TECHNOLOGY
to happen until next year , Marriott has introduced an app with intuitive navigation that offers a “ one-button ” design , aimed at the busy traveler slinging coffee in one hand and luggage in the other . No drop-down boxes , no fussing with pop-up windows .
“ Anytime you can give the customer more time , they see that as a huge win because emotionally it bonds them to our application ,” says Marriott senior distribution executive Brian King . “ And what we learned was : Customers , when they have a little time for serendipity , they seek out and explore and discover things , and travel is a huge motivator .”
At the same time , by the end of 2017 , some 500 Marriott hotels will roll out Mplaces , the company ’ s beacon technology , which will sync up with guests ’ whereabouts and allow staff to beam drink and food offers as a way to say thanks . On the sales and marketing end , the company is developing dynamically tailored booking offers .
THE BLUETOOTH “ Everything is streamlined , everything is digital and the hospitality industry is , like , way behind , yah ?” So says Marco Nussbaum , co-founder and CEO of the Hamburg-based Prizeotel ( in which Rezidor Hotel Group took a 50 % stake as of 2016 ). From that statement , you might not guess that the budget design hotel company was the recipient of HSMAI Europe ’ s Gold 2016 service award for being the first hotel chain in Germany to introduce mobile check-ins using its app for iOS and Android .
For Nussbaum , who likes to refer to hospitality IT systems as a “ big pain in the ass ,” the app – which can open doors to guestrooms and which was developed in-house – was his way around some of that pain .
“ Everybody relies on those old property management systems , and they are the bottleneck for the hospitality industry to really go and make an impact
Marriott ' s new " one-button " app is highly personalized with a user-driven intuitive interface .
on digitalization ,” Nussbaum says . “ So you never have total control over your inventory , of your data , of your IT , of anything .”
Cutting out the old systems means a larger reliance on Bluetooth technology , which Nussbaum says has its own problems if the system goes down . Also , Prizeotel must contend with a German law requiring guests to fill out a registration form upon check-in . ( Since the app allows guests to bypass the checkin desk , the company gets around this by taping the form to guest room doors and then asking guests to bring it by the front desk when they have time ).
But for Prizeotel , which has three hotels and a fourth in the works , the IT investment was worth it . The company already has seen demonstrable ROI on the app , which launched in 2015 .
“ Every booking that goes directly , we basically save 18 % to 20 % that doesn ’ t go to the OTAs ,” Nussbaum says . “ And if we use this money upfront to invest in technology , we get it back pretty fast at the end .”
THREE QUESTIONS with Marco Nussbaum
Germany-based budget design hotel Prizeotel won HSMAI Europe ’ s Gold 2016 service award for its app . We spoke with CEO and co-founder Marco Nussbaum .
Main goal for the Prizeotel app ? The main goal was actually for guests to use their mobile phone as a room key . And still today , not in every hotel can you use your mobile phone for the check-in . That ’ s a catastrophe . You can use your mobile phone for everything : Apple Pay , Starbucks , you order your Uber , but you cannot use your mobile phone as a room key , not in every hotel . So you can see , everything is streamlined , everything is digital , and the hospitality industry is way behind .
How important is personalization ? We don ’ t have it yet , but it will be something where we are going to put a lot of effort to see , where can we use data to personalize the guest experience , whether offline or online . But that takes a lot of resources and that takes a lot of IT investment , and we have to see if we can manage all of this . Because in the end , if you compare the margins of the OTAs or other online companies compared to the margins the hospitality industry has , there ’ s not enough room for big IT investments .
Recommendation for smaller hotels with a limited IT budget ? They should focus on what is their key strength , yah ? If you take a look at smaller hotel companies , you can work with third-party software or programs , but you need to have somebody who puts it all together and who makes it work . You need to not have the ego to try and do everything by yourself if you don ’ t come from that side or you don ’ t have the people or the money to do this . You have to check what you do if you ’ re a small or mid-sized company and you really have to focus on the future development , on your guest structure , and if that all fits together .
54 hotelsmag . com July-August 2017