We live in an era in which technology serves the needs of
travellers and companies. Nowadays, It has become critical to incorporate new
technologies in the management of tourism businesses. IT technologies are a
tool for improving the operations of facilities and allow companies to better
understand and manage their clients (before, during and after their stay), and
enable them to understand their competition better. An IT trend that evolves
continuously is wearable technologies. Since the wearable headset has been introduced
in the far 1960’s, Generation Y was not even born; so we can see the technology
of wearable’s has passed through a fast development.
Booking.com is one company that understood that in order to stay
highly competitive, it has to incorporate the use of wearable technology.
Indeed, Booking.com launched a new application for Apple watch on
April 24th 2015, the so-called Booking Now. This app allows
customers to book their accommodation via the Apple watch by the new Apple
technology ‘force touch’. Through the application the users are not only able
to save the location of the hotel that they have chosen but also to “turn-by-turn navigation to direct them quickly
to the accommodation” as they have announced on their newsletter. What is
really impressive is the fact that the Apple watch “remembers” the hotel room
number so as the travellers never forget it. Finally, the app is accessible in
15 languages and doesn’t contain any extra fees during the booking process.
It might seem that future business travellers will use smart
watches for sure. But there are also some hurdles and worries that users should
keep in mind. Right now the battery life is not enduring for a long time. There
will be some development for sure over the next years, but right now the
capacity is limited. As business travellers have to rely on their devices,
right now it is not well thought in order to be effective to work with. Furthermore,
the bandwidth has not been very developed yet. Lastly, there is always the
security factor that plays an important role when it comes to new technology.
The user does not always know who has access to the data he is exchanging with
its device or cloud. Sometimes the company behind the software has access to
the device and uses its data. There is also the possibility that the data is
given to third parties for research or marketing purposes.
We will see in the next weeks and months how the technology is going
to evolve and if leisure or business travellers are going to use wearable technology
in the coming future.
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