With the hotel technology trend of BYOD among hotel guests and staff on the rise, the hospitality industry is finding that mobile device management (MDM) for hotels is a necessary investment.

More than half of your guests will carry 3 or more devices with them when they come for a stay, and you can bet that all your employees are also equipped with a variety of devices, from smartphones to laptops.

We’ve entered an age of mobile hospitality, and all hoteliers must now be nimble enough to meet guests where they’re at: on devices that are capable of keeping them connected and informed anywhere in the world.

These mobile devices enable guests to manage the full, end-to-end travel experience, from the research phase to booking to the actual hotel stay. Features such as mobile key, mobile hotel check-in, digital maps, virtual concierge, and social media access have all made smartphones and in-room tablets invaluable to guests, while enterprise features such as digital guest request management and data views from integrated hotel systems have created demand for new hospitality technology among hotel staff as well.

All these devices have created new demands for connected “smart hotels” that provide sufficient hotel networks, WiFi and security for all on premises.

It’s one of the leading hotel technology trends and promises to assist hoteliers in staying on top of hotel guest and staff BYOD.

Some of the MDM features for hotels that could improve the mobile hotel guest and staff experience include:

• Device and platform detection
• Policy compliance monitoring
• Mobile app management and permission setting
• Security implementation
• Remote software updates
• Remote wiping of device data
• VPN configuration
• Remote device locking

In the second part of our series on Mobile Device Management for Hotels and Hospitality, we’ll go into specific benefits that can be realized through the use of an MDM solution.

For more information on how hotel technology trends like MDM can give you a competitive edge when it comes to improving the guest experience, schedule a demo with our industry experts.

 

Hilton is looking to bring digital guest services to its entire portfolio in the same vein as the Conrad Concierge app did for its Conrad properties.

Hilton Worldwide is looking to increase its focus on mobile technology as a way to more competitively connect with the hotel brand’s guests. Hotel mobile technology has become the premier method for hospitality to reach guests in a way that is direct and immediate. It’s also unobtrusive, given that downloading a hotel app or opting in for communication is required before a connection can take place.

In 2012, Hilton launched Conrad Concierge with number one hotel app developer Intelity as an experiment. It was the first service-enabled hotel brand app made available, and it surpassed 180,000 users in less than two years.

A number of factors, including the success of Conrad Concierge app and the surge of hotel guest demand for mobile technology, have now led Hilton to begin a roll out of a new mobile strategy to engage guests through a hotel app similar to Conrad Concierge. The roll out will include a number of Hilton’s brands, such as Waldorf Astoria and DoubleTree.

The hotel app aims to increase sign ups for the Hilton HHonors loyalty program and provide innovative mobile concierge services to guests. Mobile is also viewed as a way to be competitive against indirect room bookings using channels such as online travel agencies like Priceline. Access to a suite of mobile features will serve as an incentive to get guests to download the app.

Using the hotel brand app on a smartphone, hotel guests will be able to pick a specific guest room, use mobile check-in, open the door to their hotel room with a mobile key, and access digital hotel services.

In an interview with The Drum, Geraldine Calpin, Hilton Worldwide global head of marketing and digital, said, “We are using digital to create a better stay experience, and we will continue to innovate in that digital hospitality experience because for us it’s about a better experience.”

“In some cases, people don’t want to talk to people, so enabling digital and technology to provide guests with more choices and control over their stay is what we want to do. The big thing is how can we make that easier and with less friction for our guests.”

(Video: John Vanderslice, VP of Hilton Worldwide Lifestyle & Luxury Brands, talks to Bloomberg TV from Intelity on Vimeo.)

Hotel staff is able to leverage hotel in-room tablet technology to improve service and increase hotel revenue.

Adoption of touchscreen tablets in restaurants has increased over the past few years as reports are released supporting their usefulness in improving business and making customers happy. Numerous chains have been so impressed by pilot runs with restaurant tablets that they’ve expanded the food and beverage technology into hundreds of locations.

