The Modern Hotelier - #29: Eliminating All Administrative Tasks in Hotels | with Thomas Furulund === ​ David Millili: Welcome to The. Modern Hotelier. I'm your host, David Millili. Steve Carran: I'm Steve. Jon Bumhoffer: And I'm John. Boom. This episode is sponsored by lasso experience. Lasso experience is a complete digital guest platform that provides a single point of communication. That takes care of your guests entire journey from reservation to post stay. It is fully customizable to the specific needs of your guests and your hotel. Opening up new revenue opportunities and creating memorable guest experiences. Contact them@lassoexperience.com to see how they can help. David Millili: Steve, who do we have on the program today? Steve Carran: Yeah, David. Today we have on Thomas Furulund. Thomas is the head of operations at CIC Hospitality. He has over 10 years of experience of hospitality. And he's worked at a variety of roles at Nordic Choice Hotels, Radison, blue Smart Hotel, and now at C C cic Thomas is a graduate of Beam Mouth University, where he studied hospitality management. He's also a member of the Norwegian Hotel Association. Welcome to the show, Thomas. Thomas Furulund: Thanks. It's Steve Carran: Absolutely. David Millili: have you. So Thomas, we're gonna go through a couple sections. We're gonna ask you some random questions, learn about your background, get into your career, and then get your thoughts on the industry. Sound good? Thomas Furulund: Sounds perfect. David Millili: Okay, so here we go. What was the worst job you ever had? Thomas Furulund: My worst job. To be honest, I have just worked in the hospitality industry, so that's quite hard. but I had two years working at the gas station, so it has to be, that has to be it. David Millili: Are you a morning or a night person? Thomas Furulund: Night person and morning, 24 7. David Millili: answer. So if you had to de, if you had to delete all apps on your phone except for three, what three apps would you keep on your phone? Thomas Furulund: Gmail, Tinder and Spotify. David Millili: Got it. What, what's your most used emoji? Thomas Furulund: Ooh, I do not use emojis. So I think many of my friends think I'm a bit script, but smiley face, keep it simple. Steve Carran: Here we go. David Millili: it. What's your favorite band or singer? Thomas Furulund: Ooh, that's a hard one. I have some few Norwegian guilty pleasure, but let's say Ben Howard. David Millili: What's a favorite, favorite place you've ever traveled to? Thomas Furulund: location wise a small town in Italy. in between Naples and Sicily, it's called c Authentic, really nice. David Millili: Have you ever been mistaken for somebody famous? Do people say you look like somebody famous? Thomas Furulund: No, just me. No, to be honest, I dunno. No, I haven't. David Millili: if you had a time machine, You could go back to, if you could go back in time or into the future, which would it be and what year would you go? Thomas Furulund: I would go 20 years in the future to see how tech has developed, but mostly for the society. And hopefully I will see that we are not too addicted to our phones. David Millili: and one last. If you had your own talk show, who would the first guest be that you would have on the show? Thomas Furulund: At Ritz Carlton Sarasota at the club lunch, there is a beautiful lady working there. She's approximately 60 years old and she is just one of a kind. She knows what ho hospitality it's all about. Steve Carran: Awesome. So now Thomas, now we get kind of a little bit more about your personal background. What makes you take, how you got here? So where did you grow up? Thomas Furulund: I grew up in a small city, surrounded by eighth summer city southern part of Norway called la 40,000 inhabitants. small, everyone knows each other. That's cozy and good summer wide. Steve Carran: Awesome. how did that shape you into who you are today? Thomas Furulund: you, when you grew up in, in a such a small city like la you mainly have your inner circle from the age of 10, you won't, you won't find any new friends. It has shaped me that I take more care of the friends that I have today, and that the inner circle is really, really important for me and I'm, yeah, I, I just really like my relations and take good care of them. Steve Carran: I love that I. David Millili: What was what went into your decision to going to Christiana University and majoring in hospitality? Thomas Furulund: That's also a good question. Basically because I did not want to attend the military. And then it was either hospitality, or it was doing psychology and I chose hospital. Steve Carran: Hmm. David Millili: were you involved in any associations or sports or anything when you were at university? Thomas Furulund: I was the one that started the basically the association for, for the hotel, sector, at the university. just for a year. But I think it is important to. Make the students connect to the, to the industry in, in a broader way. Because that's basically where you learn. And it also gives the students an opportunity to talk to professionals. Steve Carran: Awesome. Well, great. So now I kind of wanna get into your, your career. How, how you got to where you are, how you got to cic. So, while you were at college, in college, you were a receptionist Correct. At the Grand Hotel in Oslo. Thomas Furulund: Yeah, I actually had some different jobs during the time I studied. I started as As a main main waiter at two hotels for Nordic Nordic Church hotels. and then I started as a bellboy at the Grand Hotel. And then, I become a receptionist. So the, the best part was being a bellboy, a hundred percent, no responsibility at all. a lot of tip. just a perfect. Steve Carran: and I feel like you get a good workout the whole day, right? Thomas Furulund: Yeah maybe I should consider what I'm doing now. David Millili: so when you were a reception