Shiji Aims to Fill an Overlooked Hole in Hotel Distribution
Skift Take
No one has cornered the market in enterprise software for hotels. This fractured sector creates opportunities for vendors. One notable pitch is Shiji's call for "total distribution."
Travel Tech Briefing
Editor’s Note: Exclusive reporting on technology’s impact on the travel industry, delivered every Thursday. The briefing will guide executives as they decide if their companies should “build, buy, or partner” to stay ahead.Shiji Group correctly bet that international hotel companies would shift from on-premise to cloud-based tools. So what will the tech vendor bet on next?
To find out, I interviewed Shiji's chief operating officer Kevin King. He spoke to me from Dubai, where he's been working recently. King discussed the company's vision for "total distribution." He believes hotels have efficiency gaps in how they connect with resellers. King also covered Shiji's plan for its enterprise software platform and which companies he admires the most in the market.Shiji Group has grown since 2019 when I last spoke with King at an on-stage event.
It now serves about 70,000 properties outside of China, King said.Its biggest win is The Peninsula Group, which is shifting to Shiji's property management system across a half-dozen properties worldwide. The Peninsula Beijing made the switch first.Shiji has also been working with "other major large accounts, including one of the largest hotel groups in the market," King said.On Thursday the company said it had completed the implementation of its Infrasys Cloud POS at the flagship properties of Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group in London and Hong Kong.Parent company Beijing Shiji Information Technology serves many properties in China. About 20,000 of these also use Shiji Group's products, mainly because these properties market to both foreign and domestic guests.On the "build, buy, or partner" question, many hotels have moved away from building solutions, King said.
"The majority of hotel companies we're talking to are looking to partner, not to build," King said. "It's quite a big change for some of them."The most pressing issue is the labor crunch, which many hoteliers believe will outlast the pandemic. Stripping labor costs out with the help of technology is a long-term play.Hotels have a few key objectives, King said. They want more integrated data management, more unified operation of properties, and more mobile and automated touchpoints with guests. The pandemic has also prompted large or medium-sized hotel groups to adopt cloud services faster. The cloud has an edge over on-premise systems because hotels pay slow-drip subscriptions rather than large