How hotels can leverage analytics and IoT to deliver a post-pandemic connected guest experience
Summer approaching means more travelers are taking vacations and exploring mountains, beaches, cities and towns. Finally! It also means that hotels are preparing to be bustling with guests again. It’s an opportunity for them to provide world-class service and delight their customers. Luckily, analytics and IoT are converging to help them do just that.
Whether on a business trip or a personal vacation, travelers all want to feel like they are more than a reservation. A little personalization goes a long way. That’s what The Sinclair, a cutting-edge luxury lifestyle hotel in downtown Fort Worth, Texas, USA, is trying to bring to its customers — through the use of modern technology. They want their guests to have the best possible experiences, to ensure higher guest satisfaction rates, affinity, and loyalty — and to increase the likelihood of future bookings and repeat visits.
Let’s look at two areas where The Sinclair is utilizing technology to revolutionalize the hospitality industry: back-office efficiency and customer-facing, on-site marketing.
When guests leave the hotel for a business meeting or to go sightseeing, the hotel doesn’t know when they head out. Housekeeping staff must rely on a knock or a sign hanging on the door. The Sinclair puts Internet of Things (IoT) to work by tracking guests’ movements throughout the hotel and, when they leave, puts things in motion to make their return enjoyable.
For example, in rooms facing west, the hotel can automatically close the blinds in vacant rooms to keep the blazing Texas sun out. When guests return, the sensors detect them and raise the blinds back to the position they were in when the guest left. Guests are happy (and cool) and the hotel saves money from not having to cool a vacant room. Oh yeah, the air controls are also connected to the guests’ movement. And that’s just the beginning. I sat down with Farukh Aslam, the CEO of Sinclair Holdings as the iconic hotel was still under construction to learn more about some other customer experience possibilities. Have a listen and be inspired!
When guests are in the hotel, if they’re not taking advantage of key hotel offerings — or if they aren’t even aware they exist — they aren’t getting the full experience. Sometimes, it’s a local culinary specialty offered by the in-house restaurant. Or an instructor-led class in the fitness center. Other times it’s an entire restaurant that guests pass over.
These amenities can add to guest satisfaction as well as increase profitability. The hard part is making sure guests, who are often already busy and come with their own plans and agendas for their stays, are aware of all the possibilities.
At its core, this is an experience challenge, not simply or only a marketing issue. Today, hotels are seeking to deliver a “connected guest experience” — one in which guests are presented with relevant, timely, location-specific options for services as they move around the property, at all of their properties, from the moment they arrive to the time they check out, based on their preferences.
With the advent of the latest combined IoT and analytics capabilities, delivering this type of next-level experience is finally possible. After all, a growing number of guests use mobile apps to guide their hospitality experiences, many more typically plug into hotel Wi-Fi once they’re on the property, and virtually all of them are constantly texting. The Sinclair can now connect with their guests, understand what they like, know where they are, and open a new line of location-relevant, context-aware, and time-sensitive communication with them. Here’s what it looks like:
Personalized greeting upon arrival
To provide an exceptional, engaging customer experience, The Sinclair uses SAS, Cisco, and Intel technologies to detect guest location and send them a personalized greeting upon arrival at the hotel property: “Welcome to The Sinclair, John. We appreciate your being a Platinum Elite member. Please let us know if there’s anything we can do to make your stay more enjoyable.” The solution is accompanied by a dashboard that shows staff which guests are in range of the property. The dashboard also provides guest profile information, current location, previous location, and any notes entered by staff in the past.
Push to lobby bar
The Sinclair drives additional food and beverage revenue in a myriad of ways by leveraging active guest engagement. This could happen with a notification of drink specials or a reminder about the lobby bars, specifically targeting guests who are known to be on the property: “Happy hour is about to start, Melissa — show this to your server for 10% off your first drink!” The system also avoids sending duplicative offers.
Push to restaurant
What if the lobby bar is full, but the hotel restaurant, Wicked Butcher, has seat availability? Focused, soft push notifications to on-property guests let them know about their best options for dining or entertainment considering the current wait, which can make a big difference. This hotel is able to say “Hello Marcus, there are a few reservations left for tonight at our restaurant. Check with our concierge for your optimal seating time and tonight’s specials.”
Push to the scenic rooftop bar
During peak times, to balance demand with availability, this hotel sends “current condition” updates to on-site guests, such as: “The lobby bar is in full swing, Sarah! Meanwhile, it’s 72 degrees outside and our rooftop bar has plenty of seating if you’re looking for another option.” Or: “Welcome, Adrian! You’re invited to enjoy half off a dessert or an appetizer at our rooftop bar overlooking downtown.”
These are tantalizing capabilities for hospitality leaders looking to deliver a next-level connected experience for guests. It takes a bold vision, a committed team and cutting-edge technology partners to make it happen. The Sinclair checks all the boxes. And with help from technology leaders SAS, Intel and Cisco, it’s a reality today in the heart of Texas.
