The Hotel Experience Of The Future Is Tech-Driven

REVENUE MANAGEMENT

It’s hardly a secret that the pandemic has had a far-reaching impact on the hospitality industry. However, apart from the many dire consequences it has had, Covid-19 also pushed the industry to grow and evolve. Tech adoption soared as properties implemented contactless services and looked for ways to offer top-class service with minimal personal contact. The Carpe Diem Santorini is a property that pioneered this development even before the pandemic.

Why it matters: Carpe Diem Santorini is an ultra-luxury resort on the Greek island of Santorini. With only ten suites, it caters to an exclusive clientele that often includes royalty and heads of state. In recent years, the Carpe Diem has made a name for itself not only because of its high-end service. It also became known in the industry for its forward-looking approach to adopting hotel technology. Inspired by this success, Founder and owner Sotiris Kopatsaris recently launched his newest project, The Future Hotels. This cooperation of innovative hotels embraces the latest technology and aims to maximize its impact on hospitality businesses and the visitor experience. While this may sound futuristic and far-fetched to some, this vision is taking shape at properties like Carpe Diem. In recent years, Sotiris and his management team have invested heavily in the latest hotel technology. Today, they’ve gone paperless, and guest interactions like check-in and check-out run via tablets instead of bulky desktop computers. The team continues to research and test tools that will make operations more efficient and improve the guest experience.

When Sotiris was looking for an RMS for Carpe Diem, Atomize caught his eye. The promise of automated, data-driven rate suggestions and optimization were among Atomize’s features that convinced him. Given the market’s volatile state during recent years, an automated RMS is more important now than ever before. To determine the correct price in real time, Atomize leverages vast data sets. They include local holidays and events, market trends, on-the-books data and more. For an even more precise result, the RMS is the first ever to incorporate forward-looking demand data from OTA Insight’s Market Insight business intelligence tool.

Top 3 Core Objectives: Automate manual processes, implement cutting edge technology and improve guest services.

Automate manual process: Apart from helping Carpe Diem improve the guest experience, they wanted their tech tools to also allow staff to automate repetitive tasks. By automating processes, they free up their teams, so they can spend more meaningful time with our guests and add value to their stay. This approach allows them to adapt hotel operations and the guest experience to the needs of the post-pandemic world.
Implement cutting edge technology: When you hear ‘hotel of the future’ you may imagine floating robot waiters and interiors like in Sci-Fi spaceships. But we don’t need to take things to that extreme. For Carpe Diem, a hotel of the future to is an interconnected property with simplified, automated operations using Artificial Intelligence, the Internet of Things and other cutting-edge technologies to create a safe, seamless, personalized and interactive guest experience.
Improve guest service: In a post pandemic world, tools which make contactless guest interactions simple and intuitive bring hotels like Carpe Diem many advantages. First, contactless service can make guests feel more comfortable and secure. Second, it keeps staff and guests safe from infection. Finally, hotels can advertise contactless services to attract guests who value these measures.

Innovators Mentioned

Carpe Diem Santorini

Atomize

Sotiris Kopatsaris

CEO and Founder

Carpe Diem Santorini

"As the world is getting ready for recovery, demand will start to return. However, the extent of its elasticity is up for a long debate. Most hotel executives don’t know how to price to attract business, see RevPAR increase again, and return to profitability. Many hoteliers will slash rates even below their break-even point hoping to sell ancillary services to the guests later. Is this sustainable for the industry? Are we dropping the prices too much? Are we missing out because we could sell at higher rates? I think machine learning algorithms which can crunch through an incredible amount of data are the solution. They must be part of every effective post-pandemic recovery strategy and will play a big role in revenue management in the future."

Sotiris Kopatsaris

CEO and Founder

👍 CEO and Founder Sotiris Kopatsaris said that Machine learning and data is the future of revenue managament.:

"As the world is getting ready for recovery, demand will start to return. However, the extent of its elasticity is up for a long debate. Most hotel executives don’t know how to price to attract business, see RevPAR increase again, and return to profitability. Many hoteliers will slash rates even below their break-even point hoping to sell ancillary services to the guests later. Is this sustainable for the industry? Are we dropping the prices too much? Are we missing out because we could sell at higher rates? I think machine learning algorithms which can crunch through an incredible amount of data are the solution. They must be part of every effective post-pandemic recovery strategy and will play a big role in revenue management in the future."

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

CEO and Founder Sotiris Kopatsaris said, about their decision: "Historical reference points don’t offer the guidance they once did. Hotel forecasting is extremely challenging in these times but looking into the future and planning for it has never been more important. Revenue managers must focus more on current and forward-looking data to predict demand and adjust pricing at the right time. Understanding true demand data in the future will allow revenue managers to create realistic forecasts which will no longer be based on historical on-the-books data. No sales or revenue team would be able to analyze all of this data fast enough to make real-time rate updates like Atomize. This gives us a unique advantage. On top of that, its smart algorithm will keep developing so it can discover new, unforeseen demand patterns. Atomize is an incredibly powerful RMS that relies very little on human input. This eliminates the risk of human error and makes it stand out from other tools. Its artificial intelligence algorithms allow it to understand the market and sell at its current sweet spot without dropping or raising rates excessively."

📈 The results: Determined their price elasticity, decreased human preferences and started analysing data correctly.