Change Management in Hospitality: From Strategy to Reality

In the latest webinar hosted by HOSPA and supported by Shiji, Jane Pendlebury, CEO, HOSPA, and Francisco Ventura, General Manager, Sunborn London, discussed the criteria, trade-offs and organisational factors that influence how technology partners are chosen.

Ventura talked the attendees through his digital transformation, commenting: “We started the process by looking at what was stopping from growing and working as we wanted. We looked at a number of different systems, focused on the PMS and POS and a system which would support the speed of checkin, as well as meetings and events.

“If one part of the system doesn’t talk to another, that wouldn’t have worked for us, so we chose Shiji. Having two or three suppliers has only caused us problems, it’s better for us to have one single supplier and after installation we have had very few issues, but Shiji is very good at dealing with handling them quickly.

“Each department has different needs; the revenue manager wants to move rates and meetings and events have different requirements. Your heads of department need to be part of the process; Shiji came in for a full week and worked with them to make them part of the system. You must invest your time in setting the system up correctly, then you have the system that you want. In hotels we never pay enough attention to training; we’re busy in the day to day.

“With legacy systems, they still use language that no one under the age of 40 understands. When the system is easy to understand it works quickly and well. People need to have technology that works for them.

“When you change a system you need to stop operating in the same way the old system used to operate. Once you grasp the idea that by changing the way you operate things will be better, the whole operation improves.

“It’s a great time to learn something new and work differently. A lot of the people we employ want to well and want to learn and it’s important for us to listen to their opinions. We were able to show them a system which would improve their lives and make their tasks better and that helps to create buy in for change.

“The less time we have to spend with technology, the more time we spend with guests and that’s what makes our business.”

And where did Ventura meet Shiji? At HOSPACE.