INDUSTRY WATCH
INCREASINGLY, HOTELS
ARE LOOKING FOR
ADDITIONAL WAYS TO
ENGAGE THEIR TECH-
SAVVY GUESTS DURING
THEIR STAY.
T
he problem with technology in the
hospitality industry is that it’s so
ubiquitous it becomes difficult to
single out what developments will be the
most important for the next five years.
Unsurprisingly, hoteliers have been
cautious of technology removing the
human effect from the guest experience.
But the smart ‘hotel of the future’
will have access to technologies such
as artificial intelligence, wearable
technology and virtual reality. These will
provide the ability to accelerate service,
personalise the guest experience, enable
preventative maintenance and improve
employee productivity.
Mobile and keyless check-in options,
mobile key access, digital in-room
controls, virtual reality for booking and
advanced energy conservation systems
will become the norm.
We spoke to two industry experts to find
out more about the impact of technology
on the sector.
GRAEME KANE, HOSPITALITY
Graeme Kane, Hospitality
BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
Business Development Manager,
MANAGER, MIDDLE EAST,
Middle East, Mediterranean and
MEDITERRANEAN AND AFRICA
Africa at Aruba, a Hewlett Packard
AT ARUBA, A HEWLETT PACKARD
Enterprise company.
ENTERPRISE COMPANY
The hospitality vertical is one of the
key sectors that Aruba caters to. Aruba
provides hospitality venues with a smarter,
adaptive infrastructure that delivers,
stable, simple, smart, securing Wi-Fi
www.intelligentcio.com
Graeme Kane from Aruba
access to thousands of devices at a time,
supporting mobile collaboration for staff
and enabling personalised and location-
based mobile engagement for guests.
How would you say end-user
demand in the hospitality sector
has changed over the last few
years in terms of technology?
A revolution has taken place, from the
days when we had one Ethernet port in
the room with the hotels offering the
guests a wired connection, or a dedicated
hotel business centre often found in the
lobby. With the mass adoption of smart
phones and tablets in the last three
years the #GenMobile travellers now use
their devices anytime, anywhere and are
always turned on.
A couple of years ago any traveller would
have carried only a laptop and a phone.
Nowadays, the tech-savvy members of
#GenMobile always travel with three
or more mobile devices. In addition,
INTELLIGENTCIO
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