NASHVILLE, Tennessee — Efficient operations and a competitive advantage are top goals for most hoteliers, and many are looking for technology- and automation-driven ways to get there.
It's all about making the lives of both employees and guests easier, experts say, but factors like adoption time and cost play significant roles.
The return on investment of embracing a new piece of technology at the hotel can help make employees' day-to-day tasks more seamless — giving them more time for personal interactions with hotel guests — and make travelers feel like their needs are seen and met more quickly.
Michelle Geiger, an area general manager with Hyatt Hotels Corp. for the Hyatt Centric Memphis and Hyatt Caption Memphis, said automation's increased role in checking in guests has made training employees easier. While there might be some investment to integrate a new technology, learn it and teach it to each new employee, automated systems make check-in more seamless in the long run.
"There's the old adage of make time to make time," Geiger said during a panel on automation at the Hotel Data Conference. "And so you put that time in in the beginning to get much more out of it later. But some of the automation also is making the training much, much quicker. ... The training for something to check the guest in went from 'good luck' after two weeks, maybe you got it, to within seven days you were an absolute expert at it."
Employee turnover can deal a major blow to a hotel's personnel budget and time spent rehiring and retraining. Derek Zwickey, chief operating officer of Delaware North, said his company chooses employee-facing technology that makes it easier for associates to do their jobs.
"We're largely a seasonal business across the board, and we house 90% of our employees, put them up and feed them three times a day. And so that cost of losing an associate just grows exponentially, and today, as we all know, associates don't need a reason to quit," Zwickey said. "We really have been focused on technology that makes their lives easier as a starting point. Compound that with the fact that the average age of our associate in some of our businesses is 60-plus, probably 70-plus in some locations. So we've got to make it simple."
Part of the challenge is that if an associate at a hotel or resort struggles to master some sort of technology, the guest will pick up on that uncertainty, Zwickey said.
"Balancing the cost of technology with the cost of finding, retaining, keeping an associate happy is hard to quantify, and it's hard to explain to an owner, but it's real, and it affects the guest experience at the end of the day," he said. "And if our organization is focused on the guest experience, we need associates to have longevity, know how to use the systems we put in front of them easily, seamlessly, and can operate in a way that the guest expects."
Sam Makani, vice president of strategic operations at Mission Hill Hospitality, agreed that employee-facing technology at hotels should still ultimately serve to improve interactions with guests.
"The integration of technology for the associates has to be seamless. We're working with language barriers, we're working with different skill levels when it comes to use of the technology. ... We need to make sure our associates are first and foremost still focused on the guest experience and secondarily focused on how technology or process automation efficiency tools can help bolster their ability to provide an excellent guest experience," he said.
Guest-facing hotel tech
Hotel guests are pretty familiar with technology at home, so it's a natural extension to implement tech as part of their vacations. Makani said there's not much technology in the hospitality industry that doesn't serve to enhance the reason for travel.
"For guests, I don't think the role changes. The purpose for your travel — business, leisure — the purpose really doesn't change. I think that technology gives you an opportunity to have a more frictionless experience," he said.
But if a hotel or resort implements a piece of technology that guests aren't familiar with, it's a waste of time and money, Zwickey said.
"We have to implement guest-facing technology that the guest understands and the guest is used to using, and if you don't, then they won't use it and it's a fail," Zwickey said. "We are focused on technology that just enhances that experience. I'm not going to use word 'seamless,' because it's not. We're getting better, but I think we'll get there and I think that makes us more efficient, faster and more informed. Understanding the customer as they show up and are standing in front of you is where we're headed."
The road to implementing automation or other forms of technology can be a bit easier for customers that are loyal to a particular hotel brand, Geiger said. She added that loyalty members are often frequent travelers and provide ample feedback on technology solutions a brand rolls out.
"I think each brand kind of does their own thing, and that's part of why it's not as seamless as you get into it," she said. "But I can tell you in dealing with our loyalty members in particular, they get it, they understand [technology] very well. Some of our top tiers, they get it because they travel all the time."
The rise of artificial intelligence tools in various everyday technology will continue to touch the hotel industry, said Tess McGoldrick, senior vice president of Revenue Analytics.
"We've all been using AI for years, whether we knew it or not, and I think that we're starting to get to the point where really just scratching the surface of what some of these natural language models can do, and it's already been very impactful for our business," she said. "But I do think that we're going to start seeing more and more people interacting with that in a way that they might not know if they're actually talking to an associate. You might have an AI associate."
Tech budgeting conversations with owners, brands
While hotel operators implement, train their employees and assist guests with technology on property, ultimately it's up to owners to foot the bill. Makani said hotel management companies should become more comfortable talking about technology spend with owners as part of budgeting conversations.
"As technology becomes more common to everything we do now, I think owners need to establish technology expenditure budgets on a longer horizon, just like we established CapEx budgets during budget time — you're looking at a five- or 10-year CapEx budget, right?" Makani said. "Not all of that might be during your whole period, but you're seeing and timing out your capital accordingly. Similarly, you have to put into place in an actionable plan for technology implementation."
The hotel brand companies can also help hotel owners and operators with testing and rolling out new technology, Makani added.
"Make sure as an owner that you are able to have a seat at the table with the brands, and provide them with the challenges versus the benefits of certain platforms," he said. "And two, make it clear when you may want to invest in certain technologies the brands are rolling out. Because if you're an early adopter, you may get more support from a brand, but you are very likely to be a test subject as well, which can be very disruptive. If you're a late adopter, it's common to get your hand slapped, but at the same time, you have a much more stable product."