All About Hospitality Technology

Picture this – you’re celebrating the signing of a new client with a classy dinner at a fancy restaurant. You’re looking forward to the evening with such enthusiasm that you have a light lunch to make room for the famous pasta at the restaurant. However, when you get there, you find out your reservation has been canceled. After waiting for half an hour, you and your friends get a seat but the attendant is nowhere to be seen. Finally, someone takes your order but you have to wait for what seems like an eternity for just the starters to arrive.

Would you ever visit or recommend the restaurant to your friends? Absolutely not. In fact, if you leave a harsh one-star review on their page – we won’t judge!

The next time you want to celebrate, you go to a different restaurant where everything’s automated. You order your food through an application by scanning a code on the tabletop. You can track the order through the app and find out exactly how much time it will take and how much it will cost. You enjoy your evening without having to wait for the waiters – how cool is that! (Heck, fast forward a few years and your food might even be served by a robot waiter!)

What that little exercise helps point out is the tremendous way in which technology can reshape customer experiences in hospitality businesses. From online bookings and digital payments to personalized services and touchless facilities, hotels and restaurants around the world are becoming smarter due to Hospitality Technology. Yet, what exactly is this technology?

Take a peek into Hospitality Technology as we explore what it is, its evolution, key components, benefits and future!
 

What’s The Role Of Technology In Hospitality?

When we talk about ‘hospitality,’ it includes everything from travel and accommodation to restaurants and everything else included in where hospitality people serve consumers. Over the years, the industry has been a major contributor to the economy and now with the integration of better technologies, it has expanded its reach even more. Today, Hospitality Technology streamlines guest experience right from reservation to their check out. Technologies such as AI, ML and Big Data are being used to serve customers with tailored preferences that they find most useful, especially when it comes to hotel stays, fine dining and airline bookings.

Not just that, the role of technology is even more imperative in offering services that speak about the brand’s commitment to customer experience. From an increased speed of services to enhanced accuracy of customer data analytics, Hospitality Technology makes everything better!

When your customer is made to feel like a king or queen, they let the world know! Particularly true of the Twitterattis and Instagrammers who don’t hesitate in naming (and shaming!) hospitality providers that miss the point.

It’s simple really. What would you pick as a customer – a hotel where you need to call the front desk to enquire about your reservation details and still have to wait until you arrive as there was a mix-up at the check-in time? On the other hand, a hotel that offers a virtual tour of each room, access via e-keys and touchless utilities, kiosk-based in-room menus and voice assistants in each room will have a higher level of customer satisfaction.

The answer is obvious!

Let’s take a look at how this technology came about.
 

A Brief Look At The History Of Hospitality Technology

Now, as promised, we will walk you through a brief timeline of how technology has seeped into hospitality.
 

The First In-room Telephone

Way back in 1894, when many were still getting used to the idea of speaking into a mouthpiece and hearing from an earpiece, New York’s Netherland Hotel took a huge step in enhancing the guest experience by offering in-room telephones. This was even before electricity became the norm in hotels (basically, you would be sitting in dead darkness and call the front desk to order a candle!).
 

The Breakthrough Decade For Hospitality

In the 1940s and 1950s, a series of innovations were made in the hospitality sector. From in-room televisions (first at the Roosevelt Hilton in NY) to machine-based room booking systems (thanks, Westin!), the world of hospitality saw it all coming together, as a new level of technological standard emerged in the sector.
 

The Introduction Of The Keycard

Norwegian developer, Tor Sornes, came up with the first model of an electronic hotel keycard in the 1970s. The keycard transformed each key into unique patterns for each room giving each guest sole access to a room. The first such e-keycard was commercially sold in 1978.
 

True Digitization Of Hospitality

Over the 1990s and 2000s, concepts such as online reservations, smartphone applications and the internet became commonplace. Hotel chains started partnering with third-party booking providers and gradually, applications were born that gave control to the hands of the customers. Each innovation was made to ensure a higher standard of service thanks to Hospitality Technology.

Today, there’s no end in sight for the kind of innovations that are yet to come in the hospitality industry. Yet, every business looking to leverage this technology for their hotels, restaurants, B&B, etc. needs to know about the key components to be integrated.
 

Key Components Of Hospitality Technology

 
Here’s a quick look at the elements that every leading hospitality player needs to know to ramp up their hospitality experience strategies. Read on!
 

Reservation Management Software

Gone are the days when front-desk staff took customer calls for reservations and entered details by typing them into primitive-looking desktops (some even manually jotted down particulars in the good old registers, remember?). Most hotels and restaurants today use cloud-based reservation management software to take care of it all! Not only do these systems facilitate easier bookings, they can also help keep track of availability, schedules and inventory in real-time. It helps hospitality businesses make reservations easily (or politely decline them!) without any chances of last-minute confusion.
 

Property Management Software

Remember the 1996 movie Dunston Checks in? If you do, you’ll recall how the hotel manager constantly held on to his walky-talky (mumbling instructions into it every now and then). Well, that kind of manual monitoring is a thing of the past. Today, keeping a track of room reservation and booking history, housekeeping, concierge services, pantry, laundry and every other little detail is a matter of a few clicks, thanks to customized Property Management Software (PMS). Moreover, taking legacy equipment and software out of the equation, PMS takes a step ahead by shifting it to the cloud where updates happen in real-time, managers exercise live security control to restrict access to sensitive data and make the experience secure as everything is streamlined with no delays (if there are no monkeys like Dunston around, of course!).
 

