It's Not Mobile First - It's Guest First
By Tim Peter Founder, Tim Peter & Associates | January 14, 2018
We're living through the next phase of upheaval in the industry. Mobile continues to transform the guest's experience much as the Internet has over the last 20-odd years. And yet I often hear from hoteliers who feel that these changes are at best a distraction, and, at worst, a complete waste of time.
Santayana's famous adage, "Those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it" feels terribly appropriate. Because if you think mobile won't affect your business, here's a quote you might want to keep in mind:
"The reason why we invested in a company that does hotel operations… [is]it also optimizes the relationship with the guest. Then we can plug that into our own apps and provide a completely seamless consumer experience, from the search, to the booking, to the on-property experience, to the post-stay review."
Who said it? Cyril Ranque, president of Expedia Lodging Partner Services . He's talking about Expedia's investment in ALICE, a tool that allows guests to connect with your staff to address issues while on-property. But note again why they're doing this, to "provide a completely seamless consumer experience, from the search, to the booking, to the on-property experience, to the post stay review."
I'm sorry, but isn't that our job as hotel executives?
Over the last 15 years, we've found new and innovative ways to let OTA's connect with our guests. And they're quite happily providing us the tools to do it all over again.
The Hotel Business Review articles are free to read on a weekly basis, but you must purchase a subscription to access
our library archives. We have more than 5000 best practice articles on hotel management and operations, so our
knowledge bank is an excellent investment! Subscribe today and access the articles in our archives.
