INDUSTRY WATCH
AS A RESULT, THE
HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY
IS TURNING TO DIGITAL TO
PROVIDE THE EXPERIENCE
THAT CUSTOMERS NOT
JUST WANT BUT NEED.
The guest experience has
always been at the heart of
the hospitality industry. As
new technology becomes
available, we are already seeing hotels
across the world embrace innovation
to further enhance and personalise
that experience, for example, hotels in
Singapore are trialling facial recognition
for faster check-ins.
Traditionally, the UK industry has
benefitted from workforce abundance,
particularly from the EU, which
makes up approximately one fifth
of the total hospitality workforce.
Consequently, it has been slow to
adopt emerging technologies, due to
management seeing little need to free
up employee time. This means that
jobs in the industry are often mundane
and repetitive – which is worrying
considering research shows that one of
the main reasons hospitality employees
in the UK would decide to leave the
industry is due to the lack of career
prospects. Technology can better the
working environment for employees by
increasing transparency and reducing
the time spent on banal tasks. This
ultimately improves job satisfaction and,
in turn, would boost employee retention
rates, which currently stand at 15%
below the national average.
Beyond this, COVID-19 has now added
to the requirements of today’s customer
and employee experience, making
safety and hygiene a bigger priority for
businesses than ever before. As a result,
the hospitality industry is turning to
digital to provide the experience that
customers not just want but need.
There is no time to waste – hospitality
businesses in the UK need to recognise
that Digital Transformation is vital,
especially in a post-COVID world.
Understanding guest
behaviour to yield true
value out of digital processes
A typical connected experience should
empower guests with access and control.
Using a mobile app, for example, guests
can check-in and out, use a digital room
key, control the room temperature, make
a restaurant reservation, order room
service, request extra towels and more
– all from their fingertips. Yet, despite
the promise of apps providing ultimate
convenience, guest adoption is proving
a challenge. A primary reason may be
that today’s connected experiences are
still largely ‘one size fits all’, lacking a
personalised value proposition for guests.
Each guest values different things: some
a room upgrade, some a free gym, others
a spa to relax in. The same traveller may
have different preferences based on their
reason for travel – business, leisure etc. –
prompting different wants and needs.
The key lies in using smart technology,
such as Artificial Intelligence (AI),
to unlock vast amounts of data to
understand guest behaviour and drive
automated decisions that ultimately
deliver meaningful experiences. Some
of the key technologies that the hotel
industry should be considering include:
1. Unlocking new possibilities
with IoT
The need to provide personalised
services is leading to significant
www.intelligentcio.com
INTELLIGENTCIO
75