THE STUDENT HOTEL
DIGITAL REPORT 2021
Reimagining Hospitality. IN ASSOCIATION WITH
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Reimagining Hospitality.
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www.thestudenthotel.com
THE STUDENT HOTEL
The Student Hotel is redefining how the hospitality business model works in a world of changing guest behaviour. And that means a new approach to technology.
C
hange has not been one of the watchwords of the hospitality industry, according to The Student Hotel’s Chief Digital and Experience
Officer Mark Liversidge. “The hotel business, in my humble opinion, hasn’t really changed in generations,” he says. “It runs on the same formula. It’s driven by the same industry metrics with the same workaround to overcome the
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shifts and changes that are going on around it. “Brand portfolios delivered by the hospitality management companies are massive. They’ve got up to 20, 30 or 40 brands in their portfolios, yet fundamentally it’s all just been the same space and service with different carpets and wallpaper. “The engine it works on is the same. Most of the guest utility is the same. The decision making of the business models is the same. It’s simply a drive to get more flags in the ground and operational rooms. Fundamentally, none of it is serving the evolution of the guest. And their ability to pivot is hugely constrained. Conventional hospitality technology does not allow them to move with fluidity or agility.” What we’re trying to do is different; staying at TSH is not just about the rooms, it’s about a community experience. TSH’s hybrid hospitality concept is designed to welcome students, tourists, neighbours, entrepreneurs and business
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www.thestudenthotel.com
THE STUDENT HOTEL
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EX EC UTIV E PROFILE:
Mark Liversidge Title: Chief Digital and Experience Officer Company: The Student Hotel Industry: Hybrid hospitality Location: Amsterdam
Mark is responsible for the technology stack, digital platforms and guest experience, placing technology at the core of TSH hybrid hospitality model. Mark held a variety of executive roles in consumer markets with Orange, O2, CSL, Macquarie and Hilton Worldwide. He has a master’s in strategy and innovation from Oxford University and is a graduate in European Studies from Durham University. Twice in the Global Top 40 Under 40, named Asia’s Most Influential CMO and awarded in branding, marketing, digital, mobile and retail design. Mark advises sporting charities and is a passionate sportsman, currently a youth coach at Bath Rugby in the UK. www.thestudenthotel.com
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THE STUDENT HOTEL
Mark Liversidge: 5 Points to Effective Leadership Mark Liversidge has honed his approach to leadership “over time, working across a broad spectrum of companies in different industry sectors, different organisation models, different ownership structures, different cultures globally and sizes of team from single digits to 700”. It comes down to five points.
1. Be culturally aware “It’s critical to be culturally aware. And that’s culturally aware in terms of the context of where the market operates in terms of geography both for your internal team and also your customers, and then the actual community culture of your business. You have to understand that very quickly on entry into any organisation. And you have to keep that at the forefront of your thinking.”
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2. Be contextually aware “This is where you go down to an individual level, understand each individual’s journey. I don’t buy into leaders who think that people are going to want to stay with that company or that team for lifetime. That just simply doesn’t happen. It’s not normal. So understand the context of an individual’s journey, where they’re at, what they want to get out of their time in your team, in your organisation, and where they want to go next. And be respectful of that and try to assist them on that. Because if you are open and engaged in that journey, then you will get more out of them while they’re with you.”
3. Set direct strategy and objectives “Every time I’ve observed failure, it’s because of a lack of harmonisation across the group of people. What’s important is to set clear direct strategy, objectives and timeline, then to step back and allow the people and the teams to work out the journey and not be prescriptive or descriptive in how they’re going to achieve those outcomes.”
4. Put in the checkpoints “Have set communication and engagement cycles with the team, with your internal clients, and externally, with your partners and your customers. And I think it’s very important that people understand what that communication cycle is, so that they know they’re going to be engaged and given downward information, but also have the opportunity for feedback. And then with that communication, ensure commitment of action based on the collective observations and findings of that communication and engagement cycle.”
