The hotel industry is hot, and Marriott International Inc. is one of the industry giants anticipating continued profits this year. In the third quarter, which ended Sept. 30, Marriott posted a 9.4% year-to-year increase in its worldwide revenue per available room, or RevPAR — a commonly used performance metric in the lodging industry. And from 2006 to 2009, the company expects diluted earnings per share, excluding its synthetic-fuel business, to rise at a compound annual growth rate of 15% to 25%.
However, the Bethesda, Md.-based company’s technology budget for 2007 is lower than it was last year, according to Susan Zankman, senior vice president of information resources finance and management services at the $11.6 billion hotel chain. But that’s OK with Zankman and Howard Melnick, senior vice president of information resources application services. To them, investing more money in technology doesn’t necessarily ensure success. “It’s spending money in the right places,” Melnick says. “It’s having a tight lens on potential projects and seeing how they map to all the criteria. How does it impact the brand? Fit into the technology strategy? What is the financial impact?”
Read more at: Computerworld