutely; there’d be no downfall to cloud.”

“If I look at it from a city hotel perspective, absolutely; there’d be no downfall to cloud.”

“If I look at it from a city hotel perspective, absolutely; there’d be no downfall to cloud.”

“If I look at it from a city hotel perspective, absolutely; there’d be no downfall to cloud.”

“If I look at it from a city hotel perspective, absolutely; there’d be no downfall to cloud.”

“If I look at it from a city hotel perspective, absolutely; there’d be no downfall to cloud.”

The company is in prototype on a social media integration project that would, among other things, let guests book a room through Facebook and then send a confirmation text to their mobile device.

Over the long-term, the result is the same: a massive, impending re-architecting of how properties are managed.

“If I look at it from a city hotel perspective, absolutely; there’d be no downfall to cloud.”

“If I look at it from a city hotel perspective, absolutely; there’d be no downfall to cloud.”

“If I look at it from a city hotel perspective, absolutely; there’d be no downfall to cloud.”

“If I look at it from a city hotel perspective, absolutely; there’d be no downfall to cloud.”

“If I look at it from a city hotel perspective, absolutely; there’d be no downfall to cloud.”

“If I look at it from a city hotel perspective, absolutely; there’d be no downfall to cloud.”

Over the long-term, the result is the same: a massive, impending re-architecting of how properties are managed.

“If I look at it from a city hotel perspective, absolutely; there’d be no downfall to cloud.”

“If I look at it from a city hotel perspective, absolutely; there’d be no downfall to cloud.”

“If I look at it from a city hotel perspective, absolutely; there’d be no downfall to cloud.”

“If I look at it from a city hotel perspective, absolutely; there’d be no downfall to cloud.”

The company is in prototype on a social media integration project that would, among other things, let guests book a room through Facebook and then send a confirmation text to their mobile device.

The company is in prototype on a social media integration project that would, among other things, let guests book a room through Facebook and then send a confirmation text to their mobile device.

The company is in prototype on a social media integration project that would, among other things, let guests book a room through Facebook and then send a confirmation text to their mobile device.

What’s still not clear is the extent to which social media can and should be integrated into formal property systems, so that user-generated content can be stored, mined, analyzed and tracked.

What’s still not clear is the extent to which social media can and should be integrated into formal property systems, so that user-generated content can be stored, mined, analyzed and tracked.

“One of the promises of the cloud is that it becomes easier to integrate, so you can go more best-of-breed in your solution choice, but you still have issues with data structure and architecture.”

What’s still not clear is the extent to which social media can and should be integrated into formal property systems, so that user-generated content can be stored, mined, analyzed and tracked.

What’s still not clear is the extent to which social media can and should be integrated into formal property systems, so that user-generated content can be stored, mined, analyzed and tracked.

“One of the promises of the cloud is that it becomes easier to integrate, so you can go more best-of-breed in your solution choice, but you still have issues with data structure and architecture.”

“One of the promises of the cloud is that it becomes easier to integrate, so you can go more best-of-breed in your solution choice, but you still have issues with data structure and architecture.”

If I look at it from a city hotel perspective, absolutely; there’d be no downfall to cloud.”

cloud.”

“We’re an hour and a half from a major metropolitan area. There are enough providers selling the bandwidth we’d need for redundancy in a true web-based cloud environment,” says Nickelson, whose 2,000 acre property is located in North Carolina’s rural heartland. “If I look at it from a city hotel perspective, absolutely; there’d be no downfall to cloud.”

“We’re an hour and a half from a major metropolitan area. There are enough providers selling the bandwidth we’d need for redundancy in a true web-based cloud environment,” says Nickelson, whose 2,000 acre property is located in North Carolina’s rural heartland. “If I look at it from a city hotel perspective, absolutely; there’d be no downfall to cloud.”

“We’re an hour and a half from a major metropolitan area. There are enough providers selling the bandwidth we’d need for redundancy in a true web-based cloud environment,” says Nickelson, whose 2,000 acre property is located in North Carolina’s rural heartland. “If I look at it from a city hotel perspective, absolutely; there’d be no downfall to cloud.”

