Revolutionizing Hospitality: Smart Check-Ins, AR Applications, and Digital Strategy Unveiled - Paper Sample

Literature Review

For purposes of this research, a smart-in is an internet-based guest system where guests can register their arrival, obtain keys for their rooms, find their way to their rooms, and discover the available facilities in the resort on their own. Smart check- systems for hotels can be designed to collect all the important customer data for the registry. Also, they can automatically verify customers’ credit cards and authorize their accommodation upon arrival.

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Smart check-in is a customer experience-focused initiative because its primary objective is to increase customers’ comfort by making them less dependent on staff during their stay in the resort. Grønholdt et al. (2015) described customer experience as a customer’s subjective and internal feelings about their direct or indirect interaction with a product or service. By eliminating many burdens of the traditional check-in protocols such as having to queue at the reception guest, smart in should positively impact the overall travel experience of customers.

The smart check-in experience is also good for the resort staff as it significantly lessens their administrative work, and saves them time especially when they have many guests to attend to. While they will not completely throw away the manual check-in registry, the smart app allows customers to consolidate their registrations way ahead of their arrival, and that gives the staff enough time to feed their data into the manual system. Besides, the smart check-in will safeguard the income of the resort because it will have a 100% payment guarantee when guests check-in.

Good management of customer experience positively drives business performance (Grønholdt et al. (2015). Romano’s potential customers have a wide range of resorts and hostels to choose from, and many of these can easily be accessed online from reservation sites. Therefore, the resort needs to make its guest experience exceptional from the point of booking, all the way to check out to drive customer loyalty.

Notably, customer experience does not depend on the multiplicity of the features a company can offer as it does the efficiency of those features to the intended user (Meyer 2007). To shape the experience of its customers, the resort needs to embed its key value propositions in this feature. The scope and quality of the actual services are also very key to customer experience in the service industry.

However, Woodcock (2000) observed that companies seeking to leverage their customer experience need to guard against focusing too much on process development and improvement, as it shifts the attention of the company from an external to an internal viewpoint. Instead, he emphasizes the need to simplify what a company does and the way it does it.

Virtual and Augmented Reality and their applications on hospitality

Augmented reality uses computer technology to modify how people perceive their physical environments. It is similar to virtual reality, although unlike virtual reality which represents the real world with virtual one, augmented reality provides a real-time improvement to the real world. The two technologies can be used through various devices including headsets, tablet devices, and smartphones.

Since augmented reality can add graphics to a live picture of a physical environment, it is often used in the hospitality industry to improve travelers’ experiences by modifying the appearance of the environment or making it more interactive. For example, virtual and augmented reality can enable customers to view informative images or videos through AR-based print markers in their hotel rooms. Also, there has been a great success in the development of AR-based games, which could be interesting engagement for customers during their stay in the resort.

Moreover, using augmented reality, businesses can relay the right information to their customers right where they are in time. Providing the customer with the information they need adds to their overall experience, which can translate to loyalty and more profits. By using augmented reality and virtual reality, The Romanos will benefit in two ways. First, the technology will greatly improve the customer experience in the resort. Secondly, it will be able to monitor its performance and market trends by integrating the app with management information systems.

Why a digital strategy is important for success

Digital strategy refers to the use of digital technologies in conventional business models to create new capabilities. Adopting a digital strategy will make the organization transform its processes and activities to serve its customers better. It will also call for identifying the right combination of strategies and technologies that can be applied together to make these experiences a reality.

Mobile Key effectiveness, location-based tech effectiveness in hospitality

For decades, the hostel industry has been using plastic key cards as they have been relatively cheap and easy to maintain. However, they are also prone to inconveniences such as loss through misplacement and demagnetization. Besides, it unnecessarily costs much resources and time to program and dispose of the key cards. Therefore, the hotel industry is migrating to mobile keys, which allow customers to use their smartphones instead of cards to open and lock their rooms.

The mobile key has emerged as an effective technology, offering additional features that can enable communication between the customer and the hostel facilities and staff. Hotels often transmit the digital key to their guest’s phones upon completion of the booking process. Hence, they do not have to pass by the front desk to pick up or return their keys. As a result, it saves the guests waiting time during check-in as well as check-out.