TECHNOLOGY
TOUCH
HOTELIERS ARE LEVERAGING TECHNOLOGY TO MINIMIZE PERSON-TO-PERSON CONTACT .
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Contributed by ELLIS BOOKER
An assortment of technologies — some already in place , some only now being imagined — will play an important role in the hospitality industry ’ s response to the novel coronavirus pandemic .
Promising to help keep guests and staff safe , these technologies are of paramount importance as the industry copes with the economic fallout of the pandemic .
A number of brands are leveraging their existing mobile apps as a means of reducing person-to-person interactions inside properties . Take Hilton , with its Connected Room service , which enables guests to personalize and control every aspect of their stay from a smartphone . Currently in beta testing , Connected Room is in about 15,000 rooms in 109 U . S . properties .
“ Guests who stay at Connected Roomenabled properties use the Hilton Honors app on their personal mobile device to manage most things they would traditionally do manually in a room , from controlling the temperature and turning lights on and off to controlling the TV ,” says Mike Gathright , senior vice president of customer channels at Hilton .
Connected Room is part of the company ’ s loyalty program , Hilton Honors , and the mobile app allows guests to choose their rooms and check in digitally . It also has Hilton ’ s room-entry tool , called Digital Key , which launched in 2015 and allows guests to bypass the front desk and head straight to their rooms – an attractive option when attempting to keep contact to a minimum . The company says more than 4,800 properties in 48 countries have the technology .
MGM Resorts is likewise retooling for contactless entry and
54 hotelsmag . com July / August 2020