It is safe to say that the success of a hotel and the technology it employs go hand-in-hand, and hence technology becomes vital to differentiate themselves from competitors and engage with guests. Remaining ahead of the curve not only increases profits, but also drives more exposure, solidifies loyalty and brings in more guests.

According to a Walker study, by the year 2020 customer experience will overtake price and product as the key brand differentiator. Studies validate that dynamic shifts in the hotel industry are taking place in 2018 – with dominance of digital and mobile.

Today, hotels can monitor guests around their properties using installed apps tied to key cards. They can log every guest request through AI-driven concierges, which means the guest doesn’t need to come to the front desk or even call them. Devices using Internet of Things (IoT) can help the hotel know what temperature the guest likes their room to be at, when water bottles need to be replaced, and more. Armed with this information, hotels can then personalise at an individual level for each guest, making recommendations for add-ons, for instance.

Here are the top technologies that any hotel must have in order to determine if they will manage to win the hospitality race this year –

#1. Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality – With analysts predicting that AR and VR will be a $150 billion industry by 2020, it offers enormous benefits for brands savvy enough to seize the opportunity. Hotels who use VR will be able to determine guests’ tastes when they check in, monitor their movements inside the hotel, and even attempt to get them to pay for additional products. The gadgets associated with the technology, such as mounted headsets or connected glasses, are also a key part of the tourist experience, especially for the more tech-savvy, millennial generation of travellers.

For instance, Shangri-La Hotels has a website dedicated to virtual reality wherein people can explore the chain’s hotels and destinations around the world with their immersive 360-degree videos. They can take virtual tours of amazing destinations and iconic hotels – all from the comfort of home.

#2. Self-Service – According to a report by Gartner, by 2020 a customer will manage 85% of the relationship with an enterprise without interacting with a human. So, whether a hotel is a high-end boutique or a budget-friendly one, self-service technology, especially via mobiles, is increasingly impacting the hotel experience, right from check in to check out. If done correctly, the service allows hotels to operate much more efficiently, while maintaining comfort for guests.

Marriott recently rolled out its mobile check-in feature across the Asia Pacific region, that enables members who have downloaded the Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) mobile app to book their stays directly with SPG on its website or in the app.

Image source: Marriott

#3. Paperless transactions – More and more hotels are starting to realize the advantages of paperless transactions, not only for expenses, but also for the environment. From employee management to receipts, surveys, loyalty programs, and managing documents – going digital makes it more efficient for the hotels to run their business. By having a modern Property Management System designed, with additional features such as electronic signature for guests, the entire process becomes more seamless and mobile.

Silverbytes System, a specialist in hotel management software, is already helping hotels go green by enabling them to offer express check-in online or via mobile, and express check-out via iPad and other tablet devices.

#4. Internet of Things – Smart hotels are enabling hoteliers to offer better service and run the facility on their back-end more efficiently, all this thanks to IoT, the global market of which is expected to reach $7.1 trillion in the years to come. The benefits of IoT lies way beyond regular servicing of tech-savvy guests with smart room technologies; it is also helping hotels manage electricity and power consumption by controlling usage of lights, and other systems that automatically switch off when guests leave rooms.

Last year, Hilton unveiled its ‘Connected Room’, a first-of-its-kind, high-tech guest room that enables guests to personalize and control every aspect of their stay from one central point – their mobile device. Guests who stay at Connected Room-enabled properties will be able to use the Hilton Honors app to manage most things they would traditionally do manually in a room, like controlling the temperature or window coverings.

Image source: nyc.epeak.in

#5. Strong cybersecurity – With the rise of IoT, and the increased usage of online tools, cyber-attacks have become more frequent and prevalent. The hotel industry is particularly vulnerable due to the amount of personal data available with them. It will be imperative for hotels to upgrade their data protection processes, or face the risk of significant losses, both in terms of data and revenue. From investing in cybersecurity technology and having a cloud-based PMS to providing the staff with appropriate training programs, hotels will have to up the ante when it comes to protection.

A couple of days back, Rosewood Hotel Group announced an issue affecting certain Rosewood guest reservation information that was maintained on the systems of Sabre Hospitality Solutions, a service provider used by Rosewood and other major hotel brands to process guests’ hotel reservations. This further highlights the need to put the spotlight on cybersecurity.

#6. Frictionless experiences – The key to success for any hotel is removing each and every pain point for a frictionless guest experience. Mobile keyless door is one of those technologies that are already in use and are generating immense positive feedback from guests. The security, convenience, and efficiency it offers helps guests manage their stay on their mobile devices, making it easier for hotels to do away with unreliable, easily-duplicated plastic key cards.

Hilton’s guests in the UK, for instance, are now able to use their phone as a key to enter their rooms, as part of an international roll out of the technology by the hotel. Its competitors such as Marriott, Hyatt and InterContinental Hotels Group are also experimenting with similar systems.

