At my boutique hotel high in the Swiss Alps, I returned from dinner, jet lagged and slightly drunk, to discover that a television inside the bathroom mirror had been turned on during the turndown service. I pressed all the buttons on the wall panel and then tried the switches on a control box next to the bed. Nothing.
Finding nothing that looked like a phone in the room (remember, I was already drunk), I fumbled for it in the lobby and returned with a receptionist to turn off my “smart glasses.” Twenty minutes later, in my pajamas, I encountered a new challenge: No switch I turned, no knob I turned would turn off the bathroom lights. I closed the door, put a face mask over my eyes and did.
These days, it’s all about doing when I’m greeted by super smart technology in hotel rooms. Voice-activated lights. Chatbot concierges. QR code on televisions. Mobile browser or app check-in. Texted the valet for my car. Don’t even get me started on motorized curtains — trying to see the ocean in Miami is as difficult as tackling Faulkner. It’s all annoying. And huge.
A recent one study from the industry magazine Hospitality Technology and the William F. Harrah College of Hospitality of the University of Nevada in Las Vegas, surveyed 100 hotel operators and noted industry-wide adoption of self-service features such as check-in kiosks and mobile room key is emerging.
Advocates say the guest benefits behind these investments are many, from personalizing the hotel experience and anticipating guest needs to reducing their “friction” points and liberating to the staff.
Neha Jaitpal, the global general manager for Honeywell Technologies‘ Building Technologies sector, overseeing “intuitive” solutions for more than 2 million hotel rooms worldwide, working for companies such as Accor and Fairmont Hotels & Resorts. “Imagine arriving in your hotel room after a long day of travel, and having it adjusted to your preferred settings – from temperature, lighting and even the position of the curtains,” he says. “Through automation, guest rooms can be personalized without the need for human interaction.”
“Smart hotel rooms are about empowerment,” says Robert Firpo-Cappiello, Hospitality Technologyeditor in chief. “Contactless interactions are a survival pivot for hotels during the pandemic. People are used to them now. There’s no going back.”
Yes, some (young) travelers I’ve talked to love it.
“At the Wynn Hotel, I enjoyed having Alexa close the blinds, turn off the lights and play music,” said Eddie Burns, 25, a drummer and touring musician. “I arrived very late and was very good at navigating everything from bed.”
Power in the palm of your hand?
A “guest technology provider” is driving guests to rely more on their cellphones everywhere.
Sonifi Solutions, Inc., which works with global brands like Hyatt and Marriott, generates unique QR codes for guests on their in-room televisions — to activate, you scan with the camera of your phone, as you would a web-based restaurant menu, which will take you to an app or website. Then, using their phones, guests control their TVs and lights, connect with the concierge (via chat), order in-room dining or make a spa appointment. The “personalization” piece of the platform extends to television, which based on visitor behavior and information obtained from a loyalty program, can be set to a yoga class for a fitness enthusiast or ESPN for a football fan.
“By streamlining mobile capabilities and letting phones be the point of fulfillment, it saves visitors time,” said Kara Heermans, a senior vice president of Sonifi.
Juliana Colangelo, 33, a vice president at wine and spirits marketing firm Colangelo & Partners, is a fan. (Note his age.)
“Smart TV QR codes get me what I need on my phone, from hotel gym classes to valet parking,” he says, adding that he wants rooms to have QR codes to -leave tips to the staff. “I don’t carry money anymore.”
A system that wastes ‘mental energy’
But please, can we go back? These “guest enhancements”, which are said to be in-demand by hoteliers and the tech companies that make them, I don’t ask for. In fact, they became barriers — barriers between me and sleep, me and the view I paid for, and me and the firm pillows (in Miami, that request was not an option on the tablet, and no one answer the phone at housekeeping). What was once straightforward is now idiotically complicated.
“I used to walk into a hotel room and relax. Now it’s a job to figure out how to use the lights and turn off the television, which, of course, is set at the hotel’s promotional station,” said Jill Weinberg, 67, a regional director at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, and like me, frustrated hotel guest. “Here’s a whole new system to waste mental energy every single time I travel.”
Another quibble with “personalized” hotel rooms? They are impersonal. “Frictionless” functionality brings no character or soul; people do. I like to be welcomed by the front desk, to discuss restaurant ideas with the concierge and chat with other staff, who more often than not have interesting local tips. I don’t care if a room “knows” I like Pilates and the thermostat is set to a nippy 69 degrees. And I’m not downloading an app just to request towels. Can’t ask housekeeping?
Other travelers like it too.
Stephanie Fishera luxury travel agency consultant Foreign Localsays many of his clients “demand hotels with personalized service that prioritizes guest relationships.”
“The best memories come from connecting with people, not devices,” he added.
Fortunately for me and many other guests, not all hotels embrace technology as the magic bullet of the future. Like the Graduate Hotelsa string of boutique hotels in college towns like Ann Arbor, Mich., and Nashville, are — aside from Wi-Fi and a few smart TVs — deliberately analog.
“We’re all about nostalgia, the notion of transporting guests to a simpler time, so we don’t buy into the distant stuff,” said Ben Weprin, founder of Graduate Hotels. “We want guests to immerse themselves in the college community and then return to their rooms to decompress. Our motto is: Out of the metaverse and into the universe.”
In Europe, the only technology offered in the rooms of Hotels in Rocco Forte is high-speed internet. That’s not to say the technology isn’t good: Doormen use earpieces to communicate a guest’s name to reception so they can receive a personal greeting as they check in, and back-end systems track preferences so that wait staff can “remember” what a guest said. morning coffee order. Cutting-edge, it is not. That’s the point.
And that’s fine with me. While the idea of human-centric lighting to match my circadian rhythm is a noble one, please, just give me a light switch. Maybe a good, old-fashioned landline with a person on the other end too. I’ll be fine. I will be a happier, more relaxed guest.
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