US corporate travellers had been quizzed by GBTA Foundation on hotel technology they use while travelling for business.
Travellers were also enquired about the hotel chain apps on their phones and what they use them for.
As per the findings 61% business travellers have had an app of one of the seven major hotel chains on their mobile phone in the past year and 54% have had at least two apps from major chains.
Most of the business travellers use the apps to check the reservation status (43%) or manage loyalty points (43%) while almost 40% use the same to book a stay.
Only 25% of travellers use the apps to locate restaurants or offers with them and a mere 10% use the apps for room service and less to contact hotel staffs.
The study also looked into the reasons behind not installing hotel apps on their phones in the past year by business travellers. More than a third of respondents say they can find the same services online or in person while 28% say they don’t get the benefit of the apps and 21% say it’s not worthwhile downloading the app as they don’t stay at the same property enough.
Other than apps, respondents were also enquired about the future of hotel technology they would like to experience.
Even though the hotels had invested in initiatives such as mobile check-in, kiosks and keyless entry, business travellers are more interested in power and USB outlets (35%), streaming services (34%) and in-room chargers (32%).
Major hotel groups are still not convinced or adapted the latest technologies like keyless entry and others have been working on personalisation with Hilton announcing its Fun Finder functionality on mobile recently with the anticipation of looking at guest profiles to decide the most relevant offers and messages to send.
Courtesy: www.tnooz.com
Author: Sathish Kumar .S
Sathish works as Project Manager in Teknokraaft and heads our OTA team