Personalization, personalization, personalization. This word seems to be one of the trendier buzzwords in the industry right now as more hotels are aiming to provide their guests with more tailor-made, personalized experiences. With more technology and advanced tools that allow hotels to provide these customized services, the hotel has an increased chance of satisfying their guests and building customer loyalty. However, it’s not as easy as simply purchasing new technology to provide better experiences for your guests.
Providing personalized services to hotel guests makes them feel more valued and drives loyalty within a hotel group or brand. With the industry catching on to this trend, there have been new technologies developed to meet these demands. As seen in this article, there are quite a few technologies that enhance personalization for hotel guests, including AR/VR and wearables, AI chatbots, metasearch engine, cloud-based management, and beacon and geolocation technology. As the article quotes from Boston Consulting Group, “Personalization is not a perk - it is imperative.” Along with the added perk of personalization from new technologies, automation also comes hand in hand with the advancements. In this article, the author mentions the benefits of automation from new technology tools, particularly in revenue management tasks. If new technology can help hoteliers build guest loyalty and increase efficiency in revenue management, why wouldn’t hotels start to implement new technologies wherever they can throughout their hotel?
They say that too much of a good thing can become harmful. Well, when it comes to technology in the industry, consolidation is becoming a double-edged sword, as claimed by this article.
With the advancements in hotel technology, there has been more and more technology consolidations to help companies grow in scale, such as Opera purchasing Micros or Amadeus purchasing TravelClick. Bigger players are growing bigger, but they must be sure not to lose sight of the needs of hoteliers, from both big groups and individual hotels. Consolidation also has its perks as it allows for simplified technology environments and interfaces as technology becomes more of a norm.
With growing technology giants and increased competition through automation and personalization, it’s getting tougher for hotels to compete these days. Luckily, there is a way to stay ahead of the curve by winning your guests through data. Hotel guests have become accustomed to technological conveniences and your hotel must stay up-to-date to keep up with them. That’s where data plays a huge role. Hotels can stay afloat amidst the growing competition by using actionable data and the advanced tools that manage it. Read our article to learn the five key factors to winning your customers and increasing your guest loyalty.