Technology development does not seem to stop in front
of the hotel industry: hoteliers are preparing their properties for wearable
technologies such as Apple Watch and started to integrate smart devices.
Furthermore, the preparation goes beyond the property, because the customer
experience already starts way before the arrival at the hotel. Chris Holdren,
Senior VP of the global digital and Starwood Preferred Guest programs, shares
his vision of an overall guest experience that already starts when the customer
arrives at the destination airport and gets informed about how to reach the
hotel.
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| www.hotelnewsnow.com |
The aim of wearable technologies is to facilitate
customer experience and make his life easier. The clients will not need room
keys and credit cards anymore. Starwood and Hilton Hotels have already
developed a technology that enables customers to unlock their rooms with a
simple swipe.
However it is not only the hospitality industry that
developed this kind of technologies to enhance and facilitate customer
experience but also airline industry. Through Apple watch and
by downloading Easy Jet application, the customer will be able to
receive personalised flight information, pre-departure flight
information, details about check-in and information about the weather and
the destination they are flying to. Those re-designed touch points with technology
are going to personalize services for the customer. As the author mentioned in
Travel news, “wearable technology will be able to give users key information in
a simpler and more accessible way”.
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| Source: www.breakingtravelnews.com |
All in all, technology seems to be once more a tool to
enhance customer experience in the travel industry. Either hotels or airline
companies are developing continuously and designing new services and products
that are customer-oriented. In fact, companies are trying to develop the
service or product experience in such ways that is viewed as the basis of the
whole business. In fact, as Stickdorn and Frischhut said in 2012, “the many
facets of the service experience and the increasingly complex service
environment characterised by connectivity of services and service
performance management require service managers to develop service
management strategies from a customers’ point of view.” This seem to be a real
challenge for the companies since it is not easy to understand customers’
perception and evaluation on the services, preferences, moods and emotions.
Although there are mostly benefits for both customer
and hotel management, the security aspect must be taken into consideration.
Wearable technology is easily hacked. The mass collection of data often
includes not only personal data that may appear, but also operational data
coming from the company. In order to decrease security concerns, companies
should rely on specialised software platforms that guarantee security
and privacy. The alternative to avoid the data collection and lack in
security and privacy issues would be to not use a wearable device - but this is
an alternative anybody would consider for now.
Sources
Stickdorn, M., & Frischhut, B., (2012). Service
Design and Tourism: Case studies of applied research projects on mobile
ethnography for tourism destinations.Norderstedt: Books on Demand.
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