How I Realised Our Essential Tech Wasn't Up to Scratch

Why a robust and integrated IT infrastructure matters more than ever

As a hotelier at heart, there’s one thing I’ve always held dear, our guests. Their journey, their experience, their trust.

For years, I worked tirelessly to deliver service excellence, from the warm welcome at reception to the seamless check-out, and everything in between. But somewhere along the way, I realised that even with the best team and the best intentions, something was fundamentally holding us back: our IT infrastructure.

This was no sudden epiphany. The realisation crept in slowly, like a persistent white noise I could no longer ignore.

The IT awakening

Part of the realisation was clear - the PMS couldn’t speak to the CRM, and the CRM didn’t sync with the guest communications platform. Data was scattered across silos. Leaving us with disjointed and misaligned information on our guests.

As you can imagine, this created endless manual workarounds. The teams were becoming increasingly frustrated. Reporting felt haphazard and ultimately, we missed opportunities both operational and experiential.

The turning point came during a digital transformation project. What started as a review of operational systems quickly became a bigger wake-up call.

We weren’t just running old software, but we were running outdated thinking on an outdated infrastructure. We had tech that was only “good enough,” it wasn’t helping us grow, adapt, or personalise. It wasn’t enabling our people. It wasn’t protecting our data. And worst of all, it wasn’t serving our guests the way they deserved, nor the way other sectors were already personalising, automating and making buying and experiencing so effortless.

Mindful of the approach

As hoteliers, we talk a lot about guest journeys and experiences, yet we too often operate with disconnected systems that can’t support the vision we strive to deliver.

We celebrate our teams for their empathy and dedication, yet when they’re not engaging with guests, they’re frustratingly juggling between tabs and tools that don’t talk to each other. We want loyalty, but we don’t know our guests beyond their booking reference.

Today’s hotel technology landscape is bursting with innovation. From personalisation engines to guest messaging apps, the tools available to elevate the guest experience are growing every day. However, despite this digital evolution, one challenge remains stubbornly persistent: data silos.

While there are some hospitality platforms that still operate in isolation, the shift toward open APIs, webhooks, and middleware solutions is making integration more achievable and providing the ability to get a single unified view of each guest. Hospitality tech is finally becoming more “connected”, but this is only possible if the foundations are right.

Start with the foundations

Hotel systems cannot deliver optimum performance without the right IT infrastructure. Network resilience, data architecture, and secure access layers are essential. Without them, even the most powerful guest-facing technology is at risk of underperforming or worse, exposing vulnerabilities.

While your PMS may be outdated, installing a more powerful system on an outdated infrastructure will cause it to buckle under pressure or just keep stalling - failing to give you the value or benefits from the investment.

Integrating and securing your tech stack is no longer just the job of your system vendors, like your PMS, PoS, CRM providers. It requires technical expertise to design and support IT infrastructure for a digital ecosystem that can handle and protect your new systems. Without this, your shiny new tools are no different to a Formula One car stuck looking pretty in a garage.

So, if you’re investing in technology, make sure you’re also investing in the infrastructure to support it. Because real transformation isn’t just about what your systems can do, it’s about how well they work together, securely and reliably.

Taking a confident step forward

From managing hotel systems internally to supporting hoteliers to determine an IT infrastructure that works for their business, my journey is now about helping hotels bridge the gap between ambition and capability.

Through Focus on Hospitality, we provide access to a dedicated team that understands what it means to work in this industry. We know that “tech” in hospitality is not about shiny features, but it’s about integration, security, efficiency, and ultimately, profitability.

Whether it’s aligning your PMS, CRMs, Booking engines, Guest Communication systems with your telephony, security, WiFi, devices and personalisation strategies: we’re here to simplify it. To help you build a tech stack that works, not just exists.

The truth is, no hotel can afford to be let down by their technology anymore. Expectations are high. Data privacy is serious. Margins are tight. Your team deserves, and expects - better tools. And your guests? Well, they’ll notice the difference, even if they don’t see the system behind the scenes.

From dealing with frustration to alleviating it - I’ve experienced the power of getting it right. That’s why we do what we do at Focus on Hospitality.

Author

Alessandra Leoni, Focus on Hospitality
Helping hotels embrace innovation with empathy, purpose, and confidence.

Alessandra Leoni is Head of Hospitality at Focus Group, leading the Focus on Hospitality division. With over 30 years of hospitality experience including roles as General Manager and commercial leadership positions, Alessandra brings genuine operational understanding to technology strategy. Focus on Hospitality supports 300+ hotels across the UK with technology solutions including WiFi infrastructure, cyber security, telephony, and managed IT services.

Contact: [email protected]