manager at the Ranson Blue in Smart Hotel, is that? What kind of sparked your interest in, in technology and emerging technology in, in the, in the space? Thomas Furulund: You have read this on one hand and then you have smart hotel on the other hand, and I have seen how I think a business should be run, and I have seen how a business should not been operating. Steve Carran: We won't ask you which one. David Millili: Yeah, no, I mean, I, I just jump in real quick and I won't mention which one either. But it was funny cuz when I was working at a company, we had a client and we were in Brussels at the property. And, we were providing them with a mobile application, which had mobile key. And the person at the desk didn't even know that that existed. When we checked in, we're like, yeah, we want mobile key. We don't want the keys. And they're like, what's that? And we're like, well, you know, we, we just, your company spent thou hundreds of thousands of dollars building this out. So, anyway, so I, I, I know which one you're talking about. Thomas Furulund: There's many, many problems when you're implementing tech and, and especially when you go to big brands, such as, as you have to have a clear strategy, how to roll it out. And it's, it's hard. David Millili: And ownership changes too. Steve Carran: and then from there, Thomas, you went to CIC Hospitality where you are now. And you've been there for about the past two years. What brought you to cic? Thomas Furulund: Actually I've, I've been in now for three years. And it's been, yeah, and it's been a hell of a journey. I was at the Smart hotel, I was sales manager. I did the front office role. I also had the hotel manager role at Smart Hotel, a price friendly hotel, 250 rooms in, in the city center was, and then I saw this job, they were looking for a, for a management trainee. I thought, yeah, what are those guys up to? I went to an interview, yeah, quite interesting. Two hotels. but I thought, yeah, I would like to do something new. And, and I think the guys was quite, inspiring. and they had a really good philosophy in the way they were going to go. and they also have the same mindset of, of the operational model, and that was probably because that I was quite attractive for them as well. And. Then we got our third hotel and then the pandemic came. So, yeah. End of story. No, it wasn't. David Millili: can you tell us a little bit more what makes CIC unique? Thomas Furulund: the main thing is that we are passionate about hospitality, but we do have real estate and not the other way. and then the core values, to cic being caring, inspiring, and creative. And also be the challenger in the marketing. Try to be the first mover in everything we do. and our main goal is to have no administration task at all at the hotels. Steve Carran: Wow. you brought up the pandemic. Was there something that, you know, one trait that really pushed CIC through the pandemic that you saw, or was it just kind of the vision of, of the company in general? Thomas Furulund: both the strategy from, from, from the very start. Of course it was. It was the main road, but the pandemic made us rethink the business. And after two months we saw that if we are going to survive with the three hotels that we had at that time, we have to do something quite fast. yeah, we, we, we basically, turned our hand on the operational model. We tried and failed with And we were lucky enough, because the pandemic gave us a lot of opportunities as well. After one year we had 10 hotels. So it was, it was a really unique opportunity as well. But the reason why we got this 10 hotels was because we did it well, and I think we were the only company in Norway that earned money during the. Because of the operational model and that we were able to turn around that fast. Because we are a small organization, but we're also a organization that are hands on. Steve Carran: That's David Millili: That's great. And there's a lot of talk about sustainability in our industry. Is there anything that CIC is doing or any objectives that you have around that? Thomas Furulund: Of course I, I think sustainability will become more and more important. First of all, for real estate owners. the bank will have risk management, for sustainability in the upcoming five to 10 years. It's just. How should you basically do the, KPIs, to be able to, to measure the risk? but it is of course about taking care of our planet as well, to be able to operate with low cost to use green energy, to install solar panels. So it's a whole package and, and of course to be able to op, operate. Virtual hotel, you do need to cut the cost down and you need to be honest as well. Of course, I will not give you three towels, because that cost us money. So there, there is a package here and, I think tech sustainability, the right operational model for us will, will be the future. The ones that are focusing on sustainability, especially for real estate owners that has hotels, that's a must. Steve Carran: absolutely. Awesome, and I love that answer. It kind of flows into the next section where, Talk about the industry thoughts and kind of what's been going on. And CIC has been in the headlines recently with their boutique hotels with the front desks that are now managed by it. It almost looks like a hologram, that they're managed by. It looks incredible. Can you tell us more about this process, I guess a how you. To have this technology in your hotels, and I guess a, a, a little bit more about the background of the technology, to be honest with you. Thomas Furulund: Yeah, it's, it's insane. And to really, it's, when I first saw our video it was a exhibition somewhere. I saw post on LinkedIn. I sent it to the c o and I said, This is the future. and of course when you see something that unique as hologram and what Holo Connect has developed is it looks amazing, but you can implement tech just to