Keeping Up with the Connected Guest
Today’s hotel guests don’t just want a strong WiFi connection, they expect one and often they expect it to be free. According to Hospitality Technology’s 2016 Customer Engagement Technology Study a whopping 91% of guests say they will make their hotel selection based on the hotel offering free WiFi.
This is indicative of a larger trend in the industry, and one that has rapidly become the norm. Guests are arriving on property with their own devices and they want to be able to use those devices as they are accustomed to doing so at home.
These connected devices are used to provide the seamless experiences that guests demand. With a generation that is used to streaming whatever content they want when they want it at home, hotels must rethink what they are offering in guestrooms or be ready to accommodate guests bringing it themselves. This of course places additional strain on hotel’s already taxed networks.
Robust bandwidth is the foundation of a hotel’s technology strategy and as guests demand more mobile capabilities, this will be the differentiator for hotels. When HT asked consumers what mobile features they want, gap analysis revealed that hotel applications are still lagging in many instances.
This presents a great deal of opportunity for hotel companies looking to pull ahead of the competition in terms of guest experience. In order to close this gap, however, first hotels have to make sure they have the bandwidth to support the technology.
This is indicative of a larger trend in the industry, and one that has rapidly become the norm. Guests are arriving on property with their own devices and they want to be able to use those devices as they are accustomed to doing so at home.
These connected devices are used to provide the seamless experiences that guests demand. With a generation that is used to streaming whatever content they want when they want it at home, hotels must rethink what they are offering in guestrooms or be ready to accommodate guests bringing it themselves. This of course places additional strain on hotel’s already taxed networks.
Robust bandwidth is the foundation of a hotel’s technology strategy and as guests demand more mobile capabilities, this will be the differentiator for hotels. When HT asked consumers what mobile features they want, gap analysis revealed that hotel applications are still lagging in many instances.
This presents a great deal of opportunity for hotel companies looking to pull ahead of the competition in terms of guest experience. In order to close this gap, however, first hotels have to make sure they have the bandwidth to support the technology.