There has been a lot of buzz in the hotel industry about adapting age-old hospitality practices to make sure properties appeal to younger generations.

1. Why Hotels Are
Embracing Smart
Technology

2. There has been a lot of buzz in the
hotel industry about adapting age-
old hospitality practices to make
sure properties appeal to younger
generations.
With millennials and Gen Z travelers
more interested in using technology
and automation for various
services throughout their travel
experiences, many hotels have
jumped at the chance to
experiment with smart tech.

3. While the term “smart technology” has
been applied so broadly that it has
become tough to nail down its definition,
it is generally understood as when a
device is wirelessly connected to other
devices or networks.
In the context of a hotel room, this
is typically done through a
smartphone.
The list of potential uses for mobile
phones in hotel rooms is enormous
and the number of people who are
willing to use this tech while
traveling is on the rise.

4. This is causing hotel designers to keep tabs
on how the function of the guest room is
changing.
Some tech-forward hotels are focused on
making various aspects of the room
controllable from either the guest’s
personal device or a phone or tablet that is
provided in-room.

5. What Guests
Want to Control
Even if their phone can control aspect of
the hotel room, from the brightness of the
lights to the music played through the TV, it
is unlikely that most guests will make use
of every feature available to them.
A study by YouGov finds that Americans
are most willing to use their phones to
access hotel and area maps (63%), book a
reservation at an on-site restaurant (58%)
and book cruises and other activities (48%).

6. Ranking lower are some features that impact
the room itself, marking the room as
unoccupied for cleaning and adjusting its
temperature.
This may be because people commonly use
their phones to get directions and book
reservations when they are at home, so using
them for these reasons when traveling is a
logical next step.
However, far fewer actually use smart
speakers to control the temperature in their
own homes and are likely unfamiliar with
using their phones to mark the status of their
room.
With smart technology being a relatively new
addition to hotel rooms around the world, it
seems that guests would want to start with
the kinds of applications they are used to.

7. Security Concerns
Are Common
One reason why some guests are still
hesitant about embracing smart rooms is
security. Hospitality Technology reports
that 75% are worried about how this
technology affects their privacy.
However, 44% of these travelers still want
to use this technology while traveling,
despite their concerns.
A similar trend exists when looking at
the use of smart technology at home,
showing that consumers are not just
concerned about what hotels are doing
with the information collected by smart
devices and applications, but also the
tech itself.

8. However, people who use smart technology like Google
Home or Amazon Echo at home are more likely to trust
it when traveling.
Of all the areas of smart technology, the one that has
brought up the most concern is keyless room entry.
While the conventional hotel room key card is
vulnerable to digitization because of its environmental
impact, 52% of guests are still worried about scanning
their way into a room with their phone.

9. The Ultimate Tool
for Personalization
For the past several years, travelers have
been craving highly personalized travel
experiences, with even minor details of the
stay being tailored to the guest’s individual
needs.
Hotels that embrace smart technology will
be able to give more power to their guests,
as the more elements of the experience that
are controllable from their personal devices,
the more power the guest feels.

10. For chain hotels, the possibilities for
personalization are even greater.
Hotels that consensually log data on guest
preferences about room lighting,
temperature, food and drink, and bigger-
picture travel goals have an opportunity to
set the room just the way the guest likes it
by the time they check in.
While not every guest will want the hotel to
save this information, it shows just how
great the potential for personalization is in
the modern hotel landscape.

11. The Impact on
the Hotel
With more hotels directing every facet
of the travel experience through the
guest’s smartphone and other Wi-Fi-
enabled devices, hotels need to make
sure their bandwidth can keep up.
While many guests enjoy a tech-
focused stay, slow internet will ruin the
experience and likely sour them on the
idea of smart hotels.
Keeping the property’s wireless internet fast
and reliable is not just essential for hotels
that have fully embraced smart technology,
as 58% of guests say internet quality is
highly likely to impact their booking
decisions.

12. Many guests expect the internet to be strong enough
to stream video and support multiple devices per
room, relying on the hotel’s Wi-Fi to support their
entertainment preferences.
For these reasons,
maintaining a strong wireless
network is seen as an
investment in guest
experience.
While doing this and setting
up other aspects of smart
technology in each
guestroom is not cheap,
modern guest expectations
show that creating a sense of
connectivity will be worth the
cost going forward.

13. Thanks for Reading!
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14. Resources
Petra
Hotel Management
Hospitality Technology
The New York Times
Hospitality Net