KAYAK Miami Beach: A Tech Driven Hotel
In March 2021, Kayak announced that it would be opening its first hotel: Kayak Miami Beach, a locally-inspired, 52-room boutique hotel. The hotel is meant to be a testing ground or innovation lab where Kayak can explore how design, hospitality and tech can come together to create holistic experiences for travelers.
"From locally-inspired art to cozy common areas to intimate dining experiences, we wanted to bring everything we love about travel into a hotel and put a tech-forward twist on it," the company wrote in its announcement.
Innovations include, the ability to message hotel staff 24/7, request room upgrades, unlock guestroom doors and control room features all from the KAYAK app. Notifications of on-property events, room-ready alerts and more will also be available on the app later in the year. Kiosks in the lobby offer expedited check-in and a place to browse dining options. Plus, each one of its rooms will feature a mix of tech-forward amenities from connected TVs to Marshall speakers.
Behind the scenes, the property is a design lab for KAYAK to build and refine its accommodation technology. The backend software, currently in early development, is intended to help independent hotels leverage the KAYAK app and capitalize on the latest advances. It will include integrations to cloud-based property management systems, wireless lock and access controls, and sophisticated distribution channel management. KAYAK will incorporate consumer and pricing insights from the billions of travel queries that it processes annually.
The technology is being developed in partnership with Life House, a vertically-integrated hotel brand and management company. Life House will help shape the on-site guest experience, manage hotel operations, and enable guests to interact with staff as much or as little as they prefer.
"Our mission is to create value for independent lifestyle hotels and their owners," said Rami Zeidan, Founder and CEO of Life House. "Together with KAYAK, we can accelerate our leadership in this quickly evolving space."
It's technology seems to be working out. Travel + Leisure writer Dan Koday recently stayed at Kayak Miami Beach and wrote in his article about it that "The hotel's integrated tech was best on display in the completely self guided check-in process, a nice touch for impatient travelers like myself who sometimes after a long journey, prefer to make the process as fast as possible and limit human interaction."
According to Koday the property's house manager monitored a text chain with him 24/7, and when his flight was cancelled, Koday was able to text with the hotel and instantly rebook another room within 20 minutes of reaching out.