Dive Brief:

• Hilton plans to replace its existing property management system at more than 7,000 hotels over the next three years with HotelKey’s cloud-based Property Engagement Platform, co-developed by the hotel brand, the company announced Thursday. 
• The new property management platform is already functioning at more than 1,000 properties within the Hilton portfolio.  
• Reliance on legacy systems — long a headache for hoteliers — will soon be a thing of the past for Hilton as it taps a third-party vendor to streamline operations and increase guest satisfaction. 

Dive Insight:

Hilton is winding down the use of its longtime OnQ PMS at its properties in favor of a new solution designed to provide a “more frictionless travel experience,” Michael Leidinger, senior vice president and chief information officer at Hilton, said in the company announcement. 

The Property Engagement Platform, designed for exclusive use at Hilton properties, will speed up computer-based transactions, reducing guest wait times at the front desk and increasing the amount of time staff can dedicate to personalized service.

The platform also includes access to HotelKey's TrainKey program, which the companies claim reduces PMS training for team members from 40 hours to four hours.

At Homewood Suites by Hilton Largo Washington DC — one of the first hotels in Hilton’s portfolio to implement PEP — the platform helped to “significantly” reduce employee training time, said General Manager Andron Gordon. Additionally, PEP drastically decreased the number of post-stay calls from guests inquiring about incidental charges, he said. 

The PEP system has a centralized interface that lists the most important reservation information, including check-in and check-out dates, room details and payment, on a single screen. This enables Hilton staff to “move beyond a scripted transactional interaction” and build a more genuine connection with guests, Gordon said.

“Since implementing the PEP solution in early 2022, we rarely have a line at our front desk, allowing us to spend more time connecting with our guests,” Gordon said. 

According to Fareed Ahmad, co-founder and CEO of HotelKey, which also counts Red Roof and Extended Stay America as clients, its partnership with Hilton "is a testament to our hospitality platform technology and capabilities that allow a single property platform to serve many distinct brands across the globe." 

Ahmad said the PEP endeavor “highlights our partnership approach to integrate our technology as a part of the broader workflows of a large hotel enterprise.”