Telecommunication engineer, he has a vast background, and more than 20 years of experience managing IT projects and departments around the world leading on multitask teams, José Carrillo Ruiz, has created and managed IT departments in cruises, hotels and international airlines oriented to the benefits improvement and customer experience. Currently and since 2013, he runs CR Consulting & Projects, an information technology consultancy specialized in tourism and hospitality industry, and today, we have the pleasure of premiering #easygoing with him so he can share with us his vision about the hospitality industry and technology.
How long have you been working for the touristic/hospitality industry?
I’ve been working for more than 20 years. My first job in the industry was in the former Iberostar Group, within Viajes Iberia division, and ever since I’ve been occupying different positions of responsibility inside tourism systems departments, until 2008, when I started working in the hospitality industry.
In which sense do you think technology may improve the customer experience?
Technology in hospitality is already a facility and the guest expect to find at the hotel what he has at home and his environment: broadband wifi, domotic, webapps/apps to manage processes from his smartphone, etc
From my perspective, we need to start from minimums so the experience can be minimally positive and invest in tools aimed to agilise the processes the guests may perform. And, in this times, tools that also avoid situations where long time contact with other people are implied such as check in online, mobile key, etc
How do you think hotels can take advantage of the new experiences that digitalisation offers?
In first place, with the increase of the guest experience, which means the repetition by direct channel where the hoteliers margins are larger. On the other side, on the back office optimization processes side, where loads of time saving can be made to give a more immediate service to the guest and automatise processes that add no value.
At which point of digital transformation do you think we lay in the hospitality industry?
We are still a long way away but in Spain there are large and medium chains that are doing really well, and in my opinion, in some aspects we are ahead of other European and latin american countries.
How is the industry committed to multichannel?
In my opinion multichannel is more than implemented. Most of the Marketing departments bet on social media as their main brand strategy, being Facebook the most popular.
Which is the biggest challenge you think you face in regards with process digitisation?
Back Office digitisation based on RPA. Is a complex project to implement but I think it can add much value to my client’s employees and drastically reduce costs.
What impact do you think digitasion had in your case?
In my clients case it has helped to agilise and make safer customer relations processes.
Which role do you think digitisation plays in the industry recovery?
In my opinion digitisation can increase the safety perception in guests
Which has been the weight of COVID-19 in digital transformation in the industry? And in your particular case?
It clearly has speed it up. Topics such as remote work, online classes, the considerable implementation rise of digital signature tools are obvious proofs of that.
How do you think the hotel of the future is going to be?
It will be a hotel where every possible process will be automated and digitized so the hotel staff will be focused on improving the customer experience.
Your prognosis about the future of the industry bearing in mind the current picture.
It is difficult to foreseen the short term. Which seems clear is that most of the guests have adjusted themselves to the new normal but in my opinion, we won’t recover the occupancy levels until the vaccine is affordable for everyone
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