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The Great Tech Revolution Finally technological knowhow has caught up with industry ambition. Get set for true mass customization. Tuesday, July 03, 2012 Glenn Haussman

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The Great Tech Revolution is in full swing. Yesterday’s promises are finally becoming today’s reality as leaps in computer power and know-how are merging to create some really amazing guest focused tech and back of house programs.

Truth is for the first time since I was fortunate enough to stumble into the lodging business 15 years ago (is that possible?) all those promised gewgaws are actually coming to fruition. It’s much better than when it used to be all unintended lip service about the products and services that were coming down the pike. In those days the rhetoric was grand but advances were spurious at best.

Now that’s all changed. Techno-barriers have been smashed as knowhow and affordable computing power is finally up to snuff with imagination and creativity. And the results in the hotel space are absolutely wondrous. Guests are finally getting more control of their hotel stay and hoteliers are finally able to start mastering the art of mass customization and deliver wholly unique experiences. Pretty cool stuff.

HITEC last week was the proving ground for the yin and yang of back of house and front of house technologies working seamlessly together to finally create an amazing guest experience. And the next few years should prove to see a lot of fun technology that will filter down from the luxury segment to other categories as well.

In the guestroom myriad companies are rolling out tools to give the guest more control over their in room experience. Just a couple of years back the idea of a guest controlling lighting, shades, the television, clocks, temperature, order room service and more was a pipedream. Now this technology is almost guaranteed to become the de facto standard in the next few years. In hotels where I have had the chance to use it I’ve loved it.

Additionally, some companies are heightening elements of guest control to entertainment as well. Not only can you control a rented film on the in-room TV you can pause it and watch the remainder on a personal device like an iPad by the pool.

Speaking of mobility, your personal smart phone is getting even smarter. Now guests can control the television, for example, by turning their phone into a remote control. Or use it as a room key, or book the nearest hotel room to their location at a click of a button.

Television technology is getting better too. For example, Samsung LYNK allows customers to bring content with them and view it one the screen. Wirelessly. And that’s a good thing too. While I am a huge fan of the idea of media hubs in the room that allow you to connect your laptop to the TV screen, for example, this hasn’t always been the easiest thing to do.  That’s because I never have the right wires with me and hotels are constantly clueless when I ask them to provide them. And even if they hotel provides them then they are so short I have to sit six inches from the TV to gain control. Now that companies are doing this wirelessly expect more folks to start enjoying the technology.

I love seeing the back of house and front unify for a better guest experience and new technologies will deliver unique guest experiences. For example, if a hotel loyalty program is aware I love sake – truthfully who doesn’t know I love sake? – than the hotel’s decision makers can start to deliver real time offers based on sake passion. Not only that but they can also utilize past spending habits and give me an offer that includes not just any sake but my favorite sake! How cool is that? Same goes for anything on the hotel property such as a resort offering an array of amenities that can offer me a chance for parasailing or because I am a frequent customer maybe they can hold a lounge chair for me because they know I am coming.

So there is lots of cool stuff coming that is the real deal.

Of course there is one area that still needs vast improvement and that is internet bandwidth. The hotel industry must deal with how to deliver more bandwidth to hotels. But it’s a difficult problem. The industry must find a way to charge guests more for bandwidth but should also expect to give more. It’s not just mom and/ or dad toting a laptop. Everyone has a device that connects to the internet and its causing everyone a headache.

My advice: give away a trickle so people can check email, but at least a modest fee must be charged to provide a more robust surfing experience. At this point it is the only palatable solution. People may complain, but it’s too bad. We must retrain guest expectations because bandwidth demand is going to keep rising.