Q: HOW CAN IN-ROOM TECHNOLOGY HELP INCREASE REVENUE OR OPEN NEW REVENUE STREAMS FOR HOTELS?

David: In-room technology allows hotels to connect to guests in a more personal way, which in many cases can make it easier to market and upsell. Providing guests with the ability to access digital stores through in-room technology gives them a convenient method to gather information, view menus and place orders among other things.

Items can be purchased from retail or food outlets located throughout the hotel or even off-site. In-room technology can also be used for targeted marketing to specific rooms or groups. It is possible now to use geography as a filter for more targeted marketing.

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Prem: The region’s hotel sector should strive to offer customers the ultimate experience by better understanding emerging value drivers and the decision-making behaviour of their guests. With this knowledge, operators can position and market their products more effectively.

And this is where the role of technology kicks in: by connecting in-room technology to the main database to personalise their systems, they can develop a closer understanding of guest requirements and use this knowledge to develop better tools to personalise the product even more.

Martin: The three keywords here are ease, availability and non-intrusiveness. Guests will spend more if it is easy to purchase extra spa bookings, meals, beverages, gifts, airport transfers, tours, excursions, and so on; if it is available to browse and buy at any time and if it is easy to find without intruding on the overall guest experience.

We see this clearly in the statistics from our hotels where we have automated upselling! We’ve seen RevPAR increase with very little staff involvement.