Launching “StayAhead”: Hotel Guest Experience Management Platform

Many of the eyebrow-raising scenes that we have seen in older James Bond movies have become a reality nowadays. Technology has been put on steroids in the last five years to add significant value to our lives.This applies to travel industry too, especially the hospitality industry.

Guests are expecting to manage their end to end stay with technology, they would like their mobile phone to do everything for them.

A guest opens his/her mobile phone to make hotel reservation for a same day check-in. Gets into the car and speaks (via Android Auto or Apple CarPlay) to the car to show driving direction to the hotel. While the guest is taking a break at a highway restaurant, the guest check-ins to the hotel room and sends an instant message to the hotel requesting to keep some Darjeeling Tea sachet in the room. Read more

By: Karthick Prabu
Published in: IDS Next Blog

How positive guest experience impacts a hotel’s revenue?

Guest experience is the culmination of a series of interactions and services offered by a hotel to its guests. Being a part of guest facing industry, hotels must offer top class services to their guests. Converting a guest to a “happy-guest” has a chain reaction of positive actions.

Happy guests become a hotel’s brand ambassadors. They write positive feedback across online review sites. They share their experience with friends and family. Thus, they influence potential buyers’ booking decision, too. Moreover, positive experience makes a guest loyal to the hotel brand. Apart from recommending the hotel to others, a loyal guest comes back to the property, thus helping the hotel generate more revenue (at zero further acquisition cost). In short, quality guest experience creates happy guests and in turn, happy guests do create happy hotels ($). Read More

By: Debi Prasad Sarangi
Published in: IDS Next Blog 

The growing importance of hotel channel management

Despite all the complexities in the hotel business, hotels should attract guests; sell more rooms to drive revenue. But then, how do they do it when many buyers today rely heavily on hundreds of OTAs to find the right hotel? Well, the answer is simple. Hotels must have an enhanced online presence. This means, hotels must be visible on online platforms to attract the attention of potential bookers. This is where; a hotel channel management solution can help users quite effectively. Read More

By: Manoj Mohanty

Published in: IDS Next

IDS Next CEO Mr. Binu Mathews' elaborate Q&A featured in Curiosity Middle East magazine. Read on to know more about IDS Next's wide range of hospitality technology solutions for hotels across Middle East. 

Tell us briefly about IDS Next?

We are a globally leading hospitality technology solutions provider with decades of domain authority. We understand the technological requirements of hotels across segments/categories and offer them the right solution to increase revenues, decrease costs and above all provide enhanced guest experience. Be it a large independent hotel, chain hotel, boutique & resort or small hotel, we have solution for all of them. Read More

Published in: CuriosityMiddle East

LOOKING FOR WAYS TO BOOST DIRECT BOOKINGS AT YOUR HOTEL?

OTAs help hotels sell more rooms to a wide-range of travelers from across the globe. They connect millions of travelers to hotels via online booking platforms every year, which is good for hotels. But, hoteliers feel the heat while paying out a huge sum of their earnings to them as commission charges. This surely impacts their profit margin. In this case, hotels must consider adopting various ways to get more direct bookings without paying commission to OTAs. Read MoreBy: Nandika UdupihillaPublished in: IDS Next 

HOW IMPORTANT IS ONLINE REPUTATION MANAGEMENT FOR HOTELS?

Guest reviews written across online platforms have become quite important these days. Due to its impact on a hotel’s brand value, hoteliers must have an effective online reputation management strategy. Adoption of online reputation management plan supports hotels to manage and respond to online reviews. Read More

Published in: IDS NextBy: Jacob KI

USING THE RIGHT HOSPITALITY TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS? ASK YOUR GUESTS!

