From electronic menus and one-touch ordering to fully automated cyber concierge services, the hotel, restaurant, and catering (HORECA) experience is being digitized more than ever. By attending Integrated Systems Europe (ISE) 2022, which runs Feb. 1-4 at Fira de Barcelona Gran Via, major HORECA brands will discover the future of hospitality technology and its benefits to their businesses.
The global smart hospitality market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 13.14 percent, reaching a total market size of $12.7 billion by 2025. There is great potential for the HORECA market to take advantage of this growth by investing in the latest technologies at ISE 2022. The exhibition presents the perfect opportunity for HORECA industry to discover more about the ways that AV can help their businesses.
Historically, much of a hotel guest’s time was spent exploring the public areas such as relaxing around the pool, lounge areas, restaurants and, of course, participating in conferences and business events that (certainly pre-pandemic) form a key revenue stream. Now, guests are also spending more time in-room, whether working or relaxing, and the demand for hotels to provide even smarter, more engaging in-room facilities is stronger than ever.
The concept of the “smart” hotel room has become popular thanks to its positive enhancement of the customer experience. A smart room is one in which everything from lighting scene settings to Do Not Disturb notifications can be easily managed through touch panels, keypads, personal smartphones, or voice commands. Often, these systems not only improve the guest experience, but provide cost benefits, energy monitoring, management, and reporting functions, too.
“Hotel staff should be able to use and maintain such systems without effort,” explained Christophe Malsot, Creston director residential sales South West, Benelux, and North West Africa. “When they enter a guestroom, the learning curve for a client should be close to zero. They should understand immediately how the room is working. So, this means the hotelier has to be helped to build its tender and has to provide AV with a unified control system to provide a perfect and easy to use solution.”
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It’s not just the hotel room but the whole HORECA/resort experience that benefits from harmonized AV customization. For restaurants, cafes, hotels, and resorts, interactive information points, digital shop windows, self-service kiosks, menu boards, videowalls, or even smartphones can be used to increase customer satisfaction. All devices are capable of serving as a communication or interactive portal between the property and the client.
Forward-thinking hoteliers and restaurateurs can take advantage of these solutions—and there is now a wide choice in connected technologies that make it possible to place many more services under personalized and automated control. ISE 2022 is the place to learn about future-proofing current systems and planning for the next wave of developments in connectivity.
If there is one thing that customers want, it’s an easier and more intuitive process when they arrive at their destination, whether they’re checking in or out at a hotel, shopping, or eating in a café or restaurant. Today’s technology solutions allow customer-focused businesses to streamline back-office functions, as well as allow customers to take control of their experiences through the use of technology.
For example, IPTV systems can offer a personalized hotel service by allowing guests to control their room from their TV, from turning off lighting or opening curtains from their remote control to checking their bill or ordering food. This provides the guest with a single point of contact for everything they will need during their stay. There are other cost benefits, too. By providing such information to the guest via an in-room TV channel or IPTV system, the cost of printing and recycling of paper (menus, guest information, etc.) can be reduced.
Exterity, a VITEC company, provides hospitality and leisure IPTV-based solutions that are used worldwide to provide guests with a better-than-home in-room infotainment experience, while also enabling hoteliers to drive revenue, reinforce branding and increase customer loyalty. “The demand for personalized experiences is likely to continue to grow and by embracing the latest IPTV interactive services hoteliers can future proof their estate,” explained Colin Farquhar, Exterity senior vice president, IPTV Global Solutions. “The beauty of an end-to end IP video solution is that it enables our customers to capture TV/video content directly from any source and manage its delivery, as channels or within digital signage screens, to any connected device via an existing network.”
As consumers are now accustomed to self-service in and beyond the travel industry through kiosks and apps, there is an accelerated natural evolution with advancements in artificial intelligence and robotic capabilities to directly deliver guest service in the industry. For hotels and business convention centers, collaboration technology is also a big focus, creating systems that seamlessly incorporate the wide range of devices and operating systems that the BYOD (bring your own device) work culture has created. Beacon technology, mobile integration, augmented reality—and how hospitality businesses can incorporate these hot technologies into current signage systems—will all be addressed at ISE 2022.
