| | 19TRAVEL AND HOSPITALITY TECH OUTLOOKOCT - NOV 2023Brian Kirkland is the Chief Information Officer at Choice Hotels International. Kirkland is an accomplished leader with more than two decades of experience in leading overall IT strategy, infrastructure, and development. He is best known for his ability to design and launch new initiatives that align with business objectives and drive change.What are some of projects that Choice Hotels is currently focusing on, and how do they align with the company's strategic goals?We acquired Radisson Hotels America in August of last year. As part of this acquisition, our current focus is to complete the migration of those Radisson hotelsonto Choice's platform this year. This initiative encompasses not only bringing Radisson hotels into our system but also migrating its 10 million loyalty customersand integrating their commercial, corporate, and marketing efforts together.This comprehensive initiative, which includes the integration of substantial owned and managed property business, presents an opportunity for us to learn and apply new technologies. Investing in technology is crucial to achieving our strategic goals and is an integral part of our value proposition.How is Choice Hotels adapting to the evolving customer expectation and preferences in terms of technology and digital services?The pandemic triggered significant technological advancements and facilitated a greater acceptance of change among people. For example, this resulted in a notable increase in the use of QR codes for payments and digital check-ins where prior to the pandemic this was a steep learning curve for some users. Companies like ours, which had previously invested in cloud infrastructure and other technologies, were able to quickly adapt to the evolving customer needs. We recognized the importance of technology and made further investments, leading to the development of ChoiceMAX, an award-winning revenue management system designed to assist hotel owners maximize profitability to their hotels. Leveraging AI and data from various sources, ChoiceMAX provides real-time updates and rate recommendations, enabling hotel owners to effectively manage their revenue and profitability ­ and they can do this through mobile phones from anywhere. These initiatives were built upon our prior investments, such as Choice Edge, and our transition towards the cloud with AWS, and away from our old data centers. This transition has helped us stay at the forefront of digital transformation and provide an enhanced customer experience.Please shed light on how you integrate emerging technologies into Choice Hotels operations.We leverage AI and ML in various aspects of our operations, and have for years. This includes assisting developers in determining optimal locations for new hotels, helping franchisees enhance hotel efficiency, and enhancing the customer experience through personalized hotel and room recommendations. AI plays a crucial role in making our operations more convenient by providing easy access to data and facilitating faster decision-making processes.While there is currently a lot of hype around implementing emerging technologies like generative AI for Brian Kirkland, Chief Information Officer, Choice Hotels InternationalADOPTING EMERGING TECHNOLOGY FOR DRIVING CHANGETechnology should not be adopted for the sake of technology itself; it should be used strategically to drive value for our businesses Brian KirklandCXO INSIGHTSThis article is based on an interview between Travel and Hospitality Tech Outlook and Brian Kirkland.
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