12 People of Criton

Tell us about your role and what do you love the most about working here at Criton.

As Chief Technology Officer, I have the privilege of leading a fantastic team who are developing the next generation of hospitality technology. While some of my role involves product development and technical solutions, the main focus is creating an environment where people can thrive. The best part about working at Criton is working with people who challenge my thinking, pushing the boundaries and helping us all achieve more than we thought possible. I also love being able to work with customers to really understand their problems and create simple solutions that complement their lives.  

How do you see the hospitality technology sector evolving in 2020? 

It’s all about choice for the guest. Hospitality technology has traditionally been operating behind the scenes but guests are now expecting to engage with hotels in ways that are convenient for them - and the mobile device is driving that behaviour. The guest-centric journey will emerge in 2020 and bring more of the hotel technology face-to-face with guests on their device, providing them with options to better choose what services they want, when they want them and how they get them. 

Thinking about what Criton is planning in 2020, what are you most excited about? 

What I’m most excited about is the learning actually! We already know there are many aspects of the guest journey that we can make easier and better through a mobile experience - from self check-in, digital door keys, room service, messaging the desk, local attractions, etc. But as we continue to expand and grow, we’ll learn a lot more about how customers want to engage with hotels in new and exciting ways. This learning will drive greater insights and personalisation where guests will not only be able to have options available for them but where the technology we’re developing will be able to predict the options that are most relevant for them - and that will be fantastic for both guests and the hotels. We’re going to get some real ‘’Aha!” moments for us - and create some “Wow!” moments for guests!

What’s your favourite Christmas movie and why?

It’s not a movie but one my favourite Christmas shows is The Grinch Who Stole Christmas by Dr Seuss. It’s such a great story with fabulous characters but the wording by Dr Seuss along with Boris Karloff’s narrative tone makes the animated video just mesmerising.  Always get a bit misty-eyed every time the Whos start singing on Christmas morning - undoubtedly influenced by my childhood! I like it so much that my fabulous family recently brought me to see the musical version as a gift.  

Christmas is around the corner! What’s your top tip for a wonderful Christmas?

Enjoy the chaos that it is! We often get too focused on things being “just right”, whether hosting or gifting. At the end of the day, it’s about being with family and friends and helping those around you feel happy. I love the whole Christmas season. It lifts everyone’s spirit. 

What is a cherished family Christmas tradition from your childhood?

I’m not sure we have a specific tradition but I’m Canadian so I miss the cold and snow at Christmas time. It sounds odd to say you miss the cold but everything takes on a magical feel when the sun is bouncing off the snow on a bright sunny winter day! Luckily, my family still lives there so we get back to visit when possible and we still call home to talk and share photos all during the holidays!

Tell us about your role and what do you love the most about working here at Criton.

Hi my name is Gail Phillips and I am the Quality Assurance Tester here at Criton, this means I check the new Criton 2.0 app to ensure it does not have any critical issues or defects. What I like most about my job is having a hand in getting a quality product to market that people will love. 

How do you see the hospitality technology sector evolving in 2020? 

I think many hotels in the future will be rethinking their previous customer segmentation...the reason for people staying in hotels is changing and, with the world becoming more connected than ever before and with many customers having a large reach in terms of social networks, being at the forefront of the industry with added extras, great service and the latest technology is vital.

What’s your favourite Christmas movie and why?

I love Elf due to the positivity and the endless year-long memes. Smiling is my favourite. 

Christmas is around the corner! What’s your top tip for a wonderful Christmas? 

Always buy several bags of Lebkuchen, they disappear too quickly from the shelves and one bag is never enough!

What’s the best Christmas present you’ve ever received?

One year when I was young I got up and sat watching my brother and sister open their big presents and I didn’t appear to have anything. Then my Dad asked me to open the curtains on the patio doors and there was a brand new bike outside covered in tinsel!! 

Tell us about your role and what do you love the most about working here at Criton.

As a Software Engineer at Criton, I help to build a really interesting product alongside a bunch of fantastic people. It’s great to think that we can make big-chain technology accessible to small independents, and also that our app can improve many peoples’ experience during their stays.

How do you see the hospitality technology sector evolving in 2020?

Everyone will be using Criton 2.0! :) 

What’s the best – or worst – Christmas present you’ve ever received?

My mum got me a penguin made mostly out of thick wire. It has big silver eyes and looks like it is wearing a gas mask!

What’s your favourite Christmas movie and why?

It’s not Christmas if I don’t see most of these - Cool Runnings, Die Hard, Home Alone, Love Actually, It’s a Wonderful Life! I think Blades of Glory has to get my vote though, if it’s a Christmas film! Mind-bottling, isn’t it?

Christmas is around the corner! What’s your top tip for a wonderful Christmas?

Keep it simple. Friends, family, drink, food, tv and games. Oh and climb a mountain, that’s a must!

Tell us about your role and what do you love the most about working here at Criton.

My role is Sales Director and my key objective is to define and deliver the Sales Strategy for the business by creating a scalable and repeatable sales model. The things I love most about working at Criton are the technology, the people and the challenge! Taking new, exciting, disruptive technologies to market is what I’ve done for the past 20 years, some people say I’m a glutton for punishment but I love it! 

How do you see the hospitality technology sector evolving in 2020? 

The hospitality sector is starting to evolve and fast, it’s wakening up to the fact that, whether it likes it or not, it needs to move with the times and will need to change and embrace the new technologies that are emerging. Guests are experiencing high levels of advanced personalised digital experiences from other sectors such as retail, banking and travel. Many now expect to have a similar digital experience on ‘own device’ from the hospitality sector. I fully expect digital door will be one of the biggest game-changers in 2020.

Thinking about what Criton is planning in 2020, what are you most excited about? 

I am most excited about our roadmap, continuing to expand the number of integrations we have with our PMS & Digital Door Key partners means we can sell to even more companies and help them maximise their potential from the apps we create. 

What’s your favourite Christmas movie and why?

I absolutely love A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, I could watch it over and over again, I love the moral of the story which is basically, the pursuit of money does not always bring happiness, but instead when you have the chance, focus on the important things in life such as spending time with family & friends and love & care for each other.

Christmas is around the corner! What’s your top tip for a wonderful Christmas? 

Spend time with family, give don’t take and relax, it doesn’t really matter if the turkey is overcooked and dry, no one likes it anyway!

Tell us about your role and what do you love the most about working here at Criton.

As Product Owner, my role is to be the voice of the customer to the delivery team and the wider business. Visiting customers, seeing how they work, hearing their conversations, and gaining those crucial insights is what I love the most about my job.

How do you see the hospitality technology sector evolving in 2020? 

Each and every guest visiting a hotel has a different expectation and it’s up to the hotels to cater to each and every one of those expectations if they want to keep their reviews high and drive new and repeat business. In 2020, I see the sector embracing more disruptive technologies to give guests more choice in how their expectations are met. 

Thinking about what Criton is planning in 2020, what are you most excited about? 

I’m most excited about us releasing features that close the gap in the guest journey providing guests with the option of completing all their interactions in the app without ever having to speak to reception.

What’s your favourite Christmas movie and why?

Star Wars (Roll on the 19th!) - not answering why, it’s just a given!!!

Christmas is around the corner! What’s your top tip for a wonderful Christmas? 

Watch the latest Star Wars release, eat plenty, drink more so!

Tell us about your role and what do you love the most about working here at Criton.

I am Executive Assistant to our CEO Julie, as well as looking after Operations and generally making sure everything runs smoothly! We have the most fantastic and talented team so I love working with them, and it’s a cliché that no two days are the same but the work is so varied, I enjoy always working on new and interesting projects and really getting involved. It’s been lovely to watch the business go from strength to strength and to be a part of that.  

Thinking about what Criton is planning in 2020, what are you most excited about? 

We’ve been busy strategy planning for 2020 so I’m really excited to see it all come into fruition. It will be great to see our V2 app out there and to see the big difference it will make to our customers and the fantastic guest experience it will create.    

What’s your favourite Christmas movie and why?

Muppet Christmas Carol- I love the original Charles Dickens book and this is just such a funny take on it. The songs are brilliant and it’s the best way to get into the feel-good Christmas spirit! 

Christmas is around the corner! What’s your top tip for a wonderful Christmas? 

My top tip is to spend quality time with the people that you love and don’t stress about it being ‘perfect’. I’m from a big family so it can get quite chaotic but that just adds to the fun and excitement of it all! 

What is a cherished family Christmas tradition from your childhood?

My family get together to watch Muppet Christmas Carol in the run up to Christmas every year. Last year my 4 year old daughter watched for the first time and didn’t like it, but she’s going to have to learn to tolerate it at the least as it’s a tradition that’s here to stay!

Tell us about your role and what do you love the most about working here at Criton.

I’m the Senior Product Designer here which means it’s my job to make sure no one colours outside the lines and nobody gets confused or frustrated whilst using the product. I’ve not been here that long but what I enjoy most is that there’s a real investment in staff wellbeing.

How do you see the hospitality technology sector evolving in 2020? 

