Walk into the new hotel on Al Rigga Road in the old trading hub of Deira and it is difficult to remember the dark days, not too long ago, when such midrange properties were not very mobile device-savvy.
The Suba Hotel has gone with the trend of free Wi-Fi across its property and has also introduced the in-room iPads that have become a typical feature at the more upscale hotels in Dubai. The hotel, which opened in September, allows guests to make privacy and housekeeping requests through the devices. Once a guest has done so, the appropriate light goes on outside the room.
“In a competitive market, we need to have an edge over everybody else, and technology is the edge,” said Wajeed Bagwan, the general manager. The 92-room property is also configuring the restaurant menu to feed it into the iPads. Room service can be requested through the in-room mobile device in two months’ time.
The four-star property says it has invested about Dh20,000 per room in technology.
Suba is not alone. Mid-range hotels from Premier Inn to Accor’s Novotel as well as luxury properties have embraced technology as a way to attract and retain guests.
Next month, Kempinski Mall of the Emirates expects to implement technology that lets guests use services such as check-in, room service, dry cleaning and shopping support through mobile applications on their smartphones.
Technology in hotels can be integrated into guest services, which provides direct booking, keyless room entry or an interface with the hotel’s concierge services; marketing and communication such as linking social media with online booking portals; and property management systems such as housekeeping and minibar accounting.
With competition growing in a crowded market, such investments are only expected to grow, say hoteliers and analysts.
“The issue has always been that the investment has to come from the owners who have to look at all sorts of other priorities to realise their return on investment, and for a long time, investment in IT didn’t give the sort of returns that other aspects of the hotel did,” says John Podaras, a partner at the Dubai-based consultancy Hotel Development Resources.
“Recent years have seen a considerable about-face, and the operators themselves are now driving that change with dedicated IT expertise in-house as well as considerable growth in the specialist downstream industries.”
From clunky infra-red keyboards in the 1990s to mobile applications as an interface, hotels have had to adapt to the change fast given the uptake of mobile devices in the region, he says.
Direct booking through their own websites, bypassing the expensive online travel agents, is considered a key concern among hotel operators.
It also enables direct communication with customers and draws more attention to loyalty schemes, “which builds on repeat business and pushes awareness of the property into the market”, Mr Podaras says.
The UK-based budget brand Premier Inn spent Dh7 million to develop its online reservation system and website this year for its five UAE properties and three in India. The company expects to spend the same amount on its revenue management system in the first quarter of next year.
About 10 per cent of revenue at its UAE and India properties comes from direct booking through its websites.
“That is why we need to make our technology stronger so that we can guarantee guest experience, we know how to generate data, and there is a cost associated with online travel agents,” said Stephane Laguette, the vice president of sales and marketing at Premier Inn International.
Premier Inn invests Dh12,000 per room on technology components spread across property management systems, brand-building tools such as websites and in-room services such as entertainment and free Wi-Fi.
Accor last month announced a worldwide investment in technology of €225 million (Dh1.03 billion) in the next five years.
It piloted digital concierge services in Abu Dhabi’s Novotel Al Bustan, which opened in July. That technology will be rolled out in other Novotel properties across the Middle East by the end of next year. It involves having a touchscreen in the common areas where guests can find suggestions for restaurants or museums nearby, weather updates and flight schedules.
“Before the stay, at the time of the stay and after the stay there is a strong impact of technology,” said David Henry, Accor’s vice president of sales, marketing and distribution.
“Today people are dreaming on the internet before actually reaching the destination, booking online and posting reviews [after their stay].”
The investment in technology across budget to luxury brands is happening because the clientele is also getting segmented. A guest might stay in an economy hotel for business purposes but would go for a luxury property when travelling on leisure. Accor operates 26 properties in the UAE that range from luxury, such as the Sofitel brand, to budget, such as its Ibis chain.
“Today big travellers are expecting certain technologies to be available in each of the segments,” Mr Henry said. “Of course, the level of sophistication will not be the same [among these segments].”
Digital concierges might seem to contradict the interaction-orientated idea of hospitality, but hoteliers says human interaction is still the key feature.
“Technology is here to strengthen human interaction and not replace it, we have to make sure there is still human interaction,” Mr Henry says.
Keyless entry to rooms is one of the latest features and is expected to be in Hilton properties in the UAE in a few months.
In July, Hilton introduced digital check-in that allows guests to select their exact room from a digital map through their Hilton HHonors profile across its 11 brands in the United States.
Guests can also request amenities to be delivered to their room before their arrival and access their room upon arrival through the hotel app on mobile devices.
At the beginning of next year, it will launch technology that allows guests to use their mobiles as room keys at its US hotels across its Conrad, Waldorf Astoria, DoubleTree and Hilton Hotels and Resorts brands, says Geraldine Caplin, the senior vice president and global head of digital department at Hilton Worldwide.
It plans to roll out the service globally in 2016.
By the end of this year, the smart room selection service will be available globally at more than 4,000 hotels across Hilton’s 11 brands.
Some of the technologies have become indispensable, say analysts and hoteliers.
“Longer-staying guests and properties that focus more on leisure and families will benefit from the provision of devices or interfaces for information and entertainment such as video on demand, games and books,” Mr Podaras says.
Property management technologies have been around for a long time, such as checking in guests as quickly as possible. Hotels usually use sophisticated tools to optimise their occupancy and revenue generation capabilities.
Given its dependence on the human factor, hotels are not likely to replace labour with technology.
“Whereas there will be room for minimising [the human factor] for specialist sectors, for instance, the budget sector, the increased sophistication of IT systems should enable higher levels of service delivery, such as retaining guest history and providing it to the service agents for customised service,” Mr Podaras says.
Premier Inn officials agree.
Sophisticated software that will take room service orders and streamline inventory can free up the employees to be more focused on guests and the administrative operations, says Trevor Woollard, the head of information systems for Premier Inn International.
“The reception areas could be headed for an automated future but [staff] would be redeployed elsewhere in the hotel.”
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