The hospitality industry has always been one of the biggest adopters of new technology, with advances in everything from refrigeration to communication. From the way guests interact with hotels to how they expect hotels to take care of them and even the way hotels offer amenities, the industry has seen a lot of change in recent years.
As for 2022, both Accenture and PwC predict hotels will be back to pre-pandemic occupancy, which will drive demand for tech innovations even further. In the era of the “next normal,” according to McKinsey, hotels will use technology to increase efficiency and maintain the required level of health and safety during a stay.
In this article, we’ll show the most influential trends for the hospitality industry that will help hotels meet their objectives. We’ll look deeper into the hotel trends, discover the reasons and benefits your business can get from their applying, and learn more about the latest trends in this area in
Future Hotel Technology Trends: What to Expect?
Due to the recent changes in modern society & people’s lifestyle, travel, tourism, and hospitality industries cannot but wonder about the hotel service’s future. All the future modifications in hotel technology are mostly based on the following criteria:
- customer comfort level increasing
- service optimization and development
- workflow automation and improving
- the Internet of Things applying
- revenue growing
- smart marketing and reputation management
According to the research on improving the comfortability of hotel stays by Statista, 35% of respondents want their hotels to arrange contactless payment.
This hotel technology trend will increase the comfort for the hotel guests and optimize the check-in and check-out procedures and significantly improve the workflow.
One in four interviewees also expects the smart room keys in their hotels. That’s because being on vacation or business trip in an unfamiliar city, people often tend to lose some items like the room keys, or else forget to lock their door, etc.
However, by providing the smart room technology trend in the hotel industry, you can quickly solve this problem. For example, modern hotels are now recommending downloading the mobile app to get full access to their rooms. Additionally, you will save a significant sum of investments, as you no longer need to order the plastic cards or re-issue the keys.
These examples were demonstrated to show the hotel industry’s real need to keep up with the pace and apply new technologies to enhance their business. Nevertheless, there are many more technology trends in the hotel industry that can be useful for your business, so let’s dive in.
The Main Hotel Technology Trends Nowadays
At present, various hotel owners apply more and more hotel technology ideas to reach the final consumers and encourage them to book the apartment immediately.
Some hotel innovation ideas are common worldwide, while others may depend on the hotel’s location and targets. So, here we will look through the key points of hotel industry technology trends widely applied now.
Top-Ranking Technology in Hotel Industry in 2022
Smart energy management, robot delivery, and unified property management systems promise to become the most popular hotel technology trends in 2022. The reasons for this are the general tendency towards sustainability, the consequences of a global pandemic, and the constant search for better personalization tools for guests.
#1 Smart Energy Management
The trend towards smarter energy management has become possible with the adoption of sophisticated ML algorithms that can track thermodynamic changes and weather conditions outside and sensors that record energy control. Since the electric power industry as a whole is forging a path to a cleaner and more sustainable grid, the hospitality industry won’t lag behind.
From lighting to climate control, smart energy management allows hotels to save on average 20% of energy consumption, which is cost-effective for hotels.
Also, smart energy management is able to cut down on carbon dioxide emissions by as much as 70%. From a guests’ perspective, the hotel technology will help adjust their rooms to their preferences, creating a personalized experience that makes customers happy and more likely to return again.
#2 Robot Delivering
The COVID pandemic introduced the need for social distancing, and this norm accelerated the adoption of robots in hotels. Combined with the constant search for opportunities to create unique experiences, the technology will let hotel owners create a safe and fun recreation space. In 2022, the main applications of robots are service delivery and collecting items for customers.
For example, the robotic waiter could be designed to deliver food and drinks to guests, which would free up servers to take orders or perform other tasks while still providing guests with their service.
This means that even if a hotel has dozens of floors and rooms, the owners will no longer need to hire tons of people to deliver food and supplies. Humans can provide more valuable input, like answering questions from guests who interact with these robots and ensuring customer care service takes place.
One of the most impressive new technologies in hotels is robots that complete various tasks traditionally performed by humans. For example, the FlyZoo hotel by Alibaba has used robots to occupy the room service staff, provide the guests with all the necessary information, clean the rooms, and automate the routine processes to the extent possible.
