Contactless check-in, digital room keys, chatbots providing guest service, tablets controlling room lighting and temperature, virtual reality tours and cleaning robots… Technological initiatives to enhance the guest experience have multiplied in recent years, with varying degrees of effectiveness. However the question is not whether to adopt technology. It’s already here, it’s going to play an increasingly important role, and we need to be trained for it. Still there are others areas of interrogation. How do you blend people and technology? How do you distinguish useful innovation from ostentatious gadgetry? More generally, what is the right level of technology?
In the first part of this series of 2 articles we saw how new technologies have gradually been integrated into the hotel industry and have evolved to adapt to the changing needs of its guests. In this second part, we’ll try to imagine the hotel of the future, and answer the big question: How should the hotel industry and technology work together? live together ?
The future: 2050, The hotel of tomorrow
We tried to imagine the hotel of tomorrow, and to do so we had fun asking who best embodies the impressive and frightening potential of tomorrow’s technologies: Chat GPT. Here’s his answer:
“Imagine the following scene… it’s the year 2050, you arrive in the lobby of a hightend hotel, a place where cutting-edge technology, sustainable design and unprecedented luxury come together to create an absolutely unique guest experience.
From your very first steps, you’re greeted by a sophisticated AI interface, which instantly recognizes you thanks to advanced biometric sensors. It effortlessly adjusts the ambience of your room to your personal preferences, based on your current state of health and mood. The temperature, lighting and even the fragrance of the space can be modulated to offer you a tailor-made welcome. Available 24/7, your AI concierge robot is personalized to respond to requests, organize excursions, book restaurants, or even provide personalized health and wellness advice.
Your bedroom is not just a room, but a futuristic modular capsule that can change shape and size to suit your needs. Imagine walls that transform thanks to augmented reality, allowing you to escape to a sunny beach or a snowy mountain top, depending on your mood. The furniture, meanwhile, is tailor-made for your comfort: 3D-printed from entirely recycled materials, it hugs the contours of your body perfectly. Furniture can change form, function, or even appear and disappear as the context demands. A desk could fold into the wall when not in use, or a bed can adjust to become a comfortable sofa. Thanks to artificial intelligence, the room learns from guests’ preferences over time, automatically adjusting for future visits to anticipate their desires.
At mealtimes, prepare yourself for a culinary revolution: personalized molecular gastronomy, where each dish is tailored to your specific nutritional needs and tastes. Robot chefs, assisted by artificial intelligence systems, take charge of concocting these exceptional dishes, guaranteeing an unforgettable taste experience.
For your well-being, this hotel of the future offers state-of-the-art relaxation and fitness technologies. Holographic spa sessions offer moments of absolute relaxation, while augmented reality fitness equipment motivates you through breathtaking virtual landscapes, transforming every exercise session into an exotic adventure. State-of-the-art equipment such as regenerative sleep cabins, sound baths for meditation, and biofeedback devices for stress management promise deep relaxation and complete revitalization.
The hotel’s communal areas are designed to transform according to needs and events: art exhibitions, professional meetings, or social evenings. They encourage cultural exchanges and encounters between people from all walks of life, enriching your stay.
And because the future of the hotel business must be responsible, the energy that powers this exceptional venue is entirely renewable. Transparent solar panels and wind turbines, elegantly integrated into the architecture, provide the necessary energy, while a closed-loop water recycling system ensures ecological resource management. Green spaces integrated into the hotel, including vertical gardens and urban agriculture facilities, provide fresh, organic produce for the hotel’s restaurants, while improving air quality and guest well-being.
In 2050, the hotel of the future isn’t just a place to sleep: it’s a global experience, pushing back the boundaries of comfort, luxury and sustainability. It’s a bold vision of what hospitality can become, where every aspect of your stay is designed to deliver an unparalleled experience, all in harmony with our planet. Welcome to the future of hospitality.”
Science fiction, dream or nightmare? Everyone can make up their own mind. Tomorrow’s hotel probably won’t look exactly like the one described here by Chat GPT. Nevertheless, this description raises questions about a subject that is as vast as it is fascinating: how can we innovate and integrate technologies that enhance the guest experience without falling into a cold atmosphere?
