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Automated hotel systems
applications
Automatedhotel systems by COLIN PHILLIPS
Reservations,checking in and out, and accountingare already computerizedin many hotels. In the future systemswill include internalcommunication, payment of accounts and hotel security
.4bstract: Hotel management is one area of activity that can benefit directly from the automation of: reservations, checking in and out procedures, reports production and accounting. The article discusses the development of automated hotel systems and likely future enhancements. Keywords: data processing, management systems, hotels. Cohn Phillips c:onsulting.
~0126 no 3
is general
april 1984
manager
of
Cara
T
he hotel industry was one of the last professions to adopt compuespecially the ters. Hotels international chains - are a complex, interwoven world with their own language and culture. It was not until the early 1970s that computers began to offer the specialization that hotel management could value and rely on. Now that computers and communications systems are increasingly flexible and user-orientated, hotels all over the world, including the UK’s 30000 properties, are keenly searching for the technology which will give them the edge in a highly competitive market. Before looking at the progress of technology in the hotel environment it is useful to assess precisely what a hotel does. Essentially, it is a sophisticated machine in perpetual motion: 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Its activities fall into two basic areas: Front of House, comprising any department associated with guest services and Back of House, comprising administration, accounting, storekeeping and maintenance. Throughout any one day the priority actions of the hotel vary and interweave. At 7 am the need is to ensure fast, accurate check-out for the guests, an adequate supply of food and service for breakfast, and speedy attention to rooms. By noon the emphasis is on organization - sorting out discrepancies, altered reservations and housekeeping requirements each item of which must be communicated to numerous other departments.
0011-684X/84/030033-03$03.00
0
1984 Butterworth
& Co (Publishers)
Six pm sees the action moving to the Front Desk, where guests must be checked-in and suitable rooms allocated. A constant flow of information is necessary between Reception and Reservations so that as many rooms as possible may be filled with lastminute ‘walk-in’ business. At midnight, pressure is on the accounts department reconciling the day’s making correct charges, business, creating management reports and making the books balance. Before the advent of computers this was by far the busiest time of the day; the NCR tabulating machine would be whirring, and up to three auditors would be working solidly all night. Needless to say, the error factor was significant. An interesting way to show how basic integration of information is to a hotel is to note that a 500 room property using a manual system typically has more than 10000 different pieces of paper circulating every day of the year. For every simple purchase, or reservation, perhaps half a dozen other departments need to be informed. As with night auditing, the opportunity for error through duplication, loss or human mistake is extensive and, therefore, so are the opportunities for computer-controlled accuracy.
Computerization Having set the scene with the problems of manual operation, let us now look at the offerings which technology suppliers brought to the hotelier. From the mid-1970s until the early
Ltd.
33
1980s packaged ‘solutions’ poured onto the market, and many vanished down the drain. Those who remained survived on the basis of their hotel not their computer - knowledge and this is still true today. Not only did hotel managers need strong evidence that a computer could help them run their hotels better than they could alone, but that it would be acceptable within an industry where staff turnover is very high and the training of personnel a more complex matter than in most other industries. On the technical side, the essential requirements are for a real-time operation and full integration of the departmental systems - and, above all, to keep the entire system from ever ‘going down’, as weekends are no holiday in a hotel. Today, about half a dozen major hotel system suppliers have survived by offering practical, user-orientated solutions to the many and varied requirements of hotels. Most now have a substantial, and often international, user base who find no problem using a computer terminal in’the same
being widely used in many forms, but most future developments will be based on the principles of increased accessibility and selectivity of information. For the hotel, like any other business, these benefits have a direct influence on more efficient management, and on profits. A good example is monitoring systems for PABX telephone exchanges such as TIGER and TEL-TAG. The potential for tight control over charging took a further leap ahead with digital data transfer and networking when it became possible for a hotel to bar and unbar individual telephones in guest rooms. Current technology has also made possible an automatic wake-up service using synthesized voice in as many as 20 languages, which requires no human intervention once the time and Communications save money room number have been entered. Point-of-sale systems have also With the 1980s arrived a general awareness of the potential for com- flourished through their capacity to munications. Hotels perceived the reduce error and duplication, and benefits, and an immense selection of save time spent by waitresses rushing communications systems came onto to and from the kitchen with orders. the market. Not only are these now In many large restaurants today, such as in the Sheraton Park Tower in Knightsbridge, the waitress will key Desk staff can easily retrieve . .. . details of the order into a terminal, and guest histories. which will transfer the necessary deway as they used to use the telephone and note pad. In the 197Os, the available systems were mainly minicomputers, with some micros, ranging in price from &15000 to &250000. Most offered integration of control for Front and Back office, handling reservations, reception, cashiering, housekeeping, telephone, restaurants, night auditing and ledgers, and management reporting. The level of sophistication varied from a micro with one or two terminals and a printer to large minis with duplicated hardware and hot backup. All, however, made a significant con_tribution to solving basic problems such as queues for check out or maximizing room sales with lastminute business.
data processing
applications
tails to the kitchen for preparation, to the stores to maintain supplies information, to management listings for analysis of sales, and make a posting directly to the guest’s bill. Reservation systems for use within large hotel groups have also been developed, often as inhouse projects on an international scale. Using the mhouse computer system and greatly improved telecommunication services, these reservation systems enable bookings to be made directly in real time at the required hotel on the other side of the world. To the frequent traveller this service is both practical and reassuring and clearly has a beneficial effect on future sales and company image.
