Trocotel: Don’t ever loose your hotel reservation anymore. Sell it!

It is time for your holidays. You booked a wonderful hotel room in Istanbul. You cannot wait to be there. Unfortunately, an unforeseen event changes your plans leaving only a couple of weeks before the departure. Moreover, your reservation is non-refundable. Thus, you are going to loose your money. No worries! Trocotel comes to your rescue!

Founded by professionals from the Parisian hotels, Etienne Merlo and Jerome Rouveron, Trocotel.com was born in April 2015. Because they have both worked for many years in this sector that both young entrepreneurs know how hard it is to manage customer dissatisfaction when requesting cancellations out of time... The idea has caught on and the answer to this problem began with the creation of Trocotel.com.

This start-up enables French people to resell this type of reservations that are comparable to the Prem’s ticket of SNCF. The concept comes from the US where it was created in 2014. Trocotel uses the collaborative and innovative spirit; in order to find a solution to the 1.8 million non-refundable hotel reservations lost every year.

This service is open 24/24 and 7/7 and available for 95% of hotels worldwide. Trocotel acts as a technical intermediary between the seller and the buyer. It debits service charges up to 12% if and only if the sale is effective. Otherwise, using Trocotel is totally free.

Every transaction that takes place on Trocotel is secured. A simple payment by credit card validates the purchase of the room. The sums paid are recorded pending the validation of both parties. Buyers and sellers are immediately informed of the sale of the accommodation unit by email. The payment is then held securely in the accounts of the financial partner of Trocotel, where he is untouchable. Then, it is released and transferred to the sellers two days after the date of departure.

What does it implies for the tourism industry?

- Democratize and simplify the tourism yield management to "restrictive price"

- Reconciling the client with the hotel and innovate face to a profession often misperceived by the public

It is a virtuous circle without unfair competition. For one, to get back his money lost in a useless booking and for the other, buy the reservation at a competitive price.

We can only regret that the site does not carries the name change on the reservation, as does its competitor RoomRoom. The client has to check himself with the hotel that his booking has been confirmed and that the name has been changed accordingly.

Sources:

http://www.mediaterranee.com/2232015-trocotel-au-top-du-troc-des-vacances-lhotel.html

http://www.lcg-expertise.fr/creation/les-idees-business/loisirs/article?title=trocotel-com-l-hotel-entre-particuliers

https://www.trocotel.com/

http://www.tourmag.com/Trocotel-le-troc-des-trains-de-l-hotellerie_a73656.html#

Prospect of the Hotel Robots

Technicians and futurists have been keen to study Internet of Things( IoT) and artificial intelligence. There are also many people discuss the intelligence migration. The robots have more powerful computing capabilities, artificial intelligence also makes robot looks more and more "realistic." Checking the reports of the robot, people could find that whether driving, running, or the recently defeated world chess champion Shishi Lee, everything is strong evidence of robot applications are constantly evolving.

From the hotel industry, for example, as long as guest holding the RFID chip card, they will not be lost in large hotels because the inductions nearby could recognized by RFID cards, which could tell the guests their orientation and navigation. Another example: eating breakfast, the sensor at the entrance of restaurant could automatically identify whether guests could have free meals.

So how about the progress of the hospitality industry’s using of robots? Especially in terms of customer services, and others hotel business? In fact, many hotels have been using robots for a long time. Starwood, one of the world’s largest hotel companies, is rolling out two robotic “Botlrs” inexplicably named A.L.O. in their Cupertino Aloft Hotel.

The robotic butlers, built by Savioke, are able to perform tasks in the front of the house and the back of the house, as well as navigate around guests and use elevators. For the most part, it seems that the Botlrs will be delivering amenities to guest rooms in lieu of actual humans, “freeing up existing talent’s time and allowing them to create a more personalized experience for guests.” When a guest calls down and asks for a toothbrush or extra towels, hotel employees simply load up the robot with the requested items, dial in the room number, and the Botlr handles the rest. Using a combination of sensors and WiFi/4G connectivity to communicate with the hotel and the elevator software, the ROS-powered robot can get to and from the rooms without breaking anything or injuring anyone. When the robot arrives at the room, the guest can enter in a rating on the robot’s touchscreen, or offer a “tip” in the form of a tweet to the hashtag #MeetBotlr.