implement it. What what should it do with a hologram without having a clear, clear strategy and having a clear map for the guest journey as well? That's important. also do need to. to be something that Brad has in their values as well and that that's a perfect fit with Aiden. yeah, ba basically we, we reach out to Holo Connect that has developed this hologram. And I think it was one and a half, two years ago now. And we met those guys in, in the Netherlands. And I thought, this is expensive, right? Should, should we invest in this? Why can't you just use the web camera and have a screen Steve Carran: So tell our viewers like what it almost looks like, a little bit like, how does this look in your hotel when a guest walks in? Thomas Furulund: Basically you meet me, you, you meet yourself, you meet Steve, you meet David. it is a real life person. and he, he greets you, Steve Carran: So they, they walk in and there's just kind of a hologram of a person that if they need help checking in or anything like that, that's, that kind of hologram is what they're, that person is using to help check them in. Thomas Furulund: Yeah, basically what we, what we do now, if you step into the hotel and you, you will see this huge screen, and of course you. Ask yourself, what is this? And you, you go closer, and then the hologram activates. And then there will be a person there saying, hi, welcome to Aiden. How can I help you? And then you will have a menu about how to check in rewards nearby sites. Train tables, whatever. And you will also have a button to a live connection. And if you and push that button, you will come to our central service group, and you'll see a real size person, handling five hotels at the same time. that will yeah, be just like a regular receptionist. And the reason for why we are doing this is we, we do not want to remove the human. We, we know how important it is, but you will have supplements and you don't need to stand one hour in line. When I checked in today at noon, I stand one hour in queue, and I even had self-service, but it didn't work. Of course. David Millili: Do you find, so when we We had someone on the program from Dream Hotels and they started using robots for room service. And it became, really a thing where, where guests were staying at the hotel just to order room service. And do social media around getting room service from a robot. Do you have a lot of guests that are taking selfies with the holograms or you know, it's a big thing or they, you know, they comment to somebody else, a live person at the property that the main reason why we stayed here was cuz we wanted to experience this type of check-in. Thomas Furulund: I do not think that the main reason why you should stay at our hotels is because of a hologram. and I do not think that the customers, choose us because there is a hologram there. The first time it's really impressive. But of course as, as you know, with, with with robots taking. taking room service vacuum, clean the rooms, especially with, with the room service. I think it's 60%. Take a picture and post it on social media. So of course it has a huge effect and a hologram even better. just to think, guys going into a hotel you have your kids with you and one of the onsite staff take, take the kid with, with. And, yep, that's it. And your kid can basically check in their parents and the parents can take a picture. David Millili: Wow, That's Thomas Furulund: a per, that's a perfect business. Are there, huh? David Millili: Yeah. That's great. Yeah. Thomas Furulund: I think creates memories and, magic. It does. David Millili: No, that's great. Quick follow up question, so I makes total sense. People aren't coming to. To, to just because of the holograms, but have you, have you been finding out that people have been discovering the hotel because of the buzz around the holograms or where they've, they've kind of learned about it via that in social media? Thomas Furulund: Yeah. We opened the first hotel with a hologram the 1st of February. so it hasn't been that high occupancy since we started up, but we see that from the local media with a hologram especially by the community around, there has been a lot of people. Going into the hotel to see what the hologram is all about. And it's really amazing to see the, to see the guests face when, when you have a live host, it's truly amazing and it's, you can't create that magic with, with the regular staff. You can't. Steve Carran: Yeah. Kind of to that, how does that help with the personalization to to help that guest experience? Is it, is it the hologram? Just like people just get so excited when they see it, you know, compared to a normal person? Or how does that work? Thomas Furulund: No, I think there is somewhere in between. first of all when you have a hologram, you can handle. X number of hotels at the same time. One, one person. But of course we have on-site staff as well. And what we would like to do in CIC is to take away all of the administration tasks that they have on-site. So basically that means that we can drink coffee, play shuffleboard, and hang out with our guests instead of answer. Emails, or guest feedback. Why, why should we do that when there is a robot that can do it even more personalized than we can? David Millili: how close do you think we're getting to to that? Or are you guys there to having kind of this fully automated hotel with, you know, kind of that, with that year end goal, what you just said, how close are we getting to that? Or you feel like you're, you know, you're right there. Thomas Furulund: I think the entire industry and for us as well we have a long way to go. And the hardest part is the housekeeping to take care of wa washing the walls, the roof, the, the floor can be fully automated, no problem. And also the kitchen to have quality and fully automated. On the f and b scene, that's quite hard and I think