Darwin’s Angels
Sell the future of an industry to someone who doesn't want to change. I’m borrowing that quote from Gleb Vorobiev, founder of a students' club at Vienna's tourism academy, who used it to describe SaaS sales in hospitality. And he’s right. Uncomfortably so. It extends far beyond mere sales. With the right skill set, you can sell change in the form of tools. Making that change stick – in processes, habits, and decisions – is something else entirely. Software happens Software is reshaping entire industries. Not gradually – but in ways that were unthinkable when many of today’s hoteliers learned their trade. AI would be the obvious example. But since we’re still somewhere between hype and hallucination, I’ll leave it aside. Narrowly applied to the lodging industry, the tech stack usually builds on a PMS, the property management system. What is added onto that core system varies, depending on the type of operation. But it all rests on this single pillar that may so easily be misunderstood, because it does not really "manage" your property. It is nothing but a tool to manage your property. You can fry a steak by setting your kitchen on fire. Or you can use the induction stove – if you actually put the pan on it. "I bought Software. Now Software happens." That seems to be a common expectation. No matter how often thought leaders tell us that tool acquisition does not equal transformation, I see the "we have a system now" mindset all too often, and across various types of operators. A mindset that is framed in checkboxes to tick, in buttons to push at the right time in a predefined sequence. It reminds me more of the way you operate a weaving machine, or some sacred ritual. This even permeates many operators' approach to using chatbot support: "If I say the right words, at the right time, in the right pitch, the genie will work its magic". Except, it doesn't. So they phone the vendor. Genie in a button Across various software implementations, I have been told – or given to understand in eloquent ways – to "stuff the technical explanations, just tell how it works". The expectation clearly is that the software were the actual operator, which its owner can call upon to work its magic by rubbing it the right way. So, by extension, it's the software vendor's responsibility to make everything... "run". Didn't the vendor promise automation? So there. I have the hardest time getting any system implemented the way it really benefits the owner to the fullest extent, when there is no interest in the set up, the detail config, the logic behind the system's design and one's own processes. Implementation is one of the later phases of successful software projects, with process design ideally being the first – before the selection even starts. If processes are not clearly envisioned, evaluated and designed, the quest for the "best match" software becomes one of pure luck. And oftentimes, the
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