Today, when one plans a holiday and chooses a hotel or a resort to stay in, there is a significant change in the priorities. The hotel is your home in a foreign land, where you can be at ease and have access to whatever and whenever you want: 24×7 access to food, fresh linen, spa, Internet, in-room entertainment, new services etc.
High speed wireless broadband connection is now on top of the list, with more people wanting to access the Internet using their smartphones and mobile devices, even when they池e holidaying.
Wi-Fi is changing businesses, from retail and hospitality to healthcare and education. Out of these, hospitality has been the most dynamic vertical and ever-evolving in terms of the technology implementation. Over the last couple of decades, technology and its innovative usage has been the main driver of growth for the hospitality industry. Additionally, new technologies and applications like the ability to exchange information seamlessly, business intelligence and analysis to understand what the customers need, real-time access to inventory and other such inputs have been a major booster for the hospitality business. All these have definitely enhanced customer experience, which in turn has led better customer loyalty. Besides enabling the sector to provide improved customer service, it also allows the industry to cut cost by lowering the dependency on manpower and improving the quality of service. Hence technologies have made a positive impact to every function of the hospitality business be it customer service, inventory management, employee and guest monitoring, point-of-sales management, and daily operational management.
Enhanced customer experience
With the trend of mobile internet, most of the hotels and resorts see a total change in customer experience with offering Internet connectivity and customer services optimisations through wireless infrastructure. The top driver for mobility and wireless investments in the hospitality sector is enhanced guest experience. This technology can be used to support customer-facing applications that improve and support customer experience. In fact, it is possible to lower down negative customer experience and provide services and amenities that are different from their competitors. Enabling the business as well as leisure customers to get easy internet access for surf, search and download goes a long way in enhancing their satisfaction.
Customer Experience Management is extremely crucial for the hospitality sector. For a hotel to understand what the customer requires, gathering and collating all the relevant customer data and analysing huge quantity of data are important. This not only helps them to know what their customers require but also provides them with features that they need. With Wi-Fi infrastructure, hotels can now streamline internal processes as well as provide an enhanced customer experience.
Improved workforce
Research has shown that hotels and restaurants that provide wireless connectivity not only increase the customer satisfaction and loyalty but also increase the productivity of their employees. Further building on this, making the staff equipped with handheld /Wi-Fi貌nabled/wireless devices brings out an efficient customer service to the guest at the point of activity.
Technology has enabled the hospitality industry to build intelligent systems that enable them to make reservations as well get instant guest feedback. Additionally, for their internal management too, the sector is using technology for payroll and inventory for saving money and maximizing profits.
The hospitality industry is highly competitive. Hence, it is imperative for them to use technology and solutions that are customised for their usage as well customersbenefits. If the sector is to ensure and secure growth, it is highly crucial for the hospitality players to align their strategic business and IT priorities.
Next-gen technologies
Modern hotels not only need diversified and personal experience to increase customer loyalty, but also need technological measures to improve operational efficiency, in order to win out from the increasing competition. In a cut-throat competitive ecosystem, the organisation with the most sensible technological deployment leads the way.
That is not to say that the hospitality sector should blindly adopt technology on the basis of the next best available option. Like other businesses, it is crucial to understand the technology needs of the business, and thus plan the products and solutions to be adopted. Networking specifically plays a crucial role in the added profitability of the business.
From a hotel room, to an entire hotel up to a chain of hotels consistency is required in terms of connectivity for both internal operational purposes like management, security and wireless connectivity as well as for their customers, in order to be able to provide the best networking and communication facilities for a comfortable and convenient service experience. Customers who use a plethora of devices enabled with Wi-Fi are looking to be plugged into their remote universe at all times.
Further, the usage is no longer restricted to a business traveller interested in checking his e-mail updates. It extends to vast multimedia usage, browsing and social networking activities all of which result in extensive data consumption. It is to cater to this demand that major hospitality institutions are adopting the latest network technologies to deliver quality Wi-Fi service that is reliable and consistent.
High speed internet connectivity is one of the founding components of an efficient IT infrastructure. The concept of smart hotels is emerging intriguing those who seek the best in terms of service. An increasing number of hotels small, medium or large are realizing the benefits that result from embracing the best in Wi-Fi services for guests. Directly, through greater customer satisfaction, and indirectly through reduced operational expenditure and capital expenditure which are results of IT vendors providing customised solutions, tailor made for the hospitality industry itself. When this service effect is magnified, it results directly in the increase in the business generated for an organisation.
Vikram Saluja is Head – Enterprise Networking Solutions, Huawei