Latest / The Modern Hotelier / #319: The Opportunity in Getting Hotel Tech Integrations Right | with Kelly Popp
Transcript
- The Modern Hotelier #319: The Opportunity in Getting Hotel Tech Integrations Right | with Kelly Popp === David Millili: Welcome to a special HDC Nashville episode of The Modern Hotelier, the most engaged podcast in hospitality. Please make sure to follow, like, subscribe, and let us know in the comments what you think about today's episode. I am here with Kelly Popp, the commercial director of Americas for the Access Group. Welcome. Kelly Popp: Thank you. Nice to be here. David Millili: When Chhapa talked at HITEC about the toggle tax, the constant switching between systems, from your perspective, how big of a challenge is that for hotel commercial teams, and what impact does it have on performance? Kelly Popp: I think it's a huge problem actually. The toggle tax is referencing the back and forth between different systems—right, the back and forth between different department leaders and really the gap that that creates. I think in the future, when done correctly, this won't be an issue. But right now it's as simple as a revenue manager focusing first and foremost on their RMS but can't really make a great decision without knowing what's in the CRS and with the input that's coming out of the CRS. Or a marketing director trying to make their decisions in the CRM without knowing what's in the RMS and the CRM. So without really the right information going across these departments, we're really stuck in silos and the biggest challenge there is what are they missing? So you're making decisions without a true picture. So it's significant now but there's definitely a solution. David Millili: So hotels invest in CRMs, revenue management systems, digital marketing, booking engines, yet those teams often still operate in silos. Is that ultimately a technology issue, a people issue, or a leadership issue? Kelly Popp: I think it's absolutely a technology issue first and foremost. Yeah. As we move into the opportunity to have more of an integrated tech stack, and there's tons of opportunity for that now and definitely into an AI platform, if those people are not taking advantage of it—right, that's where you're going to fall into it's a people issue. But for right now, integrations are still lacking. We still have a significant amount of people. I think we're talking about only 11% of hoteliers that would say that their tech stack is integrated well. I mean, that's a huge percentage. In the day and age of where we are today, it really is unacceptable to be that unconnected for your system. So it's definitely a challenge, but I think it goes to the answers of my earlier question. There's a lot of opportunity there and with the right information in the right people's hands, not only are they going to be able to answer quickly, the systems will be able to give them the right information to be most profitable in their daily work but also have the best results at the end of the day. That's what it means for a hotel, right? The highest ADR, the most rooms booked, and the most customer satisfaction so they keep coming back. David Millili: SHR has been helping hotels grow revenue for more than 20 years and with the Access Group acquisition now a couple of years behind you, how has that changed what you're able to deliver to hotels today? Kelly Popp: So I love the question and the reason being is my answer to this is so much different today than it would have been a year ago or even eighteen months ago. We're really focused on kind of one tagline right now because it means so much to me personally and then again for the technology is we're not changing our heritage. We haven't changed our heritage. We're building upon our heritage. And I feel completely blessed and really had such a great opportunity to work under Rod Jimenez and the company that he built with SHR and blown away by the value that Access is bringing at the same time. So our new platform, EVO, that's in early adopter mode that we're bringing to our customers is changing the way hoteliers are working and the product and the response that they're getting from their solutions. But at the same time, for us, it's not changing the CRS. All of the reasons why customers chose us and stayed with us with over still a ninety percent retention rate. We're super proud of that despite the challenges that an acquisition brings, right? Which can be many, but what Access is bringing is a lot of opportunity, not only to the technology that we have but to how we work. So building in AI into our daily lives, helping us be more profitable and taking that same AI component, and taking that to each of our products. So nothing is really changing from the product standpoint, but we still have so many faces that we had twenty years ago when Rod started the company. So you're still going to see a lot of the same faces from the customer success team, from the sales team. You're still going to see Caroline Gates who's been here for fifteen years, Meredith Gorecki who's been here for ten-plus, and I've been around for a handful myself. And then you look at the services side of the business, you know, we're growing, we're bringing on new talent, but we're really taking advantage of the institutional knowledge that we've had at SHR for many years. So no changes on the important things, only building upon what we've done that's been solid and proven for many years. David Millili: So everyone is talking about AI, but AI is only as good as the data behind it. So what foundation does a hotel need to have in place before AI can actually deliver meaningful business value? Kelly Popp: AI is everywhere. It's a lot of buzz, for sure, and we're no exception. I think the proof is gonna be in the pudding in terms of the results that your AI technology is going to be able to bring. But I think first and foremost, we talked about it earlier, if you have a fragmented tech stack, if you're missing information, then your data is going to be missing information. AI is only going to be able to export to you the same value that you put into it. So having the right information, making sure that all systems are working together and you have all the right data to make the decisions is gonna be key. I also think that the transparency piece can't be missing. As we look at AI, most hoteliers don't want the black box. They want to have control over what they're doing, and I think the transparency in the AI platform needs to be there. Needs to be able to say, "Here's the solution. Here's the output that we're giving you," and to have a human take a look and say, "Yes, that's exactly what I want." I used it today to solve a problem in our EVO platform, and I asked for, "What do I do with a problem?" What do I do with this? And it gave me seven options of, "Here are the things you can do." And I said, "Okay, as a human, I like one, three, and seven." Great. Now one, three, and seven, let's action it and go. So I think it goes back to the base of the system has to be strong in the content that it has, the reporting that it has, but also make sure we keep that transparency piece in the hands of the hoteliers, the ones that are making these decisions, that know their property best, that know their guests the best. David Millili: We've seen reports that OTA's now account for more than half of AI-generated travel recommendations. As travelers increasingly rely on AI to plan trips, what should hotels be doing today to make sure that they're part of those conversations tomorrow? Kelly Popp: You first and foremost have to choose the right partner, because we don't want to continuously have that high commission. David Millili: Right. Kelly Popp: And we always are going to see something. As the new opportunity comes out, the OTA's are gonna be all over it. They have the budget. They have the opportunity. And what they're looking at is rates and availability, very simply put. But we know, even looking at where we are now in Nashville, each hotel has so much opportunity to share so much more than my 225 rate and how many rooms I have available. So I think it's taking a look at the solution that's gonna help bridge the gap of the content and be able to bring to that AI platform in terms of the booking, the personalization piece. Yes. And that's what the OTA's are gonna miss. So in terms of looking for the right partner to be able to bridge that gap and not just bring your rates and availability, but be able to tell the story through the AI responses of what that person has to offer and speaking to that specific guest too. David Millili: Yeah, you're absolutely right. So one of the things I've been talking to people about is how are the systems ready for AI to take the content and the information and actually deliver it. Yeah. And I think that's what, where the industry is gonna have to make those changes as you guys are doing to make sure that, you know, the actions can take place other than just rates and availability. Kelly Popp: Absolutely. David Millili: All right. So why is it important for the Access Group to be here at HDC? Kelly Popp: I wouldn't miss an HDC. It is a staple in our marketing budget. We talk about it every year, and it is the non-negotiable for us, and it really comes down to who's here and the content. Every year we walk away from HDC saying, "Okay, this is what we took away. Great thoughts, great leaders here." But ultimately, these are our people. If you look at the core of Access Hospitality with SHR being a CRS, our users are here. It's the revenue management leaders. And then you expand from that the marketing leaders that are here, vendor partners that are here. We always walk away feeling like we've gained so much from the experience of being here, but also not only had an opportunity to see so many amazing customers and talk to a lot of prospects too. So it really has been a great experience for us. The setting in Nashville doesn't disappoint either. David Millili: Yeah. Kelly Popp: So that's always a nice added bonus. But yeah, it's been a great conference for us and definitely one, like I said, we would never miss. David Millili: So that does it for another episode of The Modern Hotelier. Kelly, this is where you get to let people know how they can find out more about the Access Group and how they can get in touch with you. Kelly Popp: Excellent. So TheAccessGroup.com website, but a great place to find us is on LinkedIn, so all of our sales people, as well as a great page of Access Hospitality hotels and casinos. You can find all your team linked there, all the latest and greatest in terms of product evolvements and our EVO launch. David Millili: Well, that does it for this special HDC Nashville Modern Hotelier, the most engaged podcast in hospitality. Whether you're watching or listening, we appreciate you and hope to be with you again soon. Thanks for joining us, Kelly. Kelly Popp: Thank you.