Smartphone and tablets became omnipresent in our daily life, to the point where we cannot nearly live without it. This digital revolution forced hotels to be reactive and adaptable in front of those new consumer habits. In addition to a growth of Tablet users, Hotels have to deal with sustainability concerns and tended to be more eco-friendly by saving energy and money
Sustainability concerns in hospitality have brought new challenges, some hotels tried to be innovative
and differentiate themselves from the competition by providing some tablets to
their customer. In this situation, the table replaces any kind of print
document such the menu in the restaurant, room service, room functions or providing any kind of useful information.
Nowadays, Tablets
usage are not only for energy saving purpose. Indeed Tablets are up gradable products
and Hospitality industry are now using them to enhance the customer experience
in their hotel. While most global hotel
chains have already adapted their websites for smartphone, they are now moving into
hotel applications for smartphones and tablets.
These apps
serve a variety of functions, from booking hotels and monitoring loyalty
accounts to locating nearby attractions. Today, some hotels have developed their own
application offering concierges service to provide a maximum of information
with more interaction (picture, video, and mapping) in order to book while being
in the room their restaurant, clubs and tourist attractions without any rush or
stress.
Another
innovation is the digitization of the menu, The Hilton of San Diego has
installed six IPads at the main bar, which the customer have access to a
digital menu to order his drink and can a
Once you
settle into your hotel, often a trip to the bar is one of the first stops you
would make, to unwind from a flight and decide what is next. The Hilton San
Diego Bayfront has just installed six iPads at the main bar, which offer a
digital menu of the bar and restaurant and a full access to internet for their
business traveler that can get productive while enjoying a drink. The New
York Plaza hotel has fitted all of the suites with iPad tablets that allow customer
to order room service, make restaurant reservations, give wake up calls, check
your airline schedules, and even print your boarding pass at the reception.
With the
development and progress of the house automation features, we can imagine that
in the near future guest of hotel would be able to control their entire room
from their smartphone or tablet even before their arrival. We can imagine a new
customer experience from the airport pick up where guest could arrange and
change their arrival time according to the flight hazard, and then could process to their online check in while being in
their shuttle to gain some time in case
of an important business meeting. Some hotel already offer application to
control room’s lightening, heating, and air conditioning. We could include
functions such pre-order of a room service or content in the minibar in case of
unexpected date.
Example of
Keyless mobile utilization in Starwood Hotels:
Once again,
the main advantage of application on tablet is their endless option of extension;
hotels are able to follow the main trend and reacts in accordance with new
customer expectations and behavior. While improvements in technology and the potential
impact on guests experience are huge for the hospitality industry, there is already
some risen issue to take care and that must be important to look into.
Application and technology developers need to make sure their application respect
security and confidentiality concerns, rather than an afterthought, and work
first on making the market secure rather than presenting a novel idea with a
huge security threat.
Camille Micault & Vincent Droesbeke
Sources:
http://www.hotelnewsnow.com/article/11006/mobile-tablet-apps-could-change-industry
http://gadgets.ndtv.com/mobiles/features/how-smartphones-and-tablets-are-changing-the-hospitality-industry-494162
http://goodereader.com/blog/electronic-readers/hotels-begin-to-embrace-digital-tablets-to-reduce-carbon-footprint
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