Hoshino Resorts leverages AWS to optimize infrastructure costs, promote IT insourcing, and create services for new hotel experiences
We're using AWS to insource systems and let our staff members tackle new technological challenges with confidence. Under this initiative, we’ve been able to rapidly develop services that deliver great customer and user experiences for Hoshino Resorts customers and hotel staff.
Eiji Hisamoto
Director, Information Systems Group,
Hoshino Resorts Inc.
Improving customer experience with an AWS-powered hotel search and booking website
Hoshino Resorts’ Information Systems Group provides system support for hotel operations, managing Wi-Fi and networks, and running an IT help desk. The company had historically outsourced many of its systems, but began insourcing in 2018 in a major policy shift. One of the fruits of these efforts, a multi-hotel search and reservation system, allows potential visitors to search across all hotels in the group using a variety of criteria and filters. With maps displaying hotels across Japan and accommodation charges simultaneously, users can easily book facilities to perfectly match their needs. “
Our reservation systems are built with AWS Managed Services,” explains Eiji Hisamoto, Director of the Information Systems Group. “The cross-search function is optimized to the user’s device: for example, hotel details appear next to the map when browsing on a PC. We ensure the fastest display speed by using Amazon CloudFront to display detailed images, an Amazon ElastiCache-based search cache, and Amazon RDS for scaling out. The reservation website that users transition to after a search uses Amazon Aurora to handle high-load periods like when Hoshino Resorts is introduced in a TV program.”
At present, these reservation systems are the most important part of Hoshino Resorts’ high ratio of sales through self-owned channels (60-70 percent).
Developing many services swiftly and building anti-coronavirus branding
The government of Japan’s first emergency declaration to prevent the spread of COVID-19 occurred in April 2020, and it brought immense hardship for the tourism and hospitality industries. The impact on Hoshino Resorts pushed the Information Systems Group to explore measures to assist the business by tapping its engineers’ knowhow. The first course of action was to devise an IoT sensor-based entry/exit system to manage overcrowding in its hot springs to prevent conditions that spread viruses (closed spaces, crowds, and close contact). According to Hisamoto, “The system insourcing model we proposed to executives focused on our internal engineers and leveraged AWS Managed Services, where basically the only cost was for sensor components.”
The result of the initiative, Onsen IoT Protection (with crowd monitoring), was developed in just 6 weeks and deployed to 15 facilities, allowing guests to check for crowded hot springs on their smartphones. Many media outlets reported this effort, which helped Hoshino Resorts’ branding as an accommodation provider taking proactive measures against coronavirus.
The Information Systems Group rapidly developed several other initiatives: it completed the Go to Travel campaign website in one month; it offers hotel vouchers in exchange for donations to rural areas in a month; and came up with a new service for weddings in three months. “With AWS, you can get up and running quickly, and it’s easy to scale up and out,” says Sosuke Fujii, leader of the Information Systems Group’s Engineering Team. “You can start immediately even if you’re not yet sure of volume demands.”
The rapid development of these services has boosted the confidence that Hoshino Resorts managers have in the Information Systems Group. “In the past, we asked external infrastructure engineers to build our systems, so managers were worried we wouldn’t be able to complete the system if we had a lot of other requests,” explains Hisamoto. “But since we established an internal development team led by Fujii, we’ve mastered agile development and can release projects at an overwhelming speed.”
Enhancing AWS expertise with insourcing support from partners
With IT and digital investment becoming more important for Hoshino Resorts, the Information Systems Group is receiving numerous requests. Consequently, Fujii says that, “We want to meet the challenge and ensure speedy development with the support from AWS and the partner communities on deploying technology often used across the world.”
The Information Systems Group’ next goal is to modernize business systems used at various facilities. Many parts of these previously relied on external systems, with a longer lead time on system preparation when opening new hotels. However, the Information Systems Group will overhaul these systems through insourcing and AWS. With these transformations the team will also help hotel staff focus on their core job of customer service and improve customer experience. “We want to use data analysis with BI tools and machine learning to reduce crowding and optimize cleaning times,” says Haruki Sugiyama, Solution Architect, Information Systems Group. “Hopefully, we’ll update our hotel mechanisms without customers noticing.”