“We’re an hour and a half from a major metropolitan area. There are enough providers selling the bandwidth we’d need for redundancy in a true web-based cloud environment,” says Nickelson, whose 2,000 acre property is located in North Carolina’s rural heartland. “If I look at it from a city hotel perspective, absolutely; there’d be no downfall to cloud.”

“We’re an hour and a half from a major metropolitan area. There are enough providers selling the bandwidth we’d need for redundancy in a true web-based cloud environment,” says Nickelson, whose 2,000 acre property is located in North Carolina’s rural heartland. “If I look at it from a city hotel perspective, absolutely; there’d be no downfall to cloud.”

“We’re an hour and a half from a major metropolitan area. There are enough providers selling the bandwidth we’d need for redundancy in a true web-based cloud environment,” says Nickelson, whose 2,000 acre property is located in North Carolina’s rural heartland. “If I look at it from a city hotel perspective, absolutely; there’d be no downfall to cloud.”

“We’re an hour and a half from a major metropolitan area. There are enough providers selling the bandwidth we’d need for redundancy in a true web-based cloud environment,” says Nickelson, whose 2,000 acre property is located in North Carolina’s rural heartland. “If I look at it from a city hotel perspective, absolutely; there’d be no downfall to cloud.”

“We’re an hour and a half from a major metropolitan area. There are enough providers selling the bandwidth we’d need for redundancy in a true web-based cloud environment,” says Nickelson, whose 2,000 acre property is located in North Carolina’s rural heartland. “If I look at it from a city hotel perspective, absolutely; there’d be no downfall to cloud.”

“We’re an hour and a half from a major metropolitan area. There are enough providers selling the bandwidth we’d need for redundancy in a true web-based cloud environment,” says Nickelson, whose 2,000 acre property is located in North Carolina’s rural heartland. “If I look at it from a city hotel perspective, absolutely; there’d be no downfall to cloud.”

“We’re an hour and a half from a major metropolitan area. There are enough providers selling the bandwidth we’d need for redundancy in a true web-based cloud environment,” says Nickelson, whose 2,000 acre property is located in North Carolina’s rural heartland. “If I look at it from a city hotel perspective, absolutely; there’d be no downfall to cloud.”

“We’re an hour and a half from a major metropolitan area. There are enough providers selling the bandwidth we’d need for redundancy in a true web-based cloud environment,” says Nickelson, whose 2,000 acre property is located in North Carolina’s rural heartland. “If I look at it from a city hotel perspective, absolutely; there’d be no downfall to cloud.”

“We’re an hour and a half from a major metropolitan area. There are enough providers selling the bandwidth we’d need for redundancy in a true web-based cloud environment,” says Nickelson, whose 2,000 acre property is located in North Carolina’s rural heartland. “If I look at it from a city hotel perspective, absolutely; there’d be no downfall to cloud.”

The industry is also mid-stream in a massive replacement cycle, with 40% planning to upgrade their PMS by the end of next year.

Over the long-term, the result is the same: a massive, impending re-architecting of how properties are managed.

Over the long-term, the result is the same: a massive, impending re-architecting of how properties are managed.

Over the long-term, the result is the same: a massive, impending re-architecting of how properties are managed.

next year.

next year.

“We’re an hour and a half from a major metropolitan area. There are enough providers selling the bandwidth we’d need for redundancy in a true web-based cloud environment,” says Nickelson, whose 2,000 acre property is located in North Carolina’s rural heartland. “If I look at it from a city hotel perspective, absolutely; there’d be no downfall to cloud.”

The industry is also mid-stream in a massive replacement cycle, with 40% planning to upgrade their PMS by the end of next year.

The industry is also mid-stream in a massive replacement cycle, with 40% planning to upgrade their PMS by the end of next year.

The industry is also mid-stream in a massive replacement cycle, with 40% planning to upgrade their PMS by the end of next year.

Over the long-term, the result is the same: a massive, impending re-architecting of how properties are managed.

