What are automated hotels
The automated hotel has virtually no staff. May be
The guest is independent: he makes a check-in on his own without a queue at the reception, choosing the optimal number for himself, everything is paid online, the invoices instantly come to him by e-mail. The entrance to the hotel is possible at any time by individual access. The guest orders breakfast and cleaning, book tickets and other services at any time without waiting for the manager's help through the mobile concierge service. For the guest, the use of such a hotel is intuitive.
There are also important advantages for the owner of an automated hotel:
- Savings on personnel costs, which under normal conditions amount to about 30–40% of total costs. Therefore, this is reflected in the profit received.
- Reduced operating costs - sensorsmovements activate lighting and temperature control, thereby reducing the amount of energy consumed. Automated hotels often use clean energy sources.
- Maintaining hygiene protocol is especiallyrelevant during pandemics and epidemics. In automated hotels, the guest has virtually no contact with the staff, which means the risk of infection is significantly reduced.
- You can use the artificialintelligence in the form of advertising offers or chatbots. This will remind hotel guests to order food and drinks from the bar and restaurant, schedule room cleaning, and add other services to their stay.
- You can track the history of the guests' visits and their habits. Thanks to this, many guests will become regular customers, since the hotel knows what they want.
Tools to help turn your average hotel into a smart hotel
Technically, hotel automation can be broken down intoseveral functional blocks - central system, entrance kiosks and access to rooms. This is the foundation that creates the minimum necessary infrastructure for automated management and reduction of permanent staff.
- A central system that accumulates all information from different points of interaction between the guest and the hotel. The property management system - PMS is responsible for this.
PMS, property management system or hotel operating system- Can be used in real estate, manufacturing, logistics, intellectual property, government or hotel housing management.
- Entrance kiosks replace the reception. They are a combination of a touchscreen and a card payment point. With the help of the kiosk, the guest can independently check in and check out, find out information about the hotel and pay for additional services. It happens that in an automated hotel there are not even entrance kiosks, and the guest makes a check in advance through the application.
- Access control to rooms and spaces forhotel guests. In an automated hotel, it is ineffective to use typical magnetic cards, as their circulation is difficult to control - guests may forget to return them or lose them. Instead, a more efficient NFC system is used, which is used as a card - attached to electronic locks, or Bluetooth technology. These technologies are built into every smartphone. Therefore, the guest can get into his room by simply holding the phone to the door lock. Alternatively, you can find the use of QR codes, and in some cases - Face ID systems.
Additionally, the hotel owner canautomate and digitalize the entire customer journey (customer experience - "High-tech"): the interaction of the guest with the room and additional services, for example, with a restaurant and dry cleaning.
Central PMS Management System
PMS is a CRM that helps you manage your hotel. It can have the following functions:
- booking module, room calendar and guest history;
- the ability to manage and automate sales by categories, rooms and beds;
- management of the economic statuses of rooms, for example, cleaning, as well as the preparation and control of requests for repairs that were left by a guest or a maid;
- advanced search for reservations and guests, instant filtering by any parameter;
- personalized offers and broadopportunities for marketing analytics by guests - segmentation, reports on various marketing channels and sources, a complete history of each guest for all reservations in the entire hotel chain, including financial indicators, unique tags and comments about guest habits;
- helps to control income streams and build automated dynamic pricing - for this, the system takes into account seasonality, current load, events nearby;
- helps to interact with maids on outsourcing;
- the ability to interact from the internal system with all bookings, including local ones;
- internal and external analytics for benchmarking competitors.
Entrance kiosks
Kiosks are located in the lobby instead of the usualreception areas. At the moment there are a number of companies that produce kiosks, including those with production in Russia. The cost of one kiosk starts on average from € 2,500 for a basic package.
A pinpad is placed at the kiosk for accepting cards. It is often possible to set up a QR code for a quick check-in. If a guest "came from the street" and wants to book a room, he can do it using the kiosk.
Kiosks may vary in configuration and include passport scanning, Apple or Google Pay scanning, guest personal account and booking management.
You can assemble a special order kiosk so that itbest suited the concept of a particular hotel and the services offered. All kiosks and software meet and adapt to local requirements related to migration policy.
Access systems
Public areas for guests canseparated using control systems. The most common use of Bluetooth and NFC chips in smartphones is as an access card - the guest opens electronic locks using his smartphone.
The locks themselves often do not require replacement if they are modern enough. Sometimes it is enough to reprogram them or retrofit them with the necessary boards.
An alternative and more costly one can be the use of Face ID technology - the room, elevators and other spaces will provide access by reading the user's face.
Additional automation systems
Additional tools to help automate hotel operations:
- voice assistants inside the room, automated control of room equipment;
- service modules via the hotel application on the phone;
- POS - control system for bar and restaurant;
- module for preparing reports for the migration service - provides information uploading for the automated transmission of data about accommodated Russian and foreign guests using third-party services.
Automated hotels in Europe and Japan
Automated hotels from operator KonceptHotels can be found in Germany and neighboring Austria and Switzerland. These are small cozy hotels of the level of three to four stars, from 20 to 70 rooms with a focus on the use of regional production, alternative energy sources and on supporting environmental standards. The standard hotel occupancy rate is 82.5%, the average cost of one night is € 89 (does not include the pandemic period).
A four-star smart hotel appeared inBudapest - KViHOTEL BUDAPEST. It works successfully with a load of up to 90% (the period of the pandemic is not taken into account). This confirms that automated hotels are in demand at different class levels.
Henn-na Hotel in Japan has made even moreprogressive step - robots at the front desk help guests. Europe is still, most likely, not ready for such service, but it can be viewed as a trend of the future.
Automated hotels don't always look likehi-tech style. It could be a building of the 19th–20th centuries, a standard room, but a minimum number of employees. This does not mean a low level of service; often the price is at the level of a four-star hotel. Guests stay at such hotels with curiosity.
Guest portrait
The new automated concept is especiallypopular with younger generations. According to Bitkom surveys, about 30% of respondents aged 14 to 29 would choose an automated hotel. The older generation has different preferences - of those aged 65 and older, only about 8% would consider booking such a hotel. This is explained by the fact that older people are not used to using new technologies in all areas of life and prefer more classic hotels.
The automated hotel concept is also suitablepeople who travel for work or want to use their time more efficiently. About 91.4% of business travelers and 85.3% of private travelers rate fast check-in without queuing as particularly important.
Deloitte survey shows thatbusiness travelers find this concept very successful and tailored to their needs. The market follows the needs of its client. This will also have a structural impact on the private travel market.
Is it worth investing and which countries are suitable for this?
From 2010 to 2018, the number of tourists in Europe increased sharply - by 46%, this is 710 million people. During this period, tourism revenue increased by 51%, this is € 483 billion.
New and alternative types of housingare one of the most attractive types of investments - according to a survey by Deloitte, 25% of surveyed investors choose this area. Only 9% would prefer to invest in classic hotels.
The top 5 most attractive countries for hotel investment are Spain, Germany, Italy, England and the Netherlands.
We can also supplement this with an index factorreadiness for automation around the world ("ARI Automation Readiness Index: Who is Ready for the Coming Wave of Innovation?"). In Europe, this is primarily Germany, which is located on the second line in the world list.
Rating of countries' readiness to innovate
We predict that the demand for automatedhotels among guests will grow significantly. This will become the norm for Generation i and meet the growing demand among millennials. Already today, global operators are actively promoting their new brands with a high level of digitalization and a focus on young generations on the market - Marriott is developing its Moxy brand, Rezidor Hotel Group (Radisson) has opened 10 hotels under the Radisson Red brand.
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