Image source: ExtremeTech

All these technologies combined will help hotels react smarter and faster, fixing an issue before it escalates into a complaint, mastering guest communications and services, and finally, pushing up the all-important review scores. This will give the hotel of the future an edge in customer satisfaction and also drive increased revenues from altogether new streams.

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Proxce, Inc.; an identity management provider, today furthered in the hospitality space by partnering with Jumeirah group. They announced the adoption of their Proximity Identity Manager (PIM) to the hotelier that boasts of the luxury it caters to in primarily the Middle East.

Jumeirah group is a global luxury hotel company and a member of Dubai Holding operating a world-class portfolio of hotels and resorts including the flagship Burj Al Arab Jumeirah. Jumeirah Hotels & Resorts manages properties in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, UAE, and Kuwait in the Middle East; Baku, Bodrum, Frankfurt, Istanbul, London and Mallorca (Spain) in Europe; the Maldives and Shanghai in Asia.

Thanks to Proxce’s innovation, the guests will be able to upload profile information, associate existing profiles, experience real-time location based interaction with the hotel and Jumeirah can create contextual experiences based on each guest’s likes and preferences.

The enterprise has developed an identity management technology that uses low energy Bluetooth-based iBeacons to alert front desk staff of guests’ imminent arrival, facilitating automatic check-in and avoiding long waiting times at reception. Hotels can use this technology to allow guests to bypass reception and unlock their hotel rooms with the help of their smartphones. This inventive solution won the inaugural ‘Next Big Thing Travel & Hospitality Technology Award’ and the ‘Most Innovative Startup Award’ at the Travel Innovation Summit at this year’s Phocuswright Conference.

Proxce has taken its business ahead in the past by partnering with Representasia, a Thailand-based hotel, in the South East terrain. Company’s goal is primarily re-defining the hotel check in experience. This move is an advancement in acquiring a great consumer base. Jumeirah’s name in the roster definitely adds some promising business for Proxce in the coming times.

The CEO shares;

“We are excited to partner with Jumeirah to provide a state-of-the-art identity management and mobile check-in experience. The Jumeirah group has always been at the forefront of innovation especially when it comes to providing exceptional guest experience and we are proud to be a part of that.”

Earlier we had to chance to learn more about Proxce from Madhu, founder & CEO of Proxce. You can read the interview here.

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Representasia, the Thailand-based hotel and travel technology company founded by Tim Russell and Alan Lammin in this year, has formed a new partnership with Proxce to deliver mobile check-in and keyless entry solutions to hotels in Southeast Asia.

(Image: Tourists at the reception by Tourange.us/ CC BY 4.0)

Proxce has developed identity management technology that uses low energy Bluetooth based iBeacons to alert front desk staff of guests’ imminent arrival, facilitating automatic check-in and avoiding long waiting times at reception. Hotels can use this technology to allow guests to bypass reception and unlock their hotel rooms with the help of their smartphones,

After a long journey, most of the travellers do not wish to wait in a line for receiving the room keys from the hotel reception. They just want to get to their rooms and relax. Addressing this common concern among travellers, Proxce has developed this innovative solution. This inventive solution won the inaugural ‘Next Big Thing Travel & Hospitality Technology Award’ and the ‘Most Innovative Startup Award’ at the Travel Innovation Summit at this year’s Phocuswright Conference.

Tim Russell of Representasia shared his thoughts on this interesting development:

“We’re thrilled to be adding this innovative product to our hotel solutions portfolio. Research suggests that more and more business travellers now expect to be able to check in to hotels remotely, and it is only a matter of time before hotels in Southeast Asia follow this trend. We’re proud to be ahead of the curve in bringing this technology to the region.”

Proxce’s CEO, Madhu Madhusudhanan, stated that his company’s goal is to “fundamentally re-define the hotel check-in experience”. He further added:

“Partnering with Representasia allows us to cater to the booming market in Asia. Hotels in Asia are demanding the latest technology to provide a better guest experience. Representasia brings years of valuable local sales experience, allowing Proxce to focus on our product.”

You can watch this interesting video by Proxce to understand the system better

Proxce joins a rapidly growing portfolio of hospitality technology solutions provided by Representasia including web booking engine, channel management, social WiFi, loyalty solutions and GDS connectivity. Representasia already specialises in technology solutions for hotels and resorts. This unique offering by Proxce will further enhance its value for the hotel industry.

Earlier we had to chance to learn more about Proxce from Madhu, founder & CEO of Proxce. You can read the interview here.

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Many industry experts have predicted that Internet of Things will define the travel industry in future. Adding technology to improve the user experience will help hotels set themselves apart and with the increasing number of tech savvy travellers, the trend will catch up. We came across a technology startup Proxce that has built Proximity Identity Manager to create a secure and seamless hotel check-in experience. We had a conversation with Madhu Madhusudhanan, Founder & CEO of Proxce and talked about the product and new trends coming up in the hospitality industry.

