Hoteliers and Technology: Why Hospitality Expertise Doesn’t Stop at Hospitality

In any industry, standards of education help to ensure brands have access to the talent they need to continue moving the needle and growing their product or offering. Within hospitality, we realize a similar need — as the landscape continues to evolve, hotel brands and vendors alike rely on having access to qualified talent, especially in the realm of IT.  The hospitality industry, as we know, is enormous and subject to continued growth. Within our sector exists a wide variety of exciting careers and rewarding management positions that cover the full spectrum of the guest experience. However, as hospitality technology continues to advance and standards of guest care are increasingly influenced by digital mediums, we arrive at the question: Are hospitality programs offering enough of an IT education component?

The recent Hospitality Technology Sentiment Survey presented by HospitalityNet™ and HFTP addressed this topic specifically when it asked hoteliers if they are concerned about access to the talent they need to achieve current IT goals while innovating and enhancing guest service. According to the survey results from hoteliers, 26.45% are ‘somewhat concerned’ while 24.79% are ‘very concerned’. Suppliers, on the other hand, have a different take with 22.87% saying they are concerned and more than twice as many ‘somewhat concerned’ (57.85%). Only 25.32% cited they are ‘not concerned.’ This not only encourages us to consider the need for up-and-coming talent while continuing on the path to innovation but also speaks to the need for dedicated IT emphasis within the education system.

To dig into this topic further, I asked Lyle Worthington, Technology Executive and Consultant & Past President of HFTP Global, to elaborate on what he believes to be the potential role of hospitality schools and university programs in the field of IT education.

“I think a comprehensive technology track should be a core component of any Hospitality business degree,” explains Lyle. “Mind you, I don’t simply mean a one-week intensive course, or a few tech-focused lessons crammed into the middle of a Microsoft Office class. Rather, I think you need at least two full semester-long classes covering the many important concepts and theories of technology which are applicable to our industry. If you want to be a leader in any area of hospitality operations or management, you have to realize that the technology you use is absolutely critical to your success,” continued Lyle. “Almost every point in our customer’s journey is impacted in some way by technology, and each day they become less tolerant of even the slightest technical issue. The key is not to become an IT expert, per se, but to exhibit a baseline level of knowledge that allows you to make intelligent technology business decisions. You should understand IT architecture and feel comfortable working side-by-side with IT professionals and consultants. You must be able to cut through industry buzz words and hype to make informed decisions on what new technology to implement and, more importantly, why. Moreover, hoteliers should be able to properly manage their relationships with technology vendors, whilst contributing their operational expertise to their brand’s big-picture IT strategy.”

The survey also indicated that the majority of respondents (43.14%) are working with increased IT budgets for 2020, while only 21.57% are working with the same IT budget as last year. Further, when asked to compare the importance of their IT budget to the perceived importance of other departmental budgets, 65% said it is awarded equal or greater importance. Of course, with this increased capacity for technology, comes a subsequent increased demand for individuals who know what to do with it.

Lyle added, “It’s far too easy for hoteliers to claim, “But I’m not an IT person!” Well, you’re not a plumber either, but you understand the concept of a toilet well enough to make sure it is installed correctly and functioning. Technology is a part of our business that we can’t function without, so it is time to recognize that, at the end of the day, we are in the IT business.”

Ultimately, the role of any hospitality expert is two-fold. Whether a hotelier or a vendor, in order to provide the highest level of service while ensuring an effective operational model, you simply must have a thorough grasp of modern technology implications and priorities.

Source: https://www.hospitalitynet.org/opinion/4095734.html

Moving the Needle for Hospitality Technology Takes Innovation, Agility, and Alignment

The success of the hospitality industry has always been rooted in the provision of service and the continued cultivation of relationships. While the rapid advancement of mobile and cloud-based technologies are enhancing the ways hoteliers can interact with travelers, the underlying goal remains the same: to create an exceptional guest experience.

The most successful relationships are always based on communication and mutual understanding. At Shiji, we believe it is always important to look, listen, and learn一not only to your guests, but also to your partners, competitors, and the industry at large.

That is why we welcomed the opportunity to sponsor the Hospitality Net Sentiment Survey as a way to inspire communication, awareness and collaboration across the hospitality industry. The results of this study were revealing: Hoteliers across all segments believed that innovation, agility, and technological alignment were all critical elements of their competitive success. More specifically, the responses revealed three significant trends:

Today, technology drives or supports nearly every touchpoint in the guest journey. Technology is playing a pivotal role in personalizing the guest experience, connecting hotels and restaurants with their guests, and allowing guests to more seamlessly connect with each other. Ultimately, if a hospitality company wants to be guest-centric, it has to embrace the change that comes with technological transformation.

Many hotels used to be tied to legacy systems which made it difficult for them to upgrade or scale the use of technology solutions in their businesses. Fortunately, we are now witnessing an industry-wide shift in favor of emerging cloud-based technology. The results of the Sentiment Survey reflect this progression. When asked how their executive management rates the importance of IT budgets, over two-thirds of the hoteliers surveyed said that management valued IT more (30.98%) or about the same (34.12%) compared to other departments. This sentiment is mirrored in their actual IT budgets: With the majority of hoteliers indicating that their IT budgets have either increased (43.14%) or have remained the same (21.57%) since last year.

