HIGH-TECH / HIGH-TOUCH EXPERIENCE

During the Covid-19 crisis we have seen an acceleration of contactless technology that already existed in some shape. However, hotels and restaurants implemented «Contactless Technology» to promote trust among their guests by offering digital tools to minimize the human-to-human interaction. In a «people industry» that is meant to deliver human experiences.

But technology can do so much more. «Contactless» should not mean «without human touch». Technology should support triggering emotions, perception, authenticity, connection, and humanness.

«We believe that the hotels should embrace technology and leverage it as much as possible to intensify and customize the human experience, not diminish it.»

It is not only about being contactless but rather enabling a constant and real time communication with guests and finding the right mix between digital and human.

SLOW ADOPTION

While the lodging sector has been slow to respond to the digital age, the following trends, some already quite advanced, will reshape the sector.

Trend 1: Digital guest service - enabling hotels to be more proactive, responsive, and contact-free at all stages of the guest journey. Example: digital concierge.

Trend 2: Data science -The long-term objective is to leverage big data and AI technology. So far, data is mainly used for personalization, analyzing guests’ feedback and preferences to adapt to their expectations. The ultimate goal being individual tailor-made experiences.

But while hotels have made significant progress in the data collection, the analysis is still cumbersome. The data is scattered across many platforms and is difficult to leverage and aggregate, and too much data is being collected, making it difficult to understand which one is relevant. Progress still needs to be made in data analysis that can be translated into concrete plans.

Trend 3: Instant communication increases the efficiency and delivers a better guest experience. Example: WhatsApp chat available 24/7 where guests can interact with a concierge.

However, these trends facilitated the interaction with guests but did not make it more human.

CHANGE IN CUSTOMER EXPECTATIONS

Millennials which represent approximately 27% of the world population, so 2 billion people out of which 58% in Asia, are extremely tech-savvy and require mobile-centric interactions for all part of their lives. These customers expect services delivered using the latest technology.

Their need for experiential travel and authenticity will lead to humanizing the experiences. It is not a coincidence that an increasing number of companies are providing local experiences such as «live as a local» and memorable interactions with the local community.

PRIME SUITES' AMBITION TO PROVIDE CURATED EXPERIENCES VIA TECHNOLOGY

Our background in customer experience management will allow Prime Suites to play a leading role leveraging technological trends to design tailor-made, human experiences that matter. We understand the need to intensify the human touch of the digital experience.

Aligned with our ambition for inclusion and economic empowerment of local communities, we will support our guests to delve deep into the local culture. We want to enable our guests to uncover its hidden gems and favor enriching experiences that involve interacting with the local population and supporting the local economy whenever possible.

We will leverage technology to facilitate and drive our customer experience strategy. In other words, technology will help us to make our guests feel…

Prime Suites’ goal is to stay ahead of the curve. Join us in our digital journey to deliver personalized, meaningful, and safe experiences that matter.

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By Marc Sturzenegger

CEO and Founding Partner of Prime Suites Inc.