The hotel industry is facing many challenges and undergoing major transformation worldwide. The travellers are evolving with penetration of internet & mobile and the hotels are adapting fast to this change. They are embracing technology and experimenting with newer ideas to engage with guests. Starwood, with its multiple brands is expanding the network of hotels rapidly in Asia-Pacific to cater to the fast growing tourism market in the region.

We had a chance to have a quick chat with Stephen Ho, Starwood’s Asia Pacific President about his role and the group’s plans in APAC.

Stephen Ho, President, APAC, Starwood Hotels

Stephen heads over 300 hotels of the group across 26 countries while around 260 hotels are in pipeline in the region. He has been associated with this industry for over three decades.

Talking about the changes he has seen over this long period, he said, “In the early days, there was no technology in this industry. Our customers have changed a lot and we see large number of younger travellers now. The way they book hotels has also changed and the bookings now come from different sources. Earlier people either walked into a hotel or booked through conventional travel booking agents. Now with the internet penetration, markets like India and China have shifted towards mobile devices. The expectations of guests have gone up significantly and we have to constantly keep evolving and innovating to offer the best experience.”

Of course with all the new travel startups and major brands coming up, it has become tougher for hotel industry to find the best talent. According to Stephen, “In old days this industry used to attract some of the best talent but now you have to compete with multinational companies as well as local startups. So the playing field is very different now. There can be long hours at times, especially if you are on the service side. There are talented people with strong passion for this business and such people make great team for us”.

As WTTC predicted earlier, the Chinese market is one of the fastest growing travel market and that is why Starwood has a strong focus on the Chinese market in this region. The second largest is India and due to their strong growth, these two markets take a higher spot on Starwood’s list. Stephen shared that they have already opened around eight new properties in India this year and they plan to take the number upto 10 before the end of 2015. They are also introducing the St. Regis hotel in India and will be starting the millennial friendly W Hotel next year in Goa.

In Indian market, they have to strike the perfect balance between consistency across all the brand hotels while adding a hint of local connect to match the different expectations of customers.

China comes with its own set of challenges. While in most geographies, people book directly or through conventional OTAs, WeChat is a preferable choice in China. For payments, debit and credit cards take a back seat there as Alipay accounts for close to half of the online transactions. When asked to weigh mobile bookings against desktop bookings, Stephen said that individual travellers usually rely on mobile while people travelling in groups or for business prefer other booking platforms. That is why they have to focus on all the platforms.

Stephen thinks that hotel brands should diversify their marketing towards travellers from different regions and segments so that factors like economic slowdown in some regions can’t put a dent in their business.

Staying at the forefront on technology, Starwood will be introducing the keyless entry feature across all 5 Aloft properties in India very soon. The feature was introduced earlier this year at Aloft Bengaluru.

The conversation with Stephen took place during TravelRave. You can find our other stories from TravelRave here.

The post “We have to constantly keep evolving & innovating”- Stephen Ho, President, APAC, Starwood Hotels appeared first on TravHQ.

Robots are making buildings, driving cars, cleaning houses, mowing lawns, working in banks and now will also manage hotels. In Japan, Henn na hotel (which appropriately translates into ‘weird’) recently opened its doors for guests from across the world. It is a budget hotel but what sets it apart is the fact that it is largely managed by robots.

You are greeted by a female humanoid at the front desk (or a slightly scary dinosaur if you would prefer English over Japanese). The guests have to respond by pressing keys at the desk. This hotel runs as a part of an amusement park and according to the hotelier, this move isn’t just a gimmick but a serious attempt to employ technology to increase efficiency.

Set yourself to be greeted by a dinosaur at Henn na hotel in Japan

What is beyond the front desk?

At this robot hotel, guests don’t have to bother about carrying room keys, and no there aren’t any mobile based keyless systems in place like Starwood. A digital image of the guest is saved during check-in which is then used to unlock the room door using facial recognition technology. The luggage is carried to the room by robot porters and another tiny robot inside the room tells you the weather and sets your alarms. There are actually no human beings at this robot hotel and the only role that they have is to monitor the functioning of the system.

Are they the only one doing this?

Miles away in United States, Aloft, a Starwood brand, is experimenting with Botlr, a robot which looks straight out of Star Wars series and can potentially handle the job of routine room-service inside the hotel. Developed by Savioke, this little robot can hold small items like toiletries and newspapers and deliver them to the guest rooms. The hotel staff has to load the requested items and dial in the room number. With pre-programmed maps and motion sensing technologies similar to Microsoft Kinect, the Botlr can find its way around the hotel. You can watch the video to see Botlr in action.

In New York, YOTEL uses robots to take care of jobs like making coffee, delivering laundry, cleaning rooms and other similar jobs. It is not just the robots that hotels are experimenting with. New technologies like keyless entry, mobile check-ins, smart mirrors and many others are going to change the human dependent hotel industry. While the adoption is picking up gradually, we do expect premium hotel chains to integrate the technology driven experience as a customer retention strategy.

Should we expect a robot hotel in India?

Booking a hotel has always been a costly affair in Japan. A room night at a decent hotel in Japan can cost around $200-$220 and Henn na is offering rooms at $80 putting it in the budget segment. Of course, the initial investment would have been high for the hotel but in the near future, they should be able to make sizable savings on operating costs. The population of Japan is declining and there are a large number of old people. The immigration policies are also very strict. This leads to very high labour costs and thus employing technology will help cut costs. In India, the scenario is quite the opposite. The labour costs are so low that you cannot actually imagine a human staff being replaced by a programmed robot.

As is the case with new technologies, shifting towards the robot driven hotels will require heavy initial investments. The budget hotel market is still developing and most of the luxury hotel chains are bearing heavy losses. They might not like the idea of another huge investment when they are already grappling with these losses. If a hotel tries to do something similar to Henn na in India, it would be more about making the news and hogging the limelight instead of solving a real user problem.

In California, Botlr isn’t exactly replacing their hotel staff. It is acting more as an enabler to assist the staff in running errands that would otherwise keep them occupied. The delivery of small items will be faster and won’t require having staff members waiting as standby to fulfil the requests. The Savioke team has worked with elevator companies to develop a system that allows Botlr to operate lifts via Wi-Fi to achieve the same.

The Indian hospitality industry can perhaps pick up nuggets from what these hotels are doing to improve the experience of guests, but a hotel like Henn na is still a very far-fetched idea. Delivering late night snacks, assisting differently abled people, controlling room lights digitally and faster check in systems are some areas where they can make a head-start.

It is still too early to comment on how much of an impact the entry of robots in hotels can make, especially in India, but sooner or later, they are going to enter the hospitality industry. Who knows the battle between budget hotel chains might evolve to a different level alltogether 

What we have seen until now is just a start and the future enhancements to such systems could bring a lot more to the table. What’s your take on the robot hotels? Do you think we will see something similar in India soon?

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