Driving Operational Excellence and Innovation: Executive Vice President of Product and Business Development, Steve Keisling, Assumes Role as Chief Operating Officer at RealTime Reservation
(New York, NY, March 28, 2024) RealTime Reservation is delighted to announce the promotion of Steve Keisling to Chief Operating Officer. With over 17 years of experience in the hospitality and technology sectors, and a year working with RealTime Reservation, Steve Keisling has the foundation and expertise to drive our company to new heights.
In this pivotal role, Steve Keisling will oversee our operational strategies and initiatives, ensuring seamless execution and continued innovation across all aspects of our business. Before RealTime Reservation, Steve was a key player in developing another successful technology company in the hospitality industry. His proven track record of leadership and strategic vision makes him an invaluable addition to our executive team in forging the future of RealTime Reservation.
“We are thrilled to appoint Steve to the role of COO within our company, said Shawn Tarter, President and Founder of RealTime Reservation. “His deep understanding of the hospitality industry and passion for leveraging technology to improve hotel operations and enhance guest experiences align perfectly with our company’s mission. We are confident that Steve will play a key role in driving our growth and success in the years ahead.”
Steve expressed excitement about his new title, stating, “I am honored to be part of such a dynamic and forward-thinking company leading the hospitality in technology innovation. I look forward to continuing to collaborate with our talented team members to deliver exceptional value to our clients and partners.”
We went ahead and asked Steve a few questions about his experience, his new role, and his goals for the future of RealTime Reservation.
1. How has your past work experience prepared you for this role?
“I served as COO during the initial start-up phase of another technology company in the hospitality industry. Being a startup, I enjoyed the opportunity to wear five hats and work hard to get what I knew would be a successful company off the ground. I eventually moved on to key accounts and innovation, which are passions of mine. Working in key accounts allowed me to meet amazing people, learn their pain points, and bring numerous solutions and products to solve these problems to life. To me, success is measured by fostering strong relationships and a company’s ability to adapt and deliver consistently.”
2. What strategies and efficiencies have you implemented in the past that were the most successful?
“There have been so many! In my opinion, it truly depends on the situation, the need, and the team and resources available to you. In the earlier phases of a project, you need more “meat and potato” strategies and functions in place to help build the groundwork to scale and deliver great service. As you evolve, you get to add in the fun things like metrics, turn times, staff enhancements, and product roadmaps, but ultimately every strategy needs to be looked at under the lens of:
- Will this idea scale?
- Will it save money or increase revenue?
- Will it save time or assist my team?
- Will it improve our market presence when compared to our competitors?
- Will the impact improve our overall customer service and retention?
Too often I have witnessed process improvements occur that miss several of the checkboxes, forcing a team to waste time working backward to decompile the dysfunctional system that had been put in place.”
3. How do your values align with the company values and what makes this opportunity exciting?
“When I first joined the RealTime Reservation team, I was introduced to a group of intelligent people who shared the common goal of ‘it’s all about our customers’. That is the basic ingredient of success. Combining that with what I consider the industry’s leading ancillary revenue products, I knew that only the sky was the limit with RealTime Reservation. The passion of our team and the ability to pivot and be flexible with our clients is our secret sauce. I have been here barely a year, and we already have three (maybe four) new products coming to the market, in addition to several large software updates and enhancements dropping every few months. Our company is moving at lightspeed and no one is going to stop us.”
4. Where is RealTime Reservation now and where would you like to see the company in three years?
“Right now, RealTime Reservation is in its growth phase. The company has been around for a few years already, but we are sitting on a powder keg of potential. I love that there is so much competition in the market and it is flattering when people want to copy us. We have a solid path forward and we plan to let our competitors focus on the dust trail while we keep moving ahead. In three years, I see RealTime Reservation in multiple verticals with triple the product portfolio, and consolidating the number of tech solutions in the hospitality industry to lower the noise and bring stability to the marketplace.”
5. What is your leadership philosophy and what methods do you use to keep employees motivated toward reaching their goals?
