From the way your guests book their hotel suite to the way they experience their in-room entertainment, your hotel’s IT infrastructure serves as the driving force behind just about every aspect of your business.

Yet whilst your initial investment in technology may have allowed you to deliver better guest experiences faster, and more efficiently than ever before, you’ve soon found that the costs of managing and maintaining that infrastructure can quickly add up, biting a sizeable chunk out of your bottom line

Fortunately, there are several simple, effective measures you can take to cut the running costs of your hotel technology without compromising the high standards of service and performance that guests expect from your business.

Below, Pacific Infotech’s hotel IT support team explore just five of them, and offer our advice on how to make your investment in technology go even further.

1: Carry Out a Complete IT Health Check

Whenever you’re looking to improve, upgrade, or replace any aspect of your hotel’s IT infrastructure, it always pays to carry out a full audit, or what we in the industry often refer to as an IT health check.

This process involves carrying out an expert analysis of every component of your infrastructure, including, but not limited to:

• Hardware such as desktop machines
• Software and applications
• Your network and servers
• Security
• Disaster recovery strategies and solutions

Taking such an in-depth, comprehensive look at your system usually achieves several things.

Firstly, it reveals any flaws or vulnerabilities in your infrastructure that could lead to bigger problems, the kind of problems that are likely to cost a significant amount of money to repair if they aren’t dealt with. Secondly, it also unearths potential opportunities to improve parts of your system, to upgrade software, and to explore other avenues for saving on the amount you currently spend to operate your infrastructure.

2: Migrate to a Cloud Server

When you look closely at the running costs of your hotel technology, you’re likely to find that a good proportion of those costs are spent on running and maintaining your own in-house servers.

Combine together the cost of generating enough power to run those servers 24/7, the onsite maintenance and ongoing server IT support you need, not to mention the physical floor space that could be better used for another purpose, and you’re talking a considerable sum.

By migrating to an affordable, fully scalable cloud server solution, you not only instantly eliminate many of these costs, but also enjoy added benefits, such as greater reliability and flexibility. Such benefits, naturally, are going to enable your staff to work more productively and efficiently, ultimately resulting in the kind of great hotel experiences that keep guests returning to you time and time again.

3: Switch to a Hotel VOIP Solution

Have you ever considered how much you’re spending on hotel telephony? Of course, nobody would suggest that you simply unplug the phones to save money; that would likely be the death knell for your business. After, you’re reliant on good, clear communication -with guests, suppliers, and colleagues alike- to function on a day-to-day basis.

Still, paying for that communication doesn’t have to cost you as much as it is doing now if you’re still running a traditional telephony system.

VOIP – or Voice Over IP to give it its full title- is a system which enables you to make and receive both internal and external calls via the Internet. This significantly reduces the amount you spend on paying for phone calls, and even means you can offer guests lower international call rates than you would with a standard telephone line.

4: Upgrade to Scalable WiFi

We’ll cover the benefits of upgrading your hotel WiFi solution in the next couple of weeks, but for now let’s simply consider how much it’s costing you.

Yes, paying for the fastest, most reliable wireless internet solution your hotel can afford is well worth it for those peak periods, but in quieter moments, you end up paying a premium for bandwidth that simply isn’t being used.

By upgrading to a scalable hotel WiFi solution, you only ever pay for what you use, meaning you reduce the cost of offering internet access for guests during off-peak times.

5: Revisit Your Disaster Recovery Strategy

When was the last time you and your hotel’s IT support team went through your business continuity plan and considered how you’d get your hotel’s IT up and running again in the case of an emergency?

If it was a while ago, then there’s every chance that the latest developments in data backup systems and disaster recovery solutions could replace your old ones in a way that produces long-term savings for your hotel.

If you don’t have a disaster recovery strategy in place at all, then now is the time to think seriously about developing one. Should and server failure occur, should you be subject to a security breach, or should any other unexpected issue arise which takes your mission critical technology offline, that period of downtime is going to cost you. After all, without access to that technology, not only are you unable to process new bookings, but you’ll be unable to meet the needs of your existing guests, the result of which is lost revenue.

To prevent this from happening, investing in a solid data backup and recovery solution is vital, and could well prove to be the one simple measure that does the most in helping you to significantly reduce the IT running costs of your hotel.

To find out more about investing in a hotel disaster recovery solution, or about implementing any of the cost-cutting measures listed above, talk to Pacific Infotech today on 020 313 76707. Alternatively, contact us online to arrange your free consultation.