Hotel industry is undergoing a technology driven transformation. Today’s smart hospitality technology solutions not only helps hoteliers automate operations, it also helps them serve their guests better. Hoteliers can adopt various hospitality technology solutions to achieve required operational automation. Read More

By: Varadharajan Athmanathan 

Published in: IDS Next 

IDS NEXT ROLLS OUT GST CPMPLIANT HOTEL ERP

To help hotels in India to adhere to upcoming GST norms, hospitality technology provider IDS Next, as rolled out a GST compliant version of its Hotel ERP Software. “The Goods and Services Tax Council has already finalised GST rates for hotels and restaurants and as a leading technology partner for hotels, we have introduced FortuneNEXT 6.5 which is the latest version of our Hotel ERP that is GST compliant,” said Manoj Kumar Mohanty, senior vice president – sales, South Asia and Southeast Asia, IDS Next. Read More

Published in: Food & Hospitality World 

SIGNIFICANCE OF RESTAURANT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

Be it a fine dining restaurant, F&B or QSR outlet, the restaurant industry in general has been impacted by many technology solutions. These solutions are essential to automate operations and to serve their patrons efficiently. Therefore, operators are now keen on adopting technology solutions including restaurant management system and e-menu app. Read More

By: Manoj Mohanty

Published in: IDS Next

HOW DO SMART TRAVELERS FIND THE RIGHT HOTEL?

Today’s travelers are smart and they explore many options before selecting a hotel. They leverage the power of internet to find out accommodation options and to visit the hotels’ websites to know more about their amenities. Most importantly, they spend lot of time reading online guest reviews. Read More

By: Jacob K I

Published In: IDS Next

TOP 4 CHALLENGES FOR THE HOTEL INDUSTRY AND HOW TO HANDLE THEM

Being a part of 24/7 guest facing service business, hotel industry world-wide faces many critical issues on daily basis. Right from handling operations to serving guests, hoteliers have to handle numerous bottlenecks. For example, they sometimes have to make their guests wait for longer time due to the absence of right technology to speed up the check-in process.

Here are top 4 issues impacting the performance of the hotel industry across the globe. Hotels across segments and offerings face these issues – Read More

By: Manoj Mohanty

Published in: IDS Next

DOES YOUR HOTEL PMS SOFTWARE HELP YOU BECOME GST COMPLIANT?

Come July, India will witness a new and unified system of tax structure in the form of Goods and Services Tax (GST). Like any other industry, hotel industry too is preparing itself to operate as per this new taxation regime. And as a leading Hotel PMS Software we at IDS Next have also been working relentlessly to help hotels in their pursuit to become GST compliant.

Trouble with the existing taxation system

Presently the hotel industry is affected by multiple tax structures like service tax, luxury tax and VAT, levied by both central government and respective state government. For example, VAT varies from state to state and luxury tax depends on the proportion of the room tariff. Service tax depends on the types of services provided by the hotel. This leads to confusion as sometimes the same service or product gets taxed under multiple heads and multiple times. This leads to higher taxation which goes up to 27%. Additionally, some of the input tax from central and state taxes can’t be set-off against other taxes. In other words, this leads to a cascading effect. Read More

By: Manoj Mohanty
Published In: IDS Next

Leverage the best of Mobile Technology & access real-time data on your Hotel Operation Anywhere, Anytime

Finding it Difficult to Access Hotel Data While Not at Work?

Being a Managing Director or General Manager in hotel business is always a tough task. It becomes more challenging when you have to handle day to day business at multiple properties spread across locations. Being a part of 24/7 guest facing business model and due to the importance of your position, you can’t simply shrug off your responsibilities even if you are on leave.

In order to keep track of your property’s daily business statistics, you must have access to the hotel property management system. But, what if either you are not at the property or you are travelling? Under such circumstance, you will have to call up respective department heads to collect data that you are looking for. It might take some time and you might not get real-time data. The whole confusion will lead to loss of time and will deter you from taking informed decision pertaining to your hotel operations.Read More

By: Nandika Udupihilla

Published in: IDS Next 

 

Tech Talk: Why IDS Next Solutions remain Top Choice for Hoteliers

In this interview with Footprint to Africa, one of the top executives of the pioneers of Hotel Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) architecture, IDS Next reveals how the company sustains its global appeal and an enviable track-record of 98 per cent customer retention. Read More

Published in: Footprint to Africa

Smart Hotel PMS for Growing Number of Hotels in Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka continues to do well in terms of attracting tourists from around the globe. The tiny island nation has an exclusive tourism proposition with its pristine beaches, scenic hills, wide range of wildlife and varied cultural and historical attractions. This has also led to surge in hotel business in the country. In this scenario, the competition amongst hotels is set to grow and only a smart and all-in-one Hotel PMS can help them automate operations to serve guests efficiently.

