This week, we met with Bob Durie, Managing Director of North West Europe for Hoist Group, at their offices in Chiswick in London to gain a better understanding of the business.
Hoist Group, with more than 20 years of proven hospitality experience, is the market leader in innovative High Speed Internet Access, Conference services, TV & Content solutions, PMS and back-office software as well as other guest-facing amenities for hotels, health care institutions and public operations.
Hoist Group is a well-known name in the hospitality industry but not yet in UK. Tell us a bit more about the company, how it all started?
Hoist Group was founded in Sweden in 1994 by our CEO Malcolm Lindblom. At the beginning we were supplying hotels with different product groups including in-room amenities, such as soaps, towels etc. and after just 20 years we evolved to become the leader in delivering innovative technology solutions for the hospitality industry. Our goal is to service our Customers with the most advanced systems for a variety of technical and operational needs. In the last two years by acquisition of Locatel and Swisscom Hospitality Services our company expanded to over 12 new markets such as France, Germany and UAE. We also strengthened our presence in UK and won large contracts with Accor and Rezidor to name a few for the supply and support of our Fusion Internet and TV offerings. Indeed with Accor’s we have achieved “Preferred WiFi Partner” status across Europe, Middle East and Africa.
How the products and services offered by Hoist Group help the hoteliers being more competitive on the market?
To help our customers optimise their results, we invest heavily in developing smart system solutions. Our main goal is to make each hoteliers life easier. With our range of products and level of support this is easily achievable. We are Customer-focused and we listen to them turning their needs into tailored-made services. We understand that our Customers are not only hoteliers but also their guests. Therefore increasing their positive experience by supplying market-leading solutions, translates into higher guest satisfaction and therefore profits of hotels themselves.
How do hoteliers choose the right product or a service?
For hotels the process begins from listening to their guests. They are the ones that give most valuable feedback and express need for additional features to be added onto the existing hotel services. That is why our offer is based on one simple platform – Fusion. It combines the most advanced technologies for Wi-Fi, Connected TV, Interfaces and Controls, which is continuously developed in tune with rapidly evolving user needs. But most importantly, it enables our Customers to add on new products whenever needed, giving them full control over their network and portfolio of services.
We understand how important support for any technology services is. Especially for hotels where guests expect issue to be solved swiftly. That is why Hoist Group offers 24/7/365 technical support via our dedicated Network Operations Center.
Hotels also should take into consideration the aspect of deployment of technologies orders contracted. Thanks to our experienced field resources, Hoist Group’s installations are incomparably faster and more thorough than the competition. As a full service provider we implement them ourselves and we also provide training for our systems and products.
Furthermore we have an advanced hotelier dashboard that enables the hotels IT, Management and Operational staff to have a live view of the status of their Fusion network and the modules on this whether a standalone WiFi network or a fully integrated installation encompassing the Hoist Group’s entire product set. Additional functionality such as monitoring adherence to strict SLA’s for supporting our client, management reporting and asset tracking make this a valuable tool for ongoing hotel operations.
What can we expect from Hoist Group in the future?
We will definitely continue a strategy of bringing to our Customers the most innovative solutions on the market from the Hoist Group’s portfolio and develop our already industry leading Fusion platform. Just recently we have added new features to our PMS product Hostsoft and its, Sales & Marketing“ module, which helps to automate and improve your sales and marketing processes. We are also constantly working on our task management product called Serviator and just recently we made available available 20+ new features and further enhanced the experience on various device types.
Furthermore, next year we will present our new concept around “Follow the Guest”, Hoist is definitely the one to watch – we will surprise you not once!
Learn more about the company here
If you would like to know more, please contact our Head of Sales Mark Teixeira on 02073 486770
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