Ultimately, this shift in investment priorities will drastically increase the amount of data available during the guest journey一from booking, to arrival, to in-stay and post-stay. No longer will hoteliers make broad predictions based on simple customer variables such as occupancy, average room rate, etc. Soon they will be able to connect with guests in real-time, based on robust data that is actionable now. In this way, technology will enhance every aspect of hotel operations, from staff productivity to revenue, to the guest experience itself.

Let Guests Use Their Technology to Shape Their Unique Journey

Still, it is important to emphasize that technological change must not take place in a vacuum. Technological investments must arise naturally from the unique needs of your business and should improve some actual part of the guest journey.

Modern travelers expect convenience, personalization and “anytime, anywhere” service on the mobile device of their choosing. And it’s their journey that should dictate your strategy. Today’s guests, especially Millennials, place a high value on self-service: They don’t want to have to wait in line, or talk to people to address mundane, administrative issues that could be handled automatically. They want to be able to use their technology to control their unique journey.

This shift towards self-service is reflected in The Sentiment Survey. Technological investments this year will focus largely on guest experience platforms, operational management, and technology stacks. Guest experience platforms include applications that allow for mobile check-in, self-service, and enhanced personalization and convenience. Operational platforms and technology stacks, on the other hand, will help hoteliers to streamline their day-to-day operations and enhance staff productivity which, in turn, also contributes favorably to the guest experience.

With slow booking processes, traditional room keys, antiqued front desk procedures and a lack of in-room control systems being cited as common hospitality grievances, it comes as no surprise that The Sentiment Survey cites smart room controls, self-check-in, IoT, voice-activated assistants, and mobile keys as promising technological investments moving forward.

No More Walled Gardens: The Rise of Open API’s

A major issue facing the personalization of the guest journey is the fragmentation of customer data. In many ways, personalization is a function of data and platform connectivity: Technology platforms need to be able to “track” the guest through different devices, locations, and moments in the guest journey to tailor themselves to the guests’ needs. But none of this can happen when customer data is siloed in different technology systems.

This is why it is critical for technology providers to embrace Open APIs. Not only can Open APIs help hotels scale and integrate with third-party platforms, but they can facilitate the level of data exchange needed to personalize the guest journey. API’s connect the various hospitality software, applications, and programs to optimize operations across every guest touchpoint.

According to the survey, an overwhelming 78.51% of respondents answered “yes” when asked whether open API’s are expected to gain greater traction versus standard bodies such as HTNG or OTA. This sentiment acknowledges the need for different systems from different vendors to connect seamlessly and intuitively to provide hoteliers with the comprehensive data needed to enhance the modern guest experience.

Working Together for the Greater Good

An old proverb says, “To go fast, go alone. To go far, go together.”

The relationship between technology providers must never be about strict zero-sum competition. Competition exists, of course, but all providers should be working to develop a series of open platform systems so that hospitality companies can craft the solutions that work for their guests. Nobody wins when technological solutions are hoarded in separated walled gardens.

The hospitality industry is currently experiencing a revolutionary transformation, and we all play a critical role in this exhilarating journey. Propelled by consumer trends, emerging technologies, and the explosion of mobile devices and cloud-based applications now is the time for leaders to work together to develop the next generation of solutions for the hospitality industry.

A Note on Shiji and the 2019 Hospitality Technology Sentiment Survey

Shiji sponsored the 2019 Hospitality Technology Sentiment Survey to help the hospitality industry gain new insight into emerging technology, market trends, and ultimately, customer needs. This Survey will help hoteliers and vendors understand the industry’s key technology priorities based on today’s guest requirements.

Shiji Group has been a driving force in hospitality technology for over two decades. During that time, Shiji has developed and curated a comprehensive ecosystem of world-class technology solutions that empower hoteliers to better connect with their guests. From investing in emerging startups to helping innovators scale cutting-edge solutions, Shiji’s is actively committed to pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in technology.

Source: https://www.hospitalitynet.org/opinion/4095936.html

How travel and tourism has innovated over the past decade

For an industry that is all about movement, travel changes at a glacial pace.

At your local airport, the experience today will be much the same as it was in January 2010 – with the possible exception of carrying your boarding pass on your smartphone.

You will need to follow the same rules to go through the same security. The odds are you will board an Airbus or Boeing jet that was designed decades ago; the giant United Airlines has just announced an order for 50 Airbus A321 aircraft, a jet launched as something of an afterthought by the European planemaker in 1993. And your pilots will follow much the same tortuous course through the skies to your destination.

On the railways of the UK, ironically, the most innovative train operator of recent times, Virgin Trains, is about to be dumped by the Department for Transport (DfT) in favour of Avanti to run trains on the West Coast main line.

And few hoteliers seem yet to have woken up to the realisation that this is the second decade of the 21st century and the traditional accommodation model really needs to be updated to make life smoother for travellers.

These are my choices, and I would like to hear your nominations.

In the first decade of the 21st century, the endless battle between Airbus and Boeing was characterised as a conceptual dual between the giant Airbus A380 and the smaller Boeing 787. Both went through severe birth pains, with the “SuperJumbo” delayed two years before it entered service in October 2007.

The “Dreamliner” was even further behind schedule – flying for the first time in December 2009 and enduring a three-month grounding while self-combusting lithium batteries were sorted out. And Airbus is ending production of the A380. Partly it was because the concept of a 500 to 600-seat plane with four engines was an evolutionary cul-de-sac. But it was also because the A350 is a far better aircraft from the airlines’ viewpoint: easier to fill and hyper-efficient.