5. Give people space “It’s critical to harmonise around the individual. Give people space to explore their capabilities, allow people to step into the space that they feel they’ve got within themselves, allow them to make mistakes, allow them to challenge your thinking by trying things that maybe you, with your experience or perspective, don’t necessarily think is the right outcome, but then learn from them as they learn. In order to facilitate that, be super flexible in your engagement as an individual. And I see this as four roles that I have to play in engaging with somebody and the mix is dependent on the individual and where they’re at and what that person is like: between being a director, being a mentor, being a disruptor, and being a defendant.
The Breakdown And you think about those things, then in terms of the full package overall, to be an effective leader, my belief is that you have to spend two-thirds of your time in that last element, which is one-on-one individual time, and you’re spending 20 per cent on your strategy direction and your communication, and you’re spending 20 per cent on maintaining cultural and contextual awareness.
www.thestudenthotel.com
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THE STUDENT HOTEL
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“ Activating all types of space use within a single harmonized technology system” — Mark Liversidge, Chief Digital and Experience Officer, The Student Hotel
student accommodation (PBSA). That is also a rapidly evolving market, as higher education morphs from a concentration of 18 to 24 year old’s towards lifelong learning models, another trend Liversidge sees
people to learn, stay, work and play, all under
being accelerated by COVID. TSH’s hybrid
one roof. From hotel, student rooms and co-
personality begs the question of where
working spaces to auditoriums, gyms, event
The Student Hotel fits between hospital-
spaces and social initiative programming,
ity, workspace and PBSA. In fact, they are
Its a place where people can connect and
somewhat converging, as students demand
learn from one another while growing into a
higher quality accommodation while work-
vibrant community.
ers and travelers have increasingly fluid
The Student Hotel began life, as the name suggests as a provider of purpose-built
notions of how they go about their respective endeavours.
WORKING FOR CHANGE
that are going to be fluid in the immedi-
Like universities, who are coming to realise
ate future. The challenge for us, at TSH,
that they are not accommodation special-
is to bring them together harmoniously,
ists and would rather hand off to third party
each part clearly defined, and as a prof-
expertise, Liversidge believes the corpo-
itable business. Technology will play a
rate world is likely to see a revolution in
critical role in achieving this.
office space.
If you want to do things differently you
“Companies don’t want to be carrying the
have to overcome the constraints of con-
cost of large spaces in city centres or in major
ventional industry technology engineering.
hubs at high cost that is not fully utilised.
The Student Hotel has been pushing to
They’re going to want to hand that over to
break free of the “standards, systems
other people whose specialisms are in real
and platforms” that “just don’t exist to sup-
estate as a service and have more fluidity in
port our desired fluidity”.
what space they need and when they use it. “We’re heading into a generation of more
MIDDLEWARE
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freelance contract work, where people
“We’re on our transformation journey, and
will come together in teams on a fluid,
we’ve made some bets with innovators
organic, time-specific basis. You won’t be
and early leaders who are bringing smart,
contracted to a company so much as con-
dynamic tooling to the table to be a technol-
tracted in for a particular activity or project
ogy leader, breaking out of the conventional
within a company. And that company itself
architecture and systems that just can’t
may only exist for a certain reason for a short
cope with hybrid space use and operat-
period of time. People are going to say ‘I want
ional fluidity that we believe are the basis
the ability to step out of my personal space
of future business profitability and growth.”
and go to a dedicated workspace which
Middleware, Liversidge argues, is the key.
is set up for that and has the facilities and
“Middleware is a critical path for the indu-
amenities for that. And from a wellness and
stry because so many of these systems
mental wellbeing perspective, it should give
are linear and single use, but we’re trying
people that ability to mix face to face rather
to dimension our spaces to be multi-use.
than solely via a screen.
You need a logic layer that can connect
“So you’ve got three things in a state of flux
those individual systems and allow you to
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“ It’s all just been the same with different carpets and wallpaper” — Mark Liversidge, Chief Digital and Experience Officer, The Student Hotel
the ability to start creating a core central customer data platform (CDP) with individual lifelong guest profiles. “I would argue that a middleware logic layer is fundamentally going to be critical to almost any multi-product hospitality operator in the next five years while the operational systems try to catch up. And then if you look at the key systems,
manage that flexibility. We partnered early
the property management system (PMS)
with Ireckonu who developed a middle-
in our category, they’re very limited and
ware logic layer specifically for hospitality
very linear. Most of them are based on the
and over the last couple of years has
same dimensioning, which is the historic
evolved into a rich product set that has
per room per night stay.”
