API or DIE: Why Your Hotel’s Tech Future Hangs on Tech-Agnosticism

In the ’90s, when I first started in hospitality, Property Management Systems were basically just glorified spreadsheets. They did the bare minimum: room assignments, housekeeping orders, and guest billing. That was about as high-tech as it got. Fast forward to today, and these systems have evolved into something much bigger: they’re the central nervous system of the hotel, where all your technology should connect seamlessly. Well, at least on paper. Because, believe it or not (especially in southern Europe), some systems out there still can’t even connect to booking engines properly, forcing staff to manually enter reservations. That’s not just outdated—it’s expensive, error-prone, and inefficient.