Three Trends in the Hotel Industry for 2023: Automation, Energy & Data

In 2023, hotels will continuously adapt to travelers' changing needs and daily operational challenges and likely come across these three key trends and developments.

As the hospitality industry continues to adapt to travelers' changing needs and to improve daily operations, hotel technology plays a crucial role in shaping the industry's future. This post explores three top trends and developments for 2023: automation to help address labor shortages, guest engagement to save energy, and data utilization to elevate the guest experience.

Trend 1: Automating processes to help address labor shortages

Automating processes reduces the time and effort needed for specific tasks, such as checking guests in and out, taking room service orders, and managing inventory. It helps create a more efficient and productive work environment which is especially appealing to younger employees looking for dynamic, forward-thinking companies.

In the guest-centric hotel industry, you often still hear concerns that automation substitutes human interaction, leading some hoteliers to believe that technology and hospitality are incompatible. However, optimizing repetitive and straightforward processes helps reduce staff workload, allowing them to focus on more high-value tasks that require a human touch.

In addition, automation can improve the accuracy and consistency of various tasks, enhancing the overall guest experience. For example, automated systems can ensure that room service or amenities orders are placed correctly and that guests receive the correct items conveniently and promptly.

How SuitePad helps with automation

The SuitePad in-room tablet software integrates seamlessly with multiple hotel property management systems (PMS) and other hotel tech solutions, eliminating the need to enter data manually into various programs.

For instance, when a guest orders room service using the in-room tablet, the request can automatically be sent to designated staff members through a hotel operations platform. This integration ensures guest satisfaction by providing fast service and minimizing the risk of errors due to traceability.

Trend 2: Working with hotel guests to save energy and reduce costs

In 2023, hotels will continue to face the challenge of reducing energy consumption and costs without sacrificing the guest experience. While some practical methods for minimizing energy usage in hotels involve upfront investment, there are also easy-to-implement and cost-effective options building on the cooperation of a hotel and its guests.

For example, consider the cost and impact of room cleaning. Housekeeping is often one of a hotel's most expensive operational areas, and prices will likely continue to increase. However, hotels can work with their guests by offering to skip daily cleaning services via front-desk communication, room signage, or digital means such as in-room tablets.

Offering guests the opportunity to forgo daily cleaning services is a simple and effective way for hotels to achieve several benefits:

1. Reduced costs: By allowing guests to opt out of daily room cleaning, hotels reduce the amount of labor, equipment, and supplies required for housekeeping.
   
   
2. Increased efficiency: By reducing the time and labor required to clean rooms, housekeeping efficiency increases. In addition, staff can focus on cleaning areas that need more frequent attention, such as common areas.
   
   
3. Environmental benefits: By decreasing the frequency of room cleaning, hotels reduce their ecological impact by using less water, energy, and cleaning chemicals. Also, it lowers the frequency with which linens and other materials need replacing.
   
   
4. Increased guest convenience: Guests more and more value control over their personal space and customization of the stay to fit their needs and preferences. Offering this will reflect positively on feedback, ratings, and loyalty.

How SuitePad’s Green Option encourages guests to skip room cleaning

The SuitePad in-room tablet has an option that offers guests to skip room cleaning on the days of their choice, provided they are staying for more than one night. To do so, they will receive a pop-up notification or have access to a form that asks them if they would like their room cleaned the following day.

Think of it as a digital "do not disturb" door hanger, without the need for printed collateral and with the added benefit of knowing well in advance that a room won't need cleaning.

👉  White Paper: Enabling Guests to Forgo Room Cleaning

Trend 3: Utilizing guest data to improve their overall experience

Understanding guests is invaluable for improving their experience and maximizing your profitability. Hotels can collect data from a range of sources to gain a comprehensive understanding of their guests:

1. Booking and reservation systems: Hotels can gather information about guests, such as their contact details, preferences, and history, from their booking and reservation systems.
   
   
2. In-room tablets: Guest tablets in the hotel room are equipped with software that analyzes usage behavior and order preferences, providing hotels with valuable data about what guests do while in their rooms, typically a place with little to no interaction.
   
   
3. Customer feedback: Hotels can collect guest data through customer feedback mechanisms, such as surveys and reviews. It provides valuable insights into the guest experience and areas for improvement.
   
   
4. On-property interactions: Hotels can also collect data through interactions with guests on the property, such as through conversations with hotel staff.

It is not only essential to collect, but also to properly analyze and leverage data to personalize the guest experience, improve hotel operations, and make informed decisions about business strategy. For example, hoteliers can use it to identify popular amenities and services, optimize room rates and availability, and identify opportunities for upselling and cross-selling. In conclusion, it will give guests a more convenient and personalized experience and increase loyalty.

How SuitePad helps hotels analyze their guests’ data

The SuitePad software's dashboard gives hoteliers an instant overview of usage and orders on in-room tablets.

The layout is intuitive and makes it easy to switch between individual data points like page views, session duration, and generated revenue.

Visual graphs provide an overview of the data over time, including daily and hourly averages to answer crucial questions such as "On which day of the week is SuitePad used the most?", "What time of day do my guests order the most?" and many more.

The Bottom Line

So there you have it. While many more will influence the hotel industry in 2023, we encourage you to look at three trends in particular:

1. Automation helps to streamline processes and enhance the guest experience by ensuring that orders are placed accurately and promptly.
2. Hotel guests can be involved in energy-saving efforts by opting out of daily room cleaning services, which can reduce costs, increase efficiency, and minimize the environmental impact.
3. Data utilization helps hotels to understand and meet the needs of their guests and can be used to improve the guest experience through targeted marketing and personalized recommendations.

Are you looking to invest in hotel tech in 2023?

The exhaustive guide by the independent review platform Hotel Tech Report gives hoteliers the information they need to make an educated decision and finds the perfect provider for their needs. Inside, it addresses topics and questions around the benefits and business value of guest room tablets, key features to look for, pointers from industry experts, questions savvy buyers should ask vendors, and pricing and implementation guidance.

👉  Download the Hotel Tech Report’s 2023 Guest Room Tablets Buyer's Guide

📸 Copyright: SuitePad
_{Published on December 21, 2022}