The A350 has two engines, a carbon fibre fuselage and wings, and capacity to fly 300-400 passengers comfortably and profitably – making it an “XL”-sized plane compared with the “L”-sized 787 and the “XXL” A380. 

The plane has been granted “370-minute Etops,” meaning it is certified to fly for over six hours on a single engine. So it can serve almost any route on the planet, including straight over the north pole from Heathrow to Hawaii or Edinburgh to Tahiti. There is just a tiny patch of the Antarctic that is beyond its capabilities.

Passenger benefits range from bigger windows and more headroom to higher cabin pressure and humidity, making long flights more bearable. On a Qatar Airways trip I flew outbound to Doha aboard a 787 (with intermediate flights on the dated A330) and back on a A350. The new Airbus won easily.

D-Train (entered service 2019)

Extensive and expensive fleets of new trains have been deployed in Britain over the past decade, predominantly on lines to, from or through London. The new Japanese-designed Intercity Express Trains on the Great Western lines are enabling faster journeys between the capital and Bristol, Cardiff and Exeter. But the passenger jury is out about whether they are actually any more comfortable than the old High Speed Trains.

Meanwhile a company called Vivarail is doing something much more sustainable: bringing back to life old London Underground trains, reinventing the 40-year-old stock to run on branch lines around Britain. The perfectly serviceable aluminium bodies are retained, as are the steel wheels, but the interior is far more comfortable and spacious – with options for electric, diesel or battery power.

You can find them shuttling between Bletchley and Bedford, and soon the railway on the Isle of Wight (currently served by Underground trains from 1938) will get an upgrade.

Incidentally, this year’s glorious technological revolution in Scotland involves refreshing 40-year-old diesel trains that have been “cascaded” (the railway term for hand-me-downs) from the Great Western network for service from Edinburgh and Glasgow to Aberdeen and Inverness.

Eurostar to Rotterdam and Amsterdam (2018)

The Channel Tunnel train operator has the vast majority of passengers travelling from London to Brussels and Paris. Achieving dominance was easy, since the Eurostar network was designed to do just that. What has been disappointingly slow has been extending beyond the two cities – a summer-only link to the Mediterranean and a weekend winter service to the Alps are hardly revolutionary.

Finally in 2018 Eurostar launched a service to Amsterdam via Rotterdam, which has proved so successful that that 12-a-week link has been stepped up to 21 weekly departures. The main beneficiary is the traveller to Rotterdam, just three hours from St Pancras and previously poorly connected to Britain. Amsterdam, which is exceedingly well connected by air from the UK, is 40 minutes’ further.

Unfortunately, bureaucratic hold-ups mean that the service is one way only – coming back from the Netherlands, you have to change trains in Brussels. But the word on the platform is that direct inbound services should be with us by April 2020.

Gobbins Cliff Path (2015)

To see the “mist rolling in from the sea” to Scotland’s Mull of Kintyre, an excellent place to be is in Northern Ireland. Almost anywhere along the coast of Antrim will do, but the Gobbins Cliffs are particularly good; you can also look across at the anvil of land guarding the harbour at Stranraer in southwest Scotland. But this is just an overture for a fabulous reinvention of a Victorian adventure: clambering along the undercliff, on a network of walkways and bridges.

The Gobbins Cliff Path first opened in 1902 but was closed in the 1950s. Today, a guided tour makes an excellent day out from Belfast, or stepping stone to the Giant’s Causeway.

Hertz Ultimate Choice (2016)

The best rental car experience I have had all decade was earlier this year in Tampa airport. Forget lining up wearily after a long flight and going through the documents kerfuffle, carefully declining all the tedious and expensive extras. Instead, as Hertz instructed me by email: ”Go directly to the Gold zone, where you can choose any vehicle in that zone and go.” And that was that, choosing the roomiest (I was with an annoying film crew) and finding the keys already in the car. All I had done to deserve it was to sign up free with the rental firm’s Gold Plus frequent-renter scheme. Even though I am a very infrequent renter, I appear to qualify.

MS Roald Amundsen (2018)

“Flight-shaming” is an increasingly popular cause. “Cruise-shaming” isn’t. Yet in time the immense carbon footprint of cruising will be understood. Which means that the Roald Amundsen, the newest member of Norway’s Hurtigruten fleet, will be a relatively shining example of innovation – emitting one-fifth less CO2 than conventional vessels thanks to its hybrid propulsion system. Other vessels in the Hurtigruten fleet are being converted to run on liquified bio gas, made from organic waste such as fish.

Qantas from London to Perth (2018)

The daily Boeing 787 trip on the journey of 9,000-plus miles between Heathrow and Western Australia is now routine. While the environmental impact of ultra-long-haul flights is coming in for increased scrutiny, the passengers aboard the Dreamliner are loving the ability to reach Australia in a single hop. Families, passengers with reduced mobility and business people in a hurry are filling almost every seat on the 17-hour Qantas flights known as QF9 and 10. London-Sydney nonstops, likely to take three hours longer, may begin in the next decade.

Silk Road Express, Tashkent to Samarkand, Uzbekistan (2011)

The actual name of the train service on Uzbekistan’s high-speed railway is Afrosiyob, but I prefer Silk Road Express.

The 7.30am departure from the Uzbek capital, Tashkent speeds across the central Asia steppe at over 140mph, reducing the parched, crumpled foreground to a blur. The Spanish built train arrives in Samarkand, a city of minarets and mausoleums (as well, it must be said, of quite of a lot of Soviet detritus), after just two hours – unheard-of pace for terrestrial transport in this part of the world.

