Summary:
- Phoscuwright has concluded hotels need to strategically integrate new technologies to grow their brand preference among customers;
- The travel research company concludes that guest service has "always been been the key factor that drives the higher average daily rates that grow profitability";
- It says hotel industry must first address the "foundational system architecture" so data may be "efficiently captured, secured and shared with minimal replication".
The travel research company concludes that guest service has "always been been the key factor that drives the higher average daily rates that grow profitability".
And with guest seeking more memorable experiences, service expectations will only continue to increase, Phocuswright concludes, as customers become more accustomed to hyper-personalisation and real-time conveniences technology provides in their everyday lives.
The key factor to influencing guest satisfaction, brand preference and customer lifetime value will be how successfully hotel management integrates new technologies- virtually and in real life -to improve their physical product and service delivery.
Essentially, strategic tech deployment is the new battleground, says Phocuswright. But hotel managers face the daunting challenge of choosing technologies that provide better, cheaper and faster methods necessary to satisfy the growing and complex needs of guests and profitability requirements of property ownership.
"New system installations will also need to minimize operational disruption and retain valuable historical data," says Phocuswright. "An additional challenge will be the balancing of personalization and convenience against privacy and security."
However, the company cautions that "while sexy new technologies may distract some (2014's Starwood Preferred Guest app for Google Glass may come to mind), the hotel industry must rebuild its technology platforms by first addressing the foundational system architecture, so data may be efficiently captured, secured and shared with minimal replication across various software applications".