The International Luxury Hotel Association sat down with Jasen Lew to discuss his vision for the future of guest engagement , communication , and messaging in luxury hospitality , and how Glowing . io can support each hotel ’ s unique goals .
In today ’ s modern world , is text messaging considered luxury ?
I believe that , at its core , luxury has not changed . In one light , luxury in hospitality is about maximizing the guests ’ energy and time on the things that they want to do , while minimizing energy and time on the things they do not want to do during their stay . Guests would prefer not to stand in a queue for a long time upon their arrival , but they would rather go straight to their room or the pool and order a refreshing drink . They want their whole stay experience to begin as smoothly as possible .
During Glowing . io ’ s inception 7 years ago , we were one of the first messaging companies in the market and the only international messaging company . It was at that period that everyone was comfortable sending back-and-forth messages to their friends and families . However , hotels were uncertain if guests would also be comfortable messaging the hotel directly . In the hospitality industry , luxury is being able to provide guests with options and make them feel at home . A good example of this would be when guests arrive in the hotel , their luggage may be taken directly to their room and unpacked as they prefer or have their favorite bottle of wine waiting for them , chilled to the right temperature . These are what define luxury in hospitality .
The Glowing . io team thought that it makes sense to use the form of communication that guests are most comfortable with while building personal relations between the guest and the hotel , and creating a more personalized stay . Ours has always been about leveraging technology to help our clients have more engaging , personal relationships with their clients .
With Covid-19 , what have you seen with guests and them wanting to message ?
Around April 2020 , we hit rock bottom in terms of messages and conversations exchanged on our platform . However , a remarkable thing happened 3 months later : In July 2020 , Glowing . io rapidly bounced back and we actually surpassed our pre- COVID records , and continuously grow by 20 % month-over-month .
" IN A SENSE , THE DEFINITION OF LUXURY IS THE SAME , IT ’ S JUST THE DELIVERY THAT HAS CHANGED .”
Before the pandemic happened , messaging was already the second most preferred form of communication . Upon discussions with hotels , guests , industry leaders , and from our own data , it seems that today , messaging has now become the number one preferred method of communication .
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