Since their initial introduction, IoT technologies have taken the hospitality industry by storm and have created much excitement over the limitless possibilities they offer. Even prior to the pandemic, as much as 70 percent of hospitality executives indicated the presence of at least one active IoT project at their properties. With much of the industry now recovered and welcoming guests back in large numbers, IoT adoption rates are only set to increase further as hoteliers strive to differentiate within an ever more competitive market.
Yet while many may be familiar with IoT benefits that can include heightened experience personalization, faster service response times and lower operating costs, fewer have a grasp on what it takes to ensure a successful solution rollout. For the unwary hotelier, IoT technology can represent several potential pitfalls if not adequately planned out that can lead to higher expense, frustrated guests and more work for already overstretched employees.
To sidestep any unwanted and likely costly surprises, today’s hotel businesses should always have a well thought out strategy they can rely on to obtain the results they set out to achieve. Applicable to hotels and resorts of any type and size, here are three key steps able to ensure an IoT platform deployment that always lives up to both hotel and guest expectations alike:
Step 1: Define the Desired Outcome and What Success Means
Regardless of industry, businesses can often jump towards IoT as something that must be adopted simply because it’s the ‘next big thing’ in increasing profits and standing out from the competition. However, moving forward with IoT using this kind of mindset more often than not leads to missed opportunities to maximize the improvement of operations. At its worst, it can also result in operations potentially grinding to a halt if insufficient research has been done to identify the possible implications of a solution’s adoption on existing systems and services.
Before even beginning to review their IoT technology options, hoteliers should first ensure that they have a clear picture of precisely what it is that they are looking to achieve. Is it a reduction in time it takes to complete service requests? Perhaps a mobile-enabled task management system might make for the best investment. Is a hotelier mostly concerned with reducing out of control utility costs? An IoT integration that can detect real-time room occupancy to automatically adjust in-room amenity settings could do much to lower monthly energy bills. If the idea is to ‘wow’ guests with a truly exceptional stay experience, technologies that can leverage mass data to make personalized service recommendations are now widely available.