As the tech boom continues to roll out, the hotel industry has gotten into the game as well, offering the best for guests in the latest gadgets, services, and conveniences. Hoteliers are able to play up the luxury aspects of technology while doing away with inconveniences customers have gotten used to over time. While updating an old school business model, hotels are finding ways to create more efficient operations through new tech innovations.

Curious as to what you’ll find in a hotel of the future? Check out some here:

Direct to Room – Mobile Key & Mobile Check-in

Smartphones have the potential to do away with one of the biggest pain points of staying in a hotel: Remembering their hotel key. Guests having access to their hotel room key through the use of their smartphone allows them to go straight to their room once they arrive at the hotel – no more waiting in a long line at a kiosk to pick up their key after a long plane or car ride to your hotel. At Park Hotel, in Valkenburg, guests are able to securely access their hotel room, check-in ahead of time and notify the hotel of their arrival time – making late check-in manageable for hotels and allowing guests to feel right at home once they walk in.

Streaming Their Own Device

The key is to integrate technology in the hotel experience as naturally as it is integrated into our everyday lives. With INTELITY Casting, a casting solution for hotels, guests can have the freedom to stream content from their own device or log into their personal Netflix and Hulu for the duration of their stay. No longer will guests be barraged with the in-house channels or have to pick from limited on-demand video options

Robotic Service

At the Aloft hotel in Cupertino, California, guests who request a toothbrush or razor from the front desk will find Botlr, a short servant-on-wheels, delivering it to their door. 22% of hotels in Hospitality Technology’s 2016 Study said robots have real potential in the hospitality industry. Relay robotic concierge from Savioke was named first runner-up “Most Innovative Hospitality Technology” at HTNG’s 2016 TechOvation Awards. Relay autonomously delivers amenities to guest rooms, and the technology is already being used at select Aloft Hotels.

(image via savioke.com)

Messaging

Hotels are using more technology to enable a higher level of service. When it comes to reaching their guest, sometimes it’s just as easy as saying “Send us a text.” Guests can easily use their phone – using SMS or Facebook Messenger – to request items, services and ask questions seamlessly. With more and more hotels looking for ways to create a more personalized experience for their guests, this is just one way for them to drive two-way communication.

Interactive Displays

According to Hospitality Technology, interactive walls received 36% of respondents votes for futuristic technology most likely to take hold. The Renaissance New York Midtown Hotel will feature gesture-controlled, interactive digital displays in public spaces. Using a variety of technology including motion detectors, projectors, and 3d cameras, the firm created a “living” wall that interacts with guests and responds to their movement.

Is it too late for the hotel app to catch on among travelers or is there still hope for hospitality to use mobile for innovation?

There’s an app for that! The phrase became popular after Apple introduced the App Store in 2008 (the same year Intelity went to market), signaling the start of the golden age of apps. Years later, hotel apps have finally become a major focus for investment among the hospitality industry. But has the hospitality industry waited too long to embrace the mobile hotel app?

There has been recent speculation about the role that apps will play in the future.

There are more mobile devices than humans on the planet.

App downloads have steadily decreased in recent years. Nearly half of smartphone users reportedly don’t download any new apps at all.

But mobile technology itself is more popular than ever. There are more mobile devices than humans on the planet, and the number of devices is growing more quickly than our population. Not to mention, the average smartphone user checks their phone incessantly throughout the day – an average of 85 times per day in fact.

In reality, apps are NOT dead. Mobile users are still spending a lot of time within apps, and not only on their smartphones. Apps are also popular on many other devices, even TVs.

What has died is an easy opportunity for app developers or brands looking for a mobile connection with consumers. With about 4 million different apps available, mobile users are selective with the limited real estate in memory on their devices. Most use an average of only 26 apps in total. In fact, 70 percent of all app usage is spread among only the top 200 apps.

“You’ll still interface with wearables/robotics and features using apps.”

Current interest has shifted to chatbots as a means to open two-way communication between brands in industries like hospitality and customers, enhancing the significance of hotel apps.

One industry commentator observes, “Apps become ever more important in a smartphone-centric wearables/robotics/voice-controlled/artificial intelligence-dominated world. You’ll still interface with those wearables/robotics and features using apps.”

When Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella announced the incorporation of bots into popular video and text messaging app Skype, he said, “Intelligence is infused into all of your apps.”

Hotel apps must have obvious value. They must be worth the time it takes to download and engage with them. They should provide a fluid, thoughtful experience that serves the best interests of the end-user by providing them with convenience, benefits, and a voice that is heard by the brand they want to interact with.

