The hospitality industry is moving forward rapidly in implementing technology at all levels and in all areas, but a new study from the Cornell Center for Hospitality Research finds that the implementation is uneven at best.
In the new report, "Network Exploitation Capability: Model Validation," authors Gabe Piccoli, Bill Carroll, and Paolo Torchio urge hotel firms to focus on integrating their many technology solutions. Piccoli is a professor at the University of Pavia, Carroll is a senior lecturer at the Cornell School of Hotel Administration, and Torchio is vice president of e-marketing services for Sabre Hospitality Solutions. The report, which includes a self-test and benchmarks from a pilot study of hotel firms, is available at no charge from the Cornell CHR.
"Our concern starts with the industry's speed in developing its IT applications. We see how quickly hotels have adopted technology in many areas," said Carroll. "But the big question is how well the industry is integrating that technology across three critical areas: demand generation, multi-channel digital distribution, and profit optimization. For this reason we developed NEC Maturity Model, which describes how hospitality firms can become more sophisticated and strategic in their use of IT."
The validation and demonstration of the NEC model includes a 48-item self-test, the empirical results from a pilot sample of hotel firms, and detailed suggestions for how properties, management companies, owners, and chains can assess their own current level of IT sophistication.
Get the full report at Cornell University (free registration)
Source: HotelMarketing.com