I paid about £12 for the trip, and few pence for onboard tea and biscuits. The line – a mix of new build and upgraded tracks – extends to Bukhara and will soon reach the mystical, medieval city of Khiva near the Turkmenistan border. Which, as it happens, is the most beautiful and beguiling place I have visited this decade.

And an honourable mention for Morocco’s Al Boraq line, which is Africa’s first high-speed railway – connecting Tangier, the capital Rabat and Casablanca in just over two hours.

High-altitude London (2013 and 2015)

Whether or not you invest £25 in a visit to (near) the top, the Shard has transformed the capital’s skyline – just as the London Eye did a decade earlier. London’s highest visitor platform was an integral part of the skyscraper’s design, and from 800 feet up you can see on a clear day for 40 miles (on a really unclear day, you will get a ticket for a return visit).

Yet this 2013 attraction has been mirrored by the Sky Garden – the amazing green and pleasant space that opened in 2015, facing the Shard across the Thames. It comprises the top of the building known as the Walkie Talkie for its strange shape, protruding from the City of London. The main purpose is as a posh and commensurately expensive bar and restaurant. But a certain number of people are let in free every day; book in advance online. (If your day isn’t available, then the 20th-century Oxo Tower on the South Bank has a viewing platform on the 8th floor.)

Titanic Belfast (2012)

On a quayside overlooking Belfast Lough, a structure as monumental as the ship it commemorates took shape in the early years of the decade. The visitor attraction occupies part of the old Harland and Wolff shipyard, which in the early 20th century was one of the most productive places on the planet.

If Ikea sold flatpack ships, and someone had made a muddle of the instructions, it would resemble Titanic Belfast. For once, the term “of Titanic proportions” applies literally. The top of the five-storey building is exactly as high as the tip of Titanic when the transatlantic liner was completed.

The vessel left Belfast on 2 April 1912. Twelve days later, on her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York, Titanic struck an iceberg. She sank, with the loss of 1,517 lives, at 2.20am the next morning.

Titanic Belfast launched a century later. Inside this startling shell, the most familiar tragedy in maritime history is placed with sensitivity in its social context.

The high-risk project cost the city council and the Northern Ireland Executive almost £100m, but it succeeded in “doing a Bilbao”: transforming a post-shipbuilding city with bold, fresh architecture and a compelling story.

The visitor numbers, around twice as high as anticpated, tell their own story.

Source: https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/travel-tourism-innovation-airbus-eurostar-qantas-shard-titanic-belfast-a9230826.html

Investing in the Guest Experience

Many will recall the 2017 brand crisis, which cost United Airlines $1.4 billion in value practically overnight after a passenger incident where injured while being forcibly removed from a fully boarded, sold-out flight went viral. This situation showcased the enormous impact of customer experience, and arguably there is no industry in which the experience holds more weight than hospitality. So, it comes as no surprise that the recent Hospitality Technology Sentiment Surveyrevealed an increase in IT investments into “Guest Experience” products, with 46.63% of respondents naming this category as the primary focus.

Hoteliers are in the business of curating exceptional experiences for a diverse portfolio of guests, across varied travel segments. Everything a hotelier does, from the aesthetic of a hotel property, the customer service standards, the amenities offered to guests, on-property experiences, room decor and upgrades, helps to piece together the guest experience. Modern guests crave a more intuitive experience, which not only lends itself to a deeper connection with their hotel of choice, but also provides a faster, more intelligent and convenient service model. Fortunately, with the use of cutting-edge, guest-centric technology, seamlessly personalizing the guest experience from pre to post-stay is entirely possible.

According to Kevin King, COO of Shiji, there is an industry-wide shift in focus to digital transformation which centers on continuously enhancing the guest experience, interactions, and converting guests into returning visitors and ambassadors to increase their lifetime value. Connie Rheams, Global Vice President, Global Accounts Sales at Oracle, echoed this opinion during a HITEC interview conducted by the Hospitality Net team, explaining that the technological investments which deliver the biggest ROI are always built around people.

As hoteliers actively seek out new technology and vendors who promise to deliver on enhanced guest engagement, what will act as the key differentiator? How can hoteliers remain ahead of emerging demands for personalization and knowing the guest on a deeper level?

Delving into the subject of the guest experience, Hospitality Technology Sentiment Survey respondents were asked to name the top technology-enabled features they will always use when staying at a hotel. Wi-Fi (80.51%), climate control (43.75%), and USB plugs (33.82%) were the most popular choices for this segment. When asked to detail the one technology that causes the most frustration when booking or staying at a hotel, respondents named slow booking process, poor Wi-Fi connection, non-functioning door-lock key cards, repeating details at check-in, and more.

Hoteliers should strive to provide guests with enhanced convenience, in tandem with technology that allows them to control their journey. Fortunately, mobile technologies and social media have introduced more options for customers to interact, creating new opportunities and challenges. When guests do not have the freedom to choose their preferred communication channel, it causes additional friction. With the utilization of self-service functionality across mobile devices and kiosks, guests can use technology to shape their unique journey across every touchpoint of their stay. Many guests are opting to bypass the front desk to check in and to access their room via smartphones. Others prefer texting with a virtual concierge to get the answers they need quickly while others enjoy the one-to-one interaction with hotel staff.

