There are many ways that technology can support business practices—I highlighted seven in a previous blog post.

One of the biggest problems many companies have today is that while there is a dearth of data, the ability to effectively mine and analyze it to obtain actionable information is still very much a work in progress.

This area will continue to be a focus as hotel companies, in particular, seek to better understand their guests and leverage that information in real time to deliver more personalized, emotionally connected service experiences and drive loyalty.

Better for Staff

Room Price at the Right Time

Many of the leading brands and independent revenue management companies are rapidly increasing the level of automation in the revenue management space. Here’s what’s easily on the horizon:

• The ability to integrate future market-demand knowledge with historical time-series-demand forecasts will completely automate the revenue management process.
• The ability to autonomously monitor news feeds, transportation status, weather reports, sporting team play status etc. and automatically adjust pricing will be normal.

But that’s not all.

Yield strategies and dynamic pricing will ultimately extend to every area—restaurants (and bars), room service, sundry items, group and catering pricing, parking, spa, golf courses and in room entertainment. Every area that can be yielded will be yielded, maximizing the match between demand and price and delivering “the right product, at the right time, for the right price.”

Overlaying that capability will be “smart” loyalty program pricing algorithms that can and will be price based on individual guest “lifetime value” attributes.

Advanced Event Planning

The use of augmented reality systems will allow meeting and event planners to “see” how spaces can be set up and allow for a “perfect” setup for each event whether they are physically on the property or remote. The ability to upsell event setups will be dramatically increased.

Better for Guests

A New Level of Personalized Service

It will certainly be possible for facial recognition systems to be integrated with any guest contact position allowing every staff member to greet guests by name and see relevant information about that guest to allow the staff member to maximize the personalization of encounters. Think “Google contacts” that can display all of this information instantly for each guest in the system database.

Facial recognition/threat intent systems will also allow for enhanced security in public spaces and throughout the hotel. Those systems are in fairly wide use today in high-risk areas and will become quite common in public commercial spaces.

A Better Night’s Sleep

Noise cancelling guest rooms will allow for a quiet, comfortable sleep experience, and, of course, beds will continuously evolve and become smarter, automatically adjusting to known guest preferences simply by recognizing the guest via smart device.

In short, there is little that will not be touched by increasing technological prowess. It is an exciting challenge and one ripe for innovation and rapid adoption. I cannot wait to see what unfolds.

Johnson & Wales University offers several online undergraduate and graduate hospitality management degrees. For more information, complete the "Request Info" form on this page or call 855-JWU-1881.