The industry is also mid-stream in a massive replacement cycle, with 40% planning to upgrade their PMS by the end of next year.

The industry is also mid-stream in a massive replacement cycle, with 40% planning to upgrade their PMS by the end of next year.

The industry is also mid-stream in a massive replacement cycle, with 40% planning to upgrade their PMS by the end of next year.

The industry is also mid-stream in a massive replacement cycle, with 40% planning to upgrade their PMS by the end of next year.

The industry is also mid-stream in a massive replacement cycle, with 40% planning to upgrade their PMS by the end of next year.

Hotel management systems are shifting from on-property to cloud-based, from tethered to mobile, from data-heavy to insight-rich.

A significant chunk of hotel IT budgets -- 19% -- is spent on property management systems (PMS)

Some are ready to embrace cloud-based solutions; others want to expand their mobile capabilities; and others are excited about the possibilities rich data can provide in personalizing the guest experience

I think it’s really about the ability of the PMS to grow with the changing need. What we need today isn’t what we needed just two years ago

Both Nickelson and Yelley are experiencing different symptoms stemming from the same challenge: better integration between systems.

Every vendor and most of the hoteliers HT spoke to predicted that property management systems would eventually migrate to the cloud.

“We’re an hour and a half from a major metropolitan area. There are enough providers selling the bandwidth we’d need for redundancy in a true web-based cloud environment,”

“Just because they’re in the cloud doesn’t make it easier to integrate,

I agree, from a PMS standpoint, that I want to know everything about a guest when they show up at the front desk. I should be able to see that you’ve stayed with me, and if you posted about our hotel in our social space, and if it was a complaint.

Switching to the cloud from a client server platform pays off with a big drop in both the initial capital outlay and the ongoing operating costs for the property management and other systems.

pects of a franchisee’s business, from guest check-ins and housekeeping services to billing and finances. Over time new features have been rolled into the software platform making it more robust and useful for hotel owners—it’s currently distributed in eight countries and available in four languages. And while plenty of cloud-based PMS packages are now available from third-party vendors like Micros, Maestro, and RoomKey, Choice’s internal solution has garnered its fair share of attention. “We had been getting knocks on the door from IT vendors at other hotel companies and individual Choice franchisees that own other brands, saying they were interested in our product,” says Pacious, “So we set up a new division so we could take a look at other opportunities we could develop.” This led the company to launch SkyTouch last year, a new division that develops and markets cloud-based software solutions to hotels inside and outside the Choice system. Pages: 1 2 3 4 2013-06-18 Sean Downey !function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs"); (function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js#xfbml=1"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); }(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk')); (function() { var po = document.createElement('script'); po.type = 'text/javascript'; po.async = true; po.src = 'https://apis.google.com/js/plusone.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(po, s); })(); (function() { var li = document.createElement('script'); li.type = 'text/javascript'; li.async = true; li.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https:' : 'http:') + '//platform.stumbleupon.com/1/widgets.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(li, s); })(); inShare0 Related Articles attachment-3

his led the company to launch SkyTouch last year, a new division that develops and markets cloud-based software solutions to hotels inside and outside the Choice system. Pages: 1 2 3 4 2013-06-18 Sean Downey !function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs"); (function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js#xfbml=1"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); }(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk')); (function() { var po = document.createElement('script'); po.type = 'text/javascript'; po.async = true; po.src = 'https://apis.google.com/js/plusone.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(po, s); })(); (function() { var li = document.createElement('script'); li.type = 'text/javascript'; li.async = true; li.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https:' : 'http:') + '//platform.stumbleupon.com/1/widgets.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(li, s); })(); inShare0 Related Articles Hotel Market Insight: Cleveland a

This led the company to launch SkyTouch last year, a new division that develops and markets cloud-based software solutions to hotels inside and outside the Choice system.

It is crucial for tourism and hospitality practitioners to proactively incorporate new technologies into their businesses as these will improve service quality and differentiate their products and services.

