Most hotels choose their IT service provider based on a single criterion: Who can be on site quickly and what is the price? That is understandable. But this means that hotelsend up with someone who can set up Exchange and configures a Fritzbox. That's enough for a small office, not for a hotel.

Hotels operate an IT infrastructure that is fundamentally different from a normal office. PMS, locking system, cash register systems, channel manager, guest WiFi for 300 devices simultaneously, PCI DSS requirements for credit card data, 24/7 operation. Anyone who wants to supervise this must know the industry.

The following seven questions help to assess whether an IT provider is a good fit for a hotel. Not as a checklist to check off, but as a basis for discussion. The answers reveal more than any reference list.

1. Are you available on Saturdays at 22:00?

The most honest question you can ask an IT service provider. Hotels have their busiest hours between 18:00 and 22:00. Check-in, key cards, credit card authorization, booking system. If the network goes down during this time, there won't be three employees without email. There are 50 guests in the lobby.

An IT service provider that works Monday to Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., is made for an office. A hotel needs someone who also reacts at six on Sunday morning when monitoring reports a switch failure. Not by answering machine, but actually.

The follow-up question: How is on call duty organized? Is there a person who is on call or a team that rotates? Is the response time contractually regulated?

2. Do you have hotel customers?

This is the right question to ask. Avoid: Do you have customers in the service sector? Not: Are you familiar with networks? But: Do you manage hotels?

A hotel is not an office with many floors. A hotel has guests who check in at 11pm. A hotel has a PMS that communicates with a locking system, a channel manager and a cash register system. A hotel has seasonal load peaks in which all systems run at full load at the same time. Anyone who has never supervised this underestimates the complexity.

Follow-up question: How many properties do your customers have? In how many countries? Managing a hotel in Berlin is different than running 29 hotels in 29 cities.

3. Do you know what SIHOT is?

Or Opera. Or Mews. Or Apaleo. If the IT provider has to look it up when naming a PMS system, the industry knowledge is missing.

It's not snobbery. If SIHOT is no longer responding and the IT service provider does not know that the system is running on an SQL database that has specific configuration requirements, chances are the investiagation will lead to a dead end. The PMS manufacturer will point to the network. The IT service provider will point to the software. And in between is the receptionist with 50 guests.

4. Can you manage locations remotely from one location?

This is less relevant for an individual hotel. However, it is important for a group with five, ten, thirty locations. Can the provider monitor all locations via a central dashboard? Can the provider make configuration changes in Berlin that take effect in Budapest without anyone having to be on site?

Cloud-based management, such as with Cisco Meraki, makes this technically possible. But the service provider must have the experience to operate it stably across national borders, time zones and different Internet providers.

5. What are the SLAs for a PMS failure?

“As soon as possible” is not an SLA. A number is an SLA. Two-hour response time for critical systems, four hours for non-critical systems. With defined availability and described escalation when the time is exceeded.

And: Is there a differentiation by time of day? A PMS outage on Tuesday afternoon and a PMS outage on Saturday evening at 10:00 PM are not the same thing.

6. What happens when a hotel opens?

The IT will have to be build from scratch. In a building that is still a construction site on the client's schedule, not on the IT service provider's schedule. With an opening date that cannot be postponed because the first guests have booked. Doing this with a strict budget is not a routine project.

This is project management under time pressure, with dependencies on electricians, interior designers, PMS providers and Internet providers, all of which have their own schedules. Anyone who has never done this before will underestimate it.

The question to the IT service provider: How many hotel openings have you accompanied? What was the biggest surprise? The answer to the second question reveals more than the first.

7. What happens during a renovation?

Migrations tend to happen during opening hours with guests on the upper floors, construction site on the lower floors. The WLAN must continue to run in the populated areas, while new access points are installed in the renovated areas. The PMS must not be down for a moment while the server is moving to a new room.

This requires detailed planning, a sectional approach and a plan B in case the schedule doesn't meet. Anyone who dismisses concernsas “shouldn't be a problem” has never done it before.

DaPhi

We've been answering all seven questions for over twenty years. Hotel-IT since 2000, over 40,000 beds in Europe. We offer hardware, software, licenses from a single source.

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Typical questions

How do I find an IT service provider who is familiar with Hotel-IT? Ask for hotel references. Ask if they are familiar with PMS systems and for 24/7 availability. If the answer to two out of three questions is evasive, the provider does not fit.

What should an IT contract for a hotel contain at least? Differentiated SLAs based on system criticality, 24/7 availability, monitoring, backup check with restore test and a clear regulation for vendor management.

Can a normal IT service provider manage a hotel? The infrastructure yes: server, network, firewall. But without PMS knowledge, without 24/7 readiness and without experience with the specific operating rhythm of a hotel, the first crisis becomes tight.

What certifications should a hotel IT service provider have? Manufacturer partnerships such as Cisco Meraki or Lenovo show access to the latest technology and trained personnel. ISO 9001 shows documented processes. There are no industry-specific IT certifications for the hotel industry. Experience replaces that.

What is more important: local IT service provider or specialized hotel industry MSP? For an individual hotel, a good local provider may be enough. Groups with multiple locations need someone who can provide centralized support. We serve locations in over 14 countries from Berlin.

Photo by Pixabay and Andrea Piacquadio