At my hotel in the Swiss Alps, I came home from dinner, jet-lagged and a little tipsy, to find that a television set inside the bathroom mirror had been turned on during the turn-down service. I pressed all the buttons on the wall panel, then tried the switches on a control box next to the bed. Nothing worked.
Since I couldn’t find anything resembling a phone in the room (don’t forget I was a bit drunk), I sped down the hall and came back with a receptionist to turn off my “smart mirror”. Twenty minutes later, already in my pajamas, I had to face a new problem: no switch, no button turned off the lights in the bathroom. I closed the door, put a mask on my eyes and I managed.
Now I have to get used to the abundance of smart technology in hotel rooms. Voice-activated lights. Concierges with chatbot. QR codes on televisions. Registration by browser or mobile application. Texting the valet for my car. Don’t even get me started on the motorized curtains – trying to see the ocean in Miami was as difficult as tackling William Faulkner. All of this is infuriating. And overwhelming.
A recent study by trade magazine Hospitality Technology and William F. Harrah College of Hospitality at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas surveyed 100 hoteliers and found that industry-wide adoption of self-service features such as check-in kiosks and mobile room keys is on the rise.
Proponents of the initiative say these investments have many benefits for guests, whether it’s personalizing the hotel experience, anticipating guest needs, reducing friction points or freeing up staff.
Neha Jaitpal, Global General Manager of Building Technologies at Honeywell, oversees “intuitive” solutions for more than two million hotel rooms worldwide, working for companies such as Accor and Fairmont Hotels
“Smart hotel rooms mean empowerment,” said Robert Firpo-Cappiello, editor-in-chief of Hospitality Technology. “Contactless interactions have been a lifeline for hotels during the pandemic. People are used to it now. There is no going back. »
Yes, some (young) travelers I have spoken to love it.
“At the Wynn Hotel, I liked that Alexa would close the blinds, turn off the lights, and play some music,” said Eddie Burns, 25, traveling drummer and musician. I arrived super late and it was great to manage everything from bed. »
But please can we go back? These “guest enhancements,” touted as high demand by hoteliers and the tech companies that make them, are not for me. They were, in fact, obstacles – between me and sleep, me and the view I had paid for, me and firm pillows (in Miami, this request was not an option on the tablet, and no human answered the phone at housekeeping). What was once simple is now ridiculously complicated.
“I used to walk into a hotel room and relax. Now it’s a lot of work figuring out how to use the lights and turn off the TV, which, of course, is tuned to the hotel’s promotional station,” said Jill Weinberg, 67, regional director of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and, like me, a frustrated hotel guest. “This is a whole new system that I have to waste mental energy on every time I travel. »
Another problem with “custom” hotel rooms? They are impersonal. The “frictionless” functionality does not create character or soul; people do it. I enjoy being greeted by the front desk, chatting with the concierge about restaurant ideas, and chatting with the other staff who more often than not have great local tips. I don’t care if a room “knows” I like pilates and the thermostat is set to 20 degrees. And I’m not going to download an app just to ask for towels. Can’t I just ask the maintenance department?
Other travelers want it too.
Stephanie Fisher, an advisor at luxury travel agency Local Foreigner, explained that many of her clients “request hotels with personalized service that prioritize guest relationships.”
Luckily for me and many other guests, not all hotels see technology as the miracle cure of the future. Some, like the Graduate Hotels, a chain of boutique hotels in college towns like Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Nashville, Tennessee, are — with the exception of Wi-Fi and a few smart TVs — deliberately analog.
“We are committed to nostalgia, to the notion of transporting guests to a simpler time, which is why we never wanted to use a remote control, explains Ben Weprin, founder of Graduate Hotels. We want guests to immerse themselves in the university community and then return to their room to decompress. Our motto is: get out of the metaverse and into the universe. »
In Europe, the only technology offered in the rooms of Rocco Forte hotels is high-speed internet. That’s not to say the technology is ignored: doormen use a headset to communicate a customer’s name to reception so they receive a personalized welcome when they check in, and back-end systems store preferences so room staff can “remember” a customer’s morning specialty coffee order. It’s not state of the art. That’s the main thing.
And that suits me perfectly. While the idea of human-centric lighting suited to my circadian rhythm is noble, please just give me a switch. Maybe also a good old landline with a human on the other end of the line. I’ll be better than fine. I will be a happier and more relaxed guest.
