With the recent pandemic outbreak, the adoption of smart technologies by the travel and hospitality industries has become essential for enhancing guest experience while also saving time and money. Multiple sensors, software, and automation services let businesses become more competitive in a constantly changing hospitality environment.
No matter the size, hotels must anticipate upcoming trends as the high-tech landscape continues to advance, changing customer lifestyles and increasing demand for innovations. After an extensive analysis of the travel and hospitality industry, we collected insights on the top 7 technology innovations to accelerate your business growth.
Today, mobile applications support almost every aspect of our lives, making them easier and more efficient. Modern tourists, especially Gen Z and millennial travelers, use multiple travel apps to personalize their stay. Everything is available via mobile, from destination choice to flights and hotel booking to entertainment planning.
Last year, large hotel chains started widely providing reservations management, virtual payment services, points accumulation, online check-in and check-out, and even room temperature regulation – all to deliver five-star service at a mobile scale. Marriott, Conrad, and the Ritz-Carlton hotel chains already have their mobile apps presented on both iOS and Android platforms. It’s also a great method to stay in touch with guests after their vacation using push alerts.
Artificial intelligence seemed to be a buzzword, but now even small businesses in the hospitality industry can introduce it into the daily business processes.
Chatbots are a fundamental element when implementing AI solutions. They are available to assist consumers, answer commonly asked questions, and generate direct bookings. More intelligent chatbots can handle the most frequent queries and pass guests to the relevant department without the need for a phone operator. For example, the Radisson Blu Edwardian in London and Manchester use an AI-powered virtual host to check guests in or out, order room service, and answer questions 24/7.
Hoteliers today rely extensively on artificial intelligence and machine learning to introduce hyperdynamic pricing, make customer-centric decisions, and evaluate guest data to implement more successful marketing tactics and tailor-made packages to meet the demands of their guests.
AI-driven hotel solutions may also be utilized in the back office to streamline operations by automating tedious processes and answering commonly requested queries, allowing your team to focus on delivering the best service.
With thousands of people traveling through a hotel monthly, there is a massive database of big data that can be leveraged to improve sales and marketing strategies. This large data may be collected and analyzed to manage income, uncover specialized offerings that will appeal to various target groups, and assist in making decisions that will improve the guest experience.
Data-driven solutions can enable you to forecast what services your guests will desire, allowing you to sell these services effectively and attract and retain customers. For example, you might want to check how many of your guests are local versus from other regions or countries. Each subgroup will have distinct requirements; by providing a tailored and memorable experience, you may gain customer loyalty and distinguish your hotel from the competition.
For example, GeoCTRL, a Swiss-leading location analytics provider, helps business and large corporate companies in the retail, real estate, travel, and hospitality industry to analyze people movement patterns, correlate this information with business insights and get a clear understanding of what drives visitation, sales, and profits of their organizations.
From population density with local and international travel patterns to specific personal demographic traits of passengers can be depicted using location data as it provides various valuable information about travelers.
As mentioned earlier, technology has become increasingly crucial to help hoteliers save money. No doubt, Internet-of-Things became an ultimate game-changer for large hotel chains. IoT capabilities range from energy-saving occupancy-based sensors and motion detectors to thermostat regulators and smart entertainment studios. When the space is occupied, these sensors may also be utilized to regulate lights and conserve water. Furthermore, LED lighting may save a significant amount of energy while also creating a cool atmosphere in the room.
Smart Hotels develop solutions and advanced facilities to create a unique experience for their guests while also making their job easier. Voice control, face recognition, and smartphone control are a few examples of technical improvements that smart hotels use to put guests in control of their own experience. Guests can use various technologies to control the lighting and temperature in their rooms, have a bath, listen to soothing music, and even check in and out. Smart technology is more environmentally friendly and can reduce operational expenses and energy consumption.
Object recognition, one of the promising AI applications, started winning people’s hearts in the travel and hospitality industry. Almost all the latest smartphone models have facial recognition capability. Facial recognition can be used to offer private services with complete confidentiality even from the hotel crew, unlock rooms or common utilities, customize services, and even run mobile advertising that will make your clients smile (psss, these guys can help you with it).
With the advancement of technology, there is an increased risk of data breaches. This is when cybersecurity comes into the picture. Since hotels handle large amounts of sensitive personal data, they are vulnerable to cyber threats like phishing, ransomware, and DDoS attacks.
Hotel management must have measures in place, such as updating passwords periodically, utilizing a VPN when accessing the hotel network from outside the hotel, and establishing a guest network, so that hotel guests do not connect to the same network as your hotel employees.
In the future, hotels will increasingly embrace virtual reality (VR) technology. Consumers with VR headsets may now get reality hotel tours straight from their living rooms or offices. Future applications might include employing virtual reality in the booking process to allow passengers to easily transition from purchasing flights to seeing the hotel room they are reserving to exploring destinations.
When it comes to arranging group events, virtual reality may be quite useful to hotels. Without having to fly to the hotel for an in-person tour, the event planner may tour the meeting and banquet rooms to check whether the facilities will work for their needs. Both the event planner and the hotel save time and resources as a result of this.
Big data and various hospitality-specific technologies are being used to make better-informed decisions. Implementing new technology can not only enhance customer experience but also save money and provide hotels with a competitive advantage. Considering how important human interaction is in the hospitality business, it’s crucial to recognize the benefits of technologies that help automate repetitive processes and let people focus on what really matters. Keeping up with the latest trends can help you better understand what your consumers anticipate, allowing you to continue to innovate and give outstanding service.