But these benefits are not just for kiosks and tablets in restaurants. Hotels have been able to translate the same principles to leverage in-room tablets for hotels and kiosks for a wide array of competitive advantages. Here are a few of the proven results possible from the installation of hotel guest room tablets.

Increased Hotel Revenue

The general numbers don’t lie. The ease of use provided to customers by hotel tablets when it comes to completing tasks like reviewing menu items and placing orders, whether in the guest room or dining at the hotel restaurant, promotes better sales. Studies show the user experience of tablets causes higher sales conversions, more so than on desktop computers, laptops or even smartphones. Businesses using tablets for ordering have reported higher average check amounts and a 15-percent increase in tips.

Improved Hotel Marketing & Upsell Opportunities

Hotel tablets allow for the presentation of full menus with visuals that can be accessed in only one or two taps of a finger. Guests are able to scroll through numerous items with automatic electronic prompts to add on. A guest ordering an in-room dining meal might be encouraged to add a bottle of wine or fitting side to order before submission. One chain was able to increase the sale of appetizers and desserts by 20 percent thanks to the use of tablets for ordering meals.

Enhanced Hotel In-Room Entertainment

The state of hotel room entertainment has shifted in recent years due to hotel technology trends, such as mobile device use by guests for streaming content and announcements of hotel brand partnerships with modern media companies like Netflix.

Hotel in-room tablets can add to the hotel in-room entertainment experience by providing guests with another means of control and personalization of the guest experience. Tablets can be used to stream movies in the hotel room, play games, read digital newspapers and magazines, or browse the Internet. Reports are that at least 1 in 10 tables opts to order premium content such as unlimited games on touchscreen tablets when available, which shows further potential for expanded revenue intake for the hotel.

More Efficient Staff Operations

Tablets are being implemented in the hospitality industry at large, and one of the major draws is the improved operational efficiency. Hospitality tablets are able to “[expedite] the whole process [of food ordering]” as well as “[cut] down on labor costs.”

For instance, hotel tablets running on the INTELITY hospitality technology platform are able to electronically send all tickets to appropriate departments, which can then be managed and tracked to fulfillment through a single back-end portal. Hotel managers are able to review service performance and make changes as necessary to improve speed and efficiency.

The cost of providing guests with better customer experience in hotels is far outweighed by the returns possible from such action.

Improving guest experience is vital for the success of a hotel, but there are still questions surrounding the potential returns on investing in hospitality customer experience, especially as guests’ preferences have evolved after the past decade to include hotel technology and innovation.

Hotels that have a better guest experience than competitors realize higher revenue and customer retention, according to studies.

Guests who have positive previous experiences spend 140 percent more than those who have negative ones.

Also, customers who give high ratings for previous experiences have a 74 percent chance of still being a subscribed customer a year later, which is nearly 30 percent more than a customer with a poor previous experience.

And despite fears about the costs associated with guest experience technology, improvements are shown to reduce overall hotel costs. Telecommunications company Sprint reported a reduction in customer care costs of 33% due to initiatives that improved customer experience.

A 5-year study of various companies showed that those providing exceptional customer experience performed 128% better than those not focusing on improving customer experience and enjoyed smaller loss on returns.

What next? Contact our team to develop a guest experience strategy that will help you increase guest satisfaction, generate revenue and improve operations.

For more information on how hotel technology can give you a competitive edge when it comes to improving the guest experience, schedule a free consultation with industry experts.

Are hospitality technology trends innovating hotel rooms quickly enough to maintain guest satisfaction at peak levels?

Mobile hotel technology is a hot topic when it comes to hospitality technology trends and the future of the industry. Report after report has established that hotel guests love mobile devices for engagement and guest service, such as through a virtual hotel concierge.

