Corporate cooperation: PT Telkom enterprise and business service director Muhammad Awaluddin (right) and Accor Asia Pacific Singapore-Indonesia-Malaysia COO Garth Simmons exchange signed MoU documents in Jakarta on Monday
span class="caption">Corporate cooperation: PT Telkom enterprise and business service director Muhammad Awaluddin (right) and Accor Asia Pacific Singapore-Indonesia-Malaysia COO Garth Simmons exchange signed MoU documents in Jakarta on Monday. Telkom, which is looking to support Indonesian tourism through information and technology, has agreed to help improve digital services for the hotel chain, which has more than 90 hotels.(Antara/Audy Alwi)
State-owned telecommunications firm PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Telkom) is partnering with AccorHotels in order to improve the hotel chain's digital infrastructure, as part of efforts to boost the quality of tourism in Indonesia.
The partnership will involve Telkomsel improving the hotel chain's ICT systems, including strengthening the quality of the hotel chain's Internet and the digital infrastructure of hotel operations such as the payroll, human resources systems and in-room entertainment systems.
Possible improvements include the upgrade of in-room televisions to the IPTV systems for hotels that do not yet use the system, stronger Wi-Fi Internet and bolstered digital marketing operations.
Telkomsel added that AccorHotels' Indonesian franchises such as Ibis and Mercure would be included in the partnership over the next five years, or until 2020.
Telkomsel director for business services and enterprise Muhammad Awaluddin explained that the agreement would allow AccorHotels to save on spending to upgrade its digital infrastructure, as Telkomsel would be cover most of the costs involved.
'Basically, the basic infrastructure will be handled by us; we'll provide the fiber optic cables and device verifiers and whatnot, and we can also customize to meet the requirements of different hotels in different regions, especially those of newly built hotels,' Awaluddin told The Jakarta Post on Monday at the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signing.
He added that the agreement would be implemented across all types of hotels, whether high end, mid-level or budget. Budget hotels, however, he said, had thus far signaled the greatest interest in improving their digital infrastructure quality and optimizing their funds.
Aside from AccorHotels, Telkomsel is also forging a similar partnership with Whiz Hotel, the franchise linked with Intiland Group.
'The hospitality industry is increasingly shifting to digital. We feel that our products and services are relevant enough to support their businesses,' he said.
Awaluddin noted that the agreement could be one step further toward fulfilling the government's goal of attracting 20 million tourists by 2019.
Adding to that, AccorHotels chief operating officer for Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia Garth Simmons said that the upgrade of digital infrastructure was important for the group's ongoing operations in Indonesia, especially regarding Internet access.
'Internet access quality is one of the major reasons why customers choose Accor's hotels. With this agreement, more opportunities for both Accor and Telkomsel will open up and serve as strategic promotional efforts benefitting the customers of both our companies,' Garth said on Monday.
AccorHotels currently runs 96 hotels in 32 Indonesian cities, with more than 100 more reportedly under construction. It plans to operate up to 200 hotels by 2020 and also has plans to expand into four more cities over the next few years, particularly in Indonesia's eastern regions.
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