TechDogs-"Top Trends 2022 - Hospitality Technology"

Hospitality Technology

Top Trends 2022 - Hospitality Technology

By TechDogs Editorial Team

TechDogs
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Overview

You could have the best mattress at home but it won’t match the comfort of snuggling inside a duvet at a fancy hotel, right? Your favorite homemade recipe sometimes can’t match the ambiance of an authentic Chinese restaurant even if the food does not completely match your personal preference. Sometimes - it’s all about the experience. That’s what the hospitality industry has always been about - experiences.

The pandemic did bring these experiences to a halt for the longest time and let’s face it - we all missed enjoying outdoor events, trying out new restaurants or staying at fancy hotels. Fast forward to today – when, like most others, the hospitality industry too has recuperated from the ramifications of the worldwide pandemic and is all set to create much better (and safer) experiences for you.

This article is for both the sides of the hospitality industry - the customers (aren’t we all!) and the businesses. We’ve enlisted the top Hospitality Technology trends that will advance and prepare the sector in 2022. Customers - be on the lookout for some of these to find your next best hospitality experience (for the ones keeping up with the times!). While businesses of the hospitality industry - tap into these top trends to ensure you don’t lose any guests just because you weren’t up-to-date with your hospitality experiences.

So, read on!
Techdogs-Revamping Your Hospitality Needs - Lobbies & Beyond!-"Top Trends 2022 - Hospitality Technology"
Have you ever been scared to stay in a hotel? Let’s face it - we all have been there at least once. Especially if you had recently watched The Shining. #TheyRuinedItForEveryone

Apart from making us believe that old hotels may have some supernatural guests waiting for you and that “All work, no play makes Jack a dull boy,” the movie had another major lesson for the hospitality industry - nobody would want to stay in an accommodation with red flags all around. More so, hospitality is a tricky sector and all hell can break loose (sometimes literally!) if not handled well. So, you have  to keep focusing on creating the right experiences for your guests - whether at a hotel, restaurant, theme park or whatnot.

Technology has become an important part of creating these experiences ever since the centralized and automated reservation system was introduced by The Sheraton in 1958. Soon, new ideas fell into place, giving us today’s modern hospitality systems which were far beyond just room keys and valets!

The past two years brought to the forefront that Hospitality Technology not only takes care of experiences but also safety and convenience - if done right. How to do it right, you may ask? Well, just keep up with these top 5 Hospitality Technology trends and try not to have weird, confusing mazes in your hotel compounds! #ItSymbolizedTheMadnessWithin


Trend 1: Robots Will Welcome You At Hotels And Restaurants


TechDogs-"Trend 1: Robots Will Welcome You At Hotels And Restaurants"-A Velociraptor Dinosaur Dressed As A Waiter Asking Guests If Everything Is To Their Liking B6
Do you ever get ‘the future is now ’ feels when you see those modern robots walking around in hotels and taking care of guests? This is what 2022 will bring to the hospitality businesses. You must be thinking, ‘but robots are already being used in most places.’ In fact, Japan has a hotel with an animatronic velociraptor at the check-in desk! (Yes, that’s that guy you see above!) We get it, however, this time their demand will rise, especially keeping in mind the no-contact preferences with the new normal.

According to Technavio, the robotics market is expected to grow by USD 942 million between 2020 and 2024, driven primarily by the healthcare and hospitality industry. These robots will have quite similar features as human hotel staff that include familiar voices, movements and even expressive faces. Take for instance robots like Sophia by Hanson Robotics - this hard-to-believe kind of robot can recognize complex speech, have conversations and quickly answer questions – just as a human concierge would do! 

TechDogs' Opinion: It is inevitable that robots will get smarter by the day and they will take up several important jobs across industries – and the hospitality sector will be no different. Through smart robots, most tasks, even the traditional ones, including welcoming guests and giving them all the relevant information in one place will be automated. These robots will have to be smart enough to understand the social, emotive and cognitive cues of human interaction.

Taking it further, a few hotels will leverage this technology to perform other important tasks such as routine cleaning and sanitization with much higher efficiency and lower costs. With the recent focus on social distancing norms and contactless services, robots have proven to be a worthy replacement. In 2022, deployment of robots will be replicated throughout the hospitality businesses, what we believe is a good move to make restaurants, hotels and even traveling more. #CovidSafe


Trend 2: Artificial Intelligence Will Create Friendly Chatbots


TechDogs-"Trend 2: Artificial Intelligence Will Create Friendly Chatbots"-Meme About The Joker Talking About Chatbots
Most businesses, nowadays, take the help of automated solutions to solve the problems and pain points of guests. Needless to say, we always want a quick solution to everything, including a rapid response to our queries. Therefore, Artificial Intelligence (AI) will be a big hit in chatbot communication of the hospitality businesses.

Although, Artificial Intelligence is not a new concept, it will be employed in newer ways to benefit chatbots this year. Apart from the simple advantage of being available 24/7, chatbots help guests in answering questions, making reservations, asking recommendations, etc. However, in 2022, thanks to AI integrations, chatbots are on their way to become more friendly and personalized. From enabling multi-language capabilities to intelligent recommendations to personalized promotions – chatbots will no longer be a one-way conversation.

Chatbots will bring hospitality businesses a new medium of reaching out to customers for an excellent service. According to Trilyo, a provider of AI-driven conversational commerce solutions for the hospitality industry, chatbots can increase direct bookings by up to 30% and cut operational costs by 35% as well.