The survey also queried organizations about the allocation of budgets for IT projects, which are purely serving innovation or research without any immediate expectations in ROI or guest experience. There was a noticeable divide between suppliers and hoteliers. 61.98% of hoteliers said “no,” whereas 73.42% of suppliers said “yes”. This seems to imply that suppliers may be missing the mark when it comes to technology development and priorities. This also sometimes holds true for top management and IT, who are two independent divisions within hotel companies. They should be aligned, on both the business and IT side, for their guest experience vision. Both the teams should choose the technology solutions together, keeping in mind the end goal.

These insights and trends make it clear that the guest experience revolution is just beginning. More and more, hotel organizations rely on technology to understand guests, provide quicker resolutions, empower personalized interactions, and proactive engagement before, during and after the stay. Technology and open API connectivity between systems are critical components that should drive technology strategies. When asked if APIs are expected to gain greater traction versus standards organizations such as HTNG or OTA, 78.51% of hoteliers said yes, while 65.82% of suppliers said yes. From a vendor perspective, 67.09% indicated that they currently have an API available for their solution.

As far as 2020 and beyond? The world is changing, and the way hotels connect with their guests also needs to change. By improving the guest experience and empowering hotel staff with technology advancements that drive engagement instead of transactions, hotels will increase both loyalty and revenue. The trends point to seamless integrations, predictive analytics, personalization, robotics, automation, self-serve tools, digital applications and artificial intelligence as the technology priorities that will revolutionize guest experience in the hospitality industry for years to come. In the end, the hotels that show a deep understanding of their guests and are proactive in responding to their frustrations are set to win the guest experience race.

Source: https://www.hospitalitynet.org/opinion/4095865.html

How to Find the Balance Between Technology and Human Interaction

Technology has fundamentally transformed how we communicate, whether it be with family, in the workplace, or at hotels. Tech has made almost everything faster and more efficient. Every industry has been transformed, and hospitality is no exception to this trend. Today, guests at hotels expect service that balances cutting-edge technology with a human touch – a balance that is difficult to achieve. Not putting enough effort into incorporating modern tech may make a hotel appear behind the times. Leaning too far the other direction, however, risks alienating guests who prefer more personal elements.

In recent years, the hospitality industry has scrambled to keep up with their clients’ demand for technology.

Create a More Personalized Experience

One way technology helps businesses is by gathering data about their customers. This resource of information about their habits, likes, and movements is a gold mine when it comes to tailoring guest experiences.

In larger hotels, we are required to help thousands of guests feel at home every day. Creating a personalized experience for each individual while running a successful hotel often seems like an impossible task. The answer, however, lies in how we utilize data. Some hotels have started using location data and smartphones to offer maps to customers, complete with suggestions based on their historic preferences.

Think About How Technology Can Help Your Human Team Members

I find it best to think about technology as an aid, and not the end all be all for hospitality services. Technology is a tool to help us better share our heart and vision with customers. Remember that technology is not a replacement for relationships. Instead, it helps us build strong relationships with our customers by helping us better meet their needs.

Danny Meyer, the founder of New York City’s Union Square Hospitality Group, has incorporated Apple watches into his restaurants. These watches are synched to the restaurants’ digital reservation systems. Restaurant employees use the watches to share and receive information, from food allergies to past dining preferences.

Give Guests Options

Implementing technology into hotels often seems like a battle we can’t win. Guests simultaneously demand the ease and convenience of technology such as self-service kiosks, mobile check-in, and keyless entry while also wanting personal, human interactions.

The answer lies in providing guests with options. Some guests would rather interact with technology than staff, while others expect nothing less than every interaction happening face-to-face. Technology empowers guests to choose what suits them. It has the potential to eliminate traditional hospitality frustrations like long lines and unexpected delays. Resolving these issues frees up staff to spend more time interacting with customers who prefer human touchpoints.

Technology is a powerful tool that enables us to serve our guests through personalization and improved options. We can also empower our staff via technology to better care for guests who desire face-to-face interactions. The balance between incorporating technology while maintaining human interactions is undoubtedly possible. We can use technology as an aid to improve the guest experience and better meet associate needs.

Source: https://www.hospitalitynet.org/opinion/4095508.html

How technology shapes the modern guest culture and experience

In the wake of Industry 4.0 there is no doubt that technology – both its advancements and shortcomings – is dictating the speed of change across the globe. As emerging technologies innovate, so customer expectations evolve, requiring even more innovation. This is a never-ending cycle. 

Hospitality businesses must take up the challenge of keeping up with this exponential pace of innovation, or risk falling behind the competition.

To evaluate which technology to invest in, hotel management should consider the effect that technology continues to have on guest expectations. The question is twofold: how does technology impact the expectations that shape today’s guest experiences, and do these technologies support the cultural expectations of modern guests? 

There are various answers to these questions, but the overarching message is that the development of game-changing hospitality technology reflects an evolving consumer culture. As customers demand more empowering, smarter technology, hospitality businesses are forced to revolutionise operations. The goal is to replace processes that put limitations on guests, effectively giving them “the power”.

To achieve this, hoteliers and hospitality establishments must embrace mobile technology. Creating a successful, scalable technology platform that supports modern guest experiences requires a few key technologies, including: cloud environments, which 61% of hotels globally are investing in; mobile-friendly integration, which offers convenient solutions to manage communications, access and services; and expanded payment support, which offers guests the freedom to pay according to their own payment preferences. 

While this important power shift is being served by hospitality technology, it is essential that those who operate in the hospitality industry gain a complete understanding of who the modern guest is, and what they expect from their stay. Today’s millennials expect the technology that they use daily to be available to them when staying at a hotel. They also expect it to make their stay easier, more convenient, and more efficient, and they will return only if these expectations are met. 

