Tech Talk

Recent posts

Three Mistakes Hotels Are Making with Wi-Fi
Posted: 09/18/2023

Wi-Fi is now like the foundation for your hotel: if it’s not solid, it can jeopardize everything.
Your HSIA network has to deliver the performance and experience your guests demand; Wi-Fi has evolved from being an amenity to a necessity and key driver of guest satisfaction.
In the converged world, all your systems for business operations depend on a solid and secure Wi-Fi network. Without it, nothing else works properly—your staff and systems will struggle, and you will waste precious time, money, and resources trying to recover.
Here are three things you may be doing that put you and your Wi-Fi network at risk, and what you should do instead.

Read More +

Definitely Doug 9/15/23: Experience Matters!
Posted: 09/15/2023

Hotels are usually the first thing a traveler books within a destination. And hotels usually know that destination better than anyone else (or any website) a guest might consult. But are hotels connecting the dots?

Read More +

Definitely Doug 8/25/23: Check It Off the List!
Posted: 08/25/2023

This week I will cover software that goes under various descriptions, including quality assurance, audit, and checklist management. It includes anything that involves a standard list of things that someone needs to perform or verify. In hospitality, this is still an emerging field, but is growing very rapidly.

Between 2020-2022, traveler adoptions fluctuated drastically due to the lockdowns, the impact of the variants, and the vaccination schedule. As the pandemic is behind us and people start to travel in 2023, one question is on every practitioner’s mind: What are the traveler’s current expectations and preferences in the post-pandemic world?

Read More +

Definitely Doug 8/11/23: Charge Me Up!
Posted: 08/11/2023

Few things make travelers more anxious than a mobile phone with a low battery. For years, hotels have tried to play catch-up with evolving mobile device charging standards, and many seem to have given up. Guests can sometimes find desktop or bedside USB ports (dated but still relevant charging standard), but most hotels offer only an electrical outlet, and too many times it is in the most difficult-to-reach location possible. Others have made expensive decisions to install USB ports on bedside tables or work desks, only to find them out of date when the standards changed – or broken by frequent use.

Read More +

comment on this article

How Millennial Expectations are Transforming the Hospitality Industry

04/27/2016

by Geneva Rinehart and Katherine Darsie

Hospitality Upgrade recently had the chance to interview Ray Carlin, vice president of solution and strategy management at Oracle Hospitality, about the key findings in Oracle’s new report, Millennials and Hospitality: The Redefinition of Service.

The report surveyed more than 9,000 millennials from around the world and discussed their use of technology in hotels, restaurants, bars and coffee shops – quantifying the impact mobile devices have on the hospitality industry. Millennials are projected to spend an average of $3,900 each on travel this year.

“It’s not a shock that millennials are interested in using mobile technology, but the reality is it’s a mixed-use environment,” Carlin said. “But for some people, mobile is a personal definition of good service.”

Some key findings of the study:

52 percent of millennials want to manage loyalty on their mobile devices.
Millennials want to use this mobile technology but on some level still want personal service and individual customer preference.
39 percent of millennials have already ordered food via a mobile device, while more than half (51 percent) want to be able to order delivery and takeout from mobile.
29 percent of U.S. millennials have already paid for food and drink by mobile device.
Millennials want to use mobile technology for hotel services such as connecting to hotel Wi-Fi, checking in to a hotel, booking a room or browsing a hotel website. Out of those surveyed, 46 percent had booked a hotel room using a mobile device, and more than 80 percent said they used a mobile device to connect to the hotel Wi-Fi.
There are potential ancillary markets to this group including connecting to room service and accessing entertainment. In the survey, 55 percent of millennials said they wanted to connect their mobile devices in hotel rooms to enjoy entertainment, and 36 percent of millennials said they wanted to be able to access their own entertainment and have the option of paying for music, films and TV programming.

“This study reinforces the need to provide solutions in an adaptive service model,” Carlin said. “It also validates an investment in cloud services and a focus on mobile enabling guest and employee-facing technology. It was an important effort for Oracle meant to communicate how cloud and mobile are inherent on how people want to be served before, during and after the visit.”

To read the full study please click here to sign up for the whitepaper section on our website.