In my recent post, “The Internet of Everything’s Impact on Hospitality”, I discussed how the Internet of Everything (IoE) is currently transforming the hospitality industry to more effectively enhance the guest experience while ensuring operational efficiencies and sustainability for hoteliers.
As we continue to move into a new age of mobile and connected things, IoE presents a number of advantages for hoteliers, increasing business value as well as securing customer loyalty through enhanced guest experiences. Hotels that leverage IoE capabilities are made possible through technologies such as Wi-Fi-enabled RFID sensors and Bluetooth LE.
I outlined a few IoE-enabled hotel capabilities that will be the foundation of hotels of the future.
- Online check in, upgrade and door lock automation – Before arriving, guests can select their preferred room or upgrade their stay in the same way that they select airline seats. On the day of arrival, the guest is able to remotely check-in using his/her mobile device. Once checked-in, their personal mobile device can serve as their room key, unlocking the guestroom door securely without the need of a keycard.
- Temperature/environmental sensors and controls – Temperature and room controls are automatically adjusted based on occupancy, time of day, outside temperature, guest preferences, number of people and their location within the property and data collected through the interaction of devices and people in the hotel.
- Hotel security – Sensors can detect physical threats to the hotel and notify property staff and guests automatically. This includes detecting the location of people within different areas of the hotel and automatically directing them to safety in emergency situations such as a fire – alerting security personnel to help people evacuate safely.
IoE’s opportunities are nearly endless, but it’s important to understand hurdles that may arise when implementing an IoE-enabled infrastructure. First, we must address the issue of security. As always, when dealing with new technology integration and data gathering, personal security must be top-of-mind. Security concerns can make or break the effectiveness of how we use IoE.
IoE is dependent on a consistent standards-based industry platform. Today the network infrastructure in hotels is inconsistent or unreliable and many hotel systems are not fully integrated, making it harder to implement a standard IoE strategy across the industry. Additionally, understanding how well this connected technology responds in extreme circumstances such as a fire or natural disaster is a concern. You must ensure that devices such as telephones or alarm systems can operate for a certain period of time without power during an emergency.
And like any new technology, solutions must be cost-effective, self-configurable and remotely manageable in order to be widely adopted in the industry. How do you think IoE will help hoteliers drive greater intimacy or loyalty with hotel guest s in the future? Leave your response below in the comment section.
For more information on how Cisco is helping bring IoE to life at hotels across the globe, visit cisco.com/go/hospitality.
Antonio, your post about IoE is spot on. Here at Cetis we recognize that improving the customer experience has a direct positive impact on hotels bottom line. With that in mind, we just launched our Teledex M Series, which incorporates many of the items you listed. Specifically Bluetooth room phone/mobile phone handset pairing. Which allow for Stereo Bluetooth for music streaming and wakeup calls. It also has an optional build-in Wi-Fi access point, plus other features like multiple USB power ports for device charging. You can see a video explaining complete features at http://player.vimeo.com/video/78293234?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0&autoplay=1
Hi Antonio, the part about Hotel Security is really nice and I believe it’s one of the most important services a hotel offers to its guests
Well Antonio, we now have a new acronym to refer to – IoE. The general direction within the industry from my vantage point has recently focused on the creepier side of getting to know more intimate details about the customer, including tracking their movements while on the property.
I feel that following the direction you touch on relative to the entire pre-arrival to check-out use of mobility, if the guest desires, is the right way to build loyalty. Likewise, allowing the guest to use their mobile device to also control many of the in-room amenities (audio, video, envrionmental)gives them a familiar interface.
But the elephant in the room is industry standards. With recent deployments in our portfolio we are starting to see the benefits of HTNG standards in the area of software integration. Likewise there are plenty of de-facto standards out there on providing the right level of network security on a converged network as well as setting priorities on one traffic type over another.
How do we avoid having the hospitality industry re-invent the wheel on standards that may already exist, even informally, in other industries that have wrestled with this issue.