The Present: What to do today
To answer this question, we can first list the situations in which technology brings net positive value. It’s clear that many of today’s software and digital tools greatly facilitate operational efficiency.
For example, modern PMS and POS systems, thanks to their speed, connectivity and intuitive interface, make it much easier to process reservations, front office and F&B requests, while offering detailed reporting. Daily hotel operations are streamlined, improving overall efficiency and guest satisfaction.
Using AI to optimize inventory and reservations management enables hotels to analyze large amounts of data in real time to make faster, more informed decisions.
Revenue managers are all the more effective thanks to RMS (Revenue Management Systems), which enable them to apply predictive analyses and yield management algorithms to optimize pricing in real time. They can save time and gain access to more information by dynamically adjusting rates according to demand, local events, vacation periods, and other external factors, ensuring an optimal pricing strategy that maximizes revenues while remaining competitive in the marketplace.
Hotels concerned about their environmental impact are also benefiting from technological advances, with Energy Management Systems (EMS) enabling more ecological and economical management of energy consumption (lighting, heating, air conditioning), reducing costs and supporting sustainability initiatives.
CRM software is transforming the way hotels interact with their guests. By collecting and analyzing stay-related data, hotels can personalize their communications, offers and service, thereby improving guest loyalty. Concierge mobile apps and member platforms facilitate a personalized, immersive experience, allowing guests to manage their stay, access exclusive services and interact with the hotel in innovative ways. Hotels can then offer innovative, fun and immersive experiences, enabling them to stand out from the competition and meet the new expectations of guests looking for unique and memorable stays.
But technology is not all good. The loss of human contact comes to mind. Indeed, the overuse of technology can lead to a reduction in direct interactions between staff and guests, which can undermine service quality, diminish trust and reduce the emotional impact of the hotel experience. Authentic moments of conviviality and exchange, which are often the most memorable for guests, can be lost when exchanges are mediated by screens or automated devices.
There’s also the trap of over-personalization. Many hotels try to make the guest feel at home, but if the hotel makes you feel too much at home, the sense of escapism can be reduced. This change of scenery is often one of the main aims of a trip. Trying to recreate an overly familiar environment could therefore distort the experience of discovery and exploration that motivates many travelers to explore new horizons.
Another challenge is the saturation of guests with technology. Guests may feel overwhelmed, bored or disappointed by technological solutions that don’t adequately meet their needs, are dysfunctional or perceived as too complex or intrusive. This can lead to a frustrating customer experience, eroding long-term satisfaction and loyalty.
Conclusion: The right mix
To avoid these pitfalls, it’s essential that hoteliers adopt a guest-centric approach to technology integration. This means taking into account the needs, desires and values of their customers, as well as the specifics of their establishment, location and market segment. The technologies adopted should enrich the guest experience rather than dominate it, complementing human interactions rather than replacing them. Hospitality is a sector that has to adapt to customer demands and technological innovations, but it’s also a sector that relies on human contact, proximity and emotion. We could then recommend that technologies be used mainly in the back office to optimize operations without excess, while limiting their presence in the front office to preserve human interaction and avoid transforming useful solutions into mere gadgets.
It’s also important to avoid succumbing to the latest technological trends simply because they’re fashionable. Hoteliers need to prioritize solutions that bring real added value to their guests and operations, focusing on technologies that improve efficiency, personalization and guest satisfaction, while preserving the essence of hospitality, which is based on human welcome and service.
Hoteliers could then follow in the footsteps of Steve Jobs, one of whose convictions was that technology should be sufficiently intuitive and integrated into everyday life that the user doesn’t notice it, making it “invisible”. Jobs believed in creating products that worked so well and so seamlessly that users could concentrate on their tasks without worrying about the technology itself. This approach encourages the adoption of technological solutions that discreetly support service and experience without ever overshadowing the human element essential to the hotel business.
In conclusion, the hotel industry of tomorrow will undoubtedly be more technological, but it will have to remain human. Innovation must be at the service of guests and employees alike.It is by finding the right balance between humanity and technology that hoteliers will be able to offer travelers unique, personalized, simple and safe experiences that will make them want to come back.
