Google Workspace is Emerging as a Top Hospitality Service Provider
Google workspace is now a top hospitality service provider, offering businesses of all sizes the opportunity to outsource their office needs. Google has been quietly expanding its Google Workspace business for a few years and it is now a major player in the hospitality services sector. Hoteliers are quickly recognizing the value that Google Workspace brings to their businesses and are making the switch.
Workspace offers a wide range of services that hoteliers can take advantage of, including Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Calendar, and Hangouts. These tools allow hoteliers to keep track of their reservations, staff schedules, and more. In addition, Google has created a special program for hotels called "Google Hotels." This program allows hoteliers to list their properties on Google Maps and receive bookings directly through the search engine.
Hoteliers who switch to Google Workspace will see an increase in efficiency and productivity in their businesses. Thanks to Google's years of experience in the workspace sector, businesses can be assured that they are getting top-quality service.
The hotel technology stack is being restructured.
What platforms do you rely on the most, and which ones are secondary (albeit vital) add-ons to your main technology stack? Enterprise systems and business applications are difficult to remove. The platforms and apps we add today will have an impact on costs and management tomorrow.
For hospitality businesses, a plethora of workplace technology solutions are now accessible. Certain property management systems (PMSs) are also integrating workplace functions such as chat and voice into their portfolio of services. The jury is still out on adoption, but more specialist platforms may be able to compete with the likes of Google or Microsoft.
Let's start with Google Cloud. With the finest of breed infrastructure, platform, industry solutions, and know-how, Google Cloud enables hoteliers to digitally transform their operations at an astounding rate. Google offers corporate-grade cloud services that leverage Google's cutting-edge technology to help hotels run more efficiently and adapt to changing demands, providing a solid foundation for the future in the hospitality industry.
In Google Workspace, trusted hybrid collaboration gets a boost from new features. Google is introducing several approaches to strengthen the foundation of Google Workspace, as organizations look for new methods for their teams to collaborate securely in a hybrid work environment.
Client-side encryption will help customers strengthen the confidentiality of their data while addressing a range of data sovereignty and compliance needs with meeting security boosted for Google meet.
Drive Access and Security Controls. Rules for Drive, which restrict how files may be shared both inside and outside a corporate environment, are available.
Drive labels, which help classify files and implments controls based on their sensitivity levels.
Enhanced Malware and Phishing to assist detect and prevent inside attacks and user error.
Is Google's workspace mature enough?
The potential for Google Workspace is enormous, and it is rapidly growing. Clearly, it's not property management software. For the hospitality industry, which ecosystem should they choose as the primary technology base layer?
Some Google apps, such as Docs, Sheets, and Slides, do not have the same level of power as Word, Excel, or PowerPoint. Google's goal with Workspace is also a bid to compete against Microsoft Office 365. Microsoft has long dominated the market.
Google's Workspace rebrand is clear evidence that the company intends to play in this game. What's notable about the Workspace rebrand is Google's approach (and likely intention) for utilizing innovation across its entire ecosystem.
G Suite stands for a collection of distinct tools that users may select from to make their lives easier. Workspace, on the other hand, refers to a system intended to be used as a whole and is greater than the sum of its components.
In Google Workspace, spaces are the primary outlet for team collaboration. Spaces are the Google product to link more closely with Google Workspace tools like Calendar, Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Meet, and Tasks. They provide a better method for individuals to interact in topic-based discussions, share knowledge and ideas, work on projects forward and create team culture by integrating well with Google Workspace tools. Spaces allow users to view the entire history, context, and content of conversations, allowing everyone to follow along and contribute at any time, in line with the fast pasted service-oriented nature of the hospitality business.
Hospitality companies must be present on the channels and platforms that consumers use. Looking further down the Google evolutionary tree, Workspace's integration into the entire Google Ecosystem begins to make sense.
Collaborative and equitable hybrid meetings
To truly become a competitor to Microsoft 365, Google has added even more unique features in spaces to help teams stay organized, connected and collaborative, providing a simply integrated user experience that fits seamlessly into their suite of products:
Discoverable spaces: Spaces, like any other content on the site, may be made discoverable to all members of an organization so that others may join in the discussion. Administrators can also set their site's default discoverability.
Enhanced search: Users can use search to rapidly discover material from within and across spaces, as well as new places to join. Searching everything in spaces allows for significant new collaboration possibilities while also making it simpler to gain access to the team's collective knowledge base.