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enables us to move rapidly with our technology transformation. The other big thing to address is that
PERISHABLE SPACE The problem, Liversidge maintains, is
we’re clearly now in the era of hyper indi-
achieving the optimal use of space. A fully
vidualization, which we see delivered by
booked hotel may have all its rooms
the digital retailers and service providers.
booked according to the legacy system,
People now expect you to understand who
but upwards of half of the ‘space time’ is
they are and serve them to their distinctive
never used. Once the time has passed, so
unique behavioral needs and journeys.
has the opportunity to leverage its use and
“And again, the hospitality space in its
sweat the asset for incremental revenues.
broadest context just doesn’t do that right.
The Student Hotel has been partnering
It actually has abandoned the original
with Mews Systems in delivering a PMS
fundamentals of hospitality in personal
which “will fundamentally allow us to drive
service and it’s now a homogenized thing
our dynamic space x time model more
at a time when everybody wants to get
intently in activating all types of space
that individualisation. So the other critical
use within a single harmonized technol-
thing about middleware is that it gives you
ogy system.”
www.thestudenthotel.com
THE STUDENT HOTEL
“ I’m having to design a technology architecture for a business model that’s never existed before” — Mark Liversidge, Chief Digital and Experience Officer, The Student Hotel
That technology architecture is designed to deliver The Student Hotel’s brief as a hybrid space for blended living, blended use. It’s a PBSA, it’s a city hotel, it’s serviced apartments, it’s a workspace, it has corporate business meeting, event and – increasingly –office space. Then there is lifestyle, it’s also a place to hang out in the day and night-time: gyms, wellness spaces, learning events, mini cinemas, gaming theatres and “what we call our living space, where all of those different tribes come together”. “I’m having to design a technology
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architecture for a business model that’s never existed before and is still nascent in its formula. It’s not fixed as to how it’s going to be. And I’m pretty confident that three years from now, it won’t look like we think it looks today. And three years after that, none of us know. So we have to have some agility in what we’re trying to design for today to be still purposeful within that natural five to seven year technology life cycle that we all live with.”
THE BLUE CUBE Liversidge’s approach is to abandon traditional hotel thinking and break down the space. “I simply think of a blue cube and that blue cube is a metre by a metre
Stay Curious. | The Student Hotel CLICK TO WATCH
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1:08
19 by a metre. And we ask ourselves, how do
“The other side of what we’re thinking
we activate that blue cube – and we have
about is our guest. Our business success
hundreds of thousands – in the most opti-
is singularly going to be built on the iden-
mal and efficient way that people can use
tification and serving of an individual
them purposefully as individuals or groups?
guest who is increasingly expecting
And how do we make sure we’re turning
hyper-personalisation. So we’ve got
them over to other people to use as quickly
to make sure that we have an ability to
and as efficiently as possible? As an exam-
immediately capture people’s profiles in
ple, many coworking places will have a fixed
the broadest possible dimensions that
membership quota. And they’ll say they’re
we can at every possible opportunity, but
full, but you go there at 10 o’clock at night,
then intelligently and restrictively use them,
it’s empty. You go there at six o’clock in the
because we don’t want to be big brother.
morning, it’s empty. There are people who
We want to use it with respect, intelligently
have a need to use space in off-peak hours.
and infrequently, but when we use it, it
How do you reach them? And how do you
really is a moment that matters for the guest.
set up the technology to activate them?
We are in the process of building that up on
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THE STUDENT HOTEL
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2012 Year founded
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Number of hotel locations
500+ Number of employees
our proprietary front-end platforms, based on the core middleware and operational management system.