Madhu Madhusudhanan, Founder & CEO, Proxce

Proxce offers solutions for hospitality industry, especially hotels to offer seamless check-in and keyless room entry. Before Proxce, Madhu was working with IBM and sometime last year jumped into Proxce after his MBA. Since then he has been working to build and fine tune the product Here is an excerpt from the conversation:

How old is the company? What was the motivation behind starting it?

The company started in August 2014 last-year. Proxce was born out of the problems I faced as a business traveller myself. When I used to go to a hotel, they already had my payment and room preferences, but still I had to wait in line, show my ID and collect the keys. I realised that Identity is the key here and if we can associate the identity with the individual seamlessly, we can make the whole process frictionless.

We took a fair bit of time to build the product and worked on it till early this year. We came out of semi-stealth mode and got immediate interest from few hoteliers. We piloted it with few hotels and they all liked it. Few months ago we started talking to large hotel chains and we are in process of deploying with few of them right now.

How big is your team? Are all of them from US only?

We are about 10 people and almost all of the team is based out of California in U.S. with the exception of 1 developer who is in India.

Are you supported by any investors? How do you plan to scale up further?

We were trying to raise an early stage fund few months back and we decided to close that fund. We are probably 10 months away from Series A funding. In 10 months, we should have good data points after working with large customers. We will also have usage data and revenue numbers by then. Our product is a license based product where we’re giving APIs and SDKs to existing apps of hotels where they can use features like mobile check-in and keyless entry.

What kind of hotels are you working with? Are you looking at hotel chains or individual properties?

We started off with boutique hotels. We offer the basic services for their app at a small fee. Our core product caters to medium to large hotel chains who have an app but don’t have a strong developer team to incorporate advanced features. We are talking to customers all over world and the nature of our implementation cycle involves deploying the product along with few months of services where we integrate all the features into their systems.

What are the challenges you face with integration into existing app?

Our SDK is built to be seamlessly integrated into the existing app so there aren’t any major challenges. Few of the challenges are that some hotels use legacy system at the backend so that requires some work, where, depending on the system, we have to customise few things to make it work. We don’t really provide technology for keyless locks. For that we work with existing system providers. Their system works seamlessly with ours but hotels might have to change locks to use them.

What features do most hotels look for? Mobile check-in coupled with keyless systems or just check-in feature?

For smaller hotels we suggest check-ins and key pickup. Smaller hotels are little wary to go keyless in the beginning. For them, we have product that costs almost nothing and then they can look at the experience how guests are adapting. Our technology can tell them who is at the front desk. So if you walk up to the front desk, they can greet you with your name and hand over your keys without asking for details. That is an additional element of customer service.

Larger hotels are more open to the full system. In some cases we suggest them to have the new locks for some of the rooms and assign those rooms to people who come with keyless entry enabled mobile phones. This way they don’t have to invest much into the locks and they can consider adding more such locks at a later stage according to the response.

What is the cost of replacing a lock for the hotel?

Actually hotels don’t pay us the costs but they deal directly with provider. Some providers add additional chip to the lock which makes it low cost solution. In some cases there are complicated systems that require replacing the full lock.

What fraction of the hotels have got good apps?

There are just a handful of hotels that have apps that offer some really great value. There are some which offer static content which is easily available outside and thus very few people bother to use the app. Barring few large hotel chains, many of them are yet to catch up on app but the good thing is that almost every hotel we talk to has plans regarding a mobile app.

What is your pricing structure?

We have flat pricing for starter kit. To some we offer the system for free but they have to use Proxce app to check in. But the white label solution costs USD 5,000 and about USD 150 as a support fee. For a starter kit, we offer around 3 beacons that they can strategically place around the property and an iPad to control the systems.

If the hotel is looking for the complete system, costs will depend on the architecture and requirements of the hotel.

And how are hotels adapting to the new technologies?

We like to tell hotels to gradually open it up as it takes time for the front desk staff to adapt to this different means of check in. To do so, we send out contextual mails inviting users to try it out. We usually start with around 50-100 users per month and gradually increase to a number, hotels are comfortable with.

We came across Roomkey earlier and they seem to be doing something similar? How do you differentiate? What is your take on the competition?

We are an identity management company. Typically the app and keyless entry part is just a feature of what we are doing. Our focus will be security and associating ID with an individual and then adding value. There are some players in the industry that are working on similar technologies but we plan to extend this beyond hospitality. There are bars and restaurants where this can be used. We also provide ID relationship management where we can securely tell, when you enter a hotel, what sort of relationship you have with that location and offer access to certain things, like it will be different for employee and guest.

