Digitizing your hotel: how much does it cost? – TendanceHospitality

The question is on everyone’s lips: how much to invest in the digitalization of your hotel ?

And its variations “how much does a PMS cost ?”, “what budget should you plan for Google Hotel Ads ?“, “what takes priority ?”, “do we really need a professional wifi network ?”, are regularly asked by hoteliers.

If the benefits of digitization in terms of competitiveness, productivity and image are well established, the fact remains that few professionals talk about the cost.

In order to help you take this strategic shift in the digital transformation of your establishment – and because the answer does not exist anywhere else, Bowo, creator of guest app, has done the exercise of carrying out the budget needed to digitize a 50-room hotel with restaurant.

The most obvious answer would be to answer “It depends !”. Yes, this budget is necessarily personalized according to several criteria. But Bowo experts doubt that this answer helps hoteliers to see more clearly and to project themselves (and they are not wrong).

These experts have therefore listed, tool by tool, an approximate cost. The prices are given as an indication.

Spoiler alert: for efficient digitization of a 50-room hotel with restaurant, count a budget of €1,500 to €4,000 per month (excluding network infrastructure).

Here is how it is composed. 👇

I. The 10 most common software and their cost

Before going into the details of each tool, know that most of these software are commission-free and work on a subscription model (SaaS). It should be noted that installation costs may be requested for the installation of the tools and increase the invoice.

Similarly, if the connectivity of digital tools is increasingly ensured thanks to bi-directional API connections, the fact remains that several players invoice this connection, both to the hotelier and to the partner who s ‘integrated. Do not hesitate to ask your service provider about it.

1. A professional wifi infrastructure

A connected hotel is above all technical infrastructure. And among these, the most important is the wifi network. For 2 reasons:

• high-speed Internet access, via wifi, has become an essential standard for customers, and can be one of the main reasons for dissatisfaction in the event of a faulty network
• it is essential to have a fairly robust and efficient technical base to supply the multitude of digital services involved in the digital transformation.

Conventional Wi-Fi networks (for home use) cannot support the configuration of a complete computer park or ensure high-quality customer service.

Be careful, you have to have a long-term vision: the standards for using wifi are constantly changing. It will therefore be necessary to plan ahead and take into account the fact that your wifi will have to be upgraded one day or another.

💰 Indicative price for a 50-room hotel: from €10,000 to €50,000 depending on the desired equipment (wifi, telephony, chromecast, home automation, etc.)

2. A booking engine (or book engine)

Booking engines are modules to integrate on your website or on your various social networks to sell directly (without intermediary), via your own communication channels.

These tools facilitate customers’ purchasing process: in a few clicks, they can book the room of their choice. Your booking engine will display your rates and availability in real time.

This is the key to commission-free direct bookings, and therefore a way to optimize your hotel’s sales strategy and maximize profits.

The prices of the booking engines are generally offered not by the room but by the establishment.

💰 Indicative price for a hotel with 50 rooms: €39 / month

For more details on the booking engine, Bowo invites you to read the Hotel Tech Report comparison on the 10 best booking engines for hotels in 2022

3. OTAs (online travel agencies)

Here we are talking about Booking.com, Expedia, Hotels.com, Trivago etc. Despite their commissions, online travel agencies (OTA) bring undeniable advantages in terms of visibility (especially abroad) and e-reputation. According to a D-Edge study, they even represent 71% of hotel distribution.

We warn you: the commission rate is not really negotiable. And some OTAs push hotels to offer additional services, to feed their loyalty program and therefore to trim their margins a little more.

💰 Indicative price for a hotel with 50 rooms: between 15% and 20% of the amount of reservations

4. Channel management software

A channel manager is software that connects your hotel to booking platforms, whether direct or indirect. It synchronizes your prices, your availability and your content (description, information, photos, etc.) in real time, on all the OTAs to which you are connected and on your website.

It thus avoids over-bookings and simplifies the administrative procedures.

In fgeneral, the price of a channel manager varies according to the number of rooms. The bigger your property, the more you will pay.