Both the hospitality industry and hospitality management have gone through considerable changes deriving from new consumer behaviors and socioeconomic scenarios.
Given new trends in leisure, tourism and accommodation – abroad or in other national cities –, technology has pioneered most changes, leading to the surge of the hotels of the future.
These advances represent opportunities, even though they may appear to be threats because of how disruptive they are and the way that they have burst onto different personal and professional aspects.
VUCA environments and the need of every sector for competing globally and for being more flexible and adaptive, clearly show the potential of new technologies to offer better services and optimize every resource and process carried out in the Hospitality industry.
Technology, customization and self-management are the key factors set out by the Technological Hotel Institute in Spain for every type of business to move towards the hotel of the future.
Televes strongly believes in these keys. Therefore, the company’s research and innovation projects aimed at the creation of intelligent hotels are pursuing these objectives and focusing on the development of telecommunication solutions so they can be feasible and effective.
IoT solutions are the best choice for the hotel industry, as they offer further connectivity methods and simplify data-flux generation and sharing. Not only is IoT the foundation of the development of Smart Cities through the conception of intelligent buildings, but also of hotels willing to develop intelligent rooms.
IoT allows for the development of comprehensive projects that not only affect the user experience -and the different possibilities of customization, connectivity and leisure during their stay, but also they are essential for a hotel to digitize its management and make it more efficient.
Commitment to management digitalization is essential for an establishment to be considered as an intelligent hotel. The goal is to achieve a higher competitive level thanks to cost optimization and efficiency improvements brought about by comprehensive communication systems such as FTTR (Fiber to the Room) networks.
Maintenance and cost control of every supply and facility required for a hotel to work successfully is always a priority among all the aspects related to management.
Why is that? On one hand, because an unforeseen breakdown would not only cause inconvenience to guests, but it would also mean a loss of income, as the hotel would have to bear the necessary costs to have it fixed. IoT systems in hotels offer predictive maintenance. Thanks to this technology, the staff can detect any issue and prevent it from becoming a malfunction or a serious incident.
Using cameras, sensors or real-time data processing makes it possible to perform these monitoring tasks, apart from the necessary protection and safety actions.
On the other hand, supply management can be also optimized at intelligent hotels while energy efficiency of the facilities is being enhanced.
Intelligent thermostats and sensors are the most optimal devices so that a hotel can improve its energy efficiency and avoid changes to be applied for subjective reasons.
Having devices able to control temperature, humidity or even lighting – allowing to regulate it depending on guest presence or detecting an excessive usage associated to an issue or breakdown – is vital for this type of services.
On average, one hotel guest carries with them between two or more digital devices giving them access to information and services.
In order for a customer to have a good experience and exceed their expectations, hotels must be a place where networks and the Internet work without any constraints, and have the required speed and quality for satisfactory browsing.
Connectivity is also a key element so users can enjoy the advantages of IoT in hotels and so that cutting-edge systems can work at full performance. It is also vital for the implementation of voice-activated control systems.
Televes’ solutions such as Arantia TV allow for guests to access audiovisual contents so they can feel like home.
These customization services mainly rely on connectivity and lead to the development of new options so hotel services can be adapted to every guest’s stay. Virtual check-in, room access by means of a virtual key or face recognition systems have become already a reality. It must be also noted that these services are now frequently requested by digital-native guests.
It is clear that this ability of intelligent hotels to adapt provides them with a lot of information about their guests. For this reason, there is still plenty of room for improvement and customization.
Televes’ technological solutions are facilitators for any hotel to become an intelligent hotel and offer enhanced services to guests that prioritize experience and service efficiency.