TECHNOLOGY ARCHITECTURE “We’ve built an entire new front-end, which essentially is our shop window, with a new website and the booking engine. We’ve built our own new proprietary spaces. We built a website using React JS. To give you an idea of who else uses React JS, people like Netflix and Airbnb. And why do we want that? Because it enables us to modify and deliver faster, stronger UX, as well as critically, really leading-edge capabilities to have dynamic and changeable experience, which is going to be fundamental for us in telling our brand story and experience, along with capturing revenue opportunities.” The new booking platform, now into phased deployment, again breaks away from the traditional linear single hotel product booking engines, moving to a multi-product basket to deliver a distinctive branded shopping experience as TSH seeks to sell packages meeting individual guest and group needs, to wrestle back control of the customer from the intermediary distribution platforms and build a customer lifecycle model.
www.thestudenthotel.com
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THE STUDENT HOTEL
22 Finally, there is data, a crucial pillar of the
middleware logic layer, and finally complete
knowledge economy, “how we start to
swap out and standardization of our on-
understand the value of the data we’re har-
property technology.
vesting and the sensitivity and meticulous
This latter proprietary technology stack
control to utilise that data to benefit both
is called HiB (Hotel Tech in a Box), which is
the individual customer and for the company
dropped into each of our operating proper-
by aggregating that into macro indicators.
ties, identikit right down to the cable layout
All of these elements of the technology
in the equipment rooms and integrates with
architecture are being delivered to put the
deploying HP Aruba hardware for optimal
individual customer in “total” control of their
connectivity and space monitoring.
own journey.
And we’ve overlaid that with PRTG
“We’ve made three massive transforma-
monitoring over more than 4,000 data
tions in the last 15 months; delivering a new
points so that we can, from a single
website and booking engine, transformation
central perspective, constantly monitor,
of our operating management system and
moderate and control our technology
“ Middleware is a critical path for the industry” — Mark Liversidge, Chief Digital and Experience Officer, The Student Hotel
broadcast quality connectivity and enables use our meeting spaces differently, which has been super, super successful already. “COVID has re-emphasised we’ve made the right decisions in the direction we’re taking with our technology, showing the critical need for the flexiest, most agile systems. Furthermore, COVID hit in the middle of our transformation program and created a
stack which harmonizes between the op-
huge challenge of project delivery, which
erational systems and the actual property.”
I’m very proud of what was achieved, not only by my team, but our vendor partners,
SURVIVAL OF THE FLEXIEST
in still delivering on time and without any
It’s a system The Student Hotel has been
impact on business operations, really
able to stress test during the pandemic.
encapsulating the can-do spirit of TSH.”
“COVID has accelerated the stress and flux
As for the impact of COVID on the sector,
that’s coming on the hotel, workspace and
Liversidge says, “it will be Darwinian, those
leisure categories. If it had been a year
that have planned and deployed the flexi-
earlier it would have been a horror show for
est technology architecture will thrive and
us because of all the singular systems, so
grow, while the operators that are stuck
we have been fortunate to deliver the new
with the out-of-date and linear product
core systems and take advantage that part
technology stacks will struggle to respond
of the design has our own Api to enable fast
to the dynamic changes in the market and
deployment of new guest experience ser-
meet customer expectations.”
vices. One thing that we quickly invested in
And beyond COVID-19? “Space is
was a belief that organisations would
going to be redefined. Let’s focus explicitly
need enhanced broadcast to reach their
on the hotel bedroom all over the globe: you
dispersed teams and audience, so we cre-
know what you’re going to see. You walk
ated and delivered the TSH Media Studio,
in the door, the wardrobe is to the left, the
which essentially is building on the deployed
cubicle bathroom is to the right. Straight
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THE STUDENT HOTEL
“ We’ve made three massive transformations in the last 15 months”
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engage in your public spaces. By and large it is the same fixed formula, yet customers have differing needs for space at differing times. We are delivering lounge
— Mark Liversidge, Chief Digital and Experience Officer, The Student Hotel
tribes at different times of the day.
ahead: double or twin beds. In front of
SUSTAINABILITY
that a desk on the wall with a TV above it.
Sustainability will also be crucial to hos
And probably a bit of shelving and one
pitality and technology in the future,
comfy chair in the window. And that has
says Liversidge. “I fundamentally believe
not changed in literally the better part
the way we build and operate property
of a century.
will change and this will be driven by
spaces that are set as hubs to provide for the needs of the differing customer
“People are going to look for different
the financing. The financial markets will
spatial experience, they are going to want
drive and demand smarter more envi-
a private space to rest and revitalize, a
ronmentally sound thinking about the
cocoon, a space designed for wellness.
