Hotel Technology Trends

Technology is always evolving and affects all industries. The hotel and hospitality industries are no different. With the rise of booking engines, OTAs (online travel agencies), guest review sites and forums, social media, and advances in cloud based software, the hotel and hospitality industries have more choice than ever. Here we look at some of the biggest hotel technology trends of the moment and what could be leading these industries in the future.

In terms of online hotel reviews, embedding a review widget or plugin on your hotel website seems like the obvious choice. It allows potential hotel guests to view unbiased feedback from your previous hotel guests, without ever having to leave your hotel website. Sites like the very popular TripAdvisor offer free widgets or plugins to hotels.

However, some hoteliers are slow to implement them as they can also pull poor reviews onto your website. There is a huge opportunity to capitalise on improving the hotel’s customer service here as 95% of online shoppers say they suspect that reviews have been censored if they do not see a few poor reviews as well.

Positively, more than three in five TripAdvisor users believe that a good management response to a negative review makes them more likely to make a booking. Four out of five TripAdvisor users even believe that a hotel cares more about its guests when it takes the time to post management responses.

For a more in-depth look at some of the biggest hotel technology trends, including how hotels are using social media and what the rise of 5G mobile could do for the industry, see this infographic produced by Ard na Sidhe Country House in Ireland.