Tech Talk

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Definitely Doug 3/24/23: Is This a Real-Life Hotel Innovation Lab?
Posted: 03/24/2023

This week I want to focus on an emerging tech-forward hospitality company that is pushing the envelope of innovation. Most of its technological developments service its own unique needs in a market that has yet to emerge. But several of its core technologies could well be applicable in mainstream hotels. My crystal ball is not clear enough to say which ones, how soon, or who will find success with them, but to me they are well worth watching.

One of the key challenges facing today’s hoteliers is that of high tech vs high touch. Does technology conflict with personalized service? Is it possible to offer both during the same visit? And can hotels that utilize technology in favor of human interaction achieve guest loyalty?

Business travel is picking back up and families may be taking their first or second real vacations since the pandemic cancelled so many plans just a few years ago. To ensure that guests have the best on-site experience possible, hoteliers are increasingly looking to new technologies to make their stay more comfortable than ever. With an advanced property management systems (PMS) and integration platforms, hoteliers can increase operational and staff efficiency, but also meet changing guest expectations for a high-value but relatively low-touch experience. We looked ahead to see what changes we expect to see sweeping the hospitality industry this year.

Long-term readers of this blog know that I rarely focus on a single company or product. My goal is to help readers understand new and emerging technologies, when and why they might be useful, and what to consider if you are buying them.

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The Future of Hotels
Posted: 02/21/2023

Hotels have always been a high-touch low-tech business. Today, and into the foreseeable future, hotels are moving away from the pure ‘people serving people’ model towards a more high-tech low-touch business, and doubling down on digitalization. In the paragraphs below, I envision ways in which tech can innovate and enhance the guest experience throughout the guests’ 6 stage hotel journey: Imagine-Book-Stay-Report-Recommend-Return.

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Top Five Reasons Not to Use Hotel Template Websites

06/22/2017

by Nimesh Dinubhai

Hotel template websites while being a cheap and fast way to set up your website are not recommended if you are looking to make the most of your money. They have limitations both in aesthetics and functionality which prevents you from truly achieving the goals of your website. Here are some of the reasons why you should go on and pass the template in favour of your own customized website.

1. Exclusive and unique

Working with a template denies you the ability to stand out from the crowd. Several other business are going the pick the same template that you find attractive resulting in a generic kind of websites for different websites. You cannot have exclusiveness with hotel website templates. You lose your ability to set out what makes you unique in graphical ways and even when you write it down it is not credible when your site looks like several others.

2. Customization

To give the website a touch of your own brand, you will need to do several tweaks on the template. However, there is only so much one can do with a set template and doing changes severally in the end appear to make the template stretch and too filled up. You will also need to use costly software editing tools and lots of other specialized skills like coding for these.

3. Graphic optimization

In the design of your website you will need graphics that match your text, brand and intended message. Graphics convey a lot and are understood more by the readers. Working with a template already containing graphics not only denies you enough space for your s but also makes the addition quite hectic. Many of the template’s graphics cannot fit conceptually and thematically with your written copy. You will also be using the same coding and metadata used with hundreds of other websites having nothing to lead viewers to you.

4. SEO

Working in a hotel website template hinders your plans if integrating SEO in your website structure at all levels. This is because much of the structure like metadata are already in place and are in generic form not optimized for search engines to find you. There are other issues like page loading faster which you will have to readdress.

5. Branding

Ultimately the biggest loss when using hotel template websites is branding. You are limited in your freedom in filling every part and layer of your website with something that reflects your brand and how you serve your customers. You are also forced to compromise of several aspects that will not fit the website since you are basically fitting in reverse.

About The Author

Nimesh Dinubhai
President
Websrefresh

Nimesh Dinubhai completed his studies in 2003 and launched Websrefresh to help businesses grow their ROI. He also owns two Arizona hotels, one of which earned the Historical Hotel Award in 2014.