SiteMinder Exchange Fixes Industry Connection Issues
via siteminder.com
The conversation around hotel connectivity fatigue has existed for some time now. A longstanding frustration for property management systems (PMSs) and applications in the accommodation industry has been the lack easy integration between partners and clients.
Great products are being created but the effort to build integrations between many other hotel systems is a drain on development resources and simply too time consuming.
In this recent interview SiteMinder’s co-founder Mike Ford delves deeper into the issue: “In an age where information from a mobile phone can be delivered within seconds to the other side of the world, it shouldn’t be so hard for hotel technology experts to make their system work with others. Technology, after all, is what they do best.”
However, the reality is that it’s a real struggle for providers to make their essential products accessible to a mass end-user group. More time is being spent on connecting the products instead of the products themselves.
So what can be done about one of the hotel industry’s biggest issues?
Connection issues head in the right direction with SiteMinder Exchange
SiteMinder could see what PMSs and hotel applications were struggling with, an ideal world where developers could focus on innovation instead building bridges between their product and others seemed light years away.
As Mike explains hotel tech developers had “…grown weary helplessly seeking an independent solution one day allowing them to get back to what they do best, and all the while protecting the hotel data they’ve been entrusted with.”
That’s why SiteMinder launched SiteMinder Exchange at HITEC in Houston, Dallas, recently. This new global platform has a strong desire for all players in the tech world to support each other and enjoy success – it’s exactly the concept from which SiteMinder Exchange was borne.
“SiteMinder Exchange is a ‘data-as-a-service’ platform that allows hotel technology applications to connect with property management systems and their hotels”, says SiteMinder’s Business Development Manager Tom Kirkham.
It’s a huge announcement for those hotel technology companies who were struggling with connectivity fatigue for so long.
“SiteMinder Exchange is about enabling those players to effortlessly integrate, and to build only once to access a multitude of partner systems,” explains Mike. “By breaking down these integration barriers, we are all one step closer to achieving our shared vision, which is helping hoteliers to access the integrated setup and rich guest insights they need to make their hotel business successful.”
How does SiteMinder Exchange work?
SiteMinder Exchange is founded on the model of ‘data on demand’. Hotel applications pay no upfront cost to be integrated; they simply subscribe to a low monthly fee for each hotel property that chooses to have that particular application connected to their PMS. The solution is free for both PMSs and hotels.
“It’s based on a ‘one-build, connect-to-many’ API that makes life much simpler for the hotel tech developer,” says Tom. “It’s a big deal because direct integrations between applications and PMSs (and hotels) is such a drain on development resources. By removing the need to build bespoke integrations time and time again, these businesses can refocus on making their core products even better.”
The benefits of this new technology offering are that an application’s total addressable market grows significantly and it can now connect with PMSs and hotels without the need for continuous bespoke integrations.
For hoteliers, they’ll want to see their PMS connected to SiteMinder Exchange because it gives their property access to every application on the platform – all of which provide a variety of ways to enhance the guest experience and overall hotel operations.
There’s still plenty more to come from SiteMinder Exchange and the tech platform as a whole so make sure you watch this space for more developments.