Future proofing infrastructure for the digital hotel PROJECT PARTNERS
Village Hotels: Future proofing infrastructure for the digital hotel Jon Davis, CTO of Village Hotel Club, explores how a digital transformation future-proofs a technology infrastructure WRI T T EN BY PRODUCED BY
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D al e Bent on And y L l oy d
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echnology has undoubtedly redefined the very nature of modern business. Traditional
business and operating models are being restructured and realigned in order to embrace innovation to be ready for an increasingly digital future. No more is this seachange apparent than in the hotel and hospitality industry, where the modernday hotel guest is a very different and more technologically driven guest than those of years gone by. Not only has the hotel guest changed, but so has the competition. Gone are the days where price points and the physical hotel itself were key differentiators; in their place is connectivity and best of breed technology solutions. Guests will expect the same level of interaction and engagement with technology in their hotel rooms as they would in their everyday lives with the same level of seamlessness to their experiences and so hotels have had to look at how to enable this within their guest experience. One such hotel company is currently undergoing a major digital transformation journey in order to better serve the modern guest and offer a digital ready experience like no other, is Village Hotel Club. Village Hotel Club operates 30 hotels across the UK and by its own admission, its 4
VILL AGE HOTEL CLUB
“ A S A H OT E L W E N E E D TO U N D E R S TA N D W H E R E T E C H N O LO GY I S G O I N G B E C AU S E T H E G U E S T S O F TO D AY W I L L B E E X P E C T I N G C O N TA C T L E S S PAY M E N T S , O R A N A P P E X P E R I E N C E A N D I F YO U D O N ’ T H AV E T H AT T H E N T H E Y ’ R E G O I N G TO L E AV E YO U ” —
JON DAV IS, C T O, V ILL AGE HO T EL CLUB
hotels are “much more than a bed for the night - they are a place to meet, socialise, work and get fit” - a clear sign that the business understands that the guest experience has changed massively. “It’s a question of how we give our customers options to interact with us, options they have in their day-to-day lives,” explains Jon Davis, CTO of Village Hotels. “A hotel is no longer defined by being a place to find a bed for the evening. Our business is very varied. We have a thriving F&B department, bedrooms and a w w w. v i l l age - h otel s . co. u k
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MyCheck is the hospitality industry’s leading payment and integration technology provider, offering various products that can be used separately or combined to equip hotels and restaurants with a powerful digital customer engagement experience.
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massive leisure facility and they all run
in place and to better serve its guests it
independently of each other, so as a hotel
needs to have a solid technology infra-
we need to understand where technology
structure, one that is agile enough to cater
is going because the guests of today will
to the rapidly evolving demands of the
be expecting the latest and greatest from
guest. This was most certainly the vision
our systems, whether that is contactless
for the company’s CEO in 2018, as he set
payments, self check-in or an in app expe-
out a plan to update or replace the exist-
rience. If you don’t have that then they’re
ing technology stack and bring all of the
going to leave you.”
company’s data into one collective space.
A typical Village Hotel Club comprises
A three-year strategy was laid out, with
high-tech bedrooms, Village Pub & Grill,
2019 being earmarked as a year of change.
Starbucks, Village Gym and the co-work-
“We looked at our whole tech infrastruc-
ing space VWorks, but in order to ensure
ture and mapped out what we wanted to
that it has the best in-breed solutions
achieve,” says Davis. “The first year has w w w. th e i n te r fa ce. n et
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“Access Procure Wizard is the backbone of our operation, ensuring we have transparency across our 31 hotels. We have revolutionised the way we operate with the help of the solution which in turn has improved efficiencies and supplier relationships across the group.”
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Jon Davis, CTO, Village Hotels
ENANCE
Access Workspace for Hospitality
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Each module has been specifically tailored to address a control requirement within the hospitality industry with the objective of improving efficiency, increasing profitability and significantly streamlining processes.
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Access Procure Wizard is the UK’s leading provider of software solutions for the hospitality sector.
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Our comprehensive suite of tools integrate with each other, providing you with a single touch point to control all your business costs.
