Mr. Wasik

Technology

Guest Habits Change

By Michael S. Wasik, Chairman, CEO, Interim CFO, Roomlinx Inc.

In the sixth century BC, Greek philosopher Heraclitus observed “Everything changes but change itself.” Twenty-six centuries later, it’s still every bit as true.

Everything changes, and that certainly applies to today’s hotel customers. Travelers, whether veteran business road warriors, or families enjoying leisure travel, are more selective, value conscious and well-informed than ever before. They also have a whole new set of expectations.

When it comes to handling change, Heraclitus maintained that there are two ways people generally react: they fear, resist or try to ignore change, or they endeavor to understand, embrace and find ways to benefit from it.

Hotels have a unique opportunity now to embrace the new customer reality and capitalize on it in ways that will differentiate their property’s brand, rise above the competition and develop customer loyalty. To explore how to take advantage of this opportunity, let’s start by examining more in-depth how your guests’ habits and expectations have changed.

Today’s New Traveler

Coming out of an economic recession, your guest is cost-conscious and more careful in his spending choices. He’s been conditioned by recession-driven discounts and rate reductions to expect more for his money. He’s very likely to be an informed comparison shopper.

Travelers today want to feel pampered and well taken care of. After a hard day of back-to-back business meetings, or an active day hiking, playing golf, visiting local attractions and sightseeing with the kids, your guests want to relax and unwind with all the comforts and conveniences of home. The highly competitive hospitality industry offers them a plethora of choices. They’re going to choose properties that can meet their expectations for comfort and service, as well as value.

Probably the biggest change affecting guest behavior and expectations, though, is the “digital revolution.” Today’s consumer goes online for information and entertainment. He’s used to, and expects, instant access to digital content.

What’s especially interesting is that this is equally true for all three prime generational demographics likely to be making travel choices. Generation Y, aged 20 to 39, are characterized by their use and familiarity with communications, media, and digital technologies. But the vast majority of Baby Boomers and Generation X’ers aged 40 to 65 are becoming just as media-savvy. It’s no coincidence that four of the top ten ranked English language websites are search engines.

It’s a good bet that your guest habitually relies on the Internet as a primary source of information. He probably went online to research local hotels in your area, checking rates, room availability, services and amenities to choose which hotel to book. He most likely made his reservations through your online reservation system.

At home, your guest is used to a rich mix of media options, including high-definition and on-demand programming content, movies, news and sports. He takes for granted the digital controls on his TV that let him stop, rewind and replay programming. He enjoys the convenience of going online to catch up on missed TV programs. According to “Social Media Revolution” by Erik Qualman, 70% of Gen Y watches web TV.

Chances are your guest has satellite radio in his car, so he’s used to having access to the wide array of musical genres and programs it affords. With iPod downloads passing the one billion mark, it’s highly likely your guest travels with his favorite music and digital content on DVDs, CDs, iPods and MP3 players.

Another important aspect of the digital revolution affecting how your guest makes choices is the rapid growth of social media. Demographic studies show that 96% of Gen Y belongs to one or more social media networks such as Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. But Baby Boomers and Gen X are rapidly catching up. In fact, they are the fastest growing segment of the 250,000 new users signing up for Facebook every day. Your guest undoubtedly expects to stay connected to his online network of family, friends and colleagues whenever he travels.

So how does a hotel keep up with these changing guest expectations in an online world?

Hotels don’t need to be on the cutting-edge of technology. But to stay competitive, you do need to provide what today’s traveler wants. One compelling way to differentiate your hotel, attract new customers and build guest loyalty is by exceeding expectations with rich multi-faceted in-room media and internet services. Go for the “wow” factor.

Enhance Guest Experience with Rich In-room Media

There are several key factors to consider when upgrading in-room media. First is finding a solution provider that offers a solid converged in-room media platform and a comprehensive, flexible set of media options. This is essential in order to customize the system to portray the right image for your property’s brand as well as tailor an in-room media offering that will rival or exceed what your guests enjoy at home.