In order to be able to follow the increasing guests' requests for qualitative services, it is mandatory for hotel management to constantly work on improving its functions and operations. For this it is necessary to keep track of innovations in sectors outside the hospitality, like IT sector that works on creating, developing and introducing new technologies

Hospitality is one of targeted sector that is considered appropriate for application of cloud technologies and services. Hotel Management System or widely known as Property Management System (PMS) is one of the system where IT practitioners saw the chance for improvement by ''moving it to the cloud''.

Hotels will be forced to upgrade their current systems so that they can respond to various and changeable guests' habits and requirements. However, until today, there was not enough academic papers related to usage of cloud technology in hospitality industry even though this sector is under continuous changes caused by usage of new technologies which made search, evaluation and payment of the hotel rooms easier than ever.

After comparing the two groups of hotels, from which one was using desktop PMS and other group cloud- based PMS, the results of the research were derived and presented. In conclusion of the paper, challenges with which the hotels are facing and which affect their decision of starting to use cloud- based technology as well as recommendation for future work will be discussed.

As stated by the Sharif (2010), cloud computing is the latest technology that is being introduced by the IT industry as the next (potential) revolution to change how the internet and information systems operate. The term “cloud” was probably inspired by IT text books’ illustrations which depicted remote environments (the Internet) as cloud images in order to conceal the complexity that lies behind them (Sultan,2010).

The goal of a new computing world is to develop software for millions to consume by easily accessing it over a network. Cloud service providers are making profit by charging consumers for accessing these services.

Products offered via this mode include the remote delivery (through the Internet) of a full computer infrastructure (e.g., virtual computers, servers, storage devices, etc.); the building blocks of an IT enterprise.

Services provided in this category include CPU processing on demand, virtual Web hosting, and storage on demand. The most notable vendors are Amazon’s EC2, GoGrid’s Cloud Servers, and Joyent.

With cloud computing, services and applications that were managed locally in the past requiring hardware, operating systems, web servers, as well as teams of network, database and system management experts are now provided remotely by cloud providers under this layer.

Cloud computing services can be adopted by firms in three different forms (Goscinski and Brock, 2010):

Public clouds - online applications that are open to everyone for free, such as Google

Private clouds - involves firms deploying key enabling technologies, such as virtualization and multi-tenant applications, to create their own private cloud database

Hybrid clouds - mix of the previous two types that are emerging with the intention of providing clients with a level of “control” over their resources

The cloud offers enterprises the option of scalability without the financial commitments required for infrastructure purchase and maintenance.

Reallocating information management operational activities to the cloud offers businesses a unique opportunity to focus efforts on innovation and research and development. This allows for business and product growth and may be even more beneficial than the financial advantages offered by the cloud.

These investments and efforts for a new technology to be presented open a new progress circle of technology advancements and it continues in the same way.

When creating software or an application for a hotel, IT personnel have to possess a certain level of flexibility, openness and creativity. On the other hand, hotel employees are expected to have more insightful and openminded approach towards new ways of performing business operations, sometimes take risks and have experiences with using different programs and applications.

A hotel's PMS can gather and keep valuable information about hotel guests by incorporating business intelligence tools which help hoteliers organize and make sense of the gathered data. Regardless of whether room reservations come from Online Travel Agency, Global Distribution Systems or by telephone, all of them are gathered, stored and managed in the PMS.

low investment costs were main reason for hotels from Group B to decide in favor of cloud based version.

Business intelligence options provide hoteliers with a threedimensional view of guest data, which allows easily statistical reporting and increased hotel management efficiency.

The aim of this study was to investigate the difference in practical usage of the two types of PMS systems – cloud based and classical (desktop) ones.

On the question about the reasons for using the current PMS type in hotels, answers of Group A were based on usage of their current PMS for years and on the fact that employees in all hotel departments were used to work on it. As time passed by, hotels upgraded their system to new versions for several times and additional customization was implemented with regard to hotel preferences.

Hotels from Group B were consisted of relatively new boutique hotels that operate for more than a year and from those that were not using any kind of PMS solution (they were using Excel tables and creating reservation records manually). The reason why hotels from this group wanted to use cloud PMS was a desire to try the latest technology used in hospitality industry.

