Background of the Topic
Discuss about the role and future trends of Disruptive Technology and its Impact on the Australian Hotel and Hospitality Industry.
Background of the topic:
The topic is based on the modern day innovations which are impacting and are also expected to make a much more difference in the hospitality sector in the nearing future. The study revolves around the innovation with the use of disruptive technology. Disruptive technology may be defined as a technology which replaces the existing technology with a new and trend-setting one (Pechacek, Nayak, Gregory, Weaver & Eriksen, 2016). Various new technologies and the driving trends are significantly influencing the hotel sector. The changed pattern of travelers has played a major contribution in driving the industry for a set of advanced technologies. The modern day travelers and the millennial travelers have a new set of definition when they plan a trip. Such travelers are not confined just to the experience that had meant sufficient to their parents. Traveling rather means to them a much more than that (Hernandez-Maskivker & Rauch, 2017). This study is purposefully based on analyzing the disruptive technologies in regards to its impact on the hospitality sector.
Innovation and entrepreneurship:
Innovation, in general, can be defined as an introduction of a new product or service to target customers (Drucker, 2014). Entrepreneurship may be defined as a state which encourages an entrepreneur for adopting innovative approaches to enhance the business profitability and the market values (Drucker, 2014). There are a lot of innovations happening in the hospitality sector to enhance its functionality and declining the costs. The rise of robotics just serves the purpose and provides effective hands to the hotel sector (Stringam & Gerdes, 2017).
Trends driving innovation in the hospitality sector:
There are various trends which are driving innovative practices in the hospitality sector. Such trends are as follows:
The requirement of increased functionality:
There are the needs of an increased functionality in the hotels to help it focus much more on customers. Customers do prefer a particular hotel which they had visited earlier in past as they know much about the place and hence, feel secure and relieved. However, this is only possible if they feel to have been treated with utmost cares on their last trip to the place. They keep on carrying the goodness which also results in making the final decision. This is due to the fact that hotels give additional emphasis on reducing the total costs and enhancing the functioning capabilities (Mathath & Fernando, 2015).
Findings and Discussion
Reducing the total costs:
The needs to reduce the overall costs and to provide a much cheaper & effective service to customers have urged the desire to look for various kinds of disruptive technologies (Tang, Wang & Tang, 2015). In course of the mentioned action, the hotel industry across the globe is heading towards a changed and productive form of technologies which could help the sectors to earn more profits and establish elevated market values. Additionally, the industry is also focused on retaining its customers which could ensure a profitable venture for years to come (Tang, Wang & Tang, 2015).
Changed pattern of travelers:
Changed pattern of travelers is another fact which is driving the hotel industry for a various kind of disruptive technologies. The modern-day travelers, in particular, the millennial travelers have a very different frame of mind when they plan a trip. They follow a very different concept of travel which influences them to be in a different line of action than their parents were in. Modern-day travelers do not just want to be confined to enjoying the places but they rather look for a much competitive travel package and an enhanced customer service at the destination hotel (Hernandez-Maskivker & Rauch, 2017). They are brought up in an environment where they are open to the various kinds of technological gadgets. Hence, they have an addiction of making things easier by using the different kinds of technologies (Garikapati, Pendyala, Morris, Mokhtarian & McDonald, 2016).
Increased competition:
The increased competition and a relative challenge in the form of employee turnover have encouraged hotels to use innovative technologies, so that, they remain alive in the competition and maintain a healthily profitable venture. Hotels will better technologies to reduce the costs and enhance the functionality will have better chances of retaining its visitors (Tugores & García, 2015). Functionality can be improved and increased as well with the help of technologies like the robotics. Robotics can do things unsupervised for a complete day and that with much perfection than the physical professionals. Hence, there are expected less flaws and an elevated service standard (Bilgihan & Nejad, 2015).
Following is the list of technologies that are driving the global hospitality sector:
Cloud/Software as a Service (SaaS)-
Cloud computing is one of the technologies that have brighter prospects for the hotel industry. It is for two main reasons. The upfront investment is less as the system does not require an investment on the hardware and also the full-time IT specialist to manage the system (Ramkhelawan, Cadersaib & Gobin, 2015). Secondly, it allows hotels to utilize its IT expertise only for day-to-day business to ensure a notable guests experience (Ramkhelawan, Cadersaib & Gobin, 2015).
Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Mobility-
The use of mobile devices like the Smartphone, tablets and the laptops have revolutionized the business industries at the global level. The hotel industry is no any exception and has been benefiting from it. Customers now can check their choice of packages by browsing it on their respective mobile devices. They will also be able to book their best-match hotels and select the best travel packages (Ozturk, Bilgihan, Nusair & Okumus, 2016).
