SAN ANTONIO—Do central reservations systems (CRS) have a future? That was a question that was asked at HTNG’s 2015 North American Conference here in a session moderated by John Burns, president of Hospitality Technology Consulting. Mark Hoare, partner, The Prism Partnership, and Jon Inge, president, Jon Inge & Associates, both served on the panel.
“Over the years, I’ve seen the central reservation system as the foundation and heart of the booking process as well as inventory and rate management,” opened Burns, calling it the engine of room sales in many respects. “That was true in 1990. It was true in 2000. It was true in 2010. Is it true today?” Burns noted that many have suggested that CRS activities are now part of the domain of PMS, revenue management systems, customer relationship management or possibly general managers.
He also pointed to one of the major challenges facing the modern CRS: globalization. Inge added that this creates a communication challenge. “There are increasingly varied sources of guests coming from countries around the world, and this requires different languages,” he said, noting that the same is true with regard to other local needs and customs. For his part, Hoare added, “As far as globalization, most of the individual applications in CRS have done a reasonably good job with language, taxes and cultural aspects.”
However, Hoare noted that one of the major challenges with CRS is that it’s a system that evolved through necessity rather than elegant design. “The platform that we now call the central reservation system, dare I say it, is almost redundant,” he said. “I think it can be absorbed and assumed somewhere else as a much more elegant solution.”
“I don’t think there’s any one traditional system that is the core of the hotel operation anymore,” added Inge. “The core is… all of the information you have about the guests, their needs, their booking preferences and so on.” He added that CRS systems may not continue, but the function of delivering reservations will.
The panelists also discussed OTAs. Burns questioned whether they represent a replacement threat and Hoare noted, “If you take a look at the functionality, power and connectivity of the OTAs, you might say it’s already happened… They are leading the way and eminently positioned.” Burns pointed to Priceline’s acquisition last year of Hotel Ninjas and Buuteeq. “They’re nibbling their way down, getting into web design, ecommerce and other areas,” he said.