Why Hotels Should Invest In Wearable Technology: Findings And Analysis

Emerging Trends in the Hospitality Industry

The hospitality sector has recently emerged to be one of the most profitable sectors in the economy of a nation. As a commercial establishment the hotels and the resorts are known for providing a variety of services including meals and accommodation to the tourists and travellers across the world. However, despite the immense revenue earning capacity of the hotel industries, the hospitality industry is highly competitive. Hence, it becomes imperative for the hotels to invest in technologies so as to gain competitive edge over the rival organizations. Although most of the hotels try their best to offer specialized services to the consumers, the consumers find most of the amenities almost similar (Law et al. 2013). Hence, in order to stand out from the crowd, and attract as well as retain consumers, the hotels should invest in innovative and latest technological trends instead of offering commonplace facilities such as lounge and on-site stores. Keeping this in consideration, it is highly advisable that a hotel employs the use of different tech forward devices that will not only make life easier for the guests, but a developed technological infrastructure and an impressive physical surrounding will add to the brand value as well. With the advent of mobile technology, the hotel industries operating in the digital era are enhancing the guest experience by introducing the wearable technology for the hotel staffs as well as the consumers.

Research studies have suggested that in order to match the guest experiences, more and more organizations are investing in technologically upgraded tools, and with the advent of wearable devices such as Apple Watch and Microsoft Hololens, many recognized hotels across the world are also considering the idea of investing in wearable devices. However, the argument that the essay intends to explore is that is it profitable for the hotels to invest an enormous amount of money for upgrading its technology for the sake of consumer satisfaction or not. In this connection, it would be interesting to find put which hotel sectors have already introduced the wearable device service in their hotels, and how the same is generating profit for them. First of all, it is interesting to mention here that two eminent hotels of Ibiza, namely Ushuaia Ibiza Beach Hotel and Hard Rock Hotel Ibiza have introduced the system of selling VIB, also referred to as the Very Important Bracelets to its guests, which they can buy in lieu of $40 (Law et al. 2014). These bracelets will help the consumers check in and out of the hotel without much fuss, without the need of consulting or seeking the approval of a third party. In fact the bracelets have successfully replaced the credit cards as well as the room keys, enabling the customers to unlock rooms with the help of the bracelets, as well as pay for any form of hotel service without the involvement of a second person. The hotels look after the convenience of the consumers, and it is this feature, that has helped the companies distinguish themselves from the rival competitors. As a tech savvy hotel, a hotel can easily welcome its tech savvy consumers and impress them by the tech forward devices. The very reason why this shows that hotels should invest in these devices is that these help in development of the brand reputation. Further, considering the importance of social media in the lives of the persons, these Smart bracelets also enable the consumers share their pictures or videos without the use of mobile devices.  Again, more than  often the most of the recognized hotels nowadays invest in the Apple Watches and other smart watches as well, that saves users from having to constantly dig their smartphones from their pockets to check their messages and apps. In this connection, it is interesting to note that the Starwood Hotels and Resorts employ the use of the Apple Watch keys that enable their respective consumers forgo room keys (Cohen and Olsen 2013)). Research suggests that the use of such technological devices has been directly linked to consumer satisfaction. According to the regular visitors of Starwood, the principal reason as to why they keep on visiting the Starwood group of Hotels across the globe is that they are always assured of the convenient system of operation (Neuohofer et al. 2013). For example, some of them had been found to be content as they are being provided with I pads through which they can easily gain access to the room-service menus available to them. Again, others have claimed that visiting a hotel room that is equipped with Apple Watches not only help them interact with the hotel staffs in a comfortable way, but also improves the experience of staying in a premium hotel.

Consumer Satisfaction and Brand Reputation

Keeping aside the convenience offered to the consumers, the consumers also claim that the change in the physical environment also helps in bringing in a drastic change in their attitude towards a hotel. It should be remembered that people mostly visit hotels as part of an act of luxury, and quite expectantly they desire to experience the luxury while availing service from a renowned hotel brand. In case the consumers find the maintenance staffs working with the help of outdated two-way radios or smashed mobile phones, no matter how much lavishly they are being treated in the hotel, the quality of their experience might get affected. An enhanced customer service is only possible when the consumers are delighted by the ambience they are spending their time in. The environment as well as the physical setting of the service organization plays an important role in influencing the consumer loyalty. While speaking of wearable devices, it is not sufficient to think of the consumer delight that helps in increasing consumer satisfaction, but it is also about how a well-groomed setting attracts the attention of the consumers. Consumer loyalty is an important business concept as it implies repeat purchase behavior that again is not merely influenced by the product offered, but also by the layout, ambience, furniture, fixture and equipment available in the service organization. Regardless of the fact that the wearable devices do offer integrated and seamless solutions to the consumer problems, a hotel should invest in the wearable devices simply because it helps in creating memorable consumer experience that leads to the creation of consumer loyalty (Pizam et al. 2016). Usually most of the hotels rely on the use of technologically advanced check in and out devices for improving the consumer experience, and yet it should be remembered that a hotel should invest in technology since it helps in offering a high quality, integrated and dynamic experience to the consumers.

