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Editorial Team1

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  • 4 min

Communication is the Real “Wow”.

💾 Teresa de Pablo, Area Manager for Spain and Latin America at Hotelkit, underscores the importance of internal communication and operational efficiency for guest satisfaction on the Shiji Insights Podcast Episode 12. Key strategies include getting operational basics right, streamlining communication with a single system, involving frontline staff in tech decisions, acting on guest and staff feedback, and focusing on practical solutions over flashy tech. Real-world issues such as mishandled food allergies and maintenance requests highlight that seamless operations are crucial for positive guest experiences, and that the most impactful innovations are those that solve basic operational challenges.
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  • 6 min

Social Media Matters More Than Ever

📱 In 2025, 35% of worldwide travellers use platforms like Instagram and TikTok for inspiration. Over 80% of people are active on social media, with hotels leveraging social platforms seeing up to 20% more direct bookings each year. Short-form video on platforms like TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts, with content 15 to 60 seconds long, captures four times the reach of static images, and posting frequency is recommended at three to five times weekly. Influencer collaborations, especially with micro-influencers (10k-50k followers), enhance engagement, with success tracked via booking codes. User-generated content (UGC) influences 79% of hotel choices more than advertisements. Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) offer immersive experiences like virtual tours. Social media strategy in 2025 is crucial, with AI and regional tailoring being significant aspects.
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  • 4 min

Shiji’s New Era Unveiled at ITB Berlin

🏨 Shiji International, led by CEO Kevin King, revealed its new brand identity "Day and Night" at ITB Berlin 2025, signifying a unified 24/7 technology platform for the hospitality industry. Over 25 years, Shiji evolved into a global hospitality technology leader, now simplifying its diverse solutions under a single brand to eliminate confusion and boost efficiency for hoteliers. The rebrand includes products like Daylight PMS, Infrasys POS, Reviewpro Reputation, Horizon Distribution, Iceportal Content, Meridian Experiences, Astral Payments, Stellaris Digital, and Twilight Data + Analytics, all designed to integrate into the "Day and Night" system, enhancing the guest journey and hotel operations. Shiji's commitment extends globally, continually adapting to the dynamic needs of the hospitality sector.
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  • 3 min

Smarter Stays: The Digital Transformation of Hotels

🏨 Beatriz Heras from Instituto Tecnológico Hotelero (ITH) discussed hospitality's digital evolution on Shiji’s Insights Podcast. ITH, under the Spanish Confederation of Hotels and Tourist Accommodations, champions tech integration, energy efficiency, and sustainability in the sector. The TechYRoom project in the Valencian Community showcases accessible voice control systems, robotic assistance, and smart energy solutions. Post-pandemic, hotels rapidly adopted AI, data integration, and automation to enhance guest experiences and operational efficiency. Future ITH projects will expand TechYRoom, incorporate robotics in tourism training, and deliver personalized travel experiences.
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  • 8 min

Guest Experience Trends Shaping 2025 and Beyond

🏨 Hotels globally reached a record $11.1 trillion GDP contribution in 2024. Personalization drives guest satisfaction, with mid-tier hotels outperforming luxury ones due to competitive pricing and service. AI reviews challenge authenticity as fraud detection lags. Stricter review policies lowered total reviews but improved quality. The Guest Experience Benchmark Report 2024, based on over 39 million reviews from 11,200 properties, indicates guest expectations and AI are reshaping hospitality. Guest satisfaction rose since Q3 2022, with shifting value perceptions in 2024; Europe, Latin America, and Africa saw trend reversals. Mid-tier hotels' GRI rebounded post-August 2022, attracting 5-star guests. Review volumes dropped due to anti-fraud efforts, with Latin America seeing a 10% decrease in 2023, and Booking.com's market share fell from almost 50% in 2022 to 37% in 2024. Italy's proof-of-purchase law for reviews may reduce volumes if adopted globally. AI-generated reviews threaten to disrupt the feedback loop. Asia leads in Net Promoter Scores, showing earlier pandemic recovery. Response times to reviews improved, dropping to around four days in 2024 from over six days in 2022. High Net Promoter Scores correlate with better revenue and occupancy rates, suggesting reputation analytics should be integral to revenue management.
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  • 5 min

The Future of Hotel Meetings: Streamlined, Automated, and Profitable

📌 73% of hoteliers consider staff shortages their main concern. 80% of meetings now have less than 30 participants. Automation can process up to 80% of bookings in under a minute. Hotels face integration challenges with diverse PMS platforms and data security. Automated systems enable real-time data syncing, dynamic pricing, and AI-driven recommendations, enhancing efficiency and revenue. Meetingselect partners with hotels to implement technology solutions for improved booking management.
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  • 5 min

A Modern Point Of Sale’s Place at Luxury Tenerife Hotels

🏡 José Muiños Tabares de Nava, Director of Food and Beverage at Luxury Tenerife Hotels, significantly improved Royal River Hotel's operations by implementing an innovative POS system. The upgrade led to reduced service delays, increased guest satisfaction, and operational cost savings. Key criteria for the cloud-based POS choice included reliability, ease of use, integration, scalability, and luxury-level customization. The system's real-time data has optimized the F&B strategy, improving order accuracy, enabling personalized upselling, and thus increasing revenue. Staff training and phased adoption ensured smooth integration with existing infrastructure, while the system's flexibility supports the hotel's expansion plans. Advanced encryption and PCI-compliant protocols secure guest data. Overall, the POS system has enhanced personalized guest service, reduced staff workload, and contributed to a positive financial impact on the hotel.
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  • 8 min

Technology, Strategy, Innovation.

🏨 Sean Seah, SVP of Strategy, Technology and Innovation at Langham Hospitality Group, emphasizes innovation tailored to specific problems in hospitality. Langham plans to grow from 32 to 100 hotels in ten years, focusing on customer experience and digital transformation. CEO Bob van den Oord, appointed in 2023, tasked Seah with disruptive ideas and innovation. Langham's move to a cloud-native property management system aims to centralize customer data for enhanced personalization. Seah is leveraging AI for targeted customer offers and operational efficiency, with pilot projects like Microsoft's AI co-pilot for back-office improvements. The first hotel cloud migration took six months, prioritizing learning and scaling with empathy. The overarching mission is to maintain Langham's luxury essence while innovating at scale, serving property owners, customers, and the team.
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