To kick off our 2016 Look Ahead interview series, we spoke with Norm Rose, an analyst and consultant focused on emerging technologies and how they impact business practices in the travel industry.

Norm leads Travel Tech Consulting, Inc., a firm that partners with Phocuswright to provide technology consulting to travel companies. He’s also been an analyst with Phocuswright since 1999 and is the author of numerous publications and articles including Phocuswright’s Mobile: The Next Platform for Travel. From 1982-1988, he held sales and marketing management positions at United Airlines and, from 1989 to 1995, was corporate travel manager for Sun Microsystems.

Here’s what Norm had to say about the impact of self-service and mobile technologies in the hospitality and travel industries.

Which self-service technologies are you most excited by or interested in?

There was an article I was reading today saying that shoppers want more personalization. I had an airline send me four to five emails, and I finally said, “Forget it, I don’t want your emails. They’re generic and don’t pertain to me and what I want. You have no insight into where I’ve been, what I’ve done.” And I think the consumer is being trained to expect something more personalized.

Everything is mobile. Everything has to be focused on mobile. But I really encourage hoteliers in particular not to just try to automate existing processes but think how they can use solutions to deliver new services.

If I stay at the Four Seasons and I always get a massage, they should know that. You should enable me through a smartphone app or tablet, but also use these to proactively offer something like that to me, which is kind of the Four Seasons way even offline. But certainly, the luxury segment is being enabled by this type of ability to deliver proactive services that really meet your personal preferences.

The balance between high touch and high tech is something that people have been talking about for many years, and I think reaching that right balance is key.

What would you say is the biggest impact self-service technology has had on the hospitality & travel industries?

I would hope it would be in easing the friction that exists in travel. I think the idea is reduced friction and there has been some reduction. If you can avoid check-in at the front desk and can go straight to your room and use a phone to open the door, I think you’re in an environment that approaches that.

I’m always traveling from West to East Coast, so I’m hungry when I get into a hotel. Being able to order food while still in the taxi or the Uber is helpful.

The balance that’s difficult is reducing headcount versus reducing friction. The real battle is hoteliers assume, “We’ve automated things, now we can reduce headcount,” but that ends up opening a new can of worms because sometimes you do need to talk to someone, even with automation available.

In your opinion, who is benefitting most right now from self-service technologies – airlines, hotels, travelers, or another party?

Every segment benefits depending on how much they reduce the friction for the traveler, but the benefit should be for the traveler always.

Certainly, the airlines have benefited from mobile boarding passes and such efficiencies. I can go through the airport process and not have to deal with a human being, which helps reduce both friction and headcount. The problem they still haven’t solved is what happens when something goes wrong.

Who is winning in this space? It’s pretty clear that the OTAs are winning on mobile, which is very frightening considering the hotel push-and-pull relationship with OTAs from a booking viewpoint. The OTAs aren’t doing much within the on-property experience, but they’re winning as far as booking. There’s still a lot of room for interesting competition.

I hear a lot of comments from hoteliers that are worried that self-service technology doesn’t have as much of a place in their hotel because their guests tend to be in the 50-and-up age range. Do you think self-service technology is only beneficial for younger generations of travelers?

I would disagree with that statement strongly. I think if hoteliers did an actual survey, they would find that their 50-plus travelers have smartphones. The issue goes back to the question what’s the balance between high touch and high tech? I think maybe more affluent older travelers still want some high touch, the feeling that there is personal service, not just personal digital service.

Hoteliers need to figure out how to combine digital with the human environment to deliver superior service. It’s not an either/or. Everyone has a smartphone now, and the correlation between smartphone owners and travelers is higher than the general population.

If you’re a hotelier, you should recognize that Airbnb is not just a competitor for lodging but is also a travel service, and is offering not just accommodations but a local experience. A certain segment, maybe not 50 plus, wants that experience. That is an angle that is going to be a need and it’s a big disruption that’s coming. Airbnb is affecting hoteliers.

I think the concern is that tech is driving and enabling big disruptions, and it’s happening as we speak. Therefore the only way to fight that is to understand your customers, understand where the friction is, and deliver an experience that is both high touch and high tech.

In this day and age, many businesses are embracing mobile as the Force that provides them with new capabilities to drive success. While these don’t necessarily include masterfully wielding a lightsaber, there are a number of benefits that should encourage you to embrace training and go from a Padawan to a digital Master.

For those in the hospitality industry, learning to successfully channel this technological energy can help address disturbances in the Force caused by dissatisfied guests, competition from other hotels or Airbnb, and increased booking revenue sharing with OTAs.

