Creating internal efficiencies
Labor shortages continue to affect everyone in the travel industry. While Leisure and Hospitality added 2.4 million jobs in 2021, employment is down 7.9% since the February of 2020, according to the most recent data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Those in luxury accommodations are competing against one another and rising wages in other industries in attempts to attract and retain workers, with inflation both in salaries and input prices.
60-80%
Cost savings created by switching from paper to online billing, according to one report.
At the same time, much of the space still has some combination of legacy technology and manual processes controlling the back office. McKinsey research found that “if even one pain point in the customer journey is not satisfactorily resolved, the entire perception of a travel company can be degraded.”
Everyone who works in this space wears many hats – and they’ve piled on over the last two years. Every minute spent on the phone with a guest having trouble making a payment, for instance, or questioning something on a bill, is time that could be spent doing something else.
Many of the areas where luxury accommodations providers can make really huge gains hinge on being able to access data to make decisions and ensure access to working capital to execute against them. Those in the travel industry consistently report that they’re held back from transforming parts of the business models because of manual processes, legacy technology and systems that can’t talk to one another. It’s hard to track information when it lives in different places – and also hard to ensure its integrity. Many of the areas where luxury accommodations providers can make really huge gains hinge on being able to access data to make decisions and ensure access to working capital to execute against them.
Automating more of the accounts receivable process will boost efficiencies internally. This includes:
- Workflows that connect order to cash, and reduce manual steps in between that can introduce errors
- Reconciliation and matching speeds time to close
- Potential operating expense savings through reduction of incoming merchant card and bank wire fees
- Single source of information on receivables for easier budgeting and accurate and reliable forecasting
- Freeing up time for employees to spend on other tasks
Selecting the right software provider
Those evaluating software providers should pay attention to:
- Industry-specific experience in the travel space
- Integration capabilities and flexibilities
- Ability to automate communications with agents and clients, and handle payer feedback and questions
- Type and amount of data collected, and how the provider ensures compliance with regulations and industry standards
- The software’s filtering, visualization, and reporting capabilities
- Strong technical and customer support