Independent IT consultancy vs supplier consultancy: what changes for the hotel

Not all consultancy is independent

When a hotel needs to replace its PMS, rebuild its network or hire a new security supplier, it often receives free "consultancy" from whoever sells the solution: the integrator's pre-sales team, the hardware reseller or the manufacturer itself. That help is legitimate and often technically good. But it starts from a specific question: which of our products solves your problem?

Independent consultancy starts from another question: what is the hotel's problem, and which solution on the market solves it best, at the best total cost? The difference is not technical competence. It is who pays, and which answer each model is able to give.

Side-by-side comparison

When the supplier's consultancy is enough

Not every decision needs an independent assessment. The supplier's consultancy is usually enough when the hotel has already chosen the solution and only needs to configure it well, when the purchase is a simple replacement of something that already works, or when the amount involved is small compared with the cost of an assessment. In those cases, the knowledge of someone who knows the product inside out is exactly what the hotel needs.

An independent assessment makes the most difference when the decision involves several systems and integrations (PMS, network, payments), when there is a long contract or a high cost of switching, when guest data, payments or the continuity of the operation are at stake, or when the hotel needs to compare competing proposals on the same criteria.

Where conflicts of interest tend to show up

The risk is not bad faith, it is incentive. Whoever profits from the sale has an incentive, even without realising it, to recommend more than is needed. Frequent signs:

• Equipment or licences sized above what the operation uses
• Proprietary solutions that make it harder to change supplier in the future
• Bundles that mix what the hotel needs with what it did not ask for
• Automatic renewals and price increases that nobody reviews
• The same company that sold the solution assessing whether the delivery is good

See how to map and review these contracts in the guide to managing a hotel's IT suppliers.

Transparency on commissions

"Independent" is an easy word to use, so it is worth asking how each consultant is paid. At HotelTI, we do not resell systems or hold agreements with specific suppliers, and any supplier commission is only discussed after the hotel has agreed its price, without changing that price, and is always disclosed to the hotel. We assess every supplier on the same technical criteria, and implementation is carried out by the chosen supplier, under our supervision.

Whoever the consultant is, the rule that protects the hotel is the same: any payment from suppliers should be disclosed in writing, and it cannot influence the choice or the price.

Questions to ask any consultant

• Do you resell, or have a commercial partnership with, any of the suppliers you are going to assess?
• Do you receive any payment from suppliers, and at what point is the hotel told about it?
• Which criteria will you use to compare the proposals, and are they the same for all of them?
• Would you recommend not buying, if that were the best answer?
• Who follows the implementation and holds the supplier to account after signing?

If the question is not which consultancy to trust but who should run IT day to day, the comparison that fits is IT consultant vs MSP.

Next steps

Before a big technology decision, such as a new PMS, a new network or replacing a critical supplier, it is worth having an assessment made from the hotel's side. Our team gathers the requirements, compares the options on the same criteria, supports the negotiation and follows the implementation with the chosen supplier. Talk to our team.