Some important features of a converged unified platform to look for include:
• Large screen LCD HD TVs
• Access to HD Hollywood movies and optional specialty content on-demand
• Web TV
• Unlimited high-bandwidth internet access
• Mobile device connectivity
• Ability to download rich media content
• Ability to play CDs and DVDs
• Access to world TV and radio
• In-room business tools

The infrastructure to support your unified media platform should include a central server facility to house digital content that can be regularly refreshed every other week or once a month, and fiber or CAT 6 quality cable to the back of every LCD.

A universal remote control, wireless keyboard and mouse are essential in-room components to make the system easy to use and intuitive to maneuver, so that even your least tech-savvy guests will be able to enjoy it. Plus, surfing the internet with a wireless keyboard and mouse on a big-screen TV is something most people don’t get to do at home.

For programming, you want to have control over deciding if you will offer specialty content, like video games and adult programming. You should have the freedom to bundle or charge separately for content. Today’s value-conscious guest doesn’t want to be charged for every little thing, but he recognizes there may be fees for offerings not everyone will take advantage of, like adult programming.

Another key element in evaluating in-room media solution vendors is choosing one that not only meets your needs today, but one whose platform will allow you to easily adopt new technologies as they emerge. You don’t want to sign a five or ten year deal for a platform that will quickly become outdated. To “future proof” your investment, you want a vendor who provides a scalable platform that readily assimilates new technologies and applications. Having the right infrastructure ensures that you can stay one step ahead of what your competitors have and what customers want.

Beyond the Core Components

Some of the best converged media solutions now offer a variety of additional features to further enhance guests’ in-room experience. For example, some systems can automatically display a rotating collection of HD photos of your hotel facilities and local area scenery and attractions, accompanied by gentle music, as soon as your guest turns on the TV.

Some systems can offer guests the convenience of browsing the hotel services on the TV, such as facility maps, meeting and event planning information, room service menus, guest services, phone extensions, etc. This is nice not only for guests but for the hotel, since whenever something changes – room service prices, for example – you can make the update instantly and propagate it quickly.

Some systems go even a step further and allow you to offer a virtual concierge service, with listings and online links to local restaurants, theaters, clubs and attractions, services like trains and taxis, access to maps, directions and even restaurant and theater reviews displayed on-screen. A few of the most advanced solutions offer an in-room advertising capability that lets you promote your hotel’s amenities, and also allow local businesses to advertise, generating incremental revenue for the hotel.

“World of Mouth”

Giving your guests a rich in-room media experience will make them happy, loyal, repeat customers. But in this era of social media, it can pay off in other ways, too. Erik Qualman projects that social media will transform the way we live, communicate and do business. Qualman characterizes its impact as creating a “people-driven economy.”

In this new social media-connected, people-driven economy, communication is instantaneous and word of mouth morphs into “world of mouth.” You can promote your property on Facebook and stay connected with regular customers on Twitter.

It’s worth noting that a recent study showed that 78% of people trust peer recommendations over any form of advertising. Most people today tend to seek out online reviews and recommendations for hotels and restaurants before choosing one.

With a rich in-room media system in place, your happy guests can log into their favorite social media network and post glowing recommendations of your property in real time -– right from the comfort and convenience of their rooms.

Guest habits have changed, and will undoubtedly continue to change. The good news is that there are technologies that will let you stay one step ahead. You can embrace change and make it work for you.

Wasik joined the Roomlinx Executive Management team in August of 2005 after executing the merger of his company, SuiteSpeed with Roomlinx. Currently Wasik is responsible for leading Roomlinx, which includes the development and market penetration of Roomlinx’ newest product, Roomlinx Interactive TV. Roomlinx Interactive TV provides HD Hollywood movies, high speed internet, HD specialty content, international and U.S. television programming, music, MP3 player connectivity, business productivity tools, concierge services, games and more via the in-room flat screen television. Mr. Wasik can be contacted at 303-544-1111 ext. 101 or mwasik@roomlinx.com Extended Bio...

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