In-line topic threading: The capacity to respond to any message in a space encourages broader discussions and collaboration across teams and organizations.
Robust admin and security: Keywords for content moderation, space administration, and establishing appropriate rules for healthy communication across domains and organizations.
Working location in Google Calendar: Team members may now designate their work location in Calendar on a regular basis or by segmentable working hours. It's simpler to plan face-to-face collaboration or set expectations in a hybrid workplace, multiple locations, working from home, or working from another place.
Google Meet calling: Designed to be a seamless experience of initiating a video or audio call between one or more participants. Google intends to bring Meet calling to all the natural endpoints in Workspace where you'd initiate an ad-hoc call including chats, contact cards, and spaces.
Companion mode in Google Meet: Users will be able to join meetings from their personal device in Companion mode, which will allow for seamless entry via in-room audio and video.
Live-translated captions in Google Meet: Live-translated captions will be available in English to French, German, Spanish and Portuguese later this year, with many more languages to follow. Attendees will be able to follow along in the language of their choice from a personal device thanks to live-translated captions.
Where the Google ecosystem really wins in the long run
Google has several advantages over the competition. The most important is that Google integrates with consumers and creates a more effective guest experience in the long run. Every day, millions of travelers all around the world use Google to look for accommodation. Not only that but with the onset of voice search with Smart speakers and Google Assistant, Google is now more than ever the starting point for every travel journey.
Google wins when it comes to customers' journeys because they have such a wide reach and may use it for hotels. Google Search with Google hotel ads, Maps, and the Assistant show your hotel's availability and pricing. Attracting these customers is the key battleground. Google hotel customers browsing rich hotel photos and reviews or searching hotels in any city. Hotels can connect with new and returning customers and send them to their site to book direct - or allow them to book on Google. All integrating with Google workplace.
Google can provide seamless connectivity and plug-and-play capabilities with current connection partners, rates, and availability, as well as the freedom to establish agile special room rates or loyalty member deals.
Last year, according to the Portrait of American Travelers study by travel and hospitality marketing firm MMGY Global, Google ranked second to Expedia in one-stop shops for travelers.
Google has also added trip planning to its arsenal with the launch of Google Travel, a simplified platform that combines Google Flights, Google Hotels, and other travel tools. It's considerably more comprehensive than a typical booking site. For people who use numerous Google products on a regular basis - such as Google Search, Gmail, Calendar, Maps, and so on - this allows guests to keep all of their trip itinerary and past itineraries in one place. This seamless experience brings huge advantages to hoteliers harnessing the power of Google Workspace.
Since the typical trip can take days or weeks to plan, this can be very advantageous the efficient communication between guest and hotel can be achieved. When you're signed in to your Google account, all of your travel-related questions, saved locations from Google Maps, and flagged flights and hotels are immediately sent to your Trips page when you create or book a trip.
The cross-pollination of data across all Google services provides a highly customized Google Travel experience to some people, who will find it extremely useful, while some may consider it overly invasive. But often ease of use and a great user experience wins in the end.
Conclusion - Is Google's unfair advantage too hard to ignore
Google is certainly banking on the likelihood of a vastly different work-life equation. Increasingly, no matter where you start planning an excursion online, they all lead to more Google products. In reality, the travel booking ecosystem is a web of co-reliance. Google needs online travel agents and hotels to deliver traffic, but Google relies on them for advertising revenue.
The majority of hotels' traffic comes from Google. There's no other channel where they can acquire that volume of visitors for that little money.
Google Search, Google Maps, and Youtube are three Google products that are now critical for any hospitality provider. Google receives over 3.8 million searches per minute, 228 million searches per hour, and 5.6 billion searches per day. Unsurprisingly, Google has established itself as a market leader in the field of travel marketing and distribution.
Google Workspace will further solidify the companies position in hospitality, as the future of work evolves. How Google Ads, Google Travel, Google Maps and Google Workspace, and so forth eventually fold into the hospitality tech stack is an evolution in progress.
It's clear that Google isn't going anywhere; Workspace is yet another example of this, and integrating Google workspace into a hoteliers arsenal makes sense.
Siemlus is a expert in this area, a Google Cloud Certified, G-Suite, Cloud Network Engineer Asscoiate and Proffessional provider. Get in touch with the Siemlus team to understand how we can help your team or brand make this leap today.