The future of hospitality: Key tech trends and priorities for 2023
Eric Wong highlights some important areas of interest that will colour industry technology conversations in 2023
New opportunities to meet and redefine what the technology in hospitality industry spaces will be in the future but it is important to review insights from the past year and express them in terms of rising trends.
With that in mind, here are some important areas of interest we foresee will colour industry technology conversations for 2023.
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Greater capacities for adaptation and being ready to change
If the last few years have taught us anything, it’s that conditions, landscapes, and frames of mind can and must change and adapt to all kinds of forces that affect business outcomes. Those forces originate from as many different directions. In the past year, businesses have had to be agile, and adaptive, which is as it should be.
This isn’t just about following new technology in hospitality industry trends. It’s about looking at how perceptions have changed, and how attitudes have had an impact on consumer culture in every industry.
Sometimes, compensating for shifting attitudes and approaches can be just as involved as developing new technology in hospitality industries to meet those demands. But that’s the road we’re all following in pursuit of what the industry will be next year and beyond.
A renewed look at the guest journey
What makes for a great guest experience today may be defined quite differently in the next few years. Understanding this has meant a deeper dive into streamlining and diversifying the booking and ordering processes and examining the various ways guests access menus to get what they want, from restaurant menus in various channels to more accessible hotel booking processes even before the stay begins.
Building on greater precision of how the guest journey is supported is and will continue to be about long-term relationship building and having insights that come out of it inform strategy. Understanding and accessing guest histories and preferences is the vital guiding star to follow here. After all, the guest experience characterised by warm welcomes and attention to detail when needs arise is the whole reason the industry even exists.
Key technology in hospitality priorities
Within a wide spectrum of contexts, these important priorities are predicted to come to greater fruition in the next year.
- Precise booking platforms for hotels and related support systems to enhance superior guest experiences
- Greater intelligence and reporting functionality to know who guests are, what they want out of an experience, and the related revenue opportunities that come out of that
- Continued emphasis on mobile solutions that empower guests to manage their own journeys according to their own levels of comfort and preferred contexts
- Solutions and systems to empower teams at all levels of the business to do their best work – greater access, convenience, accessibility, and therefore greater attention to detail
- Scalability in connecting systems together across properties to enhance operational efficiencies in all of them – with the cloud and SaaS continuing to be the clearest path to success
The power of partnership
Working closely with customers, and understanding their challenges and their visions for themselves, makes one thing certain; it’s going to take teamwork to keep this going. Hospitality industry leaders in hotels and resorts, and in restaurants and managed food services are aiming high, as they should.
By Eric Wong, Vice President of Hospitality, Infor Asia Pacific
Eric Wong, Vice President of Hospitality, Infor Asia Pacific