According to a recent Infor White Paper: “Modern hotel guests expect every process they encounter to be frictionless and manageable from their personal mobile devices. These elements are not restricted to specific generations who have never lived in a world without this technology. The values that have emerged along with them are the biggest driving forces, in part influenced by technology. This relationship between technology driving culture and cultural forces that in turn drive further technology development is vital to understand.”

In the modern hotel, communications and dialogue are enabled by hotel technology – driving messages across SMS, chatbots and push notifications. However, the technology-savvy hotel implements technology at all touch points. From check-in apps and digital keys, to mobile payment solutions, automated service, real-time information-sharing, reliable access to high-speed WiFi and personalised tech-driven experiences – the possibilities are endless.

Source: https://www.itweb.co.za/content/Olx4z7kgx1p756km

Augmented Reality: A recent technology debut in hotel industry

Augmented reality is a technology that overlaps a computer-generated illustration on the user’s view of the real world to provide a compound vision.

Augmented reality is a technology that overlaps a computer-generated illustration on the user’s view of the real world to provide a compound vision. It includes the integration of digital information with the user’s environment in real-time. Unlike virtual reality, that creates an entirely artificial environment, augmented reality adopts the real environment and imposes useful data on top of it.

With the advancement in the AR technology, various industries like the travel industry, airports, educational institutes, and hospitality industry are adopting it. AR is used as a tool to increase customer satisfaction and profitability. Among other industries, the hospitality industry is among the first to acquire this fascinating innovation.

The importance of AR in the Hotel Industry

In general, the hotel industry has two main goals regarding guests:
1. First, to provide such services that make every guest feel like home.
2. Secondly, they offer guests advanced and trendy facilitation to make their stay a memorable experience.

AR is one such tool, which has created a significant impact on the hotel industry by facilitating the guests with the most recent and exciting technology.

AR can be accessed through numerous devices by guests, such as smartphones, tablets, and headsets. The most recent device is augmented reality smartglasses. Substantially, AR produces digital components into reality for guests within the hotel room, rather than replacing the reality virtually. This appears by imposing information over a live picture on surfaces like a refrigerator, TV or any other object, as well as at places like a bathroom, window, etc.

Below, some of the uses of AR that are most interesting for the hospitality sector, are briefly reviewed.

AR becomes a guide for guests about hotel facilities

This is one of the essential uses of AR in the hotel industry which provides services as a guide to introduce guests to the hotel’s facilities. This helps guests not only inside the hotel room but in outside areas as well, such as lounges, parking areas, fitness centre, etc. Take an example of walking through the corridor; AR will guide guests about the directions and amenities of a modern hotel room.

AR can be used in combination with wall maps placed in the hotel rooms. Thus, by pointing a smart device at the map, guests would be able to know all the details of the place they intend to visit. It will make their stay more conducive and pleasant.

Introducing AR technology in the hotels will bring remarkable transformation to the guest experience. Guests will now feel more connected and more updated about the facilities provided to them. It can bring in a lot of positive reputation in technological advancement to the hotel industry.

AR becomes a translator/interpreter for international guests

Many hotels receive guests from other countries who find it hard to communicate in the same language. These guests usually get confused about the services not only inside the room but also in the common use facilities. In this case, AR can play a significant role; for instance, guests can point their smart device, and get the information they want in their native language. Similarly, they can call in for room or laundry service using AR devices and order food at the restaurant.

This feature of AR can be significant for hotels which accommodate delegations, sports teams, and travel groups from other countries. Usually, such guests feel hesitant during their stay, but with AR technology in their native language will be an appealing and satisfying experience for them.

Location-based AR helps guests find the nearest places to the hotel

This is another innovative approach of AR, which has transformed the way guests and travellers can enjoy their stay at the hotel and roam around places. “Guests not only love to see new places, but they also want to experience the use of innovative technologies,” as per an extract from King Report Service.

Most of the hotels cover a vast area with various sections, and it might become confusing for guests to find places around. With AR, this confusion can be turned into an adventure, as the smart devices can direct them and guide them through the route to their intended place. Besides, if they want to discover new places, like a famous fast-food chain, superstore or coffee shop, location-based AR can lead the way to their destination.

This aspect of AR technology can show directions and routes to guests. It also assists the users to track and guide the locations by imposing the layer of AR technology. Thus guests feel more independent and enjoy their tour much more than before when they used physical handheld maps.

Conclusion

This is just the beginning of AR technology applied in the hotel industry. Hence, not only 5-star hotels but also moderate hotels are looking forward to grabbing the benefits of its scintillating debut. The technology is all set to attract more guests by providing these advanced tools as well as the overall experience of Augmented Reality.

Source: https://www.traveldailynews.com/post/augmented-reality-a-recent-technology-debut-in-hotel-industry

Hospitality Trends: Here’s How Technology Is Transforming The Guest Experience

With the aid of Artificial Intelligence and analytics, hospitality businesses are able to create end-to-end experiences resulting in delighted guests and increased revenue for hotels.

Technology is changing how we interact with brands, and brands need to embrace a customer centric strategy that personalizes interactions through technology and guest data to improve customer satisfaction and experience. Hotels and other hospitality businesses need to harness the power of immense data being generated by  purchases and interactions to create hyper-personalized experiences that will keep guests engaged. 

