These travel accommodations have also been using augmented reality to an increasing degree.
The hospitality industry has been among those that have been the most willing to embrace the use of smartphones by consumers and have been implementing geolocation technology through beacons, as well as augmented reality features, more than many other consumer facing industries.
In fact, hotels that haven’t implemented a mobile friendly strategy are already starting to fall behind.
While making it possible to book online over mobile devices has nearly become an industry standard, there are two other forms of mobile tech that are being adopted by hotels even before they are being seen in the majority of other places: geolocation technology and augmented reality. These are both emerging forms of tech that are barely seen in most other industries but hoteliers are starting to use them to help them to keep ahead of the competition – or at least stop them from falling behind.
Geolocation technology through beacons are becoming especially popular with some hotel brands.
These use low energy Bluetooth connections to provide added hyper local, relevant services to guests with smartphones and tablets. The beacons can be placed on physical objects or they can be fenced into entire physical locations in order to push the right information to mobile devices at the most appropriate times.
On the other hand, augmented reality can help to enhance services and features for hotel guests, making certain processes more appealing. The use of this type of tech is becoming increasingly important as Millennials become the largest consumer segment with disposable income. It is estimated that by the year 2020, they will be spending an annual $4.1 trillion.
Furthermore, among Millennials, about 52 percent are well above average when it comes to technology adoption. This means that when appealing to that particular demographic, it can be invaluable to reach them through the mobile devices that they use for many of their everyday tasks. This is the adult demographic most likely to look to smartphones and tablets in order to complete a broad spectrum of tasks, meaning that hotels can add draw by interacting with those consumers over channels such as those that are geolocation technology based.
This new service could help to easily and conveniently enhance the overall guest in-room experience.
It has become exceptionally common for travelers to bring smartphones into their hotel rooms with them, many of which are enabled with Bluetooth and NFC technology and the capability for picking up the hotel’s WiFi in order to stream music in a wireless way.
Now, hotel technologies are picking up on this in-room experience in order to provide sleek new audio solutions.
Among them is the iHome audio solution that is designed to help to make guests feel more at home throughout their stay. This service from Hotel Technology involves a device with NFC technology, Bluetooth, and USB charging. It has already been launched at a convention held in New York, and is now being worked into the experience at hotels that wish to stay at the cutting edge of what tech has to offer their consumers.
Many hotels are already embracing the mobile world, and the use of NFC technology and Bluetooth speaks to that.
According to the Hotel Technologies national sales manager, Ely Ashkenazi, “Bluetooth technology is a worldwide wireless standard that will be around for many, many years.” He also added that the service is completely automated and has lower power consumption and low interface, which will ensure that it remains very simple to use and convenient from the side of consumers. He also added that NFC technology would also be worked into the service, so that the best of both capabilities could be leveraged.
Overall the NFC technology and Bluetooth support provides hotel guests with the ability to stream music up to 30 feet away and to enjoy the sound from a true stereo experience instead of the built in speaker from their device. It allows for better sound clarity and quality and improved power consumption rates when compared to using the device alone in the room. Moreover, guests can also use the systems as a speakerphone for a crisp and clear conversation. This way they can feel more comfortable, even when they are quite a distance away from the place that they actually call home.
