Complementing their proven on-premises solutions, German hotel software provider protel has launched an additional web-based product line. From native mobile solutions to a fully featured booking solution for the hotel website, protel offers cloud solutions that perfectly interact with their hotel management systems – both on-premises and in the cloud.

More and more hotels are discovering that hospitality management applications can deliver even more value as web-based services. Cloud applications are hosted in a secure computer center and delivered to the user via the Internet. The benefits are impossible toignore: Lower overall cost, no requirement to build and own an IT infrastructure, no need to bother with maintenance and data security, and the ability to add and subtract capacity as needed. The sole requirement to use cloud applications such as the hotel management software protel Air or the new protel Web Booking Engine is an Internet browser.

To reap the benefits of the cloud, however, hotels are not required to move their entire IT infrastructure online. Realistically speaking, companies often have invested too much in their existing infrastructure and it simply would be a bad business decision to replace a legacy system until the cost is fully amortized. Even if a company has no immediate plans of transforming their infrastructure, cloud applications can be added on for specific business purposes to immediately create incremental benefits.

There are many clever ways of combining cloud and on-premises solutions. An example is protel’s new Web Booking Engine (WBE). As a cloud solution, the WBE is not installed in the hotel, but can be used immediately after activation. Being deeply integrated into the protel on-premises solutions, the protel WBE 4.0 allows the hotelier to take advantage of both worlds. Hotel staff can stay in their familiar working environment, using the fast connectivity and feature-rich interface of the cloud module to improve their efficiency and productivity.

Businesses are increasingly turning to so-called hybrid solutions to reduce costs and enable more scalable and flexible business processes. Just as needed, the hotelier can simply add another cloud module to his hotel management system. This is not only a practical advantage for the hotelier; it also helps him meet the ever-increasing guest demands. With more and more daily activities going online each and every day, guests are accustomed to accessing information quickly and comprehensively.

The introduction of the cloud to the hospitality industry will play a large part in stimulating the faster deployment of new services to both companies and customers, and for both it will restore something unique: a choice.