Guests who walk into hotels in 2025 don't see cloud infrastructure—they experience it. At industry-leading properties, everything works: check-in is seamless, rooms adjust to preferences automatically, and service requests happen without repetitive explanations. There is no visible technology, just frictionless experiences.
The contrast is stark for struggling competitors: disjointed interactions, staff battling with multiple systems, and the same questions asked repeatedly despite "loyal guest" status. The difference isn't in the buildings or staff but in the invisible technological foundation connecting every touchpoint.
In 2025, cloud capabilities will emerge from IT departments to become the decisive factor separating thriving travel brands from those fighting to stay relevant. With occupancy rates reaching pre-pandemic highs and elevated customer expectations, the systems orchestrating guest experiences have become the ultimate competitive battleground.
Drawing from our partnerships with companies navigating this shift and building on the experience that earned our AWS Travel and Hospitality Competency, this analysis examines three critical cloud challenges reshaping the industry and the strategic approaches turning these challenges into market advantages.
1. Creating a Unified View of Customer Data
The Challenge: Travel companies can't deliver exceptional experiences without completely understanding their customers. Yet most struggle with data trapped in separate systems—booking platforms capture one piece of the puzzle, property management systems another, and loyalty programs hold critical preference data elsewhere. This fragmentation prevents the seamless recognition and personalization that define standout hospitality.
By 2025, leading hospitality brands will integrate all these touchpoints into comprehensive guest profiles. Companies that successfully unify their customer data will recognize returning guests instantly, anticipate preferences automatically, and create precisely targeted offers that drive loyalty and revenue.
Actionable Steps:
- Conduct a structured data audit mapping all customer data sources
- Implement a cloud data lake architecture centralizing disparate systems
- Deploy real-time processing technologies analyzing interactions instantly
- Establish robust data governance with role-based dashboards delivering actionable insights
2. Balancing Personalization with Privacy
The Challenge: Guests crave tailored experiences—custom itineraries, predictive room upgrades, and relevant offers—and reward companies that deliver them. McKinsey's research confirms that personalization drives guest loyalty, stating, "Travelers don't treat experiences as afterthoughts. Their travel decisions increasingly depend on specific activity interests."
Yet privacy regulations like GDPR and CCPA set strict standards for data usage, creating tension between personalization goals and compliance requirements. Companies must find the sweet spot where they deliver personalized experiences without triggering privacy concerns.
Actionable Steps:
- Map customer journeys, identifying high-value personalization moments
- Implement AI solutions that analyze preferences anonymously where feasible
- Deploy comprehensive consent management tools empowering guests
- Create clear value exchanges where guests willingly share data for tangible benefits
3. Modernizing Legacy Systems Without Disruption
The Challenge: Legacy systems anchor many travel operations but now creak under modern demands. Many reservation and property management platforms were built decades ago, struggle to integrate with modern cloud technologies, and can't scale to meet fluctuating demand. Yet, replacing them outright poses enormous operational risks.
Gartner predicts that by 2025, enterprises will spend more on cloud services than traditional IT, a shift travel firms can't ignore. Companies must modernize these mission-critical systems without interrupting 24/7 guest services.
Actionable Steps:
- Prioritize high-impact systems for phased migrations
- Develop thoughtful strategies for modernizing applications while maintaining operations
- Use hybrid setups bridging old and new systems during the transition
- Test in parallel environments before rolling out changes
Success Story: Hotel Operations Platform Transformation
Encora partnered with a leading SaaS provider for the hospitality industry, which is facing this exact modernization challenge. The client's platform powers over 8,000 hotels worldwide, providing Reservation Management, Inventory Management, Revenue Management, and Housekeeping capabilities with integrations to over 140 third-party applications. They needed to enhance this platform without disrupting the hotels that rely on it.
The collaboration focused on accelerating the client's cloud architecture through targeted innovation using AWS technologies. Encora applied its deep AWS expertise to deliver a comprehensive solution. The project included:
- Leveraging AWS cloud-native architecture to develop new microservices with innovative design proposals
- Supporting DevOps modernization by adopting Docker to enable faster-automated testing
- Creating and delivering new features for their cloud-based property management platform
This strategic implementation delivered significant business impact across multiple dimensions:
- Accelerated API development and integration cycles, substantially reducing product development timelines
- Increased operational efficiency through streamlined infrastructure management
- Enhanced system scalability and high availability during peak booking periods
- Improved competitive positioning through faster time-to-market for new features
- Strengthened market position by enabling rapid integration with over 140 third-party applications
Looking Ahead: The Cloud-Enabled Future
By 2025, companies will reap the rewards of overcoming these challenges: sharper guest experiences, leaner operations, and more space to innovate. The cloud isn't just reshaping technology stacks; it's redefining competitive boundaries.
Imagine a mid-sized hotel chain shifting its loyalty program to the cloud: during peak summer travel, it processes millions of bookings in real time, offering tailored upgrades to frequent guests while scaling effortlessly under demand spikes. This isn't theoretical—similar transformations happen today as hospitality companies leverage AWS services. This agility turns seasonal crunches into loyalty wins.
Beyond resilience, cloud investments unlock innovations like smart hotel rooms where guests adjust settings via voice commands; all synced through cloud systems for real-time responsiveness. This trend blurs the line between digital and physical, making cloud strategy a direct path to market leadership.
Conclusion
The path to 2025 will test travel and hospitality's adaptability. Unifying data, personalizing responsibly, and modernizing without breaking stride offer more than tech challenges—they provide opportunities to redefine how you serve guests and run your business.
Ready to turn cloud challenges into opportunities? Encora's proven AWS Travel and Hospitality Competency Partner expertise can help you chart the course. Learn more.
About Encora
Encora is an AWS Travel and Hospitality Competency Partner that helps travel and hospitality companies overcome cloud challenges and drive digital innovation. Our Premier Tier partnership with AWS—the highest partnership level available—brings enhanced capabilities to our clients:
Enhanced Credibility: As one of the select AWS Premier Tier Partners, Encora is recognized for deep technical expertise and proven customer outcomes.
Exclusive Resources: Our status unlocks additional funding and support options for business development and customer projects.
Strategic Collaboration: We maintain alignment with the latest cloud innovations and best practices through executive business reviews with AWS leadership.
Priority Support: Our clients benefit from expedited issue resolution and enhanced access to AWS resources.
