Hotel & Tourism SMARTreport #29

In The Field
with David Esseryk
THE "INSIDE LINE" ON WHAT'S HOT IN HOSPITALITY TECHNOLOGIES
43
Hotel & Tourism
SMARTreport #29
2016 Spring Edition
PART 12
TECH AS A BRAND
DIFFERENTIATOR
CONNECTED
SERVICES BRING
THE COMPETITIVE
EDGE TO SAVVY
HOTELIERS
David Esseryk, the AccorHotels
Group’s Vice President Guest
Technology, is in charge of guestfacing
technology for all brands.
In this edition of his regular
report, he explains how, by
offering new connected services,
hotel groups hope to gain a
competitive edge and additional
sales.
Some might view them as simple gadgets,
or even money down the drain. But for
AccorHotels, leaving connected services
at the threshold of establishments
would be, quite to the contrary, a critical
strategic mistake. As the so-called in-room
technologies conceal a highly effective
differentiation strategy for the hotel
industry and wonderful opportunities
for additional sales. AccorHotels has
developed a number of easy-to-use
services that are free of charge.
Starting with the partnership with
the streaming platform Deezer
for music on demand in the
bar areas (or lobbies) of
hotels. Established for
over six months in
450 Ibis hotels
worldwide, the
service will soon be
available in Mercure
and Novotel hotels.
LEAVING
CONNECTED SERVICES
AT THE THRESHOLD OF
ESTABLISHMENTS WOULD BE,
QUITE TO THE CONTRARY, A
CRITICAL STRATEGIC
MISTAKE
AccorHotels’ sources of guest satisfaction.
That is the objective of My Web Valet,
a new digital experience automatically
displayed when connected to the
hotel’s Wi-Fi, on which information and
advertisements about an establishment
is published, as well as the paid services
offered to customers. The customers
can place orders directly from a mobile
terminal.
At the same time, Marriott Hotels &
Resorts rolled out mobile service requests
to 700 hotels – allowing a guest to make
any kind of request to the hotel from
within the app. Marriott mobile
app users report much higher
intent to recommend
Marriott – a leading
indicator of brand
preference – and
a materially higher
satisfaction with their
“arrival experience.”
In addition, over 1,000
AccorHotels offer the possibility to
access 4200 media publications that
can be viewed free of charge on the
Wi-Fi network of the company; they are
available in 60 languages, and with voice
option for 16 languages.
But although until now the objective has
been to enhance customer experience
and ensure loyalty, other solutions under
experiment ensure diversification of
Proofs of concept are an excellent
way to validate the viability of new
services at lower cost and risk than bigbang
releases. Do consumers actually
use the new feature? Is it technologically
scalable? Can we operationalise it on
property with minimal disruption to the
hotel? Hotel groups continuously need
to test, evaluate, adjust – and move on
if something they try doesn’t provide
value or substantially boosts the guest
experience.
SEE YOU AGAIN IN THE NEXT EDITION