We all know about the high levels of competition in the hospitality industry whether its between hotel chains and independent hotels or booking direct or through OTAs. While the competition may seem daunting, with the help of advancements in technology and the implementation of smarter, tailored tech for all different types of hotels, hospitality players are finding ways to navigate the industry and strategize against the competition accordingly.
Over the last few years Airbnb has also been making waves in hotel competition, but with the rise in apartment rentals, also came the rise of vacation rentals. Google has become a bigger player in the hospitality industry and has been pushing its Google travel features, and recently debuted its new vacation rental feature that directs guests from Google Search to Google Travel. Now the question is whether or not Airbnb should join Google in its vacation rental strategy, as mentioned in this article. Another article mentions that Booking Holdings has started removing its vacation listings from Google Travel. While one part of the industry is dealing with whether or not to work together, TripAdvisor and Facebook have banded together to launch co-branded ads on its social media platforms, and soon even more media channels, as seen in this article.
With major tech companies entering the hospitality industry, it’s more imperative than ever for hotel chains and smaller independent brands to invest in game-changing technology that will help them reach their target guests in a sea of various booking platforms and channels. As revenue management plays a key role in
a hotel’s business, it’s no surprise that it’s crucial for a hotel to have the best revenue management technology possible. In this article, it’s highlighted that AI and machine learning have been improving revenue management technology through automation. As pricing decisions and rate updates become automatically updated through this new technology, revenue managers are able to make smarter and faster decisions for their hotel and the technology allows for millions of decisions to be automatically generated. If that’s not already a step forward into implementing new technology, then this definitely is. AR technology, or augmented reality, has also become a growing trend in the industry as hotels are transforming the guest experience through augmented reality guides, translator functions, location-based features, and more, as mentioned in this article.
Just as the rest of the world is becoming more tech focused, hospitality is changing with the times too. While the concept of hotels and providing hospitality services has been around for centuries and has traditionally been, well, traditional, the industry is keeping up with the pace of other tech-forward industries and in turn, is changing the hospitality industry’s job landscape. As the industry is changing, hoteliers are changing too. However, hoteliers with less tech experience or none at all shouldn’t be put off by the technology side of the business. We know it can be a bit intimidating to make any kind of change, especially for those unfamiliar with technology, which is why we’ve put asked our experts to create a live stream guide for those looking to transition into hospitality technology. Anyone in hospitality can make the change and we’re here to help you achieve your future in hospitality tech.
