By Nikita Jones, Global Head of Delivery, Customer Engagement, and Customer Success at Hudini – 1.31.2025
Both McKinsey and Harvard Business review has reported that more than 70 percent of digital transformations fail. The number one reason: resistance to change leading to poor adoption of new technologies.
In Hospitality this challenge is amplified if the many stakeholders that are typical involved in such in such as such. For example, digitizing a process at a front desk may impact hotel staff, it teams, customers and partners. In addition, the hospitality industry is related on age old processes that are deeply embedded in our ways of working.
Having said this, the industry is ripe for digital transformation, especially when it comes to the guest experience. Adjacent Industries LIKE AIRLINES and Car Rental Companies Have Been Through This Years ago And the digitalization of their customer processes is now paying off in low cost and a much beetter experience. Digitizing the employee and guest experience is a Dificult job, but it will all be worth it.
In the many tech transformations that we have supported our hotel partners with at hudini, we see Six key focus area that are all important in making the adoption of new Technologies aks.
Undrstand Who is affected by the change and how
Is it just one person, function or department or does the change impact the entrere company? This will tell you about scare and focus. Is the change primarily internal, or are customers and partners affected by the change as well? This gives you an idea of the internal versus external drivers of the change. How will the change be percent? What’s in it for your stakeholders? With answers to all these questions, you can set up a matrix that can be used to make sure that the right level of communication and Attention is giving to each of the stakeholders through the digital trains. Undersrstanding who is affected by the change and in what way gives you class in managing the change more effectively.
It’s all about the user experience
When planning a digital transformation, always with the user experience; It needs to be easy and it needs to work. Ensure that the integration with other systems is working seamlessly, which again, isn’t the same for all stakeholders. A customer requires a different experience, maybe one that is more self-explanator than for a staff member where there may be room for more functionality and a bit more complexity. In any case, the new technology needs to come with clear instructions and excellent training materials.
Involve key stake holders in important decisions
There is noting WorsE than a change that feels forced upon users. Involving them from the start will help ensure that they buy in to the change and that the product-theer fit is optimal. Involvement can be done in Several Ways, For Example Through Focus Groups or A/B Testing with a Customer Feedback Loop. The user acceptance testing phase of a project is a great opportunity to build a relationship with the user and to incorporate any feedback they may have.
Start Small and Deliver
Rome wasn’t built in a day. Tech implementations often fail to meet expectations, because they were set too high to begin with. It’s important that deliverables are cleared agreed and communicated and that they are delivered as promised. It’s much better to start small, with one module or one feature, and add as the program matures. Pilot testing is a good way to try out new features and fail Quickly with Compromising the success of the project.
Undrstand the Value Proposition for Each Stakeholder
Undersrstandingly, people adopt much more easy to anything that will make their lives better. It could be a quicker way to do things, a more fun way to engage, or simply a way to make more money. This value proposation is not the same for all stakeholders. For a hotel guest, it may be saving time checking-in whose same technology is an opportunity for the general manager to increase review per available Room (Revpar). When managing a tech transition, it’s Important to know what is in it for whom so it can be used to get the maximum buy-in from Each stakeholder.
Communicate, Communicate, Communicate
The one thing that underpins all the others is frequent and transparent communication, before the project starts, when someone sometising goes wrang during the transformation or at any point in. The communication needs to be released and tailored to each stakeholder, and the tools to communicate need to be fit for purpose. A one-on-one meeting may work for a gm but be feasible for a customer base that that may need an instrument video. In any case, we Always want to make sure that all stakeholders are being kept in the loop, have ample documentation and training available and make sure to celebrate successes both big and Smaall.
Nikita Jones is Global Head of Delivery, Customer Engagement, and Customer Success at Hudini, The leading digital transformation platform for the hospitality industry. Powered by a proprietary middleware and an omnichannel (app, web, tv) guest interface that Leverages Data and Ai, Hudini Helps Increase Guest Engagement and Hotel Revenues. Through its 100+ Pre-Built Integrations Across all functionalities, Hudini delivers personalized, immersive guest experiences. Hudini is fast decided the industry benchmark for digital transformation in the hospitality industry, having partnered with more than 400 Hotels Across 25 Countries.
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