I’ve been studying Target‘s unraveling this week, and I can’t seem to get retail out of my mind. Not because I particularly care about retail, but because I see our industry making the same mistakes.
Target just announced it’s pulling online fulfillment from dozens of stores. Why? Because in their obsession with being everything to everyone, they forgot the fundamentals. Employees told CNBC that “racing to fulfill online orders has contributed to out-of-stocks on store shelves and weaker customer service.” Sound familiar?
They prioritized operational complexity over human experience. 96% of Target’s orders were fulfilled through stores rather than warehouses, an impressive logistics feat that completely destroyed the in-store experience customers actually wanted.
We’re doing this with our digital experience and archaic, legacy booking engines. Every time we force guests to navigate clunky interfaces from 2010. Every time we make them call the hotel for simple requests simply because our digital experience is broken. Every time we choose “that’s how we’ve always done it” over meeting guests where they actually are.
Target’s former magic was simple. You’d go to Target because it had one thing you needed and 12 things you didn’t know you needed. They lost that by trying to compete with Amazon instead of being the best version of themselves.
The brutal truth: Most hotels are running on digital infrastructure that creates more problems than it solves. I’ve seen this transformation firsthand. When hotels upgrade their digital experience with olive, something magical happens. Revenue increases, operational calls drop by half, and teams can finally focus on hospitality instead of troubleshooting tech. But the counterintuitive part is that the best technology makes itself invisible.
Target’s new CEO is now “refocusing teams on improving the store experience.” Translation: getting back to basics after years of operational complexity nearly killed the brand.
Your booking engine isn’t just a “reservation system” anymore. It’s your first impression, your revenue engine, and your operational backbone. After all, what is more important to your bottom line than revenue generation? If your booking engine is creating friction, you’re losing bookings, you’re losing revenue, and you’re burning out your team.
The most successful hotels we work with aren’t trying to be everything to everyone. They’re obsessed with one thing: creating frictionless, memorable experiences that let guests focus on why they came and let staff focus on genuine hospitality.
Target forgot who they were trying to serve. The guest experience got lost in operational complexity. Don’t make the same mistake. Sometimes, the most innovative thing you can do is give guests what they actually want: a booking experience as smooth as everything else in their digital life.
