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.
