Imagine a seamless integration with your services and guests’ mobile devices and wearables.
Elaine and Mike, a thirty-something couple from Omaha, are taking a vacation for their fifth anniversary. They made reservations and checked into your hotel with their tablet. When they went up to their room, Mike adjusted the temperature to their comfort level using his phone. They were feeling hungry, so they tapped a few buttons on Sue’s phone and ordered some small plates to share. After they ate, they wondered what to do next to kick off their weekend. They simply turned to their phones and decided to purchase the discounted theater tickets you’re promoting. While they were searching, they noticed a band they both enjoy is playing in town tomorrow night and snagged tickets for that show, too!
This is enterprise mobility for the hospitality industry. It’s the opportunity to enhance guest experiences and efficiently manage data on mobile devices. It’s keeping team members and guests connected. It’s taking advantage of innovation while still controlling data and security.
We have dipped our toe into the pool of the Internet of Things and we, and the hospitality industry, will never be the same. Never before have so many devices had connectivity and the ability to send and receive data. The ripples from this phase of our technological revolution are affecting commerce across all industries.
Specifically, the hospitality industry provides web-based services and app capabilities for their guests in exchange for personal information. Hoteliers who know how to collect and analyze data will be far ahead of the competition by strategizing the results for the benefit of their property and value for the guests at the same time.
Think about all you could learn about Sue and Mike in just one weekend stay at your hotel. You learn what temperature they like to have their room, what types of activities they like to do and what they like to eat. Imagine the possibilities of using this information to create an even better, more personalized experience for Sue and Mike next time they come to visit. You can send them push notifications about tickets for shows they might like, invite them to purchase the bottle of wine they ordered last time they stayed with you or recommend specials at the hotel restaurant based on the foods they ordered from room service.
According to 2016’s Lodging Technology Study, hotels are investing record-high levels of revenue on technology in a push to enable mobility, upgrade existing systems, and boost security. In 2016, hotels averaged an investment of 6% of revenue in technology. 54% of hotels spent more on technology in 2016 than they did in the previous year, and only 5% spent less.
The message is clear: the importance of technology for the hospitality industry is growing, with no signs of slowing down. Hotels that invest in technology will rise above hotels that don’t, and their increased bottom line will prove it.
This goes beyond using mobile devices for guest check-in to the ability to up sell everywhere from the exercise room to the swimming pool. Hotels have the potential to turn a guest’s personal mobile device into a portal that shares data with hotel operations. This is everything from loyalty programs to cloud-based central reservation systems to digital customer relationship management programs. Imagine the data you can collect from a customer and how you can use that data to create a relationship resulting in the customer coming back to you for a more and more personalized experience every time.
The future is wide open. Will you take advantage of all it has to offer?
Implementing enterprise mobility for your hotel doesn’t have to be an overwhelming process, and the implications for your business are huge. Effective implementation of enterprise mobility will keep Sue and Mike coming back to your hotel over and over again with a better experience each time, increase your revenues and allow your staff to be more efficient.
Contact Kelley Technology Group for a pre-project consultation to effectively solve your mobility problems and use technology to rise to the top of the industry.