Other reasons for using it were: PMS could be reached from any place where Internet connection is available, simple but effective design with lots of visual solutions, more options to enter the important information and the fact that it is working not only on any PC but also on any mobile device due to its mobile applications.

Simplicity of the cloud based property management system allows it to be productive. Cloud based PMS's can operate on any advice that has a web browser and the companies are putting their efforts to make it even more friendly on smaller devices like tablets and smart phones.

The similar amount of initial investments were confirmed by the Group A. Being considered as great amount of money for newly opened and small sized hotels to invest, management decided to try out the cloud version which allows access to this system based on monthly subscription with very little or no investment cost, depending on the solution provider.

After initial investments in the system implementation, hardware, software and training of employees, every year hotel makes a one-year-based contract for additional support services and, if needed, extra training. Support is provided any time a hotel reports an issue or malfunction by directly connecting to hotel's computer through remote programs.

Changes are made either for each hotel at a time, or after releasing new version, when provider try to convince all the current users to upgrade to it. Upgrade is provided by the extra charge, so these costs should be also considered during planning investments in classical PMS.

Regardless of which type of system they used, all participants were very careful about and interested in the matter of data security.

However, it is totally different situation with cloud based system, which is mainly open system where all authorized users and providers from outside have access to. Of course, it is up to hotel management to whom the authorization rights will be given and being an open system it makes support, development and innovation activities much easier. Cloud based PMS are hosted on some of the world's best known servers so there is no need for additional computers to be used as servers.

Although there are some great differences in functions and way of managing regarding classical and cloud based system, both have their advantages from which hotels do not want to give up.

One of the biggest advantages of cloud based PMS for the Group B is the fact that this system can be directly integrated with hotel online booking engine. This is considered as a great advantage for the hotels that besides having functional web site, wish to maximize use of its online booking engine, receive more online reservations directly from the guests and gain more profit.

Such a functional connection between hotel’s PMS and online reservation system allow hotels to have a social media integration as well. This means that hotels are able to receive online reservation through their Facebook page as well as receive direct links to its page from the biggest review sites such as TripAdvior.com.

In this paper two different approaches and perspectives on usage of cloud based and classical hotel management systems were exposed. Hotels from Group B have shown a tendency for usage of new technologies and readiness to adopt and continuously learn about them.

Among factors, affecting why hotel prefers one system over another, are type and size of hotel, through which channels are guest reservations coming, previous experience with IT stuff and different programs, etc.

Cloud based program can help them in order to update prices and room availability information to hotel's booking engine. This prevents overbooking, provides easily management of CRM functions and information, with no first investment costs or extra expenses which results in revenue increase.

Hotels that use classical PMS pay a great attention to the security issue because they do not want to risk opening their hotel for external intervention. In recent years we can find in media lots of evidence of information linkage from system that had much higher security measures than an average hotel.

Measuring the performance of cloud-provided services is another challenge for the hotel management, primarily due to the lack of measurement standards.

While investigating the previous knowledge about the other system solutions, hotels in Group A have claimed lack of information about the cloud technology and its solutions.

Even though IT stuff in these hotels has some basic knowledge about it, it is still not enough to convince the other managers about its benefits. Therefore it may be concluded that, besides trying to overcome the above mentioned challenges, developers of cloud based solutions to hotels should also work hard on training the potential clients about the positive aspects and correct usage of cloud technologies.

Lack of measurement standards for cloud-provided services in general as well as for hotels is another important limitation due to which qualitative research was conducted. Authors’ recommendation is that academicians should focus more on topics of cloud computing, cloud solutions for other business operations and on defining measurements standards for cloud services.

Cloud-based hotel software has been shown to boost productivity, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness

Additionally, through the centralization of operations, hoteliers can eliminate the need for on-premise servers at each property

In fact, the hotel group, Triple C Hotels and Resorts, reported a 60% savings on software costs when they switched to Cloudbeds’ cloud-based hospitality software

For example, Cloudbeds hospitality software implements periodic auto-logoff features that require users to re-enter their password, two-factor authentication for an added level of user verification, and automatic removal of guest credit card data after 14 days

The high-level security standards followed by cloud-based hotel software is due in part to its rigid compliance with PCI requirements.

