Hospitality Technology

This article is about the concept of proximity marketing that supports sales and marketing development in business operations. First, the idea of this marketing strategy is to reach out to the right consumers based on mobile techs and GPS techs. Second, the four types of proximity marketing are by components, application, geography, and key players in general. Third, the benefits of proximity marketing are enhanced experiences for the guests. Applicational utilization. Cost-effectiveness on the mobile marketing, then the guest relationship improvement will be one of them to benefiting the company's business growth.

In these days of technology advancement, proximity marketing is one of the best ways for marketing. The only disadvantage is potentially using someone's information without permission. As long as permission is granted, it would be fine.

Proximity marketing is a mode of location based marketing that uses the customers location to their advantage when distributing advertisements for their business. There are several different types of proximity marketing solutions that can and are currently being used by the most popular brands right now. There is wifi proximity marketing, radio frequency identification proximity marketing (RFID), near field communication proximity marketing (NFC), GPS based, beacon based, and QR codes. Using these methods of marketing hold benefits including enhanced customer experience, app utilization, cost effectiveness, and customer relation boost. There is an option for everyone in terms of cost and many industries are using them more and more, inclusive of the hospitality/tourism industry. In my opinion, the previous ways of advertising are becoming obsolete and the market for competition is growing and growing and growing. We all have likely encountered one or more forms of this type of marketing, and we likely will continue to in the future.

Proximity marketing is a technologically advanced form of businesses advertising. This type of marketing is used to gather information on customers, such as purchase behaviors to see what they are buying and what they want to push ads to them on their devices. This "helps guarantee that the right ads are sent to the right customer for more accurate results". This can lead to increased sales, repeat business, and customer satisfaction. Proximity marketing will also aid in being able to engage more with your customers, instilling trust and improving conversion rates. This is the latest form of modern technology in marketing and creating personalized ads with business success in return.

Proximity marketing is a hotel's current powerful tool for elevating guests' experiences. It is imperative for a hotel to have a fun, interactive, and easy-to-use app that creates a better stay for its guests. Some benefits include geofencing, room entry and room controls, and hotel navigation. These factors all go hand in hand in creating a seamless and memorable hotel stay.

This article goes into detail about the utility of proximity marketing in terms of adding guest experience within the hospitality industry. It also details how guest retention can be increased by the ability to use analytical data in order to gain insights on guest trends allowing for a memorable personal touch. Another major point made within the article details the importance of hospitality companies promoting local experiences outside of the venue itself and proximity marketing allows for local businesses and attractions to be highlighted.

POS systems play a large role within the hospitality sector and develop by being used within different company types and industries. One main place where a POS is used and is extremely important is in retail. Along with creating speedy checkouts for customers, it is now a basic need for most of these POS systems to be using an inventory calculating software.

Companies should forecast differently when it comes to paying for technology. Instead of using a big chunk of change (Capital expenditure) investing in equipment it only uses just about 20% of the time, it can consider consider alternative, cloud based technology for a monthly fee (Operational Expenditure) This frees up money, time, and resources necessary for creativity and innovation in the company.

AI is an incredibly important implementation that constantly aids in a company's growth. All hospitality businesses are implementing the use of artificial intelligence to help staff provide better experiences for guests and to collect market data. In hotels, these experiences range from the time of booking to check and everything in between. AI has been used to develop chatbots for guest assistance, adjust pricing based on data collected, and even a robot concierge. Overall, AI aids in efficiency and personalizing guest experience.

In the fast pace environment of ingress of guests into an event, life safety is unable to take a back seat. Venues are having to adapt processes to ensure guests do not wait in long lines and go through the antiquated magnetometers and wanding process while keeping a safe environment for the guests.

With technology advancing hotels are taking advantage of that and introducing new things that will make the guest experience more personal. For example, the chatbots can assist guest and answer frequently asked questions 24-7, as well as doing direct booking. Implementing the new technologies it saves money for the hotel and a better experience for their guests.

Event Management Software is ever evolving as is the way promoters and companies look to make events, conferences and conventions more profitable and case a wider net of attendees. As those additional revenue streams present themselves, event management software companies are continually streamlining the event process of sponsorships, speakers, maps, virtual meetings, touchless check-ins and much more.