    The Aloft Hotel in Cupertino, Calif. has been using a robotic butler to deliver amenities and snacks to guests, differentiating the business from its rivals.

For the next 3-5 years, more and more hotels are using robots to instead of human power, but initially, hotels only give robots a few simple works. Of course, the service provided by robots could surprise guests and make their stay become very interesting. However, robots does not replace staffs, because this stage is only the beginning of the era of robots. Robot is going to play a important role in hotels, in the future, for example, the front desk reception or some tasks requires a complex interaction. However, this is a matter of a few years later. At present, AI is not yet universal, but will soon pop up. For instance, the reservation center’s system could do the speech recognition, semantic analysis and processing reservation. As another instance, robots with AI could properly handle guests’ complaints and take appropriate measures to appease, or completely replaced people for revenue management, pricing decisions.

                              Toshiba company shows their hotel robot on ITB Berlin

To face this trend, the most important thing is to connect all internal systems. What else, hotel need to analyze their business models and business processes to ensure compliance with technology needs. Finally they need to establish a monitoring mechanism to ensure the technology is safe and controllable bacause security is one of the biggest concern, if a lot of decisions are made with AI machines, sometimes they might be out of control. Therefore, the hotel must ensure the normal operation of the robot.

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Source:

http://travel.sohu.com/20160328/n442505740.shtml

http://www.computerworld.com/article/2895791/hotel-guests-open-the-door-to-a-robotic-butler.html

Jingyao ZHU

Yuanyuan WU

Innovation is great, but to what extent?

The Henn-na Hotel, the world's first hotel to be staffed by humanoid robots, opened in Nagasaki, Japan, on Friday, July 16. Henn-na hotel, translated into the « weird hotel », describes the human experience of a place almost exclusively run by robots.

                         Source : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FogiE8_3fPE

The hotel opened its doors in the Huis Ten Bosch theme park in Sasebo, a strategic location choice, where attractions and innovative experiences are part of the game.
After interviewing Hideo Sawada, the hotel owner, Monisha Rajesh learned that 90% of Henn-na hotel staff are robots. From robot receptionists to robot porters, everything is handled by machines from check-in to check-out through the concierge service. Guests can open their hotel rooms using facial recognition and thanks to Chu-Ri-Chan, a cute and small robot disposed in place of the awakening, lights are turned on and off using voice commands. Chu-Ri-Chan can also help guests to check the weather forecasts and provide wake-up calls!

Hideo Sawada’s aim is to equip the hotel with robots only, doing actual jobs. The owner decided to put a low rate policy in place and benefits from it. Mr. Sawada highlighted that robots, in fact, are not asking for any salary or paid leave and are exploitable 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The price of a room as well as hospitality services are accordingly less expensive than in traditional hotels. The journalist gives the example of the baggage room robot, which stores luggage in individual drawers for only 2.5 £ (approx. 3€). In traditional hotels, this amount is not even an employee tip! And yet, this service is a significant added value for any hotel!

From our perspective, there are significant limits regarding employment but as Japan is not suffering much from unemployment, with an unemployment rate of 3.3%, why not try to implement this new concept? As Monisha Rajesh points out, the importance of human interactions is critical in the hospitality industry and we think that guests are not ready to be welcomed by non-human beings at the front desk of a hotel yet. As people are more and more willing to benefit from customized and tailor-made services, we are afraid that robots are not as attractive as Hideo Sawada would like them to be for the moment.

However, this service is still in progress and needs to improve in order to perfectly meet the needs and thoughts of the customer, who wishes for fast care, personalized services and interaction.

Being welcomed by robots in hotels seems a bit weird today as human contact remains a priority in the service industry. But what a performance to have created such a machine in the hospitality industry!

Cécile ROUX & Margaux SCHERER

The “Digital Detox”- The rise of tech-free holidays

Technologies combined with travel, are a great match. Technologies have enhanced the tourism industry. They have, for instance, improved channels of communication but also enabled new channels of distribution to reach more customers. Hotels have also increasingly integrated technologies in their facilities, to satisfy their guest.