physical asset because people are making
Why is there a desk when people now
a 20-year investment. Those investment
want to work collaboratively? Get that
managers are smart enough to know
out of there. Starbucks has been the des-
that five years from now a very heavy
tination of choice for people grabbing a
metric of value is going to be based on
workspace for the better part of 20 years
your green footprint.
around the globe, that should be a natural
“We’re working super, super hard on this.
use of hotel/living space. Just rethink and
We’re trying to use sustainable elements
reimagine the whole space. Maybe people
and base components in all of our buildings.
want individual cooking in a room, or VR
I’m very pleased to say that we opened
gaming, or exercise without going to the
in Delft a couple of months ago where all
hotel gym. How do you design space
our public spaces, workspaces, as well
for that? And you’ve got to create more
as the in-house restaurant are designed
inspiring and flexible space for people to
with circular design principles. We see
T S H K E Y PA R T N E R S H I P S
RUFUS LEONARD
IRECKONU
Rufus Leonard is a creative agency
IRECKONU’s hybrid middleware solu-
that built The Student Hotel’s website
tion is designed specifically for the
and retooled its content manage-
hotel industry and connects systems,
ment system (CMS). Underpinning
either on-property or otherwise, into
the experience is an innovative hybrid
a single platform allowing for instant,
hospitality UX that is user-centric and
accessible visibility of operational and
goal-orientated, rather than one-size-
guest profile data.
fits-all.
MEWS
HP ARUBA HP Aruba is a wireless networking tool
Mews is an advanced property man-
allowing for control of access points,
agement system (PMS). Founded by
traffic management and network mon-
a team of former hoteliers, the Mews
itoring. It also allows networks to be
Hospitality Cloud was designed to be
controlled remotely and can perform
the most open, extensible property
complex tasks such as prioritising
management software in the market.
bandwidth for certain customers.
the property as a live operating lab to
collectively as a harmonized technology
test circularity and sustainability in the
team. After a lifetime of partnerships
built environment. We’re exploring smart
with businesses, governments, sports,
building design and management, and
entertainment and charities, Liversidge is
behind this we are making conscious
both enthusiastic and pragmatic. As far as
choices in technology deployment and
technology is concerned, it’s not about the
its use to bring energy efficiency.
technology (“it’s all good tech if they’ve got to the shortlist”), but about the people.
BEDFELLOWS
“It’s really about where they’re going,
TSH digital and technology group operates
how quickly, and identifying how that can
with substantial outsourcing, built around
be harmonised between both parties for
four key partnerships [see box] working
mutually beneficial time-based outcomes
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THE STUDENT HOTEL
“ Let’s just sit down, be open, supportive and reharmonise on the new way forwards. And go again. This open and pragmatic approach is the reason we have delivered our transformation during this global crisis” — Mark Liversidge, Chief Digital and Experience Officer, The Student Hotel 26 and milestones. There are going to be moments of failure with technology. You have to accept they’re going to happen and have tolerance on both sides. And that
STINKY FISH
tolerance is based on that harmonised
“And the other side of this is ‘stinky fish’.
milestone plan.
You’ve got to have truth and reconcili-
You break it down into an annual horizon
ation when something’s gone wrong to
and a quarterly horizon, then accept that
make sure you don’t make the same error
there’s going to be a bit of a zigzagging
in future and it doesn’t cloud the working
journey to get there. And that gives you
relationship. And another dynamic you
a degree of manoeuvrability when you
will handle in deploying any leading-edge
have those inevitable ebbs and flows of
capability – which happens in technology
any relationship. You need a collective
a lot – is that if you pick a fast growth
group of people on both sides who have
company as your partner, you’ll inevita-
a connection with each other and see
bly stop being the shiny new customer at
themselves as one team.
the top of their client list at some point.
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You’ve got to address it on both sides,
new way forwards. And go again. This open
acknowledge it and ensure your interests
and pragmatic approach is the reason we
are protected in formal documentation
have delivered our transformation during
and informal people connections, while
this global crisis, preparing our business
openly supporting the partners growth.
model to grow as we move into the future”
“This openness has been really important with the Covid situation. Right now we’re having constant conversations with our core partners because all our timelines are changing for reasons that are, in most cases, out of all our control. So let’s not all get upset about it. Let’s just sit down, be open, supportive and reharmonise on the
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