In this sponsored episode of Cloud Wars Live, I speak with Alexander Alt, who leads the Oracle Hospitality business unit that offers industry-specific operational technology for hotels, cruise ships, and casinos. Alex discusses the industry’s strong rebound from a very difficult 2020, and the role technology has played in the industry’s tumultuous past 20 months. Alex also describes how hospitality companies are looking to boost revenue through new IT-powered services and capabilities, and talks about how industry-specific solutions are becoming a powerful source of innovation, growth, and customer-experience improvements.
The Big Themes:
- Operating solutions to hotels, casinos, and cruise ships: It’s been a brutal 18 months for hospitality – the industry did a very good job early on of shoring up liquidity.
- We did quite well during COVID: The vast majority of the partner technologies that were deployed I’d say in the first 12 months of the pandemic were largely focused around mobility.
- These are huge numbers: We’re talking IT staffs that numbered in the thousands pre-pandemic. I don’t see those IT organizations returning to pre-pandemic numbers.
- It was hard to get a hotel room: I think the industry’s going to have a gangbuster holiday season.
The Big Quotes:
- “I can tell you in the immediate timeframe, because of the staffing shortages, there’s a heavy reliance on technology as an intermediary to facilitate that guest experience.”
- “It’s a really great win-win product, because the traveler is always getting a better product and the hotel’s getting more money.”
You can also stream this episode in an audio-only format:
