TECHNOLOGY
technology , which it was rolling out to 500 hotels . The technology uses data and location awareness to ping guests with personalized alerts during their stay ( guests do need to download the Marriott Rewards app to get these notifications .) The goal is to give guests relevant information that is useful right in that moment , says George Corbin , chief digital officer at Marriott International .
“ For example , if we know you are a frequent fitness center user , we can notify you upon arrival that the fitness center is on the third floor and the hours it ’ s open ,” he said in an interview last year .
GIVE ( OFFERS ) AND TAKE ( INFORMATION ) Other big brands have followed suit , including Hilton Worldwide , Hyatt , IHG and RL Hotels , to name a few . Crafting the messages , and in some cases creating the offers , has opened up an entirely new aspect of hotel marketing . And the results are easy to see .
For hotel guests , beacons deliver pertinent and interesting information right to their handheld devices . For hotels , beacons can drive more sales in ancillary departments like spa , F & B , and the gift shop – which is why beacon technology is hugely popular in retail environments .
Beacons also allow hotels to collect detailed information about the guest and their movements during their stay . ( Yes , that ’ s kind of creepy but it ’ s an all-toofamiliar byproduct of tech these days .) All that big data gets stored and sorted and analyzed and hopefully churned out into an even smarter marketing plan . Hopefully . Recently some hotels have experimented with beacons beyond prompting guests to book a massage or order a cocktail . One hotel brand uses beacon technology to help guests explore the property ’ s artwork .
The Grace Santorini , a boutique hotel in Greece , developed an interactive app , “ ARt by Grace ” that shows off the property ’ s limited-edition photographs by Yiorgos Kordakis and the surrounding scenic area . Using a combination of image recognition and beacons , the app will unlock video footage from the location shown in the guest room photographs . ( The collection of photographs also is available to buy in the hotel ’ s gift shop .) “ Guests have particularly enjoyed seeing the photography come to life through video ,” says Lena Livanidou , head of Europe at Grace Hotels .
The Hyatt Regency McCormick Place in Chicago uses beacon technology with a proprietary app to track inventory , particularly with items loaned to guests such as rollaway bed and cribs . The technology even integrates with the hotel ’ s property management system . Not only did it increase employee response time , but the beacons , which are tagged to the hotel items , help the employees know exactly where each item is at a given time .
CALLING ALL EMPLOYEES Indeed , using beacons for quicker employee response time ( the device can be embedded in the name tag , and whoever is closest to a guest room that ’ s the source of a request can complete the task ) is a smart and easy use of the technology to increase operational efficiency . Other back-of-thehouse options for beacons include tracking room service trays for pick-up , panic buttons for employees , and outfitting visiting vendors to the hotel with ID cards containing beacons so as to keep track of their whereabouts .
Beacons placed in the guest rooms through an all-in-one charging device are another possibility . Typically most beacons are placed in the public areas of the hotel encouraging them to explore the property , but in-room beacons would push messages to guests about certain features and services in the room , like in-room dining . Of course , this could be a case of beacon overload , and a hotel may risk turning off the guest with consistent bombardment of messaging .
But it ’ s emerging technologies ( emerging for hotels , anyway ) such as virtual reality , augmented reality and artificial intelligence that hotels are suddenly starting to pay more attention to . All of these remain opt-in by the guest , of course , but they do give customers more ways to experience a hotel during their stay , and leave little data breadcrumbs while they are at it .
Yet beacons aren ’ t dimming just yet . The good news is that these technologies often work with beacons to deliver the new services to guests . But in the end , all that might be needed is a super fast WiFi network . To be continued ...
March 2018 hotelsmag . com 49