Hotels lack a pioneering spirit when it comes to pushing the barriers of technology and how to engage with guests, with few willing to lead the market.

That is one segment of analysis from an industry survey conducted by the ESSEC Business School ahead of a recent web event held by Revinate, Siteminder and Ideas.

The apparent malaise in the hotel sector (“more comfortable with sticking with what they know”) was one of four areas that are considered roadblocks to overhauling the current systems that many properties still use.

Other factors included data protection and privacy concerns, mainly hotels have limitations on what data they can obtain and store about guests (hindering some elements of personalisation).

Another area concerning data is the so-called “siloed” way in which it is held, with an absence of systems being able to talk to one another about something as (presumably) simple as a guest profile.

Tech vendors are not blameless either, Peter O’Connor of ESSEC says, as they often fail to make a decent business case when approaching hotels with a new system or approach.

So what is this quartet of negativity supposedly preventing hotels from doing?

Hoteliers believe the status quo (revenue management and customer relationship systems) still works for them but accept that data-focused and customer-focused systems will have to play a role by 2020.

These systems include:

• AI and machine learning-based technology
• Predictive analytics
• Management dashboards and connectivity to combine guest data and systems.
• Integrated messaging
• Customer profiling tools

The reason why this technology is needed, according to O’Connor, is that the guest of 2020 will be (obviously) extremely tech-savvy but will “expect personalisation” as a matter of course, including the inevitable “unique experience”.

O’Connor says being able to understand the hotel guest, their behaviour and requirements is the key to being able to provide that level of detail (and satisfaction).

NB: The analysis was based on results from a think-tank session involving hotels and consultants, and a written survey. Triptease attended the event and wrote its own report.

NB2: Hotel laptop image via Pixabay.