More importantly, the guest wants to remain in control of the experience – hospitality businesses need to anticipate guest preferences in line with data that is collected about them, and create end-to-end experiences that result in delighted guests, and increased revenue for hotels.

The advent of the experience economy

Modern travelers are looking for experiences, not just a flight, a room or an activity. There’s a definite shift in guest expectations – guests are looking for purchase options that cover a larger part of their journey including experiences outside the hotel, food and attraction recommendations, wellness options etc

Case in point, ‘bleisure’ was not a term that existed in previous years, but the term signifies guests that may travel for business, but are also looking for leisure activities. These shifts in guest expectations are what need to be addressed by hospitality businesses. 

The experience economy spreads across accommodation providers, airlines, travel agencies (and OTAs),, activity providers and attractions. There is an opportunity around these players to collaborate and offer unified end to end experiences to their guests. 

OTAs have been proactive in weaving unified guest experience. OTAs, for example, immediately begin to suggest taxis, hotels etc. after booking a flight. Hotels can also be a part of the experience economy, and add ancillary revenue or experience revenue in addition to room revenue. 

Prediction vs. Anticipation

In the example of OTAs, you see personalized suggestions based on your destination of travel, and possibly even tours or experience packages in the destination city. ‘Suggestions’ here is the key. As predictive analytics are starting to be integrated into a lot of business processes, it is important to keep personalized suggestions close to guest expectations. 

Hospitality businesses need to do a better job of anticipating guest needs before they have to ask for them, by offering relevant suggestions based on their past actions and behavior, instead of trying to deliver based on prediction. 

For example, simply delivering a pre-ordered lunch to the guest room at the usual time without the guest asking for it is intrusive, and takes control away from them. However, if the hotel anticipates that the guest will want  lunch of a specific cuisine within a specific time period based on collected preferences and sends them options they’re more likely to pick, the guest remains in complete control of their experience. What’s more, suggestions like these make guests’ stay more convenient, and they are more likely to order one of the options presented to them – generating more revenue for the hotel. This is the ideal win-win situation. AI enabled anticipation is the key here, not just predictions. 

Looking ahead – Integration of AI and deep analytics

So what does all this mean for guest experiences? With the integration of AI, and data analytics models, guest experiences are going to become hyper-personalized, and will become increasingly curated to each guests’ specific preferences based on past data collected across multiple platforms. Subsequently, these types of experiences will increase revenue for hospitality businesses, and will give them insight into how to engage with guests at every point of their journey. Products accomplish this through AI and analytics, and allows hoteliers to create hyper-personalized experiences that exceed guests’ expectations. 

Deep analytics will allow hospitality businesses to review their performance and identify areas of improvement – thus improving their operational efficiency. AI is here to stay, businesses that are implementing AI and predictive analytics within their processes are already reaping the benefits. Guests want convenience and are looking for great experiences; we need to make sure we’re ready to not just meet their expectations, but blow them out of the water, and the only way to do that is to embrace new technologies. 

Source: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/340046

Artificial intelligence can now pick stocks and build portfolios. Are human managers about to be replaced?

Outside of their ability to understand a company’s fundamentals, one of the skills Raj Lala appreciates most about his portfolio managers is their ability to interpret body language.

Sitting across from management teams before making a decision to either invest or divest from their companies, Lala, the CEO of Evolve ETFs, said his portfolio managers can learn a lot from simply reading the room. Maybe they spot a nervous twitch after a question on guidance or a CEO unable to make eye contact when responding to a question about declining revenues.

That very human capability was at the forefront of Lala’s mind when he was recently pitched on two types of artificial intelligence that he could incorporate into his portfolio management processes. And it’s one of the reasons he said no.

“I can’t see AI getting to that point where it replaces human interaction and, quite honestly, I would say god bless our world if that’s the case,” Lala said.

Despite Lala’s skepticism, AI technology that can manage portfolios already exists to some extent and is beginning to be deployed.

In 2017, San Francisco-based firm Equbot LLC launched its AI Powered Equity ETF, which assesses more than 6,000 U.S.-traded stocks per day and decides where to invest based on its analysis of regulatory filings, earnings, valuations and other fundamentals.

Weeks later, Horizons ETFs launched the first AI ETF in Canada, where the AI is responsible for building a portfolio from 32 global equity ETFs based on its analysis of money flow, volatility and moving averages. Here, however, a human is required to pull the trigger on any trade.

Both ETFs are currently trading below the value at which they first opened in 2017, something that is certain to give fuel to skeptics who believe that while AI has made incredible strides in the last few years, it simply is not yet ready to make the job of a portfolio manager defunct.

One reason, according to Stuart Sherman, is that there are too many variables within stock picking that cannot be programmed into an AI process.

Sherman, the CEO of Toronto-based AI firm IMC Business Architecture, compares the challenge to a report in the Guardian which said that a cat received better investment returns than three portfolio managers and high school students in a 2012 challenge.

In that same time, AI could also outperform humans in the role of a portfolio manager, but it wouldn’t really prove that it was better unless it was able to consistently beat them by double digits over a period of multiple years.

“It could work for a while,” Sherman said. “But the cat will work for a while. Eventually, it’ll regress to the mean.”

Sherman described AI as a pattern recognition tool and said that to build one that could manage a portfolio, a developer would have to start with a “ground truth.” Essentially, a programmer has to show an AI hundreds, or even thousands of examples of what a good portfolio is so that it can trace the pattern. The problem is that an AI’s knowledge is based on past data and it cannot account for the randomness that sends some stocks soaring and others into the dirt.