Unlike locally installed software, one of the more attractive elements of using a cloud-based hotel software system is the ability to adapt, grow, and integrate with future trends

Unlike conventional hotel software models that require hoteliers to purchase licenses and hardware, cloud-based hotel software is sold as a service that enables clients to add on as many or as few tools and features as needed.

In fact, a study by Frost and Sullivan showed that businesses can cut IT costs in half by implementing cloud-based computing solutions to customer support.

ability to host a property management system (PMS) from a remote location, allowing hoteliers to access property data from anywhere in the world with an internet connection. This feature is unique to cloud-based software and eliminates the need for hoteliers to be physically present at their property to be able to check in on daily management operations.

Eliminate the need for manual data sharing and processing

Give staff more mobility and accessibility around the property

next two to three years hoteliers are expected to invest 7-8% more on cloud technology

an spend more time attending to guests

ransitioning to a cloud-based hotel software solution can seem like a daunting task at first

Accelerate hotel check-in / out

Eliminate the need for manual data sharing and processing

customizable

In an industry that is always changing, this kind of flexibility is priceless.

across multiple properties simultaneously

faster for operations, online booking and customer service.  

frequent security updates t

Cyber attacks and tighter regulations on privacy policies have made the need to protect guest information more important than ever. This topic is a main concern for those considering switching to a cloud-based PMS system since data servers are hosted off premises.

Lower operational costs

With cloud computing, you can truly work from anywhere – a capability the hospitality industry has historically struggled to embrace, often due to the limits of the technology in use.

Firstly, it must provide the best suite of management tools for all members of your hotel staff; and, secondly, it must help you provide the best guest experience possible. Another advantage of cloud computing is it enables your staff members to work more efficiently by freeing them from fixed terminals. Check-ins aren’t limited to the reception desk,

Improved guest experience thanks to mobility

Remote working

Depending on the system from which you’re moving, a complete import of your data might be possible, and the ease with which such systems can be learned means staff adoption is unlikely to cause any problems or service interruptions.

Older, on-premise hotel PMS solutions are now being shifted to take advantage of cloud computing, helping improve basic, but important, common hotel operations situations, such as a line of people waiting to check in or out.

Cloud computing relies on a robust Internet connection and a device of you

Cloud computing relies on a robust Internet connection and a device of your choosi

Cloud computing relies on a robust Internet connection and a device of your choosing

Lower operational costs

Lower operational costs

invest in a cloud Hotel Property Management System (PMS), then you won’t need to store any data onsite; it simply resides on a server elsewhere (it could even be in another cou

Cloud computing relies on a robust Internet connection and a device of your choosing

Remote working

Improved guest experience thanks to mobility

Depending on the system from which you’re moving, a complete import of your data might be possible, and the ease with which such systems can be learned means staff adoption is unlikely to cause any problems or service interruptions.

In 2019, just 24% of hotels in the U.S. were using a cloud

current internet infrastructure is not yet robust enough to handle the requirement of property system in terms of speed, up-time and minimum delay.” Security is another issue. “It definitely is more viable but less secure as information is literally in an unknown electronic cloud. However, with this technology, access of information has become much easier and larger data can be stored and accessed at any given time,” mentions Apte. Though these are legitimate concerns, hotels need to find themselves a professional, dependable and trustworthy cloud PMS vendor.