Security considerations Another major application of technology in the 1980s is for security. Forced to keep an open-house for the public poses security problems of a more subtle and complicated nature than in most other industries. Loss of keys and the need to change locks can cost a hotel thousands of pounds a year and considerable inconvenience. It is here that the plastic card offers a present and future solution. Cards,
~0126 no 3
april 1984
either in punched hole or magnetic stripe forms, can be encoded for a guest at check in, to operate the room lock and other services until he or she leaves, when the ‘key’ is nullified. If the card is lost, expense is only a few pence and the authorization for that card simply electronically deleted. There are a number of such systems available today such as the Yaletronic, installed in the London Tara and the Strand Palace Hotels, or the Guestkey system at the Grosvenor House. It would clearly be simple to develop the principle of card ‘keys’ to accept personal credit cards which guests are far less likely to mislay. All credit card companies currently comply with the IS0 standards of encoding and offer online credit authorization services so this innovation is eminently practical. Also using the personal credit card, systems are currently being developed whereby a guest will be able to check out of the hotel automatically by viewing his/her bill on an Automatic Check-out Terminal (ACT) with invoice printer, and authorizing payment through his/her card. This would be especially appreciated by regular travellers at busy airport or station hotels, and would cause no
extra work for the hotel whose main computer system would be directly linked to the ACTS around the building and update all departments’ records immediately. An additional minor application of credit card security systems would be to incorporate a card reader at the lifts so that access to certain parts of the hotel could be restricted. Any person without an authorized card would not have access to guest room floors which should represent a considerable reduction in occurrences of theft. One could speculate indefinitely on other systems for energy saving, security and guest services which will become available in the near future. But it is interesting to note that the general hotel management system, first developed in the 197Os, has not itself lacked new developments either. Some advanced information systems on the market today, such as Champs and Rooms, are providing facilities for networking associated hotels around one central processing unit to gain the advantage of shared files for services such as guest history, as well as economic benefits. L1 Cara Consulting Ltd. Network House, 1 Arid Way, Wood L.anc, I,ondon W12 7SL, UK. Tel: 01-743 2021.
35
Automatedhotel systems by COLIN PHILLIPS
Reservations,checking in and out, and accountingare already computerizedin many hotels. In the future systemswill include internalcommunication, payment of accounts and hotel security
.4bstract: Hotel management is one area of activity that can benefit directly from the automation of: reservations, checking in and out procedures, reports production and accounting. The article discusses the development of automated hotel systems and likely future enhancements. Keywords: data processing, management systems, hotels. Cohn Phillips c:onsulting.
~0126 no 3
is general
april 1984
manager
of
Cara
T
he hotel industry was one of the last professions to adopt compuespecially the ters. Hotels international chains - are a complex, interwoven world with their own language and culture. It was not until the early 1970s that computers began to offer the specialization that hotel management could value and rely on. Now that computers and communications systems are increasingly flexible and user-orientated, hotels all over the world, including the UK’s 30000 properties, are keenly searching for the technology which will give them the edge in a highly competitive market. Before looking at the progress of technology in the hotel environment it is useful to assess precisely what a hotel does. Essentially, it is a sophisticated machine in perpetual motion: 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Its activities fall into two basic areas: Front of House, comprising any department associated with guest services and Back of House, comprising administration, accounting, storekeeping and maintenance. Throughout any one day the priority actions of the hotel vary and interweave. At 7 am the need is to ensure fast, accurate check-out for the guests, an adequate supply of food and service for breakfast, and speedy attention to rooms. By noon the emphasis is on organization - sorting out discrepancies, altered reservations and housekeeping requirements each item of which must be communicated to numerous other departments.
0011-684X/84/030033-03$03.00
0
1984 Butterworth
& Co (Publishers)
Six pm sees the action moving to the Front Desk, where guests must be checked-in and suitable rooms allocated. A constant flow of information is necessary between Reception and Reservations so that as many rooms as possible may be filled with lastminute ‘walk-in’ business. At midnight, pressure is on the accounts department reconciling the day’s making correct charges, business, creating management reports and making the books balance. Before the advent of computers this was by far the busiest time of the day; the NCR tabulating machine would be whirring, and up to three auditors would be working solidly all night. Needless to say, the error factor was significant. An interesting way to show how basic integration of information is to a hotel is to note that a 500 room property using a manual system typically has more than 10000 different pieces of paper circulating every day of the year. For every simple purchase, or reservation, perhaps half a dozen other departments need to be informed. As with night auditing, the opportunity for error through duplication, loss or human mistake is extensive and, therefore, so are the opportunities for computer-controlled accuracy.
