Technology

Dear reader, nobody knows exactly how the metaverse space will evolve. However, we know that technology is relentless in its progress, and that immersive technologies will likely keep being developed and pushed for mass adoption.

Hoteliers are already overworked as is with numerous other siloed systems in place, so adding yet another parallel, disconnected process isn't going to work. Hence, the first step to onboarding any metaverse technologies is to look at how the data will be piped, cleaned and structured within existing guest profile systems or CRMs as well as connected to current payment rails.

The metaverse presents many opportunities for hoteliers. Kick off your journey by acquainting yourself with key concepts like virtual reality, augmented reality, and immersive guest experiences. Delve into the metaverse ecosystem, researching platforms, trends, and enterprises, while choosing your niche, be it virtual concierge services, digital amenities, or VR-driven F&B experiences.

Blockchain technologies have to take a backseat right now because, with 2023 as a rebuilding year filled with uncertainty, there are just so many other technology and organizational issues for hotels to tackle that take priority.

I am particularly interested in the marketing and branding side of how blockchain can help the hospitality industry. Blockchain users are a very tight, large, and financially powerful community of people from around the world, that usually does incredible amounts of travelling.

Blockchain technology presents a "leapfrog moment" for the hospitality industry, allowing hotels to jump to the next stage of tech solutions and bypass intermediate stages. Hotels have been slow to adopt new technology, but blockchain offers the opportunity to create value by restructuring distribution, controlling pricing and increasing loyalty.

Unpopular opinion: we need to cut back on using the word 'revolutionize'. When we overuse it, it gets diluted to the point where it loses its meaning. After all, most technologies are only revolutionary in hindsight. For 2023, hotels need to first focus on cash flow and deepening their tech integrations across all outlets to improve KYC and TRevPAR.

Without a doubt attribute based (up) selling will revolutionize hotels booking and upsell process. Attribute-based Selling (ABS) re-imagines hotel inventory merchandising in order to improve guest satisfaction and generate greater hotel revenue.

Hey! I'm 82. It's all in the mind. At any age, it takes 10% of a person's time to keep up with, and become comfortable with new technology.