Minor Hotels, an international hotel owner, operator and investor from Bangkok has adopted cloud solutions for efficient property management and operations.
With a portfolio of over 78,000 rooms across more than 530 hotels, resorts and serviced suites in 55 countries across Asia-Pacific, India, the Middle East, Africa, Europe and the Americas, the hotel is upgrading 100 of its properties to Oracle OPERA Hospitality Cloud.
The firm, till now, ran its operations using server-based solutions. Minor International's chief technology officer, Michael MacDonald told iTnews Asia that this "quickly became a burden", hindering progress due to "significant" time constraints in planning the deployment of hotel systems for new openings.
By moving to the cloud, he said the hotel could now enhance efficiency and expedite system deployment strategies, ensuring a more agile and responsive approach to customer needs.
The company was also able to unify guest profiles across its global properties to better understand customer preferences.
Minor Hotels could access real-time room availability and rates, personalise guest profiles and preferences, automate billing and payment processes, and integrate housekeeping and maintenance management with the cloud.
It began the roll-out of OPERA Cloud Property Management (PMS), with its flagship luxury hotel, the Anantara Siam Bangkok Hotel in Thailand, anticipating to elevate and expand customer service capabilities.
"We saw a 25 percent increase in staff efficiency in just a few months after implementation," MacDonald said.
He added that the OPERA Cloud is now accessible from any location within the hotel, and this flexibility has enabled their staff to promptly serve and respond to guest requirements with increased efficiency and speed.
POS solution
Minor Hotels already uses Oracle MICROS Simphony Cloud Point-of-Sale (POS) solution in select hotel restaurants and bars.
MacDonald said, these solutions, together with OPERA Cloud PMS, will enable Minor Hotels to consolidate data into a common platform, better manage revenue across different countries and currencies, and optimise its operations with insights from real-time analytics and reporting.
Minor Hotels will use OPERA Cloud Sales and Event Management to optimise space and opportunities, from booking life celebrations and corporate events to better-managing space, catering, and room blocks.
Accessible via mobile devices, he said the solution will enable Minor team members to easily facilitate off-site customer visits and on-property site inspections, perform inventory checks, or change a booking at any time and any place they are online.
Speaking on the plans, MacDonald said he is soon expecting a complete rollout of cloud solutions in all Minor Hotel properties to enhance business continuity and strengthen cybersecurity measures.
"This means that the IT team will no longer be responsible for server maintenance, and hotels won’t need to invest in new hardware when existing equipment reaches the end of its lifespan," he added.
Minor Hotels also plans to leverage the Oracle Hospitality Integration Platform to further customise its operations by plugging in new third-party capabilities.
