What comes to mind when you hear the words “hotel of the future”? Can you see yourself on a free floating putting green somewhere over a busy metropolis a la George Jetson? Do you envision encapsulated accommodations reminiscent of Moonraker? Or does your vision include Star Trek style dispensers of libations and party platters?
A little closer to the present time and technology, we brainstormed a few ideas and then went looking to see how close these might be. Our hotel of the future would include simple things like ubiquitous Wi-Fi and convenient power plugs (we know: pie in the sky!), lots of integration with our loyalty accounts, and constant virtual contact during our stay. As it turns out, many leading brands are already leading the way.
Ubiquitous – and free – Wi-Fi
The Survey Says: Free Wi-Fi. Time and time again, we see that response at the top of travel surveys and yet so many hotels don’t seem to be listening. Oddly, the more luxurious the property, the less likely free Wi-Fi seems to be. It strikes us as peculiar that we can surf the free waves at McDonald’s but have to pay extra at a “luxury resort.” There are, however, bright spots in the ether; most notably, Hyatt’s brave experiment with ubiquitous Wi-Fi at the Hyatt Regency in Santa Clara, California. You can go anywhere on the property – from the broom closet to the board room – and surf, stream and app to your heart’s content.
There is a flip – some say darker – side to the Wi-Fi saturation: Hyatt knows just where you are and what you’re doing, ostensibly to better serve the guests. While it’s true, the hotel can monitor social media sites in real time, for example (which they could do with or without providing free Wi-Fi), they can also detect your arrival and send check-in information, notifications or offers to you. Most importantly, their research told the industry what guests have been saying all along: Providing Wi-Fi, especially for free, results in a better guest experience. It’s not exactly rocket science.
Service Automation
Ubiquitous Wi-Fi has another huge benefit for hotels and guests called Service Automation. Some guests prefer interacting with hotel departments via technology. Hyatt, once again, is on the way with automated check-in kiosks equipped with iPads at the Hyatt Union Square New York. So far, about 40% of guests opt to check in via iPad rather than the front desk.
Our hotel of the future goes even further. How about ordering room service from a touch screen menu in your room, or having valet retrieve your car with a message from your smartphone app? In-room touch screens would sync with our smartphone so we can set spa appointments, make dining reservations, and arrange local transportation from either. Add in much of the information you get from the Front Desk and lobby monitors like Courtyard by Marriott’s GoBoard. Many hotels are making a big deal of upgrading to HDTVs, some with USB connections even, but our ideal in-room system would also sync with that HDTV to share content between smartphones, laptops and the system. Yes, there are serious privacy issues that have to be worked out but we believe this is within reach now.
Digital Check-In
Marriott has been testing out a new idea that isn’t just futuristic, it actually happens before it happens: let guests remotely check in for their stay before arriving on property, just like you can check in for your flight. Using Marriott’s free smartphone app, guests can check in any time after 4pm the day before their stay. You let them know what time you’ll be arriving and they let you know when your room is ready. Your keys will be waiting at a mobile check in kiosk in the lobby. Done. You’re checked in before you even land.
When you think about it, the idea is painfully obvious and you wonder why this wasn’t done earlier. The hotel already has all of the information they need to check you in. Your credit card information, status and room preferences are already stored in your loyalty account. You don’t really need to be there, except to pick up the room key, so everything leading up to that is handled while you’re en route. We imagine it’s only a matter of time (and probably not much time) before the smartphone app is also your room key. Marriott had been testing Mobile Check In at more than 30 properties across the United States and is now making it available to members of its Marriott Rewards loyalty program.
The Future is (Getting) Here
As you read this, innovators from many disciplines are bringing the future ever closer. Advances in one industry, telecommunications being an obvious example, spur changes in another. We are already seeing pretty futuristic changes in the travel industry, and they are making both hoteliers and travelers look differently at the guest experience, on property and off. As with every period of change, not everything goes smoothly but, through persistent innovation and intelligent trial and error, hoteliers are learning where and how to apply technology to improve customer service. A better hotel experience is evolving and guest satisfaction scores seem to show that the industry is headed in the right direction.
