Source: Shiji

In the hospitality industry, an often-overlooked aspect crucial to success is the seamless integration and operation of hotel technology systems. Many might not realise the important role support and service centres play in a hotel’s ability to run cutting-edge products that significantly deliver operational efficiency and service quality. It’s important to understand the vital role that robust support and service centres play.

Hotels need to look for service providers that deliver enterprise-level solutions and lifelines to meet the industry’s intricate demands. This will ensure that hotel technology supports the staff in delivering the superior experience guests expect.

Unified Support for Diverse Technology Solutions

A technology Enterprise Platform suite encompasses a broad spectrum of solutions, from Property Management Systems (PMS) and Point of Sale (POS) systems to Finance and comprehensive Payment Solutions. These systems are designed to work in concert, empowering hotel staff in their day-to-day tasks.

Despite the complexity and diversity of products, the approach to customer support should be unified and cohesive, ensuring that users experience the convenience of dealing with a single, responsive entity.

The Impact on Revenue and Reputation

Ultimately, technology support transcends mere technical assistance. The right support infrastructure directly contributes to protecting the hotel’s revenue and reputation by ensuring the seamless operation of IT infrastructure, application integration, network reliability, and cybersecurity.

In the competitive hospitality industry, the guest experience is paramount. Efficient, reliable IT support ensures that technology enhances rather than detracts from this experience, fostering guest loyalty and driving repeat business.

Network Optimization and Security

Often overlooked yet crucial, the network is the backbone of a hotel’s IT infrastructure, facilitating everything from guest Wi-Fi access to seamless internal communications. Ensuring its optimal performance requires constant monitoring and support by a dedicated team, thus maintaining reliable connectivity for guests and staff.

In today’s landscape, where cyber threats grow more sophisticated, implementing robust network security measures—such as timely software updates, firewalls, and intrusion detection systems—is indispensable.

Specialised support is pivotal in safeguarding the hotel’s network and its sensitive data against potential breaches. This underscores the importance of having a well-defined service and support strategy, whether outsourced or managed in-house, to ensure the system’s smooth operation.

A Guide to Service Level Agreements for Hotel IT Support

Navigating the complexities of hotel IT support can sometimes feel daunting, especially the bigger a hotel’s IT needs. This is where Service Level Agreements (SLAs) come into play, providing a path to clear expectations between hotels and their IT service providers.

Let’s look at some SLAs that could significantly enhance your hotel’s operational efficiency and guest satisfaction.

Quick Response, Every Time

Seconds Count: Imagine a scenario where your guest services or security systems face a sudden outage. An Immediate Response SLA promises action within 15 minutes, ensuring critical issues are swiftly addressed to maintain trust and safety.

Elevated Concerns: Not all issues cause immediate chaos but require prompt attention. A High Priority Response SLA commits to a response within an hour, tackling significant problems before they escalate.

Routine Requests: A Standard Response SLA ensures you’re not left waiting for everyday queries and minor fixes, with a support guarantee within four business hours.

Solving Problems Efficiently

Crunch Time: When critical systems falter, a Critical Issues Resolution SLA aims to resolve the issue within four hours, minimising downtime and disruption.

One Day at a Time: For pressing, though not critical, issues, a High Priority Resolution SLA targets a one-business-day turnaround, keeping operations smooth.

Keep Calm and Carry On: With a Routine Issue Resolution SLA, even the smallest issues are resolved within three business days, ensuring everything runs like clockwork.

Always On, Always Connected

Unbreakable Connectivity: A Network Uptime SLA pledges a 99.9% uptime for essential connections, ensuring guests and staff are always connected.

System Readiness: The System Availability SLA guarantees a 99.5% uptime and ensures your key operational systems, like PMS and POS, are reliable and ready.

Guarding Your Digital Frontiers

Immediate Action on Threats: A Security Incident Response SLA ensures potential breaches are addressed in an age where cyber threats loom large. (Times are dependent on specific locations and may vary.)

Support That Never Sleeps

Round-the-Clock Assurance: The 24/7 Support SLA ensures that help is available for critical system issues, regardless of the time.