Reputation Management Software

In this day and age where people trust user reviews online more than their family’s advice, a good brand image on social media can help turn the fate around for a hospitality business. That said, it’s also a world where one bad review can spread negative sentiments like wildfire! This is why hospitality players make use of dedicated Reputation Management Software that helps them monitor what reviews their guests are leaving for their services. That feedback is then used to improve operational efficiency and the standard of the guest experience, leading to positive reviews.
 

Guest Relationship Management Software

Haven’t we all heard the saying, “it’s a cruel world out there?” The hospitality arena, like any other industry, is full of competition. To survive (and thrive) you’ve got to stay on your toes by keeping guests engaged and connecting with them even after they’ve checked out. If you send a consumer an email to ask about their experience and feedback, it is more likely they will stay with you again. To achieve this, leaders in the sector make use of Relationship Management Software aimed at guests. It helps answer customer queries, communicate updates, extend offers, or simply say ‘hello’ to their customers after they leave.
 

Online Travel Agencies And Channel Manager Software

When OTAs (Online Travel Agencies) replaced traditional booking agents, hoteliers were able to offer a smoother experience to customers while cutting down on hefty commissions. Yet, it was difficult to sync up with individual OTAs and communicate changes to them every now and then. This is where Channel Manager Software stepped in. Today, such software act as an ecosystem that can broadcast inventory details and charges to virtually every OTA out there at the same time. It also reports booking requests/confirmations to the respective hotel’s Property Management Software.

With such comprehensive features, you can bet that this technology has several benefits.
 

How Does Hospitality Technology Benefits Us?

 
If you paid attention to what we’ve talked about up until this point, we’re sure you’ve already identified the benefits Hospitality Technology can bring to the sector. From hotel accommodation, travel booking and restaurant services, businesses get a lot out of this software. Yet, being thorough never hurt anyone, so here are the benefits listed out:
 

• Improved Guest Experience: If it wasn’t for technology, travelers, diners and hotel guests would still need to go in-person to make reservations and pay bills at checkout. Thankfully, it’s all automated now with online bookings, digital check-ins and remote checkouts. Moreover, using personalization tech, users get to rely on voice assistants, personalized room service and more! Make way mediocre utilities, we’ve got Over-the-top (OTT) entertainment and Alexas to keep us company!

• Reduced Manual Labor & Operational Costs: Front-desk operations are among the major cost-pullers in the hospitality sector. Companies need to train the staff, equip them with the necessary tools and of course, pay them for all their hard work. All of this comes at the risk of human errors. Using automated systems at the front desk, valet, room service, operator service, and other places can reduce manual labor and the risk of human errors. The setup also facilitates quicker query resolution, faster task completion and better cost efficiency, in the long run, leading to lower operational costs.

• Improved Communications: Technology is critical for communication, particularly in the hospitality industry, since many establishments are vast and dispersed. Hotels utilize sophisticated centralized communication solutions to keep different departments and members of staff connected. They can also reply to visitor requests more efficiently by text messaging or through an app, which is more convenient and saves time.

• Guests Get The Convenience They Demand: Guests expect a speedy and seamless check-in process. The majority of hotels now allow you to check in online. Many fast-food establishments allow you to order and pay using your smartphone. Customers can purchase tickets for entertainment events at a digital kiosk or through the app. They can even input feedback using kiosk surveys that you can add to the app. Guests want a seamless, technology-driven, frictionless hotel experience. Whether checking in by scanning a QR code or ordering room service online, guests demand a simple and smooth experience, which Hospitality Technology provides.

Phew, that was amazing, right? What’s even better is the hospitality experience that’s in the making – here's a sneak peek!
 

What Does The Future Of Hospitality Technology Look Like?

Here’s how we want to dive into the future of Hospitality Technology:
 
The hospitality industry seems to be all geared up with the best-in-class services and the latest innovations to lure in more customers. The in-house staff is expected to be equipped with wearables that form part of an IoT infrastructure that enables inventory tracking, work monitoring and better staff management. When demand arises, the wearable can notify the closest staff member to assist. Moreover, in-room facilities are being revamped with the use of voice assistant-based entertainment services. Yes, Alexa will take your food order now!

Yet the two most significant trends that are shaping up in Hospitality Technology include robotic servers (yes, they’re becoming more omnipresent) and eco-friendly smart technology that optimizes the consumption of resources (automatic temperature control, sensor-based water sprinklers, automated dim-lighting for electricity optimization, etc.).

While we still might have to wait a few years to see these trends become the norm, vacations and business trips are surely going to be more exciting now!
 

Conclusion

People taking a break or traveling for business meetings will go to competitors unless your hotel provides the most outstanding service based on technology. You walk into a hotel and expect excellent, consistent WiFi, right? If you can provide services that make guests' stay more convenient, seamless and effortless, it will result in more loyal and engaged customers. You will undoubtedly improve the guest experience, causing them to return and refer you to their family, friends and on social media. Hotels and other hospitality businesses must adopt new and exciting technologies to remain relevant and efficient. Hospitality Technology is no longer an option; it is what the consumer desires.