๐๐ก๐๐ง ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ฒ ๐๐ฒ๐ฌ๐ญ๐๐ฆ๐ฌ ๐๐๐๐ญ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ฒ ๐๐ข๐ง๐๐ฌ๐๐ญ๐ฌ: ๐ ๐๐จ๐ซ๐ซ๐จ๐ซ ๐๐ญ๐จ๐ซ๐ฒ
In my line of work, I rarely need to log into a clientโs software. If I need a report, the client usually sends it to me, or I have already automated the process to receive it without lifting a finger.
A couple of weeks ago, however, a client asked me, for personal reasons, to extract data myself from a PMS. I will not name the system, out of respect for the people behind it (one of the founders is a friend) and also because they had already admitted the hotel was still on an old legacy version awaiting migration to the cloud.
So I did something I had not done since 2005: I downloaded AnyDesk Software (sic!). For someone like me, who never installs anything, this was already a blood-red flag. But it did not stop there. I had to connect directly to the hotel ownerโs computer. This meant that, while I wasted hours trying to pull data (spoiler: I did not succeed), I was also watching her digital life unfold on the same screen: incoming emails, WhatsApp notifications, and fragments of personal conversations that had nothing to do with me. She is a friend, but c’mon…
The moment I logged into the PMS itself, it was like falling through a wormhole back into the ’90s.
Now, if you know me, you also know I am impatient. ADHD-impatient. My golden rule is that if it takes 10′ to do something, we should find a way to do it in 5, and then in 1. And if Jobs taught me one thing, it is that…
๐๐ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐ง๐๐๐ ๐ญ๐ซ๐๐ข๐ง๐ข๐ง๐ , ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฌ๐ก*๐ญ.
So, I asked the software staff (the first time, politely) to handle the extraction for me. That is when the bureaucratic spiral began: tickets, emails, permissions, delays upon delays. Fourteen days later, with the deadline already behind me, and only after speaking directly with the founders, I was told that maybe, finally, the file would land in my inbox today (not there yet, BTW).
And it made me think: this is not just about tech silos, nor only about data silos.
๐๐ก๐ ๐๐๐๐ฉ๐๐ซ ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฉ๐๐จ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ ๐ฌ๐ข๐ฅ๐จ๐ฌ.
I do not even want to begin the conversation about why, in 2025, a hotel is still forced to run on a legacy PMS. That is madness in itself. But here is the real point: when the system is weak, the human response should be stronger.
This rant would never have started if, the very first time I asked for help, someone had simply said,
โ๐ ๐ฆ๐ด, ๐ ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ช๐ต, ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฑ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ.โ
Especially because, and I do not mean this in an egoic way, I am known enough in this market to have a voice. Before this, I was neutral about this software. Today, I would never recommend it to anyone. And not because of the technology, which can be fixed, but because the people behind it failed to compensate for its flaws.
And that’s way harder to fix…
(PS: screenshot is from a very old version of Opera, but not very different from what I’ve found…)