Audio Links:

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0A2XOJvb6mGqEPYJ5bilPX

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/defining-hospitality-podcast/id1573596386

Fairmont Hotel Vancouver | Luxury Hotels in Canada | Black Tomato

Episode Transcript

This week, Dan Ryan sits down with Tanya Pratt, Global VP of Strategy and Product Management at Oracle Hospitality, to prove that the most powerful upgrade a hotel can make isn’t to its lobby, it’s to its data. A front desk girl turned tech executive, Tanya unpacks how Oracle is collapsing decades of fragmented systems into one seamless guest experience, why cloud adoption exploded the moment hotels ran out of people, and what happened during an 18-hour outage at 3am that changed the entire trajectory of her career. The promise of hospitality has always been human. The technology is finally catching up. 🏠

Takeaways:

Hospitality is a promise, not just a job. Every interaction with a guest, employee, or owner is an opportunity to make and keep a commitment, and that mindset should guide every decision you make in the industry.
Don’t let the size of a problem stop you from starting. When faced with a tangled mess of systems or challenges, pick one thing to fix first. Doing something is always better than being paralyzed by the scale of everything.
Technology should free people to be more human, not replace them. The real value of investing in better systems is that it gives your team the time and headspace to focus on genuine connection with guests.
Being ready is a choice, not a feeling. Say yes to things before you feel fully prepared, because waiting until you feel ready often means never moving forward at all.
Sit in discomfort and earn your way up. No matter your generation, there is no shortcut for putting in the work and learning through the grind, especially early in your career.
The people closest to the business often make the best technology leaders. Operators who understand the day-to-day pain points are far more effective at driving tech transformation than technologists who have never worked the floor.
Your hardest moments reveal what you are actually made of. When you want to walk out the door and you stay anyway, those crucible experiences become the foundation of confidence you carry for the rest of your career.

“Hospitality is a promise. It’s a promise that’s made and kept a thousand times in small moments.” - Tanya Pratt

Building a hotel, brand, or guest experience? Reach out to Dan on LinkedIn or hit reply on the Substack to share what you’re working on.

Impact estimates vary by project. For the most up-to-date figures, please refer to the transcript

Connect with Tanya:

Tanya’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pratttanya/
Oracle Hospitality: https://www.oracle.com/

🏨✨ Defining Hospitality is Sponsored by BERMANFALK

https://www.bermanfalk.com/

Check out their impact page! 🌍🌱 https://www.bermanfalk.com/impact/

Dan Ryan - Defining Hospitality

Redefining Hospitality Through Tech - Tanya…