Otelier Interview Series: Driving Innovation and Efficiency at Mandarin Oriental

Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group has long been known for its impeccable service and iconic properties – but behind the scenes, the organization is also leading the charge on smarter hotel operations. In this interview, Todd Wood, Vice President of Global Applications, explains how the company’s scale and culture allow it to embrace innovation without getting bogged down in silos. “We’re small enough that we know each other and interact… but also large enough to invest and innovate,” he says.

Wood outlines the group’s continued progress in integrating hotel systems. Central to that progress is having a platform that unifies disparate systems: “One of the things I know Otelier does a very good job of is at least bringing the data together from all these different systems into one place where we can act on that.”

The conversation also addresses rising labor costs and how Mandarin is using technology to optimize staffing and improve operational efficiency. “If you forecast demand appropriately and you have the right labor standards… you can schedule based on standards and have the best opportunity to optimize resources,” he says.

It’s this kind of strategic, data-informed thinking that’s helping Mandarin Oriental evolve from a traditional luxury hotel group into a modern, data-powered hospitality brand.