SPECIAL FEATURE: HITEC
SPECIAL FEATURE: HITEC Gazing Into The Crys Some of the world’s top hotel tech brains take We asked our participating hotel tech experts to give us their ideas and impressions of the “hotel of the future”. What can we expect? What can we look forward to? Interestingly (very) the ideas of each have been quite varied – albeit enthralling and exciting. The sheer fact that these are among the people planning the hotels of the future means that these “predictions” will mostly come true! Hence, the suppliers at HITEC (and elsewhere reading this) will do well to heed the call and be among the first to meet the requirements outlined here! – Jean-François Pieri Managing Director, Cleverdis Floor Bleeker MÖVENPICK HOTELS & RESORTS Large technology vendors have taken an interest in our industry and they will, without a doubt, accelerate our transition into the cloud. At the same time there are many smaller companies that have come up with innovations as we have never seen before - that will allow our guests to seamlessly transition from a highly personalized online experience to a highly personalized hotel stay and back. Mobile distribution, beacon, robotics and social CRM will be the technology drivers of the new personalized guest experience while generic infrastructure will be provided from the cloud. David Esseryk ACCOR GROUP The time of decision is coming, because the hotel business model cannot afford every technology that emerges; because you have the room, the bed, the shower, and at one time you need to make a selection. Should we invest in TVs? Should we invest in wireless? In games? In sound? You have to choose. Furthermore I see for the future that we need easy access to technology: “access the easy way”. If you are not easy you will die. People are tired of having to enter all their details and figure out how something works - to learn the products and the technologies. People just want things to be simple. Bryan Hammer STARWOOD HOTELS & RESORTS Hotels of the future will be full of technology completely transparent to the guest. They will receive relevant communications on their mobile devices, which are timely and interesting but not intrusive. In room and back of house technologies will enable greater energy and water (and cost!) saving without reducing services. Centralized systems will allow for a greater array of meaningful guest preferences, and will be reliable data, which is presented to the hotel teams faster and more efficiently so they can delight and surprise the guest. Future hotels won’t be about more bells and whistles, but improving on the bells and whistles we are already trying to use. 10 Hotel & Tourism SMARTreport / Worldwide Edition N°26 / June - August 2015
Brought to you by tal Ball us on a tour of the future Future hotels won’t be about more bells and whistles, but improving on the bells and whistles we are already trying to use. Christian Lundén Monika Nerger Richard Wagner Josh Weiss NORDIC CHOICE HOTELS MANDARIN ORIENTAL HOTEL GROUP MARRIOTT INTERNATIONAL HILTON WORLDWIDE In the future, hotels will have to be increasingly flexible as guests always try new things and expect different experiences. We also need to focus even more on the guests as individuals. Guests are wanting more and more to do things by themselves and based on that we can see, self service and controlling ones own stay, adjusting it to who you are, is becoming increasingly important. We need to catch the way the guest lives and who they are, and adapt their stay accordingly. The guest must be treated as a VIP… as a true individual. Technology will be seamless in the design of the guest room, vs. an add-on or after thought including a fully connected room (“The Internet of Things”). Robots will become proficient enough to clean guest rooms and prepare meals (witness the Henn-na Hotel in Nagasaki, the first hotel to be run primarily by robots). Machine learning will replace most mid-level management jobs in the hospitality industry, including Accounting, Night Audit and Back Office. Virtual Reality will evolve to a point that fewer of us will travel for business, because the experience is sufficiently compelling, and the need to preserve the earth’s resources so high. It will all be a matter of choice. Not only will people be able to select their hotel room when booking much like they do with air travel, but they will want more and more choices to pre-select the kind of services one wants. Let’s say for example that I want a room with a view with a king size bed, but the room I want has two single beds. In the hotel of the future, the room will be able to be reconfigured to my wishes. Likewise I might want a room with gym equipment in it, just like I have at home. Furnishings and objects in the room will be much more adaptable or changeable than they are today. Today’s guests are increasingly seeking greater personalization and convenience through technology – they crave authentic experiences that are not only unique to them, but also easily accessible. As guest expectations continue to become more deeply rooted in the experiential and the customizable, the hotel of the future will be focused on providing a new level of digitally driven hospitality. Smartphones will become the remote control to guests’ entire travel journey. Even before guests arrive on property, they will be able to customize every aspect of their stay through their smartphone. Looking ahead, the most successful hotels will be those that excel at both traditional human service and at leveraging digital interactions and capabilities to create outstanding guest experiences. www.cleverhotel.org Hotel & Tourism SMARTreport / Worldwide Edition N°26 / June - August 2015 11
