Understanding the impact of legacy hospitality systems on operational and financial results

OPERATIONS

As the hospitality landscape becomes more complex, hotel brands are placing greater emphasis on reservation accuracy, secure and automated payment reconciliation, streamlined operations, and building guest trust. With growing demand for seamless, secure experiences, the shift away from legacy systems toward integrated, automated platforms is accelerating. In partnership with Sudima Hotels, a multi-award-winning, sustainability-led hotel group based in New Zealand, Shiji explored the real-world impact of replacing fragmented systems with a fully integrated platform designed to drive operational efficiency and elevate the guest experience.

Why it matters: Legacy systems often create inefficiencies, increase manual tasks, and limit the ability to provide consistent, high-quality guest experiences. These operational and financial challenges can reduce revenue, staff productivity, and guest satisfaction, making it difficult for hotels to remain competitive in an increasingly digital marketplace.

The study demonstrates how moving from legacy systems to an integrated, cloud-native platform can improve accuracy, security, operational efficiency, and guest satisfaction.

Top 3 Core Objectives: The study aimed to evaluate the impact of implementing a unified technology stack at Sudima Hotels, measuring improvements in operational efficiency, reservation accuracy, payment security, and staff productivity. Daylight PMS for centralised, real-time hotel management Astral Payments for secure, automated, tokenised payment processing Stellaris Digital Payby for seamless, PCI-compliant payment collection and digital authorisation The study evaluated how this end-to-end digital transformation influenced guest-facing processes, streamlined operational workflows, supported compliance requirements, and strengthened business continuity across the group.

Streamline operational workflows: Assess how automation via Daylight PMS, Astral Payments, and Stellaris Digital Payby improved efficiency in daily operations, including reconciliation, reporting, and group contract processing. -Helen Watson, Chief Financial Officer -Hemal Ghetla, Project Manager & Systems Analyst Insights were analysed to identify measurable improvements in system performance, reduction in manual tasks, optimisation of payment workflows, enhanced reservation accuracy, and increased reporting transparency.
Improve reservation accuracy: Evaluate how the integration of the PMS and channel manager eliminated manual errors, reduced duplicate bookings, and enabled faster check-ins through pre-arrival payment links.
Enhance system stability: Measure the effect of cloud-native infrastructure and tokenized payment workflows on system reliability, PCI DSS compliance, and audit readiness. Booking accuracy > Significant reduction in errors due to real-time synchronization Check-in efficiency > Faster front desk processing via pre-arrival payment links Processing speed > 30-40% faster system performance during peak periods System downtime > Near-zero downtime across all Sudima properties Manual tasks > Daily reports, contracts, and CRO correspondence are now automated Payment security > PCI DSS-compliant workflows with tokenized storage Audit readiness > Clearer transaction logs and reduced risk exposure

Innovators Mentioned

Sudima Hotels

Shiji Group

Hemal Ghetla

Project Manager & Systems Analyst

Sudima Hotels

Helen Watson

Chief Financial Officer

Sudima Hotels

"Tokenisation, automated posting, and secure payment links have significantly improved internal workflows and guest trust, especially for group and conference bookings."

Hemal Ghetla

Project Manager & Systems Analyst

👍 Project Manager & Systems Analyst Hemal Ghetla said that on the research process:

"Tokenisation, automated posting, and secure payment links have significantly improved internal workflows and guest trust, especially for group and conference bookings."

⚖️ The selection process: During their research process, Helen Watson evaluated Shiji Group's product differentiators, customer support, and holistic value as a strategic partner and ultimately decided that Shiji Group was the best fit solution:

Chief Financial Officer Helen Watson said, about their decision: "Fewer manual checks are required… our front office and finance teams now spend less time troubleshooting discrepancies and more time on guest-facing tasks."

📈 The results: The implementation of Shiji’s integrated technology solutions delivered measurable operational, financial, and guest experience improvements across Sudima Hotels. Automation reduced manual tasks, real-time reservation management improved accuracy, and cloud-based systems enhanced stability and compliance.

Operational efficiency and staff productivity improved with 1–2 hours saved daily per property, automated reporting, and more time for guest-facing tasks.
Booking accuracy and check-in processes were enhanced through real-time synchronization, elimination of duplicate reservations, and secure pre-arrival payment links.
System stability and security were strengthened, with 30–40% faster processing speeds, near-zero downtime, fully PCI DSS-compliant payment workflows, and improved audit readiness.