HOTEL TECHNOLOGY MOVING INTO THE CLOUD
By Glenn Haussman A cloud is rolling in on the hospitality industry. But fortunately this cloud isn't symbolic of the future the health of the lodging business. No, this cloud is all about taking computer power out of the hotel and shifting to a third party.
It's an idea that's been bandied about for more than a decade amongst IT professionals, but has been met with limited success through so-called application service providers (ASPs). But now that high speed internet connectivity is seemingly universal amongst businesses in the United States, it looks as if the stars are finally aligning just right to make the cloud a viable solution for the lodging business.
Here at the Hospitality Industry Technology Exposition and Conference (HITEC) in Anaheim, the first full day of the event was met with speculation about the adoption this and other technologies as well as how IT professionals are changing the ways they do business as the economy has scared off significant business at many hotels.
"We are a very large company and in November will start offering storage of utilities. We suck at storage and managing a ton of all this data," joked Scott Campbell, senior vice president and CIO of MGM Mirage, a casino resort company. "We are putting tier 1 storage in a cloud. If we can put as much data on it and get a bill every month with no long term agreement I can back it up on tape and lower my bills, just like any other utility, if I need to. We want to put as much in the cloud as possible. I think that is where we are going."
RP Rama, vice president and Director IT, JHM Hotels said he believes the cloud will not only be utilized by hoteliers, but their guests as well. He sees a future where guests utilize an iPhone, for example, to connect with their data. "The iPhone will be a traveling PC. Guests will attach a keyboard and screen to it and connect to the internet. It will also serve as your driver license and have your bio metrics on it. Imagine connecting to the cloud anywhere. We have five senses, but there is a sixth being innovated; the technology gadget," Rama said.
Conversations at HITEC are also focusing on adopting future technology that will accentuate guest relationships with a hotel brand or property. It's all about striking up two way conversations rather than the traditional one way conversation hoteliers currently have with guests through emails, for example.
Source: EHC
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