Director of IT at The Fairmont Dallas

Paul Tubb

The main thing that makes my role challenging is finding the medium between technology and service. Technology's convenience and efficiency help us tremendously, but being mindful of the lost personal interface goes along with it. Restaurant Management Software (RMS) and Property Management Software (PMS) are evolving rapidly from a business operations and customer comfort perspective. When offering guest-facing technology, it's essential to be careful. Our primary concern at The Fairmont Dallas is our guests, and steering away from human interaction with them makes us more likely to lose emotional connection with them. That said, offering our guests technology comforts is vital, but keeping human interaction is just as important.

Take a grocery store, for instance; from an operational standpoint, it seems wise to have self-checkout at some of your checkout isles for convenience. But when forced to use the self-checkout, It drives me insane to pay high prices at the grocery store, scan my groceries, and then have to bag them myself! Same to be said at a restaurant. That last impression from the server significantly influences whether I return to that restaurant. Taking that away with self-service kiosks is a mistake. But on the flip side, Security and safety are a must; being PCI compliant and having a POS system that allows me to touch my credit card for payment is a must.

"Overall, the hotel needs to provide the comforts of home, the feeling of luxury, and the feeling of safety."

COVID did its job in pushing technology safety along. Still, if we look at it from the top, we notice that the last two or three generations have been accepting and increasingly using technology for all their services and needs. They're more likely to book a room on their phone, open the door, order in-room dining on their phone, and check out on their phones.

Things to Consider in Generation Z's Culture

● They are growing up with access to advanced technology, such as cell phones, the Internet, and social media.

● They are highly aware of social, economic, and environmental issues worldwide.

● They were born and grew up in the age of streaming services.

● They are high levels of activism for social justice, racism, and gender issues.

● They are highly independent and focused on technology, art, fashion, and music careers.

These key influencers force us to upgrade our backbone, wifi, and interface systems that feed the information into our PMS. The Fairmont Dallas currently has our PMS rewritten and configured for cloud-based hosting, making things faster than a hosted environment. 

Concierges play an irreplaceable role as well. They not only contain a wealth of information about your hotel and city, but they can read the customer and pinpoint the information needed, unlike the information overload at your fingertips—too many options and opinions on the web. People seek those personal recommendations based on subjectivity and emotions, which Concierges provide.

Overall, the hotel needs to provide the comforts of home, the feeling of luxury, and the feeling of safety.