Hotels Introduce Advanced Technology to Please Customers, Claims Timetric

10 Apr 2013 • by Natalie Aster

To ‘improve customer satisfaction’ and ‘cost savings’ are the main objectives for implementing new technology according to respondents from operator and supplier companies. The introduction of advanced technology plays a substantial role for hoteliers in making their guests feel at home and providing them with helpful amenities such as express check-in and check-out services, air-conditioning, heating, wireless internet access, refrigerators, cable or satellite television, fax and photocopying services.

New report "Global Hotel Industry Survey 2013: Technology Initiatives and Investment Decisions" by Timetric states that the average size of the annual technology budgets for global hotel industry operator and supplier respondents is recorded at US$400,000 and US$1 million respectively. Moreover, 59% of respondents from both operator and supplier companies each indicate that they have restricted their technology budgets ‘up to US$250,000’. A comparison of global technology budgets by operating region shows that respondents from hotel companies operating in Europe and Asia-Pacific have the highest average budget of US$800,000 for 2013 respectively, followed by companies operating in the Rest of the World and North America, with average budgets of US$700,000 and US$600,000 respectively.

Report Details:

Global Hotel Industry Survey 2013: Technology Initiatives and Investment Decisions
Published: March, 2013
Pages: 104
Price: US$ 2,000.00

Overall, 62% of respondents from the luxury hotels segment expect to increase their technology expenditure, of which 35% expect an ‘increase of 3–10%’. The growth in consumer technology is driving the need for the acquisition of new technologies.

In total, 86% and 81% of respective respondents from luxury hotels and other hotels state that their customers are ‘positively’ influenced by existing technologies. Moreover, 50% of senior level respondents state that their customers are ‘slightly positive’ about existing technologies provided within hotels, while 32% are ‘significantly positive’. Additionally, ‘Wi-Fi technology’, ‘online reservation’, and ‘high-speed internet access’ are the leading facilities provided to customers by luxury hotels. Correspondingly, ‘flat-screen televisions’, ‘Wi-Fi technology’ and ‘online reservation’ are the main facilities expected by customers. In total, 85% of respondents from luxury hotels confirm that they refer to ‘travel sites’ as a means of gauging levels of customer satisfaction.

Of the challenges global hotel industry executives are expected to face when implementing new technology, ‘high costs of entry or high investment’, the ‘integration with existing systems’, a ‘low return on investment’ and ‘employee or customer resistance to technology’ are identified as the most important.

Survey results show that respondents from luxury hotels expect to use technological facilities such as ‘Wi-Fi access’, ‘eco-friendly technology’ and ‘efficient energy management systems’ to increase their operational efficiency and secure business in 2013. Furthermore, respondents from Europe and the Rest of the World indicate that the use of ‘efficient energy management systems’ and implementing ‘eco-friendly technologies’ will enhance their operational efficiency over the next 12 months. In contrast, respondents from Asia-Pacific assign more significance to ‘business intelligence’ and ‘handheld devices for communication’.

More information can be found in the report “Global Hotel Industry Survey 2013: Technology Initiatives and Investment Decisions” by Timetric.

To order the report or ask for sample pages contact [email protected]

Contacts

MarketPublishers, Ltd.
Tanya Rezler
Tel: +44 208 144 6009
Fax: +44 207 900 3970
[email protected]
MarketPublishers.com