As we rely more and more on technological fixes in all areas of our home and work lives, it is no surprise that our downtime away in hotels is also becoming dominated by smart solutions.
From water meters to robotic butlers, your favourite room service menu selections direct to your smartphone or predictive maintenance systems, hotels are introducing a raft of time, money and energy saving ideas to improve the overall guest experience and enhance the venue’s reputation in any way it can.
For developers and design consultants, a hotel is like any other 21st century built environment project – we’re always looking for the smartest, most energy efficient, environmentally friendly refit that budget and location allow.
And while many guests are lured by the olde worlde charm of some hotels, they still expect up-to-date services and don’t want to pay over the odds for the experience just because their inefficient energy or water systems are from a period of years gone by too. They are drawn to the soft lighting and ambient tone created by the location’s lighting, appreciate the convenience of remote check-ins, curse the swipe keycards which demagnetise all too often – usually late at night in the room the farthest from reception – and love the idea that their favourite dish flashes up on their screen at just the time they typically tend to order room service.
A combination of Internet of Things devices, artificial intelligence algorithms and robotics are being used to great green effect the world over in new hotel construction and also refurbishments of existing properties.
We pride ourselves on exploring all sustainable alternatives for any aspect of a hotel project and count ourselves fortunate to have worked on some of the world’s finest creating a genuine home from home experience in terms of smooth operations driven by high tech processes.
Reading around our areas of expertise, as we like to do, we found examples of smart thermostats and occupancy sensors optimising year-round energy consumption, smart lighting systems saving hundreds of thousands of kilowatt hours (and running costs), sensor data indicating when a maintenance programme needs to kickstart repairs and parts replacement, data analysis automating guest experiences from pre-check in until departure, smart assigning of car parking spaces, remote check-in alerting staff to specific guests’ arrivals and providing the possibility to offer upgrades and other packages as part of a personalised service, room access via a smartphone app, not to mention online reputation management solutions.
That high end feel a hotel has when guests walk in and is present throughout their stay is, in part, it’s true created by the soft furnishings, the artwork and general decor, menu options, facilities and ever-polite front of house staff. But where they are complemented by technological know-how and an efficiency agenda, the customer experience sky rockets .