Travelers now carry more mobile devices than ever (three to four on average for business travelers). And 60 percent of general global travelers say they wouldn’t vacation at all without a mobile device, while nearly 4 in 10 say they’re more dependent on mobile devices when on vacation than at home.

Mobile devices are more important to your hotel guests than anything else in their suitcase, according to new surveys. Items that ranked below or equal to mobile devices in importance:

• Car
• Deodorant
• Laptop/PC
• TV
• Microwave
• Coffee
• Social Networking

What about the Millennials in your hotel? Mobile phones not only ranked above these items for the majority of them but also toothbrushes and the Internet. Mobile technology is so vital to your hotel guests that nearly half in any age demographic would reportedly give up alcohol to recover a smartphone that was taken away.

With information like this, why is it that some hotels offer toothbrushes and toothpaste but still haven’t invested in fully incorporating mobile technology into the hotel guest experience?

It’s been about a decade since the first iPhone was released. The time for hotels to embrace mobile technology is now.

New mobile hotel technology, such as hotel in-room tablets and hotel apps, are more readily available than ever. And the potential ROI of mobile technology in hotels far outweighs the initial investment required.

Hotel guests are already showing a strong positive response to new mobile hotel technology, including both hotel apps and hotel in-room tablets.

The Crawford Hotel in Denver, Colorado, placed hotel tablets in all of its 112 guest rooms and also made a hotel app available for download to guests’ personal devices. Guests are able to use this hotel technology to send requests with the hotel staff, look up information, stream music, and read digital newspapers and magazines in the hotel rooms.

A year after opening, the hotel reported a positive impact on both guest engagement and communication with hotel staff. More than 3,000 total guest requests were sent via personal mobile devices, mainly smartphones, to the front desk and 41 percent of the hotel’s bookings were mobile.

The hotel aims to stay on the leading edge of hospitality technology trends by adopting mobile key sometime soon to expedite the guest check-in process and improve guest satisfaction even further.

It’s a fact. Guests love mobile hotel technology. So instead of offering your guests toothbrushes, consider offering them what they’ve shown they really want: mobile engagement.

New research is showing why placing tablets in hotel rooms can generate increases in revenue for the hospitality industry.

Hotel tablets don’t just add a “wow” factor to a hotel lobby, restaurant or guest room. For some time now, our company has heard incredible successes among our clients, from average guest usage rates upwards of 90 percent to improved scores toward AAA Five Diamond status.

Significant ROI associated with hotel tablets has also been reported, especially regarding increased in-room dining and room service revenue.

The Inn at Penn, a Hilton hotel in Philadelphia, saw increased revenue only months after installing hotel tablets with INTELITY Guest in guest rooms. Greg Stafford, the hotel’s general manager during the installation, said hotel tablets contributed to a 12-percent increase in average room service checks and a 10-percent increase in room service usage.

And now it seems science is reinforcing what our customers report.

Psychologists have suggested that people place a higher value on things they own compared to things they don’t. Even before purchase, people develop feelings of ownership toward an item if they touch it and tend to buy these items more frequently.

A series of new studies have taken it a step further by looking into the “interface psychology” of shopping on devices, or how mobile technology impacts consumer behavior.

Apparently, even indirect physical touch creates a sense of ownership that encourages purchase, which applies to consumers using touchscreen tablets to place orders. The effect of placing the items in their hands through a tablet makes them feel more possessive toward it and more inclined to complete a sale.

“I think our impulse levels might be a little harder to control when we’re tablet shopping than when we’re computer shopping. We’re just touching it. It’s right there. We already feel like we own it,” said Stevan Adam Brasel, one of the Boston College researchers who conducted these studies.

A report related to their research also showed that visual details tend to matter more than text during tablet shopping. It states, “Changes in interfaces can be as important as changes in content.”

Overall, this research has important takeaways for hoteliers looking to create a digital experience for guests using innovative technology like hotel tablets. Allowing guests to use hotel tablets when they place orders creates a more personal buying experience and leads to more conversions and higher revenue.