How to sell to IT Directors at Hospitality companies
IT Directors in hospitality are primarily measured on system uptime and data security. They respond positively to outreach that demonstrates a clear understanding of the unique challenges in managing diverse technology stacks across hotels and restaurants. Highlighting solutions that enhance guest experience while ensuring compliance with data protection regulations will capture their attention.
Written and maintained by the SoloRiff team, who build outbound software and run outbound with it. The figures below are our own: we measured 548 hospitality company domains over public DNS on 2026-09-03. Last updated 2026-09-03.
What actually hurts
- system downtime complaints
- data security breaches
- integration issues with booking systems
- staff resistance to new technology
The playbook
- 01
Identify recent tech upgrades
Search for hospitality companies that have recently announced technology upgrades or new software implementations. Use platforms like LinkedIn or industry news sites to find announcements. Targeting these companies can lead to discussions about optimizing their new systems.
- 02
Highlight integration challenges
Craft your outreach to address common integration challenges faced by IT Directors in hospitality. Mention specific issues like connecting booking systems with customer relationship management tools, as these are often pain points. This specificity shows you understand their day-to-day struggles.
- 03
Mention compliance deadlines
In your messaging, reference upcoming compliance deadlines related to data protection in the hospitality industry. Emphasizing how your solution can help them meet these deadlines will resonate strongly, as IT Directors prioritize compliance to avoid penalties.
- 04
Propose a pilot program
Offer a no-obligation pilot program that allows them to test your solution in a limited capacity. This approach reduces perceived risk and aligns with their need for practical, hands-on evaluation before committing to larger investments.
- 05
Request a call after key events
Timing your outreach after industry events, such as hospitality trade shows or tech conferences, can increase your chances of securing a call. Reference the event in your communication to create relevance and urgency, prompting them to discuss what they learned.
Can hospitality companies even receive your mail?
We measured the DNS of 548 hospitality companies, sampled evenly across company sizes, to see how many authenticate their own email. It matters in both directions: a domain that does not authenticate is a domain whose team is used to mail going missing — and if your own domain is in the gap, yours is the mail going missing.
Publishes a DMARC policy of quarantine or reject — the domain actually asks receivers to act on failures.
The gap is the finding: 15.6% of 1–10-person companies against 73% of the largest — 57 points apart. Small companies are where the unauthenticated domains are, and small companies are who most cold outreach is aimed at.
Where does your domain sit?
Same three lookups, run live against your domain. Nothing is stored and nothing is emailed to you.
How this was measured
Company domains were sampled within employee-count bands, then queried over public DNS for SPF (TXT at the apex), DMARC (TXT at _dmarc.) and MX. One domain per company, deduplicated. Anyone can reproduce any single row of this with dig.
DKIM is deliberately absent. A DKIM key lives under a selector that cannot be enumerated from outside the domain, so a company with flawless DKIM under a name we did not guess would be counted as having none. That would measure our guess list, not the industry.
Domains with no MX record are excluded rather than counted as failures — parked and redirect-only domains would otherwise drag every figure down and make the result an artefact of the sample.
Sampled within bands, so this describes the population of companies, not of employees: a 10-person company counts once, as does a 10,000-person one. Each band is at least 60 domains; bands below that are not published. Figures are percentages of the sample, not of the whole industry, and we publish no company names — only counts.
Measured 2026-09-03. Re-measured monthly.
The full census across every industry — sortable, with sample sizes, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0.
Subject lines that fit
- Optimizing your tech stack
- Enhancing guest experience
- Compliance solutions for hospitality
Questions
- Why do IT Directors in hospitality avoid sales calls?
- IT Directors often avoid sales calls due to the overwhelming number of pitches they receive that lack industry-specific relevance. They prioritize calls that address their unique challenges, such as system integration and data security, rather than generic solutions.
- How can I demonstrate value to an IT Director in hospitality?
- To demonstrate value, focus on how your solution can improve operational efficiency and enhance guest experiences. Providing case studies or examples of similar hospitality companies that benefited from your offering can also establish credibility.
- What objections do IT Directors commonly raise?
- Common objections include budget constraints, existing vendor relationships, and concerns about implementation disruption. Addressing these objections upfront in your outreach can help you engage them more effectively and reduce resistance.
- How can I keep my outreach relevant to IT Directors?
- Stay informed about industry trends, technology advancements, and regulatory changes in hospitality. Tailoring your outreach to reflect current events, such as new compliance laws or emerging technologies, will keep your messaging relevant and engaging.
Or have it run itself
SoloRiff does every step above on its own — finds the companies, finds the people, writes each of them individually, and handles the replies. Drop your URL and watch it work before you sign up for anything.
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