TechDogs' Opinion: We live in a time where with just one press of a button, we can ask an AI-based system to answer any question in the world. Obviously, a guest would expect a similar service from the hospitality services everywhere they go. Thanks to faster data processing, language modeling and Machine Learning techniques, chatbots will be able to understand the context and intent behind human queries much better. Chatbots with AI integration will also benefit the ability to provide tailored recommendations based on a user’s interaction history – a trend that hospitality businesses will surely jump on in 2022.

Moreover, chatbots will have voice assistance soon, allowing users to search using voice rather than typing. For hotel owners choosing to opt such a chatbot, training the algorithm to identify different accents and languages will be a must.


Trend 3: Hotels Will Have More Advanced Facial Recognition

 
Even if we are gradually stepping out of this whole pandemic situation, most of us are still cautious about coming into contact with strangers. In fact, some of us literally want to maintain the social distance on normal days as well. (We get you introverts!) Jokes apart, hospitality will shift the way it recognizes people and their preferences to create a more seamless authentication technology. It will be much faster and make it easier for hotels and restaurants to keep records.

While there are many types of seamless authentication technologies that hotels have adopted, the most popular ones being biometrics and iris recognition, in 2022 facial recognition will be the front-runner. As of 2021, hotels were looking for top-notch technologies to enhance contactless recognition to create a safer environment. Bringing in facial recognition technology allowed that.

Moreover, facial recognition will allow hospitality businesses and hotel staff to make check-in and identity verification faster and more secure – no fake names here! Besides, it will allow a better view of where crowding is occurring inside the hotel premises, whether social distancing is being followed, etc. Moreover, some hotel owners will seek to integrate facial recognition into their security system so hotel guests don’t need to carry around a key to their hotel room. This can be extended to other parts of the hotel such as the swimming pool, clubhouse, kitchen, etc., where only authorized individuals are to be allowed.

TechDogs' Opinion: Facial recognition technology would be quite impressive within the hospitality industry – both to the hotels as well as the guests. However, this trend isn’t going to stop here. We believe that this impressive recognition system will soon be placed outside every room, where guests will be able to enter once the machine recognizes them - your face will be your all-access key!

Guests at hotels will be able to check-in, check-out and even make payments using this authentication feature. Facial recognition has been controversial at times but used in the right context, hotels, restaurants, bars and other avenues will benefit immensely from it.


Trend 4: Virtual Reality Will Keep The Show Going Everywhere


TechDogs-"Trend 4: Virtual Reality Will Keep The Show Going Everywhere"-A Raccoon Talking About Virtually Touring The World
How about seeing the hotel amenities and the rooms even before booking? While it may sound crazy, you can easily expect this service being catered in 2022. Yes, Virtual Reality (VR) will make it happen! Think about the level of convenience you will be providing your guests with this Hospitality Technology trend.

VR is one cool technology that every professional wants to play with. Then, why not hotels? Looking at its promising futures, experts have now started working to integrate VR to the hospitality sector. According to Goldman Sachs, VR’s market worth will reach up to $110 billion by the year 2025. Actually, one of the most popular hotels chains, JW Marriott is known to be the first business that has used this in-room VR technology. They’re offering guests tours of Chile, China and Rwanda as a part of their VRoom S Service - where they visit these places right from their hotel suites. #StaycationMax

TechDogs' Opinion: While we would definitely see the widespread adoption of virtual hotel technology enabling tours and virtual experiences across the hospitality industry (beyond just the Marriot hotels), we would also find businesses leveraging VR for more. After all, hospitality isn’t just about getting a virtual tour of your hotel room, right? In 2022, hospitality companies will look to expand it to the entire booking process - right from looking for flights, comparing hotel prices and booking the rooms through a Virtual Reality headset - and that will be just the beginning.


Trend 5: Contactless Payments Will Be Everyone’s Go-To Choice

 
You must be thinking, ‘but, contactless technology was the part of 2021 hospitality trends as well?’ (For those who haven’t already, check out the previous year’s trends). Well, this trend is going to go the extra mile this year. Remote work was an unexpected shift for the entire world and mainly, for hospitality businesses. Now, in 2022, many cafes, restaurants, hotels and bars are adopting cashless and contactless transactions to make things safer and more convenient for the guests.

This year, contactless would not just be about using mobile applications to make quick payments but guests would also opt for scanning QR codes, using gift cards, vouchers, NFC and even blockchain payments. Just take out your smartphone and pay! #BestInventionEver

The popularity of cashless is easy for all parties involved. “Cashless payment systems can stimulate economic growth by making payments easier and convenient and, therefore, facilitate consumption,” says Adriano Corrêa, a partner at BDO Brazil. Furthermore, since they make life easier for all - cashless payments will be sought after to improve the customer experience in the hospitality industry. After all, it’s all about creating convenient guest experiences, right?

TechDogs' Opinion: We believe the cashless technology would neither be limited to digital payments on your mobile phone nor would it remain privy to check-in desks and cash counters at hotels and restaurants. We expect to soon have your wearables integrated into the cashless economy too. Wristbands will offer completely cashless experiences at theme parks, bars and cruise lines, as transactions will be made through these mobile devices in the near future.

Other advantages that hospitality will reap are higher security provided by cashless payment services, reduced human errors, easier bookkeeping and being branded as a progressive business. As individuals jump on the “cashless” and “cryptocurrency” bandwagon, we believe the hospitality industry will have to adapt and offer similar amenities to their consumers, as they will otherwise take their business to brands that offer convenient contactless payment options.


To Sum Up


You know the hospitality industry is very competitive, especially given the losses in the past few years. However, any business that has the latest technology can boom forever. So, these top 5 Hospitality Technology trends are here to make your 2022 awesome with all the convenience you will be providing your customers. From cashless transactions and robotics to facial recognition and VR, the hotel industry should follow the approach that suits their business model the best and stay ahead in being hospitable.

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