CRM
Get in touch:
0845 340 4542
hospitality@theaccessgroup.com
www.theaccessgroup.com/hospitality
been about really driving change into the
allowing the company to make informed
business and focusing on change manage-
decisions moving forward.
ment and strong project management. We
One of Davis’ personal goals since joining
looked to put in a number of collaboration
the company 18 months ago has been to
tools so that everyone’s involved in the
create a culture of collaboration and so one
journey from the central office right across
of the very first things that was looked at
the hotels and that they understood what
was the way in which people within the
we were doing.” Village Hotels also set out
business communicated. “We’ve moved
to build what Davis calls the “data lake”
everyone away from the traditional email
where information is pulled from all of its
communication and the reams of infor-
systems into one area. Through a number
mation that get sent across the business.
of business dashboards that are aimed
People are receiving more than 150 emails
at all different departments and areas,
a day and we looked at how we can change
everything that happens in the business
the conversation and the way in which we
is tracked and stored within the data lake
talk to each other and share information,”
I T ’ S A B O U T A C O L L A B O R AT I V E A P P R O A C H . T H E R E ’ S O F T E N A S P E A R H E A D O F T E C H N O LO GY T R A C K I N G E V E R YO N E I N TO T H E N E W E R A , A N D I T V E R Y R A R E LY W O R K S B E C A U S E YO U ’ V E G OT A O N E P E R S O N C R U S A D E TO G E T T E C H N O LO GY A N D F O R E V E R YO N E E L S E I T D O E S N ’ T F E E L L I K E T H E Y ’ R E I N C L U D E D I N T H AT J O U R N E Y A N D IT ’ S A REC I PE F O R FA I LU RE I N M Y E Y ES —
JON DAV IS, C T O, V ILL AGE HO T EL CLUB
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Volara provides voice-based guest engagement software running on in-room hardware like the Amazon Echo. Customized to your property, Volara knows how to get your guests talking
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he says. In order to achieve this, Village
technology and for everyone else, it feels
Hotels moved everyone from a Microsoft-
like they’re not included in that journey or
based environment across to G Suite for
delivery and it’s a recipe for failure in my
its collaboration tools. This allowed a more
eyes.” Davis believes that this is a reflec-
seamless and effective sharing of infor-
tion of the overall changing conversation
mation across 30 hotels across the UK.
surrounding technology.
Davis is keen to highlight that while there
Technology is now the driving force
are many departments that technology
behind significant business decisions and
touches, he and the company must remain
the challenge for him is one of explor-
focused on this journey that people are
ing how Village Hotels can use technology
going on together. “It’s about a collabora-
to change the culture of its business. He
tive approach. There’s often a spearhead
points to finance as an example and how
of technology, pushing everyone into the
technology is allowing the company to
new era, and it very rarely works because
move the finance team away from a very
you’ve got a one-person crusade to get
manual, Excel based approach, to a more w w w. th e i n te r fa ce. n et
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VILL AGE HOTEL CLUB
automated approach which in turn feed the
digital wallet to the journey that people
business intelligence tool for the future.
have on our internet booking engine.”
How this impacts the customer facing side
This collaborative approach brings
of the business gives Village Hotels the
together a number of different parts of
utility and speed to cater to the custom-
the business, including F&B, rooms and
ers’ demands. “We are able to build and
finance. These departments, as Davis
deploy projects that are customer facing
says, would often work independently of
very quickly,” says Davis. “So, for example,
one another. “It is through that collabo-
we can activate in-room voice communi-
ration tool that we now know everyone
cations with Alexa or introduce the Village
understands the goals of each department
Hotels app to the business. That app can
and how we can get there together,” he
allow guests to book gym classes, or a
says. “It gives us agility. In normal groups
hotel room and even order F&B. It becomes
our size it’s like turning a tanker, isn’t it? It
a full digital wallet in there thanks to our
takes a long time to change your course,
partners at MyCheck, it then matches that
so we have built our infrastructure to be w w w. v i l l age - h otel s . co. u k
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able to do that very quickly and be able to
we need to, but because we’ve got that
fail fast. We’ve created that culture now,
backing, we can do that very easily.”
which is great.” With 2019 representing
Bumps in the road are to be expected.
