Navigating the Complexities of Process Automation in Hospitality

Alberto Corredera González is the Director of IT at Room Mate Hotels, with a lifelong passion for technology that began at the age of 12 when he first received a Spectrum computer. This early fascination shaped his career, guiding him through a journey marked by continuous learning and self-teaching. After completing his studies, González landed his first role in a computer systems job tailored for restaurants. In 2006, Alberto joined Room Mate Hotels, where he remains committed to staying abreast of new developments and industry trends. To be able to advise in any sector, not only at the IT level but also at the security level, I can say that I am responsible for information systems and cybersecurity.

Through this article, González emphasises the importance of strategic planning, team collaboration, and the right technology choices in successfully implementing process automation within the hospitality industry. In 2006 I had 3 opportunities with clients, big companies, and others that were starting like Room Mate, but with a spectacular future projection, this made me decide because when you create something from scratch and you see that everything there has been created by you and the team, the satisfaction is superior. Many years have passed; there have been great achievements and many difficult challenges, but if you have an efficient working model and create a good team, success is assured.

Challenges in Process Automation

During process automation, there have been difficult challenges; some of them are not a stone in the road but a real Everest on the way, and you must learn how to overcome them. There are several key factors to this: surrounding yourself with a good team, having quality partners, and adapting to the needs on the fly with imagination and creativity, but using the technology with pragmatism to give security and robustness. Another key factor is the knowledge base and training, learning how automation works to ensure its evolution and maintenance. And something that always seems to be lacking in time, documentation, and key for others to be able to continue providing support.

Effective Technologies and Tools for Process Automation

The most effective technologies and tools in our industry are those that have had a powerful pre-analysis involving both IT staff and, at the functional level, those professionals in the departments that will use them. We have bet a lot on leading brands in the market, and we have also been pioneers in trying to test what was disruptive, which has given us the possibility to generate great ideas. Hospitality is an industry where there are thousands of solutions for thousands of things; the core business is in our front end, and for something to work well, there must be a robust and easy integration. This has a direct impact on the customer, whether they are a user of it or not.

To make sure that something aligns with your needs, it is very important to spend some time analysing and testing the solution before putting it into production. You also must be brave and take a risk on what you see as disruptive but with a clear projection to the industry, that is, that sooner or later it will be a necessity for everyone.

Ensuring Alignment of Technology with Unique Needs

In Room Mate Hotels there have been many projects to be proud of. Being this a medium directed to the world of information technology, I have to highlight and put one in value was when I decided to have full control of our systems in 2012, creating a hybrid of public cloud and private cloud, in other words, an ecosystem that would give us autonomy and full scalability. Obviously, now in 2024 and many solutions are moving to native public cloud as a service, but for 12 years has been a cornerstone, well, that part that is not seen of the iceberg that holds everything. Obviously, we have been migrating everything as functionality increases and there are many improvements.

Now we are living a revolution with the AI, and every day we know new use cases that surprise us all. We live in a world where technology advances very fast and it is something that generates us vertigo or fears; this has always been so, and then when we want to realise it, we use it daily and it is part of our day to day.

Advice for CIOs in the Hospitality Sector

I think there is an aura of collaboration and help in the DNA of those of us who are dedicated to this; we are a sector that helps each other a lot. During this time, there have been many people who have called me to ask what I would do in their place. I would tell them to know how to surround themselves with partners and a good team that add value to the company and its processes. The idea is not to replace humans; the idea is to make humans better, take them away from regular tasks, and spend their time improving customer experience or involved in projects that add value. This will improve the company and, most importantly, its results.