Tech Talk

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Definitely Doug 6/9/23: Hotels Fighting Trafficking: The Role of Technology
Posted: 06/09/2023

This week I want to address an important issue for the hospitality industry, albeit one that technologists have not historically had on their radar. They can potentially play a significant role in addressing the issue, which is human trafficking, and more specifically sex trafficking.

In my last column, I reviewed some key trends in autonomous mobile robotics for hotels, and dove into three categories of delivery robots in more detail – room delivery, food delivery, and heavy-lift robots. This week I will round out the topic with several other robot types and applications, as well as general guidance for evaluating, acquiring, and adopting mobile autonomous robotics. If you have not yet read part one, I recommend going back and doing so before continuing below, as some of the introductory material is important background to what follows.

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Best Practices for Hotel & Resort Operators in Pool Season 2023
Posted: 05/25/2023

With the arrival of warmer weather and summer fast approaching, hospitality operators are gearing up for another pool season. This year, technology is at the forefront of driving booking revenue and taking operational efficiency to the next level. Modern technology platforms (such as hospitality’s newest technology category – the Property Experience Management System or PXMS) are providing brand new capabilities that unlock new strategies and approaches to filling the pool with satisfied guests.

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The Growing Role Technology Plays in Hotels and Restaurants
Posted: 05/25/2023

In the past few years, hotels and restaurants have grown into hubs for entertainment, leisure, and human connection. In an effort to best serve their guests, operators have begun rethinking their technological investments and working to adapt to recent shifts in consumer preference and operations. To ensure that guests have the best on-site experience possible, brands are increasingly looking to new technologies to make their experiences more convenient and comfortable. Advanced property management systems (PMS) and point-of-sale (POS) systems can increase operational and staff efficiency, while also meeting changing customer expectations for a high-value but relatively low-touch experience.

This week I will return to a topic I have covered before, because it has, within the last 12 to 18 months, become one of the hottest-growth categories in hospitality technology. That topic is autonomous mobile robots – specifically, ones that can move around the facility as well as perform specific tasks. Many of these products were launched pre-Covid but were often seen at the time as more of a marketing gimmick than a legitimate operational solution.

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Millennials: What Do They Care About Technology?

02/10/2016

by Brendon Granger

Millennials - also known as Generation Y - are the generation of travelers born between 1980 and 1995. Millennials were the first generation to be born into the digital world; they’ve grown up in an age where technology is an everyday part of life and regular travel is very accessible. This has created a wave of so-called savvy travelers, who look for unique value in their travel destinations at an affordable price.

Millennials Are Your Future Guests, Now!

It’s no secret that millennials are your future guests. As Gen X and Baby Boomers age, it is inevitable that many of your guests in the future will belong to the millennial generation.

According to research from Cornell Center for Hospitality Research, 50 percent of all travelers to the United States will be millennials by 2025. However, this doesn’t mean that you should be waiting 10 years to implement new and relevant hotel technology. In fact, as of 2013, millennials outnumbered baby boomers 79 million to 76 million, and as the boomers continue to age, that gap will continue to widen.

International brands have already jumped onto the hotel technology bandwagon, with Starwood’s W brand embracing the millennial guest by incorporating technology and millennial-friendly design into their hotels early on.

And while it may seem like a big investment in technology just to cater to these seemingly fickle travelers, millennials guests also come with some serious benefits. A main benefit being their desire, and ability, to share their experiences with friends and family before, during and after their visit. You might say word of mouth has become word of mouse.

“Hotels need to create an experience

that’s personal enough to make

the guest feel special without

appearing to try too hard."

What Millennials Want

As a general rule, millennial travelers aren’t looking for the same cookie-cutter experiences from their hotel stay. In fact, the biggest reason millennials cite for travel is wanting to gain new and unique experiences. Many hotel brands have already developed a millennial-friendly image by responding to this trend and actively shying away from the standardized image. A prime example is the trendy boutique hotel group, citizenM, which has properties in Amsterdam, Glasgow, London, New York, Paris and Rotterdam. The brand denounces now-defunct amenities such as trouser presses, bellboys and, in their words, "stupid pillow chocolates." Even as a chain, citizenM works to give millennial travellers what they’re really looking for - a unique local experience.

