5 Tech Trends Revolutionizing The Hospitality Industry

These 5 technology trends will change the way how hotels communicate, process payment, check-in guests and more.

This is a guest post by Kate Shelby from Edubirdie.com. 

The world is in a constant cycle of change not just in terms of nature, but man-made innovations which are aimed at the improvement of the human existence. Every year, industries in both private and public sectors are getting closer to being 100% digital across the globe. Thanks to the involvement of the technology, it’s becoming easier to operate on larger scales.

The hospitality industry has been speculated to be a tad slow in catching up. This is partly due to the fact that most customers can meet their own basic needs for entertainment and relaxation. This is done via music and game apps, which are readily available for download on smartphones, tablets or other gadgets. It was even perceived at some point that some components of the hospitality industry no longer had anything to offer in terms of tech advancements. How true is this?

THE HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY – AN OVERVIEW

The hospitality sector is one that has a wide horizon under which a range of services exists. These services are best grouped into 5 separate divisions:

• Temporary stay-in services: hotels, motels, beach-side resorts, etc.
• Sales services: souvenir shops at airports, train stations, etc.
• Entertainment sector: festivals, carnivals, tours, excursions, etc.
• Nutrition-related services: bars, cafes, food joints, restaurants, etc.
• Transport: trains, taxi, commuter buses, flights.

Over time, customer demands have considerably changed, causing companies to re-strategize. This restructuring of objectives and action plans is aimed at giving the customers the best experience. Taking into account the fact that tech advancements are quite volatile, it is easy to understand why many hotels and resorts experience the first-hand difficulty coping with the ever-changing customer demands. Thus, there is a highly competitive drive to stay afloat and ahead of the game. These companies achieve this by staying updated on the most current innovations designed to improve comfort away from home.

WHAT FUTURISTIC GOODIES SHOULD WE LOOK OUT FOR?

Tech companies are already developing platforms and software that aid hospitality resorts deal conveniently with a large inflow of customers. An example of such platform is ALICE – an open, foundational operations platform, facilitating cross-departmental communication, task management, and guest engagement.

ALICE is a revolutionary company that developed a platform for simplifying communication between hotel administration and guests. Hotel staff can communicate with each other and integrate processes between different departments only through the use of an application. Sometimes it can be very time consuming and difficult to make processes between the Front of House and Back of House easier and faster. Especially if the hotel has a busy season. For example, imagine how easier it makes for members of kitchen and restaurant front to communicate. The waiters only have to give the task to the kitchen staff and monitor how it’s resolving.

Furthermore, ALICE has a Guest App which allows customers to be closer to the administration of their temporary home. Instead of going to the receptionist in the middle of the night, with this app people only have to choose from the menu what service they require. Customers can use the app to request maid services, make restaurant or spa reservations, call the taxi and many more. Even more, if they are traveling to the hotel over the sea they can use real-time language translator.

However, it is worthy to note the emergence of trends which are gradually changing the face of this particular industry. These trends have been developed over time and are gradually being adopted in various resorts and restaurants. They are developed to address the following customer demands:

• Affordability
• Comfort
• Accessibility
• Security

We will look at five of these trends:

1. Improved payment alternatives

With the advancement of payment methods beyond credit and debit card, people are beginning to get more serious about cryptocurrencies. At the same time, people are drawn to a hotel that operates through loyalty programs. These loyalty set-ups are collaborations between hotels and either booking agencies or ventures owned by cryptocurrency-operating companies.

While these programs have different methods of operation, the most common ones include points accumulation and special discount deals. Cashback is also another way these hospitality ventures attract customers. Through their partnerships, they extend payment options such that the customer can choose the best mode of payment in order to reserve a service.

2. Property Management System (PMS) software

A writing company, say EduBirdie.com for example, needs a platform that allows it to manage multiple orders from different students. The same applies to various resorts, especially those that deal with temporary lodging or transport. With the development of newer, adaptable software, the overview of general workload encountered by managers is changing.

It’s becoming common to see managers interact freely with prospective customers, ensuring they get bookings. In addition to this, this software allows these managers to reach out to a bigger population of people. This makes them both time-effective and cost-effective. It also increases productivity on the part of the employees and makes a communication faster since all workers are connected via the same database.

3. Customer-friendly check-in systems

Imagine you are checking into a hotel the second time, and your place of stay is already customized based on your preferences. How cool is that? Customer-friendly systems are being developed by feeding in relevant data obtained from previous check-ins. These data include food and lodging preferences, and the likes.

These type of systems are also used by airlines, being included in their loyalty programs. A very good example is the Miles & Smiles program operated by the Turkish Airlines. Through these developed innovations, it is very possible to give your clients the welcoming feeling. It is also a perfect opportunity to put them at ease. This is because they know that their welfare is in trusted hands.

4. Virtual intelligence robots

Compared to the previously mentioned trends, this one is a little ‘green’, i.e. new. It is being adopted by travel and booking agencies to help with troubleshooting issues as the foremost line of contact. This helps to reduce the workload on chat representatives. A good number of customer complaints can be solved by per-written instructions that these bots are programmed to identify through certain keywords written by the clients.

When clients who experience difficulties type in these or similar words, the bots offer suggestions that fit best. A good number of clients get their problems solved this way. Complex problems are then forwarded by these bots to human chat representatives. Virtual intelligence provides an amazing alternative in comparison to writing e-mails or submitting support tickets.

5. Photography on a new level

One of the best ways people get a glimpse of what they would possibly get is through the pictures posted by different companies. Photography is a powerful tool especially when it comes to advert placements. It allows the buyer to create a mental image of what they are about to pay for. With drones doing the photography shots, the prospective clients are exposed to a view that’s like no other.

Because they are able to capture pictures while airborne, drones can account for some of the most breath-taking photos available. These photos are pivotal for tourist companies, as the buyer gets to see the full picture of what they are likely to see on arrival at the place.

About Kate Shelby:

Kate Shelby is a top content writer at Edubirdie.com. She has been writing articles on tech topics for the last 6 years and loves researching on the newest software available. She likes to help people understand what technological solution is better for them.