A hotel app has great potential to aid in cultivating satisfied, loyal guests if hospitality can figure out how to embrace innovation and prove to guests that this category of apps is designed with their best interest at heart. Features such as Messaging, Mobile Check-In/Out, and Mobile Key are a step in this direction, but it’s up to hoteliers to become more forward thinking in taking advantage of the opportunity that mobile presents to create a much-needed refreshment in the guest experience.

Guests don’t just want the usual benefits during their stay. They have begun to actively voice a desire for investment in hotel technology that supports a high-tech, high-touch hotel experience.

Knowing what today’s hotel guests want is not a guessing game at this point. They’re clearly saying, “We want more hotel technology!” Don’t believe it? A recent survey of travelers by Oracle and Phocuswright revealed that two-thirds said investment in hotel technology that enhances the guest experience is “very or extremely important.”

This shouldn’t come as a shock to anyone who’s been keeping an eye on travel trends over the past decade.

64% of Hotel Guests: Investment in Hotel Technology is “Very or Extremely Important”

Technology plays a heavy role in the travel experience from beginning to end.

For instance, travelers rely heavily on using various mobile devices for research and trip planning. Online searches provide a ton of valuable information, and social media and online reviews are now considered the first go-to for most people looking for authentic feedback about not only hotels but details about destinations as a whole. After a stay, half of all guests post about their hotel stay experience on social media as well.

And, of course, the utility of technology, and mobile technology, in particular, extends to during the hotel stay as well.

Nine in 10 business travelers and 8 in 10 leisure travelers value use of smartphones to request hotel services or communicate with staff.

Other key findings from the report about the ways guests want to use smartphones to interact with hotels:

• A third of guests are interested in using a complimentary hotel tablet provided in guest rooms
• Forty-one percent of guests want a message to their smartphone when their guest room is ready
• About 21 percent of guests want the ability to stream content onto the in-room TV

Hotel guests are leaning toward more independence as opposed to the traditional hotel experience where the staff is very visible throughout the entire stay. Guest preference is for staff to maintain a constant digital presence, where they can be conveniently contacted if needed or serve as a virtual concierge with suggestions and information to help guests make the most of their time at a destination.

More than 60 percent of guests currently go to sources other than a hotel concierge for suggestions about how to improve the guest experience, but surveys such as these reveal that hotels could reach and serve more hotel guests if they expanded to include a virtual concierge and digital guest services for better communication and messaging with guests.

Read about this hotel technology love story in the heart of Boston at the iconic Boston Harbor Hotel.

Arching majestically over the Rowes Wharf, the Boston Harbor Hotel is renowned for impeccable service and personalized attention to hotel guests that rivals any other luxury accommodation in the city.

The property boasts a number of different awards in recognition of the high priority placed on guest satisfaction TripAdvisor Travelers’ Choice Winner, Conde Nast Traveler’s Readers’ Choice Awards, U.S. News & World Report Best Hotels in the USA, etc). It’s also got the distinguishing credentials of both five stars and four diamonds.

In other words, it’s the embodiment of a love letter to its guests.

Stephen Johnston, Managing Director and General Manager, says, “We listen to our guests a lot. We’ve very engaged as a Five-Star hotel.”

It was an interest in maintaining this high level of guest engagement, and even deepening the connection, that led Boston Harbor Hotel to invest in new hotel technology through a partnership with industry innovator INTELITY. What better way to woo both new and returning travelers who wound up in the hotel’s lobby than with modern touches that facilitate communication, service, and engagement?

“When INTELITY was first sold to me, I liked it because we didn’t have much technology in the hotel, but we knew it was time to introduce some,” Stephen says.

And following the release of a customized hotel app, in addition to the installation of hotel in-room tablets in each of the guest rooms, the Boston Harbor Hotel has already noticed dramatic improvements.

Increased in-room dining revenue, reduced operational costs, and positive guest feedback was only the start of the benefits realized.

Read more about how we helped foster hotel technology love among staff and guests at the Boston Harbor Hotel.

The Forbes Travel Guide Star Award Winners list is out, and Five-Star hotels appear to fully embrace hotel technology for exceptional guest service.

We’re thrilled to congratulate all of the global hospitality industry for an incredible showing in the Forbes Travel Guide 2017 Star Awards. What’s amazing is how many of the recognized hotels have fully embraced hotel technology.