#3 Unified Property Management Systems
In 2022, hotel properties are expected to move to a unified property management system, a software type that assists in automating daily operations and administrative tasks in a hotel.
Moreover, the unified in-hotel experience means guests will be able to interact with hotels across many different brands using one mobile app.
The hotel technology creates a united network between various in-hotel properties, with all key information collected in one system.
Guests can enjoy the intuitive experience of finding and booking their ideal recreation easily, seeing immediately its location, detailed description, and availability. This way, the booking process should take just a few taps from start to finish.
Hotel Guest Room Technology Trends
One of the first things that make the visitors’ first impression is the room they will stay in. That is why hotels are now focusing on improving the customer experience, accommodation, service, and facilities.
Here are the top hotel technology trends, which you can consider for improving the hotel performance.
#4 Mobile Keys
Needless to say, everyone has lost their stuff at least once in their life. And when it comes to the small things like keys or cards – the numbers might get even higher.
However, you can easily get rid of that headache with the smart keys installed in the app. These keys provide comfortable access to the visitors’ rooms.
The hotel technology includes different features like booking a restaurant, paying some extra bills, or reminding about personal preferences to provide the perfect experience for any client.
#5 Smart Rooms
Since our world is going digital, many technologies are created to make the routine easier and comfortable. For instance, voice control, facial recognition, and mobile control can put the visitors’ personal experience to the next level and feel them stay here a little longer or come back later.
Just imagine yourself entering your room after the tiring strolling on the streets of the unfamiliar city or the working conference. Along with your command “tired,” the voice assistant will instantly prepare the relaxing bath, offer some TV series to watch, etc. Sound like a great idea for your hotel innovation, isn’t it?
American Hotel Technology Trends
In America, the customer-centric model of business has already transformed from a trend to a necessity. Simultaneously, the hotel founders are still interested in their business optimization to make the most of it.
Here are the leading hotel technology trends in America, which are still on the top in 2021.
#6 New Hotel Technology for Booking Optimizing
The ability to book a room online is certainly a must for today’s hotel industry. That’s because it can not only facilitate the booking process for your potential visitors but also helps the hotel staff efficiently track and manage it.
Furthermore, online booking is a great option for visitors to learn more about accommodation and some crucial points about their future living place.
For the hotel managers, this feature will help to be aware of the number & type of rooms they can offer to other visitors, which is always important.
#7 Check-in Automation
Along with the COVID-19 pandemic, most people tend to minimize contact with society for their safety. And one of the must-have innovation in hotel industry, it’s crucial to offer the automatic check-in feature.
For instance, this element can be installed directly to your hotel app, offering your guests to manually input their personal information.
When it’s done, the data is sent to the hotel managers to complete the check-in process in their system. That will greatly reduce the risks for both clients and staff.
#8 Hotel Software System
Additionally, you can optimize the workflow by creating an app for your hotel. By applying the SaaS hotel technology to your business, the staff can efficiently leverage such processes as booking, checking-in, and checking-out, tracking the working schedule, etc.
For the hotel owners, this can benefit while measuring the metrics of the business performance and thinking over the ways of its development.
#9 Social Media Interaction
Now people no longer want to be bothered by the hotel staff, and so far some hotels have already found the solution: send messages and notifications via social.
With this hotel innovation implied, the staff can send the immediate message to the visitors, be aware of the guests’ preferences, and save a lot of time on the service processes.
As an example, try using Facebook, WhatsApp, or Instagram messenger for this purpose. Such an individual approach will ultimately yield results as soon as applied.
European Hotel Technology Trends
The Hotel Technology Innovation Summit has moved even deeper into the hotel industry technology trends. So, let’s learn more about the most interesting solutions presented there.
#10 Wifi & Band Width Distribution
The hotel guests are now widely using the Internet, especially when coming to a foreign country. The Internet is needed for work or pleasure, to discover the restaurants nearby, or plan the places people want to visit during this trip. That is why the Internet connection must be stable and fast for providing the best service for the consumers.