“Vision. A good leader needs to have a vision. A great leader needs to be able to convey that vision to their team. Employees are validated when they can understand the big picture and see where they fit into it. My leadership philosophy consists of the following:
- Constant, clear communication
- A grand vision and strategy that shows where we are now, where we are going, and what we plan to do when we get there
- Celebrating the small wins while preparing for the big battles
- Being human. When a company gets too large or loses its grand vision to the daily grind, many employees feel left behind or like a lost number on a spreadsheet. Everyone has a story. Everyone has a dream. Listen to your team and encourage them to succeed.”
6. What’s your process for evaluating new or emerging technology that can influence a project’s trajectory? How have you kept up with industry trends and emerging technologies?
“I am a huge nerd at heart. I have been playing with various types of technology since my parents bought me the first Pong, followed by Atari. I enjoy reading tech feeds, staying updated on industry news, attending conferences like the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), experimenting with emerging technologies, and yes, I still play video games.
It’s all about keeping the brain fed and up to date. When you pair technology with a little bit of history and a well-rounded view of current affairs, it’s easy to connect with customers and discuss what’s coming, what we should do with it, and how is it going to help them.
For me, evaluating technology consists of a few fundamental things:
- If it starts as consumer tech, I take a look at how is it received or embraced. How will this impact our verticals 2, 3, 5 or even 10 years from now? Some technology is adopted quicker than others and you have to get in front of those since they will be expected as commonplace before you know it.
- Is it price prohibitive or in a nascent stage with a long maturation to market process? These technologies may look and act cool, but the cost of investment may mean you need to back off and let it mature to a more manageable go-to-market level.
- Is this a pet rock? Pet rocks were popular – some even came with little boxes and stories. Most folks realized (not long after adopting a pet rock) that it was just a rock, asking themselves ‘why do I have this?’. We all have an ‘old tech closet’ or basket of shame where we save the things we once thought were cool. From a business perspective, I want to see and invest in technologies that will evolve, scale, and be around for a very long time.”
7. In the next year, what new challenges or changes do you see for the industry and RealTime Reservation?
“The world is a dangerous and quickly evolving place right now and things are constantly changing. These kinds of changes result in most people harboring uneasy feelings of doubt about the marketplace. As for technology, there are massive shifts in the future production of chips and components, as well as obstacles like changing supply lines that many of us are not even aware of happening behind the scenes. All of this is taking us into uncharted territory that the global economy has not seen since the first half of the twentieth century.
How does all of this impact RealTime Reservation or our products? Honestly, I don’t think it does. With the rise and end of the pandemic emerging into what I just discussed, we see travelers (including business, leisure, and family) continuing to go about their lives. People are still seeking out experiences to build memories with their loved ones and streamlining and improving those experiences is what we do best. I think our biggest challenge as a company is keeping up with our growth. I don’t mean that negatively, but more in a wow, this is a fun challenge to have kind of way!
RealTime Reservation is on a great trajectory to deliver new products, new enterprise technologies, and several super cool things I can’t talk about yet. This is what I see occurring within the next year, and the challenge to everyone else will be keeping up with us.”
Please join us in congratulating Steve Keisling on his new role. We are confident that his leadership will propel RealTime Reservation to even greater achievements.
About RealTime Reservation | RealTime Reservation, LLC is a leading provider of cloud-based hospitality software solutions, allowing seamless integration of reservation and operational systems. The company’s platform is designed to help hotels and resorts increase bookings, streamline operations, and enhance guest experiences. In addition to serving guests, the platform is a powerful inventory management tool for hotel and resort staff. The unrivaled distribution channel allows properties to market amenities and activities to entice new daytime guests. Using RealTime Reservation, properties can increase ancillary revenue, collect data, and improve forecasting and yield management. Our deep reporting capabilities enable properties to create operational efficiencies while enhancing the guest experience. For more information about RealTime Reservation, visit www.realtimereservation.com