For example, out of this year’s 175 Forbes Five-Star hotels, about one out of four are Intelity partners and utilize some form of guest engagement hotel technology, whether it is mobile hotel apps or in-room tablets in hotel rooms. Out of the 22 first-time Five-Star hotels making an appearance on this list, 18 percent are our hotel technology partners.

1 in 4 of the 2017 Forbes Five-Star Hotels is an INTELITY hotel technology partner.

INTELITY has hotel partners in the four United States with the largest number of Five-Star hotels (California, New York, Florida, Massachusetts) and the four international cities with the largest number as well (Macau, Paris, London, Hong Kong).

Only 11 global properties won Five-Star Awards in all three categories for Hotel, Restaurant, and Spa, and one of those, The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, is one of our celebrated hotel partners.

“This year’s Star-Rated properties — the largest and most global group in the company’s history — achieved an impeccable standard of excellence in hospitality, underscoring our overall mission of positively contributing to the international tourism industry as well as the individual hotel experience,” said Gerard J. Inzerillo, Chief Executive Officer of Forbes Travel Guide, in an official press release.

“We are excited to recognize the 2017 Star Rating recipients, an exceptional collection of hotels, restaurants, and spas with a strong culture of service.”

Millennials will not just be the next largest demographic of hotel guests that the hospitality industry serves. They will also be the largest demographic employed in hotels.

There are a number of reasons that Millennials are hot on the radar of today’s hoteliers when it comes to marketing and general guest relation strategy.

• Millennial travel spend will reach $1.4 trillion< annually by 2020.
• Millennials travel more than other demographics (4.2 times per year for leisure, 4.7 times per year for work).
• Marriott estimates 50 percent of its guests will be Millennials by 2020.

Beyond just catering to Millennial hotel guests, hoteliers will also have to create the kind of workplace that will appeal to this demographic.

Hospitality accounts for one out of 11 jobs in the world, making it the largest employer in the world. And Millennials are already joining the hospitality workforce, not to mention the fact they will be the industry’s future leaders and decision makers.

Turnover among Millennial employees results in total costs of $30.5 billion annually.

Hilton Worldwide CEO Christopher Nassetta said that one of the industry’s greatest priorities moving forward should be embracing Millennial hotel workers and aiding to ease unemployment among the 71 million global adults under 29 years old, who account for more than half of the world’s population.

Nassetta said, “These young travelers add so much value to our business [but also face] serious and unprecedented challenges, namely the worst youth unemployment crisis in modern history.”

Creating a workplace that engages Millennials is a key consideration for hoteliers moving forward, especially as turnover among Millennial employees results in total costs of $30.5 billion annually. Here are 3 points of insight on engaging your Millennial hotel employees:

• Flexibility: Having flexible options is a top priority for Millennial employees, with 66 percent saying they would like more adjustable schedules and hours. It’s so important in fact that nearly half of Millennials would prefer flexibility to more pay.
• Innovation: In the same way that hotel technology and apps are used in guest rooms and as part of the guest experience to engage tech-savvy hotel guests, it can be a crucial tool in bridging the gap between “old” and “new” hospitality. A survey showed that 93 percent of Millennials value technology as one of the most important aspects of the workplace. Guest-facing technology has not been the only focus on innovation. Millennial hotel staff can benefit from cutting-edge enterprise hospitality software that increases productivity, automate tedious processes, and provide useful analytics to improve performance.

“We all want to do more meaningful work in less or with the same amount of time. Technology enables us to optimize how we spend our days,” said Jeff Vijungco, vice president, Global Talent at Adobe.

“Companies can have the most amazing perks but if you’re not able to produce work efficiently with the help of great people and technology, then massage rooms and roaming ‘cookie cart’ are meaningless.”

• Transparency: Open communication is necessary to integrate Millennial hotel staff. Almost 85 percent said they appreciate honest feedback and open communication policy. Currently, 23 percent of Millennial employees don’t feel they have a manager who effectively communicates. By strengthening connections between your staff of all ages, you can improve performance and retention rates across the board.

Forward-thinking hoteliers will begin to strategize around updating employee policies and the workplace environment to fully engage Millennial hotel staff. Speaking to hoteliers, Nassetta added, “We have an amazing opportunity to use our engine of opportunity to make hospitality a top career choice of the future.”

Read more about how Millennials are shaping hotels and the hospitality industry in general.

For more information on how hotel technology can benefit your staff and operations, schedule a free consultation with our industry experts.

Courtesy of 15Five.com: