The Hospitality Show, now in its second year, will take place at the Henry B. González Convention Center in San Antonio from Oct. 28-30. The Show will bring together 5,000 attendees and promises to drive profitability for owners, operators and hospitality innovators through dedicated content, extensive networking and 400+ operations and technology vendors.
In this installment of The Hospitality Show Advisory Board member Q&A, we catch up with Alex Alt, executive vice president and general manager, Oracle Hospitality.
What do you think is the biggest problem for the industry currently?
Our customers are constantly facing significant labor and staffing shortages. According to a report by AHLA last June, 76 percent of hotels are experiencing staffing shortages. One of the key ways to solve these long-standing challenges is accelerating digital transition.
Embracing advanced hospitality technology that leverages guest data, especially AI, is crucial for meeting evolving guest expectations. With mobile-integrated solutions and automated processes, staff can be relieved from routine front-of-house tasks. This can enable them focus on enhancing guest services, while also improving overall staff productivity both on and above property.
Today’s hotel staff are also expecting easy-to-learn applications that they can quickly learn and use on day one. This calls for intuitive technology that simplifies and can help automate processes, making the daily lives of staff easier.
We designed the Oracle OPERA Cloud hospitality platform to help brands quickly implement new customer- and staff-oriented features from a network of pre-integrated technologies. Leveraging technology is vital for overcoming current staffing challenges with the favorable parallel benefits of enhancing the guest and associate experience.
What new trends do you see affecting the hospitality industry as we move into 2025?
We’ve seen hotels looking to accelerate their business transformation in areas that affect all departments, and that cannot be achieved with a traditional technology ecosystem that includes too many disparate vendors. To remain competitive, many hotels are moving to more streamlined platforms that unite data and functionality under a common user interface. This can give employees and managers real-time insights into their business, including distribution, sales, service interactions, loyalty programs and more. This can enable faster and more informed decisions that boost productivity, enhance guest service and increase profitability.
Another evolving trend that will continue to affect the industry is the need to expand accommodation options, both room type and length of stay, including more apartment style rentals and longer stay options. We’ve already started to see an increase in lifestyle hotels creating more location-specific amenities that emphasize unique, local-infused offerings that differ from the traditional hotel structure where every hotel and service level looks the same, regardless of location. The extended stay market for room or apartment-style rentals could also mirror the one-off experiences travelers are expecting from a home-share model. The expanding trend is the same, but with more ways to approach it and capture the changing demands and preferences of travelers.
Lastly, another trend picking up steam is a customer-centric, attribute-based selling approach, shifting away from traditional room types. These value-added offerings are made possible thanks to technologies implemented on- and above-property, and they can allow guests to customize their hotel stay by selecting specific attributes that align with their needs and preferences, such as a higher floor, balcony, connecting room, or mini-kitchen. This alternative can provide new incremental revenue opportunities to standard hotel rooms.
No matter the type of accommodations, whether it be a pet hotel, student housing, apartment-style living, or a grouping of 10 private homes, my team enjoys exploring how the OPERA Cloud hospitality platform can accommodate the unique scenarios of our hotel brands and help maximize revenue.
What do you see as the biggest opportunities for the industry this year?
Would it surprise you if I said artificial intelligence? The biggest opportunity is the most exciting that we’ve seen in years. What is so interesting is how AI is naturally being woven into our everyday lives, with new integrations appearing in apps daily. I believe we are only scratching the surface of how AI can benefit the hospitality industry.
We’re in the business of personalization and anticipating the needs of hoteliers and their guests. We have the tools today to provide insights and make suggestions, such as the best price point that a specific type of guest is willing to pay. But the possibilities to expand on already evolving technology will be game-changing.
By analyzing customer data, pricing strategies and fluctuating demand, hotels can plan to ensure resources are optimized. The future is bright and we anticipate many great things to come as our industry discovers and embraces AI.
What do you think the industry's biggest accomplishment has been in the past year?
Over the past year, our industry has witnessed a significant achievement with the rapid speed-to-market of emerging vendors and solutions. Hotels, resorts, and casinos worldwide have craved new solutions that improve their operations and differentiate themselves from competitors.
We’ve built one of the largest libraries of these solutions in the hospitality industry with our Oracle Hospitality Integration Platform, which now features more than 1,000 partners who are actively building integrations, including over 500 that are currently live on the Oracle Cloud Marketplace. It is exciting to see startups, which previously lacked the financial resources to engage with large companies, are now developing and deploying innovative solutions in just weeks, at a fraction of the cost.
Staffing shortages and the need for hoteliers to optimize their workforce have been a driving factor for increased innovation and adoption of digital transformation tools over the past year. With many employees lacking experience, automating tasks has become essential.
Self-service options for guests like mobile check-in and -out, are a direct response to these challenges. This trend is not only helping hotels manage their operations more efficiently but also providing guests with a more seamless and modern experience. Companies that embrace these technologies are positioning themselves at a competitive advantage, increasing their profitability and strengthening their customer loyalty.
What are you most looking forward to at The Hospitality Show?
I always really cherish the ability to connect with our customers and hear first-hand about how our solutions are working for them, along with what we can do better. The opportunity to discover real-world anecdotes of how our technologies have helped them and what their future aspirations are for us is truly a gift.
Additionally, this event brings together a diverse group of industry leaders. I'm eager to assess the latest industry trends with such a knowledgeable group and explore how our products are improving our industry for both associates and guests. The Hospitality Show is an annual highlight for any technology provider, and I'm excited to learn how we can all empower the industry together.