Our core differentiator I would say is that with the SDK based systems that we are deploying, none of the data is stored on our systems. The user profiles stay with the hotel or any other organisation that is using the system which gives them an assurance of security. This is crucial in case of high end hotels because of the kind of guests they welcome.

Apart from expanding in different verticals, what are your future plans?

Our goal is to offer completely SDK and API based solutions, more like VISA or Master Card that facilitate the transactions. At some point we want to get out of the frontend business and want our technology to be embedded within existing apps and systems. Brands can use our app and can offer keyless systems to their customers without having those customers ported into our system. Suppose IBM has partnered with restaurants to provide free lunch to their employees, they can associate the IDs with the system to take care of the job.

Have you been in talks with any Indian hotel brands? What scope do you see for this technology in Indian market?

We are really excited about Indian market because of increasing number of tech savvy users. The industry is booming there and people have started to travel more. With more people travelling for leisure there is a good scope to make the experience smooth. Hotels are upgrading their infrastructure to add value which is good for us. We will see some good progress in adoption and usage number will be high. The market is biased towards Android but still the number of mobile users is very high. People are eventually getting used to see applications of IoT and the addition of our technologies shouldn’t come as a surprise to them.

Apart from the beacon technologies, there are companies like Savioke that are working on robots for hotels. What other technology trends do you see coming in the hotel industry?

Savioke is a very good example of robots being used for delivery system. An area where we will see good progress beyond keyless will be VR. Giving an experience of seeing the actual hotel through VR from your own couch can change the experience as the user will be able to make a better decision. That is definitely going to pick up.

Wearables will also catch up in future. We are yet to see very useful applications of wearables apart from keyless entry. In future we will be able to use them to pay for services, staff can use to track you, let your children have bands to allow them access to hotel features and keep track of them. These are the areas we will see grow in future and will help hotels create good experiene. Airbnbs are catching up well and hotels can set themselves apart by adding technology and focusing on providing good experience. Hotels might think that they do not need it today but it will be required in coming years.

Any message for the TravHQ community?

The biggest message I would give them is that the traveller is changing. Modern travellers behave differently before actually coming to hotel. They have moved from taxis to Uber, they are skipping lines at airport but the final piece of puzzle is hotel where they are following age old pattern. While there are good number of travellers that prefer the old methods, there is an increasing number of users who prefer using technology to simplify things. This is the right time for hoteliers to consider adding new technologies to their hotel.

Do tell us what you think of the new technologies coming up in the hotel industry. If you are interested in exploring the options for your hotel, you can read more about Proxce on their website here.

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As travellers turn tech savvy and become increasingly dependent on mobile, hotels are embracing mobile and building features around it. Apart from improving the mobile booking experience, luxury hotels like Marriott allow guests to place service requests or schedule pickup using the mobile app. Starwood has introduced keyless entry using smartphones so that guests can go straight to their room and unlock using their mobile. Hilton is also working on something similar. ITC is working on a mobile app to add features like mobile check-in and mobile service request.

While the hotel industry’s giants are trying to build around the needs of a modern connected travellers, boutique hotels often find it hard to adapt to the change. Having keyless entry or a good mobile app has got heavy costs associated with it that are hard to justify against the potential ROI for such hotels. RoomKey, (not to be confused with hotel search engine by the same name) enters the picture with a tangible solution. It offers services like mobile check-in and keyless entry for partner hotels, allowing them to offer the same features as the major brands.

The RoomKey app allows users to book with their partner hotels and also use the in app chat feature to talk to a hotel representative. Guests can book on mobile, select their room, do advance check-in, bypass the front desk and head straight to the room which they can unlock using their phone. They can also check out and receive the invoice for stay on mobile. At this point the app is available for iOS only and an Android version is in the pipeline. RoomKey charges hotels $800 / month for the features with an additional cost per room if the hotel wants to install RoomKey’s Bluetooth lock hardware.

RoomKey Technologies recently announced a $1M seed round from 500 Startups and others.

Talking about this recent funding, Vikas Bhakta, Co-founder & CEO of RoomKey Technologies, Inc., said, “We are grateful to announce this funding, which will allow us to provide RoomKey to hundreds of hotels in our pipeline, starting with hotel partners in the San Francisco Bay Area. Today, millennial and mobile travelers prefer hotels that offer premier digital services, including mobile apps. However, most hotels lack the resources or internal IT expertise to build their own mobile solutions. RoomKey provides hotels with a complete mobile app solution to attract tech-savvy travelers, without the burden of developing and maintaining their own individual app.”

Startups like RoomKey help the industry by catalysing the adoption of technology. A large number of hotels which might not have even considered keyless entry or mobile check-in will get the push with RoomKey. Do you think we will see these hotel technologies trickle down from luxury hotels in India anytime soon?

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