It’s challenging to predict hotel and resort technology trends in a pandemic. But some trends can be identified and are useful to indicate where the hospitality industry is heading. 

HotelTechReport has identified eight key technology trends that are worth watching this year.

The explosion of SaaS

This is one of the technology trends the Merlin team knows will benefit hotel and resort operations looking for new efficiency and revenue growth levels. And interest in this form of technology is beginning to ramp up with venture capitalists starting to invest in tools and platforms.

“Despite being one of the largest and most dynamic segments of the US and global economy, penetration of cloud-based technologies in the segment remains incredibly low, and the vendor landscape remains tremendously fragmented on a global basis,” says Matt Melymuka, co-founder and partner at PeakSpan Capital.

SaaS technology is being developed, which allows resorts and hotels to no longer worry about the business’s day-to-day running. This frees up their time to focus on the all-important guest experience.

APIs will become mainstream

APIs add efficiency to hotel and resort technology by integrating a business’ technical services and helping their tools talk to one another. 

An API (application programming interface), is simply a messenger of data between applications – and we’ve been offering API development for some time here at Merlin Software.

APIs allow various technology tools and programs to work together, connecting your RMS to a PMS, or your PMS to your upsell software. An API makes your technology user-friendly and efficient; when your tools work together, you capture each platform’s full capabilities.

API penetration in the resort market has opened up a world of opportunities for property owners. 

For instance, feeding data from your PMS into a business intelligence tool leads to real, operational data to analyse trends and provide recommendations for better marketing campaigns, smarter staffing decisions, seasonal trends, and market competition. 

Hotels and resorts that are comfortable using APIs can automate tasks that take up much of their employees’ time with manual data entry.

Innovation in guest technology

Your guests will arrive at your resort already proficient with the latest technology from voice-controlled smart-home devices to streaming services. And online food delivery at the click of a button or two.

Resorts and hotels are catching on to these technology trends, and HotelTechReport believes that the desire for convenience through streaming, voice activation, guest-room tables and food ordering tech will continue in 2021.

“Unlike other amenities that are requested but not necessarily used, streaming services are used on average by 40 per cent of rooms—and they’re used longer than their cable counterparts,” Gavin Philipp, VP of operations at Charlestowne Hotels told Hotel News Now. 

The Amazon Fire Stick, Roku streaming stick, and Apple TV are all low-cost, easy-to-implement tools that some guests are even bringing with them. Hilton is taking a different approach, partnering with Netflix to allow guests to control their streaming straight from the Hilton Honors mobile app.

Volara is leading the way with an Alexa-style guest-room solution. It integrates with leading work order management systems so guests can make requests and receive confirmation and information about the delivery. It also combines with in-room entertainment – so no more touching that germ-ridden remote control!

Guest room tablets, such as those developed by Crave Interactive, are a simple, straightforward upgrade that improves customer satisfaction scores. They allow guests to customise their experience, book appointments, take advantage of offers and explore local tours. It is also a great marketing channel for resorts promoting their ownership opportunities.

Finally, for resorts with limited or no on-site kitchen facilities, tools like 2nd Kitchen and Bbot are replicating the services of UberEats. 

Guests can order room service from restaurants near your resort or hotel, taking care of orders, menus, payment, delivery and support for your property. Not only does this cut down on labour and menu management costs, but the guests also don’t need to call reception, sign a receipt or waste time waiting in line.

Privacy and cybersecurity

Resorts and hotels are a significant target for hackers. Sadly, many are not fully compliant with current data security best practices.

In 2020, MGM Resorts revealed they were the target of a data breach that compromised personal information for more than 10.6 million guests. According to Skift, files leaked in the MGM attack included information on celebrities, chief executives of technology companies, reporters, and government officials.

One of the technology trends in 2021, is that hotels and resorts will be forced to take this seriously. At Merlin Software, we take security seriously. We are GDPR (data protection) compliant, and our software is built with multilayer security, offers secure transaction, and complies with international payment and data privacy standards. 

And property owners are expected to follow in 2021 by complying with regulations, security training and changing processes.

OTAs will struggle

Recently, both Expedia and Booking.com have taken some big hits to their stock price. Of course, COVID-19 has played its part, but hotels and resorts are getting better at direct bookings through their websites.

Direct booking platforms, like Merlin’s Rental WebApp, metasearch ad managers, messaging integrations, and some creative marketing, are helping resorts draw more visitors to their sites and converting them. Not only does this circumvent the high commissions, but it can also create loyalty and a better customer experience.

Google has also entered the market with its Hotel Ads product. Previously a source of traffic for the OTAs, it is now a direct competitor. As a result, OTAs need to pay small fortunes each year to Google to ensure they show up on the first pages of search results. Free traffic is “shrinking all the time”, Expedia CEO Mark Okerstrom explained.

WiFi 6

This term describes the next version of WiFi – a faster, more efficient connection enabled through new technologies. It is about 30 percent faster than current WiFi and has obvious implications for guests and resorts.

Not only will it power all those streaming, table and voice-activated devices, but resorts can also leverage in-room technology to provide a better service. Smart thermostats, speakers and locks will all perform better.

Big Data

Data has become the world’s most valuable resource. The sooner hotels and resorts begin to mine guest data, the better positioned they will be against the competition.

“Data are now part of every sector and function of the global economy and, like other essential factors of production such as hard assets and human capital, much of modern economic activity simply could not take place without them,” argues McKinsey.

Data fuels smarter marketing campaigns, informs pricing, and helps capture a higher market share than competitors by knowing your guests on a deeper level.

Property owners now realise the potential of its guest data. Earlier this year, Revinate launched the hotel industry’s first Guest Data Platform to aggregate, clean and deliver rich guest profiles for hotels and property groups of all sizes.

The platform combines data from multiple sources to provide a complete picture of a hotel’s guests, delivering the information needed to increase guest satisfaction scores, direct bookings, and ultimately, profit.

The rise of alternative lodging

New competitors to the sector leveraging these trends are often called alternative lodging or hometels (home+hotel).

Their approach is a massive opportunity for resorts wishing to differentiate their product offering and appeal to a younger, tech-enabled market.

Merlin Software is ahead of many of these trends. Our software is SaaS to its very core, we have been developing APIs for our clients to streamline their operations for many years, we are obsessive about privacy and cybersecurity and our new WebApps make it easy to offer direct bookings directly from your website.

To find out more, contact Mark Thomas to arrange a full demonstration of our Merlin Classic software and our suite of WebApps.