The prediction relates to his personal take on the future of robot concierges. He said: “In the Middle East, this human relationship and guest experience of talking to someone is going to continue. However, we have some techy guests and millennials that prefer to have information easily and quickly accessible. If they need more personalised advice, they can seek the concierge.
“In my opinion, the robot is more about marketing. We are not trying to replace the concierge and the human touch, this is important, especially in luxury hotels. But having another tool that is really just at [the guest’s] fingertips, can be of value.
“From my point of view, this is something that will catch on, even in the Middle East, because there is more and more demand from customers to get such information. At least on an app, even if it isn’t from a robot!”
The robot, El Khoury said, is a much less efficient way of doing what a hotel app could be enabled to do instead.
Although tech trends such as online or tablet check-in and smart keys (where traditional keys are replaced by mobile phones) are subject to different legal requirements in the Middle East, than in other regions, both El Khoury and Orlewicz see benefits in a tailored approach to this technology. In fact, according to Orlewicz, the Amwaj Rotana is just one of Rotana’s hotels in the Middle East to have implemented a tablet check-in system, incidentally in collaboration with Neorcha. El Khoury added that Rotana has installed online pre-check in all 60 hotels in the region, and tablet check-in in approximately half.
In this region, these systems cannot allow guests to immediately head to the room, however Orlewicz explained that the new technology has still had a positive impact on the hotel: “While the guests complete a very comprehensive electronic registration form, the front desk agents find extra time to engage our guests in polite conversation. Guest satisfaction is on the rise, guest engagement is too, and my team has been breaking upselling records all year long.”
Electronic versions of guest registration cards and bills also has a positive effect on the environment and cost savings. While Orlewicz estimated the average paper saving at the Amwaj Rotana at 50,000 sheets of paper a year; El Khoury estimated that the average 230-room hotel could make a saving of US $7,000 a year by going paperless.
There is also the additional benefit to hoteliers of customer data. Via automated electronic check-in systems, this information can be automatically filled in the hotel CMS during registration, and used to create a centralised profile for the guest.
As a result, rather than diminishing personalisation of services, El Khoury argued that apps (and related technologies) can be used to increase personalisation. One example is the use of beacons in hotels. These Bluetooth-enabled scanners are capable of detecting guest devices which have access to hotel apps. “This will really revolutionise the customer experience, because it will enable a lot of services, where you capture guest attention. You can even customise the offering to the profile of the customer standing next to the beacon,” explained El Khoury.
While beacon technology is not widespread in hotels, it is used in airports and convention centres. Neorcha is currently piloting it at a hotel in Dubai, as well as in Zurich, Switzerland. “It still hasn’t picked up very well, but I hope that Dubai will be the leader in this technology,” El Khoury concluded.
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