Hilton’s Investment in HotelKey Is an Investment in Tech Progress
Skift Take
The proverbial rising tide lifts all boats. In this case, a rising tide is investment in hotel tech companies, and the boats are the greater hospitality industry.
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.When Hilton contracted third-party tech company HotelKey to provide the property management system for all 7,000 of its hotels, it made the choice because that’s what executives thought would be best for the company.
The hotel brand’s future was the company’s main concern, not necessarily the effect it would have on the greater industry, according to Michael Leidinger, Hilton chief information officer.
But as one of the top five hotel companies in the world, what Hilton does matters. The partnership with HotelKey is more than just a simple contract; it’s an investment into the next generation of hotel technology, and such a significant investment will have ripple effects in the industry. Those ripple effects are needed as the industry slowly moves toward modernization.
The cloud-based system that HotelKey and its competitors — like Oracle Hospitality, Mews, Cloudbeds, and Stayntouch — offer comes with an open interface tha
