5 Tech Trends Shaping Guestrooms of the Future
- WHAT'S INSIDE
- What the Future Holds for Booking & Room Selection
- Mobile: The Platform for Innovation
- Adapting to Automation
- TVs Evolve to Service Facilitator
- Hotel Networks Flex Their Fiber ... and Muscle
- EXECUTIVE ROUNDTABLE: How Guestrooms are Getting Smarter & Hyper-Personalized (Sponsored)
- TECH SHOWCASE: Redefine Guest Convenience With ASSA ABLOY Hospitality Mobile Access (Sponsored)
- TECH SHOWCASE: Crossing the Next Boundary with Telkonet's EcoSmart Platform (Sponsored)
It starts with booking & room selection….
Many say that revenue management is all about “heads in beds.” Well, before that can happen, hotels need to address the booking path. If hotels should look to any industry on how to remain relevant in an increasingly digital world, it would be retail. What is happening in retail is an indicator of how customers want to interact with a brand and for hotels that starts with the website.
Aqua-Aston Hospitality recently conducted an extensive overhaul of its brand website (AquaAston.com) to engage potential guests with mounting pressure to offer a better e-commerce experience. The new site focuses on a more customer-specific experience. The company introduced a parametric search feature to allow consumers to more easily navigate through the brand’s portfolio of properties by being able to filter through personal preferences and needs around budget, location, guest count and desired activities. To compete with OTAs it also redesigned the Aqua-Aston website to prioritize customer engagement, steering away from an internet marketplace that simply sells and price checks hotel rooms. The site now focuses on a new shopping experience through an interactive platform that spurs engagement during a traveler’s “dreaming” and “planning” phases.
“Consumer e-commerce sites from companies like Amazon, LL Bean and Zappos are great examples of how websites are successfully catering to consumer behavior and interests to drive enhanced customer service and experience,” states James Karabelas, senior director, digital marketing & eCommerce, Aqua-Aston Hospitality. “We wanted to go beyond selling hotel nights based on location and price, but also based on whether the hotel has amenities that make it the perfect match for the type of trip the customer is planning.”
Hotels are starting to eye the concept of room selection with increasing fervor – and should. Hilton became one of the first major brands to offer room selection via its Hilton Honors app in 2014, but industry-wide adoption remains slow. Johnathan Capps, vice president of revenue at Charlestowne Hotels, says part of the reason for this sluggishness is that cross-industry collaboration is needed to move the needle. For hotels, there could be four or more different technology partners that would need to be aligned and invested for meaningful change and innovation: PMS, booking engines, CRS, CRM, etc.
Charlestowne Hotels is interested in offering guests the option to peruse available rooms within their booked room type or even specific upgrades to which they have access.
“This would allow more flexibility with room types and possible incremental revenue through upgrading,” Capps notes. “Facilitating this interaction and collaboration among technology partners is a differentiator for Charlestowne Hotels. As an operator of a majority of independent hotels, we are able to use our economies of scale to elicit integrations and innovations that would otherwise be inaccessible to single properties. We push because we’ve long recognized that we cannot be last in innovation but expect to be first in revenue.”
EXECUTIVE ROUNDTABLE
PRODUCT SHOWCASE
AT A GLANCE...
Technology Type: Digital key technology
Top 5 Most Innovative Features:
- Enhanced guest convenience and personalization abilities
- Seos-backed security and data encryption
- Compatible with pre-existing VingCard door locks
- Ability to integrate with existing hotel or third-party mobile apps
- Capacity to serve as a standalone solution
Existing customers include: Nordic Choice Hotels, KViHotel, EAST | Miami, Crowne Plaza Hunter Valley, Ocean Beach Club Crete, SKYE Hotel Suites Parramatta
Depending on the method of deployment, guests can reserve and book their room using their mobile phone or device, then use the phone to check in and check out, as well as to access their guestroom. This seamless experience is secure, convenient and saves everyone time. In improving service levels and guest experience, Mobile Access builds customer loyalty and strengthens a hotel’s brand. A central feature such as a mobile key also adds value to property’s mobile strategies by making them more relevant to hotel guests.
ASSA ABLOY Hospitality Mobile Access is compatible with pre-installed RFID-enabled VingCard door locks, with the latest versions requiring only a small BLE board to be installed alongside the existing lock. The platform and hosting environment are designed and scaled for high traffic and high reliability. ASSA ABLOY Hospitality Mobile Access includes technical support, training sessions and comprehensive Service Level Agreements.
ASSA ABLOY’s Seos technology provides hotels with the world’s first multi-platform ecosystem for issuing, delivering and revoking digital keys. The Seos protocol meets the most stringent security standards and includes messaging, strong authentication and data confidentiality. Hotels can choose between three mobile app variations depending on their specific needs. Properties can opt to integrate Mobile Access into their own apps and back-end systems; utilize a third-party certified partner app if lacking their own app but wanting greater functionality beyond access control; or implement ASSA ABLOY Hospitality’s standalone solution for ready-to-use, basic mobile access.
PRODUCT SHOWCASE
AT A GLANCE...
Technology/Solution Type: Hardware, Software and Services
5 Most Innovative Features:
- Comprehensive Energy Management (All energy flowing to a space)
- Expansive integrations across software and hardware platforms
- Volume of data collected for analysis
- Breadth of complete platform (Unmatched in the industry today)
- Ability to seamlessly integrate within other platforms
Existing Customers Include: Hospitality – Hilton, Marriot, Hyatt, IHG, Choice, Wyndham, casinos, resorts, etc.
While this solution met the needs of energy management, the industry began to recognize significantly more potential benefit. From reducing operational costs, improving guest experience and increasing knowledge of the guest’s use of their environment, hoteliers saw the technology not only simply as savings but also as differentiation of experience. EcoSmart’s ability to integrate into and with a variety of other technologies separates it from its competition. From integrations with media platforms and providing control onscreen to communication with room signage, mini-bars, lighting and drapes, EcoSmart has created the most comprehensive and connected platform available on the market today under one platform.
Telkonet’s acknowledgement of an industry shift from purely savings to experience has driven the development of both EcoSmart and all of its dedicated integrations. From hardware to software to analytics, Telkonet’s industry knowledge and expertise continues to drive its leadership and value or its customers. This same knowledge and expertise is what Telkonet has tapped to drive its evolutionary upcoming platform, Symphony.