I’m pretty green to the industry so I don’t have a lot of references but there’s a nascent general trend digitally to create a more personalized experience across the landscape, so I would say zeroing in on tailoring the user experience to the individual as much as possible would be wise.

Thinking about what Criton is planning in 2020, what are you most excited about? 

Making people’s lives that little bit easier in a madcap world and bringing a little bit of humanity back into interacting with the little black box that lives in everyone’s pockets these days.

What’s your favourite Christmas movie and why?

“Trading Places”: classic 80s John Landis comedy. I’ll admit it’s set during Christmas rather than a Christmas movie but you’ll never ever get me on a train without saying “We are moving. We are moving!”

Christmas is around the corner! What’s your top tip for a wonderful Christmas? 

Enjoy being a kid again. Life is bonkers enough as it is without getting stressed out over who didn’t like their presents and making sure the Christmas dinner all comes together at the right time. Have fun! You’ve got all of January to be a miserable adult...

What is a cherished family Christmas tradition from your childhood?

Baileys for breakfast. With ice cubes, if you’re feeling bougie.

If you could be a character in a holiday movie, who would you be and why?

Kevin from “Home Alone”: he’s basically just having a whale of a time, isn’t he? Eating sweeties all day and testing the limits of human endurance by putting a couple of burglars through an ordeal that would have killed a regular person. 

What’s the best – or worst – Christmas present you’ve ever received?

Best present I think I got was a Bigtrak when I was about 6 or 7, I loved that thing. I tried to get it to do everything for me which probably explains why I’m a lazy slob now.

Tell us about your role and what do you love the most about working here at Criton.

I’ve been the head of marketing at Criton for two years.  What I love most about working here is that every day is different.  Our Founder recognised a gap in the market and created the technology to fill that gap and support the hospitality sector.  That’s what makes us stand out from our competitors – we truly understand our clients and know both the challenges and opportunities they’re presented with.  Being able to support their digital transformation and see the impact technology has on their business is a big reward.

How do you see the hospitality technology sector evolving in 2020? 

We’re constantly looking for new partners and opportunities to enhance our products.  The hotel technology landscape is constantly evolving and in 2020 we look forward to integrating with new technology partners as our roadmap evolves.  By the end of 2020, both the Hilton and Marriott brands will be utilising digital door key across their portfolio. Now is the time for independents to adopt a mobile strategy as the tech is available for them to compete with these global brands; while losing none of the personalisation or loyalty that they’ve developed over the years.

Thinking about what Criton is planning in 2020, what are you most excited about? 

In the next 12 months, I’m most excited about shouting about our brilliant clients who are using Criton 2.0!  We launched our newest product at the start of October and it’s been exciting watching as existing customers embrace the new technology while our busy sales team onboard new clients!  Taking a product to market which enables independent operators to compete with global brands who invest millions is massively rewarding.

What’s your favourite Christmas movie and why?

I’m a sucker for a soppy chick flick – I love Jack Black in The Holiday and who wouldn’t watch Love Actually for the millionth time??  I do love a classic though (not Die Hard!) and the original Miracle on 34th Street still has a place in my heart.

Christmas is around the corner! What’s your top tip for a wonderful Christmas? 

Christmas for me is about spending time with friends and family.  It’s a time for reflection as well as celebration and being around those that are the closest to you at such a special time of year is gift enough.

Tell us about your role and what do you love the most about working here at Criton.

I work as a Software Developer here at Criton. I love getting my teeth into the code and building new features to make our product even better for guests (the monthly lunches aren't bad either!)

How do you see the hospitality technology sector evolving in 2020? 

I think great service and the human touch will always be at the forefront of the hospitality industry, but I see technology becoming an increasingly integral part of the guest journey so that guests have more choice about how they access services and can get more and more of what they want from their phone without needing to speak to someone directly.

Thinking about what Criton is planning in 2020, what are you most excited about? 

We've spent a long time working on Criton 2.0 over the past 6 months and I'm excited to see the sleeker, faster, jazzy new apps in the hands of our customers' guests. In particular, we've introduced new digital door key functionality, with more of this to come in the future so I'm looking forward to sharing that with our customers.

What’s your favourite Christmas movie and why? 

I really like the film The Nightmare Before Christmas because I love creepy Tim Burton films, but I'm always torn as to whether it's more of a Halloween film or a Christmas film.

Christmas is around the corner! What’s your top tip for a wonderful Christmas? 

No scrimping on the roast potatoes!

What’s the best – or worst – Christmas present you’ve ever received? 