Daytime Guardians: During regular hours, the Business Hours Support SLA guarantees help is a call away for non-critical support needs. Support agents typically cover a 12-hour shift working on active tickets and tickets deemed non-critical.

Data Safety Nets

Backed Up and Secure: The Data Backup Frequency SLA commits to daily backups, ensuring your data is always recoverable.

Rapid Recovery:

Should the worst happen, the Data Recovery Time SLA promises a swift restoration from backups within four hours. (Times can vary depending on the technology product)

Performance That Keeps Pace

Speedy Networks: A Network Performance SLA maintains your internet speed, ensuring guests and staff can access seamless connectivity.

Swift Systems: The System Performance
SLA ensures your operational systems respond swiftly, never taking more than three seconds, keeping frustrations at bay.

Crafting SLAs that reflect your hotel’s unique needs and challenges is not just about ticking boxes; it’s about creating a framework for success and reliability. By negotiating and establishing these agreements, you pave the way for smoother operation, enhanced guest experiences, and a more secure, efficient hotel environment.

Unified Voice and Verbiage in Customer Support

Though specialised in different products, support teams should communicate with customers using a consistent voice and writing style. This unified approach ensures that customers feel they are interacting with a cohesive company rather than disparate entities. Whether a customer engages with the POS support team or inquires about the PMS, the experience is seamless and integrated.

Effortless Cross-Product Issue Resolution

When cross-product issues arise—such as payment integration challenges between POS and PMS systems—support teams should work collaboratively in the background to troubleshoot and resolve these issues without burdening the customer with the complexity of the process. This behind-the-scenes collaboration ensures an effortless resolution experience for hotels, highlighting the service provider’s commitment to service excellence.

Inclusive Support as Part of the SaaS Offering

Recognising the importance of reliable and accessible support, an enterprise technology provider’s service should be included in the annual Software as a Service (SaaS) fee. This approach underscores their commitment to providing value and ensures that high-quality support is readily available without additional charges.

Emphasis on Education During Support

Beyond addressing immediate concerns, a provider’s support strategy should focus on educating users. Comprehensive training should be provided during the installation phase, and support agents must be equipped to handle ‘how-to’ queries by guiding users to an extensive knowledge base.

This educational approach empowers users to independently learn and resolve future queries, fostering a more knowledgeable user base.

Multilingual Support for Global Accessibility

Understanding the global nature of the hospitality industry, technology providers need to support a wide range of languages. This multilingual support ensures that non-English speaking hotel employees can receive assistance in their preferred language, enhancing the accessibility and effectiveness of support services.

Conclusion

Exceptional support services should complement high-functioning products in the hotel technology landscape. A unified support experience, seamless cross-product issue resolution, inclusive support, educational focus, and multilingual accessibility should set service providers apart in meeting the sophisticated needs of high-end customers.

Technology is constantly innovating, and product ranges are always expanding. The service provider’s support and service centres can act as a cornerstone of their success, ensuring that their clients can always count on them to help achieve operational excellence and superior guest satisfaction.

Takeaways

Seamless Integration is Essential: Efficient hotel technology systems and service centres are crucial for the consistency of quality guest service.

Impact on Revenue and Reputation: IT support enhances guest experience and protects hotel revenue and reputation by fostering loyalty and encouraging repeat business.

Network Optimization and Security: Hotels require constant network monitoring & strong security against cyber threats. Support teams are crucial to maintain network reliability & data security.

Importance of Service Level Agreements: SLAs set standards for hotels and IT service providers on response times, issue resolution, network uptime, and security incident response.

Unified Support and Educational Focus: A unified approach, inclusive SaaS support, user education, and multilingual support for global hospitality.

About Shiji Group

Shiji is a multi-national technology company that provides software solutions and services for enterprise companies in the hospitality, food service, retail and entertainment industries, ranging from hospitality technology platform, hotel property management solutions, food and beverage and retail systems, payment gateways, data management, online distribution and more. Founded in 1998 as a network solutions provider for hotels, Shiji Group today comprises over 5,000 employees in 80+ subsidiaries and brands in over 31 countries, serving more than 91,000 hotels, 200,000 restaurants and 600,000 retail outlets. For more information, visit www.shijigroup.com.

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