Serenata IntraWare is one of the leading providers of electronic marketing and CRM solutions for the hospitality industry.

Here Breaking Travel News editor Chris O’Toole sits down with president Dieter Dirnberger to discuss just how important rapidly changing technology can be for the hotel sector.

Breaking Travel News: Good afternoon Dieter. It’s been a year since we last spoke. Perhaps you could bring us up to date with what has been happening over the past 12 months?

Dieter Dirnberger: Since last year we have achieved many milestones.

Lately we have won new prestigious international clients for our Serenata NetHotel Enterprise CRM solution – Trump Hotels, the Althoff Hotel Group and Sun Resorts.

It is a true honour for Serenata to work with the “best of the best” in the hospitality world.

It is also a great motivation for the entire Serenata team to provide world-class service every single day.

In addition we have built new collaborations with leading technology companies in the hotel industry.

The results of these partnerships always mean added value and a higher return on investment for our customers.

Last but not least, we will celebrate our 20th anniversary this year.

We initially started in a small office in Munich in 1996 with just a few employees.

We never lost our focus and over the past two decades we became a true global player with customers in more than 50 countries around the world.

BTN: Serenata recently participated in the HITEC 2016, which saw record-breaking attendance from across the hospitality technology sector. How did the show go from your perspective?

DD: Participating at HITEC 2016 was a great success for our company.

The HITEC show in New Orleans was the perfect platform to meet partners, customers and prospects in the United States market.

It is also important to stay ahead of new industry trends and HITEC is always a great event to network with the brightest people in our industry.

For Serenata it is very important to take part in shows like HITEC.

While we all live and work in a digital world this can’t replace the personal interaction which is still key for our business.

BTN: When we last spoke you were excited about a raft of technological innovations you were preparing to bring to market. Can you tell us where we stand with that in the summer of 2016?

DD: Indeed, we have launched a number of product initiatives during the last year.

The essence of our CRM solution is to strengthen the direct business, reduce guest acquisition cost and increase guest loyalty.

In the case of our cooperation with Trump Hotels the loyalty schema for the Trump Card program has been taken to an entire new level with the seamless integration of the SynXis IBE and CRO, the guest member portal and Serenata’s loyalty engine.

The result is a flawless redemption experience for all Trump Card Members.

BTN: Serenata has recently been recognised with Gold Partner status in the Oracle PartnerNetwork. How important is this for the company?

DD: Our team is very happy about having gained the OPN Gold status.

This means that our customers can profit from OPN benefits, including Serenata’s in-depth knowledge of Oracle products.

This empowers us to deliver proven value-add to our customers and ensures that our application will be fully certified and integrated with the upcoming Opera versions.

BTN: Serenata is seeking to defend the title of World’s Leading Hotel CRM Technology Provider, which you won at the World Travel Awards in 2015. How important has this victory proved for the company and how confident are you of retaining the title?

DD: Defending our title of the World’s Leading Hotel CRM Technology Provider means a lot to us.

The title stands for quality and state of the art technology solutions - so yes, we definitely want to win the title again.

Besides that, Serenata celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, so winning the World Travel Awards 2016 would be the best gift we could think of.