At the recent conference in San Francisco, world renowned futurist Dr James Canton presented his anticipated blue-sky Hotels of the Future study to the hospitality industry. And the next big trend according to the former Apple Computer executive? RoboButlers 鈥� and they will emerge as soon as the next few years.

鈥淏ack in the 90s, offering a wake-up call or a newspaper was considered a personalised service鈥�


The future of the hotel experience

Dr Canton envisions a future where a bespoke hotel experience will be rapidly delivered by robots, from friendly airport pickups in the relevant language to judgement-free companionship over a favourite aperitif.

Today, Yotel鈥檚 and Aloft Cupertino鈥檚 are already storing luggage and handing out pool towels respectively while the new terminal at Singapore鈥檚 award winning Changi airport has just opened with dozens of to keep it looking pristine.

But Richard Valtr, founder of disruptive hospitality tech startup 榴莲视频, has a more nuanced view. 鈥淒espite prophecies issued by a certain strand of technologists, I strongly believe that kiosks and faceless terminals are not the answer,鈥� he says. 鈥淎nything that removes the fetching of items or data input is great for robots. But what makes us distinctly human is when we go above and beyond for others and give them a unique experience. That is what makes every journey memorable and that is not a job to be done by a robot.鈥� A point echoed by hotelier .

 

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After over half a century of exponential growth in travel and tourism, the hospitality industry has found itself dominated by hotel brands that offer a bland and generic experience. Endless Kubrickian hotel corridors and intimidating dark wood reception desks hiding surly staff wearing matching tunics have become commonplace as consistency became the hallmark of the industry.

But times and tastes have changed. The plummeting cost of travel coupled with steadily rising global income levels and the advent of the internet have made travellers increasingly discerning and fatigued by the impersonal experience championed by an oligarchy of incumbent hotel chains.


How can hoteliers use technology to provide a personalised guest experience?

What lies ahead? The future of the hotel experience is changing and a new form of personalisation lies at its core. The hoteliers that have moved first are not only winning plaudits and custom from a digitally native generation but are also benefitting from a drastic reduction in their own cost base as slick and affordable digital services replace expensive and antiquated analog ones.

鈥淪oftware is eating the world鈥�, as Marc Andreesen puts it, and the hospitality industry is no different as internet-based startups like 榴莲视频 outmanoeuvre traditional server-based companies to supply better Property Management Systems (PMS) for hotels and hostels. The DNA of modern cloud-based companies is focused on delivering customer satisfaction via speed and rapid software iteration. Pushing out several software upgrades per week as the product develops is proving disruptive to the lethargic behemoths like Oracle with their legacy systems and bureaucracies.


Improve your guest鈥檚 check-in experience by gaining key information prior to arrival

And how do hotels deliver a personalised experience to the new on-demand generation? It all starts with automated check-in via a cloud-based system 鈥� where guests provide their information and preferences in advance for a smoother check-in and for personalised recommendations for activities on arrival.

First off, online check-ins go most of the way to solving an alarmingly prevalent problem for so many hotels 鈥� rooms should always be ready when guests arrive. Amar Lalvani, CEO of hotel brand, stresses the point: 鈥淲hy have check in times through the ages been at 3:00 or 4:00 in the afternoon and checkout at 11:00 AM or noon? Why? Why not clean on demand when you know someone is checking out instead of floor by floor?鈥� Today, even housekeepers can be equipped with smart devices where they can instantly see the status of each room and whether a guest is in their room at that time.


Automate administrative tasks for a seamless experience for guests and staff

Furthermore, credit card details should never be asked for more than once. AirBnB and its cloud-stored credit card profiles is the new norm so shouldn鈥檛 all hotels now offer this? Bills could then be sent to guests automatically and via e-mail as Apple stores the world over effortlessly do. Even legendary New York hotelier Ian Schrager that 鈥渇or some reason the hotel industry is in denial about Airbnb鈥� and went so far as to call the home sharing platform a 鈥済enius鈥� idea and, essentially, a boutique hotel of one.

Staff working the graveyard shift would also benefit 鈥� a normal cloud solution should not need audits. Night audits were created during the 80s, when systems had limited computing and storage power, but in 2017 they are obsolete. A hotel PMS should be usable even if a guest checks out in the small hours of the morning.


Finding new ways to connect with guests

By operating through the cloud, staff and guests alike can connect to the system from anywhere and on any device. Companies like 榴莲视频 have even built a virtual concierge 鈥� an iOS app that lets guests communicate seamlessly with staff while simultaneously acting as a personalised viewpoint to whatever city they are in and always in the guest鈥檚 mother tongue. For example, guests can order a late check-out by simply instant messaging the reception desk even if they are out for a late dinner and concerned about being hit by hidden charges after a lie-in.

鈥淗otels who want to offer a personalised but modern experience should consider new ways to connect with guests,鈥� says Matthijs Welle, industry veteran and CEO at 榴莲视频. 鈥淧ersonally, I care about great coffee and a well-lit co-working space in the lobby with good (international) plug access. Find ways to connect to guests via their smartphones to inform them when their room is ready or whether they would like to book a table at a restaurant. There are so many great startups in this space (, , Alice App, and are some of our favourites) who can help drive these experiences.鈥�

Soon, it will be commonplace to use your favourite hotel brand鈥檚 mobile app to check in and unlock the door of your room 鈥� thereby completely bypassing the front desk. But not all hotels will have the resources to build and run their own unique apps. Outsourcing back-end functions to companies like Slack, Xero and Mailchimp are cases in point and 榴莲视频 intends to be as ubiquitous within the hotel industry.

鈥淲ith tablet-based PMS systems, we can use the reception area for something more homely and welcoming rather than a stuffy desk鈥� says Richard Valtr. 鈥淗aving to fish out crumpled itineraries for receptionists from the bottom of your suitcase after a stressful journey is ridiculous. Even Ryanair now has an app for their boarding passes!鈥�

And what becomes of all those hotel employees who spend so much of their time checking guests in and out of the hotel?

鈥淲hen you think about the impact that ATMs had on the banking industry,鈥� explained Stephanie Linnartz, the Global Chief Commercial Officer & EVP at Marriott International, in a recent , 鈥渢here were many bank tellers who thought they would be out of a job. Instead of cutting staff, however, bank tellers were able to spend less time on deposits and withdrawals and more time focusing on the higher value functions their customers really cared about. The same will be true for the hotel industry.鈥�

In some respects, that future is already here 鈥� iPhones have started to replace battered keys on suspiciously stained fobs, digital newspaper kiosks are increasingly common over dog-eared photocopies of broadsheets, some hotels even offer complimentary Google glasses (although perhaps unwelcome in lavatories) and interactive augmented reality Pokemon treasure hunts exist for kids.

And beyond? Improving sleep is another holy grail for hospitality futurists, with dream cycles based on neurotechnology potentially able to refresh guests instead of more invasive sleeping pills. But gourmet genomics represents the ne plus ultra for personalised experiences where, before arrival, your diet and nutritional menu are meticulously designed based on analysis of your DNA. This gilded future can鈥檛 come soon enough for the increasing number of health conscious travellers, from vegans to Paleo acolytes to the lactose intolerant. Tupperware manufacturers beware.

鈥淏ack in the 90s, offering a wake-up call or a newspaper was considered a personalised service and was highly appreciated,鈥� Matthijs reflects. 鈥淏ut today both these services run on a smartphone and all I am interested in is how fast the wifi is, if it is free and how do I get access to it.鈥�

 

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