High Tech Hospitality

There's an app for that!

By Yardi Blog Staff on Apr 9, 2015 in Technology

In a world where getting around a foreign city is unimaginable without Google Maps, the hospitality industry has no other option than staying ahead of the curve when it comes to technology. The top hospitality players are aggressively expanding new ways to enhance guest experience with dedicated apps, software and even robots. Here are four of the technologies providing a whole new dimension to business and pleasure travel.

 

1. Mobile Room Access is the hot new trend in the hospitality industry. Using a dedicated, hotel-branded app, guests simply swiping their mobile device across a specialized keypad to access their room. Some hotels have already rolled out mobile key cards, among them Starwood Hotels. Its dedicated Bluetooth-enabled SPG Keyless technology was launched in early November 2015 at its W, Aloft and Element brands, numbering close to 150 hotels totaling 30,000 rooms. Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) members can download the app from the App Store or Google Play and register their device. When a guest’s upcoming stay is eligible for SPG Keyless, the guest receives a push notification and by opening the app is able to access the room by swiping it across a keyless pad. The Cromwell, the only standalone boutique hotel on the Las Vegas Strip, became the first hotel in Sin City to offer the trendy technology. Hilton Worldwide will start offering Hilton HHonors members mobile room keys at four of its brands starting early 2015 and will deploy the technology across 11 brands globally.

 

2. Booking via Instagram. Courtesy of Conrad Hotels and Resorts, travelers can use the ‘gram not only to post enviable photos of their vacations, but also book a stay at one of its
   

   Conrad Istanbul

   destinations. Guests simply click on an Instagram photo and via Curalate’s Like2Buy technology are redirected to the specific property’s booking page.

 

3. Human-face recognition and robots. With robotics becoming more advanced every day, one hotel in – where else? – Japan, is gearing up to feature a robot staff. The new hotel, named Henn-na Hotel (translation: Strange Hotel) will open in Japan’s Nagasaki Prefecture in Huis Ten Bosch, a theme park modelled after The Netherlands, as per Commercial Property Executive. The 72-key hotel will open in mid-July and will do away with key cards completely. Instead, Hen-na will feature face recognitio
   

   Huis Ten Bosch

   n technology for accessing rooms. Other high-tech features at the hotel include radiation panels that will detect body heat in rooms and target guests directly to lower or increase their temperature, without creating air disturbance like traditional air conditioners would. The hotel will also make extensive use of alternative energy sources such as solar power to reduce costs. Of course, the hottest feature of the hotel will be its robot staff. According to CNN, Hen-na Hotel will “employ” three actroids (robots with string human likeness) as receptionists, which will be able to carry on intelligent conversations with humans. Four service and porters robots will also be used, along with additional AIs for menial jobs such as cleaning. The hotel’s goals to have Hen-na run in 90 percent proportion by robots in the future. The hotel also takes non-conventional approach to billing. Rooms don’t have fix prices rather, guests have to bid for a room, with the highest bidder earning the booking. According to CNN, bidding fees will start at $60 for a single room with a maximum bidding cap of $153 for a triple room. A second 72-key phase is scheduled to complete in 2016.

 

4. ALICE, the first single integrated guest management platform. Imagine being a guest at a hotel and being able to order a restaurant dish while soaking up the sun poolside or request specific services and amenities when you book your stay, months before your actual visit. Or, as a hotel owner or manage you can track a facility’s or a specific employee’s average response time, as per Travel Pulse. The way ALICE works is quite simple and extremely time-consuming. When a guest registers a request via the ALICE app, it gets sent in real time to the appropriate employee. When the request is completed, the employee marks it as such on the system, along with any additional commentary. Management can then track and analyze the hotel’s operations via ALICE’s reporting dashboard, making it easy to identify any glitches in the hotel’s operation, all of which is used to improve guest satisfaction and employee performance. The app is available both in the App Store and on Google Play.