Tech developments continue to snowball and it seems that technology is becoming more reliable, more affordable, and more efficient, faster than ever before. One industry making the most of the changing face of tech is the hospitality industry.
Here are 3 of the biggest tech trends in hospitality right now:
Alternative payments
Card or cash? The days when there was only a choice between the two are long gone. Hotels throughout the world are exploring the potential of allowing guests to pay for their stays using a variety of emerging alternative payment methods, which in many cases offer improvements in both customer convenience and security.
Whether that is through the use of cryptocurrency, brand-centric loyalty cards, or even specific blockchain technology, it’s clear that a number of different hospitality businesses are placing a great amount of focus on emergent alternative payment methods.
Mobile accessibility
More and more people are using their smartphones to take care of everything in their life, from doing their weekly shopping to purchasing their bus tickets. It’s no surprise, then, that the hospitality industry is doing everything it can to be more accessible to those using smart devices.
This isn’t just in terms of making it easy to reserve and pay for a room, but also making sure that the entire hotel’s website is viewable from a mobile device, and that guests have appropriate access in their rooms to various chargers for their devices.
Artificial intelligence
Many believe that the continued development of artificial intelligence could be the single biggest tech boon for the hospitality industry. When you consider the benefits, which range from lower instances of human error, improved savings on employment costs, and perceived gains in efficiency, it’s easy to see why.
It’s unlikely to be next year that you’ll be talking to a computer program at the check-in desk rather than an actual human being, but it’s clear to see how artificial intelligence could be deployed in the front lobby, behind the bar, in room service, and on throughout the hotel. The potential applications are hugely varied.
