Following its acquisition of global hospitality specialist TigerTMS, Mitel has exhibited an irrepressible zest for delivering a mobile-first and connected guest experience to the hotel sector.
One of the Canadian vendor's first responses to the acquisition of TigerTMS will be to incorporate its solutions into the Mitel Hospitality authorisedPARTNER Programme, which is based on the mobile and cloud technologies that really make a difference to operational efficiency and customer loyalty. Simon Udell, former TigerTMS CEO, now General Manager of Mitel's Hospitality Business Unit, commented: "We're building an experience for guests we call the 'digital home from home'. This involves developing applications optimised for the consumer but delivered via enterprise infrastructure. A more intuitive experience treats the hotel guest as a consumer rather than a user of enterprise IT."
Consolidation is an important aspect of Mitel's strategy, noted Jim Davies (pictured), VP Vertical Initiatives. "Hoteliers want to deal with fewer vendors for their utility applications, so we're looking to provide the option of a comprehensive offering that leverages TigerTMS's technology," he explained. "We provide a turnkey solution with one point of contact and a much broader basket of products and services. In terms of differentiated applications that directly impact occupancy, hoteliers are looking for flexibility to leverage the value of applications on multiple vendor infrastructures."
Mitel wants to ensure that the products, services and solutions it delivers to hospitality are accessible across multiple platforms. "The groups and chains will have existing properties in various regions with a different PBX in each location, so we have to provide open solutions that continue to support all vendors," added Udell. "The applications that we deliver follow both TigerTMS's and Mitel's strategy of open architecture."
The vendor typically delivers a complete turnkey PBX solution and expects that to continue. However, a key strategy is to extract pieces from that turnkey solution and integrate them into hospitality workflows, essentially using voice as an ingredient embedded into a hospitality specific solution. "Retaining the open architecture structure behind it allows this new value to be delivered on top of multiple underlying PBX infrastructures," stated Davies. "Much of this will be cloud-based which keeps the economics sensible."
In the hospitality sector Mitel's main priority is the move towards the cloud, which provides economy of scale and enables the delivery of many more products and services to customers, either as a one-stop-shop or the open application supply. "The key challenge we encounter is cost," commented Udell. "We have to ensure we put together a competitive solution that meets the rigorous TCO requirements of the hospitality industry. The other challenge is the need to have a global footprint. Big hotel chains are truly global and companies that service them must have the same reach. The combination of Mitel and TigerTMS gives us that critical mass and footprint."
There are many services a hotel offers guests. Traditionally, the room phone was the guest interface, providing the gateway to the concierge, room service and the front desk, all of which are fundamental components of the hospitality experience. The ownership of the guest interface is now likely to be dominated by mobile devices, and it is important to have an app that serves as a portal to every service, providing a totally unified experience.
"We will also see an upsurge in the way that hotels can use location or proximity-based services to enhance the guest experience from, for example, having your food find you, to finding your colleagues or family staying at the same property," pointed out Davies. "Applications for location-based services exist for vacation, business and conference use cases. We're just starting to scratch the surface of what you can do with a mobile platform, and we'll increasingly see innovative implementations that enable the hotel to better utilise its staff, drive efficiency and provide an enhanced guest experience."
Another trend is the drive towards BYOD in the hotel environment, pairing the guest mobile device to the room phone service. This means a reduction in capital expenditure and allows the guest to receive calls wherever they are, routed through the hotel's IT infrastructure. "The benefit for the hotel is that they can begin to provide all their marketing content and information for the services they offer within the app," added Udell. "They can enable click-to-call through the app and the guest isn't dialling an international roaming number. They're dialling an internal number straight to the services. If they want to book the spa, they can just tap their device and connect."
We all know that using a hotel phone can prove expensive. However, if a large hotel chain moves to a cloud solution it can provide what is in effect a global phone service in each hotel and offer reasonably priced telecoms and data packages to guests, because they control the actual cost of the carrier services themselves.
Udell commented: "Ten years ago if a hotel charged a guest £5 for unlimited calls for the duration of their stay they would have jumped at it because they know that it would otherwise cost them £10 to make the first call. Nowadays, with the carrier structures and the shift towards the cloud, hotels can put together a comprehensive package that encourages people to start using the services, without roaming charges and the feeling that they're being ripped off."
One of the biggest ICT drives within hospitality is building network infrastructures that are fit for purpose. And it's critical that resellers provide a base wireless infrastructure that will support the administrative side and the private side, as well as the bandwidth demands from guests. "If this isn't done properly from the outset the hotel and resellers will face an uphill battle to deliver additional services," said Udell. "Also, without this in place the hotel's ratings and repeat business may suffer. It is vital that hotels avoid a situation where poor Internet access prompts a guest to go on TripAdvisor to complain, which has become a common sight in hospitality."
While hotels can be demanding on the price of their utility IT services, what they cannot afford is to deliver anything that's not clean. So a key strategy for being successful in the hospitality channel is to get the training required to be a hospitality specialist, advised Davies. "A hotel deployment once every three or four months isn't enough to keep on the top of your game," he said. "We see increasing volume for partners who commit significant resources to the sector and build up a centre of excellence around hospitality. The hotel flags and owner groups will seek out those experts."
Providing guests with personal experiences is a top priority for hotel owners. Offerings such as location-based services, delivered in tandem with other applications, can boost the overall guest experience, encouraging repeat stays and creating a sense of trust. "For instance, if you order a room service and decide to change something, when you call you get routed directly to the staff member you spoke to last," commented Davies. "This personal touch is key to customer experiences."