Furthermore, if the hotel is planning to imply smart services to their managing, controlling, and service systems, the fast & efficient Internet is a must hotel technology for that improvement.
#11 Blockchain Solutions
Cryptocurrency is expected to become the e-wallet system’s future since more and more millennials are making large investments in blockchain technologies.
And that’s why a lot of modern hotels developing plans include cryptocurrency as the alternative method for paying for the hotel service.
So, if you are planning to enlarge the number of visitors, who mostly prefer using cryptocurrency, you can include blockchain and cryptocurrency technologies in your hotel payment system. This step will help your business to recommend itself as modern and forward-looking and encourage more guests to use your services.
#12 IoT Solutions & Building Automation
One of the latest trends in hotel technology is the Internet of Things application. The automated system of the apartment control can greatly boost the customer experience and leave an unforgettable impression about the hotel’s comfort level.
For this purpose, there have been so many modern gadgets invented so far. The voice assistants, automated lighting, and climate control is only the beginning.
The smart systems include the AI and ML latest technologies, analyzing big data and personal information about the guests’ preferences to make their stay as comfortable as possible. The automated hotel systems can greatly save energy consumption as well while turning off the devices that currently are not in use.
Emerging Trends in Hotel Technology for 2022
Emerging technologies like chatbots, cybersecurity, mobile check-in, and automated service by robots are also expected to be the hotel technology trends. They will secure the hotel management and service system and adapt it to the present state of affairs.
#13 Chatbots & Widgets
Guests no longer need to call on reception or find some stuff on their own, as they can easily use the chatbots for this purpose. The most common preferences and requests are easily processed with the chatbots and transferred to the hotel’s appropriate department.
Furthermore, these hotel trends can be automated to answer the FAQ like “the restaurants nearby” or “must-see places in this location,” etc, without any human involvement. That feature can be another advantage for boosting the customer experience.
#14 Cybersecurity
The hotel technology system now implies various processes and services to operate and control. Also, it is more reliant on data than ever before. So, if this system isn’t protected thoroughly, anyone can easily disable it and put the entire workflow in a mess.
Cybersecurity’s main targets include the system protecting from ransomware attacks, phishing attacks, distributed denial-of-service attacks, and human error within the company.
Additionally, the cybersecurity improvement will keep the customer data secure, ensure it is backed up and recoverable, so you no longer need to worry about the process vulnerability.
Hotel Innovation Ideas in Future
What’re the future predictions about hotel technology trends? Well, the entire system will be changed by automation technologies, including predictive smart systems, smart recognition, and more.
Let’s discover the main insights, which change the traditional hospitality industry services and managing.
#15 Predictive Smart System
Being aware of the major preferences of your guests, the predictive system will help to customize their place of stay: set up the alarm clock, send the notification about the breakfast or lunch service, remind them about the important tasks for today and track lots of important points of your visitor as well.
With the customized predictive system, guests no longer need to keep in mind complex tasks, reduce the stress level, and have a wonderful experience in the hotel. Additionally, it will help to convert customer retention, which means increasing the retention as well.
#16 Smart Recognition Technology
One of the latest trends in hotel technology is smart recognition technology, which has been already applied by huge industries while identifying the company workers.
In the hotel industry, you can try using this feature to replace the old-fashioned key or card system, so it becomes much easier for your guests to enter the apartment and manage any process there.
For the hotel staff, it becomes easier to manage the workflow process and track the work of every member as well as their daily attendance and punctuality in reporting for duty.
Why is Hotel Technology Becoming More Important?
Technology in hotels industry has already become an integral part of our society, so the various industries now must keep up with the pace.
By providing your client with exceptional service and unrivaled accommodations, furnished with all the latest technologies, you can significantly enlarge the number of guests who choose your hotel for living.
These hotel technology trends will help you optimize the worCoverkflow, improve the service level, and increase the clients’ retention and satisfaction level, and boost your business revenue.
As new hotel technology now greatly influences every field, reliable and up-to-date custom software development for travel and hospitality will help you survive the competition, attract the attention of new customers, improve performance, and succeed.
Talk to our hospitality experts today and start benefiting from the topic right away!