the year of change following the success-
No journey is ever an easy ride from point
ful implementation of collaboration tools
A to point B and companies will set out a
including a new property management
roadmap and factor in that things will head
system, central reservations tool meet-
in different directions along the way. With
ings and events booking system and
a CEO and a leadership team that is clear in
moved out to an online system and the digital wallet app, 2020 will be the year in which Village Hotels will begin to see the fruits of its labour. Success is never a guarantee, but in order to achieve any success at all there has to be a belief and a clear drive throughout the entire business and it starts at the very top. “It is a fairly difficult journey to go on if you don’t have the backing from people at board level,” says Davis. “We are blessed with a Chairman and a CEO who have absolutely bought into the vision of what technology can bring to the business. There will be bumps in the road, undoubtedly, but if you don’t have that buy-in, then those bumps in the road become mountains and there are things you can’t get over because people don’t really believe in what you’re trying to do. When you’ve got the buy-in from the top, the bumps in the road are just that, they’re bumps. We go around them, we go over them, we build a bridge over them if 14
VILL AGE HOTEL CLUB
Jon Davis CTO Village Hotel Club
Senior executive with verifiable year-after-year success achieving revenue, profit, and business growth objectives within start-up, turnaround, and rapid- change environments. Working for Companies such as Manchester United, Chester Race Company and The Compass Group, as well as his own consultancy business, Jon has used his extensive experience with hospitality technology systems and hospitality operations in both the UK and overseas, which requires deep understanding of critical business drivers in multiple markets.
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communicating the vision and drive for the
the back of a pad or even a napkin, now
journey throughout the whole business,
it’s as easy as shopping on Amazon, where
the attention must then turn to the part-
we have chefs building baskets through
ners and vendors that will collaborate with
the tool; it’s changed the way F&B works.”
the business in order to actually realise the
Volara is key to Village Hotels in-room
outcomes of the journey. Over the past 18
technology as the number one provider
months, Davis has been working on build-
of voice solutions for hospitality. Village
ing improved tender processes, evaluat-
Hotels wanted to be the first company
ing vendors, doing proof of concepts to
in the UK to work with Volara. Four of its
ensure they are the right partner against
hotels now have Amazon Alexa function-
Village Hotels’ product roadmap. “We’ve
ality in-room that gives giving access to
future-proofed our tech infrastructure,”
hotel information, calling reception and
says Davis. “We don’t want to be halfway
concierge-type services, which will look to
through next year and having to look at
expand with another 10 hotels in 2020.
individual pieces of that puzzle again, and say, ‘Oh, we’re going to need to change this because of that vendor, or move this because that’s happened,’ and that’s been a key focus when selecting our partners.” There are three main partners that have enabled Village Hotels’ tech journey to date: Access Hospitality, Volara and the aforementioned MyCheck. Access Hospitality manage a number of the company’s back office systems such as the ERP system e-procurement functionality through its Procure Wizard tool. “Access are a strong partner for us and really underpin what we are doing as a business,” says Davis. “Procure Wizard is a revolutionary tool. When I started in hospitality, people were writing orders on 16
VILL AGE HOTEL CLUB
Despite working to a three-year plan, for Davis it’s actually about driving a culture
“ WHETHER IT’S THROUGH PROCESS, INCREASING SALES OR EVEN COST S A V I N G S , T H E U LT I M AT E G O A L I S T H AT T E C H N O LO GY I S N OT T H E R E A S A N I C E TO H A V E ; I T S H O U L D B E DRIVING BUSINESS CHANGE” —
JON DAV IS, C T O, V ILL AGE HO T EL CLUB
of perpetual innovation. Whatever the future holds, Village Hotels has made the systems and the infrastructure as flexible as possible to be able to do things quickly. “We don’t do projects anymore where there’s a start and an end date. That’s when that vendor partnership comes into play, where we’ll then start the innovation in terms of what we’re doing with the platform. “I think during 2020 we’ll start seeing the fruits of our labour and driving real business efficiencies so the people that we’ve got can start driving real business change. Whether it’s through process, increasing sales or even cost savings, the ultimate goal is that technology is not just there as a nice thing to have; it should be driving business change.”
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www.village-hotels.co.uk