Here’s a guide to what you can expect as you embark on your mission to join the ranks of such greats as Yoda or Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Initiate

Your path to becoming a Master begins with the realization of the need for the Force in your life. Statistics and research all support the significance of mobile and technology in the travel and hospitality industries:

• More than half of all online travel bookings will be made via mobile in 2016
• Three-quarters of guests want mobile connection with hotels to enhance their stay
• Nearly 7 in 10 travelers say they’ll use a smartphone every day while traveling

Once you’ve accepted that technology is a vital part of your future and embraced that you hold the potential to harness this tool within you, it’s time to begin your actual training.

Padawan

It all begins with learning the basic principles of the Force that will guide your mobile future. It’s easy to get overwhelmed with all of the information available, especially if you’re not particularly tech-savvy, but getting started is simple if you’ve got the right Master to guide your training.

Partnering with the right mobile Master, such as the expert team available at INTELITY, offers you the opportunity to learn quickly and leverage their experience to grant yourself access to more advanced capabilities. They can help you navigate some of the pitfalls and tests associated with the implementation of new technologies in order to seamlessly integrate digital features into your offered guest experience.

For instance, you can avoid wasting substantial internal resources on digital maintenance and focus on other important aspects of guest service delivery. You can also easily figure out the degree to which technology should play a role in your guest experience to determine the perfect balance of high touch versus high tech.

Jedi Knight

As you graduate to higher levels and expand your familiarity with the abilities of mobile technology, you’ll be able to learn how to more expertly wield your tech powers to not only complete basic engagement with guests, but also extend benefits to the back-of-house to improve your operational efficiency.

• Communicate with guests at all stages of their travel journey
• Capture more direct bookings through proprietary booking channels
• Perform yield management
• Minimize human error with reduced manual actions and data input
• Monitor request fulfillment and service operations digitally

Putting your training into practice allows you to become more comfortable with using the Force to accomplish goals and employ it more creatively in the future to position it as a competitive advantage.

Jedi Master

At this level, you are finally at a point where you’ve unlocked much of the potential of the Force and can fully use your knowledge to inspire and benefit others.

A word of warning: with such great powers, you might find yourself tempted to cross to the Dark Side and begin misusing your capabilities. Some practices that could lead you to lose your way and following the tradition of the Sith Lords include:

• Not providing a secure, private digital experience for guests
• Sending guests impersonal, spam-like communication that provides no benefit to personalizing or enhancing their stay
• Being reckless with information that guests trust you to safeguard, such as their name, preferences or payment data
• Implementing technology that fails to serve a purpose or is difficult to use for both guests and staff

Becoming a Master in mobile technology is a challenge that can provide continuous returns on your investment if you seriously dedicate yourself to learning and implementing the appropriate innovation for your hotel or brand. Commit to expanding your use of technology in 2016 to unlock rewards that will help you remain a relevant player in an increasingly competitive market.

EXECUTIVE INSIGHT

This post provides insight directly from a member of our executive committee, CEO & President David Adelson.

I wanted to offer a few tips on using technology this holiday season to capitalize on opportunities for revenue intake.

To start off, revenue management is defined most simply as selling the right thing to the right customer at the right price and time. It’s a newer science, but one that is necessary with recent changes to the landscape of the hospitality industry. It’s harder than ever to know who customers are, what they want, and what price they’re willing to pay for it.

But what if guests could tell you exactly what it was they wanted? What if you could get reliable information pertinent to building a robust revenue management strategy fed directly to you?

Before many of today’s technologies became available to hoteliers, a lot of revenue management was manual and difficult to track. Most hoteliers lacked the resources to effectively track all of the factors that play a part in knowing how to maximize revenue. Now, digital systems can provide more information than ever, and they can do it quickly and without the same amount of manual effort.

It’s something that was never before possible.

As one example of a digital system providing such benefits, INTELITY’s platform offers simple tools that combine digital access to hotel services with features designed to provide information about guest activity and preference to improve a hotel’s operations.

Guests can place food and beverage orders through a mobile interface on any variety of devices, from mobile guest apps and in-room tablets to laptops, and these are communicated directly into a back-end platform accessible by authorized members of the management or staff without a need for manual data re-entry. Guests can also make reservations at any of the property facilities, such as a restaurant or spa, feeding more behavioral information into the system for hotelier review.

Being able to access insight about guest demand and resource usage is invaluable to a hotelier looking to increase profits. In fact, all of the business intelligence available through the INTELITY Staff platform is easily accessible and potentially beneficial to increasing revenue and adjusting strategy to better anticipate demand, which consequently increases satisfaction.