The worst - Santa Claus once left an egg slicer gadget in my stocking. I still have no idea why - he should know I don't even particularly like hard-boiled eggs!

Tell us about your role and what do you love the most about working here at Criton.

I'm the Customer Success Manager at Criton which means I get to be involved with customers throughout their whole time with us! From welcoming them to Criton to building their apps and offering support throughout, it's my job to make sure they're getting the best results they can. I love watching the app development and then visiting customers to see how well they've embedded it and promoted it across their site - it's very satisfying to see!

How do you see the hospitality technology sector evolving in 2020? 

We've already seen this year that more companies in the hospitality sector are open to changing processes and embracing new technology, I think this will only increase next year as guests themselves start asking for products that make their stay easier and more enjoyable.

Thinking about what Criton is planning in 2020, what are you most excited about? 

Criton 2.0 is already a great leap forward for us and adding new door lock and PMS capabilities mean we can be even more helpful for current customers and potential ones!

What’s your favourite Christmas movie and why?

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation is my favourite Christmas movie of all time. It reminds me of Christmas when I was a child and I still watch it every year, laughing at the same jokes!

Christmas is around the corner! What’s your top tip for a wonderful Christmas?

Christmas for me is all about the food! I love a Sunday Roast anyway and Christmas Dinner is the ultimate version of this - my top tip is you can never have too many different types of meat for a Christmas Roast!

What’s the best – or worst – Christmas present you’ve ever received?

The worst Christmas present I ever received was tickets to see a band I had been desperate to see for years from my girlfriend at the time. I opened them Christmas Day and was delighted until I realised the gig had taken place 7 weeks earlier...

Tell us about your role and what do you love the most about working here at Criton.

I’m the Account Manager here at Criton, so the thing I love the most is our customers! It’s wonderful to meet so many different types of people and understand their business needs and how we can help. My role is extremely varied day-to-day, but my main focus is on customer onboarding and making sure our customers are happy and getting the most out of their app. 

How do you see the hospitality technology sector evolving in 2020? 

As a competitive industry, I feel hoteliers that are more open to new approaches and ideas are moving forward in leaps and bounds and getting an edge over their competitors. Guests want to have more choice and have everything accessible to them when they want it, I think by providing them with this through technology really makes for a memorable stay. 

Thinking about what Criton is planning in 2020, what are you most excited about? 

Having launched just launched 2.0, I’m most excited about getting our first load of apps published… it’s very satisfying when we receive emails from Apple and Google to say the app is live! 

What’s your favourite Christmas movie and why?

It has to be Elf, I can watch it again and again and I’ll still laugh like it’s the first time! 

Christmas is around the corner! What’s your top tip for a wonderful Christmas? 

Buy more wrapping paper than you think.. there’s nothing more frustrating than wrapping your last present and realising you’re an inch short!!

What’s your best (or worst) Christmas joke?           

What kind of music do elves listen to? …..Wrap…..

Tell us about your role and what do you love the most about working here at Criton.

I am a Software Developer and Scrum Master, which means I am part of the team that creates the application and supporting technology that Criton sells. My role as Scrum Master is to make sure the team is working as well as we can to deliver features to our customers by removing any blockers that might arise during our development cycles and ensuring we are committing to a sustainable pace of delivery whilst ensuring the highest quality. The challenge of building the right thing for our customers is the best thing about working at Criton.

How do you see the hospitality technology sector evolving in 2020? 

I think we’ll see more engagement with integrated tech, and the expectation from many travellers that they should be able to check-in, open room doors and engage with the hotel from their mobile device. 

Thinking about what Criton is planning in 2020, what are you most excited about? 

The full roll-out of our latest product, getting some feedback from our users, implementing more of the technology and integrations in our roadmap to deliver a really great, luxury experience for our clients.

What’s your favourite Christmas movie and why?

Home Alone 1 - it’s a classic! Kevin is a hero, punished after being wound up by his older brother, forgotten about, taking advantage of being Home Alone as an 8-year-old, holding off the pair of would-be burglars until his mum gets home to him on Christmas Day. It’s got everything, and I mean everything even a cameo by John Candy! The question still remains, what did his parents do to afford that house…Mafia??

Christmas is around the corner! What’s your top tip for a wonderful Christmas?

Put your phones and tablets down and limit your small screen time! Don’t get lost in screens for the day and spend as much time as you can with the people you love. Christmas for me is about family, not what is on social media… 

What is a cherished family Christmas tradition from your childhood?

My younger brother and I used to have to make a cup of tea for my Mum and Dad and wake them up before we were allowed to open our presents! I hope my little boy will do the same for me when he can reach the kettle.