Centralised PMS is a potential capital cost saving option for any property owner which will help him to minimise the entire project cost. The saving comes through many aspects like hardware cost, data centre space, electricity, air-conditioning, fire suppression cost in data center, etc.

emergence of cloud computing has made centralised PMS a reality. Definitely, hotels in the future would opt for a centralised PMS as even today we co depend on each other for information. Making it centralised would mean access to information at any given point for use in any part of the country. A definite time efficient system to opt for

As for Holiday Inn Mumbai International Airport, the OPERA PMS system in the hotel offers several modules including housekeeping, reservations and account receivable. “It is well interfaced and connected with the outside world for online reservation from different portals and our own website holidayinn.com

There were days when guests would enter the hotel and line up at the counters to get their room and compete the check-in formalities. With our mobile check-in app guests can now check in a day prior, get their allotted room and even complete basic check-in formalities such as ID or passport scan right from their smartphones,” reveals Apte. Another initiative on its way at the hotel is the mobile concierge. Guests would be able to order room dining, get their laundries ordered or even request for a dental kit from their smartphones. “High speed internet, smart TVs, mobile check-in, mobile integrated room controls, etc are some of the factors that each guest highly prefer. Guests even desire internet access and Wi-Fi in the hotel cars and we have provided each of these services. With our PMS solution you can set parameters important to your enterprise. It offers a friendlier user interface, while ensuring easy maintenance, faster updates and greater security

Interactive mobile PMS application and self check-in kiosks is going to be the future trend. This will help the hospitality industry to eliminate the fixed desk concept in the lobby area. Self check-in and in-car check-in will help guests to access his room in minimum time after exhaustive office hours and hectic travel

With such advancements, the hospitality sector is on its way to become a highly technology oriented sector where manual tasks and services are no longer required

Ability to achieve more with fewer resources,

Security of data

Ability to be agile, adapt and evolve

the three key advantages of the cloud PMS over the legacy PMS:

Flexibility:

According to Laura Calin from Oracle Hospitality, switching from a legacy to a cloud PMS has occurred traditionally when a) on-premises hardware reaches end-of-life and warranties are expiring, or b) when a brand affiliation comes to an end and a replacement system is required.

Connectivity:

I believe over the next 5 years the adoption of cloud PMS solutions will explode and this will be the highest growth component of the hotel tech stack

Why? Low costs, efficiencies, higher productivity and data security aside, in the near and mid-term a full-service 3-4-5-star hotel will need over 100 plus APIs with third-party tech applications and solutions to be able to function and meet the basic needs and wants of today's digitally-savvy travelers.

Ease and efficiency:

The Cloud

Flexibility.

Connection Loss.

More Complete Range of Applications

Data Security.

Better Security.

Virtualization

The Cloud

Many vendors have also expanded their coverage into revenue management, sales and catering, spa/golf/activities and so on, within their own software and/or by interfacing to specialized systems from other vendors.

a search for a system (or system set) with much broader capabilities.  These usually include marketing, multiproperty reservations, distribution channel management and coverage of every aspect of the guest experience, both on and off property. 

Property management systems (PMSs) have been fundamental software in every hotel for decades

As more guest and operating information needs to be captured and managed, many hotels and resorts need multiple other systems to complement the PMS. However, the more applications are required, the greater the amount of computer room hardware needed to run them and the more complex the support requirements become. 

Cloud computing takes virtual server tools one stage further, using them to allocate the resources of vast numbers of servers quickly and flexibly among many different companies’ needs

  Further, the on-demand flexibility means that hoteliers no longer need to worry about buying and implementing more hardware resources as their businesses grow; they just call up the cloud vendor and ask for it to be allocated.

Data storage is another factor,

toring all this data on cloud-based servers is cheaper than continually expanding on-site storage, though of course selection of a trusted, secure vendor for the cloud is even more important.

There’s one link between the PMS and the revenue management system, one to S&C, one to the GDSs and Web booking sites, and so on, not one per system per property.  Traditional remotely hosted approaches do outsource the support and security issues but can’t provide the economy-of-scale savings nor the flexibility of clouds.

Alternatively, since many cloud-based systems are accessed via Web browsers it’s also possible to use 3G (and soon 4G) high-speed cell phone connections to access them if the Internet or other main communications line goes down. 

The best approach, though, is to keep a copy of enough critical data on property at all times so that operations can continue even if connection is lost completely.

Traditional PMS functionality is still the essential core at every property.  By tracking and managing all aspects of guests’ stays, it’s both a source and collection point for the crucial activity and preference information that forms the basis of all future relationships with them, on and off site.