Take the example of Elon Musk appearing on a podcast and smoking cannabis, he said. The appearance and widely circulated memes of Musk taking a toke led to a six per cent drop for Tesla Inc. An AI system may have picked up on Musk’s behaviour prior to the podcast appearance, such as his feud with the SEC, and make a sell suggestion but “on the other hand, Musk acted radically when he started Tesla,” Sherman said.

Instead of focusing on building portfolios, the Toronto-based IMC Business Architecture is working on AI that would help portfolio managers better select their clients. Before accepting a client, the behavioural AI Sherman and his team have developed would be able to collect language samples from people and put them into clusters of investors who are like-minded.

The AI could then assign those groups of people based on their investment risk, their social goals and personality to the portfolio manager that best suits them. Even a subtle improvement with taking on the right clients could lead to substantial profits, he said.

Like IMC, leading Canadian firm Element AI sees the machines and humans working together and has incorporated that belief into its developmental process, according to chief science officer and co-founder Nicolas Chapados.

Chapados’ team has been focused on perfecting what they call the Trade Flow Scheduler, which is designed to help institutional investors such as pension funds rebalance their portfolios. In order to do so, these investors may be forced to execute larger orders in a market without the needed liquidity. Chapados said Trade Flow Scheduler can analyze market conditions and make recommendations on how many days or weeks the trade should be made in as well as making suggestions on inflows and outflows in that period that would have the least impact on the market.

Asked if Element would one day go further and attempt to build an AI that could replace a portfolio manager, Chapados said he wouldn’t comment on future projects.

“Our goal is to not fully replace human beings but to provide a second opinion, if you will, and to augment the human in the role,” Chapados said.

Source: https://business.financialpost.com/investing/artificial-intelligence-can-now-pick-stocks-and-build-portfolios-are-human-managers-about-to-be-replaced

Stepping Into 21st-Century Hospitality With Short-Term Tech

Some entrepreneurs are inspired to start companies because they spot unmet needs in the market: Frontdesk Co-Founder and Chief Growth Officer Jesse DePinto, for instance, saw the amateur nature of home shares but the opportunity for something better than a hotel. The company saw the need for the best of both worlds and, to tackle this challenge, it is “evolving into a 21st-century tech-enabled hospitality brand,” DePinto told PYMNTS in an interview. As a result, the company can architect all the elements of its operation from technology to process and its people from the ground up with insight from the current day.

DePinto says the company aims to serve today’s modern travelers by hosting them in urban apartment units with all the service a traveler might need “from the initial communication and marketing to the physical location and amenities and furniture.” When it comes to booking the units, the company takes a multichannel approach. “We meet the guest where they’re most comfortable,” DePinto said. The company has its own website, and it loves when repeat guests book directly as they already know about the concept. At the same time, the company advertises through other channels such as Airbnb, Booking.com, Expedia, UrbanDoor and VRBO.

The company likes to host guests in upscale downtown apartments in an urban core with walkable neighborhoods. “For us, location is number one,” DePinto said, adding that Frontdesk is also looking for a consistent and professional high-quality experience with customers expecting at least a Class A luxury new apartment complex. The company looks to serve the 21st-century traveler, with young professionals looking to stay in cities. It has units in cities such as Charlotte, Tampa, Milwaukee and Columbus.

The Business

When it comes to partnerships, the company works with multifamily property management companies. It seeks to help them increase their occupancy and fill their vacant units. At the same time, the company creates an added amenity for long-term renters by offering its units as guest suites for residents in the buildings. Their family and friends can then stay in the apartments whenever they are in town so they, say, don’t have to sleep on the couch (or the resident that is hosting them doesn’t have to give up their bed to their guests).

For its target market, the company’s ideal customers are people who want to be in a city — those who are excited by the hustle and bustle of a downtown urban area. The company gets mostly business travelers as it has a product that tends to attract them, DePinto says, but it brings in leisure travelers as well. The target audience is harder to determine with the hybridization between real estate, hospitality, business travel and leisure travel. “It’s all just becoming travel,” DePinto said.

The offering comes as DePinto says Airbnb has changed the customer mindset for travel. “Consumers are conditioned to expect more than just a hotel,” once they started staying in other people’s apartments, condos as well as townhomes for the same price of a hotel, DePinto said. That shift pushed the boundary of what people could expect with hospitality, and created a whole new wave of travelers in the process. In the future, the company aims to provide more space as well as amenities and technology, among other plans.

The Market

Beyond Frontdesk, Mint House aims to deliver a hotel-like experience that is trusted and secure as well as built on a suite of amenities powered by technology. The company is currently in markets including Nashville, Miami, Denver, Detroit and Indianapolis, and is coming soon to San Diego and Minneapolis as of a PYMNTS report in May. Like Frontdesk, Mint House can also open up the rooms as guest suites to the rest of the tenants in the building to provide value to full-time residents as well.

And “aparthotel” company Locale, like Frontdesk, takes a multichannel approach to reservations. Consumers can book through Airbnb as well as online travel agencies (OTAs) such as Hotels.com, Expedia and Booking.com by searching for a particular property. At the same time, Locale also allows travelers to book directly through its website or via phone.

From Locale to Frontdesk, online platforms are combining technology and hotel-like service to allow travelers to stay in apartments for work or pleasure as they move about the country in the digital era.

Source: https://www.pymnts.com/news/retail/2019/frontdesk-hospitality-travel-tech/