“ahead-of-the-curve thinking is connecting the hotel to the guest in new and innovative ways. Friday said he envisions a day in the near future where the guest walks into the lobby and geo-location allows the hotel to recognize his or her loyalty status, immediately send a welcome message, the option to check-in via mobile, instructions to connect to the property’s Wi-Fi network and an option to download the hotel’s app” Says Bob Friday CTO at Cisco Systems on hotelnewsnow.com.
This is some great thought leadership on how the guest will want to interact with the hotel now and in the future. Connecting with the guests in new ways, providing apps that actually provide functionality to a guest, rather than just being a brochure, is what guests will want. The ability to connect and have a conversation with hotel staff members through their smartphone, and at the same time be able to use their smartphone to call room service, order room service, check in, view their invoice, or simply see what is going on in or around the hotel today is what is will make hotel apps effective. Apps that provide actual functionality will help the guest, provide service, and for hotels if implemented well and targeted correctly can be a great additional revenue driver, especially when they are tightly integrated with the hotels property management systems.
Here is some more great thoughts on what travelers want from mobile apps from “Hoteliers strive to move ahead of mobile curve” posted on hotelnewsnow.com March 7th 2013
