The all-inclusive system is now giving way to boutique hotel management. Emphasizing that tourism is undergoing a significant transformation and that the long-established all-inclusive system is being replaced by boutique hotel management, Talya Bilişim Managing Partner Nilüfer Durukal said, "A smaller scale, personalized, differentiated service approach is coming. This will affect all dynamics of the sector. As in every business, three concepts remain the most important in hotels: 1. Cost control 2. Sales profitability 3. Customer satisfaction (Repeat Guests)." At this point, technology and digital transformation come to our rescue. Digital transformation means producing products and services using digital tools. The tourism sector has correctly read digitalization and is rapidly implementing it. "Digital Change and Transformation" has recently become one of the most focused topics in the tourism sector. Here, which digital technologies can be used for tourism is a crucial point. Talya Bilişim Managing Partner Nilüfer Durukal stated, "With the advantages of web technologies and cloud computing, reducing the costs in our IT department should be our top priority." She added, "All our systems should be integrated so that data is entered at a single point, but in return, we can receive detailed reports with different perspectives. By benefiting from artificial intelligence, we can ensure profitability in sales. Nowadays, profitability is prioritized over occupancy rates. Hotels prefer to sell at higher prices with 90% occupancy rather than being fully booked at 100%. The guest profile is changing accordingly. More conscious tourists who spend more money are coming."
Digitalization offers full capability to plan, implement, and analyze every moment of the long work process in the tourism sector such as pre-booking marketing activities, pricing, online reservation processes, accommodation experience, post-stay CRM, and customer relations.
Elektraweb provides speed, convenience, and savings
Talya Bilişim’s Elektraweb allows managing a hotel digitally in all departments—from front office to accounting, from room and floor services to restaurant, and connections to international sales channels like Booking and Expedia, as well as staff and SPA management. While doing this, it helps you use resources efficiently and control stock and waste management. It also reduces hotel costs and saves money. According to Nilüfer Durukal, with the increasing active use of artificial intelligence applications, important progress has been made in interpreting data and taking action. In short, "Digital Transformation" returns to the tourism sector as cost savings, more bookings, error-free processes, incredible speed, and high customer satisfaction.
Digitalization is our best supporter
Planning and monitoring every moment of a touristic activity end-to-end digitally also means removing the "human error" factor. However, the key phrase here is: removing not the "human," but the "human error." Dystopian views create great fears about machines replacing humans. Nilüfer Durukal disagrees with this. "Turkey's tourism is increasing its level of digitalization every year due to pandemic, legal obligations, global market competition, and other reasons. Compared to 10 years ago, the way all tourism enterprises—from hotels to agencies, restaurants to entertainment venues—operate has 'changed era.' However, a brief research will show you that the tourism sector is in great need of human resources. There are many reasons for this situation: whether you call it pandemic, lack of vision, or economic deadlocks. But my conclusion is this; the acceleration of digitalization does not mean less need for human resources, it means a change in the 'quality' of the need."
Digital literacy
Durukal concretizes this with an example: "Today, when hiring a housekeeping staff, basic 'digital literacy' is expected. This may seem strange to some people. However, for hotels using web-based digital work management systems, this is a must. Because personnel are expected to be able to perform cleaning/dirty status reporting of the room, minibar information, fault notifications via their own mobile phone or an internet-enabled device, track their assigned tasks, and even create new work orders. The same applies to service staff, technical service workers, and kitchen teams. Why are 'Call Centers' still the favorite of businesses in the booking processes where digitalization is very active? Because at the heart of tourism is the human."
Shaping the future
According to Durukal, if we talk about the future of tourism, we need to mention the changing guest profile: elderly tourism, health tourism, faith tourism, solo travels, and the increasing time spent online; every day more guests plan and buy all the stages of their vacation online. So how well do our systems keep up with this change? How well and how quickly do we know our guest? Durukal’s answer is: "We must eliminate the lack of vision that thinks CRM is just sending birthday messages. Digitalization must bring a professional perspective. We need to update all tourism education with current approaches and technology-based methods. I am sure we will see the effects of this mindset not only in tourism but in every moment of our lives. Because a well-trained tourism professional will internalize sustainability, green tourism, and service quality concepts entering the sector. Their economic and environmental contributions to the destination will be undeniable."
Support for education
Durukal stated that she believes software companies like Talya Bilişim, which are the most important part of the tourism sector's digitalization process, have important roles in this regard. Therefore, Talya Bilişim offers its Elektraweb hotel program free of charge to 193 universities, vocational schools, and high schools providing tourism education. They also provide extensive knowledge transfer to educators writing source books.
Journey to sci-fi films
In the upcoming period, mobile usage rates are expected to approach one hundred percent. Solutions focusing on the individual, augmented reality, and wearable technologies will become more accessible and widespread. While many things from sci-fi movies are becoming reality, with your digital travel companion, you may find yourself in the restaurant you will love the most in the city, your friend may select the most favorite options on the menu for you, and language barriers might disappear with wearable technologies. Thanks to artificial intelligence, we can talk about a personalized tourism era. Our trip will be like a tailor-made suit, with destinations we want to see, reservation making, holiday spending, and accommodation methods exactly as we desire.
