Radiant Systems Moves Deeper Into Hotel Arena With HotelTools Acquisition

ATLANTA— With its recent acquisition of HotelTools, Radiant Systems said it is now focused on becoming a major player in the hotel industry as a technology solutions provider. The company has been delivering technology solutions to businesses that serve the consumer for some time, focusing on the entertainment, fast-food restaurant, petroleum and retail markets. Its solutions include transaction-processing and management systems that support enterprise processes for clients ranging in size from multi-national to single-site operators. Mark Haidet, Radiant’s vp/hospitality and travel services, noted the HotelTools acquisition provided the company with something Radiant was missing—particularly if it was going to go after the lodging market— a property management system (PMS) product. HotelTools brings with it an Internet-enabled PMS, said Haidet, which Radiant will package with its other technology solutions such as supply chain management systems, work-force management systems, POS and enterprise management for multiple-property reporting, as it goes to market in the lodging industry. Radiant executives said they became attracted to the hotel industry because of its piecemeal approach to technology. “We noticed there was a lot of segmentation of service providers and also, not many of the hotels are using the latest technology that is available,” said Haidet. “This PMS system is the first true ASP PMS system— it was built for the Internet, not like those systems that were built and then web enabled later,” said Seth Christian, founder and president of HotelTools. The strategy with the PMS, according to Haidet, is to continue to work with limited-service hotels and limited-service multi-unit hotel operators first, “as we accelerate applications. As the product grows, we will move it into the full-service market later this year.” Radiant will first look to build on the relationships HotelTools has formed in the hotel industry, said executives. Seth Christian, who has stayed on with the purchase by Radiant, said HotelTools’ PMS system is already installed in nine Suburban Lodge properties and is being rolled out to the rest of the chain. The company also had started pilot programs at Lodging Inc., Lodge America and Scottish Inns, which include the deployment of the HotelTools Enterprise Management Solution— a suite of Internet-Native application services comprising property management, reservations, guest management and reporting. Radiant brings with it one strong hotel connection— that of Marriott International. The company provides some Marriott corporate-owned hotels with its workforce-management solution, which executes activity-based scheduling and other functions. Radiant plans to expand on its relationship with the lodging giant in the near future. “We can create packages to meet the specific needs of both limited and full service hotels/resorts now,” said Haidet. He noted Radiant will work to beef up its profile in the lodging industry, “since our name is relatively unknown, although we service other large consumer-based businesses.” As such Radiant will attend lodging industry trade shows and work to build relationships with hotel brands, management companies and franchisees.