Mobile technology's impact on the travel and hospitality industry is far greater than the ability to check in on your smartphone; it's impacting how we collect, understand and implement the insights we collect from our guests. It's also changing how we respond to guests with issues. In this article, CMB's travel and hospitality practice leader explores some of the exciting opportunities mobile technology presents for hotel guest insights - with the reminder to focus on the customer not on the technology. READ MORE

Hospitality press is full of stories on the growing popularity of mobile keys and the apps that support them. Much of the publicity leads hoteliers to believe that all their guests need is a mobile phone or wristband to do everything from unlocking guestroom doors to ordering cocktails by the pool. Surrounded by media pressure, many hoteliers today are mystified about how - or even if - they should commit the resources to develop mobile key guest access services for their properties. The major chains make this decision for franchisees, but not for independents. This paper offers guidelines on how operators can make an informed mobile access decision and intelligent implementation plan. READ MORE

Cornell's Center for Hospitality Research (CHR) recently published The Mobile Revolution Is Here: Are you Ready? They surveyed several hundred travelers and asked about their expectations regarding a mobile offering from their host. The findings support what progressive hospitality brands have been suspecting - that we exist in an industry built on the assumption that guests desire a drawn out welcome as they walk in the door - but that's not what guests say they want anymore. What are they saying? They want what Uber and AirBNB are giving them. They want to know when the car's going to arrive so they don't have to wait. They want to know when their room is going to be ready. READ MORE

Dynamic Content Personalization for hotels includes delivering unique and relevant textual, visual, and promotional content based on a variety of things: demographics, location, how the visitor is navigating the website, their past booking history, reward program affiliation, and type of customer (leisure, business, family, meeting / event planner, etc.). Today, most hotels still operate in a one-size-fits-all approach and serve the same version of the website to the visitor, regardless of what we know about them. However, we don't just have visitors anymore, we have unique personas with a unique profile or virtual biography. READ MORE

People are used to being treated like crap. Have I gotten your attention? Let me explain further. We all “get” social media and understand how powerful platforms like Facebook, Twitter and others are vital in both building customer loyalty and engaging customers. With this in mind, hoteliers have come to understand that social media marketing is not free. While setting up accounts and pages on the social media networks are free, in order for the hotel's branding and visibility to benefit, it requires constant attention which costs money as it relates to hiring people to leverage the social media networks. READ MORE