A business traveler arrives at her hotel for a week-long conference. On check-in, the desk clerk offers her a tablet where she can key in her dietary restrictions so the restaurant can provide personalized meal options. She visits the concierge asking about a running route. He inputs her preferences, scenic with hills, into a program and sends a custom map to her phone. When she gets to her room, she tells the virtual assistant her lighting preferences, and asks that her sleep cycle be monitored so that air temperature and mattress firmness can be adjusted to ensure optimal rest.
This is the future of health and wellness travel. As the entire spectrum of hotel brands is already realizing, they need to offer some degree of a healthy experience to maintain a competitive advantage. According to the Global Wellness Institute, wellness tourism is a US$563 billion industry – and only 16% of wellness expenditures are spent by travelers whose sole trip’s purpose is health. The majority of expenditures come from those who seek to maintain wellness while taking any kind of trip – business, family vacation, or adventure travel.
Many hotels are capitalizing on this trend and leading the way by increasing their wellness offerings. Three MGM properties in Las Vegas feature Stay Well rooms that include air purification systems, aromatherapy, personalized circadian lighting, and a chlorine-reducing shower infuser. InterContinental Hotel Group launched a wellness hotel brand, Even Hotels, offering guests a complete health experience from arrival to check-out, including workout friendly bracelets that serve as room keys and a variety of healthy food dining options.
As the hospitality marketplace continues to combat disruption brought about by Airbnb as well as stave off competition from new entrants into the industry such as retail brands West Elm and Restoration Hardware, traditional hotel brands need to embrace new technologies to transform a guest’s wellness experience. But hotels have to be cautious about implementing new capabilities to align with the company’s brand. Whether it’s a niche wellness retreat brand in Santa Fe or a 5-star business hotel in Singapore, technology transformation requires the integration of branding, experience design and culture.
Here are three important considerations to ensure that going digital reinforces your brand promise.
1. See no tech, hear no tech.
People who desire a wellness experience do not want to feel inconvenienced or overwhelmed by technology intended to improve their stay. These tools should act seamlessly and not require guests to read a manual or be trained on a specific device.
According to Andrew Dent, PhD., executive vice president, chief material scientist, Sandow, a leader in developing applications for the hospitality industry, “One of the challenges hotels face is how to incorporate these information devices without being intrusive to the guest’s overall experience. These tools should be more than just a functioning device but rather an aesthetically pleasing lifestyle object that was planned as part of the design. Guests want to receive wellness benefits in an environment that promotes healthy living without being constantly made aware that certain technologies are being used to provide that experience.”
Hotels should strive to make the technology as invisible as possible. The devices should be well tested to ensure proper and non-disruptive functioning before they start serving guests. If the technology is being used in guest rooms, it should be part of the room design. At the end of a stay, the guest should be talking about the overall experience she received and not about specific gadgets.
2. What does your AI say about you?
With technologies such as Amazon’s Alexa or Google’s Assistant, hotels are increasingly offering connected room experiences. These devices will also be able to play a role in digitizing wellness offerings. But heavily branded artificial intelligence can take away from or run counter to the hotel’s own brand. If a hotel has the capabilities, it should consider developing its own AI assistant using its voice, gender, name and personality to reflect the brand. For example, is the brand a little edgy? It could benefit from an assistant that is helpful, but also sassy. If the hotel is located in Charleston, South Carolina, it should have its AI voice reflect a localized accent specific to that city.
Because of the cost and skill required, hotel branded AI may not be feasible. But there are customization options available on existing AI solutions that the hotel can alter to reflect more of its own brand, such as creating custom responses to questions about the hotel and the surrounding area.
3. Don’t forget the human touch.
Some hotels have begun replacing traditional guest services jobs with technologies. Caesars Entertainment installed self-check in kiosks at some of its casino hotels while Aloft offers a robot that delivers room service.
While technology can certainly help improve a guest’s overall wellness experience, hotels have to be careful and not lose opportunities for an impactful human touch. The personal interaction consumers receive at hotels from bell hops to the concierge is a fundamental part of most hotel brands. These guest services are one of the big differentiators between hotels and Airbnb – where many rental options are homes or entire apartments and the renter rarely interacts with the owner. Technology should enhance the personal, customer service a guest receives, not detract from it. For example, while a special digital wristband could keep track of calorie intake, the hotel could also offer a nutritionist on staff to consult with the guest on his meals during the stay.
The hotel industry is in a state of evolution where brands need to provide guests with the right accommodations at the right price, and also offer the right wellness experience. By implementing new technologies from AI to data analytics, hotels can provide a healthy stay customized to each consumer. The most important consideration is whatever new digital tools or offerings hotels decide to incorporate, they need to ensure they align with their overall brand promise.
Contributed by Stuart Sproule, president Americas, Landor, New York City