One of the biggest challenge for hotel industry is to keep up its services and products with the emerging technology and trends.
However most of the time hotel business is so traditional that it is very hard to do flexible change in order to meed the emerging trends and needs from the guests. As hoteliers, how many times we saw the opportunities and changes passed by and did not do anything to stand out from the crowds? 5,6 years ago, who would knew that online booking sites and social medias can become a so mainstream today?
To win a market, it is essential to be the "trend setters" in stead of "trend followers". With the fast-changing technology trend and the fast-paced business environment, it is no longer the time for hotels to be act as "traditional accommodation providers".
What the savvy customers want from hotels are not just a "clean place to stay with reasonable price" (it is so fundamental that it became the basic requirement). However, what the customers are really looking for is the experience that differentiate your hotel from the rest. In order to provide such intangible value to the targeted guests, hotels need to constantly look out for the changing technology which has strong influence on guests' needs.
The emerging trends introduced by today's technology are "immediate response" and "customized service". With iPhones or smartphones, people have a ever stronger tendency to use every minute efficiently. Tweeting while waiting for a meal, or using apps to hire a taxi, to book a table at a restaurant, or find a last-minute deal for a hotel room, we have so many options to make the experience tailor made to our needs and desires. On top of that, we know what we are getting the minute we made the decision.
How can hotels adjust themselves to this type of trend and need for "immediate response" and "customized service"? I would invasion that in the near future more and more hotel establishments will have to adapt to the social media trend in that not only the social media is used to interact with guests, but also to capture their immediate needs and help solve their problems.
KLM has become the pioneer in using social media to exceed its guests' expectation. In their "KLM surprise" scenario, twitter was used not only as a medium, but a tool for the KLM to find out its customers' purpose of traveling and what they want.
However most of the time hotel business is so traditional that it is very hard to do flexible change in order to meed the emerging trends and needs from the guests. As hoteliers, how many times we saw the opportunities and changes passed by and did not do anything to stand out from the crowds? 5,6 years ago, who would knew that online booking sites and social medias can become a so mainstream today?
To win a market, it is essential to be the "trend setters" in stead of "trend followers". With the fast-changing technology trend and the fast-paced business environment, it is no longer the time for hotels to be act as "traditional accommodation providers".
What the savvy customers want from hotels are not just a "clean place to stay with reasonable price" (it is so fundamental that it became the basic requirement). However, what the customers are really looking for is the experience that differentiate your hotel from the rest. In order to provide such intangible value to the targeted guests, hotels need to constantly look out for the changing technology which has strong influence on guests' needs.
The emerging trends introduced by today's technology are "immediate response" and "customized service". With iPhones or smartphones, people have a ever stronger tendency to use every minute efficiently. Tweeting while waiting for a meal, or using apps to hire a taxi, to book a table at a restaurant, or find a last-minute deal for a hotel room, we have so many options to make the experience tailor made to our needs and desires. On top of that, we know what we are getting the minute we made the decision.
How can hotels adjust themselves to this type of trend and need for "immediate response" and "customized service"? I would invasion that in the near future more and more hotel establishments will have to adapt to the social media trend in that not only the social media is used to interact with guests, but also to capture their immediate needs and help solve their problems.
KLM has become the pioneer in using social media to exceed its guests' expectation. In their "KLM surprise" scenario, twitter was used not only as a medium, but a tool for the KLM to find out its customers' purpose of traveling and what they want.
Another huge change in the hotel industry would be the more attention on hotel mobile apps. as the smartphones and iPhone users number increasing, there is a much higher demand for hotels to be "spontaneous" and "within the distance of a touch screen". Hotels need to serious consider to invest the development of mobile technology in order to facilitate tomorrow's guests needs and attract their attention.
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