It can be further argued that the wearable device investment by the hotel sector is important as it enables the working staffs such as the maintenance and engineering staffs offer deliver a higher quality service to the consumers, and work more productively   to satisfy consumer demands. The hotels often invest in the wearable devices simply because these devices help in help them work more productively in a physically demanding job. While gaining access to a hands-free system, they can deliver their service at higher efficiency rates. In this regard, it is important to mention that the wearable devices also help the hotel staffs and they can receive messages and updates about new and outstanding jobs, update their work orders and even keep a record of time spent on each individual task. Thus, when a hotel in investing in the staff focused gadgets, it is undoubtedly improving consumer experience, by speeding up the entire service provision process. Again, it is a well-known fact that consumer experience is also largely reliant on employee satisfaction. Unless the employees are themselves content with the work ambience and amenities available to them, they would never be able to offer high quality service to its consumers (Wu et al. 2015). Hence, a hotel that offers technological amenities to its employees will always be able to successfully motivate them. By providing the Apple Watches to the hotel employees, some companies help in keeping their employees notified regarding the guest activities and demands, without needing them to move physically to different rooms, and asking about the pending services (Melian et al. 2016). While on the one hand, this facilitates effective consumer-staff interaction, on the other hand, it also results in employee satisfaction that ultimately leads to better consumer service. Besides, the hotels should also invest in the wearable devices as these help the hotel staffs improve the guest experience by improving response times to each individual need of the guests (Tussyadiah and Jung 2017).

Employee Satisfaction and Productivity

Again, at the same time, it can also be further argued that the very reason why the large and most recognized hotels are investing in the wearable technologies clearly explain why the hotels should invest in these technologies. Westin group of hotels as well as Disney World Resort have already introduced the specialized wearable devices to the guests in an effort to make their experiences in even more magical. It is interesting to note how the wearable device named “Magic Ban” of Disney enables the company offer anytime access to its consumers to the theme parks, while the sleep-sensing wristbands offered by the Westin group of hotels contribute to the comfort and well-being of the guests (Cobaonoglu et al. 2013). When a hotel invests in such technologies, it clearly shows how it cares and values each of its consumers.

There is no point in denying the multiple advantages a hotel wearable device can offer to its consumers. While it can easily replace the keycards and payment process, it can also help in speeding up the maintenance and housekeeping process, ultimately benefitting the hotel by increased consumer loyalty rate and low employee turnover rates. However, these wearable tech devices are considerably expensive as well, and hence it might be interesting to see how far investment in these devices is worth the money. Profitability is the principal aim of any business organization. According to the survey by Gartner, as compared to the utility of the wearable gadgets, the expenses involved in acquiring them, is still much higher. In fact, it is important to mention here that most of the wearable devices cost somewhere between $300 and $400 (Tuominen et al. 2016). This clearly implies that the hotel industries have to make a huge investment if it wishes to bring in these devices for the consumers and the working staffs alike. Besides, functionality of any object should be of paramount importance, and except the brand value and status symbol it carries, the wearable device hardly performs any function that can be deemed as “indispensible” in the hotel industry. According to the GfK research, usually people belonging to the age group of 16 to 24 years are usually receptive and highly enthusiastic about the idea of wearing these devices (Jou et al. 2017). However, most of the people coming in and visiting the hotels by buying the service do not belong to this age group, and thus the presence or absence of the wearable devices barely affect the growth of business. Further, research studies also suggest that although the wearable devices have indeed emerged to be an integral part of the daily lives of individuals, it is yet to become a mainstream product. The very reason for the same is that as per a recent research by Colloquy, most of the hotels are unwilling to invest in the wearable devices, because more than half of the visitors are unable to use the technological features for their benefits (Bilgihan et al. 2016). A huge number of visitors wish to make offline payment instead of employing the use of available wearable gadgets in fear of privacy and security issues. While 8% of the people find the wearable devices uncomfortable, around 35% claim that they do not know the utility of products and feel ill at ease when forced to wear the same (Bilgihan et al. 2015). Hence, the counter argument claims that the wearable devices are too expensive and they do not completely satisfy the demands and needs of the consumers, as a considerable part of the, are yet unaware of the smart technology solutions.

Conclusion

However, despite the validity of the counter argument, it can be stated that a hotel should always invest in technological advancement, even if that would imply huge investment on part of the management authority. It should be remembered that the intangible aspect of service in the hospitality is not the ultimate factor determining customer loyalty. The consumers also place equal emphasis on the tangible aspects of the service which includes décor, infrastructure, furniture, ambience, layout and equipment of the concerned hotel as well (Hoffman and Offutt 2014). The customer’s perception of comfort and convenience offered to the consumers, as well as their perception of the brand value of the hotel largely determines their purchasing behavior in future. With the help of the wearable devices, the hotels can help the customers get everything at their convenience. Right from booking their transportation to bypassing lengthy check in and check out processes, these wearable devices do and can save time and energy both. Hence, it is a discreet decision to invest in these technologies. These devices are usually very durable and long lasting, and thus investment in these devices can be regarded as long term investment only.

Conclusion:

To conclude, it must be remembered that research reports claim that the tangible services offered by the hotels, play a much more important role in affecting customer loyalty than the intangible services. Herein lays the importance of investing in the wearable technology. Although this might be an expensive idea, yet it should be noted that this investment can ensure long-term sustainability of the hotel. First of all, the consumers of the hotel sector usually appreciate any kind of trend that offers them the luxury and has a status symbol attached to it, and hence the investment in these devices will result in consumer loyalty towards the organization. Most of the recognized hotels have already introduced the wearable devices and are able to earn huge brand recognition for the same. The investment in technology also assists a company in product differentiation and gain competitive edge. However, it is recommended that the emerging hotels should invest in these technologies only when they earn sufficient recognition or else they would be compelled to incur loss. Most of the branded companies working in the hotel industry only invest in the wearable devices, as the consumers visiting the hotels are brand conscious and believe in investing in hotels that symbolize status for them. Usually the most reputed brands such as Westin Group of Hotels, Starwood group of hotels and the Walt Disney World Resort are found to invest in such expensive technological devices. Hence, considering the huge expenses involved, it is advised that those hotels which have earned sufficient recognition should only invest in these devices, and the ordinary and emerging ones should stay back back for the time being.

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