Enhancing Guest Experiences Through Digital Innovation

Mathias Althin is an accomplished leader with extensive experience in developing teams and processes. He began his career as a consultant at Accenture, specializing in programming and system architecture across various industries for six years. He then moved to a smaller consultancy firm, Fantasy Interactive, focusing on user interfaces and customer-facing digital products.

Mathias transitioned to Viaplay, a pioneering online streaming platform in Scandinavia, where he led development teams and technology organizations. He continued this work at HBO, helping launch their streaming platform in the Nordics. Currently, Mathias works at Strawberry (formerly Nordic Choice Hotels), where he has spent six years building the internal technology department and enhancing digital guest experiences. He has played a key role in transforming the company from a hotel business to a broader hospitality company.

In an interview with Travel and Hospitality Tech Outlook Europe, Mathias Althin shares his insights on the major challenges in the hospitality space and the experience he has gathered while implementing effective strategies to mitigate them.

What significant technological challenges have you encountered in the travel and hospitality sector, and how have you addressed them?

My focus has always been on enhancing the guest experience through the digital services we provide. Initially, we had to decide whether to rely on third-party booking sites like Booking.com and Hotels.com or to build our own digital experience that could match or exceed those platforms. Our goal was to meet our guests' expectations, shaped by seamless digital experiences from services like Netflix, Airbnb, Uber and others.

We aimed to foster a direct relationship with our guests, enhancing loyalty and recurring bookings, and making our brand more than just a provider of a night's sleep. This required building guest-facing services on top of outdated systems that many hotels, including ours, had been using for years.

Traditional property management systems (PMS) were focused on individual hotels with servers on-site, but the online experience necessitated cross-property integration and information aggregation. This meant creating interfaces on top of these old systems while also modernizing our backend infrastructure.

We undertook a significant migration project, replacing many of our fulfillment systems over the past few years, culminating in the switch to a new PMS that utilizes open APIs. This has eliminated batch services delays, providing real-time updates for guests.

Another challenge was working in a company where technology wasn't the core focus, necessitating internal education about the capacity, expectations, and timelines of technology projects. Our entrepreneurial organization often generated great ideas that our outdated technology couldn't support, leading to frequent refusals. Our goal has been to build the right capabilities, processes and technology to start saying yes to these ideas and drive innovation within our organization.

What new technologies do you believe will enhance customer experiences in the hospitality industry in the future?

There are many emerging technologies poised to enhance customer experiences in the hospitality industry. AI is a major focus area for development, offering personalized services for guests and optimizing internal processes. This technology is already transforming our ability to predict guest needs and provide tailored services. The maturity of digital services has significantly improved guest experiences, similar to how the TV industry evolved from scheduled programming to on-demand streaming.

We have high ambitions in providing detailed online information for guests with disabilities, reducing uncertainty and easing their planning. Integrating various services into a seamless digital ecosystem is another key area. This allows guests to book rooms, restaurants and add-ons in one place, eliminating the need for separate calls and enhancing convenience.

The "phygital" experience, blending physical and digital elements, is also evolving. Online check-in, mobile check-in and digital room keys stored in Google and Apple Wallets streamline the check-in process. Real-time data insights, such as monitoring breakfast area occupancy, help manage resources efficiently and improve guest satisfaction.

What strategies have you found most effective in fostering collaboration within your technical teams?

During the pandemic, we took advantage of quieter periods to strategize and implemented structured approaches to our digital products. This involved forming dedicated teams aligned with specific product areas to foster ownership and focus. Rather than assigning teams, we allowed team members to choose based on their interests and skills, which boosted their sense of control and engagement. This transparency and autonomy have been crucial in cultivating a culture where everyone feels a deep ownership of their work and its impact. Continuous improvement and trust-building have also been pivotal, ensuring teams can evolve and innovate effectively.

Based on your extensive experience, what advice would you offer to other leaders in the hospitality sector?

To be effective and foster a team that takes ownership and delivers high value, your primary task as a leader is to create the right conditions for your team to excel. This often means relinquishing some decision-making authority, demonstrating that you don't always have all the answers, and focusing on listening, removing obstacles, and providing strategic direction. Trust in your team's skills and empower them to solve problems, as they hold the knowledge and diverse viewpoints crucial for success. Embrace a servant leadership approach, where your role is to support and enable your team's success.