Hotel chain Jurys Inn is investing €2m in new software and technology upgrades across its 32 hotels in Ireland, the UK and the Czech Republic.
The €2m investment is part of a significant Jurys Inn hotel investment programme which has seen the group invest more than €34m in property and services upgrades over the past three years.
As part of the investment, the company is rolling out a cloud-based central property management and reservation system that will give Jurys Inn the capability to centrally view and manage a range of functions across its estate of UK, Ireland and European hotels.
This includes centrally analysing and managing room reservations and bookings, hotel inventory, accounts and billings. The significant roll-out of the new IT platform is scheduled to be completed this year.
The investment forms part of the company’s strategy to adapt cloud-based solutions across the group wherever they are appropriate, essentially future proofing systems so they are more intuitive and can adapt to ever-changing customer behaviour.
“By giving our teams a minute-by-minute overview of what is happening in our business, the new system will allow us to deliver significantly enhanced services to our customers,” said Shane Doyle, group IT manager, Jurys Inn.
“This includes a more accurate view of last-minute room availability across the group, the ability to offer an improved range of offers and special promotions, as well as cross-selling between properties.
“We have seen the number of visits to our website from mobile devices grow by over 85pc between January 2012 and January 2013, and our mobile revenue double in the same time period. The new systems will allow us to cater much better to these business and leisure travellers who are using smartphones and tablets to book our room and meeting facilities in the move from desktop to mobile,” Doyle explained.
Online check-in and green tech
Jurys Inn has plans to introduce new innovative services in 2013 as part of the system roll out, including the trial of Online Check-In, in a select number of hotels in the UK.
In addition to the new property and reservation platform, Jurys Inn’s new technology investment includes the upgrade of the Wi-Fi network and rollout of a high-speed fibre internet service across its estate – catering for the need for increased connectivity as guests are now travelling with up to four wireless devices.
Jurys Inn is also embarking on a complete replenishment of its hardware, and as part of the group’s sustainability and corporate social responsibility strategy, all hardware selected as part of the investment is low energy.
