Finding the Balance Between Humans and Technology in Hospitality
Skift Take
From robot concierges to mobile check-in tools, there's no shortage of hyped technologies filtering their way onto hotel properties. But are they actually adding value to the guest experience?
Over the past five years, the hospitality industry has introduced a variety of high-tech innovations designed to revolutionize the guest experience. Everything from robot concierges, to smartphone room keys, to mobile check-in tools, are changing the way hotel customers interact with properties. The problem with this sudden rush to implement hotel technology is that it often happens without considering the business goals of the hotel and, more importantly, the needs of guests.
The risk, as many hotel’s C-level executives are discovering, is that installing hotel technology simply for innovation’s sake can often be counterproductive. “I always call it ‘chasing the shiny new,’” said Greg Adams, chief digital officer for Best Western. “When you chase the ‘shiny new,’ you can quickly run through your available resources and run into challenges that have an impact on your long-term ROI.” In fact, in many cases guests say they don’t even want, or need, the innovations. As a 2016 hotel guest satisfaction survey from J.D. Power uncovered, only 3% of guests sa
