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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Thoughts on HITEC 2015: Convergence, but not the way you Might Think!

07/09/2015

by Dan Phillips

Everyone has HITEC stories. Whether they be about the conferences themselves, or the friends they made, or the after-hours high jinx they lived through, everyone that attends a HITEC has a story. My first HITEC was in Baltimore in 1992. If you were there, and commit to being old enough to have attended that show, I was an exhibitor. I was the guy that had a basketball goal and ball in his booth, and dressed as a referee. The more shots you could make the bigger discount I would give you off of a telecom audit. A moment that I am sure Frank Wolfe is proud of. Marketing still isn’t one of my strengths!

This year at HITEC we have begun to see a subtle change in the relationship between hoteliers and vendors; something that I hope continues. I am speaking specifically about the educational sessions. In the past, only hoteliers could lead and take panel positions on the educational sessions. That is beginning to change. For the last couple of HITECs vendors have been able to conduct tutorials, or “Tech Talks” on the show floor. This has been a great step and those talks have been well attended. But this year, vendors took part in some of the educational sessions off of the floor.

I was fortunate enough to be asked to lead the session on Evolution of Door Locks and on our panel we had a representative from ASSA ABLOY, in addition to three hoteliers. The audience was rewarded with a very informative session that included perspectives and inside knowledge from an industry leading vendor.

What this means to me is that our industry has begun to unite, to bring together hoteliers, students and professors, AND, learned representatives from our vendor community. As an industry we are bonding together to deliver the best service and guest experiences possible. To me, this is a shift from hoteliers and vendors operating in completely different and sometimes confrontational spheres, to now working together to develop very specific and relevant products and services to enhance and raise the stature of our business.

In reality this shift is a reflection from what was happening on the show floor. I witnessed many vendors rolling out new products or services that they’ve been developing since last HITEC, but now, really engaging with the hotel attendees to learn their operational requirements. To a very large extent, the days of vendors creating widgets in a vacuum and then telling hoteliers to make the square peg fit the round hole appear to be over. Vendors are listening. And, more than ever, hoteliers are talking. The common goal is to increase guest satisfaction within all facets of hospitality and hoteliers and vendors are now converging, working together towards that goal.

Just like voice and data converged many years ago. And, just like marketing and technology should converge today, hoteliers and vendors need to converge. Our industry is very fractured; an example being, try to find the decision maker at any one hotel. Is it the GM, or the management company, or is it the owner or the regional director from the brand? And, being so fractured, it is extremely easy for outside influences to disrupt it. Just think Airbnb. A converged community, representing various components, working together for a common goal is a powerful force.

What I saw at HITEC 2015 is what I hope to be the beginning of a new phase for this showcase. The days of exhibitors hawking their wares to attendees that quickly walk past a booth, never diverting their eyes from the carpet below, should be over. Both sides, vendors and hoteliers, have businesses to run and neither can afford to waste time or effort. But, a converged force with the goal of making the hospitality industry the best business in the world means a healthier industry, one of longevity and prosperity, which is good for all of us. This is what I saw at HITEC.

I urge both hotelier and vendor to adopt the concept of convergence, to follow your fellow colleagues, to work and communicate with each other for the goal of providing relevant and exemplary service to our common customers, guests. HITEC 2016 should see both educational sessions and the exhibit hall crowded with attendees and exhibitors working together for the betterment of our passion, hospitality.

About The Author

Dan Phillips
Owner
Dare to Imagine

Dan Phillips is the owner of the consulting firm, Dare to Imagine (www.dare2i.com). He started behind the front desk of a Holiday Inn in 1987 and has been consulting to hotel companies since 1991. Dare to Imagine enlists hotel experts with decades of C-level experience at many of the major hotel companies in the world. He can be reached at dphillips@dare2i.com or by phone at 678-852-5913.