Connected, ready, now!This will be the hotels of the future

Digital technology and collaborative consumption in travel are changing many basic concepts of tourist accommodation. Hotels try to know and fulfill the wishes of their guests, and platforms such as Airbnb are expanding their service offerings. Eight trends for this 2017.

1. The ideal Airbnb home

That the Airbnb platform —for renting tourist homes between individuals— wants to revolutionize the hospitality industry is evident. Its users already exceed 100 million, and its hosts are close to 640,000 in 57,000 cities in 191 countries. And the number of homes announced is around 2.3 million, an accommodation capacity comparable to that of the three main world hotel chains. In just eight years, Airbnb has managed to climb to the top of the tourism industry.

To this technological, logistical and collaborative deployment, another facet is now added: the design of an ideal home with new concepts of shared and multimodal accommodation. Samara is a laboratory of ideas, technological strategies, sociological analysis and interior design with which the founders of Airbnb —professional designer Joe Gebbia, accompanied by his partners Brian Chesky and Nathan Blecharczyk— intend to guide the next steps in collaborative tourism.

Yoshino Cedar House, Samara's first project, has already seen the light of day in Tokyo. Built in cedar wood with the help of architect Go Hasegawa, the house was featured in Kenya Hara's House Vision. It is an architectural exercise in search of a space capable of influencing the relationship between host and guest. Soon it will settle in Yoshino, a rural town in Nara, where it will be rented through Airbnb. The experience you generate will be monitored.

2. Visible robots and hidden ones

Robotics are sneaking into the world of tourism. Humanoid robots are still very green, but some more practical examples are beginning to be seen in the role of waiters (in the photo) capable of transporting drinks to the rooms, as is the case in the Aloft hotels in Cupertino (California) and New York.

Software robotics is penetrating the industry more rapidly, with various robot-assisted care and intelligent management projects in recent months. The Starwood group, for example, has just launched its chatbot or online assistant. Anyone who wants information about the hotel or a reservation simply has to contact the pop-up assistant in the corner of the screen. The conversation can flow as if the interlocutor were a person. Unless one is malicious in the dialogue, nothing reveals that the hotel attendant is a robot. At the moment, it works in the US and has just been implemented in the Hyatt chain.

3. Lucy and Alice make it easy for you

Lucy is a hostess for Virgin Hotels. Handle early check-in, handle room service, turn on the thermostat, or help get tickets to the opera. But this janitor does not wear livery or look human. It is an app that guests can install on their mobile devices (in the image).

Integrated into the hotel management system and into the customer experience monitoring system, mobile applications collect data and assessments. It is very useful, because the best service is the one that combines empathy, sympathy and knowledge of the traveler's preferences.

For its part, the online agency Expedia has announced the upcoming release of Alice, a platform that will allow hotels to get in touch with customers, from reception to laundry. In theory, it would make it easier for the guest to manage their entire stay. The application is already available in some hotels, such as the Topazz in Vienna or the Americano in New York.

4. Accommodation with a plus

Collaborative tourism has changed the travel experience. Thanks to the start-up Trip4real, recently acquired by Airbnb, hosts of tourist homes can accompany their accommodation offer with activities organized by people residing in the neighbourhood. A concert, an architectural walk, an unprecedented sporting event, a gastronomic secret or a route through the graffiti of Barcelona (in the photo, that of Keith Haring). There are more than 10,000 activities in Spanish cities, as well as in Paris, London, Berlin, Amsterdam and Rome, among others. The platform keeps 18% of the transaction.

5. Sweet dreams

Since the Ibizan hotels Ushuaïa and Hard Rock adopted the VIB —for very important bracelet—, the hotel industry has set its sights on the technology that connects objects and these with the people, the so-called Internet of things. With the bracelet, the guest can ask for what he wants, and the hotel can control what his client needs.

A flood of apps have appeared lately to meet the needs of the hospitality industry. One example is Juvo, an electronic device that is inserted into mattresses to analyze sleep conditions (breathing, heart rate, temperature, humidity, noise levels...). It was designed for people with apnea problems, which already reach 30% of the population in some countries. And some Asian hotels already install it as a complement to their Wi-Fi offer.

6. Millennial red

Another of the foreseeable effects of the collaborative economy in the hotel sector is the concentration of large chains to compete with the giants of tourist housing rentals. The latest movements have affected the US multinationals Marriott and Starwood. But due to its international relevance, the Chinese group HNA, which has acquired the American Carlson Rezidor (Radisson Hotels) and has just increased its participation in the Spanish chain NH, is gaining significance. Travelers have quickly noticed the results of these business deals. Apart from the redesign of the corporate identity, the hotels in which HNA participates introduce red in their decoration, such as the red chairs and tables of the Radisson Red establishments. A colored covering of the meeting rooms has also been announced to make them more fun, in in tune with what millennials ask for.

7. Internet on the skin

The ConsumerLab laboratory of the Ericsson firm foresees that from 2020 the insertion of a subcutaneous chip in travelers connected to their hotel room will become a reality. It will allow the guest to verify the ambient temperature of the room, remotely control objects, open doors or authenticate the payment of their stay without going through reception and not even activating their mobile application. The hotel's intelligent system will be able to know what the guest wants, how and when they want it, as well as their degree of satisfaction by monitoring their emotions.

According to Ericsson, one in three current mobile device users expects to use at least five wearables in the next decade. Nearly half of digital watch users think that watches and other devices will eventually replace smartphones.

8. Adapted to the future

In a decade, the generation born between 1985 and 2005 will become the majority consumer force in society and their behavior will guide a new way of understanding travel. Hotel entrepreneurs know it. In Alicante, for example, an accommodation just for millennials has just been opened. Chameleon Hostel & Lounge responds to what a generation aware of sustainability, alternative urban environments, hyper-connectivity, cycling tourism and low-cost travel expects. It offers collective and private dormitories. Prices: from 10.60 euros per person in a sextuple room to 18 euros in a female quadruple room with bunk beds, both with breakfast included.

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