Businesses may optimize the life cycle of a capital expenditure project by concentrating on three areas: capital strategy and portfolio optimization, project development and value enhancement, and project delivery and construction. Organizations must develop a transparent and carefully evaluated baseline and capital budget that provides a clear knowledge of the total capital expenditure budget for the next years, as well as realistic cost and time predictions for the organization's portfolio of capital projects. While claims on capital projects are relatively prevalent, smart management may keep them under control and allow owners to retain considerable value.

This article plainly puts on display new aspects of technology that are currently being adopted within the hospitality industry. Wi-Fi infrastructure overhauls, digital conference facilities, and the latest in NFC technology are all touched upon in this article. I liked this article because it puts on display aspects of the industry I had not originally put thought to as being constantly changing.

"Major technology firms will replace most hotel brands, because they can offer technology solutions and create markets to attract customers. The traditional hospitality industry will evolve into niche markets..." -> This quote from this article is able to summarize where this industry is headed in just a few sentences, but the article as a whole was able to pinpoint the top trends that this industry will have faced in 2022 due to the rapid changes that had to be made due to the COVID-19 pandemic which we still face today. Such as sanitation and other safety protocol that is still enforced. Companies have had to adapt because of this to make up for their lack of revenue. For example, "This means that hospitality venues are being used as make-shift offices for bleisure travelers, as well as locals seeking a change of work environment. This is a great opportunity for hotels and F&B venues to capitalize on the trend and adapt their offering to meet the needs and wants of this emerging segment; ample plug sockets, free high-speed WIFI and great coffee are good starting points." The author of this article stated that the number of guest book long term trips have decreased, but when it comes to reserving hotel conference rooms as office space, staycations have increased with this transition. "Videos providing 360-degree views of restaurant ambiance, café terraces enveloped in greenery or hotel beachfront locations, for instance, are just the ticket to make an establishment stand out this year. As ever, keeping the access threshold low is key to reaching as broad an audience as possible with virtual reality material: making content accessible on a variety of devices, without the need for a VR headset." Another point made in this article mentions how virtual reality is now being used to enhance the customer experience. As a personal observation this has also helped with the transition post Covid-19. The changes that have been made and implemented and have opened the door fo

In the ever changing world of venue life safety, technology is becoming more prevalent. Within budgetary limitations, venues are looking for better ways to ingress guests while keeping the safety integrity of the facility. If applicable, venues would like to incorporate facial recognition and screening as guests arrive. While looking at capex for technology, what will the next wave of venue security look like? Is facial recognition and pass through magnetometers be the peak?

Disruptive Innovation: Self-checkout

The article highlights major points of the next one hundred years for disruptors and innovators in the hospitality industry during a keynote webinar among female leaders at Cornell Nolan School of Business. According to one of the keynote speakers, Professor Kim, there is a difference between innovator and disruptor. Innovators create "new products, processes, or business models to create value for customers or employees," while disruptors "significantly change how the industry works". We are all aware of the major disruptor to the hotel industry which is Airbnb; however, according to the article, there are other disruptors such as CitizenM, a modular hotel company and Sonder, a short-term rental company. However, these disruptors should not be seen as competition because most start-ups actually fail. Hotels should rather make space for the disruptors and focus on enhancing on their companies' strengths. It is recommended that hotels formalize specialized teams that can create new products to build on the hotel's strengths. Personally, I believe that it is possible for smaller hotels to work in partnership with local Airbnbs. To do this, they can offer a specialized program with reputable Airbnb owners to offer their place as a recommendation with the same hotel perks if the hotel is fully booked. In this way, the hotel can take a percentage of profits rather than losing all profits to another hotel. Nonetheless, the implementation of cell phones is a driving force for innovation and disruption in the hospitality industry creating more convenience for guests. Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic is still driving innovation such as contactless technology, work from home arrangements, Virtual reality and Metaverse. In conclusion, the panelists commented that future disruptions are unpredictable, and companies must look at both smaller and larger companies for changes.