Those of us who are in the hotel industry are familiar with the plethora of acronyms, ADR, REVPAR, CRM, MICE…the list goes on and on. The latest entrant to this long list is GDPR – or the General Data Protection read more...
Mirror mirror on the wall, who is the smartest product of them all? You wander into the bathroom and wonder why there is a remote control on the vanity counter? Pick up the remote and turn it on. Cool…it’s a read more...
The hospitality industry is a dynamic environment in a constant state of movement and evolution. To meet the challenge of growing customer expectations, the hospitality industry is turning to technology. What normal wisdom perhaps misses - or at least misjudges - is read more...
First it was Apple’s Siri. Then came Amazon’s Alexa- which many claim, runs rings around Siri. (Anyway, that’s another story… especially when there are others who consider Google Assistant to be brainier).
Not so long ago, very few dreamt of a read more...
An American, when asked “What has not changed since then and now?” replied, “Donuts and coffee.” If someone were to ask me “As a hotelier, what do you think should not change between then and now?” I would univocally say read more...
All major hotel groups are experimenting with smart rooms, more and better services for the guest, new apps for in-house communication and more. IoT (Internet of Things) is about to enter the hospitality business.
Robots take over room service, check in read more...
PICTURED: Ruby Hotel, Munich
The year 2018 reflected the continuation of trends of previous years. All hotels seem to be trying to be boutique style – whatever that means. New brands and sub-brands seem to pop up almost every day. Honestly, read more...
F-Secure Cyber Security Services, a cybersecurity company announced recently that hotel rooms fitted with electronic locks by Assa Abloy, the world’s largest lock manufacturer, could have been ‘hacked’ to gain access to any room.
About a decade ago, an employee of read more...
One of the most frequently asked questions I receive is what 2019 will be known for.
Earlier this year, after the Consumer Technology Association’s CES Show in January, my response was consistently that I truly felt 2019 was shaping up to read more...
The American architect and interior designer, Adam D. Tihany describes the future hotel room as a scene from a James Bond movie where the classic design is in bed with tomorrow’s technology. Photovoltaic glass will be the basic element of read more...
As the coronavirus COVID-19 spreads, we just don’t know how it will eventually affect and change the way we live, do business and move around. In the fight to contain it, Artificial Intelligence (AI) may help. Already, robots are been read more...
Next up on the technology trend radar for hotels is something you’ll never see but are guaranteed to step on. Hidden under the carpet, stickers containing RFID (radio frequency ID) sensors embedded into the carpet and triggered by a guest’s read more...
Artificial intelligence (AI) is no longer a fanciful buzzword; it is already making its presence known in a variety of ways from personalising experiences, occupancy and rate optimisation, reputation management to making bookings to placing your room service order - read more...
Today’s traveller is increasingly tech-savvy. Whilst business travellers traditionally led the tech push with their fancy mobile phones, slick brushed aluminium business laptops and swanky tablets - allowing them to run empires from their fingertips, the leisure traveller has caught read more...
During a business trip to Shanghai in early 2019, I stayed in a 5-star hotel of a reputed global chain that used the TV to accomplish this. As I entered the room and placed my card in the power slot, read more...
History demonstrates that security and technology have worked in tandem since ancient times. From physical keys to punch cards, magstripe cards and now contactless, you can really see the evolution of security in hotel room access, but what’s coming next after read more...
There are some who believe the hotel trade is simple. After all it’s all about building rooms, putting beds into those rooms and finding heads to lie on all those beds. Ah... if only it was that simple! Those who read more...
Over a decade ago, a colleague of mine, whilst undertaking a process study of a hotel operated by the organisation we worked for, wrote me the following, “I discovered that there is absolutely no customer recognition programme here. The customer read more...
At the beginning competitive advantage lay heavily on the three L’s; “Location, location and location”. Then, as we moved on to the age of Knowledge Management, it changed dramatically to the 3 K’s; “Knowledge, knowledge and knowledge. Now, an upheaval read more...
All major hotel groups are experimenting with smart rooms, more and better services for the guest, new apps for in-house communication and more. IoT (Internet of Things) is about to enter the hospitality business.
Robots take over room service, check in read more...
When it comes to eloquent and effective communication, nothing beats the face-to-face interaction. Unfortunately, COVID-19 has made that time and again, often repeated phrase, “Meet your customer where the customer is at’’, beat a hasty retreat.
With the emergence of COVID-19, read more...
The telephone arrived at a time when technology was at the transition point of becoming a part of everyone’s life and since then, telephones have developed like few other 19th century technologies. We have seen Alexander Bell’s invention go from read more...
Are your guests ‘Apped out?’ Only welcoming words such as these, spoken by humans, convey authentic hospitality.
As a writer in the hospitality space, I am often approached by new companies with emerging technology who are looking for PR. Despite that read more...
Are your guests ‘Apped out?’ Only welcoming words such as these, spoken by humans, convey authentic hospitality.