Sri Lankan Hotel Market Overview

Many international and domestic hotel brands are betting big on Sri Lanka to set up their luxury and upscale properties in next couple of years. The capital city Colombo seems to be the most poised location for hotel construction activities. According to a recently published JLL report, the city will add approximately 3500 hotel rooms by 2020. A majority of these rooms will come from upscale and luxury segment. Read More

By: Nandika Udupihilla

Published: IDS Next Sri Lanka

Hotel Property Management System: Key to Success for Hoteliers in UAE

All-in-one and highly integrated Hotel Property Management System (Hotel PMS) is the most essential technology platform to ensure higher degree of operational automation at hotels. Today, with intense competition from within the market, no hotel can survive without adopting a smart and user-friendly Hotel PMS.

United Arab Emirates (UAE) enjoys a very special status in the Middle East region as a leading tourism destination. Apart from doing well in terms of business travel, UAE is expected to make up around 90% of Middle East’s tourism by 2020. Thus, the country also attracts heavy investment on its burgeoning hotel sector. Read More

By: Brijesh Surendran

Published in: IDS Next Sri Lanka 

 

IDS Next to Technologically Empower Malaysia Based My Hotels Group

IDS Next Business Solutions Pvt. Ltd, a globally leading Hotel Technology Solutions provider today announced that they have been selected as the preferred technology vendor by My Hotels Group, a leading hospitality business entity based in Malaysia. A total of 717 rooms in 8 properties of the group operating across Kuala Lumpur will be powered by IDS Next’s integrated FortuneNEXT 6i Hotel ERP.

Established in 2009, My Hotels Group has emerged as one of the reputed hospitality company in Malaysia. Suitable for both corporate and leisure travelers, the group offers a range of economy hotels strategically located in and around Kuala Lumpur. All the properties of the group are spread across locations including KL Sentral, Brickfields, Bukit Bintang, Seri Putra and Jalan Syed Putra. Read More

Published in: IDS Next 

How to Prevent Data Breaches At Your Hotel

Hotel industry world-wide has earned the reputation of being one of the most vulnerable victims of guest credit card data theft. Cyber criminals attack hotel database and other systems seeking guests’ personal and financial information like credit card details and all. In such a scenario, hoteliers should adopt PA DSS Compliant Hotel ERP to safeguard their networks and guests’ details from hackers.

Data thefts at hotels:

Investigations have revealed that guests’ credit card data stored in point of sale and property management systems are quite easy targets in events of breaches. According to Trustwave Global Security report, in 2015, point of sale was breached in 45% and in 64% of cases credit card data were compromised in the hospitality sector. More than 12 incidences of data thefts were reported from 2010 to 2015. Read More

Published in: IDS Next

By: Manoj Mohanty

 

Changing trends in Hospitality Technology in India

The importance of technology in hospitality business is rapidly evolving. Hoteliers are no more looking at technology adoption as a choice. Rather, the whole thing has become necessity for them. Because, technology has an immense impact on guest expectation and in which hotels do their daily business.

Hotel Industry in India 

In India, foreign tourism arrival is expected to touch 15 million by 2020. And to accommodate them, the country needs to add around 1, 80, 000 hotel rooms across category to its existing inventory. This means, hotel industry in India is set to grow big. However, this growth in hotel number is not enough as hoteliers should consider implementing cutting edge Hospitality Technology to streamline various daily operations while serving guests efficiently. Read More

By: Ronnie Sarkar

Published in: Smart Tech Today