18 February 2019
Last week we discussed innovative new trends in the hotel sector, such as ‘home from home’ experiences and co-working spaces. In this post we turn our attention to how technology is changing the face of the hotel industry through social media and sophisticated Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Social media as a search platform
In 2018, it was reported that 37% of millennials have had their holiday destination influenced by social media, favouring to book many hotels through an app on their phone over the traditional travel agency route. Keeping ahead of the trend, Instagram unveiled new action buttons at the beginning of last year, allowing the platform’s 800 million users to book hotel rooms, buy tickets, reserve or "start order" without having to leave the app.
In addition, traditional hotel and travel advertising is very much being turned on its head in favour of working alongside influencers on social media.
With this in mind, hotels’ marketing and social media strategy should be front of mind if they want to reach out and lure in this growing audience of modern savvy travellers.
Artificial intelligence
In June last year, Amazon launched Alexa for Hospitality, providing hoteliers with an Amazon Echo to act as a voice-activated virtual concierge in each guestroom. Marriott International took the lead on installation of Alexa for Hospitality rolling it out at select properties across its portfolio.
However, Alexa isn’t the only the technology being used in hospitality. Chinese internet giant Alibaba has incorporated AI in their most recent hotel opening in Hangzhou, capital of east China’s Zhejiang Province, which has been branded as the company’s first “future hotel”. Loaded with artificial intelligence (AI) and robots, traditional hotel services and procedures, such as check-in, lights control and room service are becoming automated.
Guest data is also being utilised in every way possible by hotels, in order to personalise and customise every guests’ experience. With so much easily available data, extreme personalisation in marketing communications is becoming more regular and allows hotels to use recommendation engine technology to prompt bookers to upgrade to a better room, add services, or activities.
Global hoteliers are clearly trying to compete with what boutique and independent hotels are able to offer in terms of unique experiences and personalisation. Both can learn from each other to meet consumer demands, but should also remain true to their roots and core values in order to maintain each of their unique selling points.
If you have any queries or would like to discuss this issue further, please contact your local UHY adviser. Alternatively, fill out our contact form here.
References:
Amazon's Alexa will now butler at Marriott hotels, Reuters
Package Holiday Trends 2018 Report, Holiday Hypermarket
AI and robots serve guests at Alibaba's futuristic FlyZoo hotel, China, theindependent.sg
