A hotel is no longer just a place to lay down your head for the night. The modern hotel is awash with luxurious features for the hotel guest of 2020. They provide an unforgettable guest experience, with unprecedented standards of hospitality. They also have dedicated hotel staff, who want to deliver supreme levels of service. This infographic from Ard na Sidhe Country House looks at some of the emerging hotel guest trends. These could become commonplace over the next couple of years.
Customization has become a key ingredient of the hotel experience. Guests want to have control over as many elements of their stay as possible. This includes everything from the itineraries to the menus and meal times and even the color of their room décor. Some higher-end hotels now have ‘smart rooms’. These adapt the lighting and temperature to a guest’s mood by reading their biorhythm. This is just one example of an extraordinary development that even five years ago would have seemed far-fetched in hotel management.
The provision of customer feedback has also evolved substantially in recent years. The days of physical comment cards upon checking out of a hotel are over. Today, guests will readily take to online review websites and social media to deliver their verdict on the accommodation. That increases the pressure on hotels to deliver a top-class guest experience. However, it also offers them the opportunity to act upon negative feedback so that an unsatisfactory stay could be turned into a good one.
Here is the hotel guest of 2020 infographic in full, with the transcript for anyone using an audio reader.
Transcript for Who is the hotel guest of 2020 infographic
Technology has massively influenced service provision industries, few more so than the hospitality sector. With guests now able to enjoy an unprecedented level of personalization, what expectations could be asked of hotels in 2020?
“I want a fully customized experience.”
- The hotel guest of 2020 now desires customization with almost every aspect of their stay, from transportation to bed features and the aspect of their room windows. This extends to specifying what facilities they wish to utilize on a given day, e.g. a pre-defined meal for two on their 1st night, a spa visit on day 2, a round of golf on day 3, etc.
- Many hotels now have reservation systems that are sufficiently advanced so that guests can have almost any amenity or service packaged and delivered to their specifications.
“I want to share my feelings now, not at the end of my stay.”
- The hotel guest of 2020 will no longer wait until they’re checking out to provide feedback on their stay. They want to express their feelings at the moment, for better or for worse.
- Hoteliers are learning to capture moments as they happen through videos or ‘mood snaps’, with this feedback directed straight to the general manager of a hotel.
- The feedback can then be used to provide an instant remedy to guest dissatisfaction so that a disappointing stay can be rescued, or it can serve to highlight what a hotel is doing right so that they can continue to perform highly for these factors.
“I want all my needs to be served with just one ID.”
- Many guests have grown weary of needing to carry several forms of identification with them for checking into a hotel.
- In 2020, more hotels will facilitate the use of a single virtual fingerprint which guests can use for everything that requires identification and customization (e.g. check-in and check-out, room configuration, transactions).
- This ID is non-replicable and works through RFID encryption and DNA-based identification. It contains layers of information which, at the user’s discretion, can be made available to other entities if needed.
“I want instant human assistance.”
- As much as the hotel gust of 2020 embraces technology, they still want help from a human instead of a machine, as humans can empathize with the details of a guest’s query and resolve these with a personal touch instead of churning out a generic answer.
- Hotels are introducing omnipresent service lines where, through a mobile device or projection panels in their room, guests can communicate live with a hotelier who’s capable of fielding any query they might have. Also, this service will be accessible 24/7, so the scenario of trying to ‘catch’ a human response within a specified time frame will soon be history.
- This approach retains the much sought-after human element while also making effective use of technological advances.
“I want a ‘smart’ room.”
- Hotel rooms have ceased to be places where guests simply utilize a bed for the night. We are now in an era where guests like to stay in hotel rooms that contain a range of nanotechnological features.
- From adapting to the preferred color and design scheme pf the hotel guest of 2020 to self-cleaning and adapting to a temperature and lighting mood that corresponds with guests’ biorhythm, ‘smart’ hotel rooms stop at nothing to make guests feel satisfied and pampered down to every last detail.
“I want to have my input into the menus.”
- The hotel guest of 2020 should no longer be required to settle for the predetermined menus offered by hotels. With many guests having clear gastronomic wishes, some hotels are now welcoming the input of guests in creating their own palate and having it served to them.
- The ‘intelligent menu’ allows guests all the scope they need to suggest their own preferences and ingredients while also making recommendations based on guests’ health and tastes.
- As well as deciding what to eat, guests can also be given free rein over mealtimes, instead of being restricted to specified hours for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
References of the Hotel guest of 2020 Inforgraphic
- Back to the future: Meet the hotel guest of 2020
- Hotel technology 2020: What will the hotel of the future be like?
About the author
Mary Smith works as a marketing executive with Ard na Sidhe Country House in Killarney. As part of her work, she enjoys creating content that relates to the hospitality industry and has produced infographics outlining some of the hospitality trends that are set to emerge over the next couple of years.
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