Part 1: Increase guest satisfaction by offering smart hotel rooms

Part 1: Enhanced guest experience & safety and security

The smart hotel room is a significant emerging trend in the hospitality industry, benefitting both guests and hoteliers. Smart hotel rooms leverage connectivity and the latest technologies to streamline hotel operations and create a better overall guest experience.

Smart hotel rooms are powered by the Internet of Things (IoT). This involves equipping conventional guest room features and appliances with internet connectivity, permitting them to send and receive information, as well as “talk” with each other. Guests control aspects of their in-room environment via an in-room tablet, smart TV, smart speaker (such as Alexa) or a hotel application on their smartphone. Let’s examine some key benefits hoteliers experience when implementing smart hotel room technology, as well as what type of IT infrastructure is necessary to make this digital transformation a reality.

A personalized guest experience

A fundamental advantage of smart hotel rooms is that they offer guests the hyper-personalized experiences they crave, with 81 percent of customers willing to switch their loyalty to enjoy a more personalized experience.¹

Connected hotel rooms allow guests to customize room features to their specific preferences, such as controlling lighting, thermostat and window treatments. Smart tech impacts the in-room entertainment experience as well. With a simple voice command or tap on a screen guests can play music from personal playlists through smart speakers, order Pay-Per-View movies, or stream shows on the in-room TV from their third-party entertainment services, such as Netflix, Amazon Prime or Hulu. This is a particularly relevant feature for today’s guests, considering that the average American household subscribes to four streaming video-on-demand services.²

Smart room analytics help brands build greater guest loyalty by providing invaluable first-party data – increasingly important as third-party data access dries up.³ Hoteliers can use this data to make personalized recommendations, and anticipate needs on future visits, based on a guest’s interests and information saved in their account profile.

To store and act on these rich data insights – and capitalize on the revenue-lifting personalization that smart technology brings – you need to implement a digital platform, ideally from a single-source provider, that integrates your network, voice and in-room TV solutions. You want a provider who can deliver high-performing internet connectivity and ensure that your entire property is prepared for the iterations that smart tech requires.

Enhanced guest experiences

Closely aligned with greater personalization, is the enhanced guest experience that smart hotels deliver. Today’s guests expect self-service options and more control over their travel experience.

At smart hotels, guests no longer experience frustrating waits to check in at reception and receive their room key. Instead they can check-in remotely on their personal device and head straight to their guest room upon arrival, unlocking their door with an app in conjunction with IoT lock technology. Moreover, with one in three former hospitality workers stating they aren’t even considering a hospitality job for their next position, smart technology handles simple requests and repetitive tasks.⁴ So, your limited staff can spend more time on value-added services such as building genuine relationships with guests.

Automated concierge functionality expedites guest requests and increases accuracy. Through in-app features or a smart TV, guests can instantly request extra towels, order a ride-share service, book spa appointments or make dining reservations. Interactive wall maps offer curated tips about local points of interest while smart mirrors let guests workout whenever it’s most convenient. And customized digital restaurant menus eliminate the need for guests to wait on hold when asking about specific ingredients or gluten-free options.

Crucial to providing these enhanced guest experiences is ensuring that you have a flexible, foundational platform that keeps you ahead of rising demand. You need high-speed fiber optic internet and that reduces latency and eliminates dead zones. And reliable, scalable bandwidth that ensures uninterrupted connectivity anywhere on your property, no matter how many devices are simultaneously connected to your hotel network.

Increased guest safety and security

IoT-enabled door locks are not only more convenient for guests, but they provide added security as well because they eliminate traditional key cards which can be lost or stolen. In fact, mobile key technology saves hotels an average of $1,000 per month in discarded RFID keycards, while driving an average 7 percent improvement in guest satisfaction scores.⁵ Advanced cameras and monitoring systems increase safety via low-light vision and facial recognition technology. Even better, integrated security devices can be programmed for different protocols.

For instance, specific issues on your property may trigger automated security responses that include audio and on-screen alerts, emergency lighting and notifying authorities. Guests are concerned about data security as well, with 80 percent of consumers deciding who to do business with based on a company’s reputation for data security.⁶ Yet only 25 percent of U.S. businesses – including hotel operators – are fully compliant with current data security best practices.⁷

The right network provider for your smart hotel understands the importance of a strong cyber-defense strategy and makes robust data protection a priority by offering managed security service that maintains your systems 24/7/365. They incorporate advanced firewalls and apply updates in real-time to instantly plug any known vulnerabilities and increase peace of mind for guests.

If you want to learn more about smart hotel room technology, or are considering a network upgrade, partner with the experienced connectivity and entertainment solutions experts at Spectrum Enterprise as you prepare for the future.

In part two of this article, we consider how implementing smart hotel room technology can provide hotels with a convenient management system for administrators and staff.

¹ Westcott, Kevin, et al. “Streaming Video on Demand, Social Media, and Gaming Trends.” Deloitte Insights, Deloitte, 19 Oct. 2021, https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/industry/technology/svod-social-media-gaming-trends.html.
² Newman, Daniel. The Move Away from Third-Party Data Is Imminent: Are You Ready? Forbes Magazine, 8 Dec. 2021, https://www.forbes.com/sites/danielnewman/2021/12/08/the-move-away-from-third-party-data-is-imminent-are-you-ready/?sh=1d8a87fe2093.
³ Woolf, Max. “Smartphone Use on Vacation [2022 Study].” Passport Photo Online, 25 Jan. 2022, https://passport-photo.online/blog/smartphone-use-on-vacation-study/.
⁴ “How Much ROI Can Hoteliers Make with Digital Keys?” OpenKey, 24 Aug. 2020, https://www.openkey.co/2020/08/24/hotel-digital-key-roi/.
⁵ “Shred-It's 2021 Data Protection Report.” Shred-It, 2021, https://www.shredit.com/en-us/data-protection-report-2021.
⁶ “How to Prevent Malware Attacks and Promote Cybersecurity at Your Hotel.” Hotel Tech Report, 26 Jan. 2022, https://hoteltechreport.com/news/malware-in-hotels.
⁷ Ibid.