RM Magazine issue 8 RM MAGAZINE issue 8 | Page 5

F E AT U R E A R T I C L E of opportunity. The digital transformation of guest experience starts by asking new questions. Success comes by seeing modern guests in a new light, exploring alternative markets for inspiration, tracking how emerging technology trends impact consumer behavior, and learning to blaze new trails others will be forced to follow. Key Takeaways: The Modern Guest Experience Blueprint Hospitality is a high-tech and high-touch industry. GX (from the guest’s perspective) is expected to be high-tech and high-touch. at scale. Meaningful transformation and the resulting constructs for guest experience shouldn’t wholly be built upon legacy foundations. Legacy foundations are usually where we start, but that means our “thinking outside the box” is happening in a familiar paradigm, which is not the unfamiliar territory where new possibilities can be invented. Future customers are not rooted in legacy. Favorite devices, apps, and services influence them and how they value brands, products, and services. Those who build on blank canvases create the future, because they start with the questions: What if? and Why can’t we…? Hospitality brands no longer compete only against traditional rivals. Competition comes from any service that delivers exceptional experiences. Modern commerce brands, including Uber, Airbnb, Starbucks, Amazon, and even Domino’s are raising the stakes for what used to be “good enough,” while also raising customer expectations to demand exceptional, personalized experiences in every step of their journey. The digital transformation of guest experience is as much about creativity and imagination as it is technology, people, and process. Now, it’s time to get to work to improve the guest experience as it exists today and also develop the blueprint for the guest experience of tomorrow. The future GX needs re-imagination, ingenuity, and new technologies to bring improvements and ideas to life. To get there, architects must observe the existing guest experiences versus what they really prefer. They must compare these experiences to those of other industries offering guest journeys, which are reshaping customers’ preferences and behaviors. Apply those insights to deliver a meaningful and unforgettable guest journey and experience. In the process, successful brands will modernize products and offerings, deliver innovative value propositions and solutions, and create agile models for business, systems, and operations. That’s the basis for cementing next-generation customer loyalty. Dated technologies and processes won’t open new doors www.sabre.com Better Revenue I Better Industry I APAC I www.revenuemanagement.com.au 5