It’s Snow Joke – 2020 is Nearly Here
2020 is less than a month away. Now is the time to think about how the constantly evolving hotel and tech landscape continues to change and how we should adjust our own thinking to keep up.
Technology plays a fundamental role in supporting your environment and supporting guests from pre-booking pre-stay right the way through to post-booking post-stay. The inception of the modern internet nearly 30 years ago along with the start of the proliferation of mobile devices were watershed moments for humanity. In developing countries people went from zero comms to mobile, whist developed countries went through a transition from fixed devices to mobile. Some countries became so reliant on mobile that spend on mobile was sometimes more important than the basics like food.
Developing Tech Industry
To explain, if you were waiting for an international money transfer to your mobile device because a close family member travelled internationally to work and then remitted funds back home, your sim card had to have prepaid value in order to allow the funds to be received. Before mobile, migrant workers queued at banks on payday and then queued again, often for hours at a time, at money transfer establishments to remit funds back home, only for the recipient to queue again to physically get hold of the cash, after losing exorbitant fees in the process. Mobile technology changed that almost overnight.
As data speeds keep up with the computing power of smart devices more changes have been needed, after all, having a device that runs your life became another norm. Millennials have grown up in a world where “instant gratification” is part of everyday life. Having things now, being constantly bombarded with news and images, almost leading to an information overload.
A new way of Holidaying
Hotels and available inventory have been disrupted. Airbnb showed us that traditional hotels are not the only solution. A bubble suite in Mexico to a sheep wagon in Wyoming have produced new experiences compared to a concrete bed bank in New York. Room inventory is often secondary (if at all) to Spa and Golf resorts as an example, as people seek new experiences to change things up. “More breaks more often” rather than two weeks in the summer are becoming the new way of holidaying and loyalty for brands let alone loyalty for individual properties is becoming a thing of the past, in exchange for advocacy over loyalty.
New Experiences
From check-in to check-out, brands are thinking about guest interaction, often changing screens for faces and substituting real people for robots. Modern thinking hotels are using this as the new experience. Imagine a hotel that has people queuing in reception to watch a robot deliver your suitcase to storage. Its an incredible piece of engineering that is practical but also a genius new feature that drives a ton of social traffic meaning more people will stay.
Your online journey for your guest is as important as your physical property. Your online experience has to evolve to give all potential guests an individual and tailored journey from the start, to build a sense of personalisation ahead of their stay.
The technology key is personalising guest experience, the hotel hospitality key is making my stay incredible – from discovery to memories.