it'll take some time to be able to do so. And for us, we are trying and failing all the time to try to find new tech, implement new tech, but after two years, the tech is outdated, so you need to find the right one and develop this with the suppliers. Steve Carran: new technology is awesome, right? Like having a hologram at a front desk is awesome. That's cool. So what is on the other side? What is the hardest part about introducing this new technology? Thomas Furulund: I think the hardest part, first of all is to find the right supplier. A as I, as I said, for, for us in c c, it's the most important thing is to find suppliers that are startups or scale ups. That can develop their product together with us. for example, the, the self-service checking that we use, Norwegian company. we were the first mover, but now we see that, for example, other hotel chains in Norway use it and I think they will expand quite rapid as well. it's hard to find the right supplier. I think that's, that's the hardest part. And to implement it, there is always skepticism, from staff will be, be replaced. and also for the customers just, just see how the, at the airport, how long time did it take before your mother at 70 years old checked in? He. you, you held her hand for, for five years, right? so it, it, it costs a lot of money to, to implement it. And you, do need to use many resources, to make employees feel safe because if they don't feel safe, they will lose trust in the product and then the customer will lose trust in it as. Steve Carran: So Thomas, last question here as we finish up the industry thought section. Do you have any advice for hotels that might be a little lenient to move towards more automation? Thomas Furulund: Find the right product that can help you and. You do need to be aware of the effect that it can give you. if it can increase, the gas journey somehow if it can increase the efficiency at the hotel, and why? Should you implement it, you, you do need to have a good answer on that to do so, but I think there is some easy things that you can do as well. Why should you have a waiter asking for another bear when you can have a robot having hundred of bears at the same time, and you can pay with a QR code. Steve Carran: I agree with it a hundred percent. Awesome. Well, well that's all we have for, for that section. Now. We actually have a new se sec session with our producer John here. So John doesn't have the hospitality background like David and I as much of it. He has a little bit, but you know, he's been listening the whole time. So now we get to John. He gets to ask a couple questions that, that he. Thomas Furulund: Cool. Go ahead. Jon Bumhoffer: Yeah. Yeah. The fly on the wall questions. So you were talking about the holograms and using them. Have you seen the efficiency really pick up with using them or, because in my mind, I imagine, are there people stacked up waiting in line to use a hologram, or how does it actually play out with multiple people trying to check in? Thomas Furulund: Good question, and that's important to. Yeah, let me use two minutes here. Because when, when you have hologram and a centralized staff taking care of five hotels, the emails that doesn't get answered by a bot, they can handle those emails for five hotels at the same time. They can handle the group of things, they can handle the phones. And when you have a hologram located at one hotel, It's also possible to, you can even get smaller holograms as well. But see the, still see a inspiring live person as well. So you can have many places at the hotel where the, where the guest can, can reach you. So it doesn't create lines at the moment, but if it create lines, Is onsite staff here as well. So basically it's just more beneficial for, for both. Jon Bumhoffer: That makes a lot of sense. And then I really liked, you said part of your goals is to, as a company, a CIC hospitality is to have hotels without any administrative tasks. what have you done outside of the holograms to help reduce the administrative tasks for your staff? Thomas Furulund: So first of all our, our staff we try to have a quite lean operational model, so we have. One hotel manager, we have one service manager and that's it. So we do not have a booking manager, a revenue manager, a front office manager, and so on. At the hotels. We do a lot of the centralized work from c I c hospitality, but also. We have back office system that helps us a lot. For example, for, for revenue for sales, for IA bots answering emails. Phone is the next one. so we have done a lot. But we can't remove, the breakfast. The breakfast has to be made. And so far there's another robot that does it, but we will. David Millili: All right. Well that does it for another episode of the Modern Hotelier. Before we go, Thomas, can you let us know how people listening can find cic? What's next for cic? plug away. Anything you'd like to share with us would be great. Thomas Furulund: C Hospitality has now 20 hotels operating in Scandinavia. Sweden is the next market coming up very soon. and Denmark is a huge potential for us. We see a great marketer and also expanding in in Norway as well. And who knows I'm in Germany at the. David Millili: Got it. Oh, little teaser there. I like that. All right. Well thank you very much. We really appreciate it having you as a guest today. And that does it for the Modern Hotelier. Thomas Furulund: Thank you. It was an honor. Steve Carran: Thank you, Thomas. This episode is sponsored by lasso experience. Lasso experience is a complete digital guest platform that provides a single point of communication. That takes care of your guests entire journey from reservation to post stay. It is fully customizable to the specific needs of your guests and your hotel. Opening up new revenue opportunities and creating memorable guest experiences. Contact them@lassoexperience.com to see how they can help.