Serenata IntraWare is one of the leading providers of electronic marketing and CRM solutions for the hospitality industry. Its products Serenata @mail and Serenata NetHotel are designed to maximise sales and profits.

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: Hi Dieter, thank you for speaking to Breaking Travel News today. Could we begin with a little overview of Serenata IntraWare, what is it the brand does?

Dieter Dirnberger: Serenata IntraWare has been in business for nearly 20 years, and has always focused on technology exclusively for the hospitality industry.

We see a tremendous opportunity for hotels to regain control of their room inventory using CRM and Big Data to fuel their revenue engines.

It is a very exciting time for us because the industry gradually realizes a holistic CRM approach is instrumental and serves as the backbone of any successful organisation moving forward.

Unlike other companies in this discipline, Serenata combines 20 years of CRM and technology expertise to support some of the most distinguished hotel brands around the world.

BTN: Serenata is based in Germany. Is Europe your main market, or do you offer your services on a global basis?

DD: Because of our former Micros-Fidelio spin-off, our roots and headquarters remain in Munich. 

Today we support 2,000+ installations across 50 countries.

That said, we are a global company now. In 2014 we established a US branch in Silicon Valley to better serve our rapidly growing US customer community.

We strategically chose Silicon Valley because this area continues to foster the most innovative and technology advanced companies including Apple, Amazon, Google, Groupon, Facebook, Oracle and the likes.

In fact, Serenata already provides integration with many of these game changing companies and helps hoteliers increase bookings via direct marketing channels.

BTN: You are launching a new promotional video this week. Could you bring our readers up to date with what is happening there?

DD: Our products are unique to the industry, and we wanted to portray that uniqueness in our video.

Hospitality remains as one of the most emotional industries, though many software providers spread their message with very technical fact sheets or videos. 

We understand the dilemma of the modern hotelier, who is challenged to keep up with latest technology trends.

Not keeping up may have a substantial impact on hoteliers’ bottom lines and could be a decisive factor in their fight against their competitors.

All that said, we just wanted to provide an informational video with a simple but clear message: ‘Don’t guess – let data drive your business. Use Smart Data to increase your profits.’

That is the core of what we deliver at Serenata.

BTN: What other developments can we expect from Serenata during the coming 12 months?

DD: We are very proud of our world class customer base spanning across the globe including APEX Hotels, Belmond, COMO Hotels, Constance Hotels & Resorts, Danubius Hotels, Dorint, Dusit International, Four Seasons, Leading Hotels of the World, Lindner Hotels & Resorts, LUX* Resorts & Hotels, Kempinski Hotels & Resorts, Mövenpick, Oberoi Hotels & Resorts, Oetker Collection, One & Only Resorts, ONYX Hospitality Group, Red Lion Hotels, relexa Hotels, Shangri-La, Steigenberger, Taj Hotels & Resorts, and Warwick International Hotels.

We will remain focused to improve our existing customers’ market share in a highly competitive environment where you see a lot of old and new players fight for business and inventory including OTA’s, Meta Search Engines and Google in particular, Social Media Channels and many new kids on the block like e.g. Airbnb and others.

As such we will announce a series of new technology initiatives and functionalities including integrations with best-of-breed companies such as Amazon, Duetto, Groupon, TrustYou, ReviewPro and other leading companies, that simply allow hotels to recognise and reward their best guests and stay in touch throughout the entire guest journey.

BTN: Serenata has been nominated as the World’s Leading Hotel CRM Technology Provider at the World Travel Awards. Tell us how it feels to have received this prestigious honour?

DD: We are very proud of this nomination.

I also feel honoured and happy on behalf of the entire Serenata team who did an amazing job over all those years to serve our customers and wake up every day with the motivation to constantly improve our technology and services. 

Especially in the last couple of years, we invested a lot of time and money to set ourselves apart from other companies in order to give the Hotel CRM landscape a fresh twist, which I believe makes the Serenata team a deserved nominee for this year’s award.