At the same time, the move to cloud-based architecture makes all of these combinations simpler to create, implement and support.

We are on 723 acres with six separate lodging buildings, each with its own amenities," said Dace Starkweather, General Manager of Glen Eyrie Castle & Conference Center. "Most of our guests are repeat visitors with specific requirements. We wanted a Cloud system based on the latest technology that would make it easy to provide the highest level of guest service and create the most efficient operation. We selected the Maestro Web PMS Cloud Hosted Solution."

Maestro's networked single-image database lets us recognize guests at any property whether they are with a group or on vacation, and deliver personalized service when they return.

The Canadian Rockies of Alberta Canada may not have the same high-speed internet reliability as other areas. "Banff Lodging Company uses Maestro's multi-property centralized on-premise single-image database system.

"Maestro Web PMS was better for us than an on-premise system. It reduced our overall IT requirements and ensured that all data was securely managed and backed up in the Cloud by a proven system company."

I guess what an operator needs to look at are the pros and cons of the two and formulate the plan that best fits their organization.

Security is always a concern.

Access outside the hotel

Access anywhere from the internet

Does it cost less? Or are those cost now rolled in to the cloud hosting costs?

This is great, but it does come at a cost $$$. Internet service providers charge a premium to business customers. We are talking thousands per month. Not the fast cheap connection you get at home.

Lose the internet or the host based cloud and you now have many locations dead in the water instead of just one.

Where are these internet cloud PMS/POS providers securing your data? How are they securing your data? Any organization can hobble together a data center and host their applications from it. But how much time have they spent on securing it from the outside world

cloud-based services are now replacing the old and traditional systems at all levels. Infrastructure as a service (IaaS), Software as a service (SaaS), and platform as a service (PaaS) have all become the first choice of cloud computing services for many hospitality businesses. And they are all charged up with the amazing benefits of cloud computing.

By making use of cloud computing, as a hotelier, you pay only for what you demand. It specifies that your upfront costs are kept low as you are only paying for the computing power and cloud storage which your hotel actually needs.

Hoteliers Can Cut Huge Business Costs With Cloud Computing

it is the first and foremost thing which you should implement in your hotel business. Why? Because it will help you to bring the cost down by a significant percentage.

some of the major benefits of cloud computing in the hospitality industry

Cloud computing in the hospitality industry also shortens the project time resulting in costs cutting and higher productivity

cloud computing can benefit hoteliers by bringing down costs like energy, hardware and operations.

In the hospitality industry, Cloud Computing is a mixture of PaaS, SaaS and IaaS. It operates on the model of Use, Builds, and Migrate.

Cloud Computing Leads To Improved & Enhanced Guest Experiences

The two main purposes of an efficient and effective hotel PMS are: offer the hotel staff the best set of management tools assist you to ensure the top-notch guest experience

An added advantage of cloud computing is that it frees your staff from their otherwise fixed terminals and lets them work independently and even more efficiently. Being on the cloud also means that hotel check-ins can be done from smartphones or tablets and not only through the hotel front desk. That’s not all, other benefits of moving to the cloud include increased in the speed at which the guests access the products and services, thus only creating seamless hotel experiences for them.

Direct Bookings Are Made Easy With Cloud Computing

Hotels can upgrade their hotel website with cloud-powered services such as web booking engine that can be integrated to the hotel PMS. Also, one of the major benefits is the real-time update — it makes the process much smoother and cheaper, and saves a lot of time. Now, hoteliers can focus more on the aspects that would better guest experience and increase the revenue of the property.

Cloud Computing In Hospitality Industry Makes Working Remotely Possible

when you put your hotel process and management on the cloud, it provides you with the flexibility to access it and work on it from any part of the world — all you need is a steady internet connection and a smart device (a laptop, or a computer, or mobile phone or tablet.)

Outlook

When it comes to the benefits of cloud computing in the hospitality industry, the list includes enhanced guest experiences, massive reduction in costs, faster services and their seamless access, software and service security, and more flexibility.