Here are two general tips for using technology to enhance revenue opportunities this holiday season:

1. Pay attention to guests

Most people use technology as a way to connect, and there’s no better way for a business to connect to its customers. Participating in conversations with guests via digital channels is important all year, but more than ever during the holiday season, which is one of the peak seasons for the industry.

Make sure to have staff assigned around-the-clock to monitor and engage with guests on all channels, from online review sites to your social media accounts. It’s a stressful time of year, so you want to make sure your team is providing enhanced customer service in the right tone to alleviate your guests’ concerns or thank them appropriately if they offer appreciation for you making their season a little brighter.

2. Offer gifts

It’s better to give than to receive, and who doesn’t like gifts during this time of year? And there are plenty of gifts that your guests would love. Don’t just limit this to special room rates, although those are always appreciated. Discounts to use at the property during a stay is another great offering. A percentage off a mistletoe martini or a room service delivery of roast turkey is an offering that will have guests in good cheer.

It adds value for you to make these special offerings through your website or mobile app to increase traffic and number of app downloads. It also provides an incentive for your guests to actively engage with you via mobile technology to establish a long-term connection beyond their stay.

I wish everyone a successful holiday season, and if you want more ideas on increasing revenue all year long, schedule a demo with my team to get information about the latest innovations in hospitality technology, from mobile keyless room entry to in-room guest service tablets.

On average, the Food & Beverage department is the second leading contributor to total revenue in any full-service hotel, although a number of limited-service hotels are expanding F&B offerings and seeing revenue intake as well.

Mobile technology is being applied for various purposes in the hospitality industry, and many hotels are beginning to incorporate it into F&B strategies as well.

The potential benefit to revenue is significant. Research shows that consumers tend to spend more money when making purchases on mobile devices, particularly in-room tablets. Studies at various restaurants have shown that providing consumers with the ability to view a menu and make orders on tablets increases total orders, the amount of tip left behind, and dessert sales.

“I think our impulse levels might be a little harder to control when we’re tablet shopping,” said Boston College researcher S. Adam Brasel.

For example, after installing in-room tablets for guests to order room service, Philadelphia’s The Inn at Penn reported a 12-percent increase in average room service orders and a 10-percent increase in room service usage.

Here are some ways you can capitalize on mobile technology and related systems to improve your F&B strategy and increase revenue.

Streamline F&B operations

Mobile technology provides guests with the convenience of full access to all information they need, such as restaurant locations and menus, as well as the ability to place orders or make reservations through a device. Hoteliers can integrate mobile with other systems, such as point-of-sale, in order to have all information collected in one location for easy review. By going digital rather than relying on manual processes, you can also improve turnaround time, decrease service response delays, and eliminate order errors.

Improve inventory management

Using digital systems to track F&B sales offers an opportunity for better insight into guest behavior, such as which menu items are most popular, the various factors impacting demand, and more. This is useful for developing a comprehensive yield-management plan with more reliable forecasts that allow you to alter inventory as needed to meet demand.

Quickly update menus

In the past, updating menus could be a tedious process that required costly reprints. Technology provides the ability to make immediate adjustments to digital menus, including available items and pricing while saving money on printing. Proactively monitoring F&B activity also makes for efficient revenue management as hoteliers can immediately respond to shifts in demand and supply.

Take advantage of mobile advertising

Mobile advertising is growing in popularity, accounting for more than half of all digital spending in 2015. One of the main reasons for this is that adults spend a significant portion of their day using mobile devices, so it’s a perfect place for brands to enjoy direct visibility. Promoting various F&B services and offerings through mobile, whether through in-app banner advertisements or push notifications, is a great way to get information directly in front of guests and should be included in any hotel’s F&B marketing plan.

For more information about the benefits of technology to not only F&B but all departments in a hotel, please take a look at our hospitality technology platform. Ready to find out how the INTELITY platform can help you increase guest engagement, maximize revenue, and streamline your operation efficiencies, schedule a demo with a member of our team today.

EXECUTIVE INSIGHT
This post provides insight directly from a member of our executive committee, CEO & President David Adelson.

With the hospitality industry thriving, hotel construction on the rise, and the expansion of the sharing economy, hotels are facing more competition to accomplish the goal of heads in beds and establishing guest loyalty. It’s become extremely important for a hotelier to actively consider the unique points of value that his or her property offers target segments in comparison to others in the same market. The ability of a property or brand to be competitive is now about more than just price, although travelers are still definitely looking for great deals.

