personalization
How Digital Should the Communication With Guests Be?
Torsten Sabel | December 23, 2019
By Torsten Sabel If you check in at the Henn na Hotel in Sasebo, Japan, you will be greeted by a dinosaur. Transport robots take your luggage to the room and the door opens via facial recognition. In Cologne's Koncept Hotel, apart from housekeeping, you won't see any staff member either. Booking, check-in, opening the room door and check-out - everything is done via smartphone. Digitization Is Picking Up Speed Even though the management in Japan has already shut down more than half of the 243 robots again, it is clear that digitization has gained momentum in the hotel industry. But whether online check-in or digital guest maps - ma...
20 Ways to Create an Amazing Customer Service Experience in 2020 (Part One)
Shep Hyken | December 13, 2019
By Shep Hyken With all the focus on how technology—including AI, data, personalization and more—can drive a better customer experience, I wanted to shift my focus back to basics. To this end, I recently published an article in Forbes about ways to create an amazing customer experience in 2020, and I thought it would be enjoyed by our Shepard Letter subscribers as well. It was quite long, so I decided to split it into two parts. If you want to read all twenty right away, you can do so here. Here are the first ten of twenty ideas as to how you can up your customer service game in 2020. Stay in touch. Too often companies focus all t...
Hotel Guests Are Becoming “Data Nodes”
Alan Young | November 26, 2019
By Alan Young Almost daily, employees enthusiastically circle a web address at the bottom of our receipt for us to complete a customer service survey, promising a chance to win a trip for two to some far-away beach, or maybe a shopping spree. Quite frankly, the prompt is so familiar most of us have grown accustomed to tuning it out as soon as the employee begins their spiel, pleasantly smiling as we gather our bags to leave the store. As we navigate a familiar app on our phone, posting to our Instagram account or playing a game, we’re frequently interrupted by a reminder to rate the app, “How do you like using _____ ?”. After we orde...
Space Travel: Redefining the Travel Customer Journey With Virgin Galactic
Pier-Luca Rapin | October 31, 2019
By Pier-Luca Rapin It is another level of personalization, it is not only to be sure to have the right water and the right pillow in the room, this is understanding why people are actually going in that journey, helping them realize that dream and being able to live that little moment the best as they can - Martijn Brouwer, General Manager Astronaut Relations, Virgin Galactic During the 2019 Young Hoteliers Summit, EHL Lausanne took a one-way ticket for space with the visit of Martijn Brouwer, General Manager Astronaut Relations and hospitality at Virgin Galactic. Virgin, as a group, has always been defined by a strong service philosophy. N...
The Hype Behind Blockchain: What Is it and Why Is it Important to the Travel Industry?
Rob Sudakow | September 16, 2019
By Rob Sudakow If you haven’t noticed Blockchain is one of the new catchphrases thrown around at every travel conference you go to, but it’s probable that most of those throwing the word around actually understand blockchain or how it could revolutionize the travel industry. The travel industry isn't alone in its excitement over blockchain. The buzzword is making its way into the vocabulary of many industries with good reason. But the big question is how and why. What is Blockchain: Wikipedia’s definition of blockchain “a growing list of records, called blocks, that are linked using cryptography. Each block contains a cryptog...
Hotel Loyalty Programs Are Broken – Here’s How to Fix Them
Joel Montaniel | August 29, 2019
By Joel Montaniel As travel increases, so does competition amongst hospitality operators. With spend on lodging exceeding $200 billion in 2018 alone, hotels have a unique opportunity to build their guest base and capture an even greater share of the market. However, to do that, they need to be memorable. And with over a third of hotel guests believing that hotel loyalty programs are rarely relevant to them, there’s a clear opportunity to improve how hotels interact with guests, both during and after their stay. One way companies across different sectors have built a strong customer base is through programs that reward regulars and i...
Content Personalization on the Hotel Website Whitepaper
NextGuest Digital | August 13, 2019
Personalization in the hospitality industry isn’t a new concept. Hotels often provide personalized in-room and on-property experiences, so why should the website experience be the same for all visitors? It’s not enough to present potential guests with static website content and expect them to find what they’re looking for and make a reservation. In fact, a Salesforce study found that by 2020, 51% of consumers will expect brands to anticipate their needs and make relevant suggestions. Through personalization, hotels can create a dynamic user experience. Rather than one broad experience that attempts to reach all possible travelers,...
Balancing Technology With the Human Touch in Hospitality
Nicole Dehler | August 8, 2019
By Nicole Dehler, Vice President of Product Management StayNTouch, A Shiji Group Brand Recent advances in artificial intelligence promise to revolutionize the hospitality industry, dramatically enhancing personalization, connectivity and revenue generation. But some technology experts ask: Will people still be able to make a difference, or are we entering a brave new world where self-service and intelligent communication platforms completely take over? In the past decade, technologies such as cloud computing, complex data analytics, and A.I. have swept across the hospitality landscape, modernizing formerly archaic systems that once de...
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