We continue to struggle with “the gigantic database of everything”
The world is flooded with Data. Hoteliers are overwhelmed with data coming right and left. Nanki Singhsachthep from Avalon is here to tell us about how Avalon can help your business.
What are the problems Avalon is trying to solve for hoteliers and how do you solve them?
The challenge that most hoteliers face is the volume of data we have to actually deal with today. We continue to struggle with “the gigantic database of everything”. The huge amount of information sitting hidden in our property management systems, where you have to spend days digging through, and by the time a revenue manager pulls that together all the data into one combined spreadsheet, well frankly your opportunity is gone. At Avalon Analytics, we identified that this is a problem that is being experienced millions and millions of times every month at every hotel.
How often do we walk into a meeting that is unfocused because we are spending all this time consolidating the data, instead of acting on what that data tells us! What Avalon does is it draws that all together in one central platform and enables hoteliers to see the opportunity, act on it from a multi-property or single-property view and then make a strategic decision in time to change the actual outcome of their business. To the extent that we automate a hotel’s full PowerPoint deck for their weekly meetings, these are pre-built reports that are always up-to-date and can be shared across the commercial teams within seconds. So rather than then revenue, sales, and digital teams being tactical and working on the backfoot, Avalon with its foresight will enable teams to understand what’s happening and then take action to change the outcome whether it is increasing your pricing, perhaps putting together an offer to go to a specific market segment in a specific channel on a specific window of time.
Why is your technology better than others?
We want to be a company that is solving real problems that have significant contributions to the hospitality industry. For us, technology is just a way we reinvent the way things work, and that’s what Avalon does, it enables so much new thinking in a time where owners, general managers and guests are demanding more flexibility. We want to deliver a more personalize approach because we believe that each hotel is unique. The one-size fits all model continues to be one of the reasons there has been a slow uptake in new technologies in the hospitality industry. People using technology have different needs across the hotels, depending on their role, tasks, and preferences. What good is it to provide technology to employees if they won’t or can’t use it? Our top priority is to ensure a 100% adoption, and we have a proven-track record thus far, everyone across the organization is using it and we consider that a success story, in itself.
We are also mindful of the fact that hotels are going to be looking for innovative ways to manage costs. They are going to be looking for automation techniques that are going to help them be more productive and more flexible as they recover and as they re-emerge out of the pandemic. We recognize that cost cutting has become a method of keeping hotels afloat and understandably so. Ideas that cost millions upfront are going to struggle. But software concepts that are very light, like Avalon that don't have a lot of upfront costs, but really are a bit more of an ROI-as-you-go structure is an opportunity for hotels to be able to make forward-thinking investments while maintaining immediate needs.
What are the most common issues you found when working in the industry when it comes to data?
Data impacts every aspect of the hotel operation and a system that can help you make the right decisions is critical. We have identified that data quality and accuracy as the biggest challenge facing the hospitality industry. Also, existing systems make it very difficult for people outside of the revenue management field to understand. Really for uptake you need to make sure your information is correct and is trustworthy to make sure everyone understands it across the team. And we already touched upon the lack of personalization.
Who is your target market and why do they need you?
Now more than ever, we are all operating with lower staffing levels, so the question we started by asking ourselves are we really making the most of our teams? Introducing automations to process repetitive tasks so that our teams can focus on more valuable, high-impact tasks can help achieve greater results across all types of hotels. We want to level the playing field for hotels regardless of size, brand, whether they’re a city hotel or a resort hotel. All hotels can benefit from systems and expert advice. We want to help the hospitality industry recover and rebuild stronger together. What we’re certainly seeing is a trend across the last couple of years is that the hotel owners and GMs understand that revenue management is not a solution just for big brands. We’re also seeing is independent hotels reaching out to us for advisory services and revenue management consulting. If you think about it, it is a perfect match; the incentives are aligned beautifully. Anytime we can use data as an asset to meet guest’s needs or to create a new need there is an opportunity to improve our profits.