Computerization Having set the scene with the problems of manual operation, let us now look at the offerings which technology suppliers brought to the hotelier. From the mid-1970s until the early
Ltd.
33
1980s packaged ‘solutions’ poured onto the market, and many vanished down the drain. Those who remained survived on the basis of their hotel not their computer - knowledge and this is still true today. Not only did hotel managers need strong evidence that a computer could help them run their hotels better than they could alone, but that it would be acceptable within an industry where staff turnover is very high and the training of personnel a more complex matter than in most other industries. On the technical side, the essential requirements are for a real-time operation and full integration of the departmental systems - and, above all, to keep the entire system from ever ‘going down’, as weekends are no holiday in a hotel. Today, about half a dozen major hotel system suppliers have survived by offering practical, user-orientated solutions to the many and varied requirements of hotels. Most now have a substantial, and often international, user base who find no problem using a computer terminal in’the same
being widely used in many forms, but most future developments will be based on the principles of increased accessibility and selectivity of information. For the hotel, like any other business, these benefits have a direct influence on more efficient management, and on profits. A good example is monitoring systems for PABX telephone exchanges such as TIGER and TEL-TAG. The potential for tight control over charging took a further leap ahead with digital data transfer and networking when it became possible for a hotel to bar and unbar individual telephones in guest rooms. Current technology has also made possible an automatic wake-up service using synthesized voice in as many as 20 languages, which requires no human intervention once the time and Communications save money room number have been entered. Point-of-sale systems have also With the 1980s arrived a general awareness of the potential for com- flourished through their capacity to munications. Hotels perceived the reduce error and duplication, and benefits, and an immense selection of save time spent by waitresses rushing communications systems came onto to and from the kitchen with orders. the market. Not only are these now In many large restaurants today, such as in the Sheraton Park Tower in Knightsbridge, the waitress will key Desk staff can easily retrieve . .. . details of the order into a terminal, and guest histories. which will transfer the necessary deway as they used to use the telephone and note pad. In the 197Os, the available systems were mainly minicomputers, with some micros, ranging in price from &15000 to &250000. Most offered integration of control for Front and Back office, handling reservations, reception, cashiering, housekeeping, telephone, restaurants, night auditing and ledgers, and management reporting. The level of sophistication varied from a micro with one or two terminals and a printer to large minis with duplicated hardware and hot backup. All, however, made a significant con_tribution to solving basic problems such as queues for check out or maximizing room sales with lastminute business.
data processing
applications
tails to the kitchen for preparation, to the stores to maintain supplies information, to management listings for analysis of sales, and make a posting directly to the guest’s bill. Reservation systems for use within large hotel groups have also been developed, often as inhouse projects on an international scale. Using the mhouse computer system and greatly improved telecommunication services, these reservation systems enable bookings to be made directly in real time at the required hotel on the other side of the world. To the frequent traveller this service is both practical and reassuring and clearly has a beneficial effect on future sales and company image.
Security considerations Another major application of technology in the 1980s is for security. Forced to keep an open-house for the public poses security problems of a more subtle and complicated nature than in most other industries. Loss of keys and the need to change locks can cost a hotel thousands of pounds a year and considerable inconvenience. It is here that the plastic card offers a present and future solution. Cards,
~0126 no 3
april 1984
either in punched hole or magnetic stripe forms, can be encoded for a guest at check in, to operate the room lock and other services until he or she leaves, when the ‘key’ is nullified. If the card is lost, expense is only a few pence and the authorization for that card simply electronically deleted. There are a number of such systems available today such as the Yaletronic, installed in the London Tara and the Strand Palace Hotels, or the Guestkey system at the Grosvenor House. It would clearly be simple to develop the principle of card ‘keys’ to accept personal credit cards which guests are far less likely to mislay. All credit card companies currently comply with the IS0 standards of encoding and offer online credit authorization services so this innovation is eminently practical. Also using the personal credit card, systems are currently being developed whereby a guest will be able to check out of the hotel automatically by viewing his/her bill on an Automatic Check-out Terminal (ACT) with invoice printer, and authorizing payment through his/her card. This would be especially appreciated by regular travellers at busy airport or station hotels, and would cause no
extra work for the hotel whose main computer system would be directly linked to the ACTS around the building and update all departments’ records immediately. An additional minor application of credit card security systems would be to incorporate a card reader at the lifts so that access to certain parts of the hotel could be restricted. Any person without an authorized card would not have access to guest room floors which should represent a considerable reduction in occurrences of theft. One could speculate indefinitely on other systems for energy saving, security and guest services which will become available in the near future. But it is interesting to note that the general hotel management system, first developed in the 197Os, has not itself lacked new developments either. Some advanced information systems on the market today, such as Champs and Rooms, are providing facilities for networking associated hotels around one central processing unit to gain the advantage of shared files for services such as guest history, as well as economic benefits. L1 Cara Consulting Ltd. Network House, 1 Arid Way, Wood L.anc, I,ondon W12 7SL, UK. Tel: 01-743 2021.
35