Mobility has had a major impact on the interaction between consumers and businesses, creating more opportunity for visibility and communication. It’s about listening to guests and providing them with the experience they want. Online social connectivity has revolutionized the ability of the consumer to communicate to brands what they’re looking for, which savvy brands can then use to determine how to improve positioning.

The best hotel brands and properties are the ones that can use new digital channels and tools to distinguish from competitors, reinforce brand awareness, and establish guest loyalty.

Here are a few ways technology can help you accomplish these goals:

Improve the guest experience

You can no longer deny that guests not only want the option to use technology during their stay, they expect it. No matter your target consumer demographic, mobile technology is going to be involved in your guests’ travel journey at some stage, and therefore is a powerful tool for you to utilize. Most importantly, it creates an open line of communication that helps you get to know guests better. Studies show that customers would rather text than place a phone call to solve customer service needs, so why not give them the option by making your staff available via mobile?

Technology can also allow guests to share information with a hotel about preferences and interests for a more personalized experience. Data has become a valuable component of technology use, and 73 percent of consumers are willing to share personal information if they feel they’re receiving sufficient benefit in return. As a result, hotels can apply data collected for more targeted marketing and advertising, and to efficiently push out information about relevant offers so that guests are left feeling more satisfied from interactions.

Monitor social conversations and guard brand reputation

These days, your customers are talking to you around the clock through a number of different channels, whether it’s Twitter, Facebook, TripAdvisor, Yelp, etc. Being an active participant in these digital conversations is vital to maintaining high levels of brand satisfaction and diverting potential crises. Nearly 8 in 10 guests reference online reviews before booking, and they are 3.9 times more likely to choose a hotel with higher reviews if pricing is similar. When negative feedback is shared online, it’s absolutely critical that a brand quickly and appropriately responds in some way – 87 percent of travelers said appropriate management response to a bad review improves the impression of a hotel.

Connecting with guests via mobile provides the added benefit of allowing them to immediately and directly share feedback from their experience via an app or mobile messaging. For example, INTELITY’s hospitality technology platform features a guest feedback solution that guests can use to send a rating of their stay to the hotel. Staff can then be proactive in addressing issues more quickly, even before they leave the property.

Streamline operations for better guest service and staff productivity

Great technology can improve things on the back end as well, indirectly resulting in benefits for guests and improve the perception of your brand. Technology reduces the heavy lifting for your team, making it easier to get through repetitive, tedious tasks. It also increases productivity. About half of all adults with Internet access say they feel more productive at work thanks to technology (compared to only 7 percent who feel less productive), while 35 percent say it increases the number of hours and amount of work they are able to complete. To again use INTELITY’s platform as an example, it includes tools that allow hotel staff to track guest requests to fulfillment. This allows management to gather insight on service response times and adjust procedures as necessary. Similarly, digital systems can help management employ stronger strategies to streamline relationships with customers.

For more information on some of the latest technologies, such as mobile key, to assist you in coming out ahead of your competitors, schedule a demo with a member of our team.

How would you feel if your hotel was literally on the moon?

If you enjoy watching Mad Men, perhaps you’ve seen the episode where the main character Don Draper takes on Hilton as a client. “I want a Hilton on the moon,” says ‘Connie’ Hilton when discussing direction for a brand marketing campaign. Whether he’s being metaphoric or not, the episode isn’t completely based on fiction.

In the 1950s and 60s, the Lunar Hilton was the subject of a long-running marketing campaign by Hilton. It was to be the first hotel constructed on the moon, where guests would be able to enjoy a really interstellar view.

“I firmly believe that we are going to have hotels in outer space,” Barron Hilton once said.

And it looks like he isn’t alone in his vision.

A new survey of Americans between the ages of 18 and 67 found that 35% believed outer space travel would be a reality within the next 15 years.

Other interesting insight provided by the survey into our outlook on travel in 2030:

• 61% said hotels will offer 24/7 virtual concierge services
• 58% believe smartwatches and mobile payments will become popular
• 47% feel that personalized mobile travel guides will be available

Judging from these figures, mobile continues to factor heavily on the priority lists of modern travelers. Surprisingly, most of the items on this wish list are already available, including around-the-clock virtual concierge service, mobile payments, and personalized travel guides on mobile. Now it’s up to the hospitality industry to forge ahead in its implementation of cutting-edge innovation to provide travelers with access to these technologies on a widespread basis.

There are no limits when it comes to dreaming up the next big thing that will have an impact on the way we live or travel, the way our hotel guest room looks, the way we serve travelers looking to explore.

If you want more information and research about the future of the hospitality and travel industries, take a look at some of the solutions our company provides on current and future ways to shoot for the moon when it comes to meeting, or even surpassing, travelers’ imaginations.