A Constant Demand for Hotel Technology

In lieu of luxurious four-poster beds or decorative pillows and throws, millennials are demanding more and better technology in order for their hotel stay to be a good one. In fact, according to data from Statista, complimentary Wi-Fi still tops the list of requirements for both business and leisure travelers.

The millennial traveler is keen to use technology to make their lives easier and their travel experience more seamless. This includes checking in at hotels, paying their restaurant and bar bills as well as looking up places to eat, shop and visit. Millennial guests are both self-sufficient and tech-savvy travelers who are comfortable using apps and mobile websites; making it all the more important for hotels to embrace these platforms in order to build better relationships with their millennial guests.

Without a doubt the main type of hotel technology that is being influenced by millennial travelers is mobile technology. Smartphones and tablets have long surpassed the superfluous status that they once held and are an integral part of most people’s lives - especially a millennial’s.

Mobile Devices Are The Key

Since becoming inextricably linked to their mobile devices, millennials depend on them in order to handle almost every aspect of their lives - everything from office work to dating - including travel. Mobile devices play a significant role during each stage of the travel experience as millennial travelers use their smartphones and tablets to research hotels and book rooms online, navigate and explore new areas and post reviews and share their experiences online.

Extended Customer Service

For a millennial, personalized service doesn’t actually have to involve a person. The access new hotel technology gives to millennials means that customer services begins long before guests set foot in a hotel, and extends to long after they’ve checked out. This could be in the form of a mobile app that lets guest choose exactly what type of room they want to book, and allows them the option to check in online and use their smartphones as their room key. It could also mean being able to answer questions about bookings in advance via email, Skype, Twitter or Facebook, or providing video tours of your hotel or resort on YouTube.

Since technology provides you with so many ways to connect with millennial guests before they even book a room, it has become vital to stay active on all social media platforms 24x7 as in-house millennials may now communicate their immediate needs to the hotel they are staying at via such channels. By the same rights, guests will post photos, videos and reviews of their stay and, given the right incentive, use technology as a means of gaining extra value through loyalty programs.

Loyalty

While millennial guests have a reputation for being picky and frugal, their loyalty can easily be gained as long as the right incentives are offered. Millennial guests as a whole are less interested in accruing loyalty points over time, but instead are much more interested in loyalty benefits they can reap straightaway.

Technology such as online check-in and smartphone room keys are only available to those guests who sign up to the respective hotel loyalty programs, thereby giving the millennial guest real value straightaway and the hotel receives valuable customer marketing information in return.

Personalized Experiences

Millennials tend to have had a fair amount of experience with travel and as such are looking for something unique in every trip they take. The ability to personalize trips is something that is very appealing to this ever-growing market, and hotel technology is one of the many ways to provide this.

It could be in the form of a 24-hour concierge like Hyatt’s E-Concierge, or a 24-hour Twitter presence that responds to inquiries at any time of the day in any time zone. Hotel technology such as being able to personalize room settings, in-room entertainment and even hotel rewards schemes is likely to appeal to a millennial traveler.

Hotels need to create an experience that’s personal enough to make the guest feel special without appearing to try too hard. Striking that delicate balance between being personalized and attentive without restricting a millennial’s freedom is a sure-fire way to attract millennial guests.

What About Generation Z?

After the hospitality industry is done adapting to millennials, you can be sure that trends will change again when the next generation of traveler comes of age. Generation Z will be even more technologically savvy - earning the nickname of digital natives - learning how to swipe open a smartphone before they can even walk. So getting a hotel prepared with technology would seem to be a sensible long-term investment toward the generations to come.

About The Author

Brendon Granger
Director
Technology4Hotels

With a great passion for all things hotels, but in particular technology and a desire to help others, his role as director at Technology4Hotels allows him to do both.

Brendon has worked with hundreds of hotels to help them with their in-room technology. In the last few years he has helped them to increase guest satisfaction, strengthen guest loyalty and encourage repeat bookings as well as win awards such as the best business hotel, best city hotel, best upscale hotel and best luxury hotel in Australasia.

Always going the extra mile, Brendon began his hospitality career over 25 years ago working in five-star hotels whilst completing his bachelor of business in hotel management. He has held various management positions within five-star hotels, worked as a consultant in both hotel feasibility and technology and has an extensive background in hotel technology.