Honestly, about the only way I would want to use one more app to check-in to my room is if I encountered an exceptionally read more...
The push for going contactless via tech innovation has rocketed to the top of priority lists after the Covid-19 pandemic. Hotels are increasingly pushing for contactless options that cover the entire gamut of hospitality, including check in/out, housekeeping interactions, F&B read more...
Over the course of the past 70 years, technology has slowly but surely become an essential tool in the day-to-day operations of hospitality businesses worldwide. The evolution of technology since the mid-half of the last century, has taken the industry read more...
The shift towards a contactless era is fast spreading owing to COVID-19. Hotels around the world are scrambling to introduce technology-led solutions to be competitive and relevant with the ‘new normal’. The charge towards providing or delivering a contactless experience read more...
For probably a decade now, I have almost daily been reading articles and blog posts about how today’s guests, prefer to interact with technology rather than humans. Of course it is not by coincidence, that most of these are authored read more...
Only a few years ago, outside of sprawling factories, robots were the realm of science fiction. Today, automatons are making their way into our daily lives, in no short part due to social distancing requirements, as robots don’t need to read more...
Technology that pushes self service on the promise of making many everyday tasks less arduous has proved to do just that in many cases. However, there is still an ongoing debate as to how much and how far it can read more...
In response to a survey conducted in the later part of the 20th century, by the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration in Ithaca New York, over 700 alumni responded to the survey “ Travel & Hospitality predictions for Cornell’s read more...
Today’s extreme business environment demands hotels to remain cutting-edge, if they want to be competitive. The recent pandemic, according to reports, has accelerated digital transformation in the hospitality industry by ten years, with today’s travelers progressively becoming digitally and tech read more...
Over four decades ago, when David R Humble stood for a long time at a grocery store in Florida, he decided to do something about it. He created a prototype of an automated self checkout kiosk, which after three years read more...
Have you noticed how often technology companies debunk the fear of technology dehumanizing the guest journey by claiming that it empowers teams and businesses to work smarter, be efficient and have more time for staff to spend with guests. Let’s read more...
The changes that were set in motion in 2020 by the COVID-19 outbreak will persist for some time. Furthermore, staff shortages will also relentlessly continue to haunt the hospitality industry.
Nearly 30% of the world’s population was not vaccinated as we read more...
Lennert de Jong, president for hospitality at Planet speaking at ITB Berlin in March remarked, “Farmers use more digital technology than hoteliers”. The good news though is that the hospitality industry seems to be rushing towards embracing new technology… albeit read more...
Artificial intelligence has the potential to revolutionize the hospitality industry, from personalized recommendations to automated check-ins and check-outs. However, there are also potential dangers and risks that must be considered to ensure that AI enhances, rather than detracts from, the read more...
“The lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away. He is no longer the only one to do so. When some remote ancestor of ours invented the shovel, he became a giver: he could plant a tree. And when the axe read more...
As the hospitality industry dives deep into the digital world of things, in an era dominated by personalisation, customization has discovered a new ally; the omnipresent smartphone.
These phones, acting as remote controls, now allow hotel guests to digitally unlock their read more...
Hospitality technology comprises a wide range of tools and solutions, spanning from back-of-house systems like property-management software and accounting tools to front-of-house technologies like in-room tablets, self-check-in apps, and kiosks. The continuous growth of this technology is driven by pioneering read more...
Usually when a major innovation is put to market, it is done after several tests are carried out to ensure that it is a stable product for acceptance by customers. If one’s product is adopted, you gain a position of read more...
Metaverse was the buzz word in 2022 only to be replaced in 2023 by the king of buzz words – Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI). Almost immediately, AI dominated the conversation at forums, at business gathering and at the dinner table.
Technology read more...
From immemorial times to modern day, hospitality is enduring and in the ever-changing future - will continue to be so. Providing food and shelter to the traveler has been the bedrock of civilization. Of all the technological developments that have read more...
When people think of AI in hospitality, they might picture a cold, robotic takeover, a hotel where machines handle check-ins, room service, and even guest requests. Convenient? Sure. Memorable? Not at all. Let me clear the air: AI isn’t here read more...
What prompted the idea for the course?
The idea came from my frustration with traditional methods used to teach hospitality management. As a professor and industry professional, I saw the need to bridge the gap between theoretical knowledge and real-world skills. Internships and read more...
Personalization is a term used loosely these days, especially in the hospitality industry, and perhaps a better phrase for how it’s actually being used so far might be “contextualized marketing”. Huge investments are being driven by questionable “survey results” showing read more...
The pros and cons hotels should consider
Could QR codes revolutionise the hospitality industry? While far from being mainstream in Australia, the use of QR codes is on the rise thanks to improved technology and innovations in consumer engagement.
Created in the read more...
Historically in customer experience, the term retail robot has been used to describe frontline employees who just went through their day and more importantly, through customer interactions robotically, reading enthusiastically from a script, interacting the minimum possible to complete the read more...
