Some might argue that a hotel room is a commodity. Customers have abundant choices, so it’s not easy to build loyalty. More and more customers are taking to sites such as Yelp and Trip Advisor before choosing a hotel – and bad or tepid reviews can have a significant impact on bookings. The customer is king and the days of “if I build it, they will buy it” are gone.
We’re at a crossroads. For many hotels, profits have gone up and expenses have decreased but revenue has stayed relatively flat. During the economic downturn, hoteliers focused on cutting expenses and squeezing budgets, so they weren’t investing in the technology tools that inspire and delight customers. And with labor being the single biggest operating expense, hoteliers should also be focused increasing productivity. Why not tackle two birds with one stone?
Integrate displays and productivity suites
Microsoft’s impressive Perceptive Pixel (PPI) large-format touch display with the Windows 8 stack is a good example to start. The PPI by itself is an incredible piece of work. The Next Web recently said that it is ‘the future of touch computing.’ The display has more than 100 touch points, which allows for a lot of fun game playing! But more importantly, with its sturdy construction, it can be used in a number of user applications in a variety of environments to delight guests. To name a few:
- Signage in the middle of a hotel lobby
- High-tech meeting spaces for corporate guests
- Way finding
- Digital signage to replace printed signage and information boards
- Dimensional displays of specific locations, buildings, geographic features
Additionally, integrated with the Windows 8 “stack,” the PPI can increase workflow and productivity:
- Host meetings with staff who work across the globe
- Conduct collaborative white-boarding sessions where staff can contribute to concepts and strategies in real time—from anywhere!
- Use Sharepoint to collaborate on documents
- Collect and view data from a property via 3D mapping. For example, a casino manager could see a 3D map of the floor, then aggregate data from each gaming machine to see how much money each machine is generating. This allows the casino to see how the placement of each machine in relation to the doors and walkways may have an effect on utilization.
Using the PPI is just a suggestion. Staff can participate in these productivity improvements regardless of the device they use —mobile phone, iPad, or any other computer/tablet.
Embrace mobile
Mobile technology is catalyzing innovation in hotels. According to the Pew Internet Project, 58 percent of American adults have a cell phone, 32 percent have an e-reader and 42 percent own a tablet computer. The connected individual is interacting with their smart phone over 150 times day. And we’re so tethered to our phones that 44 percent have indicated that they sleep with their phone next to the bed because they don’t want to miss any calls, texts or other notifications during the night.
Here are some examples of how smart hoteliers are integrating mobile technology to delight guests and improve productivity:
- Mobile point of sale (POS) systems where iPads become cash registers have already surpassed $2 Billion
- Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide made a splash earlier this year when they announced virtual room keys
- Marriott Hotels and Resorts added mobile check-in and checkout capabilities
- Evolve Guest Controls has unveiled its Room Operations Center, which provide apps that are designed to deliver touch control of virtually every element in a hotel room, ranging from temperature and lighting to the operation of the draperies and beyond
- Yotel, located near Times Square, has deployed airport-style check-in kiosks, so guests only interact with a human if they really need to. Should they need to store luggage, a giant robotic arm called the Yobot serves as a bellhop
Providing basic tools to the customer — in-room connectivity at hotels, mobile platforms for retail, ever-connected customer service — can be differentiation points that increase sales and brand loyalty. Combined with increased staff productivity, tech tools can help hotels significantly improve their bottom line.
About the author
Peg McGregor is CEO of Technovation Solutions, a professional solutions-lab/proof of concept setting where visitors can experience a simulated high-tech environment, and technology vendors can display their products as part of a larger vertical market solution without the pitfalls of complex, time-consuming and costly independent systems integration. Prior to leading Technovation Solutions, Peg served as a marketing and business strategy executive and worked for 18 years for the U.S. Government Accountability Office in Washington.