However, does the hotel guest really want to be surrounded by all this technology?

In the past, the boundary between the time at the office and the time at home was clear. It is not the case anymore because of the huge progress in technologies, transforming, for instance, big devices to smaller ones, and more convenient to carry. The progress in technology has also made it relatively inexpensive to stay connected 24/7, either at home, at work or even while traveling. To follow this trend, most of the hotels allows their guests to reach the hotel free Wifi. However, it cannot be denied that another increasing part of travelers are feeling overwhelmed when they turn their device during leisure holidays, feeling stress and anxiety that prevent them to fully enjoy the present moment. These go against all the principles of a successful holiday experience.

The hospitality industry has started to respond to this new need of guest to “unplug” during holidays by redesign their hotel experience value proposition. Four Seasons Resort Costa Rica at Peninsula Papagayo challenges guests to leave their smartphone at the front desk and in exchange of it, they receive a list of 24 tech-free things to do at the destination. As reward to have accepted to leave their devices, they can retrieve their smartphone 24h later with a new custom cover of one of the resort’s scenic view (Levine, 2015).  

This is not the only example of resorts encouraging to unplug and unwind from technologies: JW Marriott Cancun Resort and Spa has created a “tech-free zone” near the pool where the guest can enjoy a good book or conversation without being annoyed by phone calls. Even some resorts such as Nayara Springs in Costa Rica or some islands from St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) ban technologies, upon request, from bedrooms.

SVG even created a video to promote the digital detox in their islands and the main benefits:

source: YouTube: Digital Detox in SVG

Even more than hotelier complex, some destinations advocate the digital detox concept. To illustrate this idea, we can take the striking example of Scotland and its very bad mobile receptions in vast areas. Indeed, the Scotland Tourism Board (VisitScotland) is actually turning this inconvenience in a virtue: it starts marketing itself as a “digital detox” destination in an effort to appeal tourists tired of being always switched on to the virtual world (Brown, 2014). This lack of connectivity could be a powerful marketing tool for off-grid locations and some providers have identified a niche market for those who want to escape digital life, according to Visit Scotland.

The increase of “wellness” holidays that also feature a digital detox extends beyond Scotland. Indeed, the trend was identified in 2012 by the travel writer Pico Iyer in a New York Times article entitled “The Joy of Quiet”, which identified a growing backlash against the information age (Brown, 2014).

However, the prospect of promoting destinations or hotelier complex as an area of digital detox is also criticized. Marc Crothall, head of Scottish Tourism, said: “For 25 per cent of the country not to have proper mobile phone access is just not good enough for the modern day”. He also insists on the fact that they really “need to have full coverage across the whole country as soon as possible” (Brown, 2014).

Nevertheless, VisitScotland’s most recent survey showed that just 66 per cent of visitors were happy with mobile phone access during their trip. And the availability of Wi-fi and broadband scored even lower, with only 54 per cent of visitors expressing satisfaction with the level of access. Besides, health and wellbeing tourism has excelled in recent years (Ferguson, 2014).

We can here suppose that the Digital Detox will be successful in the next few years. However, in our ultra-connected world, we may wonder if this new concept of digital detox is only a marketing principle or a real motivation from hotel to make their guests happier in their life, and maybe a real travellers’ need to become less connected (and stressed) during their holidays?

Louise and Clothilde


Sources:

Brown, J. (2014) 'Digital detox' destinations: Scottish tourist board makes virtue of the country’s lack of Wi-Fi connectivity. The independent. Retrieved from: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/digital-detox-destinations-scottish-tourist-board-makes-virtue-of-the-countrys-lack-of-wifi-connectivity-9208892.html

Ferguson, B. (2014) Digital detox Scot tourism plan criticised. The Scotsman. Retrieved from: http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/travel/digital-detox-scots-tourism-plan-criticised-1-3341988

Levin, I. S. (2015) Digital Detox: 8 places to unplug and undwind. Nextavenue. Retrieved from: http://www.nextavenue.org/article/2015-04/digital-detox-8-places-unplug-and-unwind