Social media-
Social media does also have a profound impact on the hotel industry. Trip Advisor is one of such resources which travelers use to book their desired hotels, holidays and leisure facilities. Facebook and Twitter have also become influential as it can be used for an exchange of both side conversations (Inversini & Masiero, 2014).
Personalized systems-
Personalization is a key trend in the hospitality sector. Hotels are now using database management system to enhance customer personalization, so that, they could retain their visitors and encourage them for a revisit (Piccoli, Lui & Grün, 2017). This means that customers will be treated with their choice of foods and other things already known to the hoteliers. The personalization in this way may be helpful in making the visitors feel like home (Piccoli, Lui & Grün, 2017).
Integration-
Integrating the various departments of the hotels with the management system is a very good way to enhance the information management system. Hoteliers with this are expected to have a track of the revenue generated per visitor. In addition, the management can expect a widened view of the different hotel processes which is necessary to closely monitor every single visitor (Garrido-Moreno & Lockett, 2016).
Globalization-
This is last but a much influential trend in the hospitality sector. Hotels are expected to operate at the global level which means there is a need to deploy technologies that are also feasible to the global needs. Moreover, the industry needs to have answers for an uncertain economic behavior both at the domestic and the international level (Liu, Guillet, Xiao & Law, 2014).
The rise of robotics in hospitality:
This is an emerging trend as it has been considered as effective for increasing the functional capability of the hotels and reducing the costs. Robots have come a long way since a digital robot was invented in 1954 and was implemented in 1961 in an auto plant (Edwards, 2015). It now has potentials to serve the hotel as well in the different kinds of functionalities. Additionally, such robots are high in service standard and can produce a much more effective result than the physical staffs (Edwards, 2015). It imparts a series of benefits if being implemented to the hotel sectors. On the other hand, it may also come across a few challenges which may question its presence in the hotel sector.
Trends Driving Innovation in the Hospitality Sector
Benefits:
Robots in the hospitality industry can produce the following benefits:
- It can help to provide solution to the staffing issue which is a global problem due to an incrementing employee turnover (Zopiatis, Constanti & Theocharous, 2014)
- It may take up the responsibilities and work to perfection without being supervised for an entire day
- This can be utilized in hotels for housekeeping and welcoming the visitors and that with a better output than the physical staffs (Edwards, 2015)
Challenges:
One of the challenges is the human-robot interaction in terms of technicality and socially. A more natural interaction with the humans is still required (Tang, Wang & Tang, 2015). Hotel industries across the globe are doing their best to identify the best possible contribution from the robots. The fact can well be understood from a fact that Google bought not less than eight robotics companies in 2013 (Cbsnews.com, 2018). There is still a long way to go to take a much-elevated usage of such robots. However, few things like robotic drones taking orders & delivering it, taking lost visitors to their rooms and detecting the intruders to enhance the hotel experience can be expected in future (Tang, Wang & Tang, 2015).
Impact of future trends of disruptive technology on the Australian hospitality industry:
The use of disruptive technologies, in particular, the robotics may produce a positive impact on the Australia hospitality industry. It may provide solutions to issues like incrementing competition, higher cost of operating, retention of loyal customers and many others (Jones, Hillier & Comfort, 2016). The increased competition can be mitigated by enhancing the firm’s strategic capabilities. Robots may assist in few basic services like housekeeping and guest welcoming. They can perform it even better than the physical staffs. Hence, this validates an increased capability in regards to customer service (Jones, Hillier & Comfort, 2016).
The costs of operation may also get reduced as robots will eliminate the needs to spend on physical staffs and the training process. This will produce a direct impact on the costs of operation (Leonidou, Leonidou, Fotiadis & Aykol, 2015). Visitors may be pleased on receiving a warm welcome from the robots. They may deliver the service much better than the traditional staffs. Hence, the service standard may be flawless without being supervised for an entire day. Hence, customers may feel satisfied and consider a revisit. This is necessary for increasing the retention rates of loyal customers (Leonidou, Leonidou, Fotiadis & Aykol, 2015).
Conclusion:
To conclude, disruptive technology like the robotics may effectively impact the global hospitality industry by reducing the costs of operation and enhancing the visitor’s retention rates. Like the global world, Australia hospitality industry may also be benefitted from the technologies. This may provide solutions to issues like labor shortages, visitor retention rates, and enhanced personalization to the guest. However, there is still a long way to go to make robots more interacting with the humans.
Types of Innovation in the Hospitality Industry
References:
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