Hilton Taps HotelKey for Property Management Tech at All Its Hotels

25.08.2023 - 13:43 / skift.com / Justin Dawes

Hilton is outsourcing its property management system to the tech company HotelKey, replacing legacy systems at all 7,000 of the hotels under its brand. 

There are now 1,200 Hilton hotels using the HotelKey system, and about 50 are being added each week. The plan is that all hotels will use the cloud-based system by 2026. 

For the past few decades, Hilton’s hotels and resorts have been using an on-premise system developed in-house called OnQ. The customized tech provided by HotelKey, which primarily includes the property management system and corresponding training software on the same platform, is being called Property Engagement Platform.

It’s time for a change so Hilton can reach its next goals for tech innovation and guest service, said Michael Leidinger, chief information officer.

“This was part of our broader program to renovate all of our technology and our platforms,” Leidinger said. 

Hilton started the integration at its lower-chain-scale brands — such as Hampton, Hilton Garden Inn, and Tru — which make up the biggest footprint in terms of the number of properties. The first hotel to get the HotelKey system was a Hampton Inn in Baltimore in December 2020. 

Much of the following two years went toward planning and pilots in conjunction with slow integration at about 500 hotels. In 2023, the mass rollout began. The tech is now live in multiple countries and every U.S. state.

Full-service and luxury hotels will receive rapid integrations in the next six to nine months, Leidinger said. 

“We’ve given ourselves a few years to get this done because it’s a tough journey. But I think at the end, we’re going to emerge in a much better position and be able to accelerate our innovations at an even faster pace,” Leidinger said. 

Hilton manages roughly 12-15 percent of the branded properties. The rest are fully franchised, meaning those operators pay Hilton for the use of its brand. The franchisees are required to use the property management system that the brand provides. 

Hilton began considering next steps in 2019, including whether it would continue with an in-house system or if it would outsource. Ultimately, the company decided outsourcing a modern cloud-based system would be the best option. 

On-premise systems are a known pain point in the industry. They often require site visits for installation and service, the siloed systems can make customer service tricky, and upgrades for a large brand like Hilton can take over a year to fully implement. 

“We want to be able to move a lot more quickly, being able to deploy and innovate,” Leidinger said.  

With a cloud-based system, the tech company can install and make regular updates remotely and in a fraction of the time. The same goes for customer service